tbug

I've always noticed that while I'm starving the week before my period, when I'm dealing with cramps I don't want to eat at all, so I figure it balances itself out. My chocolate fix comes in the form of dark chocolate almond milk-banana-chocolate protein powder- peanut butter smoothie. It tastes like a milkshake and gives me some of the nutrition I'm missing out on!

When I look objectively at my diet I'm pretty amazed I'm not feeling the effects more than I am. I know I'm going to need to start force feeding myself, otherwise getting to a balanced diet just isn't going to happen. So funny story about the juice, it actually keeps me feeling full and clear-headed more than something like oatmeal or cereal. I'd love to replace it with fried eggs and toast but I only seem to have enough time to make it, not eat it, which is where the juice has the advantage. I tried green smoothies for a while, thinking the fiber that wasn't removed in the juicing process would make it even more filling and possibly higher calorie. Not so in my experience. I would experience that crash you described, sometimes I was in such a low blood sugar nosedive I'd throw up after eating real foods. I'm hoping by this October/November I'll be in more of a position to focus on food, by then the bakery should have its feet under it and could support reduced hours at the restaurant. But only if I survive summer tourist season first!

Honestly I have this thing going where I feel like I 'should' eat mostly fruits and veggies, lean meats and steer clear of starches for the most part. The thing is, I don't feel very well when I try doing that; I get lightheaded, nauseous, almost as if my body burns right through the 'healthy' foods. Some toast with peanut butter helps in those situations, but rice or pasta usually fixes me right up. It's almost as if I 'run' better on a more carb-heavy diet? It's very possible it's more of an addiction thing but I don't have the time or resources to 'detox' through a carb addiction. I'd like to do something with a vegetarian spin to it, but whole foods is really my priority.

Thank you! I ended up getting in touch with the owner of the hot yoga studio and she said they have two levels of heat- 85-90F degrees and +100F. I have to get out of a hot bath after ten minutes because I start to feel sick, combined with your response I think I'm going to steer clear. I tried out the first studio again last night, a different class with a different teacher and LOVED it! It was billed as gentle yoga and I think I approached it in a more 'get the poses as perfect as you can' mindset rather than 'stretch as far as the pose will let you' so I think that helped as well.

I'm just getting back into yoga after a few years, took a class at school and LOVED the 'stretchy-rubber-band-gumby' feeling I'd get afterwards. I practice at home, mostly sun salutation, but I've recently started throwing in some balance work and twists. (I just realized I have no idea what the poses are called, sorry if that's important!) I took a class last week with a friend and was pretty disappointed; I didn't get the 'gumby' feeling at all. I'm wondering if I should try a more difficult class, but as I live in a relatively rural area we've got two yoga studios and the other one does hot yoga only. I'm kind of a delicate flower, and their website mentions the following: Stand up/get up slowly from any pose, especially if you have low blood pressureBe careful tilting head back in any pose, especially if you have low blood pressureRest on the mat or leave the room if you feel overheated, please be discreetSo I'm scared to try it out and pass out, but I really think the first place I went is geared more towards seniors and those with limited mobility. Should I give hot yoga a shot? Or keep going on my own? I did try to search this post but hot is too short, so I apologize if someone has asked this before.

I love this idea! Of course I immediately went to look up celebrities my height to compare to which I'm pretty sure defeats the purpose, and I feel like I'm going to have to primp for the comparison pictures so clearly I'm still a Silly Teenager at risk of falling victim to media Hype. So this will be good for me!

So I have a bit of a dilemma, and I am aware that a significant portion of this post will be me whining so I do hope you suffer my self-pity and find it in you to offer me some advice. My husband and I opened a bakery in October and are still getting used to our daily habit changes. For the first half of my day I am surrounded by cupcakes, brownies, cookies and the occasional scone. It's our slow season so I've got a lot of time to myself but I can't go anywhere or do anything outside of the building on the off chance we have a customer. We have an oven but no stovetop, and a microwave, as well as a fridge and freezer. The second part of my day I'm at my restaurant job, which at first glance would be an improvement because at least there's some healthy foods inherently available, but the cuisine we serve is not one that I'm crazy about and I struggle to find meals that the kitchen is willing to make for me and I actually want to eat. (also even with my discount the ticket totals are ridiculous- I quite honestly am not sure why anyone eats our food (but I'm sure glad they do!)) So between both jobs I'm working 14+ hours a day, and I try to a) get a workout in each morning and get 8ish hours of sleep a night (you don't want to see me when I'm tired) I've been doing yogurt or homemade juice for breakfast, more juice, a cookie, or (very rarely) leftovers for lunch, and whatever I can get at the restaurant or nothing for dinner. Because that's a really sensible & sustainable diet. *sarcasm* I can feel myself running down, but I think I'm at the point where prepping food in any form feels like too much expended energy. So my question is this: what foods can I easily introduce into my diet to start getting ahead of this slump I'm in? I do have a couple evenings off a week I could prep food, I just feel so directionless and bleh that I end up doing pasta and Pinteresting on the couch with my dogs instead. If you've made it this far, I thank you for hanging in there with me, and any thoughts you have on how to turn this corner I'm facing.

