Hellchick

There's nothing like moving across the country to completely disrupt your diet and exercise routine.

Since Len and I didn't have any of our dishes when we got here (it took about a week for the moving company to arrive with our stuff) we tended to eat out most nights. We live in Wisconsin now, the land of cheese and brats. After about a week and a half of being here, we both noticed that we felt bloated, loagy, and...well, kind of squishy. We reflected on our diet and realized that since arriving in the state we hadn't had a meal that didn't consist almost entirely of cheese, sausage, and fried things. In fact, most of the things actually were fried cheese and sausage.

I also foolishly didn't keep unpacked my yoga mat, strap, blocks, and zafu cushion. I used a bath towel and realized very quickly that cold feet (it's about 40 degrees here these days) slip quite quickly when not on a sticky yoga mat. My body was very surprised one morning when it attempted to do prasarita pattodanasa (standing wide-legged forward bend) and ended up very quickly doing a split instead. I'm sure there's a yoga name for that pose, but the name I chose to give it was OUCH. So consequently my usual yoga routine was cut short for about a week and a half until our stuff arrived.

Once we finally realized what was happening to our bodies we stocked up on salad fixings and vegetables and vowed to be a little kinder to ourselves. I also had to completely revamp my yoga schedule. As an independent contractor in California I was able to do my routine when I wanted, which was late in the afternoon. I don't have that luxury now, so I had to pick a new time. Since I'm a morning person I chose to do it before work.

I like to work early and be at work no later than 8:30 am. The yoga routine I like to do generally lasts an hour start to finish. I also don't like to be rushed in the morning, so I decided to start getting up at 6 am to do yoga and then get ready for the day.

The first week was a little rough to get used to. As much as I'm a morning person, I don't generally like to get up any earlier than 6 am or I feel sluggish, so this was somewhat pushing it. Combined with the new winter climate -- resulting in a house that's a tad cool in the mornings, heat or no -- my joints and muscles are definitely complaining. I thought about switching to doing yoga at night, but I don't like that option. I tend to go to bed by 10:30 and I get home just after 6. If I take an hour out of that, that doesn't leave much husband time. I'd rather just get up early while he's sleeping.

Now that I'm getting used to it, I think I like it and I'm even considering getting up at 5:45 am in order to extend my routine a bit. I find that unlike before, I stick to doing my yoga every day much better than I did (busy afternoon? I'll do yoga tomorrow...). And I'm definitely awake once I start getting ready for work. And it's very quiet at that time of day. It's a good way to start the morning.

Getting myself back on a better diet is another matter all together. I've been taking salads and drinking more water again, but it's tough sticking to that when everyone at work goes to the local fried-cheese-and-sausage places for lunch and asks you to come along. No thanks, I'll have my salad. Again. Have a fried cheese stick for me.