Yoga Day 4

          Since it's Saturday, I got the privilege of trying to do a Yoga workout with 5 kids in the house... fun stuff that. Luck for me, 2 of the 5 take a nap at 10:30, so after ensuring they were truly asleep, I told Tortoise, Elephant, and Zebra they could try to do Yoga with me if they wanted to stay in the back of the living room and away from the rug and my Yoga Mat - that way there's no chance of me accidentally hurting one of them. They were super enthusiastic at first! As I went to get changed into workout clothes, Elephant kept asking "Are we gonna go Hoga now?" LOL "yes, Elephant, we will do Yoga when I get changed." 
           They were singing a different tune about 10 minutes into the 70 min Vinyasa Yoga Workout! *evil grin* For starters not a single one of them could hold the Downward Dog Pose for more than a few seconds, and kept falling over with each Lunge... so they were constantly readjusting themselves behind me while I moved from Downward Dog  to Vinyasa to Lunge To Warrior Poses . It was hilarious! I wish I had pictures! Alas I was interested in my workout, so no pics today... maybe I'll take a video of it tomorrow, if they *laugh* still want to try.

          15 mins into the workout, only Tortoise and Elephant were still even partly making an attempt, while Zebra sat back and stared at all of us with a look in her eye like "You guys are stupid, why did I even want to try that anyway?!" Tortoise quit after another 5 min, and Elephant hung in doing nothing but 
Upward Facing Dog and Child's Pose for another 10, then he fell out too. They were great supporters though when the workout moved to Triangle Tree  and the various Squatting poses such as these   Tortoise particularly thought the Happy Baby Pose: was hilarious :) SO All-in-all it was a great (full!!) workout today and the kids had fun too!!

PreNatal Yoga Day 2

Well, the second PreNatal Yoga DVD was very disappointing. It consisted entirely of still poses with no flow from one pose to the next, and left me feeling stretched but NOT exercised... SO, after an hour of that boring lunacy (The one shining part of the "workout" was an extended Kegel Exercise section) I moved on and did ANOTHER 30 min of Vinyasa Yoga.
         Maybe I ought not to have done that. :) I discovered halfway through the 30 min program that I was tired, and could not complete some of the poses properly. So, maybe that other DVD wasn't a complete waste of time after all. I had intended that it be used as a "light" exercise day with 1-2 miles of walking after. Instead of following through on my plan, I jumped right in to overdoing it. That is so ME. *sigh* I did not get to the walk yesterday, due to being overworked with the Regular Yoga followed up with 30 min of Vinyasa.
           90 minuted of exercise yesterday, and my back is still quite sore today. Of course, when Lion got home, I also did a small amount of his P90X Yoga Program with him too.. very small mind you, but still. Half of his "YOGA X" (P90X Yoga) is Vinyasa Yoga (with constant movement - flowing from one pose to the next with little to no break between) and the other half was the more traditional "still" Yoga poses. He did NOT seem to enjoy the Vinyasa, while I have decided I do NOT enjoy the traditional "still" Yoga. To each their own I guess. So today, I plan on doing a 45 min Vinyasa Yoga Program to even out the work from yesterday, and get back to my regularly scheduled Plan tomorrow with the Traditional Yoga and a nice long walk with my Boxer Puppy. We'll see if I can stop myself from overdoing it again.
           On a side note: YAY ME! I've been drinking the proper amount of water for a whole week now!! -- funny thing that the dizziness has receded quite a bit, I was a tad worried trying to complete Yoga with the low blood pressure and dizziness issues I had had prior. But Stork informed my on my last PreNatal Visit that dehydration might have been my major problem and while low blood pressure is quite normal for this stage of pregnancy, the dizziness might be somewhat alleviated by drinking LOTS more water. Of course, she was right!!

