Sucky Sinuses

Waaaahhhhh - Started the fitness regime with a hiss and a roar on Monday...

Taken out with a horrid sinus infection Tuesday.

Still battling on Wednesday.

Back into it Thursday? 

YES!

Sometimes you just have to listen to your body and respect that despite what your goals are some days you have to take five, rest and recover.

Back to the couch then....

Namaste
~PS~

The Exercise-ist

Day one of 'the exercise plan'... so far so good haha! 

I'm a realist, I know it's going to hurt.  A lot. But the actual exercising part (I mean of course, the actual getting started and DOING part) was great and it was good to be reminded how much I enjoy and have been missing regular training sessions.

So MONDAY of my plan looks like this;

- Come home from work.

- Before getting too comfy... 
Leave the house again.  
With dog. And TM. Walkies!

- Home again (about 2-3kms later).

- Get cracking on the resistance workout over here ------>

- Feel awesome!

Didn't take any notice of how long I took to work through it, so no idea how long today's training session took in total!

I anticipate about an hour a day to complete the walk/run and the resistance plan.


In my personal experience, one of the best things you can do for yourself when you start an exercise or training programme (especially if it's in the interest of weight loss) is to just bite the bullet and take your measurements, record your starting weight and take the dreaded before photos.

YES, it's a scary and intimidating thought.  
YES, those pics are probably going to feel quite confronting.

BUT take a deep breath and trust me on this one - just do it! 
This is your STARTING POINT... once you have those pics you are not going back.  And deeeeen... after you have worked your arse off you will have solid and undeniable evidence right in front of you.

BAM!!! YES - YOU WILL FEEL FABULOUS!! 
 

Often our perspective of ourselves can be a bit warped and quite often the image we see in the mirror can be inaccurate or we  easily become fixated on the "bad bits"... when really we aren't considering or seeing our TRUE SELF. 

How many times have you looked in the mirror and thought "oh I can't possibly wear this my elbows looks horrible" when in actual fact YOU are the only one who has even given your elbows a second glance?!  
Seems a bit silly when I use the word 'elbow' and put it like that doesn't it? Substitute 'elbow' for 'belly' and think about how many times you have done exactly what I described.


This is where the before and after pics are a brilliant tool not only serving as a great reminder of how far you have come but they will also help to put your perception of your body image positively back on track.

YES, I took my BEFORE photo's today.... 
YES, I think they are scary and horrible!!
YES, you will get to see them.

BUT only after I have awesome AFTER photo's to go with them ;)
I'm not that brave yet! 

Happy working towards your goals beautiful people!

Namaste
~PS~

Drastic measures...

Haha exactly 10 days!! 
Never mind.  I started a facebook page to make up for it; Positively Soulfish  
Please feel free to 'like' it and then you can be kept up to date with when the blog installments are installed and also receive positive picture posts coming up in your daily news feed!
Once I'm teaching and counselling, information about my classes and sessions will also be posted through the Facebook page.

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me at work with a lot of changes going on that have generated a bit of pressure.  It's been a bit stressful and I've been quite neglectful of myself.  Realising my self neglect was part of the reason for last weeks"lightbulb moment" and giving myself a kick in the bum.  

I have also been making a conscious effort to get the ticks on my wall chart... not suprisingly actually doing those things for myself has left me feeling pretty awesome and helped me get through that trying time!  
I am really reaping the rewards as the meditation, stretching and walking are all helping me to combat the stress and tension and I'm feeling really on top of things - GO ME!

Back at the Estate... we have been using an evening menu plan... but haven't been very diligent with the planning part over the past couple of weeks.  In a dash out the door on the way to the supermarket the other day I grabbed a previously printed shopping list - which means that this week's menu plan looks like this (and as I recall the food the week 8-13th September was exceptional);

I wanted to have a weekly menu plan in place to help get a bit more organised - but didn't want one that was too intimidating otherwise I would be less likely to stick to it.  
TM (The Mister) and I have been sticking with this simple evening meal plan format --->
and we sit down together and decide what the culinary week ahead holds for the Estate.

It seems so simple and perhaps unnecessary to some people but having the menu plan really helps by removing one more worry from our busy brains. 

Over the past few weeks I have compiled a standard list that is now a tear off section down the bottom left of the page - this make it easy to cross off the things we already have and adjust as required according to the weeks plan.  

There is a reasonably standard core list of ingredients so it just keeps things simple but also helps with keeping the budget under control.


Also now that things have settled down a bit at work, this week sees me taking DRASTIC MEASURES - HERE COMES THE EXERCISE PLAN!!

It is now time to shake things up on the exercise front.  The daily walking and getting into the routine of exercise has been good but it's time to step it up a notch. 
It appears that I'm slowly creeping towards a slightly rounder version of myself - I can tell because my pants are getting tighter and I don't quite fit my favourite frock the way I used to... so I'd like to just get fit and healthy again, back to how I felt and looked at the start of the year.

This is a biggie for me to put up on the blog because it's a pretty ambitious plan that I'm going with and by posting about it here I feel a pretty large sense of accountability coming on haha... but I know from past programs or challenges that I have participated in and when I put my mind to something and commit, I really commit!! 

I was going to put together something similar to the "Tuff Club" circuit that a few of us used to attack in the back yard at the Estate (normally backed by some quite excellent 80's music I might add), but then I found a few magazine workouts and bits and pieces and oh boy - it's GO TIME!!

MON:
Walk
Total Body Strength Training (Focus Abs)

TUES:
Walk / Cardio - min 30 mins

WED:
Walk
Total Body Strength Training (Focus Abs)

THURS:
Walk / Cardio - min 30 mins

FRI:
Walk
Total Body Strength Training (Focus Legs)

SAT:
Walk / Cardio - min 30 mins

SUN: 
REST - Walk the dog

And If you believe what the introduction on this booklet said then I am about to flatten my belly and have a fine behind just in time for summer.
I was just looking for a challenging workout haha  Those will be nice bonuses!

