Whether it’s your wedding day, your best friend’s wedding, your Grad Reunion, or maybe an annual summer soiree, wouldn’t it be awesome to ROCK THAT DRESS?

In just four weeks, supercharge your fitness level, gain strength and have FUN in this highly effective, total body workout.

Expect to sweat, get fit, and see and feel results!  You might even shed a few pounds!

Tuesdays & Thursdays 7:15-8:15pm

June 5 – 28, 8 classes in 4 weeks

Just $120.96 including hst.

Register now to hold your spot, space is limited!  Register on-line here!

My second 35 Day Challenge at IPF has come to a close.  It was with a bit of sappiness that I completed my final fitness testing.  Even writing this post has been a challenge for me as it marks a significant, but in no way final moment, on my journey.

In the last 70 days, I made a commitment to myself that gave me results that my old routines and regimens weren’t delivering.

For each session, I set three specific goals and I worked hard to achieve them.  In the end, my results exceeded my expectations: I spent quality time with a friend and met some new ones, focused on my needs for health and fitness, reprogrammed healthy eating habits, got stronger and said goodbye to some baby weight!  I set the goal to lose 10 and 5 pounds in my two separate challenges (I lost 12 and 4).  Plus, I traded a total of 12.5 inches of squishy baby love for lean muscle mass.  Score.

I plan to use the knowledge, strength and confidence I’ve gained to ensure continued success on my journey.  That and a sexy summer dress.  That’s right; my desire to rock the slammin’ dress I bought for a friend’s wedding motivates me.  Just knowing it hangs sassily in my closet ensures that I’ll continue to get my “fitness on” every day.

Sources for my continued inspiration for health and fitness are all around me: In the sweaty smile of a new friend, in my baggy jeans, in a two minute plank or a yummy fruit smoothie. It is in skipping ten blocks with Ruby or riding my bike off in to the sunset.  It is in a good night’s sleep or a good mood.

It’s a yoga pose.  A shimmy.  A song.

Or, best of all, in being the strongest, healthiest, version of myself I can be.

Move.  Dream.  Fly.

Lisa

“Yes it is.” I said.

“Will you tell Leanne?” With an element of concern in her voice.

“Yes, I will.”

“Will she be mad?”

“No honey.  No one will be mad at mommy.  Mommy has just been trying to eat healthy these days.”

This conversation made me smile.  And laugh.  And think.

Ultimately, this was the conversation that lead me to write this post.  I could blame April fools, skiing with my daddy, a baby shower with a cookie buffet, hormones or helping a buddy move… but somehow a bunch of fries, several rice crispy squares and something made primarily of butter, sugar and chocolate landed in my mouth this weekend.

WOOPS!

Now, I didn’t binge or eat so much as to induce a sugar rush or belly ache.  But it was enough to make me notice that I am on a slippery slope over here.  In fact, if I examine my food journal with a critical eye, I notice other questionable substitutions made their way into my belly this week.

Which makes me ask myself: What is going on here?  What I am doing?  What are my goals?  The answer is clear: I need to revisit Consistency with a capitol C. C for clean. Clean eating!

Long term planning for clean eating is going to be essential for me if I want to reach my goals beyond these 35 days.  I want to continue to see results – challenges can’t last for ever but I want keep the healthy habits I’ve learned and the fitness I’ve earned.

I need to acknowledge that I am on a journey.  It is okay to say yes to a yummy detour once and a while but I’ll have to decide if each detour is worth it.  And, the small choices and changes do add up.  Even my husband unknowingly lost 10 lbs. just by skipping his evening beer a couple of nights a week in favour of tea with me… or, fixing one of his famous curries with yogurt instead of his usual whipping cream.

Yes, I said whipping cream.

Stand by your yogurt and rally up your family support !

We can DO this!

“Centered, Committed and Consistent,” we’ve got this, right?

Let’s see…

1. CENTERED. When I think of body in a positive light: as healthy, nourished, moving, breathing and strong it helps me to visualize my goals and an awesome end result. When I focus and am grateful for what my body can do for me, ride a bike up Ryan Road for example, I find it thanks me and I feel better about myself.

2. COMMITMENT. This C has always worked for me. I love to commit to fitness goals, join classes, running clinics, and dance classes and to generally workout and be active. I am learning how to balance my need for extracurricular commitments with my family needs. I am learning to put myself ahead of less important tasks. I am relishing the fact that there are little opportunities to sneak exercise in all over the place. It is very satisfying when I can pop out to run an errand on my bike, take the kids to the pool or walk somewhere with Nella on my back.

3. CONSISTENCY. Having the knowledge and support of the meal plan really helps me in this category. I’ll be the first to admit that on this second go around, I haven’t been as “by the book” as I was the first time and as a result I may not lose a lot. But that’s okay, because now when I get a case of what my mom refers to as Mouth Hunger I can go through my mental check list:

Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Dinner

If those boxes are checked, and I am truly hungry, I have another healthy snack. If they are checked and I am thirsty, tired, stressed, sick, lonely, angry, etc… I have a peppermint tea and suck it up.

