Hey there, I am so happy I can share day 4 with you :)
"Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude." (Dale Carnegie)
I think today went amazing and it was the best of the last four days. I felt free and excited doing the workout and took the self-imposed pressure and emotions out if all.
I talked to my mam on the phone for a while and we were wondering why we always put this pressure on ourselves. It is tragically funny, how much time we spend procastinating on something that takes us out of our comfort zone, instead of just doing it. We would save so much time!
After talking to her I felt a lot more relaxed and it had a great effect on my workout. Even though I really want to do a good job on this, there is no need for me to make it such a burden. I can only do one baby step at a time and I hope I can show you during the next weeks how I try to overcome hurdles and integrate a workout into my life without it dominating me.
A workout is supposed to be empowering and fun, not depressing or a chore. Today I managed to really enjoy myself with the help of one small change!
The Diet
I mentioned above that I felt better about the entire challenge, because I took the pressure out of it. Quitting the diet was a part of that. It's not that I want to start stuffing my face with obviously unhealthy foods now, but I needed to take the emotions out of it. Whenever I embark on something, I tend to go into extremes. I set a date and don't give myself any realistic wiggle-room. By doing this, I am setting myself up for failure and dragging myself down.
I already love cooking plant-based meals, or making normal meals healthier. It excites me to find new ways to cook something without using the usual ingredients such as meat and dairy products. Fixing myself on the diet and restricting my food choices from one day to the other, took that excitement from me. I didn't feel inspired by the plant-based options anymore, but forced into a lifestyle I wasn't ready for.
This is why I quit the diet. I want to give myself the time to slowly get used to making more healthy decisions and following my interest in vegan inspired meals. The goal is to slowly reduce unhealthy foods and recipes with new, tasty options. I want to try one new recipe a week and then either file it as a new option, or look for something new. At some point I might be able to keep to the Tracy Anderson meal plans (not the cleanses) which are basically the Mount Everest of healthy eating.
I have realized that I can't keep to something like this under pressure. You just can't live like that. A healthy lifestyle is something that we grow into. It's our daily small choices that get us there. It takes patience, free will and conviction. But the beginning is always small baby steps. One day at a time.
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." (Lao Tzu)
Nutrition and healthy eating is such a large subject with so many different interpretations that I can't do it justice here. I don't want to judge anyone, or say that any way of eating is better than the other. This is really just what I feel comfortable with and what I have learnt from my research.
Here is what I ate today:
- 1 pear, 2 potatoes + 2 eggs (Potato-Egg-Omelette) (P. made it for me - I am so spoilt)
- Plate of pasta with tomato sauce + piece of baguette with a little margarine + a little cheese
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| Note: This is P.'s plate |
I know that today wasn't really a success when it comes to "healthy" eating, but I did include a lot of fresh vegetables in the sauce that I made from scratch. I will try to get some gluten free pasta from the shops next week and see how they taste. Tomorrow I think I will try something with rice and maybe a salad. (I am also thinking of making vegan pancakes for breakfast) I feel excited about food again!
Even though I won't be able to demonstrate if the diet works, maybe I can be an example for changes that are possible, while still eating normally.(Of course this still means keeping fast-food and fizzy drinks to a minimum)
Cardio
Cardio was
absolutely amazing today!
What did I do differently?
I stopped talking about
making a playlist and just plugged in my mp3. I have a folder with workout music and I just played it loudly in the background, while dancing to Tracy's cardio. Needless to say,
the workout was fantastic and empowering. I couldn’t wait to start working out when I heard the first song (Taio Cruz, There she goes) and felt real excitement. I had the same feeling as if I was going out to dance in
the disco. It also gave me a better understanding of the different combination sets Tracy uses, and helped me estimate how much time was left.
This is also the
point where a great new feature comes in handy: The audio options. Before you start your workout, you can choose between three options: The full audio mix, Tracy's instructions, Only Music. This way you can customize the audio options
to your own needs. Because I was playing my own music I only had her
instructions running, even though I didn’t hear a thing J
Playing
the music that makes me feel on top of the world, has really made this workout a success.
Here is today's playlist:
- Beyonce – Sweet Dreams
- Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow Remix
- Black Eyed Peas – My humps
- Pitbull feat. JLo – On the floor
- Cirque du soleil - Alegria Remix
- David Guetta – She-Wolf
- Swedish House Mafia – Don’t you worry child
- David Guetta - Memories
I I would love to know about your favorite workout music, so that I can add it to my own :)
Workout
j As I didn't have the time to do the entire workout together, I decided to split cardio and the workout in half. This way I avoided the loss of focus during the mat-workout, but was in danger of not doing it at all. After doing the cardio and moving on to daily chores, it was hard to get back into the mindset for a workout, and I nearly didn't make it today. I was so tired and lazy that I fell asleep on the couch in the evening untill about 0:30 AM. When I woke up I had to decide: Do I want to give up for today, or will I just face the last 30 mins? I am very proud that I decided to do the workout. I just didn't want miss a day for an excuse like that.
What I did enjoy though, was the feeling of: I can do it, but I don't have to. It would have been totally fine, if I just called it a day and accepted the consequences. As soon as I gave myself this freedom, that it was OK to fail, that no one would care if I didn't do it, that was when my ambition was triggerd. So even though I don't think that splitting the workouts is ideal, it also has it's benefits. I was more focused, and I broke the hour into two manageable chunks of 30 minutes.
The workout itself went fine and I am doing better at the muscle exhaustion part. When I start messing around and taking breaks, it's mostly due to my impatience, not because I wouldn't be able to do it.
Day 4 was a real game-changer for me. It only took a simple change to transform my whole attitude. Now I am actually looking forward to the next cardio section!
I Is there any particular thing you do to make a workout more exciting? I know that this day was great, but there is always room for improvement :)
I
love,
Shauna
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