FACEinHOLE

Create your own FACEinHOLE

Evolution Two – week twelve

Friday, August 14, 2009

Hello Folks,

I bet a few of you are wondering why I have this weird picture of my face in this other person’s body. Alright, so it may look like a really silly experiment, but I wanted to share with you one of the things that I have decided to do to motivate me to reach my goals. I found this website through a suggestion made by another blogger who used it to help her lose weight and thought I would give it a try.

This picture does make me look a bit funny (hopefully it won’t have the reverse effect on my desire to workout!). I have been putting up pictures similar to this one in my workout area. I do find that when I am doing cardio or weight training and I look at pictures of my ideal body I start to workout harder. I imagine my muscles rippling. I feel totally shredded! Not!

Since I have a really vivid imagination, sometimes I “feel” as though I look like that! Have you ever had that before where you felt like you looked like someone else? Because I believe in past lives, I think I am able to imagine myself as someone else; and who knows, maybe I was Jane Fonda in past life? Oh, that’s right, I was born when she was alive, and isn’t she still alive? Talk about a fitness leader though, she changed the face of Hollywood, and she isn’t even that buff.

If actors can do it, so can I! Look out GI Jane, here I come!

The real reason I want to try this experiment is because some sports psychologists have concluded that if you visualize yourself doing something really well or achieving something, your brain tells your body it is really happening; like a holographic game. That could be next in the fitness world; imagine being able to step into a machine and look like whatever you want.

Ok, so I am getting a little off track with lofty ideas. The main thing is, I thought that if you are interested in this sort of thing, you might want to try it too.

Visualization has been used in curing all kinds of sickness. There is something about making yourself believe that something is achievable that sets it in motion. Do I think this works for anything?….probably not, reality is very powerful. I suspect that if I visualize something tangible that the possibility will go up.

Though, I don’t think anything can be achieved without effort. So, I decided to change my motto to Think, Visualize, Believe, Massively Act, Adjust, and Never Give Up.

Probably the most important rules are to Massively Act and Never Give up. It makes sense when you look at anyone who has succeeded....Time And Energy Plus Determination Equals Results.....But that’s a whole other blog.

PS: I will be out of town and unable to do long posts for the next 10 days or so. I will, however, be sending text and pictures via my phone for some brief updates. And I will blog while I am away.

Exercise: Interval (40 minutes – biking)

Menu:Veggies and Protein

Until next time…

Think, Visualize, Believe, Massively Act, Adjust, and Never Give Up


Dakota

Today’s Mantra: Time And Energy Plus Determination Equals Results.

Life's Too Short: Day 165

Evolution Two – week twelve

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Hello Folks,

Recently, I found out that a friend of mine has cancer. This is a huge shock to me, because she takes pretty good care of herself...doesn't do the usual cancer causing activities like smoking or working for a nuclear plant. Alright, realistically I know that it can happen to anyone at any time regardless of how well they take care of themselves. It is a fact of life!
This feeling of life being too short to sweat the small things reminds me of the book call Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse about Buddha. He tells the story of a young man who lives in a castle full of wealth and youth and what seems to be perfect happiness and immortality. The young man leaves the castle and discovers that there is sickness, old age and death and basically all kinds of suffering. Because of his discovery (this is my theory of course), he decides there must be more meaning to life than all that he was experiencing. He becomes a monk (essentially) at first to liberate himself from suffering, maybe hoping he could somehow transcend it and when he couldn't really transcend it and realize it just was a part of life he becomes enlightened and discovers the middle way. Ok, so that is the very simplified version.

The point is that in the buddhist tradition there is a belief to hold death close to you. It sounds kind of morbid unless you turn it around and think of it as the preciousness of life. Today that is how I feel about my friend...how precious life is to realize that your body will eventually no longer sustain you. I am imagining myself in that position and also realizing how important gratitude is in the scheme of things.

When I focus on my blog and fitness goals and remember how grateful I am that i can exercise and breath and eat and afford to feed myself, cloth myself, pay my bills...etc....it makes meeting my goals seem very easy.

This is dedicated to my friend. I wish for her that she heals quickly and suffers very little.


Exercise: Free
Menu: Protein and veggies

Until next time…

Think, Believe, Act, Achieve

Dakota

Today’s Mantra: Live each day as though it were your last.

Losing Weight As Breast Reducer: Day 164

Evolution Two – week twelve

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Hello Folks,

For any of you out there that knows what it feels like to go running when you have a size D chest, man, is it painful. One of hardest things I face when I gain weight is how challenging it is to exercise. I mean, when you have to wear two sports bras to support your chest, it is not that funny (well-sort of). And when when you are reminded of the raccoon eye joke for big breasted runners...that’s not funny either.

If you look at my before and after pictures you can see a “big” difference in my chest size. I remember when I was in high school on the track team (when my weight was just beginning to yo yo) and the team members had a running joke; whoever had the biggest chest would easily cross the finish line first. I was usually in the top three. I think I liked the attention, but really? It was a painful joke, though I laughed.

