As 2010 comes to a close, I for one am ready to begin a new year. While there have been many bright moments and opportunities for personal growth and lessons learned, it's been a tough one.
Since September, I have challenged myself to budget, to diet, to balance - basically to get my personal house in order. While I did work toward the goal of ending the year in the best shape of my life, Christmas got the better of me. That said, I am in much better health - both physically and financially - than I have been all year so to me, that's a success.
I'll be starting the new year from a stronger stand point than I have in many years and I am excited for the good things that come out of hard work.
I'll be getting back on the Tracy Anderson band-wagon, and riding it all the way into a swimsuit for my 40th birthday, that's a promise I am making to myself here on this very public forum. I would encourage company along the way. Even if you don't want to take the whole trip, any support would be greatly appreciated.
In the mean time - I've got cookies in the oven and the girls are on their way over for tea. I shall savor these sweet moments while they're available.
Happy new year!
Cheers,
Shan
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Perfect Design Series
It's the week before Christmas and to be perfectly honest, the last thing on my mind this week is dieting. The staff room at work is filled with tasty treats, each day there's something new to temp me. At home, there's a stash of chocolates and mini tarts, chips, dips and nuts.
As much as I wanted to be good in the last ten days before Christmas, it's like paddling upstream. It's much easier to go with the flow, which means eating more and consuming things that might not be around on an average day of the week.
According to the schedule I molded on Tracy's advice for getting into your favorite dress for New Year's, it's time again to change up the muscular structure workout. So if you've been following along, you may go back to the first series in Tracy's book - The 30 Day Method, or add 1 LB weights to a workout you've done previously. I've been working with the Perfect Design Series III and think it's my favorite one by far.
I'm finding it to be the most challenging and I've struggled to keep up with Tracy's demonstrated number of reps, so I'll continue with that one for this week.
Back to diet, however, I want to share with you, Tracy's prescription for this week, December 20th to the 25th. Here's the link -
http://tracyandersonmethod.com/holiday-prescription-dec-20-25/
Having been through the 30 Day Method, I've found that I am capable of sticking to a strict diet and exercise regime with some modicum of success, so my plan is to let myself graze naturally over the next week, and to follow the above four day cleanse in the new year.
If anyone else is up for it, let me know and we can do it together. These things are always easier with a little support.
In addition to that, I had promised my friend that I'd add a link to Tracy's trampoline workout. It's terrific and great for flushing out the excess toxins we're accumulating by eating too much of the wrong stuff this time of year. So here it is Yan, check it out and have fun.
http://tracyandersonmethod.com/holiday-prescription-dec-6-dec-10/
The workout is at the end of the post.
Happy Christmas week all.
Shan
As much as I wanted to be good in the last ten days before Christmas, it's like paddling upstream. It's much easier to go with the flow, which means eating more and consuming things that might not be around on an average day of the week.
According to the schedule I molded on Tracy's advice for getting into your favorite dress for New Year's, it's time again to change up the muscular structure workout. So if you've been following along, you may go back to the first series in Tracy's book - The 30 Day Method, or add 1 LB weights to a workout you've done previously. I've been working with the Perfect Design Series III and think it's my favorite one by far.
I'm finding it to be the most challenging and I've struggled to keep up with Tracy's demonstrated number of reps, so I'll continue with that one for this week.
Back to diet, however, I want to share with you, Tracy's prescription for this week, December 20th to the 25th. Here's the link -
http://tracyandersonmethod.com/holiday-prescription-dec-20-25/
Having been through the 30 Day Method, I've found that I am capable of sticking to a strict diet and exercise regime with some modicum of success, so my plan is to let myself graze naturally over the next week, and to follow the above four day cleanse in the new year.
If anyone else is up for it, let me know and we can do it together. These things are always easier with a little support.
In addition to that, I had promised my friend that I'd add a link to Tracy's trampoline workout. It's terrific and great for flushing out the excess toxins we're accumulating by eating too much of the wrong stuff this time of year. So here it is Yan, check it out and have fun.
http://tracyandersonmethod.com/holiday-prescription-dec-6-dec-10/
The workout is at the end of the post.
Happy Christmas week all.
Shan
Thursday, December 16, 2010
You must check this out!
When I saw these photos, I had to share them here.
While my blog is dedicated mostly to my fave trainer Tracy Anderson, I want to see health and wellness prevail in whatever form it takes.
These are the finalists from this season's Biggest Loser. Look at their faces, the youth and vibrancy emanating from them is contagious.
http://ca.tv.yahoo.com/biggest-loser/show/37103/photos/1
If you aren't already part of this or another fitness challenge, what are you waiting for? It's all completely available to you!
