Lumowell Prime Video Workout

 Today, Maryella and I checked out a video that is included in our Amazon Prime membership: Lose Weight Tone Your Body Beginners by Lumowell.  It is about 30 minutes and includes a warm-up and cool-down.  

We were surprised to find that it is a computer-generated image of a woman that is used to guide the exercises.  Maryella took a little longer but she did at one point ask why she isn't blinking her eyes! 😂😁

There is a woman's voice who guides your exercises and I found it to be fairly pleasant or at least didn't annoy me.  The computer image could use to be a bit more real body-friendly as she is busty, lanky, and leggy.  Otherwise, the image worked well.  They provide a modifier to the exercises which I used about 30% of the time.  They also have an image that pops up off and on that shows the muscle groups being used for that particular exercise.  Overall, it was a good program and we enjoyed it as much as a person who doesn't enjoy exercise can enjoy it.  I was able to complete the whole 30-minute video and can tell I got good exercise in my legs especially.  In my opinion, it's a winner and will definitely be a part of my rotation.  Tomorrow, I'm going to my favorite yoga studio to enjoy some Zen Yoga and easy stretches.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B01M012H9J/ref=atv_wl_hom_c_unkc_1_3

🕊 Peace 🕊

Losing It - Kegels

I can tell you of one of the ways I lose-it but hate to admit is incontinence.  Kids, age, weight, all sorts of reasons have led to leaking.  If advertisements are an indication of truth so are a lot of women.  So, I'll share with you my recent find that is helping and it fits my fast-moving, working-mom lifestyle.  It is an app called Kegel Exercises made by Amila.  It is a progressively harder (although it's not hard at all) app for strengthening your pelvic floor.  You have to dedicate about 2 minutes of your day to this simple app and you have done some good self-care.  I use android and found it on Google Apps.  I'm not sure about Apple but I imagine there is something similar.  Check it out. 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amila.kegel

🕊Peace🕊

Delicious Healthy Halloween-Week Dinner

 It's Halloween Week!  I broke down and got kids' costumes today.  I was going to make them re-use last year's costumes.  When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, if that costume still fit for a second year, we were wearing it twice.  Because of COVID recommendations, we will not be trick-or-treating and there are so few events I thought reusing Harry Potter & Captain Rex would work.  Alas, they broke me down.  At least they were willing to go matching and go cheap!  Our Halloween plan is Trunk or Treat at church, throw-back Casper movie at the theatre (social distancing enforced) then the kids each get $20 to spend on whatever candy they want at the store.  Then, back home safe and sound I hope.

On to the recipe!  One thing that has remained important to me after VSG surgery is that I can make a clean family meal that I can enjoy with everyone else.  I do this usually 6 nights per week but now my serving size is about the same as my 6-year-old.  Tonight I didn't follow a recipe, but rather came up with my own.  In my house, we say "mommy is making a concoction."  It was a hit!  Healthy and economical so I thought I'd share.  Serves a lot because of the pork tenderloin and 4 beets.  I would think 2 family-sized dinners (freeze half for a quick last-minute meal) or it will make great lunches through the week because the seasoning will just get better with time and it should reheat well.  The pork was so tender!

This meal took me about an hour total to make because of the brown rice, otherwise, I'd say 45 minutes.  Yes, I like to cook and have all these ingredients on hand.  I know it may be a bit much for some but once you get used to cooking with spices and herbs for your seasonings, instead of sauces, you'll have a full pantry of awesomeness too.  The house smells so awesome because of the Chinese Five Spice.  BTW, I highly recommend Penzey's spices!  Their cocoa powder is the best!

Printable Recipe

Halloween Dark Red Stir-Fry (Todd's name for it)

1 pkg Pork Tenderloin cut into small cubes, discarding any fat or sinuous meat.

4 Medium Beets, peeled and chopped small (if you get beets with the greens attached, wash them, chop them and throw them in.  Stems with the beets and leaves with the cabbage in the end)

1 Large onion chopped

1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

1 T Oil of choice (I like avocado oil for stir-fry because of the high smoke point)

2 t or to taste Chinese Five-spice powder

1 C Water

1" chunk fresh ginger peeled and grated

2 T or to taste Raw Honey

1 T Sesame Seeds

1 T Dark Sesame Oil

2 t garlic powder or 4 cloves fresh garlic 

Salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil on high in a wok or whatever you like to use for stir-fry.  Once you see wisps of smoke, add the pork and begin to stir-fry.  As pork cooks, add in salt, Chinese Five-spice, and garlic powder if using.  If using fresh garlic, wait until the end of the cooking of the pork and add in the last 30 seconds so as not to burn your garlic.  Cook this pork until you don't see pink clearly on the outside.  Move it off to a bowl leaving juices behind.  

