The Ings...or Month-End Review, May

Monday, May 7th, Boxing + Yoga

I don't know why I'm so tired, I told Hazira. Her response? It's all those ings. To which I responded, Hunh?

Climbing. Swimming. Swinging, she responded. I was like Au contraire, little couch potato, exercise actually energizes me. Okay, maybe I have gotten worn out from an exercise endeavor or two but...

It's been five years since I decided to get my act together and five years since I visited my friends in New Jersey and New York where I had my epiphany. Can't believe that I haven't seen my friends in that long. An early happy birthday to Martene; Hey girl...

I still remember reading a 2007 issue of Prevention magazine and spying the ad for the Lewis and Clark Marathon and thinking I'm doing that...

Since I started keeping track, via month-end reviews, in Sept. of '09, I've been rock climbing over 100 times; ditto for swimming. Hey, I learned to swim within these last five years! I've done Jackie Warner's upper body workout on Personal Training with Jackie over 60 times. I so love being in shape and strong and this is how I stayed in shape this month:

5 Day Get Fit Mix

Cardio Kickboxing, 1 x

10 Minute Solution: Tone Trouble Zones!

Arms & Shoulders, 1 x

10 Minute Stretch, 1 x

Boxing, 2 x's

Climbing, 3 x's

Kettlebell Class, 2 x's

Swimming, 7 x's

Treadmill, 1 x (While watching Oklahoma vs. Los Angeles, #nbaplayoffs)

Walking, 6 x's

Yoga, 11 x's

The Week Without Yoga

I know it's hard to believe since I yack about yoga all the time now and, yet, the last time that I practiced was last Wednesday. Remind me not to do that again.


While I stood in mountain at the beginning of class, the sweat started pouring. No problem, I get water in my ear all the time when I swim...


As Cindy instructed us to lift our toes, I kept thinking raise your toes in the air and get grounded like you just don't care. Corny, I know but I felt grounded.


Cindy is a big proponent of leaving your worries on the doorstep. Love it. She always gives you the option of picking your worries back up, say, in the lobby if you want them after class. No thank you. I'd rather leave them and start with a worry-free slate and if something makes me fret again, as it surely will, I can start the process over and over until I become superb at staying centered.


At one point, we raised our hands and clasped them together and my hands felt like prunes. I could hardly stand to have them together. My hands have never felt like that in hot yoga before and I did get a bit dehydrated but I checked myself (as Cindy suggested) before I wrecked myself and got acquainted with savasana.


Lucky for me, my car is like a convenience store. I finished off my water then downed a 16 oz container of Honest tea. I also downed a chocolate Clif Kids bar.


I had enough energy to go to Aldi to pick up a watermelon and bananas. The sticker came off the watermelon and the clerk pointed out that it was a seedles watermelon; the grammar police would be pleased.

As I entered my house, I started singing Teddy Pendergrass' Love TKO. Yeah, that's pretty much how things went down tonight but I'm glad that I got back on the mat and that I left a few worries behind.

Go Brown...

I've had several people tell me about Weight of the Nation including a friend who immediately started eating better and exercising again. I thought that I wouldn't be able to see Weight...until it came out on DVD but I went looking for the trailer and found out that you can watch it online. Thank you HBO...

I'm watching the first part, Consequences, right now and having major buffering issues. At first, I thought it was my computer but Netflix is streaming just fine.

So far, I like the man who said that the kind of food that we eat is the kind of food that's most profitable. I was on Twitter earlier in the day and someone had a similar sentiment and tweeted that the foods you see advertised on TV are not the ones you want to eat.

A doctor told his patient with a new diagnosis of high blood pressure and borderline diabetes to go brown. He told her no more white rice, potatoes or white bread but, instead, to incorporate wheat pasta, wheat bread etc.

Can't wait to watch the rest and hope the whole buffering situation straightens out.



Also saw this video on NBC Nightly News about height loss in women. Since I'm 5'3, I have no interest in losing height so I'll just keep on keeping on.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Always Ready for Child's Pose

Not only did I sleep until almost noon yesterday but I also couldn't keep my eyes open past 10:30. I slept so much that I didn't have a problem making it to kettlebell class this a.m. where Marisa went for the soft kill. Instead of 10 minute circuits, she threw five minute ones at us with the same result: a beat down a very good workout.

Marisa showed us some burpee trifecta situation. You do a burpee, squat thruster and something else.

Marisa: How did you like that?

Me: Anything that starts with burpee is not good.