Go for it!
Cheers
Shan
While my blog is dedicated mostly to my fave trainer Tracy Anderson, I want to see health and wellness prevail in whatever form it takes.
These are the finalists from this season's Biggest Loser. Look at their faces, the youth and vibrancy emanating from them is contagious.
http://ca.tv.yahoo.com/biggest-loser/show/37103/photos/1
If you aren't already part of this or another fitness challenge, what are you waiting for? It's all completely available to you!
Go for it!
Cheers
Shan
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Statistically speaking.
Statistics claim that only seven percent of people stick to their regular eating habits during holiday season. Wow. That means that ninety-three percent of us over-indulge. And when I say us, I mean to say that I am in the ninety-three percentile rather than the seven.
Yikes. I think it's because so many of us equate family and good times with food. For those whose families totally stress them out, food is a source of comfort. It's no wonder we're eating so much this time of year.
But Tracy has been working over time to ensure that even while we fill our plates, we can take steps to burn off those extra calories.
As mentioned before, I feel like Ms. Anderson is a bit of a mind reader. It's that time again, when we are supposed to challenge our muscles by changing things up. We're already doing the Perfect Design Series III and keeping up with our cardio. (oh, but are we? really?) I have listed on my calendar that now's a great time to learn one or two more dance routines.
As if! I thought to myself, I don't have time to do the ones I already know much less go through a series of complicated new dance steps!
Oh, but Tracy has an answer to that! Bless her. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGSfI8HMLcs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq4jfkkCcdY
It's only ten days until Christmas. What do you say we put a lid on our over-indulgences for those ten days? We know it's coming. We know we'll likely need to undo the top button of our trousers after dinner, but why go through all the business of the PRE-TOX just because we're sure we're going to eat too much on Christmas day?
Do you think it's possible to flip the scales on those statistics and actually stick to a healthy eating plan and then allow ourselves the splurge? I don't know? What I do know is that I have put on three or four of those pounds that I worked so very hard to lose and I for one don't want to find myself on the first day of 2011 right back where I started in September.
C'mon gals, who's with me?
Tracy Anderson has given us the tools, it's up to us to pick them up and use them. If you just can't be asked to even look at her new dance routine much less learn it, you still have no excuse, crank the tunes, get on the trampoline, and JUMP - anyone can do that, even when you have zero energy.
Cheers
Shan
Yikes. I think it's because so many of us equate family and good times with food. For those whose families totally stress them out, food is a source of comfort. It's no wonder we're eating so much this time of year.
But Tracy has been working over time to ensure that even while we fill our plates, we can take steps to burn off those extra calories.
As mentioned before, I feel like Ms. Anderson is a bit of a mind reader. It's that time again, when we are supposed to challenge our muscles by changing things up. We're already doing the Perfect Design Series III and keeping up with our cardio. (oh, but are we? really?) I have listed on my calendar that now's a great time to learn one or two more dance routines.
As if! I thought to myself, I don't have time to do the ones I already know much less go through a series of complicated new dance steps!
Oh, but Tracy has an answer to that! Bless her. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGSfI8HMLcs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq4jfkkCcdY
It's only ten days until Christmas. What do you say we put a lid on our over-indulgences for those ten days? We know it's coming. We know we'll likely need to undo the top button of our trousers after dinner, but why go through all the business of the PRE-TOX just because we're sure we're going to eat too much on Christmas day?
Do you think it's possible to flip the scales on those statistics and actually stick to a healthy eating plan and then allow ourselves the splurge? I don't know? What I do know is that I have put on three or four of those pounds that I worked so very hard to lose and I for one don't want to find myself on the first day of 2011 right back where I started in September.
C'mon gals, who's with me?
Tracy Anderson has given us the tools, it's up to us to pick them up and use them. If you just can't be asked to even look at her new dance routine much less learn it, you still have no excuse, crank the tunes, get on the trampoline, and JUMP - anyone can do that, even when you have zero energy.
Cheers
Shan
Friday, December 10, 2010
Novelty Never Wears Off
There's so much I could write about how the Tracy Anderson Method has changed my life as of late, but I'd risk sounding like a sycophant or you might think I was trying to sell you something. So I tread carefully here.
I've always been physically active, never very coordinated though. I've played the odd sport growing up, like baseball and volleyball, but was never on "the team". I took part in track in school and managed to often place in an event, but it was never first.
What I'm saying is that while active, I was never particularly good at any one thing. I tried aerobics with my mom's Jane Fonda videos, worked at a gym so learned how to use basic weight equipment and would often turn to jogging to stay fit. But as we age, our joints age with us and I found running less and less enjoyable. Around the same time, the benefits of walking were being touted everywhere. I of course have a big dog, so he needs regular walks, but walking has never really 'kept me in shape' it was more something I just did.
