Want to loose 35 pounds? Eat this!

April 14, 2011 By 2 Comments

Seared Pork Roast, served on top Madras Lentils by Tasty Bite at Costco. Just warm, plate, and lay your pork tenderloins on top.

Just a quick inspiration from tonight’s dinner. Bill seared a pork tenderloin after coating it with Montreal Steak Seasoning. He then placed it in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Accompanied by steamed broccoli, this meal is tasty and healthy. We had a glass of Pinot Noir. The perfect Slow Carb dinner.

I had a bad week food wise last week and the details are difficult to write about, but this weeks success are what failures are all about! It seems that even when I was not following the plan perfectly last week, I only ate one bad meal or item per day, so I did not allow my food binges to go on and on all day long. It was just a meal here, a snack there. I am sure I am underestimating. But the confessional is shaping up to be a pretty intense post.

One thing I have noticed about yoga is that creates a desire to eat better foods. Your body naturally begins to want more space to do the poses. So you also start eating smaller portions.

BONUS TIP!!

Once you get the diet down, start reducing your portions. There are no portions on this food plan, but we all tend to over eat. We even tend to over eat the good foods. So next meal leave two or three bites behind and work yourself up to 25% of the entire dinner. Once there you can start putting less on your plate.

 
Filed Under: bikram, Cooking, Food News, Food Plan, Uncategorized, weight loss, Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ellie gets bored by Eggs In Morning: Here are 10 breakfast options to help her stick to it

April 14, 2011 By 5 Comments

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack

Ellie, a Fat Yogi reader, asked the following question

Hey Will!
I was wondering, do you get tired of your meals? I normally have the same breakfast every day (1/2 cup egg whites on half of an english muffin + fruit), and some days because I am just so tired of having eggs, I’ll eat whatever else is available, which is generally unhealthy! Do you have any tricks to prevent that (Ellie posted on http://thefatyogi.com/food-plan/ )

Actually I do get tired of eggs everyday, so here are all the breakfast options I have come up with to deal with breakfast.

  1. My standard breakfast is a three organic eggs, scrambled with fresh or frozen spinach topped with salsa.
  2. One of my new favorites is Two Egs fried in canola oil or spam, served on top of Amy’s Refried Organic Beans with Salsa. Sometimes I get the two pieces of bacon really crispy and mash all the eggs and bacon and beans together…..yummy!
  3. 1 Cup of Full Fat Cottage Cheese with sliced tomatoes. Remember there is a no dairy rule for this diet, due to the glucose load produced in the blood stream two hours after food is consumed that becomes fat if not used for energy. So, yes you can eat cottage cheese since, unlike other dairy is has a lower glucose load.
  4. One Think Thin Peanut Butter protein Bar or any other protein bar that is high in protein, low in carbs, no sugar added, no fruit, no gluten, no dairy. They have 20 grams of protien and are sugar-free. There is a lot of controversy over alcohol sugars as an artificial sweetener and whether or not it mimics the insulin response. I personally don’t find the occasional protein bar for breakfast the end of the road.
  5. Left over turkey, pork, chicken chili beans from the night before with two fried eggs on top. The beans with the eggs provide good flavor and protein.
  6. Guacamole Deviled Eggs for Breakfast. See recipe click here.
  7. Two Eggs and two pieces of bacon. No more than two pieces, period.
  8. Develop flavor profiles and cook stir fried vegetables with either Italian, Indian, Chinese, or any other flavor profile and top with vegetables.
  9. Plus you can always substitute a lunch or dinner option for breakfast
  10. Do a simple lunch meat, chicken breast and your favorite veggie. I love sliced red and orange bell peppers with ham…..I know the salt. I do hot Yoga so the slat is helpful due to all the sweating.

I Hope this helps Ellie and others! It sure helps me to have an arsenal for breakfast. 

People really do eat the same few things on a day to day basis. My number one breakfast recommendation is to cheat on your cheat day for breakfast. Sit down breakfast with all the fixings from waffles to potatoes. Last week I had Brisket Hash with Eggs and a Waffle. Now that breakfast on cheat day keeps the rest of the breakfast in line.