Marisa: I like burpees.

Me: Freak...

Kinda regretted saying freak but I think Marisa knew that I was joking...

I love it when Barbara goes into child's pose during a break; it looks so inviting. I told Barbara that it made me think of one of my yoga instructors who said, "When you're ready to go into child's pose..." When I'm ready? I'm always ready for child's pose...

Marisa showed me how to do the high pull and I'm definitely going to need more practice. I think about stuff way too much and hesitation doesn't work with the high pull.

The Sun Diet

Crawled out of bed near noon. Missed hot yoga and don't feel quite the same since I didn't practice. Yesterday, I told Cindy that I planned to be a slug. I definitely got off to a good start with slug life. Actually, I didn't get to sleep until around 2 a.m. Plus, I think that I was mentally exhausted so my body just took what it needed. I'm surprised that I slept at all since I ate my body weight in watermelon last night.

Because I can never commit 100% to slug life, I decided to swim but didn't know if it was best to go inside or outside. If I took it inside, I knew that I would swim a certain amount of laps. And outside? There's the joy of doing the backstroke, looking at the sky and watching birds fly by.

It seemed like a shame to head inside. I knew either way that the water would be cold but I'm learning to just rip the Band-Aid off. At one point, this woman smiled at me and said It's hard to swim laps, isn't it? After getting away from the football players and jumpers, someone, inevitably, would just set up camp in the area that I was trying to swim in but I'm persistent and I seized a lap moment whenever I could.

I stayed in the water for an hour, took a shower and felt so good.

Nice, Mild Body Wash That I Scored at Big Lots

I remember when my first official yoga teacher told us the story of one of his friends that went without food for a while and just did some type of sun meditation. At the time, I joked with one of my fellow yogis that I needed the sun diet because that was the only way that I was going to lose any weight but after being in the sun for an hour, I did feel renewed and full.

Stuff Reiki Masters Say

Seating Area Outside of RM's Office

I looked at the available schedule of the LMT/Reiki Master* that I had a group coupon for and realized that I was days away from letting not just one but two group coupons expire. I had gotten the one coupon for bodywork almost a year ago when I first went gaga over acupressure.

I had a hard time deciding if I wanted a shiatsu or reiki treatment but the bodyworker helped me to decide. She also said that so many people had not read what the deal actually offered so she decided to mix up the sessions. When she mentioned massage, I smiled at the unexpected surprise.

 I told her that my gut said to go with shiatsu and that I had experienced reiki during a massage and she said that reiki is usually offered as an add-on of sorts and, for full sessions, she usually does reiki for people who are in pain with arthritis or for people who might find it hard to tolerate touch.

For my session, I went with half an hour of shiatsu and half an hour of massage.

When she started the massage part, she said that my neck was horribly tight and, if she had known that it was so tight, she would have worked on my neck and shoulders for the entire time. She even mentioned the 'c' word -- chiropractor and wanted to know if I had a headache. While I did not have a full blown headache, I was headachy. She wanted to stretch my neck and for me to breathe deeply as she did it.  I was supposed to blow out the breath like a hurricane but since I do so much yoga now, my instinct is to inhale and exhale through my nose............... Couple that with the fact that I have a habit of holding my breath and it's a recipe for some jacked up breathing. She couldn't believe how puny my deep breath efforts were...


My half and half session was relaxing. I don't think that I would devote an entire hour to shiatsu though. The bodyworker's space was warmly decorated, an oasis in fact. The music that she played was very relaxing. I've heard some questionable relaxation CDs but her choice was impeccable. Loved the subtle insect and bird sounds...

When the Reiki Master entered the room, she told me that my only job was to relax. You've already helped enough today, she said. The problem that I have with bodywork and the gorgeous rooms that the work takes place in is that I never want to come out.


*I love the title of Reiki Master...

Have You Had Your Plus Sign Today?

As I did the backstroke the other day, I kept thinking the drishti is on...but I couldn't really remember where my gaze was supposed to be but it was funny that I thought about yoga while in the water.

I got an email from Swim Outlet advertising their extended line of yoga wear. At first, I wondered why Swim  Outlet would have a line of yoga attire but I quickly remembered how I am much better at streamlining after I've practiced yoga.

I like post-pool droplets which remind me of the St. Louis Blues' commercial Do you bleed blue? I also like how the arch of my arm is in line with the arch of the ceiling...

No droplets tonight just sweating rolling like a leaky faucet and no question about where my drishti should be.

