New Year, New Us....we yoga now!

Isn't that how all January posts start?! Oh it's January we must start the diet, commit to our new years resolutions, become a whole new person. Or in our case whole new people. Well i'm anti it all, kinda. I'm not against people who are gung-ho come the 1st and are able to stick to changing but at the grand old age of 33 I know myself well enough to know that it doesn't work for me.

Take dieting, after a Christmas binge if I was to suddenly starve myself the new me would be a seriously hungry and grumpy person. I can just about get my brain into gear getting up in the dark, if I had to get through the morning on nothing more than fruit my output would not be worthy of employment.

A few of my diet thoughts in the past have included:

Of course we could do Veganuary but realistically it's too much of a step change to be something we stick to this early in the year. Although if you are interested in the benefits check out https://veganuary.com/ and here's why we tried veganism last year.  We have decided to try to re-introduce vegan meals though as they do seem to be healthier - even if dinner just becomes a ton of veg. But don't try and tell me courgetti is just as filling as spaghetti - it may taste the same but one leaves me satisfies and the other leaves me hungry.

Our January plan is simple, eat less, move more. 

As we aren't doing anything revolutionary we aren't expecting revolutionary results but we have to start somewhere and this is a plan we can both stick to.

In terms of the move more well leaving the house is already achieving that - I kid, I mean we did manage a dog walk almost daily over Christmas so we moved. Plus cooking two Christmas dinners really worked up a sweat.

On a serious note though we are building more moving into our days. We signed up to a 30 day yoga trial where we paid a one of £30 fee and can go as many times as we want in 30 days. It has been enlightening....and not in a spiritual sense! I had NO idea what to expect and other than downward dog I hadn't heard too much about what was involved. On turning up at http://barefootbirmingham.com/ I took a deep breath and got ready to om.......

The first session was eye opening so I thought I would share my thoughts in a quick list of what I wished i'd known:

1. You don't actually have to flexible to go to Yoga the classes focus more of stretching and lengthening you rather than twisting and contorting you - that's for later
2. You do sweat - depending on the level of natural fitness will depend on the level of sweat
3. It will seem like everyone will turn up with a Yoga mat and seem to know all the poses but actually that doesn't matter at all and it's useful to have more people than the instructor to watch 
4. There will be people pulling out poses / stretches while you wait for the class.....don't worry just find a mat and relax, the instructor gets everyone doing the same thing
5. If you don't want to be touched you don't have to be! This was a point of concern that the instructor might try to bend me in a way I can't naturally go but they actually help adjust your poses or help you stretch in the right way 
6. Take water
7. You may fall asleep during the corpse pose and that's okay - 3 classes in and I've heard at least 2 snores
8. The stretches may make you fart....so far I have survived but they did acknowledge that should air escape just continue the pose and everyone will move on
9. Even as a non spiritual person I can see the mind and body benefits - I come out of class feeling straighter (physically) and more at peace (unfortunately after the first class I found the car had been hit so my namaste when to namasnae)
10. It is for everyone. Sure the instructors are super skinny, muscle god and goddesses but there are all ages and sizes in our classes and there are straps to help you reach your toes and blocks to help you reach the ground. Plus there is always baby pose to save you
11. Oh the names - baby pose, warrior, happy baby, downward dog, cat, cow, plank and a whole lot more and we are only 3 sessions in, you don't have to know them but it helps to not laugh when you a room of grown adults on their backs legs in the air holding on to their toes in the happy baby pose!

Here's a video from our studio:

When we aren't yoga-ing, which is at least half the week as 1) there is no way we can do back to back classes - we tried and the second one almost had us weeping and 2) life is busy - we are doing work out videos at home and I still have netball in the schedule. And we still have to walk Bisbee.

At this point I have no idea how long we can stick to our current regime but with swimsuits to get into for Sydney in less that 4 weeks we have a reason to get fit and hopefully lose a few pounds. It'll be worth it to not be super sweaty when enjoying our trip down memory lane. We may even recreate a few of these gems!

BBQ breakfasts, days at the beach or in the city - ah why did we move back?!

We have also managed to pass on most of our edible Christmas gifts and had a final farewell to the remainders last weekend at a mini-Friendsgiving celebration we had with friends who had missed Thanksmas due to a wedding. We barely ate anything all day in order to enjoy a gammon (cooked in a slow cooker with coca-cola - divine) and a ton of veggies.

A few of my co-workers tried to off load their final treats at our team meeting today and I was proud I could resist, although it did lead to a 45 minute discussion on everyone's keep fit plans which almost had me diving for the chocolates :)

In case i'm missing something I think the only thing every dietitian or fitness guru can agree on is eat more of the good stuff, less of the bad and move more. If I am missing something though please feel free to let me know - i'm always up for a quick win!

Happy January - good luck if you are trying a new regime!