Good Luck Ellie!

Filed Under: bikram, Cooking, Food Plan, Uncategorized, weight loss, Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Hey! Those Are My Ribs! When Did They Return?

January 19, 2011 By 9 Comments

 

Clearly this is NOT ME! Do you think The Fat Yogi, Will Sawyer, can do this? This is Tommy! He is the guy with the 'Heroin Chic' body. Ladies I think he is single. He certianly is a nice guy!

Today, while I was staring at myself in the mirror in yoga, I noticed that both of my upper ribs were visible as I breathed in and out during the opening breathing exercise. Those ribs sneaking out into public like that really motivated me to keep on eating ‘slow carb’ foods and practicing Bikram Yoga. You see I am really cranking my internal furnace with hot yoga and slow burning foods found in the slow carb diet.

A lot of ‘slow carb’ diets open you up to brown rice, whole wheat, and grains along with lean meats, vegetables and fruits. The Slow Burn ‘Slow Carb’ takes it a step further by only allowing carbohydrates with the lowest glycemic index, like beans and lentils.

Oh Savasana! We rest in between each pose. This particular pose really keeps your neck limber, to me it is a neck stretching rest!

With 32 days of  Slow Burn, ‘slow carb’ foods behind me, I can definitely say choosing carbs that burn slow in the body really rocks the weight loss. I have lost 20 pounds and a new weigh in is coming on Saturday.

I see my body turning into an efficient furnace and it is all about eating foods that take longer to digest than the time they spend in your digestive tract. Sugar in the blood is what grows and creates fat cells. It is that simple, reduce the sugar in the blood stream and your body shrinks.

You see I am grabbing only one leg. For months and months I simply grabbed one leg and a time. In Biram Yoga we do each pose twice. So I alternated legs.

Now, if you were to check the blood glucose (sugar in your blood) two hours after consuming food you would see a spike in the amount of glucose that is there. That is called the glucose load. The way we know how much glucose is going to be in a body is by looking at it’s glycemic index.

The question everyone ask is, where does that information come from? How do I know what the glycemic index of certain foods are? Simple you go to this website: http://www.glycemicindex.com/ click on the database button in the navigation menu on the right.  Then enter the food you are looking for and it will show you the glycemic index and the glycemic load.

Then I grabbed my left leg in the second pose. I now grab and flex my left leg back, then let it down. Then I grab my right leg and get ready for the struggle to keep hold of that leg while grabbing the left.

You will see, once you start entering foods, that foods that you thought were good to eat, really do have impact on glucose levels in your blood. Check out your favorite wheat bread or piece of fruit, you will see glucose loads way higher than kidney beans or black beans. Becoming a bean eater is a challenge but you will quickly see that beans and lentils are just as satisfying as bread and pasta, but they don’t wreak havoc on waist line.

Once you have reached your goal weight you can move from Slow Burn to Slow Carb, but till you get to your goal weight you eat ‘Slow Burn’. The cool thing is that you get to eat and when you eat plenty of protein, fiber, and vegetables at each meal your find that you make it to the next me with ease. You are still eating, just not eating foods that convert to sugar, you are cranking your furnace and exposing your ribs.

Here I am grabing my right leg like I described above. You notioce that I have my knee off the floor. I do this on both legs during the flex to get my back flexible. It makes it easier to grab the leg once I move to both legs.

The Slow Burn Menu Plan can be read when you click-through to the

Slow Burn Food Plan. You may have noticed that I have been posting recipes of what I am eating as I blog about my weight loss. You can also click-through to the listings of dishes I am cooking here. 

The key to living a long life and to start reducing your weight is to change your eating habits and that comes with changing the foods that are your ‘go to foods’.

For whatever reason, I can't yet arch my back and grab both legs. I literally have to work my way there by grabbing one leg and then doing the funky thing above to get to the other leg. It is not pretty but it works and it is miles ahead of where I was months ago!

My ‘go to foods’ were gummy bears, chocolate chip cookies, fast food burgers, sushi, creamy Indian foods, and any excuse to eat anything at a fine dining establishment. I simply loved to eat and was good at it. I thought I would only feel satisfied by food if it contained substance and was hearty.

