On return from Serbia I walked back into the height of British summer. What a joy! London is always so much happier in the summer. FYI Autumn is my favourite season because I prefer to not sweat so ferociously in public!
Since I got back I have also had some further improvements in my yoga practice and while I have been fairly consistent with my yoga and running, it’s been a bit hit and miss. As standard.
So this is what I have been up to:
I had a rest day on the Monday I got home, taking the opportunity to spend time with Giles and the cats.
On Tuesday I did a 75 minute flow yoga class which was actually quite hard considering the amount of yoga I had done over the last month! The following morning I went for a 60 minute walk and did 15 minutes of flow yoga at home.
That Thursday I went out for my first run in 2 weeks!! I did a 4Km loop near home which I did not love, and then stretched at home with a 20 minute wheel and yin hybrid.
On the Friday it was such hot weather that all my plans to run or go to yoga class were postponed all day, up until I decided to do a 60 minute Bikram yoga practice at home. For the first time, in ages, I felt body confident and this was the day I met the 1.5 stone weight loss point! Hurrah!
It’s been such a long time coming, 1.5 stone in 1.5 years. When people tell you that losing weight gets harder with age; LISTEN TO THEM!!!!!
I still have another stone to lose, so ya know, I’ll be hitting my target just before my 40th at this rate. I’m pretty sure I have some hormonal reason my weight loss is soooooooo hard and so I need to get that checked that out but with anything I try to do for my self-care, I seem to be up against all the barriers.
That Saturday I went to Parkrun and it was basically hotter than the sun. I think this was also one of the very few runs I have attempted while fasting so all in all it was a mess and It took 33 minutes. Before Serbia I was consistently running 5Km in 30 minutes so this was a fair bit slower. It shows how the 2 week running break impacted my pace, that’s for sure!
I ended my first week back with Yin making a week total of 2 runs (9Km), 2 yoga classes, 1 XT session and 3 sessions of yoga at home. Not at all bad.
The second week home I managed to get out for 3 runs. 6Km on Tuesday taking 38.52, 6.5Km on Friday in 41.07 and I did a 10Km trail race on Sunday which I actually really enjoyed. It was so hot but a really lovely route through woods and across creeks. I came in at 1:09:05 which is better than I had anticipated.
I also did a Bikram class on Monday (75 mins) and a 60 minute class on Wednesday.
My plan was to do another Bikram class on Saturday morning but I slept so badly the night before I skipped it and did some sun salutations instead.
A pretty good week, particularly for running. The balance of 3 runs and 3 yoga classes works quite well so keeping that up would be ideal.
Plans for the next week was a bit more the challenge as I had a 2 day trip away for social purposes meaning it was likely to be quite boozy with plenty of food and not much exercise.
Nevertheless I managed 3 yoga classes (2 yin and one Bikram), 2 sessions of sun salutations, and 2 home practice flow sessions lasting 10 to 15 minutes each.
I had a challenging therapy session on the Monday which knocked my mood and a bit of a difficult day on Thursday so I wasn’t feeling very good emotionally. Any exercise plans I had I didn’t follow through on. It’s so hard to motivate myself to workout when I feel low and there is a real ‘what’s the point?’ thought process I get caught up with.
So although I did no running all week I managed a little yoga on 5/7 days which was a definite positive considering the trace and my mood. But this was the first week in months where I had 2 consecutive rest days.
This alone made me realise that I have successfully made daily movement my routine, and I also found that I didn’t like having those two rest days.
Last Thursday, I went on holiday to Provence, France, for my brothers wedding.
This has been one of the main deadlines for the physical changes I have tried to make and I’ll definitely need to reflect on this journey in its entirety soon.
Last week I knew exercise would not be a priority. I went to yoga class on Tuesday and Wednesday and did some sun salutations on Friday. There was no running.
On the morning of my brothers wedding I guided an hour long yoga and meditation session for my brother, his fiancé (now lovely wife) and three of her bridesmaids. I started with some of the restorative yoga sequence I learned in Serbia, then added some sun salutations and vinyasa, and ended it with a guided meditation practice. It was such a beautiful moment that we had together and gave us all a calm and peaceful vibe. I felt really honoured to have been able to gift them a sense of calm, which was so important for the day ahead.
Although there was a gigantic volume of alcohol consumed, barely any exercise, intermittent fasting went out the window and I had little to no control over what food I had to eat over the 5 days; I weighed in this morning and am the same weight as I was before the trip.
This is a fantastic win, I would normally expect to gain 4-7 lbs after that sort of partying and holidaying, so I feel very pleased to have maintained the weight loss that I’ve made so far.
Now I am back I feel more committed and motivated and ready to get back on top of it. I am even looking forward to running!
Tomorrow it’s 1st August, I plan to be my goal weight by Christmas. For that I need to step up my cardio and get back to weight training. No excuses. Let’s do this!
