Update on 30 Day Yoga Challenge

I'm currently about 10 days into the 30 day yoga challenge. If you need a refresher on why I'm doing this, check out my earlier post. I feel really good about this challenge! The videos are really short but that helps me when I'm tired and feel like skipping it. I'm sure it would be better to do a full 30 minutes or even an hour but this is something I feel is doable.

The improvements so far include an increase in arm strength. Downward dog has always been my nemesis. It's hard to hold for very long and it's a big part of yoga but I'm getting much better already at maintaining the pose. Maybe I'll be able to do crow again someday! (There is a day that is a prep for crow so I think it's possible). I also am obviously improving my flexibility. I know I'm not that old but I can tell that my flexibility is starting to fade away. I was really tight the first couple of days. I can feel the difference so far.

I also tried to out to help reduce some stress in my life. I'm not sure it's really doing that to be honest. I think I need a full practice with a savasana to really get that benefit. When I was doing hot yoga, savasana was definitely my favorite part. I'd feel so accomplished and relaxed. I used to joke that I needed this shirt:

Find it on Etsy

There was of course more to my 30 day challenge but I haven't noticed much with the lemon water yet to give a good review. 

You may be wondering why I've omitted nutrition. I didn't. I'm working on the fit girl challenge (you may have seen my picture of the sweet potato tacos from this). I will write a full review eventually. So far it's all positive. 

New Year's Resolution Part 2

As I mentioned, I'm doing 30 day challenges for one of my New Year's Resolutions. I was thinking that I should include something extra in the challenges besides just exercise.

I want to try all those thing you hear about but never really know if they help. For instance, apple cider vinegar, oil pulling, himalayan salt baths, lemon water, meditation, and more. I'm sure I'll come up with some extras throughout the year.

For the month of January, I'm starting easy with hot lemon water every morning. I may add in green tea when I need something different. Plus check out all the benefits!

From Natural News

Buffalo Tofu

I know people are afraid of tofu so I hope this post will help clear up some misconceptions.

1. Tofu is not bad for you. All those studies on soy being bad for you are based on processed soy (the stuff that makes up chick'n and other fake meats). Tofu, edamame, and soy milk are not considered processed. Granted if you have a soy allergy, obviously, still avoid these three.

2. Tofu does not taste like meat. So if you're expecting it to, be prepared to be disappointed. It is it's own unique food. As mentioned earlier, when it does taste like meat that usually means it's bad for you.

3. Tofu has a weird texture. It can, especially if prepared without fully cooking it or without drying the tofu first.

Now that those three things are cleared up, here's a good recipe to try for anyone who is new to tofu. It's great on it's own or on top of a salad and isn't that hard to make. I usually make a big batch on the weekend and eat it throughout the week. Since I'm vegan, this is a good way to get some protein in that I really crave.

Buffalo Tofu

Ingredients

1 Block of Extra Firm Cubed Tofu (the type of tofu matters!!! If you can't find cubed, extra firm is fine, you'll just have to cube the tofu yourself)

1/4 cup of Frank's Red Hot Wing's Buffalo Sauce (you can get Hot Buffalo or regular depending on how much heat you want)

1 tbs. Olive Oil ( I recommend California Olive Ranch because it's the only olive oil I've had that tastes like the olive oil in Italy)

*Preheat your oven to 400F

Directions

1. Cut open your block of extra firm cubed tofu and drain out as much of the water as possible. 

2. Set out two small towels and layer two sheets of paper towel folded in half on top. 

3. Pour the tofu onto one of the paper towels and put the other paper towel/towel combo on top. Press down lightly to squeeze out any excess liquid. (Be sure to press lightly, tofu breaks easily)

4. Put the tofu in a bowel and pour 1 tbs of olive oil and 1/4 a cup of buffalo sauce over the tofu. Mix up (again mix carefully so you do not break the tofu). You can add more buffalo sauce if you want it to be spicier. 

5. Once mixed, spray a cooking sheet and pour the tofu out on the sheet. (I make big batches, so this picture includes 5 blocks of tofu. Feel free to do as many blocks as you'd like at once)

6. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Then remove the tofu and flip as much of it over as you can. Bake another 15 minutes. (If you do big batches like mine, I'd recommend adding 5 minutes to your second round of baking. The tofu shouldn't be crispy, except a few around the sides, but it also shouldn't be watery).

7. Enjoy a bit by itself or on top of a salad! Save the extra for later in the week. This reheats in the microwave really well. 

Fitness - 30 Day Challenges

Disclaimer: Fitness is not the same as weight loss. If you find yourself obsessing over your weight, workouts and the food that you eat, please seek medical attention or at least help from a friend. I struggle with this myself and I will always try to focus on how my body feels and how much stronger it gets instead of focusing on a scale. Do not compare your journey to others. You are only in competition with yourself. I only share this information as a way to express my experience and hopefully give people new ideas for their fitness journey. If you ever feel like my words are triggering in anyway, please let me know. It's very important to me that everyone feels empowered by fitness and not demeaned in anyway.

My New Year's Resolution

Like many of you, one of my resolutions is to continue getting healthier. I feel like each year I make some small steps towards this goal and I'm happy to be continuing that. 

I have decided it would be fun to do a different 30 day challenge each month this year. I figure I can do anything for 30 days and if I like it, it only takes 21 days to build a habit. 

January will be my 30 day yoga challenge. I have always loved yoga and actually started this challenge before (can't remember why I stopped). The videos are less than 20 minutes which makes them an ideal place to start. As Chris Powell says, take it slow when you start out so that you can stay motivated. 

I already started (I have the week off and figured starting early will help if I need a break). I'm on day 4 and it just feels really good to stretch out every morning and take a little bit of time for myself. 

If you haven't tried yoga, I recommend it. It may seem easy (because it isn't a big cardio workout) but it has so many benefits. 

(I found this infographic on pinterest but couldn't find the original creator. Just know the original creator is unfortunately not me!)

Since yoga isn't a big cardio workout, I'm thinking of including something else along with this. Most of my 30 day challenges won't be too long of workouts (squat challenge, splits challenge, plank challenge etc.) So, if you didn't guess, I love Chris Powell and want to try out his month-by-month plan that lasts for the whole year. 

It looks like there are three days a week of weight training (that doesn't look too complicated) and two days a week of cardio. I do highland dance once a week so I really just add one more cardio to my week which I plan on mixing up quite a bit (tone it up workouts, cardio kickboxing, cycling, hula hooping, etc.) I'll keep you updated on what I like and what I don't.

The key to this for me is that it doesn't seem overwhelming. I'm not committing myself to hours of working out intensely everyday forever. I'm taking it 30 days at a time and that keeps me sane!