Lola: Exercise Part 2 – The Other Stuff

Now, in addition to yoga, I want to add in more targeted strength training, which is why I have signed up for two years (eek) of BODi by Beachbody. A friend of mine has been a coach for several years and I finally decided to take the deal and sign up. I know that I want to work on building strength and I also know that I have no idea what I’m doing in that area, so having programs and videos to work out with is exactly what I need. Right now, I am (slowly) working my way through the 4 Weeks for Every Body program.

So far I hate it, but that’s mainly because it’s tough and I’m used to going easy on myself. I wasn’t able to make it all the way through a couple of the workouts, but that just means that when I go back and do it again sometime, I’ll be able to see how far I have come.

Lastly, I want to incorporate more walking into my days. I live in a condo with a small gym so I have started using the treadmill (something I used to refer to as a torture device) while I wait out the cold and icy Saskatchewan winter. Once I deem the weather to be nice enough, I will resume my outdoor walks around the various parks in my neighbourhood.

TV time on the treadmill

Since I know that consistency is an issue, I decided to print out a calendar to track my exercise, but not just a monthly calendar. I have the whole year tacked up on my fridge and every day I exercise, I get a shiny star sticker. This is my version of Habit Tracking.

I included pictures from summer 2023, when I was at one of my lowest weights and feeling really great. As you can see, my strong start in January was derailed by the flu and whiplash-related headaches in February. March is hit and miss so far, and I have no excuse for it, but I still have two weeks left to finish strong.

My ultimate goal would be to exercise every day, be it yoga, strength, or going for a walk. At the very least, I want to shoot for 4 – 5 days of dedicated exercise every week, in addition to finding more ways to be active throughout the day. At the end of the day, something is better than nothing, even if it’s only 10 minutes, and every little bit counts.

❤ Lola

Lola: Exercise Part 1 – My Journey with Yoga

I wish I were one of those people who loved to exercise, who was addicted to it or exercised when they are stressed. When I’m stressed, just let me lay down.

Over the past few years, my primary source of exercise has been yoga, and I will admit that I love it. Sometimes it is a challenge and I swear at my tv, but it feels good and stretches muscles I didn’t know I needed to stretch. My go-to is Yoga with Adriene on YouTube; I like being able to find videos for a specific reason or mood, such as Upper Back Love, 20-Minute Yoga for Abs, or Yoga For When You Are Feeling Unmotivated. I find her very sweet and endearing.

A screenshot of my yoga playlist, showing a few options from Yoga with Adriene

Yoga with Adriene also has many 30-day yoga journeys and those have been a huge motivator for me to consistently get on the mat, especially when I follow along with the live releases in January of each year.

There are a lot of reasons why I love yoga. The stretching feels really good, even when it is tough. My flexibility and mobility has improved. It has helped with hip, back, and neck pain. I am building strength – lowering from a plank onto my tummy without crashing down is great for upper arm strength. It is toning my body – even when the number on the scale wasn’t moving much, I could see and feel a difference in my body, especially my torso. It also helps me to be more mindful, to let go of the rest of the day and just focus on my breath, on the pose, on how it feels.

During particularly difficult times, it has served as an emotional release for me. There were times when I was at my lowest, emotionally drained and feeling like I had nothing left. I would somehow force myself to get on the mat, only to sit down and start sobbing. Something about being on the mat allowed me to let those emotions out, and as I tearfully worked my way through the video, taking breaks in child’s pose as needed, I felt better. Afterward I would tell myself to remember that I feel better after doing yoga, even if I don’t feel like doing it at first.

I feel like yoga has kind of been a life saver over the past few years. The restorative practices when I’m feeling down have been a comfort. It has been a way for me to ease into exercise and build strength so I now feel more able to handle more targeted strength training. It has helped with my posture and given me relief from back pain. Best of all, it’s something I am able to do at home so it is 100% accessible at any time. As I add in different types of exercise, I know I will always come back to my yoga practice.

❤ Lola

Mela: Overcoming Time Poverty (The Silent Saboteur of Weight Loss and Life Success)

I’m a mother of 3 children ages 2, (almost) 5, and 7. My life is busy. And I feel like, as a person whose major love language is quality time, I am constantly overwhelmed by the lack of it. And a major part of what I continue to be a successful life, moving forward, is finding ways to combat it.