I found a solid yoga practice in 1999 and never looked back. Didn't need to run or lift weights or jump around. I did it daily, sometimes up to 90 minutes a day or more. It was part of my daily routine, like brushing my teeth or eating, just had to be done and I did it with joy.
In 2005, too many headstands or too much time on the computer or both created an environment in my neck and back that seemed to trigger a three day muscle spasm each time I stretched for more than five minutes.
I began to do some research into rehabbing myself, since my twice weekly chiropractor appointments did little in the way of keeping me well. I found kettle bell and Bob and Jillian from the Biggest Loser and began a new way of keeping fit. - I don't know about you, but lifting heaving things (like said kettle bell) and doing hundreds of squats and push-ups got really boring. It wasn't alive - like a practice, it became a chore. Never changing, ever having to be endured.
Life is way too short for crap like that. I don't iron or fold fitted sheets either by the way.
I don't even remember how I heard about Tracy Anderson, but I'm always curious when I hear of a new exercise routine - hey I'm as much a victim of novelty as the next guy or gal so I look it up. I've checked out the trainers of Kelly Ripa at Physique 57 (they're pretty good too by the way), or investigated what Jennifer Aniston does to stay in shape, I've even followed the exercise routine of the New York Ballet, because who doesn't want the body of a ballet dancer right? But again, it became static.
I digress, when I found Tracy, something clicked. Her workouts are continually challenging and they somehow have that same meditative quality that becomes a practice, maybe it's her voice. It's kind, never harsh or demanding. And I am always discovering something new.
That's the very long winded way of telling you that I learned something very key to her method day before yesterday. It's not secret, she talks about it in almost every workout, but I discovered it for myself. If you do each of the movements with your full attention - I mean move through it as if you were moving through water so it's completely smooth and even, you can actually feel the muscles being targeted. It is like art - she really is helping to sculpt your muscles. And art is beautiful and organic and ever changing.
Each time you begin to get a bit bored with the routine, she changes it up. Now I'm not one for cardio - as I've stated only about a million times already - and being pressed for time around now, I've been dodging my cardio routines with the skill of a cat burglar moving through a maze of laser alarms, okay? I've not been doing it at all! And as if she can sense this (we've never met and no I am not a crazy person, it's a figure of speech) she's put out a diet prescription with a cardio challenge for December!
Each week this month, she's got a new routine for us - on a trampoline! How cool is that? Who doesn't like to bounce around on one of those babies? Fun right? and it's a novelty. So I'm excited to get in there and work out and as a delightful aside, my heart rate gets up there too.
Fabulous.
So if you're bored and can't even bribe yourself to get off the couch with Christmas cake or chocolate, dig that old mini trampoline out of the basement closet, or pick one up - they're dirt cheap these days and regain some of that childhood zest for jumping up and down. You'll surprise yourself and maybe jump right into your skinny jeans.
If you have babies, they like to jump too. So get up, get on and get going. Enjoy the novelty. Plus, it will be an excuse to have an extra piece of turkey or in my case - tofurkey come Christmas day!!
Yeah Tracy.
Cheers
Shan
I've always been physically active, never very coordinated though. I've played the odd sport growing up, like baseball and volleyball, but was never on "the team". I took part in track in school and managed to often place in an event, but it was never first.
What I'm saying is that while active, I was never particularly good at any one thing. I tried aerobics with my mom's Jane Fonda videos, worked at a gym so learned how to use basic weight equipment and would often turn to jogging to stay fit. But as we age, our joints age with us and I found running less and less enjoyable. Around the same time, the benefits of walking were being touted everywhere. I of course have a big dog, so he needs regular walks, but walking has never really 'kept me in shape' it was more something I just did.
I found a solid yoga practice in 1999 and never looked back. Didn't need to run or lift weights or jump around. I did it daily, sometimes up to 90 minutes a day or more. It was part of my daily routine, like brushing my teeth or eating, just had to be done and I did it with joy.
In 2005, too many headstands or too much time on the computer or both created an environment in my neck and back that seemed to trigger a three day muscle spasm each time I stretched for more than five minutes.
I began to do some research into rehabbing myself, since my twice weekly chiropractor appointments did little in the way of keeping me well. I found kettle bell and Bob and Jillian from the Biggest Loser and began a new way of keeping fit. - I don't know about you, but lifting heaving things (like said kettle bell) and doing hundreds of squats and push-ups got really boring. It wasn't alive - like a practice, it became a chore. Never changing, ever having to be endured.
