Yoga and Cycling

Short post today of what I’m currently up to.

YogaBody’s new 10-day challenge starts today! It’ll be 10 days of “funky” poses. We’re starting off with a “Funky” Tiger Pose. I’ll be posting pictures of my attempts at these poses but most likely the day after I do them because of my total lack of at-home internet.

If you’re interested in joining (and you still can of course because it’s free and fun), you can go to YogaBody. Don’t forget to add @YogaBodyFitness and #YogaBodyChallenge if you post your pics. I’ll be posting mine on Facebook and Instagram. I have links on the side of this blog for both sites.

In other news, I’ve started my cycling challenge and have even joined a cycling challenge group on DailyMile. Why did I join them? Because my route was taking me nearly 340 miles and the challenge covers about 311 miles (500 km) so why not?

I’m taking an imaginary trip to White Rock, Canada. No, I won’t be pedaling my brains out on the road. I’ll be snug as a bug on a recumbent bike. So far I average about 5 miles each sitting. I’m not doing it for any particular reason, just for fun and to get my legs moving while I read. It feels really good actually. Works my legs till they’re Jell-O, I get reading done, and then I end feeling super productive and healthy. Yay!

I’m also going to be trying out a “new” yoga DVD I found at the library. It’s not new by any means but it is for me because I’ve never tried it. I don’t have it with me so I can’t say what the title is but I’ll write up a post specifically for it later.

That’s it! Nothing “fun” so I’ll leave you with a random funny picture.

The Lure of Junk Food

I’m sure most people have dealt with the lure of junk food. What is it about sugary, salty, fatty foods that makes them so inviting? What is it about chocolate chip cookies and Oreos that make them so difficult to stay away from or, since we can’t stay away from them, to stick with one instead of five? Potato chips? Good grief.

Salt, sugar, and fat. Those are the three main ingredients that Americans generally cook with. ARGH! So addictive!

Goodness. That’s a bit disturbing. I was poisoning my body all through childhood and well into adulthood. And, right now, I’m poisoning it again!

My parents are visiting and I’ve allowed my diet to pretty much hit rock bottom. It’s awful. Really awful. But you know what the worst part of it is? Despite feeling guilty for actively seeking out junk to eat, I don’t feel guilty enough to stop. In fact, when I’m in the throes of salty or sugary ecstasy, I forget that I felt guilt at all.

I’ve even been eating DONUTS again! GASP! I trained myself away from donuts years ago except for when I messed up a few times (maybe 2 or 3 times during the entire year) in 2014. But now? Now I’m in seventh heaven having at least one donut a week.

These are not gluten or dairy-free either so I don’t feel all that great after I’ve eaten them. And yet I’m still actively seeking them out and leading myself down that sugary path of addiction once more.

I’m telling myself right now that when my parents leave I’ll stop this insane behavior but secretly I know that that’s probably not going to happen. Don’t we all tell ourselves, “I’ll start exercising/dieting/etc on Monday/beginning of the month/etc?” and then we don’t? We’re merely looking for a convenient and guilt-free way to allow ourselves to continue on our nasty little paths.

I’m not saying a donut every now and then is a bad thing but nearly every day along with M&Ms, cookies, cinnamon rolls, lemon loaf cakes, raspberry pudding cakes, etc is a bit much, don’t you think?

If farts and burps could cure cancer, I’d save the world. Those are some of the side effects when I eat gluten and dairy. Even my dad has been impressed with my burps on more than one occasion during this trip.

I’m determined now to at least get some cardio in if I’m going to be a sugar hound. So today I cycled 47 minutes on a recumbent bike. I would’ve walked on the treadmill or used the elliptical but my knee is giving me problems so I wanted to keep my walking/jogging down to the mile it takes to pick my son up from school and get home.

When I got home, I impressed my dad with my stretching (gotta stretch that knee out and then ice it – among other body parts – or it gets worse) and then I showed him my wilted bird of paradise pose and finished by standing on my head. Woo! Nothing better than impressing the parents!

 

Books and Exercise

I recently finished “reading” Stationary Bike, a novella by Stephen King. I use quotations because I was actually listening to the audiobook instead of reading the printed words with my eyes. It’s about a guy with a high cholesterol level. In order to lower it, he gets a stationary bike. Instead of setting it up in front of a TV or whatever, he points it at a wall where he’s painted a picture of a forest-y trail (he’s a freelance artist). He also takes a map and plans out the route that he’ll be “biking.”

All of this is intended to make the exercise more entertaining and motivating – going somewhere instead of biking nowhere in your basement and picturing your surroundings instead of the four bare walls surrounding you.

Long story (not really because it’s only 1.5 hours long on audiobook) short, his reality warps and he gets chased by the men working to clean up his cholesterol. No, he doesn’t die (though you and he both think he will), but he does learn a really good life lesson: everything in moderation.

Normally I wouldn’t post about my reading here, but this story was all about fitness and health (and horror in a sense but that’s beside the point). What I found laughably unbelievable about this story was how easy exercise came to him and how easily he lost weight.

Now, I know men find it easier to lose weight than women but this was ridiculous. He lost 15 lbs in 2 weeks! Seriously? After that they stopped giving a timeline so I don’t know how long it took him to lower his cholesterol (from 225 to 173), but he lost almost all of his beer gut in that time too. He also found his daily bike ride so therapeutic and enjoyable that he had to set an alarm clock for 2 hours just to remind himself to stop.

Nice. I wish exercise were that easy in the real world.

I wish eating healthy was as easy as King wrote it too. Still, I enjoyed the book. More, I enjoyed the idea of losing myself on a fake trail. That sounded seriously enjoyable – biking my way to some location and imagining myself on the trail though I was safely ensconced in a room on a bike that wouldn’t move or fall over. When I wanted to stop, I could and not have to worry about biking or walking 5-10 miles back the way I came.

When my lady bits got used to the bike seat, I enjoyed the Spin class. I loved seeing how far I could make it in 30-45 minutes and trying to top myself. But I have no stationary bike at home and no longer have a gym membership (sometimes I mourn it but not usually). And I don’t have any trail programs or anything that I could lose myself in even if I did have a stationary bike.

Curious to see if there were programs like that, I searched the internet and found one promising site. It even gives a free demo! I don’t know what it’s like because I have no reason to download it (it’s offered digitally though the rest I believe have a DVD option), but it looks pretty cool.

Trail Trainer

Might be fun for anyone looking for new ways to entertain themselves while biking/exercising. For me, I’ll have to stick with audiobooks and music.

Audiobooks are an awesome way to lose yourself while working those cardio machines. I found them especially useful on rowing machines. Forever rowing nowhere, I’d close my eyes, feel the breeze on my sweaty face as I went forward/backward/forward/backward, and listen to whatever audiobook was currently on my iPod. Usually Pride & Prejudice or something from Nora Roberts.

I’ve tried Lord of the Rings but it just didn’t float my boat when it came to exercise (crocheting, yes, exercise, no). I suggest something exciting or just something that makes your heart pump and your blood race.