I feel like for several years now I have been running around in circles in a home that is never clean, doing too many things and never getting ahead. A major focus for me now is learning ways to get to a place where I feel like I am both achieving at a high level and also having peace and quality family time. These are the strategies I’m currently working on putting into place to make this easier for myself.

5 strategies for digging out of time-poverty

1. Prioritize and Delegate: Identify your most important tasks and prioritize them. Delegate tasks that can be done by others, whether it’s at work or at home. This frees up your time to focus on what truly matters.

Historically, I’m not a great delegator. And this has gotten worse as a mother. I have a 7 year old boy who thinks he can’t pour himself a water because I mindlessly do everything for him. Recently my husband is going through a surgical recovery and has to transition into a new career which has him at home and me out hustling more so we don’t fall behind. He does not have this particular hang-up and I have to give him massive credit for bursting my bubble. Part of my time poverty is that I’m so busy doing non-value added things my kids should be learning to do for themselves and while it’s good to be a doting mother, I don’t want to cripple their independence by being a helicopter parent. My husband is also realizing how much domestic work comes with being home with three children, especially a two year old who thinks everything needs to be touched and discarded onto the floor.

• 2. Time Management Techniques: Utilize time management techniques such as the Pomodoro Technique, time blocking, or creating to-do lists. These methods help you organize your tasks efficiently and make the most of your available time.

What you’ve never heard of the Pomodoro Technique? I hadn’t either until recently. Basically it’s a method where you set a 25 minute timer and go all out on a single task and then take a 5 minute break and go again. After 4 sessions, you take a longer break. I think given my recent devotion to the 12 Week Year Method of planning, this is a great way to tackle some of the time where I have little ones demanding of me during the day. 25 minutes of a task can actually produce some results and the breaks are good little breathers where I can reset their activities or get them a quick snack.

For me, though, I think Time Blocking has been a great revelation. I have decided that from 8-10pm I can absolutely choose to focus on my small business growth. I have put my children to bed (notice I said to bed and not to sleep because they’re definitely not always sleeping by then) and even if there are a million other things I can do, I have earned the time to spend on my business or my self care (more on that later). Time blocking is a concept spoken about at length in The 12 Week Year and it’s one I really needed in my life.

• 3. Set Boundaries: Learn to say no to activities or commitments that don’t align with your priorities. Setting boundaries helps you protect your time and energy for activities that are essential to your well-being and goals.

I think the 30’s are all about learning boundaries. We go through our 20’s experimenting and building relationships and saying yes to life. In our 30’s we start pulling back a bit and experiencing the sort of burn out that forces you to start saying no to things. And the pandemic definitely made me not want to say yes to everything. In that regard I’ve had to become more social again actually. But in general, I’ve realized that my young children do not need a bunch of extra-curricular activities more than they need peaceful nights with good sleep. They don’t need more toys more than they need a clear place to play. They don’t need vacations as much as they need daily face time with their parents. I will protect the peace in my home over a lot of things. And that includes working for more money if it means depriving them of family time.

• 4. Streamline and Simplify: Look for ways to streamline your routines and eliminate unnecessary tasks. Simplifying your life can help reduce overwhelm and create more time for the things that bring you joy and fulfillment.

I understand minimalists. I’m not really one of them, but I understand them. Life is so overstimulating!!! I mean we are in a world where we are confronted with content at all times. Every business has to advertise. Everybody has multiple social medias. Every time I get in my car there are literal video billboards distracting me as I try not to veer into other vehicles. And aside from that, we live in a small apartment with three busy children, which means we always have too much stuff. I now value space over stuff. Several times a year I go through my children’s toys with them and they choose which ones are actually getting played with and which should move on to children who could use them, or which are too broken to survive transition. Several times a year I stand in my closet and decide which clothes are actually getting worn and which are just hanging and never being chosen. It’s not minimalism but it’s definitely a system where I’m focused on trying to make sure the things we are keeping are valuable and useful and cherished rather than just having more stuff (to keep clean) just to have more stuff. The more space I make, the easier it is to keep it clean and the more time I have for my family and business.

• 5. Practice Self-Care: Make time for self-care activities that rejuvenate your mind and body. Whether it’s exercise, meditation, or spending time with loved ones, prioritizing self-care helps you recharge and approach tasks with renewed energy and focus.