Life is way too short for crap like that. I don't iron or fold fitted sheets either by the way.
I don't even remember how I heard about Tracy Anderson, but I'm always curious when I hear of a new exercise routine - hey I'm as much a victim of novelty as the next guy or gal so I look it up. I've checked out the trainers of Kelly Ripa at Physique 57 (they're pretty good too by the way), or investigated what Jennifer Aniston does to stay in shape, I've even followed the exercise routine of the New York Ballet, because who doesn't want the body of a ballet dancer right? But again, it became static.
I digress, when I found Tracy, something clicked. Her workouts are continually challenging and they somehow have that same meditative quality that becomes a practice, maybe it's her voice. It's kind, never harsh or demanding. And I am always discovering something new.
That's the very long winded way of telling you that I learned something very key to her method day before yesterday. It's not secret, she talks about it in almost every workout, but I discovered it for myself. If you do each of the movements with your full attention - I mean move through it as if you were moving through water so it's completely smooth and even, you can actually feel the muscles being targeted. It is like art - she really is helping to sculpt your muscles. And art is beautiful and organic and ever changing.
Each time you begin to get a bit bored with the routine, she changes it up. Now I'm not one for cardio - as I've stated only about a million times already - and being pressed for time around now, I've been dodging my cardio routines with the skill of a cat burglar moving through a maze of laser alarms, okay? I've not been doing it at all! And as if she can sense this (we've never met and no I am not a crazy person, it's a figure of speech) she's put out a diet prescription with a cardio challenge for December!
Each week this month, she's got a new routine for us - on a trampoline! How cool is that? Who doesn't like to bounce around on one of those babies? Fun right? and it's a novelty. So I'm excited to get in there and work out and as a delightful aside, my heart rate gets up there too.
Fabulous.
So if you're bored and can't even bribe yourself to get off the couch with Christmas cake or chocolate, dig that old mini trampoline out of the basement closet, or pick one up - they're dirt cheap these days and regain some of that childhood zest for jumping up and down. You'll surprise yourself and maybe jump right into your skinny jeans.
If you have babies, they like to jump too. So get up, get on and get going. Enjoy the novelty. Plus, it will be an excuse to have an extra piece of turkey or in my case - tofurkey come Christmas day!!
Yeah Tracy.
Cheers
Shan
Monday, December 6, 2010
2010
It's December's first Monday, one of only four left in the year 2010. That means we're a day shy of having four weeks left until the new year.
It's not a lot of time and it's an incredibly busy time of year for everyone. If you've given up the challenge of getting into the best shape of your life before we wind up the year, that's okay, don't beat yourself up. It hasn't been a cake walk for me either and I've slipped up more than I care to mention.
You may be new to the blog and feel overwhelmed with starting a new program right now, don't worry about it.
What's important to remind ourselves of here is that just because we may not be doing an hour of muscular structure or our 45 minutes of cardio, that doesn't mean that we should throw in the towel and let ourselves go, just because it's the holiday season!!
Continue to be mindful of what you put in your mouth, the chocolates may be circulating at the office or holiday party, but it doesn't mean you've got permission to scarf down the entire box. Have ONE.
Move when you can - and I don't just mean park further from the mall. I mean pop in a DVD and work out. Maybe you can't fit in the whole workout, so just do the leg segment or arms - Tracy Anderson's Mat video is great for this - you can just do 20 minutes of abs if that's all you have time for.
Throw on those tunes you put together for your play list a few weeks ago and commit to dancing to at least one song. Who knows you may surprise yourself and go for two songs.
If you are one of the dedicated ones and have been sticking with the program - this week it's time to change up your muscular structure again. If you're with me, we're going to move on to the Perfect Design Series III. We're supposed to be doing 45 minutes of cardio, but I'll be the first to confess that writing deadlines and work commitments have me running short on time so I get in a song or two where I can. We'll start up again full-bore when things slow down a bit in January, I promise.
If you don't have any of Tracy's DVD's or you've just got one or two, please pay her website a visit. She's got all kinds of resources for you there.
http://tracyandersonmethod.com/
If that's not your thing, then visit the Biggest Loser website, it's super inspirational. If you can't afford a new workout video check out uTube, it's a wonderful place to find short snappy workouts to follow and you'll even see Tracy there so take advantage of it, it's free.
Remember this, it's only four weeks until New Year's Eve. You may or may not have a glamorous party to go to, but do you really want to kick off the new year feeling uncomfortable in your own skin? You don't have to reach your goal weight by then, but you certainly don't have to feel like crap either.
Be good to yourself. Eat well and make it a priority to move.
