Yoga and Cravings

The sun absolutely glistened on the water as I drove my scooter away from yoga and towards the ocean at Bondi. I wish I could have stayed but I did pull over for a minute or so to take it in before heading back to Woollahra. It was truly beautiful.

As was yoga this morning. First day back since starting back on Fat Flush. It was hard but not as hard as I had anticipated. My body, after over 3 years of consistent practice and 4 months in India last year, is strong and supple. I only did about 2/3 of the practice (through Navasana for the Ashtangis out there) and only single jumpbacks instead of my normal double. But it felt good! Pushing up from plank, the thing I'd most worried about...(after all this is the girl that took a year to do her first pushup in yoga) was easy. Forward bends easy. Standing poses a bit difficult, I've lost some muscle mass in my legs, and Navasana was the hardest. But I feel confident I'll be back to where I was before the holidays within a week. Backbends even felt good. And I did all 7 shoulder stands for the first time since injuring my neck in October. No pain. Yeah!

I think one of the reasons coming back was easier than normal was because I have been treating my body so well! I felt light. Not at all sluggish like I usually do if I don't practice in awhile.

That got me thinking. If it feels so good to treat you body so well why do we spend so much time abusing it with sugar, alcohol, too many carbs and other bad things? We know if feels good to do the right things, yet we still crave the wrong ones.

Now, I had personal experience with really severe cravings a few days ago when my body reacted negatively to the spelt bread I was eating (I've switched to sweet potatoes for the last 2 days with no side affects).

That kind of craving, that physical craving is like being possessed. You want something so bad you would compromise almost anything to get it. At least that's what it felt like at the time.

But there are other kinds of cravings as well. Emotional cravings. Cravings for ritual. I know, for instance that I crave wine, not because I particularly like the taste of it (with the definite exception of a nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc on a hot day). But I crave how the wine makes me feel; relaxed and happy. I also crave the ritual of sharing a bottle with a good friend and having a good conversation or of sipping a glass when I'm in the kitchen taking my time cooking a nice dish.

I know there are ways to change your cravings for these rituals or to substitute that behaviour for other behaviour that's less harmful to the body. But do I want to do that? This is what I'm grappling with right now.

Well, not right now. Right now I'm enjoying a veggie fritata, roasted sweet potato and my one cup of organic coffee with Stevia plus. And right now, that's perfectly satisfying to me on this lovely, sunny, summers day in Sydney.

Operation Inner Thigh (Ladies, you know what I'm talking about)!

Okay, it's time for "Operation Inner Thigh". Part of my journey, as some would know, has been losing 47 lbs (22 kilos) 5 years ago and being able to keep it off (and curing myself of life-long, debilitating allergies and asthma in the process). Interestingly I never even considered the possibility of regaining any of it, which is why, I think ,I've had so much success in maintaining that weight. Until 6 months ago.

All of a sudden, I started to notice a subtle weight gain. That subtle weight gain turned into 7 lbs / 3 kilos. Too much! Time to take action.

Now I can attribute this to several factors and, in reality it's probably a combination of all of these. In June I moved to another apartment and bought a scooter. I started riding everywhere, whereas before I was doing a lot more walking, even if it was only to / from public transport. Even though I do 2 hours of Ashtanga Yoga a day it doesn't seem to be enough exercise for me. So, back to public transport, or at least a 20 minute power walk around the park close to my house.

I also became somewhat careless in what I was eating. Started 'treating myself'' more than ever. Isn't it interesting that the things we 'treat ourselves' with actually do more harm than good? Just what part of ourselves are we 'treating'? Certainly not our bodies. We're treating our emotions, our psychology. In many cases we're comforting ourselves.

Anyway, I digress. Most of the time I found myself eating sweets daily, instead of every once in awhile. I've eaten very healthy for the last 20 years but I let my sugar intake really go up and probably started eating more carbs again than I had been.

And then there is the fact that I'm 48 and my hormones are changing. Although I'm not noticing any changes (and I attribute that to my healthy diet and regular exercise) they are changing none the less.

So, what to do? Easy! Time for The Fat Flush Plan. It's a high protein, low carb way of eating that balances hormones and blood sugar and eliminates cravings. It's how I lost the initial weight and I know it works.

