Be Present.

At my yoga class today, the instructor started off the class telling us to stop dwelling on the past and future and just be present. I have a memory that doesn't forget and constantly dwells on the past and I'm also a planner thinking about the future. So I'm going to try to de-clutter my head and just be present. Be in the moment and not thinking about yesterday or tomorrow but just right now.

Cleaning.

Cleaning the house is like working out. You never really want to do it, you just know that you should. And you are always happier you did it after its done. But I can't seem to get myself off the couch to do it. I got the workout part in this morning. I went to a yoga class at the Bloomington Lifetime. A few of the people in the class were discussing someone's recent cataracts surgery, the girl next to me had never done yoga before (despite the fact the class description recommended a basic knowledge of yoga), the teacher had a really thick Minnesotan accent that was grinding on my nerves and she ended the class with a Christmas song. Not exactly my ideal yoga setting, but at least I went and it served as a good warm up for my run. I don't mind running on a treadmill when there's good TV on and the Price is Right was perfect. You don't really need to hear the show to know what's going on, but it's visually entertaining and when it's on a commercial break, the View and the 4th hour of the Today show are equally distracting. I've seen the SNL skits of Hoda and Kathie Lee, but what I didn't know was how accurate it they are. It's frightening. 

The fact that I have one more day off before Adam has a week off makes it that much easier to put off the fact that my house is still a mess. It's even easier to avoid it when I know he doesn't actually care. 

Sigh. 

Post Yoga Calm.

I intended on going for a run this morning, but I ran into my favorite yoga instructor who convinced me to go to his class instead. I love the feeling I get after yoga. Starting out my day twisting, turning and balancing my body into crazy poses puts me in a great mood. I already warned my cube neighbor that I'm probably going to be annoyingly happy today. But since when is that a bad thing?

I'm on track to win $200 in our work "biggest loser" competition. Of course, we branded it "Fat Fight Fest." I was in the lead last week and I'm hoping to remain there tomorrow for the final weigh in. I'm amazed at how fast I can gain weight. Over 9 months of steady weight gain, I managed to gain 15 pounds and feel incredibly out of shape. Although, I blame consistent knee pain for a lot of the weight gain. When my knee hurt, I wouldn't workout, but I also didn't limit my eating and opted to eat whatever I wanted (as if I can do that when I do work out regularly!). Either way, bad habits kept in and I didn't stop it for most of last year. 

The hardest part of getting back into a work out routine is starting it. Everything feels so difficult and it's so hard to get yourself motivated. This time is was tough, but running the 10K on Thanksgiving kept me motivated and feeling good. Now, I'm making workouts a priority and scheduling them, reminding myself that any workout is better than no workout. I've been listening to my body too. On Monday my knee was achy, so I biked instead of the treadmill, but I kept thinking that just getting up and moving is better than nothing. Something always comes up and breaks my routine, I'm hoping my 2 weeks off of work starting next week don't ruin all the progress I've made. But as long as I can remember how great I feel after a workout, I will hopefully be able to power through the holidays and go to the gym!

New Routine.

I struggled to get to the gym last week. I had my gym bag with me everyday, yet still couldn't make it happen. So, I'm enacting a new routine. Over the weekend I was looking at some of the group classes to see if any of them fit my schedule and saw a 6am M/W yoga class. 6am, not ideal, but not horrible either. I usually set my alarm for around 6 and hit snooze for an hour. So, I'm not exactly missing out on quality sleep if I just get up and get out of bed at 5:30. Today was the trial run to see if I could, in fact, get up and out of bed and make it to the class semi-on time. I was a few minutes late, but was able to jump in without a problem. It was a little more advanced than any other class I've taken recently, but I liked the challenge and the flow of it. Overall, I really enjoyed it. After the class I talked to the instructor for a few minutes. He asked if I was a dancer because I had "gorgeous feet". He said he noticed because he's also a dancer. I was already planning on going back to the class, but the compliment on my feet solidified that plan.

I don't really do resolutions, but I'll set a new routine...
M/W- yoga and running in the morning
T- either lunch yoga or post work run
Sa- Yoga and running
Su- Spin class

Thursday and Friday are just too hard to plan and I'm guessing Tuesday will be hit or miss too. But if I plan to work out 4 days a week, I'm good with that.

We'll see how long 6am yoga lasts, but it started my day off just right, so I think it's going to be an addicting habit. And a yoga addiction is something I can handle.