Right before class, I talked to this woman who had been in Korea teaching English and she hadn't experienced a hot yoga class in a year and was curious to see what American hot yoga had to offer. I encouraged her to put her mat in the room but she was waiting for friends. Korea's friend showed up with two containers of water because the third friend forgets things. Simple gestures like water for a friend are so cool.

As we got acquainted with chair fierce pose, Cindy  said Let's get nice and comfy. Trust me, those are not words you want to hear out of your yoga instructor's mouth during fierce pose because it's hard to get comfy when you are the chair. As I tried to keep myself grounded and keep my biceps by my ears, I thought about Prince's Positivity lyrics: hold on to your soul....gotta long way to go...

So, Cindy said that she would make me an eye bag which was cool in and of itself but she also delivered it quickly and accompanied by Epsom Salt with lavender. I wish that you could smell this situation -- talk about aromatherapy, wow...I've said thanks to Cindy but it seems like such a small word for how touched I feel.




Savasana, here I come...



I Hereby Acknowledge That I Am Physically Capable...

Yes, I signed another waiver for yet another gym.

I agree that neither I, my heirs, assigns or legal representatives will sue or...

The "my heirs" part reminded me of that silly Chris Rock film when he said Black people don't leave a will; they leave a bill. Snicker, snicker...

Got to the gym, literally, a minute before class started because, for some reason, I think that the waters will part just because I want to do something. Forgot all about rush hour traffic...

Everyone was super nice. The teacher, Natasha, introduced herself and I got gloved up and had exactly two bags to choose from and both were near the front of the room.

Despite my front row bag, I really enjoyed myself. When I'm boxing, I don't feel like I'm working out. The class was also 45 minutes which brought a whole new meaning to short and sweet. I liked Natasha with her Hello Kitty tattoo on her inner arm and her quirky sense of humor. She is a good motivator too.

Higher, higher (knees); the floor's on fire.

At the end of class, we worked on abs and did planks (hello, again) while lifting our legs to which Natasha said:

Squeeze your butt because I can't do it for you; that would just be really weird.

One of  favorite moves was jab, jab, block; jumping jack, roundhouse kick. I know that I've said this before but I love roundhouse kicks.

I also liked it when we channeled our inner frog and hopped forward and backward. I know that I'm sick but I kind of dig squats too.

One of my classmates encouraged me to come to the strength training class. That's when we curse a lot, she said.

After boxing, I went to yoga class and Donna was back. How did you like Gloria, she asked? I haven't taken her class but I heard that she is phenomenal...

Donna has extra straps and eye bags and I usually get an eye bag for savasana. I'm thinking that I want one of my own since they smell so divine.

Stay Like This for Five Breaths...or Longer

On my back in decoy savasana, I wondered if I'd make it out of hot yoga alive. I felt punch-drunk but, as Val said, there are hundreds of reasons why you feel one way on Friday and another way on Saturday.

At one point, I saw Bridget motion to Val who then went to turn down the heat. After class, Val said that the thermostat was on 102 degrees but Val also brought the heat. I kept thinking that she had eaten her Wheaties or steel cut oatmeal topped with chia or flax seeds.

Chair or fierce pose just about ruined me. The hot yoga teachers like to say that the students' breathing lets them know how long to hold us in poses. Val must not have heard us very well but she did remind us to take a break when we needed one. I like it that she said But it's your responsibility to get back up when you're ready.

She also encouraged us to stay positive at the right times. During plank, Val said that you don't want to be a hammock or tepee but you want to be like a board -- unbreakable.

After class, this newbie asked me how long I had been coming to Hot Yoga and she also wanted to know why I had returned after the first time. I told her that I like a challenge. I like to sweat and I definitely like yoga. She said that she's a runner but every time that she tried to get up from a resting pose, she felt as if she was going to fall down.

I forgot to tell her that I feel amazing afterwards and that my contact dermatitis is dormant. I told her that it's the opposite of that Sade song: subsequent visits are better than the first time...

Tree in 10 Seconds

Went bicycling yesterday and, as I headed back toward the Arch, I decided to see if I could capture myself doing tree pose. I engaged the kickstand, used the self-timer and went for it. Despite it being windy, neither the bike nor the camera fell over.

During the bike ride, I felt balanced and strong; it was such a superb day for bicycling...and yoga.

I like how the photo is centered because I didn't concentrate much on the composition; it just kind of happened. I worried more about the camera falling over as I tried to position it on my lumpy gel seat cover.

The Trees...

Practice, Practice...