So, what will Life after 35 days, present us with? Challenges, to be sure. And, because life moves at the speed of light we won’t always have a chance to notice how well, or if, we’re coping. I hope to remember what 35 Day Challenge taught me.

I can make the changes I need to make.

My health and happiness are important.

I am committed to myself and this journey.

Who wants to plan our next fitness adventure?

Our next class will benefit LUSH Valley Food Action Society, Sunday April 15th, from 11:30am-1:00pm at the Native Sons Hall, in Courtenay.  Entry by cash donation for LUSH VALLEY.

What is Bellyfit?

Bellyfit® is a fun and fresh combination of moves for women, inspired by Bellydance, African dance and Bollywood plus an intelligent infusion of yoga, pilates and meditation.  It’s like women’s fitness with soul.

Bellyfit Live™ is when a Bellyfit instructor teams up with a DJ to offer a ‘live’, extra long Bellyfit class. The energy created by the live mixing of tracks adds an incredible energy to both the instructor and the participants, creating an experience that goes beyond a workout and into the realm of community celebration and unity.

No previous Bellyfit or dance experience is required.  Just a willingness to move your body to awesome music and help out our community.  We strongly encourage girls aged 8 and up to join in on the fun!  Please wear clothes you can move & sweat in, clean runners and bring your water bottle and yoga mat if you have one.

Bellyfit LIVE Community Celebrations to date:

Sunday October 23rd 2011:  Girls on the MOVE

Sunday December 11th 2011:  Comox Valley Christmas Hamper Fund

Sunday January 15th 2012:  True Colours Youth Company of Performing Arts & Comox Valley Food Bank

Sunday March 11th 2012:  YANA: You Are Not Alone

If you know of a charity or cause that could benefit from a Bellyfit LIVE Community Celebration, please let us know!  Email classes@islandpilates.ca or call 250.703.CORE (2673).

We hope to shake and shimmy with you soon!

This post is to share my supremely awesome realization with you.  Well…I think it’s supremely awesome.  Or maybe, I just like to see the words supremely awesome in print.

When I reflect on my IPF 35 Day Challenge, I see that it has not only provided me with insight into my health and fitness but also, a gradual shift in perspective.  Please allow me to elaborate…

There is one shift in perspective; a tiny tweak that I have made that seems to have made a huge impact.  Are you ready?  I am about to reveal my supremely awesome realization!

Believe it or not, I think, that along with the meal plan and the commitment to exercise, having the right attitude is key. Now, I haven’t been wearing a sour puss or moping around for the past year - quite the opposite usually.  But like I said, this is a tiny, specific tweak.

It was all in my approach to this journey.  It’s like I had the mind/ body part down…but I needed to add spirit.

I was searching for my  groove, when all I had to do was groove.

This tiny shift in attitude freed me to make the changes I needed to make to see positive change in myself.  It freed me from hopping on the scale and frowning at myself each morning to hopping on to my yoga mat to rock out a few jammies-lunges with my three year old.  It freed me to relearn good habits with food.  It freed me to try something new.

Now, Ruby is constantly asking me if it’s a Chanti Day because on Tuesdays, before class, we have impromptu dance parties. Every day, she asks me if it’s time to do our exercises.  She likes to pick the tunes.  I’ve spied her kissing her dollies and telling them that she (momma) is going out for a run but she’ll be home soon.  And my Nella…she toddles over to the ‘wall sit’ spot on the wall when the bass starts bumping.

I’ve got a good feeling….a supremely awesome one actually.

Week One Again

A couple of months ago I loathingly pulled on my post baby, comfort fit jeans.  Those babies had become my go to pants because everything else was too snug.  The fact is though, that my baby is a year old.  I needed to get serious about an exit strategy.  How to exit my elasticated pants that is.

Enter the IPF 35 Day Challenge!

I met my four goals of reconnecting with myself and my friends, as well as resetting my commitment to myself, exercise and healthy eating.  I was too chicken to set a number for weight loss, so at our final weigh in I was ecstatic to learn that I had lost 12lbs and 71/2 inches.  Dude, 8% of me is gone!

WOW! 

I actually accomplished losing some of my tenacious baby weight!  I think I was secretly hoping for 10 but would have settled for 5.  I would have eaten a box of chocolates on the spot for anything less.  Kidding.

So why am I here again?

1. Success feels good.  It feels amazing to have my efforts amount to something fantastic!  To see such great results in 35 days amazes me.  Besides I know I am going to have to turn it up a notch and work even harder to continue losing.  Plus, I’ve got at least 12 more pounds to go before I can open the Rubbermaid tub full of my pre-Nella clothes.  Don’t even talk to me about my pre-Ruby clothes.

2. Continued commitment and support.  I like the reassurance of the meal plan.  Toward the end of my first challenge I started to feel comfortable free styling it. (This is what life and healthy eating are all about).  However, I think it’s too soon on my journey for me to be left totally unaccountable in the food department.  Until my challenge, my eating healthy with benefits attitude wasn’t really working for me.  Writing everything down is making me mindful and grateful for my healthy food choices.