Cheers
Shan
It's not a lot of time and it's an incredibly busy time of year for everyone. If you've given up the challenge of getting into the best shape of your life before we wind up the year, that's okay, don't beat yourself up. It hasn't been a cake walk for me either and I've slipped up more than I care to mention.
You may be new to the blog and feel overwhelmed with starting a new program right now, don't worry about it.
What's important to remind ourselves of here is that just because we may not be doing an hour of muscular structure or our 45 minutes of cardio, that doesn't mean that we should throw in the towel and let ourselves go, just because it's the holiday season!!
Continue to be mindful of what you put in your mouth, the chocolates may be circulating at the office or holiday party, but it doesn't mean you've got permission to scarf down the entire box. Have ONE.
Move when you can - and I don't just mean park further from the mall. I mean pop in a DVD and work out. Maybe you can't fit in the whole workout, so just do the leg segment or arms - Tracy Anderson's Mat video is great for this - you can just do 20 minutes of abs if that's all you have time for.
Throw on those tunes you put together for your play list a few weeks ago and commit to dancing to at least one song. Who knows you may surprise yourself and go for two songs.
If you are one of the dedicated ones and have been sticking with the program - this week it's time to change up your muscular structure again. If you're with me, we're going to move on to the Perfect Design Series III. We're supposed to be doing 45 minutes of cardio, but I'll be the first to confess that writing deadlines and work commitments have me running short on time so I get in a song or two where I can. We'll start up again full-bore when things slow down a bit in January, I promise.
If you don't have any of Tracy's DVD's or you've just got one or two, please pay her website a visit. She's got all kinds of resources for you there.
http://tracyandersonmethod.com/
If that's not your thing, then visit the Biggest Loser website, it's super inspirational. If you can't afford a new workout video check out uTube, it's a wonderful place to find short snappy workouts to follow and you'll even see Tracy there so take advantage of it, it's free.
Remember this, it's only four weeks until New Year's Eve. You may or may not have a glamorous party to go to, but do you really want to kick off the new year feeling uncomfortable in your own skin? You don't have to reach your goal weight by then, but you certainly don't have to feel like crap either.
Be good to yourself. Eat well and make it a priority to move.
Cheers
Shan
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Either Or
We live in a world where we're told we can have it all and we've been gulping it down with two hands. I even used to think it was true. I could work out when I felt like it, eat whatever I wanted and how much ever I wanted and I could still be a size two.
As noted in earlier posts, I learned the hard way that once I was firmly entrenched in my thirties, my metabolism just put up its hands and said, no more. I'm retiring effective immediately.
Then I discovered the Tracy Anderson Method and I blog about my trials and errors with her program every week here on this blog.
I have to tell you - maybe you can - but I cannot have it all. It's got to be either or. I ate so much junk food last night (Bit of a bad day yesterday and food is my go to thing for comfort) I'm talking toasted cheese sandwiches, Chinese food, chocolate covered almonds, nachos and peanut brittle all washed down with a vat of red wine - ick - sounds worse now that it's in black and white. No wonder I feel ill, this was all for dinner, forget the huge breakfast and lunch I scarfed down earlier in the day.
Anyway, I did some hard core cardio this morning. 45 minutes worth and for me - that's a lot. I feel totally sick. There is just no way that you can keep up with Tracy and not be fueled by only the best. You have got to eat healthy if you want to follow this program. By that math, hard workouts + good food - there really only is one result and that's perfection, but it's either or - at middle age - we can't have both.
And actually, I think I'm slowly coming around to being okay with that.
Cheers
Shan
As noted in earlier posts, I learned the hard way that once I was firmly entrenched in my thirties, my metabolism just put up its hands and said, no more. I'm retiring effective immediately.
Then I discovered the Tracy Anderson Method and I blog about my trials and errors with her program every week here on this blog.
I have to tell you - maybe you can - but I cannot have it all. It's got to be either or. I ate so much junk food last night (Bit of a bad day yesterday and food is my go to thing for comfort) I'm talking toasted cheese sandwiches, Chinese food, chocolate covered almonds, nachos and peanut brittle all washed down with a vat of red wine - ick - sounds worse now that it's in black and white. No wonder I feel ill, this was all for dinner, forget the huge breakfast and lunch I scarfed down earlier in the day.
Anyway, I did some hard core cardio this morning. 45 minutes worth and for me - that's a lot. I feel totally sick. There is just no way that you can keep up with Tracy and not be fueled by only the best. You have got to eat healthy if you want to follow this program. By that math, hard workouts + good food - there really only is one result and that's perfection, but it's either or - at middle age - we can't have both.
And actually, I think I'm slowly coming around to being okay with that.
Cheers
Shan
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