The substance my body cried out for was refined sugars, refined flour, and refined rice. Foods with high glycemic index that really sent my pancreas into over drive to combat the sugar in my blood. There was a little war in my body that was killing me. I bet there is one in your body killing you!

Here I am starting Bow Pose. I have both legs and I am lined up waiting for the teacher to tell me to arch back!

The problem is that the pancreas works so hard at his job regulating blood sugar, but the rest of the organs are on easy street. The digestive system processes refined foods with ease and pumps its end product into the blood. That entire process comes to a screeching halt when you eat foods with a low glycemic index. In fact beans and lentils barely raise the glucose load after two hours. So your body feels full, you get the fiber and protein you need and you slim down.

This is not a diet, more of a food plan to give you new foods to ‘go to’. You can eat great meals everyday that fill you up and slim you down without counting calories or measuring.

Of course I have a long way to go to get as flexible as Tommy! My knees are off the ground and my head is arched back. This was a tough pose to get to this point, but I now know that I can go from here to the next level if I am kind and if I am brave. There is a certian amount of courage to attempt these poses, you think you hope and you try and BOOM! You make it! If you try!

Plus once a week you get to pig out on whatever you want. There is science to the binge and there is a reward. I reward myself well every week on Saturday right after I weigh in. I am having fun changing my life and I am seeing  cravings disappear. Sugar and processed foods are losing their grip on me. I rarely want them and find it difficult to splurge once a week.

The cravings have also been curbed by yoga, for me Bikram Yoga! You see your body gets really attuned to foods that you eat when you practice yoga. Your will notice that your body rejects yoga when you eat crap! I am not kidding, eat a whopper three hours before Bikram Yoga and compare your practice to one where you ate two eggs with spinach and salsa. My new favorite lunch is Guacamole Deviled Eggs with Sliced Tomatoes. It gives me the protein I need to make it through class and is a flavor explosion!

I am glad you found your way to my blog and I hope to inspire you to go to yoga and to eat better. Feel free to comment or email me questions, as we explore ways to live better and healthier lives together.

This weekend I am going to a Yoga Championship at the Mall of America. I am sure there are great blogs to follow. Tomorrow’s blog is going to feature students from the Bikram Yoga Minneapolis studio that I practice at.

Filed Under: bikram, Food Plan, weight loss, Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Guacamole Stuffed Deviled Eggs: A Healthy Snack Recipe For ‘Slow Carb’ Dieters

January 18, 2011 By 2 Comments

Guacamole Deviled Eggs with Sliced Tomatoes.

Finding healthy snacks can be a problem for people following the slow carb diet plan. My version of deviled eggs keeps you on the plan with an indulgent deviled egg platter. Generally I dip celery into a low sugar salsa. Tonight I thought I would spice things up a little with a guacamole stuffed deviled egg. I served it with a sliced tomatoes.

This snack was made from ingredients bought in bulk at Costco. I have found that this diet can be prepared successfully and affordably by shopping at Costco. In fact next week we will do a shopping trip to Costco to buy food for the ‘Slow Carb Diet’.

Here is a step by step photo guide to Guacamole Stuffed Deviled Eggs!

To make this recipe quick and easy I use Coscto Salsa, Wholly Guacamole (has not added sugar or oils), and organic eggs.

Start with 6 eggs in a pan with the stove on medium high. Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to make for easier peeling of the egg. Bring water to a boil for 10 to 12 minutes.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Let the eggs boil for 10 to 12 minutes once the water begins to boil.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Take the eggs to the sink and let them cool down by pouring off the water, running cold water. Then add a bunch of ice to the pan and let them site for 30 to 40 minutes in ice water.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It is important to add the baking soda so that you change the PH level of the egg shell. You also need to boil the eggs thoroughly. You can see my first batch did not work so well.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Eggs peel so much better when they are boiled correctly with baking soda.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Freshly Peeled Eggs!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cut eggs in half with a sharp knife.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Lightly pinch eggs and yolk pops out.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Combine with a fork the yolks, a half cup of Wholly Guacamole, and a half cup of salsa. Add garlic powder and salt to taste, if needed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mix it all up and take a taste to make sure your flavor profile is correct. Feel free to some heat!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Fill eggs with Guacamole, serve with sliced tomatoes.

