Getting By, Dreaming Big

Even though I have not posted on Healthy Living in awhile I’m happy to say that I’ve been working out with a trainer for a month now and while the pounds haven’t melted from my body quite as fast as I had hoped I do feel remarkably better (it’s amazing how good you feel once you lose that unhealthy bloat you’re caring around – right?) 

One of the things my trainer has me doing is planks, which I thought were easy, well excuse me, they are really really hard, especially for someone who has essentially been ignoring her core for um…31 years!  I’ve built up to 60 seconds every now and again but can accomplish 30 seconds on a fairly regular basis now.  (I even practiced on vacation in Europe, after 6-8 hours of hiking and walking, I’d get back to the hotel and have Jon time me doing my plank!)  I know I’m starting to find dedication – it’s amazing.

Well, I love how my “middle’ feels now, even with just a slight improvement, so I decided it was time to tackle Angela’s Whittle My Middle Challenge (she’s the Glow Bar queen over at Oh She Glows).  I went to her website where she outlined her Whittle My Middle Challenge that she did almost a year ago.  I watched the video and then proceeded to do my first session after my workout on the eliptical this afternoon.

Boy, was it harder than I thought it would be.  Here are my stats:

Plank – 35 seconds

Side Plank (Right & Left) – 35 seconds each

Plank on the Stability Ball – 30 seconds

Stability Ball Jack Knife – I had a really difficult time with this and may have to start just by holding the pose without moving.  Nevertheless I did 4 but I’m going to have to have Jon help me tomorrow until my core is strong enough to really stead the ball on it’s own.

Ab Roll Out – 15

Plank Rotation – I did 4 – this was also a lot harder than I thought.

I know those aren’t stellar results but the goal is that each week those numbers will get better and better!  Here’s to hoping anyway.  I’m starting out with a 33 1/2 inch waste (start photo above!)  Here’s to seeing where I’ll be at the end of the challenge!  Next week I’ll list my Whittle My Middle Challenge stats for the week.

Thanks to Angela for putting this together, even if I am 8 months late to the party.  Better late then never!

Post in Comments:

What is your favorite core exercise?

 So back in December I came up with the idea that Friday would be all about Healthy Living!  Unfortunately I have not been living up to my goal for that post.  That’s because I haven’t been doing very many healthy things for myself and it’s time to turn that around.  When I saw that Tina at Carrots’n'Cake and Kate at WhatKateAte were hosting  Yoga Pose May, I thought to myself this is just what I need to jump start Healthy Living Fridays.  During Yoga Post May, bloggers were assigned different poses to post about each day.  My pose is the Supported Shoulder Stand.  I enjoy Yoga, I usually do the 20 minute Namaste programs on FitTV.  However, my Yoga is very basic – so I was a little intimidated by the Supported Should Stand.

I practiced many times prior to doing it for my photo opp for the blog.  Shion over at Shi’s Eating, took my picture for me (thanks Shi) and she also participated in Yoga Pose May.  Check out her Cobra.  In this first picture, after looking at it, I noticed that I wasn’t getting my legs as straight as they should be.  They were coming over my head.  I will say that having someone take a photo and being able to look at it was incredibly helpful.  I thought I was doing the pose correctly, but after looking at the photo, I saw that I really needed to work on getting my legs straight.

Thankfully Shion is a patient person!  She waited and snapped many pictures (and provided many encouraging words) as I worked to make my legs straighter.  This second picture is my best shot at it.  For the first time I was doing something complicated enough in Yoga, that I understood the phrase, “working at a pose”.  I really had to work at this.  I definitely made a huge improvement from the beginning to the end, and I’m going to continue working on this pose till I get even straighter.  It made me see how challenging yoga really can be.  I’ve been using it as a way to quiet my mind and unwind.  This really challenged my strength (although I can’t say it was relaxing at all – not yet at least – because it was pretty tough)!

Big thanks to Kate and Tina for hosting Yoga Pose May so that I could challenge myself in a new way.  I definitely plan on making Healthy Living Fridays a regular post (for real!!!)  So check back next week to see what I do for myself and my body next week that’s healthy.

If you want to check out other bloggers take on the Supported Shoulder Stand these bloggers are also featuring it today for Yoga Pose May:

Stacy at Healthy Life

Jen at Recipes for Creativity

so check them out!

Post in Comments:

What is your favorite yoga pose?  While I haven’t mastered it yet (heels don’t touch the ground) I love the stretch that downward dog gives me.

Now that I’m blogging more frequently, I figured that I should at least be blogging once a day, just so that you, my loyal readers, have something to read!  I’ve been playing around with a couple of different topics and recently decided that Fridays would be dedicated to “Healthy Living”.  Foodie Wednesday covers restaurant reviews, the Giada Challenge, cooking magazine reviews, among other fun foodie topics. 

Healthy Living is going to be dedicated to…well…what else “Healthy Living”.  Blog topics will include:  new foods being introduced into my diet, fitness routines that I like, and every week I’ll mention one thing I did that week to Live Healthy. 

I’m pretty excited about this, as I’m someone who enjoys living a healthy and active life!  However, sometimes I can get sidetracked and get caught up in some pretty bad habits.  By blogging every Friday about Healthy Living in my life it will hopefully help me implement more healthy habits into my life.  It’s all about balance so have no fear Foodie Wednesday will still include some indulgent meals & baking!

So officially starting next week Healthy Living Friday’s will be up and running!  If you have any suggestions, comments, foods that you think I would love, please leave them in the comment section.  I am hoping that this will be a good addition to the blog and to my life.