Getting Fit and Staying There...

"Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will 

sooner or later have to find time for illness."  ~Edward Stanley

I have worked out, on and off, for my entire life. As a kid, I took tons of dance, ice skating, and swimming lessons. In high school, I swam varsity. During college, I took advantage of my PE electives to learn how to fence and a few other things. Once done with college, I joined a gym. In my late 20's and through my 30's, I did Jazzercise. In my 40's, I was back in the gym, but fell off because I was "too busy." In my 50's, I started out sluggish, but then started doing more and felt good. Then I got injured. For almost 6 years, I suffered from plantar fasciitis, and then from achilles tendinitis. I did everything I was told to do to help cure it. I lost weight, I worked with a physical therapist, I rested, I stretched, I rolled a tennis ball, I did everything short of cortisone injections (and I was considering those). Nothing helped.

What ended up healing everything and helping was not giving up. I got moving and I kept moving. I stayed alert to my body signals of "ok, you're done." but I didn't give up and I didn't stop. I modified. I modified more. I didn't do some moves and substituted other moves, but I kept moving. I believe this has made all of the difference. Today I have a rare ache in the ankle, and stretching usually takes care of it right away. I will admit, I'm mighty cautious about what I do! If a move hurts, I find an alternative. I don't "push through" as I would have earlier in life.

I think we need to find ways to keep moving, no matter what age we are. It's too easy to let our sedentary lifestyles take over, and too easy to convince ourselves that we "don't have time" to workout, around commuting, work, family, and other obligations. It's a big lie, and it needs to stop! Moving your body is so so important. There is something in our bodies called "synovial fluid." Not to get super scientific, but synovial fluid makes the joints slide and move easily. It's like oil in a car engine, and it's super important. I think it's gotten all to easy to say that it hurts to exercise, and it's become an easy way out. I also believe that there is something for everyone. Everyone can find some way to move their body and preserve their mobility.

I believe that there's more to the whole moving thing than just doing something. Three things leap to mind in regard to exercise for me: find something you enjoy,find a way of eating that can be a lifestyle rather than a bandaid, and support your body with superfoods and great supplements.

Do something you enjoy
For me, I have always loved dancing. I do not like to run. Ever. It's no secret that I'm a Beachbody coach and that I love the Beachbody on Demand program. I think I've mentioned it enough so everyone knows. My favorite workouts are Cize, 21 Day Fix, Shift Shop, Country Heat, Rockin' Body, Focus T25, and Turbo Jam. Crazy, right? These are all high intensity programs, BUT, by listening to my body and modifying what I need to, I am able to successfully do them, and have fun, while taking care of myself.

Eating is a lifestyle not a bandaid
I'm allergic to the word diet. You say diet, I shut down. Having said that, making a lifestyle change is a positive, meaning that you are making a choice to make a new, healthier habit that will sustain your body and enable you to grow and do more. (Should that say shrink and do more? LOL) Anyhow, I don't approach my food as a problem to be solved, or as something I'm going to do for a little while and then stop doing. This is my life. I only have ONE body. I have to decide to make better choices, and stick to them. I am not perfect, but every day I start the day with an agreement with myself that I will feed my body nutritious, healthy food that will help me go through my day successfully and healthily. I view my food as fuel. Instead of focusing on what I can't have, I focus on all of the amazing things I CAN have! Instead of a sweet breakfast treat in the morning, I might have a small bowl of grapes or a banana. I know that both are good for me and provide solid nutrition.

On the same topic, I try not to leave meals to chance. Here are a few of my tips on that.
If we eat out, I try to look at the menu ahead of time and figure out a few choices. I used to pick one thing and then, once I got to the place, look at the menu and get all out of sorts because I didn't really *want* that one thing. However, now I pick a couple of options, and then make my final choice once I'm live and in person. See the difference? Instead of buttonholing myself into a very tight corner, I give myself some space and room to make a final choice, so it doesn't feel uncomfortable or forced.

During the week, I take my lunch to work. Every. single. day. I used to take it 4 days a week and eat out on the 5th day, but I decided, one week that I'd rather just bring my lunch every day. I enjoy my lunches. They are delicious and healthy! I meal prep on Sunday, making 5 lunches, in containers that I can grab in the morning and take with me. It takes away yet another danger zone, and it's a simple and happy habit.

Support your body with Superfoods and great nutrition
For breakfast, I almost always have my Shakeology superfood dense nutrient-packed shake, with a banana, ice, almond milk and whatever else I toss in, like spinach. I get an extra serving of veggies in before 8 am! That's on top of the fact that the Shakeology is so chockful of healthy superfoods. I love it!!

I also shop for the best produce I can afford. I try to buy organic, but don't always, because sometimes it's just not feasible. On Sunday, when I make my lunches, I will often cook extra vegetables so that there are no excuses during the week for not having them. This has helped me stay on track more than once, but that's a post for another day!

For now, keep going. If you aren't working out, please start. If you need help or guidance with workouts, I'm here to help and happy to assist. I'm down over 33 lbs and over 25 inches so far this year, with no end in sight! I'm getting stronger and more fit every day. I have a lifetime of athletics behind me and a world of experience with food that I'm willing to share!

I'm starting to tag my workouts #fitnfabover55 on Facebook, join me, ok?

-- Have a wonderful day!

Tips for Holiday Survival

We are rapidly heading into the part of the year where best intentions get sidelined, "food-centric" holidays are abundant, the days get shorter, we want to go into hibernate mode, and generally, priorities can get skewed. In preparation for that, I thought I would share what I do. I plan. No, seriously. I plan. I start NOW, thinking about "holiday survival".

1. Think it through. What do I need to do differently. How will I get through different scenarios. For instance, what would REALLY happen if I pulled out my yellow container on Thanksgiving? (that's a really humorous thought, right? but, when everyone KNOWS how hard you have worked all year, what do you think they would really do? Probably nothing. in fact, they might want to do the same thing!)  Loosely, here's what I do. I think through parties or family functions. Can we bring a veggie tray? Can I eat beforehand? Can I have a shake and then make a really small plate of just my very favorite things? You don't need to get obsessive on this, but at least think about it. Don't just go in blindly, assuming that it will all be fine, because that's a recipe for disaster. Think it through, decide where your boundaries are, and stick to them.

2. Keep it to yourself. I don't tell anyone (except my husband) about any of this planning, by the way. The WORST mistake ever was admitting, on a holiday, at a family dinner, that I was planning to stick to my diet. It then became almost a challenge to everyone to offer me things that I wouldn't normally eat. "Can you have this?" "are you sure you don't want this?" "oh, this is my favorite, I thought it was yours, right?" Instead, I just take small portions of the things I want, that fit in with my plan, which I did up front, before the event, and I enjoy my day, within my own rules.

3. Bring what you can eat. If you are a person who really enjoys dessert but wants to stick to your program, bring a dessert you can eat. In fact, be warned, bring lots. People will want to eat it and will actually gravitate toward it. I typically will bring a crustless pumpkin pie, which I actually make in individual ramekins, as well as a couple of other things, to be sure there's enough. Apple pie can be a great addition, because you can make it fairly healthy, right? By bringing my own desserts, and making sure I get some, I am not denying myself. I'm still able to eat and enjoy.

4. Remember that it is just ONE meal. I think the holidays get blown up into a food fest. There's certain things that are only "in focus" around the holidays, like huge platters of cookies, egg nog, pies and other desserts, boxes of chocolate and other treats. It can become a sort of landmine if you are eating mindfully and trying not to sabotage what you've worked so hard for all year. Instead of succumbing to all those foods, I try to remember that, for instance, Thanksgiving dinner is ONE meal. Just one. It's not an opportunity to eat all the things. I don't eat all day long, I eat very carefully all day, then I enjoy my turkey dinner, then I'm right back onto my eating plan. I just am. It is important to me, so I make it important. I don't just throw all my hard work to the wind. That's only disappointing me. If I know we will have a huge meal, (like Thanksgiving), I will eat a sparce breakfast and plan a sparce dinner. (our Thanksgiving meal, for instance, is usually around 3, so it replaces lunch...)

5. Work it out. Yesterday, on Facebook, I already saw a post where someone was asking "are you planning to workout on Thanksgiving and Christmas?" Really? What makes those days different? If you enjoy your workouts and are having good results, why would you stop? Why not actually make it a little easier on yourself by doing your workout first thing in the morning so that you have given your body some kindness and attention and can eat without thinking about how much you have to do to burn off all that food. (which doesn't even work!) It's just another day! I plan to do a workout in the morning, and actually, might add some yoga in the evening, to smooth it all out.

