Bee Does Yoga

[Bee]

I’m back for a summer challenge and so looking forward to having a focus for these long unstructured days. What helps me the most with these challenges is the daily journaling, reflection, and accountability.  The levels and characters are so fun but this time around I need to just focus on my goals and not worry as much about points and percentages.  I’m taking a cue from my more successful past challenges and focusing on goals that are simple, straight-forward, and attainable. This will be my first challenge with the Druids!  

 

Challenge Goals:

 

1. 2 intentional workouts each week.  This will be done through my weekly yoga class and then another class or workout of my choice - either a fitness class with a friend when we are able to schedule one, an at-home yoga practice, or a long walk/hike.  Any exercise beyond twice a week is awesome and something I hope to do as well.

 

2. No chips.  Simple as that.  In the past year I stopped drinking soda and stopped consuming meat, dairy, and eggs.  I had to take a bit of a break from taking things out of my diet until I could get a handle on all the new changes I was experiencing.  Chips are a specific snack food that I eat too often and add nothing of value to my health, and are something I know I can and need to successfully quit.  The only times chips are okay: if they are topping a casserole or if I’m eating nachos.

 

3.  64 ounces of water daily.  I feel SO much better when I’m hydrated.  It regulates my appetite, helps with digestion, and reduces my anxiety.  I used to be really good at drinking enough water but fell off the wagon during the school year and haven’t been able to get a habit going again this summer.  If I can have a glass of lemon water upon waking up and then three more glasses throughout the day this will be an attainable and helpful goal.

 

Life Goals:

 

1. Commit to opening myself up to new solutions for my ADHD, anxiety, and depression.  I’ve been pretty stuck in the mindset of relying on medication.  It worked well for a while but I need to take the next step now of trying therapy again and looking into meditation (and more yoga).  I made myself a couple of appointments over the next few weeks and I’m keeping track of my mood to see which activities have the most positive impact.  Mental health and physical health go hand-in-hand!  

 

2. Avoid disposable cups and straws. They're a bummer and I use them way too frequently. This will double nicely as a reducing sweets/treats goal as it means I probably won't have as many iced chais/vanilla soy lattes/hot chocolates.

 

 

A little rambling . . . 

 

I started on NF about a year and a half ago, and since then I’ve had a few successful challenges and a few not-so-successful challenges.  I have learned a LOT about myself & my health since last summer and I’ve spent the previous year navigating the world of a wholesome vegan diet and lifestyle.  I’m currently the healthiest I’ve ever been, and although I haven’t been able to completely keep off some of the weight I lost, I haven’t gained any extra.  Exercise remains my nemesis, but I have enjoyed the process of finding what I truly love to do and learning to see movement as a normal part of life rather than a 30-minute chore.  Food, exercise, and mental health all play a part in bettering my wellness.

 

Things that work for me: eating plenty of fruits and veggies, limiting snacking, taking exercise classes with a buddy, getting enough sleep, planning out my meals, learning to cook, going for walks, practicing yoga, taking things one step at a time.  The simpler the plan, the more successful I usually am.  Any activities I can easily incorporate into my daily life allow me to build positive habits.  And being honest with myself about what I like to do and what I can do helps me narrow down what I can change right now.    

 

Things that don’t really work for me: counting calories, restricting too many foods at once, at-home workout DVDs, complicated tracking systems, weighing myself often, meal plans that are too long and adventurous, running.  All of these things have been tried multiple times, and I usually come up with the idea to jump into them again when I hit a period of desperation (weight gain, fatigue, social anxiety, deadline, etc).  It’s when I want to lose weight very quickly and lose sight of the bigger picture of overall health.   

 

With all this in mind my focus is to build habits that are meaningful and long-lasting through cleaning up my diet step by step and discovering what movement I enjoy most!

[Bee]

I got started-ish today with a few aspects of the upcoming challenge.  Walked about 6 miles with my husband (yay!) and took a Pilates class to see what it's all about; the latter wasn't super enjoyable, but at least I got two workouts in today and I feel great.  I didn't drink nearly enough water and absentmindedly ate some chips with my dinner -- exactly why it's in my challenge to take it out of my diet!  I definitely thought twice about disposable cups and bought sparkling juice in a can to eat with lunch instead of an iced chai (we were at a food cart); not ideal, but at least something I can recycle rather than just throw away.

 

I want to look into guided meditations I can listen to on my phone.  Any suggestions would be much appreciated!  

[Loveable_Bouncer]

Just want to give a high five to a fellow doer of taking action with your ADHD and depression. I personally have taken action toward my inattentive ADD in the last 5 years, on and off. Trying to figure out, with the fellow help with my mother (runs in my family strongly). I have other things that affect it.. .but that's also why I joined the Druid guild in the end.