Add the beets and onion to the wok with the juices.  Stir fry beets and onions until the liquid in the wok has been absorbed.  Add your 1 cup of water and you can let it steam a bit without stirring.  Once the water has evaporated by half, add the cabbage to the top and let it steam as the rest of the water evaporates.  Once it is down to the end and the wok is about to dry again, add sesame seeds and stir so the seeds get toasted.  You can turn off the heat but leave the wok on so the residual heat will keep warming the food.  

Add ginger, honey, and the pork back to the wok.  Adjust seasoning to your liking by adding salt and pepper, more Chinese Five-spice, or honey.  My kids liked it with more honey, so I just added it to the top of their serving, whereas my husband liked more Chinese Five-spice and the lingering warmth.  I served on brown rice.

With this meal, you and your family are getting an excellent dose of lean protein from the pork and fiber from the beets, cabbage, and sesame seeds (even more if you add in brown rice).  Garlic, ginger, and honey are natural medicine powerhouses.  Just be sure to get raw and organic!  Sesame seeds are abundant in minerals.  Did you know that 1/4 raw unhulled sesame seeds provide more calcium than a cup of milk!  And since we aren't cows that is great news because it doesn't make sense to me that we drink baby cow food.  Just sayin'

🕊 Peace 🕊

JOYN Focused Power 4.1

JOYN 

If you have never heard of JOYN my dear fat friends, you are missing out!  They have body-positive, fat-positive, joyful trainers leading those who want to participate in joyful movement.  I found JOYN as part of my HAES (Health at Every Size) work.  Note: JOYN does require membership for some videos and Focused Power is not a free offering, but they have tons for free.

HAES has meant a lot to me.  I let go of the cultural standards for my appearance and focus on my health.  I'd left behind my need to make choices based on cultural norms a hot minute ago.  I care about my health.  I do not mind at all if I am healthy but remain fat.  I want to be strong.  I do not want to spend my late years fighting illness from my younger years.  My health requires I eat fairly clean to feel well and force myself to move when my natural tendency is to be still and in my head. 

Focused Power 4.1

Anyway, back to JOYN and today's Focused Power 4.1.  It is a 23 minute streamed video.  I watch it from the JOYN app on my Firestick for TV.  It is led by one of their fun and enjoyable to watch instructors, Kanoa.  She does not have a bio on the instructor's portion of the website, so I can't tell you much about her.  I realize I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt here but, I think it is unfortunate that she has 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1,3.2,3.3,4.1,4.2,4.3 of these Focused Power videos yet they do not have a nice bio for this lovely fun woman.  I chose Focused Power 4.1 to start because I was curious about the agility and plyometric exercises.  I am 5'10' and 284 pounds (thank you VSG as this is 60lbs gone in 5 months) I have never been agile and I had never heard of plyometrics so I was curious. 

BTW, Alexa says that plyometrics is a form of exercise that involves the rapid stretching and contracting of muscles to increase power.  Honestly, I'm not sure why this video would be labled plyometrics because for me it is like any other low-impact aerobic workout.  I'm not educated in such things though.

I decided to give it a go.  I have been away from my strength routine since our pool water became too cold to do water workouts.  Strength training in the pool has been my go-to strength workout since the surgery.  I'll share my pool strength workout in a different post.  I've been away from exercise for about a month and 15 minutes into the video it became obvious as it was wearing me out after 2 times through the routine.  The routine is about 6 bodyweight exercises each done for 30 seconds then quickly move to the next.  Modified jumping jacks, shuffles, modified mountain climbers, etc.  I enjoyed myself, it was easy to follow, and didn't require more space than I have in my family room.  I didn't like that I really needed a stool to do the mountain climbers and it wasn't mentioned as a modifier to use the wall until she had already started.  I like it when instructors let you know upfront equipment and modifiers.  Overall, I would suggest checking this video out for beginning movement, getting your heart pumping, and feeling the burn in your hip area.  

The Focused Power series on JOYN has a system that includes a . (dot) to indicate how tough the version of the video is intended to be.  Thus, 4.1 was easiest, 4.2 would be moderate, and 4.3 harder.  I was going to start with 1.2 because based on the labeling I thought it would be a total body workout in medium difficulty.  I admit I was disappointed to start 1.2 and find it is only lower-body but for 30 minutes.  In order to get my full-body strength workout, the Focus Power series would require about an hour of my time to do 1.2 and 3.2.  I'll give it a go but that is a lot for me to try and keep the dog off of me and the kids out of my business.  After today I may have to back it down to the easier to help my body catch up with where I had been a month ago.   