6. Enjoy the day. The purpose of holidays isn't food. It's not. The food is not supposed to be the driving factor of everything. It has, over time, become the focal point, which is wrong. The focal point of holidays is being together. Sharing gratitude and love with family and friends.
If you follow even 3 or 4 of these tips, I think you will find that you enjoy your holidays more. I know I do, because I know that I will finish the holiday season happy, healthy, and ahead of the game, not having gained a bunch of senseless weight because I ate my way through them. :)

-Have a fabulous day, and I hope these tips help you in the holiday season!

60 Day Checkin (Beachbody)

Well, it's been 60 days since I started to seriously focus and track on my fitness with Beachbody on Demand. Here's what happened:

I am beyond excited about these results and completely committed to continuing on. I signed up to be a Beachbody Coach (www.beachbodycoach.com/septemberradecki )so that I can focus on helping other people achieve their goals too! As I have matured (read reached an age over 55) I find that there are less resources for us. Less resources that tell you it's okay to modify, it's okay to take a rest day if you need it, and it's okay to listen to your body! It's NOT okay to make a goal of eating clean and throw it out the window. It's NOT okay to make a goal of working out six days a week and chuck it out the window every time your friends want to do something. Just like everything else in life, I feel like we need to commit to ourselves. My workouts are sacred. They are as important as getting up in the morning and being to work on time, and getting to bed on time at night. They are what I do.

I am getting lots of questions at work about the "shakes" I make every day for either my morning or afternoon snack, so I'm going to address that here. I drink a Shakeology every single day. Some days it replaces my breakfast and other days it's a snack, but I do drink one every day. I do it because I love shakeology! SInce I started drinking it in July, I have had stronger workouts, more energy, fewer cravings, better sleep, and my hair, skin and nails are growing like crazy! Why? Because Shakeology isn't your standard "protein shake". It is actually a dense nutrition shake, chock full of superfoods. If you eat clean, this is the shake you want. Below is a sheet that tells about one of my favorites, Chocolate Vegan.

If you read those ingredients, you will see so so so many super beneficial superfoods, from maca to goji to spirulina to maitako mushrooms to reishi mushrooms to moringa and more. There is NO added sugar. None. 9 grams of sugar in a serving, which naturally occurs in the ingredients, making this a great choice. It does have Stevia, but that's also a plant, and a healthy one at that.

At first, I just went along with the shakeology drinking, but after a week or so, I noticed that I felt different. I don't feel sluggish anymore as the day goes by and as I said before, my hair, skin, and nails are all acting like I have superpowers.

If you know me, you know I'm a clean eater. I don't eat a lot of junk. I'm dairy free and gluten free and I am fiercely protective of that because when I don't eat that way, I suffer from ill side effects that I'm not sharing, but it's not pretty! I have continued this while doing Beachbody workouts, and it has served me well.

I'm working out 6 days a week, most of the time. Occasionally, on Sunday mornings, I will do a yoga run through for a 7th day, because it feels good, but for the most part, Sundays are my rest day. On the other days, I usually pick a 30 minute workout. For me, working out in the afternoon is better. It keeps my stress level down in the morning and it is actually when I have almost always worked out. I was driving home the other day thinking about it. When I was in high school, I swam on the wim team. We practiced in the afternoon. Later, I would go to Jazzercise in the evenings. For the past 4 years, I have done DDPYoga, mostly in the afternoons. So it makes sense that I do my Beachbody workouts in the afternoon/early evening. Once in a while, on the weekend, I'll knock out my workout in the morning, but not always, and it does always feel weird!

I guess that's it for now. I just wanted to do my 60 day checkin and follow up on what exactly I'm doing. Right now, Beachbody is running a special where for $160 you get a whole year of Beachbody on Demand Access, a month of Shakeology in any of the amazing flavors (I use the vegan because of my gliten and dairy issue), and the 21 day fix portion containers (which are epic!). For $99, you can forgo the containers and the Shakeology and only get the year of access to Beachbody on Demand.

Make sure you choose me as your coach, because I'd be thrilled to help you work toward your health goals!!! www.beachbodycoach.com/septemberradecki

Push Through and Shine

Have you done something where, at the start, you were completely overwhelmed and totally unsure if you could really do it?
What was it? Climbing Half Dome? Painting a room? Cleaning a closet? Driving 1000 miles? Ice skating backwards? Meeting someone new? Arriving late at a party? Doing your first 5k? Running your first marathon?
So what happened? Did you do it? I bet you did. I bet you totally overcame your uncertainties and totally did whatever it was. I bet you did. You know why? Human spirit. We WANT to set goals and kick them in the teeth. We want to better ourselves. We want to have rooms that have pretty walls. We want to learn new things. While we might not want to GO to the party, there is usually some reward in going, such as being there for the host or hostess, seeing an old friend you haven't seen in a while, meeting someone who you have wanted to meet, or even watching the glee on your child's face because they wanted to come so much.
What makes working out different? How is starting a fitness journey any scarier than any of the other things I mentioned? You know what? It's not!! It's time to own it and believe in yourself.
I hear people tell me all the time , "I'm too out of shape to do that" or the worst of all "I'm too old to do that..." Nope. You aren't. I'm not saying that your comments are not valid. I'm not saying that at all. Your comments are valid to you and that's your truth. What I AM saying, is that you can change the stories you tell yourself and change your life. You CAN do almost anything you set your mind to do.
Let me tell you a funny story. When I was 25, I bought my first home, an upstairs condo. It was really a sweet condo, with a large living room that had 6 foot vaulted ceilings. I loved it. My first husband moved in with me, about 9 months before we got married. He was a strong guy, a welder, and firmly believed that he should do the heavy lifting and the hard stuff, because it was too much for me. We were always at odds over this, because I'm actually a pretty competent human being at solving problems and figuring out how to do what I want or need to do! One day, he was off helping his Dad with something across town. We had talked about rearranging the furniture in the living room for weeks, but not done anything. We had this one piece of furniture that was super heavy. Seriously. It weighed a metric ton. I don't even remember what it was, but I DO remember it was very heavy. By the time he came home, I had moved everything. He walked in the door and just stood there. Then he looked at me and asked who came to help. I told him that I had done it myself. He didn't believe me. I literally ended up having to demonstrate my method for moving furniture. Looking back now, I'm sure he had to fight back laughter, but I did what I wanted to do and got it done. (If you know me and have worked out with me at all, you know I'm what they call a quad centric athlete. My legs are super strong. my upper body, not as much. I had seated myself on the floor and moved furniture using my legs to push it. It was incredibly hard, and would not have been a good idea with anything tall, but I don't think I moved anything tall! LOL)  This is a great example of "you can do anything!"
When I started doing Beachbody workouts, I couldn't hardly keep up with the workouts. They were hard! I actually started with a Shaun T. weeklong challenge. I didn't realize until later that it probably wasn't at my level. By the time I realized, I was halfway through the week and in love with it. I was modifying things and marching in place when I was overwhelmed, and just kept going like the Energizer Bunny.

This quote, by Arthur Boorman is a guiding light for me. It says it all. If you don't know who Arthur is, do a google search. Arthur is probably the most determined guy ever. He was injured as a paratrooper, used walking canes, started doing DDPYoga, and now can run! Really. I encourage you to read his story, print this quote out, and paste it in places where you see it all the time, as a reminder. YOU CAN DO IT! Keep pressing forward, keep trying. You will get there.
On 7/10, I officially started my Beachbody journey. That was 49 days ago.  I joined a challenge group and signed up for Beachbody on Demand and started drinking Shakeology every single day. In that time, I've worked out on 43 of those days. Pretty amazing if you ask me! I'm NOT a girl who likes to get sweaty, honest. But, I AM a girl who is focused and determined. I've set a goal to get rid of all of my extra weight and live the rest of my life in a healthy, happy way, that doesn't include being overweight and out of shape. I've also lost over 10 inches and 8 pounds. I've dropped from a 2X to an XL in tops and I've dropped a size in bottoms. However, the biggest change is that I look forward to my workout time, and I MAKE time to do it. It is important to me. I matter. Taking care of me, taking care of my physical needs is something that I tend to put aside as soon as something goes wrong, but you know what? There will always be something. Always. If I am not the best version of me I can be, how can I help anyone else? That's the key. Instead of looking at this as only for me, I'm looking outward at the impact of my changes. Living my life to it's fullest is SO important to me. We are going to Hawaii in November. For the last couple of years, when I've flown anywhere, I was on the verge of asking for a seatbelt extender. This year, I've flown twice and each time, I've been able to tighten the seatbelt a little more. I have wanted to learn to paddleboard since I started seeing people doing it in Hawaii. I have decided I'm going to learn while we are there.
If any of this resonates with you, or makes you feel like you want to talk more, please reach out. Call me, text me, send me a message on Facebook. Whatever it takes. If you are in need of a new way of working out because of an injury or because of age or anything else, please reach out. I'm here, I'm more than willing to help, and I will either have answers or know where to get them!!!  Let's do this thing together!!!!
- Have a beautiful day!