I cannot get on the good foot when it comes to cooking so for dinner I had an open-faced almond butter and banana sandwich, a kiwifruit and a half a cup of mighty mango Naked juice which I thought that I might regret but it didn't come spewing out during Hot Yoga so all was good.

I need to make a note not to stand behind the twins anymore -- one is a bit of a giggler and I'm way too susceptible to that...

My mind was quieter about yoga practice. It's about time don't you think? I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the poses that I would encounter -- especially the ones that feel awkward and, speaking of awkward, when we did our first swan dive during half sun salutations, my hamstrings wanted to know what in the world was going on and they promised to thank me later...

Thanks to Cindy for two things:

Reminder One: Standing poses will put you in your place.

Reminder Two: Go for it (standing poses); don't worry about looking silly.

I'm still working on having a playful attitude with the standing poses but I'm sure that playfulness will come with time...

Cindy likes to call savasana -- savasana and not corpse pose but when I heard corpse that just made me think of Thriller.

But I'm Pure Yoga

Went to sign up for boxing class and it was full. Waited too long to decide on what I wanted to do and missed an opportunity to participate in another class that incorporated boxing and still another boxing class at another gym. I don't think that I was meant to box today.

It was a perfect day for bicycling or maybe hot yoga but I finally decided to tackle the lawn so that I don't have to deal with it this weekend.

Went to my gentle yoga class and saw no sign of my 4'7 teacher, Donna, who frequently talks about not being able to do poses a certain way because of her short arms. I also did not see Donna's usual sub.

I see this woman walk towards the front of the class and I kind of recognize her. I'm pretty sure that it's the woman from another branch of my gym. I went to her class once last year when I was supposed to go to Yoga at the Confluence (where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers meet) but it rained hard that day and I opted to go to a yoga class at my gym thinking that few people would come out in the rain. Wrong. Her (Gloria) class was packed and I barely squeezed in.

As we arranged our mats, I heard Gloria say to Marissa, who teaches this hardcore Muscle Works class, I wish that I could sub for you but I'm pure yoga and she said this matter-of-factly as if she were saying her name or address and I remember when I went to her class before, I could tell that she was the yoga teacher by the way she was dressed and the way she moved.

Gloria: What kind of class do you want tonight?

Class: Silence...

Hmmm,  no one had ever asked that before....

At one point, she asked us to shake everything out and she was completely goofy with her movements which made us laugh. Yoga is not that serious, she said and she pretty much dropped science for the whole hour. When we did hip openers -- the hips are the junk drawer of the body.

We did some amazing stretches. We put our feet together, cupped our heads and leaned back for an amazing stretch. Ditto for making an okay sign with the fingers then grabbing that "okay" hand by the wrist then leaning in the direction of the "okay." Amazing.

And after we got through with all of those amazing stretches, our final pose was to make eagle arms. Just the arms. Seriously? This pose haunts me but when she saw me just cross my arms over my shoulders she said It's okay to do that... Then we got down on our mats and made eagle legs. Earlier in the program, we did half camel and it was kind of cool to do that pose halfway.

We got around to savasana and the tears started rolling. Guess I cleaned some junk out of the drawer... After namaste, Gloria thanked us and we thanked her and I saw Linda -- this older woman who is a workout machine. She takes Marissa's class, yoga then rides her bike home.

I asked her how often she exercises and she told me that her father says: Linda, you make coffee nervous...

As for Gloria, she is pure yoga. You can tell by her energy, what comes out of her mouth and the way she moves...

Merciless Marisa

Marisa showed no mercy as she threw ten minute circuits at us. So not only did we do all of our swinging, we also did planks, push-ups, lunges, step-ups and we dipped for the benefit of our triceps.


We bumped it up as we did the clean and press and I use the term we lightly. As I attempted to do the clean, I thought about yoga class when the teacher says come into your expression of the pose which means that those who can do it, do it and the rest of us take it in stages.


Towards the end of our fourth circuit, Marisa told us to loosen up with the two-hand swing. I was incredulous. Take a break with the two-hand? Seriously?


As I struggled and cursed my way through class, I realized that I was on my ninth consecutive day of exercise because I didn't rest like I normally do on Friday and it was hard to rest on Saturday with so much free time and so much nice weather but, now, even my ankles ache. Epsom salt here I come. Guess that's why it's important to get rest days in...


After class, I went to Trader Joe's then walked across the parking lot to Target. When I got back to my car, I saw a box of watermelons outside of Trader Joe's so I put the Target bags in the car and went after one of those watermelons. I've been having watermelon envy so it's time...

