This past weekend I took a quick trip to Seattle (flew in Thursday night, flew out Saturday around noon) and while I didn’t have enough time to fully appreciate all the city has to offer, I was able to find a park near my hotel to wander around in Saturday morning before my flight took off.
As I walked around, I was entranced with how lush and green everything was here! I felt a sense of calm immediately wash over me. These pictures really don’t do the scene justice.
Another part of my 16 in 2016 checked off! #2 is to incorporate a trail run at least once a month and I am happy to report that I made it onto the trails in January! We had an unseasonably warm (~50 degree) day here in Nashville and I decided to fully take advantage of this by hitting up the red loop (4.5 miles) at Percy Warner Park.
Saturday morning I woke up feeling great. I did a bootcamp class the evening before, felt strong, ate a healthy dinner, and loved the way my clothes were fitting and how my body looked. My self-confidence was at a high point. Then I stepped on the scale and saw that I had gained three pounds. I was crushed. I took out some measuring tape and noted that my hips, waist, butt, and thighs were not any bigger than they had previously been. In fact, some measurements were a bit smaller. I couldn’t get my weight out of my head and it took away all my confidence. At that moment I realized how horribly the scale affects my attitude.
I went from positive to negative in just minutes and absolutely nothing about my appearance had changed. I tried to talk myself up and say that the weight could be muscle, but this did not help. Had I really gained that much muscle lately to account for that weight? This negative self-talk went on for a few minutes and then I realized that all my destructive thoughts came from a number on the scale. I could easily eliminate this problem by not weighing myself. Like I said, my clothes fit and I felt strong while working out. Who cares if the number went up? The only way I can get myself not to care about the number is to not know the number. So with this attitude, here I go: farewell scale, hello confidence.
Does the scale negatively affect your self-confidence?
My 16 in 2016 is off to a good start! #8 was to practice yoga at least twice a month and with the help of Shakti and Classpass I have conquered this goal in January. The first class I went to was on Sunday, January 3rd, the day after my “long run.” And by long run I mean ~5 miles. Ages ago, this would’ve been a piece of cake, but this is the longest run I’ve done since my half marathon in July (thank you knee injury and surgery). I was happily able to keep up a pleasant pace and didn’t stop once. I knew that my body needed a good stretch and that a yoga class would be great. I also knew I had eaten and drank a LOT of crap the past few weeks, so a hot power yoga class would give me a GREAT sweat–and I was right!
The second class I went to in January was on the anniversary of my father’s death. I thought that a yoga class would be a good way to free my mind. I had done a 4.5 mile trail run (/walk-this route was over 100 flights high!!!) in the morning, which was also a great mentally freeing exercise. I was excited to take the yoga class in the afternoon to get a great stretch post run.
Well, the yoga class was a great workout, but not exactly what I had anticipated. I did a power flow class in the most crowded room I’ve ever been in for yoga. Not exactly calming. Our mats were inches apart from each other and there was zero room for the instructor to walk around during class. AND the class was pretty difficult. Very heavy on the flow of power flow yoga. 75 minutes of WORK. HOT work. I sweat buckets. Needless to say, the next day I was exhausted and took a day of from exercise.
Proud to say that I’ve knocked out two yoga classes in January and I’m eager for the coming months!
adultingdaily 