P.S. I'm still doing Weight Watchers and still loving it! :)

New Venture, Explained

I know that my blog talks a lot about DDPYoga and my journey. I know there are probably a lot of readers who are totally confused at my abrupt change. Let me try to explain a bit, if I can.
First of all, DDPYoga literally saved my life. When I joined the DDPYoga lifestyle, I weighed over 300 lbs. I could not tie my shoes, I got tired after walking less than 100 yards, my feet constantly hurt from plantar fasciitis, and I figured I was "too old" to do anything about my weight, and felt like I couldn't, because of the pain. Fast forward 2 1/2 years, and I attended the DDPYoga Retreat in Cancun, Mexico! I did all but 1 workout. I loved every minute of it. I got feedback from Dallas on my form, and set a personal goal with him at the going away party, (which everyone does!), to lose 30 lbs. in 6 months. He told me it was a pretty aggressive goal but I said yes.  I went home, with newfound energy and commitment, and lost 20 lbs of the 30. Then I was stuck. I was stuck because of something that I choose not to share publicly, but something that I  DID share with my accountability partners, and did my best to work through. Having said that, I lost those 10, about a week before the 6 month mark and proudly emailed Dallas and shared.
 I figured I would continue on and continue to lose, but life and the universe had different plans. My personal life continued to flouder and it floundered in ways that made it really hard to hit my mat, really hard to even find a place to workout with the quiet that I personally need to do DDPYoga. I stopped working out. During this time frame, I also was reminded by a  specialist that not giving my left achilles, which was inflamed, time to heal, meant it would always be an issue. So I rested it. And I ate. 2016 is a banner year in my life, and will never be forgotten. There was good, there was bad, there was "wait, are you kidding me, this isn't my life." But it happened, and it is what it is. It's over.
Fast forward to January of 2017. Every year, I pick a word to live by. I set an intention of living by that word and what it means. This year, I picked PEACE. I wanted to reclaim the peace that I had built in my life, and I meant business. On January 3rd, I joined Weight Watchers. I was so close to 300 at this point that it scared me. I was, however, done playing around, and intent on losing the 30 lbs I had lost with the goal with Dallas, and more. This was it. I decided to do WW and remain gluten and dairy free, as that's how I feel healthiest. At first, I didn't add any exercise in. I just didn't really have time. Our granddaughter lives with us part of the time and is much more fun than Dallas and DDPYoga. :)  I went to the gym sporadically and rode the bike. I even dropped the too-far-from-home-gym and joined 24 hour fitness around the corner from home and biked. A lot. I did that for several months. I lost about 18-20 lbs. Slowly.
In mid-June, a friend posted on Facebook that she was looking for people who wanted to participate in a test exercise group. I answered immediately. "Sure, why not." She folded me into a group of women, who, come to find out, would be active participants in me reclaiming my life even further and realizing how many lies I had told myself about my age and abilities. This was a Beachbody group. I didn't know it at the time, but many of the ladies in the group are my age. Experienced in life, and all with "stories", all different, but all important in who each of us is.
I started to lose inches and pounds. I started working out at home, but I changed it up. I do as many of my workouts as I can in the backyard on the patio. Once the weather cools, I'll move inside, as I do when it's over 90, but for most of the summer, I've worked out on the patio. It's been amazing. Lots of light, sun, soft breezes, and, lately, dragonflies that come back again and again to accompany me on my journey.
It's now the end of August. I'm now down a total of 28 lbs and at least 11.5 inches. I'm due to measure this weekend so I'll have to update once I do that, but suffice it to say, I've had to donate clothes, buy clothes, and tighten my belt a bunch since starting Beachbody.
So what does this have to do with DDPYoga? I'm still a member of the community, and occasionally, I hit my mat and do a workout. I have the app and once in a blue moon I use it. For daily use, I've found that right now, at the health level I'm at, I push myself too hard in DDPYoga for what my body can tolerate, so I've backed off some and am building tone and muscle with Beachbody workouts, but I have NO intention of giving up DDPYoga. None. I just want to build some core strength, ankle strength, and shoulder strength to make my DDPYoga journey more fun and comfortable. For right now? I'm loving Beachbody on Demand as well! I'm a coach, and willing to share if you are interested in what I'm doing, just send me a message and we can chat!
I think that we all have our own fitness journeys. I also firmly believe that fitness journeys are multi-faceted. There is room for so much variety. Biking, hiking, lifting weights, DDPyoga, Pilates, whatever you choose. The most important thing is to keep moving. Don't stop. Keep fighting. Age IS just a number, but if you stop moving, it will be harder and harder to GET moving again. Never give up.
One last thing. You definitely want to keep an eye out here on my blog, because I'm working on a Soul Restoration retreat that will incorporate a few workouts as "tension relievers"!!! It's going to be a blast!!! (there might even be the opportunity to work with an Energy Coach!)
- Have a beautiful day!

Do You Really Understand What Modifying Means in a Workout?

Seriously. What do you think when someone says "Oh I did that workout and I modified it!" Do you think "Wimp! Why modify? Just push through?" or do you think "Wow, smart, know your limits." I will openly admit that ever since I can remember, I've done my best not to modify. I went at my workouts like I go at everything in life, with everything I have, and I expect Virgo perfectionism. I'm dead serious!!
So, 4 years ago, when I started DDPYoga, I didn't really understand that any form of yoga is a "practice". I approached it as if it was something to conquer. Beat each move into submission and move on to the next one. I watched others do this, why not me? Well, I hurt myself pretty good a couple of times. Once was a shoulder that healed up pretty quick, but the other was Achilles tendinitis caused by me pressing down way too hard for my body's limits, in down dog. It was a painful lesson and took forever to recover from!! Even now, I have days where the KT tape comes out and the ankle gets taped before I workout!
These Beachbody workouts that I'm doing? They are no joke. Man, these are HARDCORE, results oriented, kick your a$$ workouts! I'm LOVING them, but I will admit, they are not simple. But you know what? They are only as difficult as *I* make them! I go into a workout with the agreement with myself that I will try everything, and then modify. There are times that I modify the modifiers. There are also times when I do not do what's being done, I do my own thing. I wear a heart rate monitor too! (and I listen to it!!)
I guess I just want to see people be successful and enjoy their workouts. Workouts are so much more fun when you are successful, and you stay motivated when you are successful much more easily than you do if you don't enjoy what you're doing!!
I'm starting a challenge group on Monday (8/28). If you want to know more about it, or want to join us, please, just drop me a message and I'll get back to you and help you get started. It's going to be fun! How can it not be fun to lose weight, inches, and meet new people? (It's online, you can do the workouts whenever you want, streamed from Beachbody! and yes, you do need to buy a subscription to Beachbody to participate!)
Please remember, above all else, in whatever you do, there is NO shame in modifying. No shame at all. We aren't all 20-something, and eventually, with PRACTICE (see what I did there?) you will reach a point where you can suddenly unmodify that move that you were having to modify!
I look forward to hearing from you!
- Have a beautiful day!

Hello, is it me you're looking for?

Yes, I'm breathing, alive, and back to my blog. It has been a wild time for the past 15 months or so. I hesitate to say things are calming down, so instead, I'll just say that I've adjusted to the changes, and I'm getting my act together and rejoining humanity!

For about 5 years, I suffered with really bad plantar fascia issues, and then, for the past 2.5,  achilles tendinitis. I was "sort" of healed by the time I went to the DDP Yoga retreat in October of 2015, but not all the way. Life went a bit crazy and I ended up making a conscious choice to stay off my mat for a while and give my achilles time to heal. The doctor told me it would take 6-9 months to fully recover. I'm pleased to say that everything finally feels like an almost normal person. I'm building back up on everything, and so far, so good. I am currently getting into a schedule of going to the gym 3 times a week and doing DDPYoga or restorative yoga a couple of days a week.

In January, I joined Weight Watchers, as well. I needed accountability. I am still gluten free and dairy free, but have put a WW wrapper on all of that with my tracking and limiting how much I eat. It's working. I've lost 12.2 lbs since I started on 1/3, which isn't a lot, but the scale is moving in the right direction and my jeans are too big. I'm good with all of that. If you look at my DDPYoga friendly recipe page, I'll be adding more recipes soon. I have a few new tricks that are yummy and friendly. There are some that might have a bit of gluten, because of ingredients, so be aware. For now, look at these amazing donuts I made a few weeks ago! They are 3 smartpoints each and stuffed with protein and goodness!


