Learn Your Body As A Friend

I had a total light bulb come on in my head this week from looking at old Bodyrock workouts and reading the Hot Warrior post here that has the "Bodyrocker's Creed" - I don't totally agree with all of what the creed says, but I do like this part:

My body is living, as a part of me, and through it I experience life. Thus, 
I will learn it as a friend. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths,
 its parts, its movements, and its possibilities. ... I will keep my body clean and ready. I will accept
 it as it is and as a part of me.

That highlighted part "learn it as a friend" is my favorite. If I'm learning my body as a friend, I will listen to what my body tells me. And how does our body talk to us? Well, our mood is one way, and I do know that carbs and sweets make me cranky, impatient, and craving more. But I usually ignore my body when it tells me that. I notice it, but am not listening or learning like a friend would. No more. But our body also talks to us through the bathroom business, and so I've been thinking that this way is probably the most important way our body talks to us: THIS IS REQUIRED READING FOR ALL OF YOU - click on the title to chapter 17. I've had issues for a long time with page 220's topic. I had it bad when I was eating the Kristi Approved way (example of their weekly menu here), which was healthy diet and I was losing weight, but I was still noticing the problem, my body's way of saying that it wasn't working for me. I took magnesium to help, and I guess it helped a little, but really that just meant I was ignoring my body. I needed to listen to my body and learn it as a friend! But I didn't at that time. I've also noticed once before in my life when I ate a ton of walnuts and raisins, that the issue was gone, so after an uncomfortable toilet sit this past week, I decided I'm going to experiment and learn my body as a friend - what does it like? Is this good? What does it not like? I think my body does not like breads, so I've really cut those out - i have a planned menue and just have had 1 serving of Kashi Honey Sunshine this week to see what my body thinks. I've been eating lots of more vegetables, protein, and nuts. And for probably the first time in my life I don't feel bloated or plugged up!

What do you eat that makes you feel good? This past week I've been totally on target and it hasn't been hard! I'm not giving my body cravings and then fighting those cravings while at the same time making it stressful by trying to lose weight too, but I'm listening to my body and so far my body is telling me "THANK YOU!" and is being nice to me - and I've lost 2 pounds and 1.5 inches on my waist. It's a win-win! Try it - experiment with your body and go for "floaters", that is how your body will tell you things are balanced and just right!

I am finally learning to love my body by learning my body!

"All parts of the body which have a function if used in moderation and exercised in labors in which each is accustomed, become thereby healthy, well developed and age more slowly, but if unused they become liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly.”

~Hippocrates~

There are lots of options out there for exercise and loosing weight - ultimately it comes down to what you make work for you. I follow Bodyrock.tv for my exercise and have made my own version of diet applying several things that I enjoyed from several different programs. I highly recommend Bodyrock.tv. If you're a beginner and that seems out of reach, my next recommendation would be Kristi Approved. Please leave a comment if you have questions! To see this blog in Spanish, visit here: "Ama Tu Cuerpo"

My Diet

So I'm ready to finally lose the last 10 pounds. I've been following Bodyrock's exercises faithfully since we moved to Chile in December, and I'm mentally in the zone! For my diet, I started last week for new years with this new daily diet for the next 7 weeks to help me reach my goal by our 12th anniversary:

7 a.m. - Fitness cereal with skim milk and a banana

10 a.m. - Peach Cobbler French Toast

1 p.m. - Toast with chicken and cream cheese

4 p.m. - Tuna Salad

7 p.m. - Eggs and Peppers

With this schedule I wake at 7 and eat right away, I exercise between 8 and 9, and I'm in bed by 11 p.m.