There is nothing to me in this busy life that is quite as decadent as shutting the bathroom door and having a long bath with some Epsom salts, watching some screaming real housewives and then doing a long ritual of skin care, nail polishing and teeth charcoaling. This is not something I can get to all the time but sometimes it just feels real good to come out of the bathroom smelling like vanilla and feeling like a freshly glazed donut that makes me feel like a million bucks. And at other times self care looks like actually sitting on the couch and watching a video with my kids instead of glancing over while I do domestic chores. Giving them (and myself) that devoted and slow one-on-one time is regenerative and I have to say it’s not as simple as it sounds when things are just constantly stacking up. I shudder to think of where I was just a couple years ago with my whole body shaking while I scolded my children for needing more of me as I drowned in tasks I felt I should have been able to handle and couldn’t.

And maybe that’s where you are. Maybe you look around you and everything feels so overwhelming and like you’re never going to crawl out of it. You need to have coping mechanisms to deal with that. And I hope some of the things I’m trying might give you ideas for how you might move forward. Nobody is coming to hand us a soft life and we have to equip ourselves with the tools to handle these busy and blessed lives we’ve been building.

Take care of you.

Mela: Let’s talk about the big “O” (Ozempic)

Some of you may know my body is a dick and by that I mean I have PCOS and insulin resistance and it’s very difficult to lose weight but also inflammation comes easily and water retention as well. And after 3 children and finding out I have osteoarthritis in my knees at 39 years old I came to my doctor and asked him about GLP-1 medications. Without batting an eye (and keep in mind I live in Canada), he wrote me a prescription for Ozempic. And $300 later I was ready to take my first injection.

Now this is the only real time I want to talk about Ozempic because I was on it for 5 or 6 weeks in the late summer and I don’t intend to ever be on it again. Did it help me lose weight? Yeah. It did. Why? Because it made food repugnant to me. Like I felt gross about eating, gross about wanting to eat. And it wasn’t a totally bad experience but I felt like those poor black and white people in pleasantville that realize they aren’t living in colour. Like food is awesome and should be enjoyed. And not only do I like eating food, but I have done multiple extended fasts (so much to talk about there) and there’s a big difference between not eating anything and not eating enough. I lost weight on Ozempic (about 15 pounds or so) because I was not eating enough. When I was eating I tried to focus on protein which was great but I wasn’t getting enough calories and I felt very lethargic most of the time.

I am grateful for the drug. I believe there are many people whose lives will be changed and even saved because of the positive benefits of a drug like Ozempic and the like. I believe it was a good jumping off point for me. It got me on the journey and made me feel like I wasn’t a complete slave to carbohydrates again and I needed that. It got me into a good habit of focusing my hunger on protein because I’m generally bad at doing that and I think it’s a key take-away for me. And now I know that it’s not for me so I can stop wondering.

I do believe, though, that there will be many people who use the drug as a cure-all and will not focus on the lifestyle changes that are going to prolong their health. I do also believe that it’s designed that way specifically to drain our bank accounts because a starter dose for $300 is something that hurts my stomach to this day.

Anyway I have nothing but love for people who choose to take Ozempic. It isn’t something I think should be thrown around the way it is in terms of an easy way out. Anyone who resorts to taking a GLP1 medication is absolutely not getting an easy way out. I wasn’t on it long enough (probably) really to adapt to it but I can say that it still matters what you put in your mouth and do with your body, regardless of any supplements or medications.

And so, as always, I default to my inner belief that the best medicine is what God gave us in the beginning. Sunshine, fasting, good food, movement, and strong support systems.

Mela: The 12 Week Year

Have you ever heard of the book, The 12 Week Year, by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington? Because if you haven’t, and you’re looking for a way to start hitting goals more consistently, it might be worth the read. It’s actually a free listen if you have Audible. The concept is that you can get more done in 12 weeks than most people do all year by throwing out the old annualized thinking and instead mapping out aggressive 12 week plans to attack your goals. As soon as I heard it my short attention span flag thought it might be something to look into.

So I’ve listened to the book a few times now and I love the concept, which is basically:

1. Set smart goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based)
2. List tactics to help achieve goals
3. Use time blocking to work on strategic planning
4. Measure progress weekly

Basically when you’re goal is only 12 weeks away you can’t fall back on the old “I’ve got lots of time” approach because year end is always less than 12 weeks away. You might be able to have one or two weeks that are off, but are more likely not to as every week is crucial.

This really appeals to me. I’m a big fan of making sweeping January declarations…and then again in about March when my birthday (in April) is around the corner, and then again in the late summer when the year is half over and I haven’t seen progress, and then again during that year end push. And historically, I haven’t ended the year with a lot of progress.