In other news!!! I'm excited to share that I am now a Soul Restoration Certified Instructor with Brave Girls Club. If you know me at all, you know that I love the Brave Girls Club organization and I really believe in the work that Melody Ross started. It felt so natural to sign up to become an instructor. I went to Boise for a week in March, and got all of my training. I've spent the last 6 weeks since organizing myself, getting my website started, business cards, and other planning. For right now, my plan is to offer one on one Soul Restoration classes. My time is pretty tight, so doing it this way will give my students the best attention. I'm really jazzed and have at least 3 students lined up. I just need to lock down final details and go for it!!!  If you are interested in learning more, look at the new page on my blog, Restorative Hearts Soul Restoration Workshops for more information. You can also, as always, reach out to me directly to ask! Here's a photo of me with my classmates in Boise toward the end of class. It was a whirlwind week!


I guess that's about it for today. Make it an awesome day and be kind to each other! I promise to be back soon!

Day 12 of 2015, Checkin' in...

Today is the 12th day of a brand new year. I'm happy to say that so far this year, I have worked out 9 of the 11 days! (Not counting today, because it's early in the day yet and I haven't hit my mat or met my step goals.)

My eating is back under control after the holidays and I'm walking as much as possible every day.  I gained about 5 pounds between Thanksgiving and January 1. I'm fine with that. I lived my life, I visited family I don't see very often, and I attended several holiday parties. I can own those 5 pounds, and they won't stay, because I'm already working on them!

As many know, back in early November, I sprained my wrist. It was a bad sprain. I am not really sure how I did it, all I know is that the minute I tried to put ANY weight on my left wrist, I was in a lot of pain. The kind of pain you don't ignore. The chiropractor adjusted and adjusted and adjusted, but it just wasn't responding. Finally, in mid-December, I bought myself an incredibrace, and honestly? Within 5 days, my wrist started responding. During that time, I took some vacation from work, so I wasn't typing as much, and I also did a bit of travel, taking a short break from doing DDP Yoga (about 4 days.) In the time before and since the 4 days off, however, I've been focused in on modifying whatever I needed to and getting my workouts in. Here's where I'm at, right now. (I use a program called Everymove.org which tracks active days. Active days are any day where you get more than 45 minutes of physical activity.) Out of the last 30 days, spanning from 12/11 to 1/11, I clocked 21/30 as "active days." I will take it!

Working with my accountability partner, Mark Furniss, I have started using the schedule in the DDP yoga manual, again, as of January 4, the official end of vacation. Last week, I followed the Advance schedule, week 5, with the exception on Diamond Cutter, which got left out on purpose. I realized that if I made the week start on Sunday instead of Monday, I could have Friday and Saturday off. This works MUCH better for me as Friday night is date night in our home, and I LOVE a long workout on a Sunday morning! So, I purposefully skipped Diamond Cutter on Friday, and started out the week with a Sunday morning Diamond Cutter! It was an awesome first Diamond Cutter in 2015, and a first DC since October. There were modifications and adjustments, but who cares, I still burned over 400 calories and I had fun doing it! That's what matters.

This week will be:
Sunday: Diamond Cutter
Monday: Fat Burner/Red Hot Core
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Below the Belt
Thursday: Stand Up, Red Hot Core
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest

On the weight loss front, as I admitted at the beginning, I'm up about 5 pounds, but I'm not sweating it. My clothing is still getting looser and looser, and I'm clearly losing and seeing more muscle definition everywhere!

I am so very happy right now. So happy with my loss, my progress, my workouts. Just happy. And incredibly grateful for so much. It's a wonderful way to start the new year, feeling happy and grateful. I hope you are enjoying your journey as much as I'm enjoying mine, or at least are finding the good things, to offset some of the bad. :) Let's work to make 2015 a year of awesome and amazing.

DDP Yoga for Life - Food Planning for Success

I get a lot of questions about food. The majority are about “what about when you go out? What about lunches?” So I decided to do a blog post about my personal planning. While your mileage may vary, I’m hoping that some of what I do will help you in your own weight loss journey.

By day, I work in an Engineering environment. We plan our work and work our plan. (Well, that’s what we are “supposed” to do, right? Anyone who knows Engineers knows that this can be nebulous.) Nonetheless, I apply this to my eating as well. To track our needed groceries, we use an application called Our Groceries. It is on both iPhone and Android. It allows you to have multiple lists, for different kinds of stores, and we use it for everything. We have a list for the “regular” grocery store, as well as a list for Whole Foods, and another local market called New Leaf. The list is kept up to date by all members of the family, all the time. If you use the last of something, you’re responsible for either adding to the list or telling my husband, the List Master about using the last of it.

By Friday afternoon, I try to decide what I want to eat next week, and adding to our weekly grocery list, as we usually shop either on Saturday or Sunday. I know what I need and I know what I have. If I’m unsure, I check. I personally don’t write anything down as far as what I’m going to make, because usually I make a lot of something and just eat it every day, but you could also do that.

 For me, Sunday afternoon is the perfect time for food prep for the week. I’m relaxed, I have some time, and I spend a bit of time cooking some of the things I know I’ll need. Typically, this includes a large batch of quinoa. I’ve been making 1 cup dry, but this week, I realized I need a bit more, so I’m going to up it to 1.5 cups of dry. Once it’s done and cooled, I usually put it into one large container. I may also chop and roast a big batch of mixed veggies. If I want some special veggie burgers, now is the time that those get made. I then wrap each one individually and place them into a large freezer bag and freeze them. I find that they thaw mostly by lunch if taken out at 6 in the morning. At this point, I have a skeleton of food for the week, at least for lunch. I’m pretty much set. For my evening meals, I fix those each day without much issue.

Weekday Breakfasts and Lunches
Each evening, as I’m making my dinner, I make my breakfast for the next day and I make my lunch. My lunch is usually a quinoa bowl. I take a container and put in 1 cup of cooked quinoa, various frozen vegetables, adding to about 2 cups, and a sprinkling of sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. I pop it into the fridge in one particular spot and that saves me 5 minutes in the morning. For breakfast, I have to admit, I have an addiction. Power pudding. I just LOVE it. It gives me energy that lasts from 6 am to 12! SO awesome. I make it by adding 1 T. chia seeds, 1 T. hemp hearts, 1/3 cup raw whole organic oats, 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, and 1 scoop of a protein powder. In addition, sometimes I’ll add organic butterscotch flavoring (Frontier makes it), or I might add a spoonful of decaf coffee (one of my favorites!). I mix this all together, and put it in the fridge for the next morning.

Eating Out 
I don’t know about you, but it used to be that eating out was really difficult. Since going plant-based, it’s actually quite a bit easier, I’m not sure why, but anyhow, these planning steps help no matter what you eat!

First of all, if I know ahead of time, like when we have lunches at work, that I’m going to a particular restaurant, I look at the menu and I find things that fit in with my food plans, and my food lifestyle. I go in “armed”. I know what I can have, and I stick to it. For me, taking the guessing out of going out saves me from sitting there agonizing and trying to decide if I’m going to stick to my plan or “bend the rules” to fit what will almost fit. Yea, that’s a slippery slope, right?

If I don’t know ahead of time, and can’t look at the menu, I look first to see if they offer gluten free choices. If yes, then I look at those and find one that fits my needs. If they don’t have anything that fits my needs, or if I don’t like the looks of things, then I go back to the salads, and I find a main course salad that works. (I’ve been known to go to our local sandwich shop, Togo’s, and order an Asian Chicken Salad with no chicken! They look at me oddly, but in reality it’s a pretty good salad. I also don’t use their dressing the majority of the time, because while the salad has 180 calories, the dressing has 380!!!) This pretty much works everywhere.

If the menu looks completely off the wall, like a Chinese restaurant, Thai restaurant or some such, because of sauces and stuff, I just take the hit, order something vegetarian, enjoy the meal, and then adjust calories for the remainder of the day to account for it. Oh, one more thing, about bread. Restaurants almost always slap a basket of bread and butter on the table. My husband knows that the minute it’s there, I’m moving it. I move it to an area where it isn’t right in my face. I don’t eat that stuff, so why put it where it is tempting me. I also always order water to drink and ask for lemon in it.

In my opinion, life is all about choices. I am constantly making choices about my health and well being. With regard to food. I do the very best I can to make nutrient dense food choices that fit within my caloric parameters (yes, I'm a rabid food diary fan, myfitnesspal 1RadChick is me).

DDP Yoga Review from the Trenches

After over a year of posts about DDP Yoga, and all of my experiences, I decided it was time to write an honest-to- goodness review of the program, because I realized I haven’t actually put it all together that way before!