 

Filed Under: Cooking, Flash Diet, Food Plan, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Fat Yogi’s Life: Bed, Breakfast and Barrel Racing (links to videos of me running)

January 17, 2011 By 6 Comments

Will on LL Cat Man Do

There have been many accomplishments in my life. Times when I have excelled at the things I have set out to do. It seems like setting goals and achieving them has been a regular part of my life. For the people who do not know me today’s post is to introduce you to two aspects of my life. My life with my partner as a bed and breakfast owner and our experience as barrel racers. I figured simply showing a link to the Bed and Breakfast and Links to videos of me running barrels would be good enough to introduce you to my life.

We sold the bed and breakfast in 2008 and we sold the barrel racing business in 2010.

www.innatparkside.com We bought the inn in 2002 and remodeled the entire in and launched a marketing campaign that took the business from $80,000 a year to $1.3 Million a year. We started with seven guest rooms and ended with twelve guest rooms and four spa treatment rooms. I was the marketing guy, spa business development and the interior decorator. Bill was the real backbone of this business. He managed the employees, the books, the menus and all the rest of the details.

We sold Pac West Barrel Racing in August 2010. Bill and I not only owned the company, but we were an active on the barrel racing circuit. My last horse, LL Cat Man Do, was a great horse. He won over $20,000 in 2009 and had won about $10,000 when I sold him in August of 2009.

Here are some links of our runs together:

 http://hotponies.com/video.php?ytid=107   This run was the second place of the day out of about 300 horses and was the third fastest time of the weekend in about 1000 runs. Cat was effortless towards the end of our time together.

http://hotponies.com/video.php?ytid=54 Here is Cat and I winning the Pirates Treasure Trove Race. He just kept on moving.

http://hotponies.com/video.php?ytid=53 Here is another fun run!

http://hotponies.com/video.php?ytid=52 Here is Cat winning the Jockey Slot Race!

http://hotponies.com/video.php?ytid=51 A conservative run in Texas!

http://hotponies.com/video.php?ytid=23 This run was the fastest run in a series of runs where Cat and I after a solid year and a half of 18 second runs we broke the 18 barrier with a 17.535 and won $2500!

http://hotponies.com/video.php?ytid=23 Here is the fastest run Cat and I did on a standard pattern. It was 26th fastest run out of 1000 runs that weekend and we won $2600. He had room t improve.

Here is how dangerous it can get: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOYhtD_AYlY 

So that is a little about my life! I currently don’t have a horse, but there is one ion my future!

Filed Under: Beyond Yoga, Motivation, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Preparing For Your Yoga Experience: Come As You Are

January 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As is well known in my group of friends, I love Bikram Yoga and I love how the heat really warms your muscles so you can experience deeper stretches into the poses. Bikram Yoga is not the only form of yoga available to practice. There are many different types of studios and many different styles of yoga to practice. So I want to help guide you into the right type of practice for you. It may be following along with the videos that will be posted daily on this blog, it may be going to your first hot yoga class at a Bikram studio, or finding a studio that matches your fitness level. In today’s blog post we’re going to discuss simply preparing for your first experience on an emotional, physical, and practical basis. The practical preparation will include an actual list of what to bring, how to dress, and how to eat before class. No one expects you to do everything perfectly, you will be welcomed as you are with no expectations. So let’s get started on the first steps towards a better yoga experience.

The Emotional Experience: Yoga classes have their share of hot bodied, flexible, beautiful people and if you’re like me, you are walking into your first class fat, winded, and filled with low self-esteem. To be confronted with those hot bodies wearing yoga wear, which is substantially less than you would wear to a gym and more like what you wear to a day at the beach, can be very harsh. Especially since at every studio I have ever practiced at is filled with mirrors that scream, ‘I SEE YOU, YOU FAT PIG.’ The reality is you are seeing yourself as you really are. At almost every studio I have practiced at over the last five years, the instructor tells the students to look at the mirror throughout the class and focus on yourself and to ignore everyone else.

