Yoga

I love the days that I have my yoga class. I just feel so relaxed for the rest of the day. I started taking yoga about a month ago, just one day a week to increase my flexibility, increase core strength and as a stress reliever (not that I have any stress mind you). It is the next step in my quest to be healthier.

I started working out a Curves almost a year ago and what a difference it has made in how I feel, as well as my weight! Ashley (the oldest progeny) had been urging me to join the Curves by our house and I finally gave in. Ashley had been working out for several months, loved it and was looking great. Something had to be done because I was beginning to look rather "square". A few years ago I had a "Scarlett O'Hara" moment, shook my fist at my scale and said, "As God is my witness, I will never be ruled by my scale or a diet again." I still stand by that. I am totally anti-diet because by their very nature they run for a finite amount of time and then you think that you are all done once you have reached that elusive goal. You abstain from foods you love (and then that is all you think about), you set unrealistic goals about eating and weight and once the weight is off then you go right back to eating just the way you had been eating. No permanent change in lifestyle.

Now, I am a snacker by nature. Some people eat when nervous, happy, upset. I like food. What I have going for me is that I like lots of healthy things. There aren't too many foods that I don't like. Well, liver aught to be outlawed but that is for another post. So I had an epiphany, if you will, last March. I want to live to a ripe and zesty age, until the Lord calls me home. I want to go out kicking and screaming, glass of wine in one hand and Dove chocolate in the other. But to do that I needed to look at what I was eating and just make it healthier. I am not a fast food person, I cook most of our meals from scratch, I just needed to cut down on things. Also, my doctor took a look at my blood pressure and cholesterol and said it was change the diet or start on medication. I am a terrible pill taker so I had to choose the other option.

By gum, it has worked. Over the past 11 months I have lost 12 pounds and almost 20 inches. Pats on the back for me. Now I think I will go and have some M&M's. Just because I want to. Just a few.