If you are new to my blog or haven’t heard about DDP Yoga before, this is for you! DDP Yoga is a program designed by WCW 3 time World Champion wrestler, Diamond Dallas Page. (Yes, DDP is Diamond Dallas Page, not Diet Doctor Pepper as a few of my friends thought at first!) It’s a zero impact series of workouts based on traditional yoga moves that are amped up and shaken up to make them more intense and use more muscles. The program originally started out as a rehabilitation for DDP as he got injured in wrestling but then evolved into a crazy cool workout that can literally be done by anyone. The most famous and poignant example of what you can do with DDP Yoga (as well as being living proof of the fact that the program is phenomenal) is Arthur Boorman. Take a look at this video. Arthur’s Transformation. When I saw Arthur’s video, I had heard about DDP Yoga from a friend who pretty much pushed and dared me to try it. I was sedentary at the time, and had pretty much given up ever getting back in shape. I watched the video and thought “what if”…  Then I went to the website and tried the free workouts (I’ll tell you more later), and the “what if” voice got louder! I could do some of it. Not all of it, but some of it, which made me realize the rest would come. I bought it and have never looked back!

It sounds too good to be true, right? That’s what I thought! Honestly? Like any other program, DDP Yoga is what you make of it. If you put in the work, you will lose weight, gain an incredible amount of strength, flexibility and muscle tone. I’m literally awestruck by how well I’ve done on the program. When I started, I decided to keep a log of my workouts. The first week, I did 52 minutes total. I lost weight. Then, as I learned the moves, my body became more flexible, and I got into a routine, following the beginner schedule in the book, I ramped up. By the end of the first month, I had lost 7 pounds and 7.5 inches. I was stunned. Happily stunned, but stunned nonetheless. My weight loss slowed, as I replaced fat with muscle, but my body continued (and still continues!) to morph and change. My waist has slimmed and overall I am longer and leaner than I have been since my swimming days! That’s all the great stuff, right, now you want the dirt. I know you do. It’s really hard for me to find anything negative about this program. I guess working out alone can be a negative because you don’t get the feedback you would get in a class with a live instructor, but even that, at this point, isn’t really an issue, as DDP has added certification for instructors, so there are numerous instructors offering online classes that you can join. Some are free, for those who are working on their certifications, while others, who are already certified, charge. Another negative is that it’s still delivered on DVD, because it means I have to bring my laptop when I travel. That is also being addressed, because there will be a DDP Yoga app later in the year.

I’m sure your next thought is, can I really do this. You CAN! Honest. Really. ANYONE can do this program. If you listen to DDP, he tells you to modify and adapt the program to what you can do. Remember what I said earlier. In the first week I did 52 minutes. That’s not in one workout, that’s total for the week! I modified like you would not believe! I had to, I couldn’t DO much of what was being done. I wasn’t strong enough. As I’ve progressed, in each workout, there have been moves that I couldn’t do yet, and there are still moves I have to modify, even in some of the easier workouts, but it’s all good. I’m moving, I am activating muscles, and healing my body. After watching Arthur’s video and seeing people who have debilitating injuries, I have to say I’m not sure there isn’t anyone who wouldn’t benefit from DDP Yoga. I will say this, if you are looking for a calm, peaceful, quiet, spiritual workout, with serene music and water rushing gently down a stream in the back ground, this is NOT the workout for you! This is intense, high energy, supercharged hard work with great results if you put in the work!

Are you convinced? What more can I tell you? I bet you want to know more about my loss, right? I’ve been doing this for 13 ½ months, and I’m down 42 pounds and almost 40 inches. Has it been steady loss? Not really, but it has always been moving in the right direction, so it’s all good! You get what you put into this program, like any other program, and I’ve had a couple of injuries that slowed me down.

DDP himself has helped me on my journey. I had a 4 month plateau. He reviewed my food logs, had me on DDPYoga radio, and he and Stacey Morris (an amazingly successful DDP Yoga participant with a loss of over 180 lbs!) guided me in changing my food some and encouraged me to take a hard look at what I was eating and how. Their guidance resulted in a 3.8 pound loss in 3 weeks. I’m forever grateful for their support. It wasn’t the easiest part of my journey, but it was amazing that people who barely know me reached out in such a wonderful show of support.

On top of everything else, there is a HUGE community family of supportive DDP Yoga warriors who are always willing to accept newcomers and help them on their journey! There is a great community on www.teamddpyoga.com and various Facebook groups that also are willing to help folks. If you, like me, are tired of squeezing into airplane and movie theatre seats, huffing and puffing to cross a room, struggling to find clothes that fit, and not having general mobility and quality of life, it’s time to Own Your Life and join the DDP Yoga Revolution!

Make sure you come back often and check on my progress, because I usually do an update around the 22^nd of the month! This month’s should be epic. I can hardly wait!

DDP Yoga Update and a Bit about Labels

First, a quick update. Last Wednesday when I was on the radio show , I was at 270. As of this morning, even with a weekend away, too much champagne, (but sticking to my food!) I’m at 268. Change is good. Here’s a graph showing my loss over the past 90 days and why I have reached out.  

No one should lose that slowly! LOL We will see how it goes and what I need to shake up next!

So let’s talk about labels. Labels on food. They are there, they are filled with lies and crap and you need to know how to wade through the crap to find out the truth.

First off, this mostly applies to the US as other countries have different guidelines for labels. We are, unfortunately, provided with marketing crap and not a lot of good stuff. Why? Well, one, because we tolerate it, and two, because people buy crap and like it!

For instance, my friend Kristin bought this milk. She said it reads lactose free so it’s ok for dairy free, right?

Look at it. Technically, yes it’s okay for dairy free, but what the heck is “lactase enzyme” ?

When you buy food, read the INGREDIENTS. I often don’t even bother with the nutrition panel because it doesn’t tell me what is IN the product. I want to know what is used to make the product, I don’t want all that gobbledygook!!

Here’s another example. For the past 6 months, I have leaned on KIND bars as a crutch. A way to avoid the candy machine. A few weeks ago, I stopped. About 10 months ago, I had some protein bars in the my drawer and shared a photo of one with my accountability partner. He replied, “nice candy bar.” I was shocked to instantly realize he was right. It was a candy bar. Then, I got lulled into KIND bars. They are whole nuts, you can see the nuts!!! Yum!!! And so good. Gooey and chewy and…. Wait. Stop. Hold on. Read the ingredients. Here it is:

The cold, hard facts, for me, at least, these are not dairy free (milk powder), and they contain honey AND sugar AND glucose (yes, that’s SUGAR!). Holy moly. Good bye  sweet KIND bar, see ya when I want candy. ;)

Please understand, these are MY truths. For ME, where *I* am in my journey, these products don’t fit. They contain too much added sugar. 5 grams doesn’t seem like a lot, but considering the 15 grams of fat (mostly good fat) but way too much sugar for this girl!

I really encourage you to read labels. Read the ingredients, don’t read the nutrition panel, at least not until you have read the ingredients and know what you’re getting into!

One last tip, a tip that I learned a really long time ago, from a brilliant food combiner. When you go shopping, if you stick to the outer perimeter of the store, you will probably find every single thing you need to eat healthy, whole real food. Honest. Try it sometime! (I will say that the Nob Hill in my area obviously knows this because they put hot fudge right with the ice cream, cheaters!) J

Make it a great day!

DDPRadio and Me: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

As I think the whole world knows, I do a program called DDP Yoga. It is a very intense, challenging, and amazing program that combines yoga, rehabilitation moves, and dynamic resistance into a series of workouts that make your body lean, mean, and healthy. I started my journey in June of 2013. I was unhealthy, overweight, unhappy, and miserable. I got out of breath walking across the room to the bathroom. I was killing myself, slowly.

Fast forward!

A couple of months ago, I was forced to admit that I was injured. My Achilles on my left foot was so sore that I was limping. I kept buying different shoes, spending lots of money, thinking I could “fix” it. I went to Physical Therapy and got help. I found out that even though I have been doing DDP Yoga like a crazy woman (5 workouts a week, about 300 minutes a week), my hips were weak, my glutes were lazy (don’t go there, that’s my favorite joke -  I have a lazy butt), and I had injured my Achilles because I pushed through instead of working to strengthen these core muscles. Now, don’t mistake this as me saying I don’t work my core! I do Red Hot Core, which I dare anyone not to sweat through, but, my OTHER muscles were compensating. So I got hurt. I reached out to DDP. He emailed me back some suggestions and it opened a dialog. We got to talking about food, and I ended up agreeing to join an accountability group he had started.