I actually did have a pretty successful year end in terms of health last year. I actually lost 30 pounds and maintained that coming into the new year but 30 pounds is barely even a scratch on what I feel I will have to lose to get into a healthy weight that I could see myself sustaining for the future.

SO I made a nerdy little spreadsheet that I’m going to use to attack my goals with the 12 week planning concept. I have planned (starting this past Monday) to lose 20 pounds in 12 weeks which is a healthy amount of weight for that time period. I’ve got all kinds of sexy formulas in the spreadsheet to help me run a tally on what percentage of my total I’ve lost each week so I know if I have to go harder or stay on track. I’m really hoping that this is finally the planning tactic that helps me get where I’m going. Join us on our YouTube channel where I’ll go into more detail on how that’s going and you can take a look at my hottie spreadsheet.

Lola: Taking Action

OMG, I’m doing it again. I’m going down a YouTube rabbit hole of videos on diet, fitness, and health, and the result is that I have already changed my diet plan three times this morning.

I think it’s coming from a good place – I want to make sure that I’m doing everything “right” and that I get the best results possible. My desire is to learn from others who have already done it, or who study it. That’s not a bad thing, right?

Where it becomes problematic is when the learning never transfers over to doing. I have tons of notes and saved videos telling me what to do, but I haven’t implemented much of it. At a certain point, it becomes confusing because it seems like everyone is saying something different. I agree with the saying “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” but when everything is planning and never doing, that is also a way to fail. James Clear talks about this in his book Atomic Habits and in this post The Mistake Smart People Make: Being In Motion vs. Taking Action (did James Clear just call me smart?!). Reading his book is where I first realized that I am always in motion, but rarely taking action.

Motion vs Action

Case Kenny also touches on this in his recent New Mindset, Who Dis? podcast episode entitled “Don’t waste the time you’ve been given”:

To summarize, he says that a lot of regrets we have in life come from inaction and indecision, and I feel that. How will I know if I’m doing it “right” or if something will give me the best results if I haven’t tried it? I have been “trying to lose weight” for my entire adult life but in reality, I have only been actively trying for very small portions of that time. And during those times, I have had success.

So, this weekend, I am taking action. For all of the different opinions I have found on YouTube, there are two things everyone seems to agree on: prioritize protein and move more. That is enough to get started and I’ll figure the rest out as I go. It’s time to take action.

❤ Lola

Lola: How To Be Consistent

Speaking of consistency, here’s a quote from James Clear’s, author of Atomic Habits, weekly email newsletter:

“In theory, consistency is about being disciplined, determined, and unwavering.

In practice, consistency is about being adaptable. Don’t have much time? Scale it down. Don’t have much energy? Do the easy version. Find different ways to show up depending on the circumstances. Let your habits change shape to meet the demands of the day.

Adaptability is the way of consistency.”

❤ Lola

Mela: What to Eat?

Lola is such a good blogger and I’m crapping the bed so here it goes.

My basic plan is to envision my ideal and then work backwards to what is acceptable. What do I mean? This:

Ideal: a day of fasting with water and pink salt.

Still awesome: One meal mid-day (ideally carnivore/ketovore)

Great: A full carnivore day.

Acceptable: A full keto day

So thats the idea. Reach for the ideal, but provide myself guidelines that still fall within great choices.

Did I say Carnivore and fasting? Yes. Heck yes I did. The toolbelt is full of shiny things to help me get healthier and healthier.

I’m not tracking macros. I’m not. I’m just focusing on protein and fat and feeling good.

Lola: Diet Plan

While I know that low carb, in the sense of minimal sugar and wheat, is the right path for me, I don’t see myself going back to keto, exactly. Here are the things I want my diet to include:

• A wide variety of foods in order to get a wide variety of nutrients
• Mostly unprocessed or minimally processed foods
• Minimal dairy, pork, sugar, wheat, and soy (this is personal preference, my body doesn’t like them)
• More vegetables and fruits
• Regular IF with some EF to shake things up as needed
• Planning my eating around my cycle – fasting when appropriate and eating the right foods to support my hormone health

I have decided that my next diet venture is going to be the 30-day fasting reset from the book Fast Like a Girl by Dr. Mindy Pelz

I only finished reading this book last week and so I have no idea what to expect from the 30-day reset, but the eating and fasting plan, along with the suggested food lists, look like they align with what I want.