So the food is organised, the workout space is set up to kick off the programme tomorrow and I forsee another week of personal growth and pushing boundaries!

What are you doing this week to challenge yourself?  Been thinking about starting a project or beginning a thing... what's holding you back...? :)

Have a wonderful week,
Namaste
~PS~

Action stations!

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got" 

Depending on which google answer you prefer, this deliciously insightful sentence belonged to either Henry Ford, Anthony Robbins or Albert Einstein... but as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't make a lick of difference whose mouth it came out of - what matters is the sheer truth of it!

You may come to notice that when I get excited about new ideas I tend to get a bit ahead of myself... like starting a blog and talking about getting organised without backing up said blog for 10 days haha!
Then yesterday it kind of hit me that I was feeling all frazzled and stressed and was in a pretty negative mindset.  I started to question why I wasn't feeling awesome after doing so well with 'getting organised' and talking about doing all these things. 

Then it dawned on me what part of the problem might have been...
I mean, I couldn't be 100% sure, but it was possible that maayyybe I wasn't feeling that awesome because I wasn't DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY!! Bah.

That first week when I put up the blog - I felt really fricken super!  "Look how awesome I'm being... I made my lists and I'm doing good things... I feel awesome!"  I was starting to do really good things and I was feeling great!
But I lost sight of all that when I let a bunch of stress and pressure get on top of me.  My head was swimming with all the things going on - but instead of using my mad skills and knowledge about dealing with stress, I reverted back to old habits and just took everything on board and carried it all around with me.  Ouchies, my shoulders are still sore!

It was a good thing to become aware of though and I can't believe how easily you can slip into old habits without even realising.  Good to know!  So I'm back on track now - the wall chart's going to be full of ticks again and stress be damned!!  I'm not interested today thanks.

Wall chart you say?  Yes!
So I've got a few tools that I've created to use in order to help me along the way.

I find having tools like these keep me from having to try and store everything in my head!  You know how it is some days when you've got a few things on your mind and you drive yourself batty thinking about them.
Make a list.
Seriously. 

I've got a checklist printed out and posted up on a notice board in one of our main living areas to remind me of the things that I aspire to do daily.  It's not a 'challenge' (for those who know of the Half Dozen Challenge lol) but acts as more of a reminder while trying to form the habits.

Looks like this:

 
I just reviewed the list though and my shiny new version goes like this:

Walk

Water 2L

Meditation

Booze Free (a couple of dots is fine, let's not get carried away)

Stretch

Bed by 11pm

Writing

 
I find using this a really simple way to help keep me on track.  It takes a lot of that niggling worry factor out as well because it's all written down in front of me - I don't have to keep a mental checklist because I have a real one.  My brain can get busy doing other things!

You'll see there's a 'Tools' tab at the top of the page - this is where I'll upload things as I go that I think others might find handy like menu planning templates, an easy to use budget planner and a few other handy bits n pieces.  
Please feel free to download anything that you might find useful :)

All that as well as a whole post about meditation still to come... I can assure you the next post won't be 10 days in the making haha


I'm leaving you with another quote (I've been very inspired this week).  
The author of this verse cannot be disputed and is most certainly the magnificent Dr Seuss (haha.. didn't you just want to add "ted" to the end of Seuss to make it all rhyme... however, I digress);

 

 

Namaste

~PS~

And so it begins...

Welcome to Postively Soulfish!!
I created this blog partly to keep me amused but mostly to use as evidence and keep me on track as I travel along a personal journey into discovering how to be positively selfish for the good of my soul.

You're welcome to join the ride as I clamber back up into the drivers seat, fiercely grip the reins and drive myself towards the unknown.  To be honest I'm looking forward to reconnecting with myself, becoming more present and aware, taking control of my actions and just jolly well putting myself first for a change! 

I am about to complete a meditation and holistic human development course and part of the course focuses on positive mental attitude, becoming more aware of ourselves and what our true needs are and learning how to work towards fulfilling these needs in order to create the life we want to live. 

And so it begins.... I made the decision on the 1st September (coincidentally the first day of spring and new beginnings...) that I was going to take action and actively pursue positive changes in my life.
 
I'm on a mission to consciously nurture myself in body, mind & soul. In a nutshell, I want to get my sh*t together in order to live a happy and fulfilling life! I'm even going to set goals and stuff!  
I can certainly talk the talk... but at the moment I'm not walking the walk.  And I really wanna walk!!
 
So I'm getting organised. Properly organised - like with lists and stuff... with plans and schedules... like you hear about organised people doing.

It's a pretty foreign concept to be so organised but in theory it will be amazing so it's a concept that I'm fully prepared to commit to giving a crack and seeing what happens.

So here we go... SOME GOALS;

-Daily Meditation
 Inner peace, clarity and stress relief start here!


-Planned weekly dinner menu / food shopping lists
 Knowing what's on the menu is one less thing to worry about

-1000km Challenge
 Walk/Run 1000km between 1st Sept 12-31 Aug 13

-Couch to 5km Challenge
 This will help to achieve 1000km and keep me on track

-Better budgeting and staying on track with finances
 That wedding won't pay for itself!

-Eating more whole foods
 Cleaner eating with less of the packaged stuff


As I go, I'll be sharing the things that I'm doing (I'm always trying some fandangled new thing), how well I'm achieving my goals, the tools that I'm using and hopefully some inspiration to anyone else who may be on a mission to enjoy a positively soulfish life!


Namaste
~PS~

Me! Goals are FUN! haha :)