At this point, I had already been logging my food on My Fitness Pal for over a month (username 1RadChick, hit me up with a friend request!). I had dialed in my calories, was watching what I ate, and had just decided to try eating plant based. I joined and started sharing my food each day. Every day, we share our food logs. It’s been eye opening for me, seeing how different everyone eats, and knowing that everyone is succeeding. At this point, my weight loss has been very slow (in my eyes). I’ve lost 39.6 lbs in 13 months. Yup, it’s a great loss, but for me, looking at some of the folks doing this program, I’m losing at the pace of a snail or slower. I was frustrated, but I am not willing to do drastic crazy diet measures to lose. I want to lose in a manner that is sustainable and healthy and fits me for the rest of my life. I have spent a lot of energy repairing my metabolism from yoyo dieting, taking diet pills, eating Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, and just plain starvation. I am done with all that now. As the kids say “This shit just got real!”

Earlier this week, I popped a quick message to the accountability group saying “I’m so frustrated, WHY am I not losing??!” DDP himself replied, asking me for 5 days of food diaries and a few other questions. I sent him what he wanted. When I looked at the diaries, I saw 2 entries that were not my finest choices, but I shrugged because I knew the background and I knew that they were *still within my calories and my vegan lifestyle.* I had managed to keep legal even with challenges, so I just sent them off. A day or so later, he reached out again and asked me to appear on DDP Radio. I said “Yes, as long as you promise not to Diamond Cut me on the air.” He agreed.

Wednesday night I called in. I was on the line as they played that amazing opening music. My accountability partner, Mark Furniss was on Facebook chatting with me, living it with me, and asked me if I had my heart monitor on. We laughed about that for a couple. Now I wish I *had* worn it! LOL

The first thing DDP said, after we went through formalities of my short bio, was “So September, you had Ice cream…. Really? You think ice cream is something you can eat on a diet? And gluten free pancakes?” I don’t really know much of what he said after that, because, those were my only 2 bad choices in 5 days and I literally lost it. In MY head, I was now a food shamed failure. I heard my biggest mentor call me out and thought I had failed completely. Obviously, that was NOT the intent or the reality but that was MY reality. Fortunately, I had a notebook handy, and I managed to jot down ideas that came from him and from Stacey Morris on how to improve things and get the weight loss hopefully moving. Everyone was as baffled as I am (and as my doctor is) as to why I’m not losing more quickly. The call out on the bad foods? It was just meant to jostle me into remembering I’m trying to lose weight… not maintain. (I get that now, then not so much!) I was on for almost 20 minutes! It was crazy amazing. And at the end, they asked me to come back. And I really will!

After the show, I sat and cried. For 3 hours. I remember thinking “Its not worth it. I don’t care. I’m quitting.” Mark Furniss is a totally amazing accountability partner. He is in Ireland, 8 hours away, and had a new baby born to he and Susan last Thursday. He stayed up with me, for almost an hour after the show, (that’s like 3 am his time!), and talked me down. He made me understand what had REALLY happened, versus what I heard. I also talked to John NS, Christina Russell, and Liz Collins. I have the most amazing people surrounding me on this journey, I really do. Mike Mullins also reached out. Just crazy caring! I railed at all of them, lashing out in anger, pissed off at the world, and knowing that I eat more cleanly than most of the people in my life and who I associate with online. Dammit I own my food, it doesn’t own me! I kept reiterating my frustration and man, it’s a good thing DDP wasn’t in the room because I might have Diamond Cut HIM before he could calm me down! :D Yep, really, ask Christina.

Thursday morning I woke up and logged onto my computer. I had several messages waiting for me, congratulating me on being on DDPRadio and telling me how awesome I was. Wait, what? Awesome? What? Becky Curtis-Parker caught me and told me I had done great. Jennifer Singletary commiserated with how I felt but said I did really well. I started to blossom a little tiny bit. But I was still really angry with DDP. I wrote him a long email. I told him I felt ambushed, hurt, frustrated. I hit send, (rewrote that sucker 5 times), talked a bit more to Becky and she said no no no! Send him a “read me first”… and talked me back to reality. So I did. He wrote back, apologizing profusely because of course he never meant to hurt me. He is proud of what I’ve accomplished but wants me to have even more success. He was using me as an example. And he was thrilled to get my Read Me First (although he got it after he started replying!)

By mid day Thursday, I had started to regroup, and open back up and get back to living life at 90%. I was exhausted though. Really exhausted--Mentally and physically.  I left work a bit early, went home and did my workout. It didn’t go well, and I didn’t really finish, but I did it, and it counted. I ate right all day, and felt good about all of it. I also exchanged emails with Stacey Morris and got clarification on some of what was said that was confusing to me. On the show they told me to eat no more than 27 grams of sugar a day. Well, I didn’t hear “added grams”, so I was trying to figure out how the heck you can only eat 27 grams when a freaking banana has 14. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t live on bananas, but after going many many years with them being on a “never eat” list, I’m not cutting them out ever again! So Mark worked with me a bit too, ironing out my food, and providing input on it. It was a good day.

This morning I weighed. And burst out laughing. Honestly. I am down 1.2 pounds this week. Really. I’m .4 away from 40 pounds. And this after whining that I wasn’t losing. My weight hasn’t budged by even a pound for almost 4 weeks, and now today, bam! Down.

So today, I sat down and really looked at My Fitness Pal. I looked at my goals and I decided to re-examine them. I made some adjustments. Are they going to be easy adjustments? I guess it will depend on the day. Are they crazy? No. Are they difficult? Again, it will depend on the day. Can I do it? Hell yes. Do I want to? Hell yes!  I’ve also agreed to a 2 week challenge of not eating complex carbs at dinner. (That’s what I am doing, no complex carbs. The whole challenge is no carbs, just veggies and protein.) Last night I had a protein shake with some tofu added for a bit of extra protein and some amazing roasted veggies.

In short, I got this. And. I am so SO very grateful to DDP for everything he does. He is an amazing human being, and I only hope I can be half the person he is. Thank you for being there, listening, pushing me to be more, and knowing I can be more. It really means a whole lot. More than you could possibly know. I am also grateful to Mark Furniss (http://heroddpyoga.blogspot.com) for being the most supportive (and yet realistic) accountability partner ever. Lastly grateful to the Team DDP Yoga folks who reached out and pulled me back to reality and made me see perspectives other than my own. My apologies to everyone I lashed out at, life happens, thank you for caring enough to stick with me through it. J

If you want to know more about my plant-based eating experience, which started as a 40 day experiment and has taken on a life of its own because I feel amazing, I have a facebook group set up here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/323525631145417/

Costco Gems for PlantStrong DDP Yoga

I was thinking about all the foods I find at Costco that are organic, plant based and healthy and realized it was probably a great idea for a blog post. If you don’t have a Costco, I’m really sorry, but you might check out Sam’s Club—I do not have a Sam’s Club so I’m unable to provide comparisons.

This will be in no particular order, but I’ll try to keep it simple.

Veggies

I hit this area really hard. I try to get as much as I can. I also DO waste a bit, sometimes, but I’m working on getting better at that. It still comes up to a savings, even if I waste a bit.

Baby Romaine Lettuce
Chopped Romaine
Mixed greens (sometimes, not my favorite!)
Spinach
Red Bell Peppers
Baby Peppers
Hearts of Celery
Broccoli
Cauliflower (sometimes)
Corn on the cob
A huge bag of mixed baby Kale, baby chard, and baby spinach (green juice base!)
English cucumbers (don’t buy the babies, they go bad MUCH too fast!)
Baby Portabella mushrooms (a big container, I use some in salads and add a ton to marinara sauce to up the veggies!)
Zucchini – sometimes they have it, sometimes they don’t. hit or miss
fresh fruit – I don’t always buy this, because frankly, the Costco fruit seems to go bad fast for me. If I see a good deal on berries, I might buy them, because I can use those fairly quickly, but I don’t eat tons of fruit so not always a wise buy.

Grocery Items

Costco has recently added a ton of organic things, many of which I really like, so its an adventure to determine what I want. You do have to be careful, because just because something is organic doesn’t mean it’s healthy! (Like the 10 different kinds of snack chips!)

