Summary of Week Three

WEEK THREE: 

This was the first week I began to start noticing subtle changes.  I began to adjust to my newly-balanced diet with the proper ratio of fat, protein and carbs (I chose 20% fat, 35% protein and 45% carbs for caloric distribution) and I noticed my afternoon slumps have begun to dissipate.  My taste buds seemed to change, too; I no longer noticed a difference in the low-sodium foods I'm eating; suddenly eating a red bell pepper like an apple was a total delight that I looked forward to each afternoon.  I also started to become more sensitive to the preservatives in processed foods that I once thought were healthy - certain brands of yogurt, lean cuisines. even frozen veggie blends I would buy at Trader Joe's.  I suddenly became not only aware of fat, protein, carbs and calories, but also the ingredients themselves that I was putting into my body. 

Exercise

My routines have stayed the same, but I've upped the intensity. I made sure I was doing circuit training with weights - instead of sitting around between sets, I would do a different exercise while resting the muscle group I just worked, and I would go back and forth.  I stopped my treadmill workouts because I noticed I wasn't getting my heart rate up enough, and I decreased the intensity of my elliptical workouts because my heart rate was too high.  I also added a 5k run to my Friday morning workouts at the stairs and decreased the number of stairs sets to just 7 instead of 10.

On week three I also did one of the best things I've ever done for myself - I took my first yoga class.  I know my repetitive injuries were due to improper care of my muscles (I am so inflexible!), so I embarked on a commitment to total body wellness by doing a Bryan Kest Power Yoga class on 2nd Street in Santa Monica.  Anaswara (who I've been told is the best) is on maternity leave and so we got a guy named Vytas who was such a badass that I thought I would give up half way thru.  I couldn't take it seriously and it was such a challenge to hold still in poses.  I couldn't focus my mind and I almost died.  He had us hold certain deep stretch poses for 3 minutes and would yell at people if they fidgeted and I have always been a very antsy person and I could NOT hold still - I literally began to shake toward the end.  And he kept saying things like "Don't let your mind wander.  When you feel it wander, bring it back to this moment" and I have no idea what that means.  If I continue to bring my mind to the present, it will drive me mad.  I need a distraction to keep my mind occupied, dammit! :P

In any event, I am committed to the practice for a month to see if I see improvement in my flexibility.  Plus it's just such a classic Santa Monica cultural thing to experience :)