I’m not entirely sure why, but I seem to always paint my fingernails right before writing a blog post. So, I sit here–yet another night– gingerly pressing on my laptop keys, trying my hardest not to smudge my nails as I regale you with fragments of my day. Well, actually, I am pulled between my thoughts and finishing an episode of Law & Order: special victims unit which is particularly entertaining tonight…but each time my index finger gets slightly jammed between the I and J key (this happens frequently for some reason) I panic and examine my hand to make sure I haven’t completely ruined my work. Okay well now that I’ve established that I enjoy painting my nails during inconvenient times, I guess it’s only fair if I move on to keep from boring you completely.
It’s been 2 weeks since starting my personal fitness and health challenge, and i have been slowly making progress. I can’t lie, I’ve had a few little stumbles along the way but part of the process involves making mistakes AND learning from those mistakes. Truthfully, I am paying dearly for my little ‘food cheat’ and if I could undo my bad choice I most certainly would. Long story short, I had a few fries at a restaurant that were cooked in the same fryer that foods containing gluten were cooked in, and if you remember i’m celiac SOOO I’ve been sick ever since. It started slow, with a little mild indigestion and bloating and after 6 days turned into a full attack. I have been having headaches, numbness in my right arm, severe cramps, bloating so bad I looked 4+ months pregnant, etc. Everything I eat makes me feel sick, and will probably continue to do so for another few weeks. As painful as this has been, it is sort of a good thing. Okay well not GOOD, since i’m sick and the gluten probably damaged my poor intestines but this nothing keeps a girl from having bad food like a little Pavlovion conditioning. If I remember correctly from psychology class, Pavlov used bells to elicit a certain response from the dogs. He would ring a bell and then feed them, eventually the dogs began to salivate every time they heard the bell ring (even before getting the food) because they had been conditioned to associate feeding with the bell. So, not the same thing, but let’s loosely apply this theory to my situation and say that technically bad greasy food SHOULD make me run the other direction because I got sick after eating it and therefore associate aches, pains of a gluten attack with them. 😀
I had intended for this post to be quite short, but obviously that isn’t going to happen. *Oopsies* I started by admitting my cheat, but I’d also like to focus on a few positives that have come out of me doing this challenge.
1. I have gotten stronger with headstands already. I have been following along with the maytheforcebewithyogis instagram challenge and one of the poses this month has been a forearm headstand (not fully extended) with a variation on the legs. The girls who are running the challenge post several photos as sort of a “how to” instructional to get into the poses, as well as, a full write up under the photo with step by step instructions for getting into the pose. The photos allowed me to see how my body SHOULD look during each step of getting into the air and it’s because of this that I was able to lift my legs without wall support AND not face plant (at least not immediately). My balance has improved, and I am just overall feeling stronger and more confident in my ability.
2. I promised myself i’d get more organized, AND I HAVE. I even created a workout plan that I will be following for 2 weeks. I have mapped out what I should be doing every day of the week (I’ll repeat the process next week too, before creating a new plan and following that for 2 weeks, etc). I created a meal plan as well, but since i’m having some severe stomach/intestine issues at the moment that has been modified to include a ton of juice and green smoothies.
3. As mentioned in #1 I have been following that instagram yoga challenge. I haven’t taken photos or participated by posting myself in the poses, but I have been doing them each day. Some are easier to do than others, but so far, most of them have been poses i’ve never tried before and I’m loving exploring different things my body is capable of!
And finally, I have several add ons for this week. Actually only 2….
1. Focus on making healthy smoothies that are easily digestible and help heal my gluten induced state of emergency. The less work my body has to do the better, but I am just not in a juice cleanse state of mind so foods….soft foods, simple foods, and lots of green smoothies. Basically, I need to work on feeling better.
2. Pull out my old enemy–the Foam roller. I was training for a 1/2 marathon a few years ago and totaled my knees. At first I was depressed and tried everything to fix the problem, but when months passed and I still couldn’t run I sort of stopped my regimen of stretching and foam rolling. I plan to make a post regarding this whole situation in the next little while, but i’d love to be able to run again without feeling like my knees are about to break and to do this I have to work on my hip flexors and IT band. So. For the next month, this involves hopping on the foam roller for AT LEAST 10 minutes a day (trust me seems like no time but, 10 minutes of fighting back tears will work wonders for my IT band).
I have recipes ready to post this week! Finally, I know. I am hoping to have 1 up in a few days, so stay tuned. Until then, eat clean, train dirty…and remember to take time for yourself!
*Hugs*
Spin Bikes and Opaque Tights 