Brown Rice, in bowls (I eat one of these for breakfast!)
Quinoa in a huge bag
Qia cereal (this stuff is awesome sprinkled over anything or by itself!)
Quinoa and Brown Rice with Garlic (I think that’s the name. they are precooked microwavable bags, so handy!)
Orgain Organic Chocolate Protein Powder  (Plant based protein powder, and SO amazingly delicious!
Almond Milk (shelf stable!)
Nuts – raw almonds mostly, but sometimes I’ll get sprouted pumpkin seeds or sprouted sunflower seeds
Rickland Farm Trail Mix – I keep this stuff in my desk and dole out a ¼ cup portion on days when I just need a little snack. I’ve also been known to throw a bit onto my salad!
If you like cereals, there are several that are super good like the Cherries and Berries or Indigo Morning, both are decent choices.
Brown Rice (bags! I think I’ve even seen Brown Basmati)
Beans (Garbanzo, black, kidney-cans or bags, but the bags are humongous!)
Nut Butter – check, because I have seen both almond butter and peanut butter without extra ingredients)
Coconut Oil (I don’t use a lot but it’s nice to have and the price is amazing)

Refrigerated Foods

So, there’s not a lot I get here, and some of these things I don’t always buy, but there are some that are staples.

Silk Almond Milk (we all drink it, no more cow milk in our house)
Hummus (there’s this 3 pack of hummus that is SO good!)

Frozen Foods

Berries (strawberries, mixed berries, blueberries-for smoothies)
Pineapple (I use this in my kale smoothie to make it better)
Veggies (mixed veggies, good to have on hand to toss into brown rice for extra veggies)
Veggie burgers  (I love the Don Lee Farms, and Costco often has those. Sometimes they have meatballs too. As an aside, my favorite way to eat them is slathered with Grey Poupon, I swear it tastes like a corn dog!)

I guess this is a pretty long list! I’m sure there are other items of interest at Costco, but these are my “go to” items at the moment.

 –Enjoy!

Plant-Based Eating, the First 14 Days and How it Fits with my DDP Yoga Journey

For the past two years, I have been slowly modifying my eating habits to be even more healthy than they had been. Previously, I had still eaten some processed foods, and some artificial sweeteners, but I reached a point where I decided I was going to make some serious changes. I had gone to a new doctor, and to be honest, his approach was very subtle and worked much better than being told “Just go to Weight Watchers.” He sat with me and asked me if I would go home and watch 2 movies. He said he just wanted me to watch, I didn’t need to check back with him or anything but please just watch. I went home with a card, with the movies “Forks Over Knives” and “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” written on it.

 I watched the movies. In fact, I watched both of them twice. While what I saw was thought-provoking, I just couldn’t even imagine eating either way. However, I DID make some good choices that day and decided to make some small changes, a little bit at a time.

Fast forward a year to 2013. In the middle of 2013, I started doing DDP Yoga. I also decided that I was going to start to eat clean again. I had slipped since I met that Doctor in 2012, and my weight had gone up again. As I started working on the DDP Yoga, I realized I was craving fresh foods, lots of veggies have been a part of my life for about 14 years, but now I wanted even more of them. A piece of fruit here and there, and I felt great. As the months went by, I started to want less protein.

In late May, I shared  that I had shaken up my eating plan. I started to eat brown rice and veggies for breakfast, then protein and a huge salad for lunch, followed by protein and a ton of veggies for dinner. This was a comfortable way to eat, but I noticed, again, that I wanted less and less of the animal protein. I was having more and more veggie burgers for dinner-- or a simple green juice drink for dinner. Things were changing.

  Sometime near the end of June, a fellow DDP Yoga person, Slim Gillian, posted on his blog that he was doing a 40 Day Plant based Challenge. This sparked my interest and curiosity. I started to research a bit and realized I was a turkey burger and maybe an ounce of goat cheese a day short of being plant-based.

In the meantime, I had an Achilles tendinitis flareup, and went back to that doctor from 2 years ago. I told him I was about 75% plant based, and he did new bloodwork, mumbling something about a baseline.  I think he knew from talking that I was almost ready.

For the past two years, Mondays have been “Meatless Mondays.” Therefore, when June 30^th rolled around and was a Monday, it was an easy leap. It is now July 13^th, making it 14 days since I started this journey. I’m doing great! I’m finding it fairly easy to eat enough, in fact, I’m having to be careful not to overeat, still. I’m not eating processed foods, unless you count the occasional Kind bar! My breakfast is still a big bowl of brown rice with steamed veggies, most days, other days it might be a plant based protein shake made with almond milk or a big glass of my favorite “green juice”, a copy of Jamba Juice’s Tropical Greens drink, which contains kale, pineapple, and apple juice.  Lunch is a huge salad, as always, with a sweet potato, quinoa, black bean burger or a portabella mushroom cap with some hummus on it. Yum! For dinner, I’ve been having lots of grilled veggies and the occasional veggie burger. On the weekends, if my husband and I have a large-ish lunch, which we do sometimes, I might have a green juice for dinner.

How do I feel? I’m starting to notice little changes. My skin feels softer, I’m sleeping more soundly, and I have SO much energy! It’s crazy. I thought I’d be dragging around, but I’m not! When I do my DDP Yoga workouts, I’m finding that my heart rate is a bit lower than it’s been, which is awesome! I’ll be excited to see what the next set of bloodwork looks like, I expect it will be even better.  Oh yea, and I lost 2 pounds in the past 2 weeks. Bang!

I am still taking the same Raw vitamin (Nature’s Way, Alive! 50+ for Women) I’ve taken for the past 2 years. I haven’t dropped that, because I figure it’s not hurting me. Other than that, I’ve been clean of everything including aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, etc. for so long I don’t know how my body would react if I took them!

So that’s where I am! I’ve started a Facebook group for my fellow DDP Yoga folks who are eating plant based. Feel free to come join us!
Until next time!

DDP Yoga - ONE year!!!

It's hard to believe that it's really been a year since I started this amazing journey. I was looking at photos last night, as I took my one year update photos and realizing how much I have changed. My shape is completely different, and my posture is even better.

The year started with awesome new friends made in the Team DDP Yoga chatroom. People like Marv, Heidi Sue, John NS, Mark Furniss, and George Fenmore (I know there are lots more, please don't get upset if I didn't single you out!). It was crazy at first. I had so much support, and so little confidence in what I could do. I remember at my 30 day mark, I took new photos, shared them, and John started pointing out all the little changes when I said there weren't any. That really kicked it off for me, recognizing those changes and starting to accept that this was really happening!

Fast forward to November. I hurt my shoulder. It wasn't earth shattering, but it slowed me down. A lot. Then, I let myself be convinced I was still doing the same level I had been, through the holidays and into January. By now, Mark Furniss was my accountability partner (still is!), and he realized I was lagging and started to push me to get it in gear. And I did!! I had gained about 5 pounds but maintained most of my inch loss. It was time to get serious.

March, April and May are a blur of me moving, doing the work, and eating clean. It paid off, I took off the 5 I had put back on, plus another 2. Having said that, in early June, my feet started to bother me even more than they had previously. It started in May, actually, but I thought I had it under control. Clearly not. I finally went to the doctor last week, and have achilles tendinitis in my left foot.

When I saw the doctor, he looked at me and told me I was thinner. I told him what I was doing and explained how it worked to him. He was so impressed with my loss, muscle tone, and the fact that I kind of went into catcher like it was nothing (I was showing him how my knees were kind of squeaking and complaining, LOL, he wasn't the only one who was surprised because I just dropped a catcher right there!) , that he ended up going to the DDP Yoga site himself, and asked me to write it down for him. He also told me that although I don't think my loss is amazing, he's very happy with it and can't wait to see how I look with all of it gone and that even if it takes 6 years, he's happy. I left feeling great! Strong, supported, and in charge, baby!

My visit to the physical therapist the next day wasn't quite so stellar. He looked at me and saw a chubby girl and decided I needed to cross train -- he wanted me ass on a stationery bike to "get some cardio". Whatever. He wasn't listening to me, but I DID get the exercises I need to strengthen my achilles and get this painful thing gone. (By the way, my average heart rate during a DDP Yoga session is about 128 and I can sustain that for about 35 minutes now before it starts going too high!)

So, let's get serious for a second. Let's talk about this year. First, here are the official stats:

(If you can't read it, that's 36.5 inches and 29.2 pounds, gone forever!)

Was it easy? No.

Would I do it again? Hell yes, and I'd do it better!

Have I learned anything? I have learned that I can do really hard things, and I have learned that if today's workout isn't the best, that's okay, because tomorrow's will be better. Every work out seems to bring a nugget of happy ability that wasn't at the last one, even the not great ones! This progression kind of tells the whole story I think!