The first two weeks of Fat Flush are really a liver and lymph loving cleanse. I sailed through that and took off almost 8 lbs. The original 7 I wanted to lose plus. So that got me thinking...

Hmmmm, could I lose even more? Could I, at long last, lose the last bit of fat around my tummy and, more importantly, my portly inner thighs that have haunted me since I was a child... Especially after my high school sweetheart called me "pleasantly plump". 33 years and I haven't forgotten that comment!

Now, I'd never really considered going the extra mile the first time around. I reached a weight I was comfortable at and I was happy. I even braved buying a bikini for the first time in over 20 years last year (but that was right after 4 months in India when I weighed a wee bit lighter than my "comfortable weight"). Plus, I really didn't think I could lose all of it. Lets just say genetics are not my friend in this area.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't actually need to lose the weight. By any standards I'm well within a healthy weight range and I've had several men comment on how great I look recently (two even told me I looked better naked than clothed...but that's another blog post). I was thinner than I ever thought I'd be. That's why I never thought about 'going the extra mile' or at least 2 inches.

I had a limiting belief that I couldn't do it. Interesting.

Now, I'm a highly trained Neuro Strategist and studying to become a Certified Strategic Interventionist...so I know what to do with limiting beliefs.

Bonk! Knocked on it's head, the possibility of inner thighs that don't rub together became positively intoxicating.

So, instead of going on to phase 3 of Fat Flush (the maintenance plan and how I've pretty much eaten for the last 5 years...bar the recent naught treats), which was my original intention, I'm now doing Phase 2...slowly adding 'friendly' carbs back into my diet and continuing weight loss. The only thing left to lose is tummy and thigh weight. I figure I have another 2 - 5 lbs. THIS should be an interesting journey!

Well, the universe works in very mysterious ways! Because my decision to do this uncovered a food sensitivity I didn't know I had...and possibily another cause of my weight gain. Food sensitivies, according to Fat Flush, are the #2 cause for 'Hidden Weight Gain'.

I didn't have any cravings at all past Day 1, Phase 1. Wasn't hungry, headachy or tired. Felt great! And I was really excited to add in 1 serving of my favourite toast in the morning. Healthy, sprouted Spelt toast. I've eaten it since living in Oz a year ago.

And whammo! No sooner did I finish it than I started craving more. Interesting...that hadn't happened before. I wonder what it means? No other side affects though...until the next day, yesterday.

Same thing. Piece of toash. Whammo! Cravings galore. All day! And this time accompanied by gas and bloating. The cravings got so bad that I was a wild woman by 7:30 last night and went to the store to buy popcorn. I slathered it with butter and salt and enjoyed every single bite!

Now a word about cheating. I consicously chose to cheat, knowing that I'd clean up my act the next day (today) and cut out the bread. Because I was consciously doing it (and willing to accept the circumstances) it was very freeing and without guilt! When people cheat on things like this they often feel guilty about it. It's my belief that the guilt itself can be very detrimental because of the stress it causes. So my advice: if you choose to cheat, do it with gusto and enjoy every moment of it.

Until you don't. I went to sleep feeling fairly miserable. Overstuffed, bloated, lethargic. And I woke up feeling the same way.

But that's okay. I learned something. And now I can use this experience to get rid of my popcorn eating habit (even on phase 3), something I've been toying with for a long time. If for no other reason that it's hell on dental work.

And today no bread, no cravings. I'll add in a sweet potato this afternoon after most of the yucky stuff leaves my system and see how I do with that.

I'm really excited about this. It's a goal I can't possibly fail. I'm not attached at all to the outcome. I'll still be happy at my current weight. But I'm learning something in the process and that's always good!!!!

A New Decade

Okay, first New Year's resolution is to update my blog more. I've committed to this after receiving a lovely note from a woman named Christine from half way around the world telling me she found my words inspiring. Wow! Heady stuff. So I logged on for the first time in a month to find that I now have 3 followers! Thanks guys!

Part of why I haven't written anything recently is that I, like most of the rest of the world, have been super busy over the holidays. The other reason is that I kept trying to thing of something profound to say as a way to kick off not only a New Year but a new decade! Too much pressure!

