Maris Stella

Thank you! Honestly I don't normally hate Mondays so much but this week is just going to be crazy crazy. Well...this MONTH, I should say. And I have to leave for a week to attend my best friend's wedding (starting next Wednesday) so I'm just packing so much in before I go. Basically it's a circus. But my team is fantastic, and at the end of the day it feels good to have gotten a lot done. Perspective, right? Thanks! Yes, it's frustrating. Getting a lot stronger is one of my long-term fitness goals, but this challenge I just need to get healthy. I'm in the same boat as far as not knowing for sure the root cause of my injury -- I threw my back out twice in two months, doing really mundane everyday things around the house. I had a pretty serious injury in high school (I was a competitive equestrian) but it hadn't been bothering me for at least five years. The only thing I can think of is that maybe getting this desk warrior job and sitting down all day has compromised my back health. If anyone knows things about good chairs for this problem, let me know. The obvious first step is to get up and walk around more often, but I think it might be wise to switch out my buttholder, if this is chronic. Thank you shortstuff, evenewbie and substix for your kind words of encouragement! We can do this thing!

Pride and Prejudice. Also, everything by Faulkner. Had to read them in high school, when I just didn't have the life experience to appreciate them. When I reread Faulkner in college, I was blown away by how much I suddenly enjoyed his style. Pride and Prejudice was a harder sell. I vehemently hated it, but then one of my professors hounded me about it until I gave it another try. I guess my perspective changed when I realized how progressive and envelope-pushing Austen was for her time. And actually, I confess that I did not love LotR when I first read it. The travel passages got to me. "They walked for days, passing green hills and running streams, rolling hillocks and tender valleys, rocks like houses and houses made from rocks, fields and grass and wheat and oats and barley and more grass and hills again and a river and a cavernous gorge AND THEN THERE WERE MOUNTAINS." My ten-year-old attention span just could not handle the exhaustion. But I guess I got over it because I've read the things, like, 21,034,840,921 times. On a tangentially related note: has anyone/everyone read The Passage?

Awesome, thank you! Great work on your first week. Namaste

Makes sense! I didn't start with a nice mat, either. Actually, my first mat wasn't even really designed for yoga. Anything is better than nothing.

What kind of mat are you looking into? I ask because I LOVE mine. It isn't cheap but it's the best one I have ever used. http://www.prana.com/e-c-o-yoga-mat.html (I actually have this one and part of what I love about it is the cheerful color, which sounds so silly...but whatever works.) Both sides are pretty non-slip, one is significantly more grippy than the other. The grippy side is actually so textured that I avoid using it unless I know I'm going to be sweating a lot. But the thing does not budge once you've placed it on the floor. And it is apparently impervious to yoga-mat stink. Yoga mats are so personal so I was reluctant to post this in your thread, but I couldn't resist evangelizing. However, the way I even found this one was by touching every mat in a well-stocked yoga studio's retail area, and talking to the teacher about what I specifically needed! So definitely don't take my advice over a pro's

Preemptive update #4 Mondays. Ugh, I missed my yoga session yesterday.Ugh, I miss lifting weights. Ugh, I was just. so. not. ready. for. MONDAY. CURSE YOU, MONDAY! CURRRSSSEEE YOOOOOUUUU! *shakes fist* No, but seriously. Yesterday I made a bunch of excuses about why I couldn't do my yoga routine. All of them were super lame, but it mostly comes down to being disorganized, and trying to tackle way too much on the weekends. Clean ALL the things. Make ALL the food. Re-pot ALL the plants. Organize ALL the drawers. It's amazing how much you can get done when you are avoiding doing something important. The worst part is, I was looking forward to doing yoga. Amazingly, I can look forward to doing something active and still sabotage myself. On top of that, my food decisions were borderline yesterday. BACK ON THE WAGON, GURL. New week, new me. So far today, I am a clean eater. I made a huge batch of this amazing garlicky greens + white bean soup last night and packed it all up for lunch this week. Breakfast/Snacking on walnuts, almonds and fruit. Tea for my caffeine fix, no sugar. Tonight, I'll practice my yogaholism, and probably add on some body weight circuits. I am so anxious to get back to lifting, but my lower back is very fragile right now so I need to take baby steps. Hopefully by the 4-week mark I can do some, and maybe in the meantime I'll do some arm stuff. Trying to turn my impatience into motivation, instead of just frustration. For the reading+writing, I think I'm going to start The 90 Day Novel, tonight. I've heard lots of good things, and honestly for round 1 I need to stop worrying about creating a masterpiece and just get the thing done. I can always tweak, rewrite and improve later. Thank you everyone for your encouragement. It means a whole lot to me that you're willing to give this a glance and check on my progress.

This is so rad. New goal of this challenge is to be able to get back in crow pose (it's been...a while since I could do that) and post it in here. All y'all are AWESOME.

I wish I could! I just find it so, so useful for networking that it is really indispensable to me. And thank you Thanks, substix! Affirmations from my fellow rebels really help me out.

WOW Shortstuff! You read at lightning speed! My mind boggles Great work on your first week. One down, five to go!