How do I eat now compared to a year ago? Well, this is one of the most interesting parts of my whole story. Two years ago, my doctor had me watch Forks Over Knives and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dying. He told me he thought I would really benefit from what these movies had to offer. Now, understand, this was a new doctor who did not know me at all. I watched the movies, I dabbled with what I saw in both movies, even bought a juicer. They were very compelling. Over this past two years since that appointment, I had dropped much of what I started, but in mid May, Mark and I talked about my food, and he gave me some new ideas (that seemed a little whacky at the time), mostly for breakfast. Then I convinced my husband that we needed to tighten things down a bit and we have. I have eaten clean for about 3 years, but here's the thing, you can eat clean and gain weight if you don't monitor your portions and if you don't watch things fairly closely. So, in mid May I started tracking my food on myfitnesspal (I'm 1RadChick there if you want to friend me). After a few days, Mark told me I needed to eat more. So I upped my intake, adding more veggies and a protein shake once in a while. It helped. It helped to the point of that's when I lost the most recent 3 lbs! Yes. We are onto something. At this point, I'm about 75% plant based, 25% protein. My protein comes from buffalo (bison) , Grass fed beef, organic chicken, fish, shrimp, and turkey. That's about it, and we get most of it at Costco, which is awesome! I eat between 1500 and 1900 calories a day and I do have a protein shake (plant based, I use Raw Protein from Garden of life, mixed with almond milk), if I need extra protein when it comes time to workout. Funny thing, Mark told me that I needed more protein for muscle recovery because I was always complaining about sore muscles, and he was right. Once I upped the protein, my workouts got stronger and I had less muscle soreness.  This week, I'm upping my water. I drink "enough" but I need to drink more. I know I do, so it's time to make that happen!

Do I take any supplements? I take a Raw multivitamin from Nature's Way called Alive! I also take CLA PM from GNC every night, and I am currently taking Turmeric as a science experiment. Lastly I take something called WobenzymN, which is to support my joints. I will follow up on how that goes.

Do I have any advice for folks just starting out? Take it slow. You didn't get overweight fast, you won't lose fast, and you need to respect your body. Listen to your body. If you are doing a workout and something hurts, don't just keep going, stop, evaluate, modify. DDP stresses this throughout every single workout, listen to him! Also, if something feels sore, ice is your friend. If you are a DDP fan, you've heard that his fellow wrestlers joke that he would fill the bathtub with ice after matches. I doubt it is far off. I'm at a point where I am icing my ankles and my knees to keep things happy. Not because I'm injured but because I don't want to be. Also, don't be in a rush to get to the difficult workouts. Take. your. time! Learn the moves, learn the poses, get familiar with how your body feels in the poses. Don't fret about how fast DDP is going, pause the video or skip the move. There is more than enough cardio in every workout! Oh and find an accountability partner or 5. Mark Furniss is my main accountability partner, but I also have other folks who keep an eye on me and provide feedback and support.

So that's how my year has been! A whirlwind of energy and movement, with lots of veggies and good stuff to eat thrown in! Stick with me, I think this next year is going to be even MORE incredible, because now I know what I'm doing and what I have to do to get where I want to go!

If you are reading this and want to know more about DDP Yoga, please DO click on the link at the right, watch Arthur Boorman's incredible story, and if you decide to buy, use that link because it provides me a tiny bit of money and I'm saving to go to the DDP Yoga retreat next year!

DDP Yoga, Checkin Time! - Fine Tuning

As I think just about everyone knows by now, I'm coming up on my one year anniversary next month (6/22!). Over this past month, I've been doing some fine tuning to my food and exercise, trying to get things dialed in a bit better. My accountability partner has been pushing a bit toward that (thanks, Mark!), and I decided to get with it. 

First, let's talk about food. I eat clean. I have eaten clean for so long that I don't really have to even think much about it. Having said that, my week is often full of "food landmines." Times when I have to make choices. I *usually* make good choices, but not always. We will call that the "human factor." 

A while back, I blogged about food diaries. I mentioned that I use SparkPeople. Well, this week, with some dietary adjustments (I'll come back to those), I decided to move over to www.myfitnesspal.com (I am 1RadChick over there if you want to "friend" me.) I think I'll do a comparison review this week about the 2 sites, they are different in a couple of ways.

This past week, I've recorded everything I ate on myfitnesspal, and it's gone well. Mark suggested some food changes, which I have incorporated, and I'm feeling great. I had eliminated most of the sugar from my diet, but I think there must have still been some lingering, because at the start of the week, I did have some detox going on. I wasn't feeling my best, and my workouts were lackluster, to me. Now, though, I'm back, full on, and feeling much stronger, actually!

So what exactly have I changed about my food? Here's the rundown.

1. Carbs are first thing in the morning, breakfast, a lot of them. I am eating about 1-1.25 cups of cooked brown rice. At Mark's suggestion, I've added a cup of cooked veggies. For me, because mornings are not a relaxing time, I am using frozen mixed veggies from Costco. It's great! I toss a cup of veggies in the microwave for 2 minutes, take it out, heat up my rice, slap the two together, and, then, the weird part. You ready? I add a teaspoon of mayo. Yup, don't blink, mayo. I personally use veganaise, the grapeseed oil version, and love it. I also add a dash of Himalayan pink sea salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Yum! Weird, off the wall breakfast, but yep, it works.

2. Lunch is a really, really big salad. Tons of mixed lettuces, baby kale, and spinach. To that, I add 1 chopped red bell pepper, 1/2 an English cucumber, some chopped green onion, celery, diced carrots, and mushrooms. I add 1 tablespoon of dressing, for me, readymade is easier at work, so I go with Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar, which is pretty clean. Sometimes I make my own but that's my go to. In addition, I have a protein. This week it has been the most delicious Greek Turkey Burgers (Recipe in separate post.) I'm weird, I guess. I made these and I haven't had a single one hot! I have cut the patty into cubes and dumped it into my salad.

3. Dinner is a protein and a metric ton of veggies. I'm so full after all of this that I can't even think about anything else. I guess it's not actually a metric ton but I've upped my veggies. I've eaten 8-10 servings of veggies a day for the past 10 years or so, but now it's probably up to 20.

Let's talk about this week in workouts. I worked out on Monday with Mark on Skype, doing the Level One workout. It was.... not my best, but I did it and it's all good. I have worked out everyday except 1 day, which is what I try to do, most weeks. After talking to Liz Collins about my hamstrings being tight, she told me about a traditional yoga workout for tight hamstrings. I have added this into my routine, one day a week, and honestly, it's helping, AND, it is adding to my confidence. I surprised myself during my first runthrough, being able to do a move that was one of those "wait, what?" moves. It was pretty funny, actually. I followed the instructor, and all of a sudden, I realized I was doing it and burst into a fit of giggles. So yes, still going strong on the DDP Yoga front, and working on making the most of my workouts and accepting my body as it is instead of letting my Type A personality define that I have to be the best. I AM the best. I am the best me. I will always work on being the best me, and, at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

That's all for now. Make it a great day!

Recipe, Greek Spinach-Turkey Burgers

A friend at work, who has had great success with Weight Watchers, gave me this recipe. I tried it out and I have to say, these burgers are totally addicting. I LOVE them! I will have to admit, I haven't had one hot yet, I ate the entire batch cold, on my salad. :) She didn't tell me the original source, but here is the recipe.

Greek Spinach-Turkey Burgers

Makes 4 (I make 6, they are BIG! You need to adjust the calories)
PER SERVING (1/4th of recipe, 1 patty): 203 calories, 8g fat, 420mg sodium, 3g carbs, 1g fiber, 1g sugars, 29g protein -- PointsPlus® value 5*

Ingredients:
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp. chopped garlic
4 cups chopped spinach leaves
1 lb. raw lean ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled fat-free feta cheese (I used a non-cow milk feta, and it wasn't fat free)
Optional: large lettuce leaves, sliced onion, sliced tomato

Directions:
Bring a large skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat on the stove. Add onion and garlic and, stirring often, cook until softened, about 4 minutes.

Add spinach to the skillet with onion and garlic. Stirring often, cook until spinach has wilted and excess moisture has evaporated, 3 - 5 minutes.

Remove skillet from heat. Once cool enough to handle, carefully blot away any excess moisture from the onion-spinach mixture with paper towels. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine turkey, egg whites, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Using your hands, mix well. Add cooked veggies and feta cheese to the bowl. Using your hands, mix until uniform.

Evenly divide turkey mixture and firmly form into four patties. (Cover and refrigerate if not cooking immediately.)

Bring a grill (or skillet or grill pan) sprayed with nonstick spray to medium heat. Add patties, cover, and cook for 5 - 8 minutes per side, until cooked through. If using a skillet or grill pan, work in batches, removing skillet or pan from heat between batches to re-spray. (And don't worry if your lid isn't a perfect fit when covering!)

Eat your patties with a knife and fork or, if you like, wrap them up in some lettuce leaves with onion and tomato. Enjoy!

MAKES 4 SERVINGS (or 6 if you are me!)
These are so so awesome. You will love them, I promise!