I was pretty athletic as a kid and my chest developed late and so it was really hard, at first, for me to be comfortable in my own skin. Unlike most girls, I wasn’t really looking forward to that part of my development. I was a soccer player and it really interfered with chesting the ball. Talk about a painful way to stop the ball. Though, later they came in handy when I played hackey sack....I could stall the sack with my chest.


I have also gotten suggestions to have a boob job! Since I am a naturalist at heart, I really have never been interested in surgery as an option for breast reduction. I am much more interested in exercise as a natural approach to shrinking my breasts (haven’t they come up with a breast shrinking pill yet?). Though, nothing can be done about that other wonderful human quality caused by gravity. You know what I am talking about? All I can say is thank god for support bras.

Here are my pictures…

Exercise: Free
Menu: Protein and veggies

Until next time…

Think, Believe, Act, Adjust, Never Give Up

Dakota

Today’s Mantra: Sometimes it is just about being real.

Ankle Injury Lessons: Day 163

Evolution Two – week twelve

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Hello Folks,

I am really excited about being able to workout after 7 days of nursing my ankle. I already have been working out for a few days, but now I am almost back to normal with my workout routines. The one thing I am aware of is that I have to really pay attention to my ankle. This is where it can be easy to get into a groove with it and think that everything is ok, when it is still bruised and weak.

My first solution is to include a lot of strengthening exercises in my workout to continue to rehabilitate it. I am also much more careful when I walk or do anything for that matter.

I see this as a perfect opportunity to practice two obvious messages that I have been given through this injury.

The first message was to SLOW DOWN. Somehow the universe knows that if it doesn’t send you to the couch you will never learn the benefits of slowing down. Slowing down is actually speeding up. Why is it speeding up? Well, to use an example, if I slow down when I workout I notice that burn in my muscles and they actually start to shake; I can no longer “cheat” my workout. As a result, it can speed up the length of time it takes to build muscle strength. I am only talking about resistance training here.

Slowing down also allows for rest, which is the best time to rebuild muscle and I am guessing ligaments and tendons. Slowing down is a natural rhythm in nature. If you look at nature for a period of time you will definitely be able to identify lulls in growth…especially in the winter…eh?

The second message I am getting is to stay present. When I feel the amount of pain I feel if I misstep when I am not looking I am much more inclined to pay attention to each step. A funny way to be in the NOW, isn’t it? It makes sense though, that injury really makes things present for me. I am rarely able to think about anything else when I am walking for fear of mis-stepping and re-injuring or slowing down the recovery time of my ankle.

When I workout the same thing applies….I stay present and I slow down. My workouts take a little longer, but they are more intense as well. I don’t do a whole lot of anything that requires ankle strength.

An example of my workout is…

Pushups, ball sit-ups, pull-ups, bicep curls, row pull ups,



Exercise: bike 30 minutes, resistance training
Menu: Protein and veggies

Until next time…

Think, Believe, Act, Achieve

Dakota

Today’s Mantra: The wise understand by themselves; fools follow the reports of others.

Be Ready At All Times: Day 162

Evolution Two – week twelve

Monday, August 10, 2009

Hello Folks,
Today I worked out in the morning. I am surprised at how easy it is to find exercises that I can do even though my ankle is sprained. At this point my ankle is feeling more like a serious bruise. It also feels a little week when I do certain things with it. I will be review some of the exercises soon on this blog.

I have five more days before I head off to northern NY. I probably won’t be able to blog at all, but I will keep a journal each day and take pics each day and post them all when I get back.



Exercise: bike 45 minutes, resistance training, ankle stretches

Menu: Protein and veggies

Until next time…

Think, Believe, Act, Achieve

Dakota

Today’s Mantra: Be ready at all times.

Back In The Groove: Day 161

Evolution Two – week eleven

Sunday, August 8, 2009

Hello Folks,

Another day of exercise and I am starting to feel like normal. I am still following my rehab program for my ankle, but I am also doing biking and resistance training like before. I am going to take it slow though...no hurry to get into any high impact activities. Good thing for the exercise ball and push up and pull-up equipment. I am ready to go and feeling good about my recovery. It is amazing how much better the body responds when you take care of it. I usually find that if I address any health issues early like sickness or injury I usually recover quicker, but when I ignore and delay my care I regret it later. Not that there aren’t exceptions to this rule though!

I am going to get some rest, I had a long day.

Exercise: bike 45 minutes, some resistance training

Menu: Protein and veggies

Until next time…

Think, Believe, Act, Achieve

Dakota

Today’s Mantra: whoever gives reverence receives

First Day Of Full Workout: Day 160

Evolution Two – week eleven

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Hello Folks,

Today was the first day I exercised fully. I rode my bike for 45 minutes and did resistance training for 26 minutes. All of the exercises I chose did not require the use of my ankle. I included stretches. I will do a vlog of my exercise routine tomorrow to give you an idea of what it was like for my. My ankle is still sore, but I am able to almost walk like normal...yaay!

I will include updated pics of my ankle. I am still doing ice and heat and stretches and exercises on ankle...probably will be doing it for a long time!



Here are my pictures…

Exercise: bike 45 minutes., resistance training

Menu: Protein and veggies

Until next time…

Think, Believe, Act, Achieve

Dakota

Today’s Mantra: Recompose inury with justice, and recompose kindness with kindness.