But then I decided to take my own advice. The advice that I give to my clients all the time. Take action! It doesn't have to be the best action in the world or the ultimate action...just take action. Get moving....so here I go!

A bit of an update:

My yoga practice was going great until I went to Singapore for a Tony Robbins event, Wealth Mastery. It was my third Wealth Mastery but probably the most impactful in many ways. The speakers were outstanding and I really "got" a lot of what they said this time around. I'm rethinking my investment strategies a result...learning to trade stock / shares with the DMAS Trading System developed by Steve Linder and Foreign Exchange trading from Knowledge to Action out of the UK.

This was also my first Robbins event as a Senior Leader. I was very excited! We had 900 participants (more or less...they kept coming and going...something I'd never seen with Western audiences) and only 24 Trainers / Leadership. We were a small but mighty team and bonded so well. Truly worked as a team and did everything from running mics to turning on / off lights (we only had 4 crew).

I was good for the first few days but then time constraints got the better of me and I stopped my practice. It would only have been for a few days, but for the fact that I came back from Singapore with some sort of virus and barely got out of bed for a week!

But the week before and of Christmas I was back at it. Felt good to be on the mat! I'm starting to do shoulder stand again after my neck injury and that's feeling good. I'm still chickening out on dropping back by myself though. But my goal is to do it consistently by the end of March.

Unfortunately I'm sidelined from my practice again for the next 10 days. But this is self-imposed. Many of you know that I lost 22 kilos / 50 lbs 5 years ago and have kept it off. Until 6 months ago. I started to notice small but stead weight gain. My clothes don't feel that much different, but when I got on my scales I realised that I'd gained 9 lbs / 4 kg's in the last 6 months. And put 2 inches back on everywhere. Soooo,

Back on The Fat Flush Plan! This is the diet I used to take all of my weight off in 6 months. The first two weeks is a cleanse where you cut out all carbs, alcohol, yeast and most spices. It cleanses your liver and lymphatic system. I feel better the first week than I did the first time around...but am losing weight much more slowly...to be expected with only 9 lbs to lose. Actually...I'm going for 10 to get down to the unheard of (for me) weight of 135 lbs / 61 kgs. I'm 5'7" and that should be my ultimate. At 48 though I'm not sure that's attainable or sustainable. But I would like to have flat stomach and thighs that don't go bump in the night.

During this first phase the only exercise you can do is power walking...20 minutes per day. So I've been religiously doing that. And not even attempting yoga (I made that mistake the first time around and almost passed out). But another 2 week holiday won't kill me and it will only take a week or so to re build the muscle I will inevitably lose.

This experience though has helped me to realise just how cavalier I'd become about what I was eating. Wayyyy too much sugar and more carbs than my body can really handle. When it comes to weight, my genetics are stacked against me...with my mother and sister both being morbidly obese, along with both Grandmothers when they were alive. My father was overweight for all but the last 20 years of his life as well. So, I've really got to watch it.

Now my struggle is, to drink or not to drink! I decided to give up alcohol awhile back...and then decided that that was a bad idea. I do like to have the occasional glass of wine with friends. Unfortunately with my addictive personality that turns into buying a bottle to enjoy at home one night...and then several times / week. Not that I drink much...1 - 2, 3 max glasses. But still. It's not congruent with my lifestyle.

So...do I go cold turkey or do I use my NLP skills to change the behaviour of drinking at home. Still deciding on that one. Would love to hear your thoughts!

My last post was about dating. Not much to tell in that arena over the last month. In fact...nothing. I decided to take myself off of the online site I was on for two reasons. First, I was tired of meeting nice guys with whom I had no connection. Second, I realised that I was using that as a shield. I could hide behind doing a bunch of coffee dates and feel as though I was making progress.

My new strategy? If anyone has ever read one of my favourite books, "God on a Harley" you'll guess already! Do the things I like to do and do more of it. Get involved socially, surround myself with cool people doing cool things and meet lots of like minded men and women. Not only will I meet men who are better suited to me, I'll also make more friends. And who doesn't need more friends??

To that end...I met some really cool people at the recent Thought Leaders Conference in December. Definitely some people I'll meet up with again now that the calendar has turned over and people are starting to go back to work. I'm also thinking about taking up golf, will definitely take photography courses, and do more volunteer work. It's going to be fun!!!