PreNatal Vinyasa Yoga Day 1

WOW I had no idea how intense yoga could be!! And *silly me* I thought I would be all relaxed and calm when the "workout" (I put that in quotes because while I was intending to use it as a form of exercise I never once thought it would getting me sweating) was over. Man was I wrong! While I wasn't pushing myself to the limit - like dear hubby Lion on P90X - I did work up a good sweat and pushed my pregger body into positions I didn't even know it was capable of. And never once did I feel like baby Koala was in danger, as all the positions were shown with modifications for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Trimester. I ended up doing a lot of them in 1st trimester (at the beginning of the workout), a few in 2nd (around the middle of the workout), and (at the end) ALL in 3rd Trimester modification. Which is great, cause I AM 3rd trimester!! 27 weeks- another 11 to go (as 5 out of 5 full-term pregnancies were delivered right at 38 weeks). So In the next 11 weeks it will be my goal to alternate this Vinyasa Yoga workout with a more relaxed Pre-Natal Yoga workout (on the days I do the less intense of the 2, I will walk 1-2 miles). That way every day my body is used to physical activity. :) 
          After 1 hour of Vinyasa (a form of Yoga where you "Flow" from one pose to the next with no breaks in between- the Amazon.com user reviews showed that it was a more extreme type of Yoga that "beginners" like me should probably avoid-- but, of course, I wasn't gonna listen to THEM, and bought it anyway -- good thing too cause it was great!)  where was I? OH! After 1 hour of this: I KNOW these are tiny, so If you're really interested, click on the link

I feel that every muscle in my body has been stretched and PUSHED to it's limit without actually pushing ME to MY limit - leaving me feeling limber and slightly sore all over... my back, shoulders, legs, and arms especially (like that leaves much else!). Not so sore that I wanted to take a nap mind you, but with the relaxation thing at the end, I think that was the objective (some campy breathing exercise where you lay down with your eyes closed, listening to the narrator telling you to breath deeply while imagining your whole body relaxing... yuck). I just skipped that part and took a shower instead. :) I KNOW how to breath for Labor, so that was completely wasted on lil-ol-me. I am excited to try the partner exercises with Lion maybe this weekend, and will give the other (according to the reviews - less strenuous) PreNatal Yoga tomorrow with a nice long walk after. Again, my goal is NOT losing weight, but having a more toned, physically fit, me would be awesome! 

Exercise!!

       Starting Monday Lion  is starting P90X, a 90 day workout and nutrition program, with the express intention of loosing weight and getting fit. I will be completing the nutrition portion of the program with/for him while I begin a PreNatal Yoga Program (seeing as how I'm 26 weeks preggers and there's no way on God's Green Earth I'm gonna try P90X!!). 
       The nutritional plan side of the P90X Program is intense! and requires that I make all his (our since I've decided to do it with him) meals and snacks in advance so that he can take them to school/work with him and stay within the diet guidelines. This will be a pain, but is well worth it if he can get to a healthy weight (and me too after little Koala makes her appearance). I AM a bit worried that it will be too much for him, what with Full Time School, Full Time Work, a wife and 5 kids!! But I'm willing to do my part to help - I'll cook the meals and make sure he takes them with him, I'll keep track of his nutritional info on the spreadsheet he has provided me, I'll even get up super early with him and watch the workouts if it'll help. And while he's off at school/work, I'LL start my Pre-Natal yoga program with Complete Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga & Short Forms - 

and on alternate days PreNatal Yoga with Shiva Rea. 

MY intention is not to lose weight, but to get my body more prepared for the delivery - not that I'm worried as the last 5 deliveries were not complicated and I have never received medication. However, I'd like to be in better physical condition, pregnant or not! It's downright crazy that grocery shopping exhausts me. Even if I have a cranky nearly 2 year old and a hyper 3 year old with me, I still shouldn't get home and only want to go to sleep.
             Just in case Stork is reading this: I am currently keeping a pitcher of water in the fridge so that I know how much water I have drank during the day - I refill my cup every time I get up, so I'm FINALLY drinking enough water. AND the P90X Diet should help with the weight loss. -- for those of you out of the loop, I have yet to gain weight this pregnancy. 26 weeks in and I'm DOWN 5 pounds, and throwing ketones. Stork told me (lectured a bit really - but obviously I needed the lecture) that I wasn't drinking NEAR enough water. She said that losing weight during the pregnancy when I'm already so overweight isn't really a problem, but not drinking enough water could be the major cause of the high ketone levels and maybe my low blood pressure - thus the reason I'm so dizzy. If I were a healthy weight going in, or underweight, then not gaining could be a bad sign. And she and I have discussed MANY times in previous pregnancies the importance of exercise, so I doubt that she'll object to my current plan. Especially since I've spent the last few days researching the best program and ensuring that it's safe for my overweight pregger self. :) Both Yoga programs are specifically designed by Yoga experts and pregnant women, and the more intense of the two was designed and is instructed by a practicing doula. 
            So here's to losing weight and getting healthy!!!  HOO-RAH