My plan is to next check out JOYN Dance Crush #1 and let you know what I think.

🕊 PEACE 🕊

 

Setting Intentions

Flow 

I've been working hard on organizing my life using a digital planner with the hopes of keeping on top of my physical, emotional, and spiritual health.  I am a firm believer in the connectivity of these aspects of the self and the essential connectivity of all living things.  Additionally, the idea of writing has been churning in my mind for years but I have not been able to get anything going.  Then, this morning while trying out a new workout video, the idea to make notes about what is in the video, what I liked, and what I didn't like came to my mind.  Voila, the idea for this blog is born.  My hope is to share what I'm learning on my bariatric journey - mind, body and spirit.  I had Vertical Gastric Sleeve in May 2020 during the small slow-down in the pandemic when my hospital (I work for them as well as being a patient) allowed non-essential surgeries.  I'll share the story leading up to my surgery sometime in another post.  

Overarching Idea

I want to set my intentions for this blog.  Similar to offering an intention before a yoga practice.

I intend to write about my journey in losing weight, my mind (and finding it again), and my burdens.  I intend to be myself in what I share both the good and the bad.  

Forewarning: Sometimes I make sense, sometimes I don't.  Sometimes I am clearly kind, sometimes I missing something and being a jerk.  Sometimes I'm organized, sometimes I'm a mess.  Sometimes I'm an intellectual, but most often I'm an intuitive who dabbles in the world of the intelligent.  Sometimes I'm an extrovert and love people, sometimes I'm so disappointed in the humanity around me  that I withdraw and avoid anyone outside my little family.  I also reserve the right to throw in whatever I want on one of my creative (or bitchy) whims.  Oh and I swear.

Spiritual 

Spirituality is at the core of all beings and mine runs strong.  My need for control also runs strong and informs but also occasionally takes-over my spirit.  

One example: my parenting takes a huge portion of my efforts and time.  My belief is that my children's future depends on our creating a foundation of love, spirituality, education, health, relationships, and tolerance.  I'm fierce about this foundation work for them.   On the outside I look like one of those mom's other parents think are jerks who are judging them for their parenting ways.  In reality, I'm terrified of my kid's flying the coop to find the world and life a completely different experience the way I did.  The person I am today is in many ways the polar opposite of who I was in my early 20s.  I want it to be better for my kids the way many parents have something they hope is better for their kids than it was for them.  

When I'm losing my burdens by offering them up to the holy, it is often in this area of my life.  Thus, you will see a lot of parenting surrender posts but also other areas I over-control because of fear.  I intend to share with you my surrenderings. 

Mental 

My mental health is up and down and requires vigilant monitoring to stay in a good place.  I'll also share my story of mental health in another post.  In general, I'll share the ways I'm struggling and the tricks I've learned along the way to help bring me back to balance.  I might review some books and make recommendations.  My dominant mental health struggle is depression.  Just as I shared above, sometimes I get so disappointed in humanity I seriously lose it.  Sometimes, I get so overwhelmed with my need to accomplish and improve, I lose it.  Sometimes, I lose it because of horrormones.  Yes, I call them horrormones, and my annoyance with their particular torture can be in another post too.  

Body

Finally, I'll write about this glorious vessel I was given at birth and it's care as I age.  I try very hard to love my body the way my revered body-positive icons teach me, but I lose sight of that too.  Medically, I tend toward a stronger appreciation for the healing power of food and natural medicine.  I rely upon big-pharma to keep my body going with an auto-immune disease that wants to tear it down.  I don't have a lot of body image issues, but rather pain and mobility issues.  I'm sure I'll write about my love of the HAES (Health at Every Size) movement and how it will remain a huge part of my weight loss journey even though it seems counter-intuitive.  I'll check out workouts for those of us who have really never exercised much and share reviews of what I find.  I think I'll also write some of my tips and tricks but also share my failures.  My body care is the hardest part of my self-care routine and I struggle to stay committed to it.  

Frequency

I hope to write about each topic at least once per week as life allows.  COVID has a lot of folks staying home but I'm not one of them.  I'm a clinical chaplain and work for a healthcare system in Houston at five of their hospitals either covering for a staff-chaplain day away, high census, or on-call for overnight and weekend traumas.  I'm out and about a lot in this nightmare of a life-stealing virus.  I might share about work here and there but this is not about that. 

I just want to write and share and connect.

🕊 Peace 🕊