3. Refined Goals.  I am ready to admit that I want to get buff.  These last 35 days have reawakened the fit girl in me.  I love that my comfort fit pants are at the back of my cupboard and I am wearing some cute-ish lady jeans… but I need strength to go with my sass.

4. You.  Your energy is addicting.  Working out with you, sharing our goals, challenges and successes keep me coming back for more… See you Tuesday!

I cannot believe that we are almost at the end of our 35 day challenge!  I am so into this challenge that I don’t want the good times to end.  I am thinking of going double or nothing…anyone want to go another round with me?

I am excited and nervous about Tuesday.

I can’t wait to celebrate our successes. I have really enjoyed working out with my team. In a few short weeks I have noticed my challenge buddies getting fitter and leaner. Seriously.

However, I am a bit nervous too… what if I am disappointed with my results? I have done my homework, eaten clean and exercised like a super freak!  I will be disappointed if the number on the scale hasn’t budged…

So many good things are happening that weight loss would almost be a bonus result.  My pants are fitting loser and I am definitely seeing major improvements in my fitness and energy levels.  My moods are much more balanced, I need less coffee, I have an easier time falling asleep (so long as my girls are not feverish), I have a much more predictable appetite and the food I am eating keeps me fuelled up and full.

A number’s not the only indication of my strength and inner athlete.  So long as I keep active and eating clean I know I will see the changes I want in myself.

Look out Tuesday, I’ve got a kick-ass attitude and I am ready to rock the fitness test and the measurements too!

I can breathe again.

Week four wasn’t exactly a write off. But it wasn’t a stellar performance in the challenge department either. It was the busiest week of my year.  Drama Fest: Three, 17 hour days in row with 230 drama students.

Makes burpees, I mean blasts, (that’s what we call them in our challenge!) sound like a snooze doesn’t it?

Good news: I avoided ALL home baked goodies and candy in the concession stand for all three evenings –We’re talking 12 intermissions people!  The challenge kept me from a potentially disastrous weekend of junky junk.

Good news: I had a fellow drama teacher time my wall sits in between workshops, I moved as many heavy things as I could, and I did inconspicuous yoga poses in hallways.

Not so great news: That was it for exercise for those three days and I missed my healthy, predictable meals.

I prepared some meals and snacks to take with me, but I did find myself consuming “healthy”, prepared convenience foods. Think: vitamin waters, store bought sandwiches and protein granola bars.

And Folks, even though I wasn’t cheating, I didn’t like how these foods made me feel.  After weeks of fresh, unprocessed eating these foods left me unsatisfied and hungry.  I can see how eating these kinds of foods regularly could cause a person to overeat without knowing it.  So called healthy foods that use up precious calories and do not necessarily make you full – How lame is that?

My unsatisfied eating, when combined my 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night and no regular exercise left me feeling low and slow.  Without sleep, I felt my stress levels creeping up and my happiness levels harder to maintain.

My saving grace was that I did not consume any sugary treats – so my students, family and colleagues were spared the wrath of a nasty sugar rampage.

Today was a new day. A beautiful day.

I rested, took deep breaths of fresh air and walked in the sunshine with my girls. We spied snowdrops and crocuses.

I ate clean and did my homework.

I feel better already.

Nicolas & Lisa with baby Nella & Ruby

Could it be that I missed my true calling to be a thirty-five day challenger?

Could it be that planks are getting easier?

Could it be that my yoga pants feel a bit baggy?

Could it be that my husband just flirted with me for real?

Could it be that wall sits are fun?

Could it be that I am getting unsolicited compliments from friends or co-workers?

The answer, my friends, to all of the above…is YES.  Although, sssshhh, I don’t want to jinx it …so let’s keep this all on the down low.

But let’s make some noise people!  We are doing this!  We are having fun!  I am having fun!  Are you having fun?  All of the YES’s are making me feel like I am getting results I crave.  The positive feedback is inspiring and encourages me to keep on my fitness journey.

It keeps me rocking the meal plan.  I find that I feel confident making a few substitutions to suit my dietary needs and family gatherings.  I feel that I am doing it right: my portions are lady-like and nary has a treat or cheat made its way past my lips.  And to be honest, I am happy with that.

The hardest part of this challenge so far, and this is slightly embarrassing, because I am strong, confident woman… is not stepping on the scale.  I haven’t peeked- the scale sits under my bed dusty and ignored.  The numbers on that beast have been cramping my style since the birth of my second baby girl.  And, although I am happy to be blessed with all the wonder and joy that fills my life…I do want those numbers to go down!

Enough about that!  Let’s talk about Jessica’s Hip Hop House Class!  What a dance party!  What a fabulous workout!  Momma gets her Groove Back in that class for sure!

I felt like I was reliving my wild single days ‘all up in da club’! I was sweating buckets and smiling like a crazy fool for the entire hour.

Smiling and sweating: My happy place.

Can’t wait for Tuesday!