On Friday, I tried to get a picture of my sweaty self after Hot Yoga but I only had my Ipod and it didn't do the sweat justice but I like this crazy picture of my arm.

This Is My Arm. This Is My Arm on Weights.



May Contain the Occasional Seed...



...Dreams Are Made of This

Attended a celebration for refugees and this woman from Afghanistan talked about learning English, getting a job and buying a house. Her advice to new arrivals: eat healthy, work hard and keep learning...I thought it was so cute that her advice began with eat healthy. Not so cute are the words that stick in my head from a news segment when this woman, also from Afghanistan, said People who have something to eat don't care about those who do not...


A young man from the Congo, who spent time in Gabon before heading to the States, said similar things about learning English, getting a job and war in his country. He also said that his siblings were everything to him. His advice to new arrivals: stay positive and focused...


I don't normally exercise on Fridays but I have to work tomorrow which meant that I would miss Hot Yoga and the next opportunity would be on Wednesday. In order to prevent jonesing for Hot Yoga, I decided to go directly from work to the studio. Whew! I went home for lunch, grabbed towel one, towel two, dri-wick workout clothes, a change of clothes, dried pears and contact solution et al. My unwashed mat was still in the car so no need to grab it.


In the meantime, I had an internal dialogue with myself about why I go to Hot Yoga. I like yoga. I like a challenge. I like to sweat. Yoga has done amazing things for my body and mind.  Therefore, ergo...


I had not anticipated rush hour traffic complicated by baseball traffic, had to take a detour and almost turned around because I didn't think I would make it on time. I'm so glad that I did not turn around.


I've been going to Hot Yoga since December and I don't think that I've enjoyed a class as much as the one today. Maybe my attitude was more playful -- a tactic that Cindy suggests especially during the standing poses.


There were two things that stuck with my brain. Cindy reminded us that it's our practice and to do or to not do asanas. At the halfway point, as we hugged our knees to our chests, she said to give ourselves some reassurance which also turned into try a little tenderness for me. I felt amazing after class... and I felt lifted.

Broke Back Yogi

I felt punch-drunk before Hot Yoga on Saturday but tonight was a different story. I felt stronger which still didn't stop the pre-game chatter.

I went to put my mat in the room and it was so hot. I know what you're thinking -- it's Hot Yoga -- but some days it's hotter than others and there's nothing like more heat to test your stamina.

After we finished with extended side angle pose, Cindy gave a direction of mountain pose to the left which made me think of pilots who point out the Grand Canyon: Folks, if you look to your right, you'll see the North Rim...And the teacher is the pilot. We even had a co-pilot, Jeremy, who helped rearrange the full house before Cindy got in the room.

There was one really cool moment in class when we lifted into cobra and the whole class inhaled at the same time. It was so sweet.

Cindy's mantra tonight was get out of your head. Right around bow pose, I was all in my head continuing the chit chat that started before I even stepped into the studio. Cindy piped in with get rid of whatever thought that just popped into your head. So, I got rid of it because, really, it's one pose and when I can do it better, I will...Plus, as Jeremy has said, it's a practice...

After class this woman looked at me then looked at me again and I could tell that she wanted to have one of those Whew, that was hard...I have a love/hate relationship with Hot Yoga conversations. I don't even remember her intro chatter but she got around to saying that she had broken her back last year. At least two of us were like whoa. She lifted up her shirt to show us the scars.

Me: Do you mind if I ask you how you broke your back?

Woman: I fell fifteen feet from a zip line. But it's all good now...

You know the moral of this story, right? No zip lines. Just kidding. You don't need a zip line to break things...

I Crave Ice d Tea after HY

Finally Got Smart and Took Ice

Hot Yoga Aftermath

Back to Boxing

I’m still thinking about the Hot Yoga beat down that Bridget administered on Saturday mainly because my hamstrings and triceps are speaking to me but also because it was such a consummate thrashing...

I was excited to get back to boxing after a two week hiatus. We were odd-numbered so I was in a group of three. Lee told us to take turns but a few seconds later, I saw him heading in my direction with training mitts and it was the first genuine moment of lightheartedness happiness that I experienced all day. I could feel my face turn upward and my eyes light up.

Jab. Jab. Cross. Left Hook. Slip to the right. Cross. Left Hook. I made the mitts pop….

I’ve also made peace with shadowboxing. You know, whatever it takes to warm up and get the boxing gloves on.