 

I never thought of looking at straws, and how much is avoided. I personally have a full comfort thing when it comes to straws... My water bottle has the only reusable straw though (one day I will only have reusable straws).

 

I personally don't know any meditations on the phone, except the tip of try one and try others if your unsure what you like. When I personally look up meditations, I try to search for the intention I'm looking for (calming down, focus, sleeping, attracting materiel goods). Though at the same time... this can happen way too often:

 

 

Hope your Tuesday went well, and the rest of the week will go great!

[Bee]

2 hours ago, Bouncer the Resilient said:

 

Just want to give a high five to a fellow doer of taking action with your ADHD and depression. I personally have taken action toward my inattentive ADD in the last 5 years, on and off. Trying to figure out, with the fellow help with my mother (runs in my family strongly). I have other things that affect it.. .but that's also why I joined the Druid guild in the end.

 

I never thought of looking at straws, and how much is avoided. I personally have a full comfort thing when it comes to straws... My water bottle has the only reusable straw though (one day I will only have reusable straws).

 

I personally don't know any meditations on the phone, except the tip of try one and try others if your unsure what you like. When I personally look up meditations, I try to search for the intention I'm looking for (calming down, focus, sleeping, attracting materiel goods). Though at the same time... this can happen way too often:

 

 

Hope your Tuesday went well, and the rest of the week will go great!

 

Thank you @Bouncer the Resilient for the encouragement. I also have the AD(H)D Inattentive. I was diagnosed about two years ago. Big life changer finally figuring out why I couldn't keep a clean house or organized schedule despite being a relatively intelligent and responsible human being. That's great to hear your mom helps you out, supportive family is so important! I don't get it from my mom (she's more the OCD neat-freak side) but she has been a huge support as well. It would be great to learn some things you have tried. I got stuck at medication - so ridiculously hard to schedule therapy through my insurance and go more than once every two months. 

 

Somebody recommended Jon Kabat-Zinn. I've tried some guided meditation but get too distracted/bored/zoned out. Much like the lemur!

[Bee]

What went well: I got more water than usual (though not enough), talked myself out of Starbucks while running an errand, got together with some friends (which happens rarely for a super introvert such as myself), got some cleaning done around the house.

 

What didn't go so well: felt up and down in my mood today, ate way too much junk food (chips included). Just overall funky feeling. 

[Bee]

I woke up this morning a little more rested than yesterday and tried to evaluate what caused my crummy attitude.  I think a combination of hormones and way overeating junk food caused the mental distress and physical discomfort I experienced most of the day.  This morning I'm sipping on lemon water and giving myself some positive self-talk.  Today is yoga day, which makes me really happy.  I'm setting myself the goal today to focus most on water intake and not eating chips.  

[Loveable_Bouncer]

I say 3 cheers for getting quite a bit done with a crappy, mood. And hope our morning continues on throughout the day!

 

 

11 hours ago, Bee said:

Big life changer finally figuring out why I couldn't keep a clean house or organized schedule despite being a relatively intelligent and responsible human being. That's great to hear your mom helps you out, supportive family is so important! I don't get it from my mom (she's more the OCD neat-freak side) but she has been a huge support as well. It would be great to learn some things you have tried. I got stuck at medication - so ridiculously hard to schedule therapy through my insurance and go more than once every two months. 

Just wanted to say I haven't used the word lazy associated with me, since I have been tested... (And actually can't stand that word, since usually there is a solid reason a person can't quite do something).

 

The only issue my mom and I have is that she herself has ADHD and is still dealing with a harder depression after many years of difficulties. Where close, but when it comes to topics about "adulting" we are both flailing our arms and wishing the other person could be for each other.

[Kvedulf]

Hi!

Following along.

For guided meditation, a really good one is Headspace. It was recommended to me by several wonderful people on this forum. I tried it and it's good. I don't use it any more, simply because guided meditation doesn't work for me (I get distracted by the voices) but if you're wanting guided meditation, you can't beat it. It's an app you DL onto your phone. Another good one is to go to youtube and search for Middle Earth Meditations. I haven't used them, but apparently they're really good as well.

 

On 12/07/2016 at 0:22 PM, Bee said:

I’m keeping track of my mood to see which activities have the most positive impact.  Mental health and physical health go hand-in-hand!

This is such a brilliant idea. Simple, but genius! Why haven't I thought of this? Stealing to help with anxiety.

 

3 hours ago, Bouncer the Resilient said:

Just wanted to say I haven't used the word lazy associated with me, since I have been tested... (And actually can't stand that word, since usually there is a solid reason a person can't quite do something)

Can't agree more. Being "LAZY" is something I really struggle with and is a major trigger for my anxiety. I was called lazy as a child if I didn't want to do something. It can seriously mess you up

 

You got this Bee!