Thanks Ocelot! If I could manage to quit my restaurant job (which I'm hoping to do come spring) getting up early is the only way I ensure I have the time to exercise. It's usually a ten minute turnaround between the bakery and my shift, and when I get home I just want to lay on the couch and snuggle the pup. So it's early bedtime for now, until I can figure something else out. Everyone got up early to workout today, I did a mile on the treadmill and a TIU bikini workout, H did some weights (a lot of adjusting- I wouldn't have the patience for it) and the dogs "helped". Downward facing dog over a pair of playing dogs adds another level of difficulty that H wasn't prepared for but we managed. My arms are sore from yesterday's workout but I'm feeling pretty happy and positive.

meh. So last week didn't turn out the way I'd hoped fitness wise. I was sore sunday so didn't work out, did a TIU workout on Monday but skipped the whole rest of the week. I guess I should consider it a win since it's more than I have been exercising since January, and part of the reason I skipped them is I was tired so not doing them added extra sleep. I also had a very strange pelvic pain thing going on Wednesday through Saturday. I was worried I'd have to go to the doctor but it's disappeared which is awesome! Husband and I planned on getting up early today to workout- I did, but let him sleep. He's been having a rough week at work and needed the time to decompress. Side note: I am blown away with the sheer amount of nutrition advice that comes with the Tone It Up plan. For some reason I thought it was more of a complete package, which I guess it is but the pages dedicated to food vs exercise is crazy. They say abs are made in the kitchen but I own cookbooks with less recipes!!

So while I'm still getting started I've found that the setup for challenges is super helpful in focusing what I want to be doing with my health, and particularly what's important to me as far as getting on track (what I define as 'being more healthy') I sketched one out for myself, and while I don't feel comfortable with jumping into it this late- especially since I am new- I think it's helped define my overreaching goals, and set a baseline for the next challenge that I will be participating in! Main quest: To get into a healthy lifestyle habitSpecific missions: Clock 8 hours in bed a night (allowances are made if I don't get home from work before 10:30)Do a Tone it Up workout 4 times per weekHave at least 6 servings of fruit/vegetables a dayLife Quest: Empty the cat box more than once a week I've been doing really well so far! Dropping everything at 10:15 to be in bed by 10:30 has been hard, husband was very confused I left him half asleep on the couch Friday night but at least I wasn't cranky from it taking 20 minutes to get him to come to bed. If I count juice as a serving of veggies (which I do, but maybe in the future I might get harder on myself) then I'm doing great on the veggie front, and I did a TIU workout yesterday morning that has me sore into today!

Hi all! My life feels so crazy lately I don't even know where to start.I'm a 25 yr old waitress, who bought a house in June, got a puppy a week later, got married in October and opened a bakery a week and a half later. (I never noticed the synchronicity about that before now) We're roughly a month in now, and I've come to the conclusion I'm not taking near as good of care of myself as I should be. Not that I feel particularly awful but I got to a point where 4 of my last 9 meals were corn dogs. Yuck. A little about my schedule: I am in the bakery by 8 and am there until 3 or 4 when I run home, let the dogs out, and change for my restaurant gig. I get out of there about 9:30-10 on weekdays- Saturday night is more like 11. Then my husband and I do our daily cash out for the bakery and go to bed. For breakfast I have been having a green juice, and the last few days that's been my lunch as well. Then for dinner it's whatever sounds good at work. I don't exercise outside of the physical portions of my job, frankly because I am a delicate flower when it comes to my sleep and I'm barely clocking 7 hours. I want to get into some sort of routine before our tourist season kicks up and I'm really spread thin, I want it to be automatic at that point. I've dabbled in yoga, some light weight routines, and ran a half marathon last January (which was the third to the last time I went running since) So I'm more of an independent workout-er. I'd like to get my husband on board with some of this for accountability, but he's the king of enablers and would therefore be a terrible person to be held accountable to. I'm just getting into the forums and blog posts but if anyone had any advice or suggestions on direction I'd be very appreciative