After boxing, I headed to yoga where I experienced my second moment of happiness. Donna had us lift our arms and do surrender breaths and whenever we do surrender breaths, we usually say “ha” at the end. Makes me smile every time.

We also did wide-angle downward facing dog. Donna said, The energy is in the back of the legs. Sure was. Prompted by Donna, I moved my hips to the right then to the left. How did Donna know that I needed wide-angle downward facing dog? Of course, we walked the dog and that felt good too.

A line of yogis left and, somehow, this guy got to the door right before the second wave. He patiently held the door open for what looked like an endless parade of yogis with varied colored mats. That gesture was such a nice end to the night.

Lift Up...Like a 747 or Best of the Hot Yoga Rules, Part II

Gratuitous Photo from Vacation Stash

Well, well, well. Guess who taught the 10 a.m. class? Don't think that I've ever seen Bridget at this time except for exiting the 8 a.m. class or participating in the 10. Plus, I've only been in her class once.


I knew it was going to be interesting from the get-go because we were a tiny group. There would be no place to hide blend in, for sure. When there's a small group, it's interesting to see what kind of energy will be created by the students and teacher. As for Bridget, she brought the funk, the whole funk and nothing but the funk. I wanted to call her Crouching Tiger for the way she observed while squatting.


Before Hot Yoga class, I was still feeling out of sorts. I know, boo hoo. After class (deep breath), I felt exhausted but quite solid...Whether you're going through a tough class or a tough day, here are some words of wisdom from my Hot Yoga teachers.




Bridget



Lift up like a 747...


(During Locust Pose)


Let's all move together. Swan dive...halfway up...flat back...


Everyone touch their toes...

(During a Yogi Sit-Up)


The face is soft...the face is soft...the body is working but the...face is soft...


(Bridget's Mantra of Sorts)






Cindy

Why do we do chair pose? Not just so we have strong legs but to warm up our major muscles...

Scoot that gooch.

(During Forward Fold...)

The hard part is over...in here anyway.

(Near the end of our 90 minute session)






Jeremy

A part of yoga is unlocking the body's potential...

Ears hang out by biceps. Hands spread like roots.

(During Downward Facing Dog)

The breath allows you to move into these poses. You don't muscle your way into the poses.

Keep going and going and going and going... Jeremy's Energizer Bunny expectations during Half Moon Pose

Before you take a drink of water, before you readjust your shirt, before you..., look at your drishti in the mirror and get back in touch with your breathing.





Val

Thumbs against the sternum for extra support.

(During Tree Pose)

Come into your expression of the pose.

(Val During the Second Round of Standing Head to Knee Pose)

A Reminder

I must admit that I am baffled by the vacation weight loss. I've been trying to concentrate so hard on being active and making decent food choices but the scale is never too far away from my mind. While I wasn't fully decadent, I did eat and drink things that I've not eaten in a long time.


My first "indiscretion" was at O'Hare airport. I found out that the only creamer that this stall had was half and half and I told the woman that I didn't want the coffee then but she misunderstood me so I took the coffee and I like creamer in my coffee so I put the half and half in the mix and rationalized that having the creamer one time wouldn't do any harm. Well, for the rest of the trip, I put in a little low fat milk plus half and half.


I usually eat egg whites and reduced fat cheese which I didn't bother with on vacation. I also allowed myself generous amounts of almond butter which makes me wonder if I'm getting enough protein. I've been watching Jackie Warner's Work Out and she says that fat is not the enemy -- sugar is... which brings me to Izze -- hadn't had one of those in a long time. I also felt that I didn't drink nearly enough water -- not that I get in huge amounts when I'm at home. I also have an addiction to Werther's going on right now. Why I picked up a bag in the first place I don't know.


On another note, I bought a few things in San Diego and, of course, the majority of the items are workout clothes. I'm starting to be majorly impulsive with buying active wear and I sometimes forget that I already have items with tags on them no less.


Tomorrow I head back to work. It was my plan to gently reinsert myself and that's why I'm starting on Thursday. I've been trying to get centered and not let my mind write stories. Note to self: good luck with that...

Whole Eggs & Cheese Frittata

Black Beans, Brown Rice, Salsa, Chicken & Feta Cheese



Old Navy Poly/Cotton Blend Souvenir



Leg Cam -- Purplish Moisture-Wicking Shorts from Target, Another Souvenir

A Reminder...

P.S. Patti's theory re: the weight loss is that I was not stressed and not sitting at my desk all day...