 There is an unwritten rule of privacy in a yoga studio. You may look quickly at others who are more experienced in the poses to make sure you are following the instructions correctly, but eye contact and staring at others is not ever the norm. The person you stare at is yourself and the person everyone else is staring at is themselves. You get to see yourself as you really are and that can have the power to wake you up from the life numbing slumber of your existence.

Yes, you–like me–fell asleep at the wheel of life and your body, like mine is a wreck and there it is in front of you in a mirror staring back at you. Questioning you, asking you what you are going to do about it? Suddenly you realize that no one else is looking at you, they are all looking at themselves having the same experience, or if they are the perfect people, they are looking at themselves, seeing their own flaws that go beyond the physical. Those perfect bodied people are also respecting you and the choice you made to change. 

What you don’t see is that many of these people who appear perfect walked into their first yoga studio completely wrecked emotionally and physically and have gone through the life transformation that yoga can offer. They honor your presence and welcome you to the studio by respecting your privacy as you explore who you really are in the mirror. So as you stand there staring at yourself in the mirror, honor your first step towards health and fitness by looking at the person staring back, really look at that person and allow your emotions to be explored as you work out for the next 90 minutes.

The Physical Experience: Your body, if it is like mine, has not moved like this ever. Or if you are a naturally flexible person, you can do the poses but you don’t have the stamina to hold them for 60 seconds. There are many poses that I can’t do, YET! There will be many poses you can’t do. You will notice that the people around you can really go deep into poses and your body’s physical limitations will make you want to run from the class. For myself, my big old gut gets in the way of many forward bends, my shoulders are locked tighter than Fort Knox, and my hips regardless of how much I shimmy and shake to Shakira’s “My Hips Don’t Lie”, my hips do lie! Seriously!

When I started yoga, I would physically force myself and struggle to get as close to a pose as possible, which would still be worlds away from me, but I fought and pulled myself towards those poses and hurt myself several times. Yoga at first was a physically painful experience;  simply touching my toes I could feel muscles stretch and pull and my breathing would accelerate and my heart rate would beat out of control. I would collapse on my mat feeling exhausted, simply weak and stupid.

It was not until I figured out how to breathe into the poses and move slowly towards the direction of the pose that I began to get it. So to physically prepare for your first yoga class, I want you to do be kind to your body and relax. Follow the instructor and breath slowly into your poses. Don’t hurt yourself by over exerting. Respect where your body takes you to naturally, breathe deeply and on the exhale relax deeper into the pose. Your body will naturally surrender to your movements over time and yoga is a lifelong practice and each class prepares for a deeper physical expression of the pose in the next class. It might only be a slight improvement, but it will be an improvement.

Now with that said, you need to realize that sometimes you are going to have to be brave and go to the next step. Once you are deep as you can go, there are times when you will need to struggle to get to the next level in a pose. Those moments of physical struggle will be a challenge and generally impact the rest of your class. I will demonstrate these struggles in a later post in pictures and videos so that you can learn how to deal with the process of breaking through to a new and deeper pose.

The Practical Preparation: Every yoga studio has published guidelines for successful practice. They post those rules in the lobby of the studio, in the changing rooms, over the water fountain, at the front desk, and on the door into the studio. Take the time to read the rules of the studio you chose. For practical purposes this section of today’s blog post is going to deal with what you need to do to prepare to walk into your first class.