[Loveable_Bouncer]

34 minutes ago, Kvedulf said:

Can't agree more. Being "LAZY" is something I really struggle with and is a major trigger for my anxiety. I was called lazy as a child if I didn't want to do something. It can seriously mess you up

Yeah usually mine was not exactly lazy, 'But why can't you do this? Why are you so behind?'

My use of anxiety is finally making sense with how to complete things, and times when I know I just need a shut down day (even how the world acts, one day of missing something for health won't ruin the world).

 

33 minutes ago, Kvedulf said:

This is such a brilliant idea. Simple, but genius! Why haven't I thought of this? Stealing to help with anxiety.

One of my number one goals since day 1 of NF. I personal have a full cycle with my mental health (right now I'm on the VERY good side of things). So of course recording would make sense... (Unless of course, unless I get something out of it right away. Why would I do it more than 3 days?)

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

Following! It's great you know what isn't working for you and what direction you want to take. I love this healthy habits and mindset!!

[Bee]

Thank you all for the encouragement and advice. About ready to hit the hay for tonight. Today was good. Yoga was so, so good. No chips, an okay amount of water. My mood was a lot better -- I think doing Pilates put me in a crummy mood because it was hard and made

me feel bad about how out of shape I am. And just not as fun in general. But yoga put me in a great mood. I was busy today and felt like I accomplished good things. And tomorrow I have no plans except to relax a bit and work on the house and watch movies.  

[Loveable_Bouncer]

Glad you had a great day, and understand the feeling with Pilates. I ended up finding the pain out of Pilates the past few days, while I just started to do Yoga... Personally just realized how very different they are from the beginning.

 

And also jealous that you have an enthusiasm for Yoga, I started to do it partly because of how stiff I am. But hugely with how it can help the brain be more mindful and that darn anxiety bug that made going to the gym difficult. How long have you been practicing?

 

Also I was wondering do you have a lot of control if chips come in your home or not?

[Bee]

On July 13, 2016 at 10:58 AM, Bouncer the Resilient said:

I say 3 cheers for getting quite a bit done with a crappy, mood. And hope our morning continues on throughout the day!

 

 

Just wanted to say I haven't used the word lazy associated with me, since I have been tested... (And actually can't stand that word, since usually there is a solid reason a person can't quite do something).

 

The only issue my mom and I have is that she herself has ADHD and is still dealing with a harder depression after many years of difficulties. Where close, but when it comes to topics about "adulting" we are both flailing our arms and wishing the other person could be for each other.

 

That makes sense about your mom. My mom and I very close but very different, so sometimes our issues come from misunderstanding each other. But we get through it. 

[Bee]

Thank you @Kvedulf for the recommendation! I'm hoping it works to start tracking my moods. I've done it before and it helped me understand some of my issues with food. Expanding it to other things like exercise, meds, certain activities/situations, etc will hopefully give me even more insight. Hope it works for you! 

[Bee]

24 minutes ago, Bouncer the Resilient said:

Glad you had a great day, and understand the feeling with Pilates. I ended up finding the pain out of Pilates the past few days, while I just started to do Yoga... Personally just realized how very different they are from the beginning.

 

And also jealous that you have an enthusiasm for Yoga, I started to do it partly because of how stiff I am. But hugely with how it can help the brain be more mindful and that darn anxiety bug that made going to the gym difficult. How long have you been practicing?

 

Also I was wondering do you have a lot of control if chips come in your home or not?

 

Never having done Pilates before I assumed it would be similar to yoga and was surprised and disappointed when they turned out to be so different. Maybe a different instructor would be better though.

 

I started doing yoga in college pretty regularly because I could always take classes through school, but then I took about an 8 year break. I hate going to the gym alone, even to exercise by myself. I really prefer going to classes for motivation but every time I tried a yoga class after college it just didn't seem right - bad instructor or too many people or just out of place. I'm taking a therapeutic yoga class so lots of older folks and a very easy, slow pace. I love it. My hips have always been really tight, even as a kid, and I just needed to start doing it again as I've had growing knee and back issues. Plus I just love the vibe when it's a good class like the one I'm taking now. Helps a ton with mental health! 

 

When I'm in the flow of cutting something out of my diet I can usually avoid it even if it's in the house, but not always. Haven't been very successful wth chips but I'm still looking at this week as sort of a "prep" week before the next challenge officially starts. It will at least be good to understand my cravings!

[Loveable_Bouncer]

Yeah could have been a mix, at least you can say you know what the heck pilates is

 

That's cool you have been able to figure out a class to enjoy going back to. I personally gave up on classes, because I figured out I like taking my own pace. I'm only going through videos right now for basics since its just a tad less frustrating than reading out of a book.