What is it that I want? Weight loss is the obvious answer, but more than that, I want to balance my hormones.

I have been on medication for hypothyroidism for my entire adult life and things went haywire in 2023. This resulted in my doctor prescribing a second medication to help support my thyroid.

August 2023 – Thyroid labs are all out of whack.

I also have very low progesterone levels, which make the week before my period a very difficult time, causing mood swings, depression, and feeling completely overwhelmed for days at a time. With the help of a NaPro doctor, I found a prescription that was helping, but my current life circumstances (which I’ll get into another time) coupled with the fact that my prescription benefits don’t cover the $210 monthly cost, have inspired me to try to manage it with diet, lifestyle, and supplements.

May 2023 without medication – this is very low for Luteal Phase

December 2023 with medication – amazing results!

Since this reset is designed to start on Cycle (Period) Day 1, I will have to wait until mid-March to start the program. In the meantime, I plan to try out some of the recipes in the book while continuing with IF and a healthy, low carb diet.

Is anyone out there familiar with Dr. Mindy Pelz?

❤ Lola

Lola: Health, Wellness, and Fitness

This is the biggest area I want to improve right now. Over the last seven years, I have mostly been able to maintain my weight loss, and I believe that my health and fitness have gotten better.

That being said, my goal over the last seven years has been to lose more weight, not just maintain. In that time, I have been bouncing around a 20-pound range, from around 210 – 230. I think I actually made it down to 202 or 203 in 2022 but my average has been in the 220’s. Right now I’m up to 230 again. I know it isn’t healthy to continue to yo-yo and I believe that my biggest issue has been and continues to be consistency.

This is going the wrong way…

Here’s what that inconsistency looks like for me:

• I have not been consistently keto in a really long time.
• I did the Whole30 diet for a month a few years ago and lost 14 pounds even though I ended most days feeling stuffed and like I was eating more than ever – go figure.
• I did a 7-day liquid fast and lost 14 pounds (liquid = black coffee, herbal tea, Zevia, flavoured carbonated water – would cut out Zevia and flavoured carbonated water next time)
• I did the carnivore diet for a month and lost 13 pounds in the first two weeks, then nothing after that
• I have done many Yoga with Adriene 30-day programs and completed them within a reasonable time (never 30 days, but close) and saw a definite change in my body and strength, but regular exercise has been sporadic.
• I have been fasting on and off for a few years. This ranges from Intermittent Fasting (IF – less than 24 hours) to Extended Fasting (EF – more than 24 hours).
• In between all of that were periods of a healthy, low carb diet, and phases of fast food, pizza, junk food, too much sugar, and occasional binges.

My two biggest challenges to being consistent are impatience and emotional eating.

I want the same results I had at the very beginning. I want the weight to fall off, and to keep falling off. As soon as I stop seeing results, I think that I need to jump to something else, hence why I have been trying many different things over the years. I watch a lot of YouTube videos and listen to podcasts that talk about health, fitness, and diet, and there is always something new to try, so I try it, and I think that’s working against me. I believe that I need to pick something, be consistent for at least 30 days, maybe up to 90 days, and then determine if it’s working or if I need to change things.

Emotional eating has always been a big issue for me, and it continues to be. Relationship stress, hormonal imbalances, and fears about my declining fertility have been major struggles for me in the past few years. I’m still working through all of those and while I’m in a better place now, it is still a daily struggle. When I’m feeling down or I am tired, I just want to feel good, to find relief from the heavy emotions, to distract myself from the fears. I turn to food for that, because it works, at least for a minute. Then it’s the familiar Return to Self-Loathing once again.

You may be wondering ‘Why doesn’t she just go back to keto?’ It’s a valid question. The way I did keto in the beginning is not how I would do keto now. That was dirty keto. Cheese, bacon, cream cheese, more bacon… my carbs were low and I was losing weight but I don’t believe I was eating in a healthy way and eventually that caught up with me. If I choose to do keto again, it will look a lot different.

As I try to heal some hormonal imbalances, I learn more and more than women could benefit from eating differently at different times in their cycle. For instance, during the luteal phase when we may crave chocolate and carbs, that is because our bodies actually need more glucose to support progesterone production. That doesn’t give me license to eat cakes and cookies (sadly) but sweet potatoes, more fruit, squash, and other healthy carbs, could have more of a place in my diet.

So, what does my diet look like going forward? Uh… give me a minute and let me get back to you on that…

❤ Lola