  1. Drink at least 32 ounces of water and complete drinking that water at least one hour prior to class. You are going to sweat in a yoga class whether it is hot yoga or not. You want to be adequately hydrated.
  2. Hit the restroom right before class; tinkle now and you won’t have to tinkle in class.
  3. Yoga–especially hot yoga–can be so sweaty that you are actually loosing mass quantities of electrolytes. Make sure you have enough electrolytes in your body. Eat a banana or two every day, drink coconut water after each class, or mix an electrolyte supplement into your water.
  4. Do not eat three to four hours in advance of class. You stomach will be bending forward and backwards. If your stomach is filled with food you will feel less than pleasant in class.
  5. Keep your last meal before class small, high in protein, and low in gas-producing foods.
  6. Bring a bottle of water to class.
  7. Bring your own mat and two towels. Most studios will rent you a mat and towels. The towels are to cover your mat to soak up the sweat and to shower afterwards, though many people choose to shower at home after class.
  8. Wear comfortable clothing that you can move in. I found that yoga wear is best. Yoga wear hold everything in place and allows you to move and bend without having to rearrange your clothes. Yoga wear also shows you your body as it is, but that can be a good thing.
  9. Arrive at least 15 minutes before class, so that you can change, select your spot, and relax before class. Being winded and rushed is no way to start yoga. You need to be able to leave the outside world behind.

I am emphatic about these rules for myself. It helps me prepare for a better class. When I first started more than four years ago, I got really bad headaches from electrolyte loss and inadequate hydration. I would get muscle spasms from not having enough potassium and I almost quit because I was so miserable. When I finally stopped struggling with the poses and listening to the instructor and my fellow students was when I learned about hydration and proper preparation for class. I want your first yoga class to be positive and I want you to be well prepared!

Filed Under: Motivation, Supplements, Uncategorized, Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Burrito Bowl On a Plate for Dinner

January 1, 2011 By 3 Comments

Cooking low-carb, high protein dinners and lunches is simple. I eat this probably for three or four meals a week. The preparation is simple and so are the ingredients.

I start with six boneless, skin-less chicken breast. I prefer free-range, organic chickens. I leave the meat juice they come packed in the pan so they have plenty of moisture. I do just a little salt, pepper, and Mrs. Dash Original on both sides and pop them in the oven covered with foil till they are done. I cook at 350 degrees and check after about 30 minutes. I prepare 6 at a time so I can store the rest for use throughout the week at various meals. Here is the finished chicken!

Cooking enough for 4 or 4 meals

While the chicken was cooking I cut up one large yellow bell pepper and a half of an onion. I used garlic powder, Mrs. Dash Chipoltle, and pepper and gently stir fried them in Canola oil (very little). Here they are cooking.

I love the sweetness of yellow peppers.

From there I open and strain a can of Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies and a can of Ranch Style Pinto Beans and Jalapeno Peppers. Make sure the beans are rinsed to prevent gas. Your body will adapt to beans as you eat them more, but I never skip my Beano with my beans.

Canned foods make dieting easy!

Here the strained beans are cooking on low heat. They look wonderful and smell divine!

From can to pot, easy and fast!

Next I assemble the plate. on a pile of romaine. I include fresh guacamole and a low sugar or no sugar salsa. Here is the final tasty plate full of food!

A heaping plate of healthy eating!

So that was dinner tonight. There was no fuss and no need for a recipe, just a simple throw together meal. I took the left overs and put them in the refrigerator to assemble for meals over the next few days.

You will see from the Flash Diet page that I ‘Eat and Repeat’ a lot of my meals throughout the week. I find that makes my life easier.

Hope this inspires you to make better choices for a better life.

Filed Under: Cooking, Food Plan Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why Yoga? Why Now?

December 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever reached a point in your life where you needed to make a drastic change? 2010 was the year of my discontent on so many levels and as I faced the most challenging year I had to make decisions on a personal and professional level that would forever change my life. That is where I was in September 2010 when I decided to venture back to the yoga studio. I needed to make drastic changes in my life. I was injured, fat, my blood pressure was high, really high! I could not sleep and I could not fit into my clothes.

Two Injuries Take Their Toll On My Body

Needless to say, I had quit all forms of exercise, began smoking again, and used food as my main source of pleasure as my life began to spin out of control. As the stress built so did my appetite and my smoking habit. I was quickly smoking more than a pack a day. I was getting winded simply riding my horse, walking up a hill. I am one of those guys who actually packs on the pounds when I start smoking because I totally lose all interest in exercise, especially cardio or yoga which depend on oxygen and breathing. So my fat out of shape body was just waiting to be injured.