 

Yup good mental state to have for this week. I'm having to catch myself a lot this week for making challenge, because right now I can run 80 while usually I can get to 20 on a good day. Now I actually have to go work on writing my actual challenge thread...

[Bee]

Today was alright.  Feeling good from my yoga yesterday, didn't quite get enough water, did eat some chips with lunch, no disposable cups/straws, and on day two of new medication for anxiety/ADHD.  The meds are making me feel a little wonky.  I got so used to a stimulant with few side effects that the return of nausea isn't wonderful, but I know it'll pass in a few days.  However, it did make me pretty lethargic today -- it's probably a good thing that I'm giving myself a day just to rest and veg and watch TV and sleep and be on the computer.

 

However, today is also a pretty wonderful day in that I'm celebrating ONE YEAR of being soda-free.  It's the first long-term habit I've ever built and I'm so proud of myself for sticking with it.  Baby steps are important steps!   

[Loveable_Bouncer]

Yay helping the earth with no disposable stuff! And hope the side effects turn for the better.

 

And congrats on your first anniversary of no soda! That I give you a salute.

I hope one day I can not need a pop to be able to think... (Though reasoning why I figured I need to talk to my doc next week about trying something else, or any of his advice).

[Twilight]

Congrats on your soda-free anniversary!

[Bee]

Successfully made it through the day without chips. Woohoo!

[Bee]

Gave into a frappuccino today (these meds are putting me through the ringer!) but otherwise the day went well. I guess the challenge officially starts tomorrow . . . ready to jump in and try to stick to everything. 

[Bee]

Day 1:

 

Workout: a little bit of walking, will do yoga and one other workout this week

 

Chips: none!

 

Water: I think around 50oz today. Not quite to 64 but an improvement.

 

Disposable cups: none! I got a reusable tumbler and straw so if I want to go out for anything I can take that with me. 

[Bee]

Day 2:

 

Workout: 4-mile walk today and I'm SORE tonight!  I call that 1/2 intentional workouts for the week

 

Chips: none!

 

Water: Probably just about 32oz.  Womp womp.

 

Disposable cups: Took my reusable tumbler on the walk and stopped at a cafe for an iced soy chai.  Yay!  

 

ADHD/anxiety: As mentioned I've started my new meds and they are giving me some icky side effects.  The doctor told me to give it a week if I was able to and see if they settle down.  I felt better yesterday but for whatever reason I was back to not so great today.  It seems to be exacerbated by things like alcohol, fried food, too many sweets - things that can normally give me a tummy ache if I eat too much of them but really seem to affect me even in small doses with the meds.  So I might need to just stop with the alcohol for a while (I rarely drink, but even the one cider yesterday was too much) and really chill on processed food.  It's tough to feel like I'm being defeated when I'm really trying to do something to help myself; I'm just keeping in mind that this is part of the process and it could pass in a few days.  If not, then I just move onto the next thing.

 

[Bee]

Day 3:

 

Workout: Lots of work around the house today but otherwise a rest day in terms of exercise.  Yoga tomorrow!  

 

Chips: None!  My husband opened a bag of Doritos and they smelled pretty amazing.  I can't eat them anyway since they have dairy in them and I don't have any of my own preferred chips in the house, but even so it was good to feel the craving and let it pass.  

 

Water: I'm just now realizing - literally none.  I have had only apple juice today.  After not feeling well yesterday my husband made a store run to get me some sick food (pasta and juice).  That's all I've had today, and I'm honestly okay with that.  Definitely will change for tomorrow.

 

Disposable cups: None!  I bought some metal straws so that I can start making thicker smoothies again at home, since I have been trying to avoid any disposable dishes/straws at home for a while now.    

 

ADHD/anxiety:  Things are a lot better today.  The meds take away a little bit of my appetite (such a rare thing for me!) and I realized I wasn't eating a whole lot.  Which I think made me feel more nauseated and exhausted.  I forced myself to eat a LOT today and now I'm incredibly stuffed, but at least I don't feel so crummy.  

 

I haven't had the energy to read through the other challenges as much as I wanted to.  So - best wishes to everyone who has gotten started, I hope to get caught up over the weekend if not later this week!  

[Bee]

Day 4:

 

Workout: Yoga day! So good. Learned a lot and feel like I'm starting to be able to challenge myself. Sometimes I feel shitty that I can't do what I used to be able to do 10 years ago, but I'm so much more connected to the experience this time around. 

 

Chips: None.

 

Water: I think I made it to 64 today! The trick for me is getting lots of water in the morning and then drinking more normally throughout the day.