Week 25: Monday 28th June - Sunday 4th July 2021
On Monday I arrive at the gym for my training session.
"How are you feeling today, Lisa?" asks my PT.
I grumpily point out how he destroyed me on Saturday, how I'm covered in aches and pains, and how my core really hurts.
"Ahhhhhh, finally !" he says happily.
Clearly he's pleased with his Saturday achievements. Even if I'm not.
Despite still not being fully recovered from Saturday my PT seems to be taking great delight in making me go on the ab-crunching machine again. This machine is a serious contender with the battle-ropes, in terms of my 'most hated torture device'.
An encouraging message
When I get home I receive a message from my PT:
Really well done today Lisa. I promise you'll see the difference from the work that we are doing in the gym. You're already looking stronger!
So despite spending most of his time shouting at me or trying to destroy my core, it turns out that my PT can say nice things sometimes too...
The waning moon: a time for letting go of stuff
On Thursday I awake to find myself in the first day of the waning moon phase of 31 day Art of Abundance challenge I started a few weeks ago.
The waning moon is when the moon is starting to appear smaller in the sky as less sunlight is reflecting off the surface. It's a time for mentally and emotionally letting go, clearing any clutter out of our heads, which may be holding us back and weighing us down. It's also a time for physically clearing clutter and stuff out of our lives.
This week's challenges and activities
The activities and challenges for the waning moon phase include a mirror work exercise and a pranayama breathing exercise.
For the mirror work exercise I have to stare into a mirror and talk to myself. Something about this really tickles my sense of humour, and initially I find myself breaking down into uncontrollable fits of laughter every time I try to hold a conversation with myself in the mirror.
It gets easier though. The humour and the strangeness of the situation gradually wears off and I end up having quite an enjoyable conversation with myself, actually.
What is mirror work?
Mirror work is a technique originally developed by Louise Hay. The idea is that by talking to ourselves in a kind and positive way, whilst looking directly at ourselves in the mirror, we can learn to cultivate a more loving and more forgiving relationship with ourself.
For more information check out Louise Hay's website, or her book Mirror Work: 21 days to heal your life.
The pranayama breathing exercise is super-enjoyable too. It's a very vigorous and forceful exercise, involving lots of pumping up and down of the arms, whilst breathing in and out quickly. This style of breathing is supposed to represent the cleansing and purifying of our selves, energetically releasing of all of those things we want to let go of, now that we're coming to the end of this month's lunar cycle.
What is pranayama breathing?
Prana roughly translates to mean 'life force energy,' and yama roughly translates to mean 'to regulate'. So pranayama is all about regulating our inner 'life force' energy through breathing practices. By regulating our inner energy we receive many benefits including, increased energy levels, reducing anxiety, increasing focus and boosting our immune system
For more information these articles are a good read:
Pranayama: The Top Beginner’s Guide to Yoga Breathing Exercises.
On Friday morning I step onto the scales, as I do every morning, to find that finally I have hit 15 kilos of weight loss!
My weight loss seems to have slowed down a lot recently. The last milestone I hit was 10 kilos of weight loss - and that was 10 weeks ago now. I've been hovering just below the 15 kilo mark for the last few weeks now, but never actually quite managing to hit 15 kilos of weight loss.
So it feels really good to have finally reached that milestone!
The picture at the top of the page is me next to 15 kilos of sugar, whilst apparently floating through space, to illustrate all of the weight I've now lost - just another 5 kilos to go now until I reach my ideal weight.
Thank you for reading this post!
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This week I have been eating...
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.
Snack: Two boiled eggs with some spinach.
Lunch: Mindful Chef's puttanesca with penne and roasted asparagus (one third of a two portion recipe).
Snack: Two cups of tea, each with a dash of milk. One banana.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's salmon, beet sauerkraut and mustard potatoes.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.
Snack: Two boiled eggs with some spinach.
Lunch: Mindful Chef's puttanesca with penne and roasted asparagus (one third of a two portion recipe).
Snack: Two cups of tea, each with a dash of milk. Two spoonfuls of grain free granola mix.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's salmon, beet sauerkraut and mustard potatoes.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two or three cups of black coffee throughout the morning.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: Two poached eggs on one piece of brown, buttered toast, with spinach.
Snack: A bowl of plain natural yoghurt, with a chopped banana and two spoonfuls of grain free granola mix.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's Korean pork bibimbap with seared pak choi.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.
Snack: Two boiled eggs with some spinach.
Lunch: Baked beans on brown, buttered toast.
Snack: A handful of pringles and a toffee crisp.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's Korean pork bibimbap with seared pak choi.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.
Snack: A banana.
Lunch: Two boiled eggs with some spinach.
Snack: Two handfuls of pringles and a toffee crisp.
Dinner: Mindful Chef's Mexican spice-rubbed steak, salsa and brown rice. Two or three glasses of red wine.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: Calabrese Pizza, banoffee cake, black coffee, a cup of tea (all from Wildwood restaurant).
Snack: None today.
Dinner: Baked beans on brown buttered toast.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.
Snack: None today.
Lunch: A massive Sunday roast from The Generous Britain followed by apple and blueberry crumble with custard.
Snack: None today.
Dinner: Baked beans on brown buttered toast.
Snack: A small bowl of muesli with oat milk.
Up next - my weight loss journey week 26...
Lisa
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