First I injured myself on a canoe trip down a river in the Ozarks in July, 2010. I was paddling hard in a race with our daughter Felicity against my partner Bill and our daughter Hillary. Felicity and I wanted to get to the dock first so we could splash Bill and Hillary as they got to the dock.

Well I paddled so hard, trying to have fun in my ‘pack a day’ body with my family that I felt a muscle slip and pinch in my left shoulder through my neck. The pain was instant and debilitating. I could not stand to get out of the canoe, much less engage in a splash war with my family.

After several days of pain so intense that I could not sleep the pain reduced to a constant rotating numbness from my left shoulder through my left hands and thumb. That did not subside until this month.

Second, on the last day of August as we were moving from Norman, Oklahoma to Minneapolis, Minnesota I injured my right hip as I was carrying a dresser and tripped walking backwards over an Oriental carpet we had rolled up. Somehow I was able to lift my leg over the carpet and catch myself and the dresser on my left leg. We were working so hard and by the end of the day my leg was so sore that I could not walk on it.

The pain only seemed to get worse and when we moved into our new home in Minneapolis just blocks from both Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun walking was becoming a nightmare. A simple walk around Lake Calhoun was constant pain in my left hip. It appeared to rotate out of the groin and into the the outer hip. In fact the pain was so intense that reflecting on how strong I was when I turned 40 depressed and ran three miles dpressed me that six years later I could only walk a few blocks.

Back to Yoga

In pain, fat, depressed, and out of control. I quit smoking and headed back to the Yoga Studio. I was only goining two or three days a week and was amazed at how stiff my body had become with almost a year off. I could not get into any of the poses. I could only do one pose in the set and my heart rate was beating out of control and I could not breathe correctly.

By the middle of October I had developed bronchitis and was down for almost a month. Of course I ate like pig and by time I went back to the yoga studio I was in worse shape. The bronchitis had done a number on my lungs and I had three asthma attacks during my first three yoga classes after.

I was not deterred by thoses asthma attacks, my doctor perscribed a short term dose of steroids to reduce the inflamation and I began taking my inhaler into class with me. Something about my deteriorating health shook me to my very core. I knew it was time for a serious change in my life. I also new that my body had never felt better than when I did yoga so I made a commitment to really try to eat better and start doing yoga again.

Fat, Injured, and Facing a Two Week Christmas Holiday in Canada

Christmas was approaching and I had completed three yoga classes in a row with astma attacks followed by five classes without asthma attacks. I began cooking healthy foods but was eating way to much of the healthy foods. How was I going to survive two weeks of Christmas parties and do yoga and get control of my body beofre the end of the year?

Well my partner and I developed a plan. We would eat protien bars and shakes for breakfast and snacks. For lunch and dinner, we would eat low carb to no-carb meals. We would indulge in Christmas day and on one party that we knew was going to be a wild food and wine feast.

On top of that I found a Bikram Yoga Studio in Westbank, BC, Canada. The studio was a 45 minute drive from Penticton. I had to drive to Kelowna, BC, Canada the day after  Christmas, due to the other studio being closed.

During the 11 days of actual being in Canada outside of travel days, I completed 9 yoga classes. Five of them were consecutive. I stayed on the make shift travel diet plan.

My reward was granted me this morning when I got on the scale for the first time since December 17 and saw that I had lost 12 pounds in 14 days.

I knew I was thinner when I had to hold my pants up with one hand as I walked through the airport. Thankfully I have pants from all my various sizes through the years. Today I went from 38 inch waist to a 36 inch waist.

To top that off the pain in my shoulder is completely gone, my hip is almost completley healed and I can walk three miles with no pain, and my lungs are getting stronger.

Yoga is healing me not only physically, but emotionally and I am excited to continue my journey.

While I was visitng my daughters t their mother’s home on Christmas Eve she snapped these picutres of me doing Yoga poses in my pajamas as I was explaining to their mother the benefits of yoga.

Here I am in PJ's Doing Standing Bow

Doing full Locust in my PJ's

Filed Under: Motivation, Uncategorized, Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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