Oooooh man, do I ever know what you mean. I'm surprised how difficult my meditation challenge has been -- it's the first thing to go, for me. Good on you for keeping it up! I need to get back on the wagon, today. Are you finding that yoga is helping with your knee?

Woo, good work, all!

Wow, fantastic progress! And great work with the diet -- what you eat takes so, so much discipline. Good on you! theladders.com has a really interesting ebook about resume-writing. It was very helpful for me, when I was recrafting mine.

Yeah, I have definitey gone through several rounds of "friend"-purging since Facebook began way back when. It was just so novel in the beginning that I never said no to a friend request, and then for some reason I felt like I owed people my attention. Which is a big steamy pile. It feels merciless at the time, but really it's the most merciful thing you can do for yourself in that kind of situation. The more attention we devote to people who drain us, the less we have for great people, and for activities that make us better. Update 3: Doin' alright, except with the writing. Had two fail days for food. Looking forward to week 2!

Pictures!!!

Welcome welcome! Scuddle provided Do Yoga With Me -- have you tried it yet? I have not so I'd be curious what everyone things of it.

Sounds like a good start! What is this sleep cycle app!?!? I need that!!! (As for gum...Aspartame is pretty terrible for you, and apparently it can be addictive. I'm not a doctor so I have no professional medical opinion to dispense, but just watch your consumption and keep an eye out for headaches and other brain-related things.)

I'm so glad you enjoyed her video! I think it's just gorgeous. Update 2: First hour-long yoga routine in a looong long time last night. It was astonishingly challenging. It's amazing how stiff I have gotten in the few years I have worked a desk job. But I felt really great afterward, and my routine transitioned very easily into the five minutes of meditation. I don't want to speak too soon, but I may end up modifying my weekly yoga goals, because I am eager to get back to where I was, and then get to making big progress! Planning to do another hour routine tonight. I used this video and really liked the instructor. If it becomes too easy I'll look into getting her other videos. I'm anxious to get to the point where I can attend an actual class again. I did very well for food on days 2 and 3 -- yesterday all three of my meals were paleo, and 2 were vegetarian (lunch was spaghetti squash with shrimp). BUT the salad I threw together last night was so underwhelming that I woke up this morning crazy for heavier food, and ended up caving for a breakfast burrito. It wasn't as bad as it could have been -- no cheese, no meat, really nothing weird in it besides a bit of potato and the tortilla -- but it's still sitting in my stomach like a brick. So, anyone have awesome salad recipes? I've been really remiss about the reading and writing because I have been watching MARATHONS of Castle. Need to get a hold of myself. Breaking the trend, tonight!!

No worries. I couldn't remember Tom Hanks' name the other day. I literally said something like, "you know, maybe the most famous actor. He was in...um....*thinks very hard*...Forrest Gump." It doesn't help that all the Georges have approximately the same initials

I think maybe the autocorrect got you? The Song of Ice and Fire novels are by George R. R. Martin. Anyone else worried that the last two books are never going to be written???

I love that Aristotle quote. Great goals. Good luck to you!

The tracking is such a good idea. I'm going to do the same! I keep reading other people's goals and thinking "Guh...those should be MY goals." Which is to say, I feel for ya. Reading your descriptions, everything could easily describe my own situation. I'm reluctant to force myself to wake up earlier because sleep is such a problem for me, but mornings do seem to be the best time to get everything done...Do you find that you are unable to get stuff done in the evening? I think you're right not to focus on your weight -- weight is a symptom, not a cause! Oh and thank you for your playlist. I think I'll steal that, too

Oh Lord, maybe reading this wasn't such a good idea. My book list is growing by the minute...

Do you have a local YMCA or 24 Hour Fitness? Both are cheap and tend to have a decent free-weights section. (Although I personally can't stand the 24HF where I live in Southern California, because it is a meat market.) Both also usually have free-weight based classes, if that is your thing. Welcome! What Non-Fics do you recommend? I always struggle to read many of them. I tend to only get three or four in a year >< I wouldn't say it is as awesome as Nerdfitness, but it is a good way to get book recommendations from people you trust!

Wow! Your goals are fantastic, and good on you for posting those pictures! That was very courageous. (As a word of encouragement: I have seen worse, and I have seen that worse get completely overhauled. There were literally WEASELS living secretly in the worse that I speak of. But no more! It can absolutely be done, and I am sure you will do it!) And your day 1 progress is awesome. It's only going to get better from here. I'm excited to see your progress pictures!

I have gone years at a time without dairy and this has never been a problem for me. Dark green leafy things, nuts, and salmon! A glass of almond milk also has more calcium in it than cow's milk. But from one lady to another, if you're eating healthy calcium is almost never the issue...but vitamin D, which you need to absorb the calcium, often is. Most people in industrialized countries, and especially in the US, get their vitamin D from processed food that are "fortified" for it, and from milk. But eggs are pretty high in vitamin D, and a fair amount of sunshine goes a long way. (Or, in my case, a supplement. I am extremely vitamin D deficient if I am not careful. Desk jobs FTW!) I'm in no way trying to sell anyone on the Paleo diet, but dairy is definitely not a requirement. Delicious, yes, but requirement, no. EDIT: also, for most ladies, the biggest thing hurting calcium intake is carbonated drinks! They leech calcium out of your bloodstream and bones.