Looking Forward

I can't believe the summer is almost over! It's going to feel so weird for me come September that I'm not heading back to Kuwait University and preparing for class ... I'll miss the interaction with the students, but I don't know if I'll miss much else!

So last night I went and checked out a nearby Martial Arts center. They offer Muay Thai classes which are what I've been looking for.

The place is not too far away and the best thing is that they have early morning classes, which at the moment are probably best for me in terms of my schedule.

The classes start at 6:30 a.m. This means a very early start to my day - which I don't mind - and driving on my own (Yikes! I haven't done that yet!!) to the center. What I really like about the morning Muay Thai classes is that they're followed by Yoga! I've been wanting to reincorporate yoga into my routine and this would be awesome. They've even got a yoga class called Yoga for Muay Thai. I'm really interested to see how that class is.

Now that I've found this place, I feel like my schedule is falling into place and September looks promising.

As I mentioned yesterday, I definitely want to make sure I get enough sleep so that I can put the most into my workouts.

September will be my first full month in London. I want to make the most of it!

Between the workouts and the Whole Life Challenge, I think it's going to be a great month!

Getting used to Sleep

Ever since I was a baby, I have struggled with sleep. My nights were restless. I could never seem to relax enough to get a full night's sleep. Most of the time it was 4-5 hours of restless sleep. At the worst of times, it was 1-2 hours of restless sleep ... and I've gone through periods of time when I wasn't getting any sleep at all, just surviving on 10-20 minute power naps during the day -- and sometimes not even that.

After I cleaned up my diet and increased the intensity of my workouts, my sleep got so much better. Suddenly, I was able to get 6 hours of sleep without any trouble. The more I lifted weights and did my MMA training, my sleep would increase to 7 and sometimes even 8 hours a night. My whole lifestyle changed as I ate earlier dinners, slept earlier in the night, and woke up feeling refreshed with a good 6-7 hours of sleep a night. I would fall asleep immediately, sleep soundly throughout the night, and wake up ready to go.

What a change.

It felt amazing. I started to understand why people loved to sleep so much! Getting those hours of proper rest changed my day and of course they changed the energy I could put into my workouts.

In yesterday's post I wrote that I was feeling out of sorts. I think a lot of it has to do with not getting enough sleep again. Part of it has to do with all the travel. London to Las Vegas & Los Angeles and back ... followed by London to Bangkok and back. My body has been to too many time zones in a short period of time. For the past few days I've been feeling like I'm jet lagged all day.

These evening training sessions are not sitting too well with me. I just haven't figured out how to organize my food, training, and sleep in a way that will help me get the most out of it all.

Last night I finally got a good night's sleep. I got just about 8 hours and it made such a difference.

I've realized that I've got to make sleep a priority. During my insomnia, a 5-hour night would be an amazing night for me. However, now my body knows what it feels like to get 7-8 hours. I think I've become one of those people who says that they can't function on less than 8 hours of sleep a night.

I think with my current schedule getting that much sleep each night will be tough, but I do want to see how I can manage a full 8 hours of sleep during each 24 hour period.

This means that while I'm figuring out my schedule for September, the first thing I'm going to be blocking off is my sleep time. It's got to be sleep first, food second, and activity third (not to mention research, writing, errands, etc. etc. etc.).

I think for my birthday I'd like an extra day of the week please!

General Update

Things have been ok over here. I'm slowly getting into my new routine. I've got a martial arts place that I'm going to check out tomorrow to see how I can incorporate some Muay Thai into my routine. I'm enjoying my Jiujitsu practice, which I'll be doing 5x a week now, but I really do miss punching and kicking! I hope this new place will have what I'm looking for.

I haven't lifted weights since I returned from Bangkok. I've got my routine all written out, but for some reason I just haven't been able to muster up the enthusiasm to lift -- something very strange for me.

I think part of it is that the Jiujitsu training has been late in the evening. I don't seem to be getting home before 9:30/10:00 p.m. This has thrown off my eating and sleeping schedule. So I'm a bit out of sorts.

Last Sunday I went to the grocery store without a menu or list. I bought the ingredients that I normally buy, but somehow it just didn't come together for me. I felt out of practice.

Yesterday I got back in the kitchen with some mega veggie prep and lots of proteins in the oven. It felt good! Now all I need is a good night's sleep.

Practicing my Triangle Choke

Buckets

It's been raining buckets here in London. I mean serious, serious rain. I used the rain as an excuse to catch up on some much needed rest yesterday, but today I soldiered through ... packed a spare pair of sneakers and another set of clothes in my gym bag, picked up my umbrella, and headed off for the gym.

I was sure that our coach wouldn't hold MetaFit outside. I mean, it was raining after all.

Silly me.

Push ups, squat jumps, plank, etc. etc. You name it, we did it - out in the rain.

I have to admit, they were right. After the first 10 minutes you're drenched with a combination of sweat and rain and it really doesn't matter anymore.

Anyway. Since a number of members at the gym had been nominated to do the Ice Bucket Challenge, our coach decided to help us out after class.

I didn't think it would matter so much because I was already wet, but boy was I wrong. It was FREEZING! You can't see the lumps of ice fall on my head, but trust me, they were there!

I know a lot of people think the challenge is stupid and there is a lot of criticism out there about the challenge. Well, you decide for yourself. In my opinion, anything that raises awareness of any type of charity is good. At the very least, we had a good laugh.

If you've got time, pop over to my Whole Life Challenge blog and read my post about chasing perfection -- and while you're over there, think about joining me in the challenge as well!

Wondering About Chocolate

I don't know what happened to me yesterday, but all I wanted was chocolate. I'm not talking about wanting a tiny piece of just a taste of chocolate. No, I wanted full on chocolate - big amounts and large satisfying chunks.

I can't believe how antsy and restless that craving made me. I was grumpy and annoyed that I didn't have any. My mind kept racing about how I could get my hands on chocolate. It was pouring down with rain all day yesterday so I wasn't about to get out of the house just to buy chocolate. I couldn't just order from a delivery restaurant and have them only bring me chocolate.

Instead of seeing it as a sign, I just saw it as things being stacked up against me.

What in the world?

The only chocolate that was in the house was Bendicks mint chocolates, which is basically an after dinner mint with a thin layer of dark chocolate around it - so little chocolate that it barely makes a difference.

I skipped dinner and 4 of those instead (200 calories).

Today's reflection about my mad craving has nothing to do with the calories/sugar/fat of chocolate. It has to do with figuring out what triggered such an insane craving.

I haven't put my finger on it yet. I wonder if it was just a bad combination of being hungry, lazy, and bored?

The good thing is, not having any proper chocolate, or anything sweet really, in the house helped me avoid a massive binge.

It worries me that I still have these uncontrollable cravings where I just want to stuff my face and to hell with the consequences.

It worries me that I can even say 'to hell with the consequences' which is exactly what I was thinking yesterday.

I wonder if it was because I couldn't have any chocolate that it intensified the desire.

So many things to wonder about.

My biggest downfall to date is still my sweet tooth. Even though I know how bad sugar is for you, the logic hasn't been enough to curb the cravings.

My discipline of not buying sweets for the house is what has saved me from gorging in sweets so far.

I'm just wondering when my thoughts will catch up to my behaviors.

This change sure does come slowly ...

Attitude for Success

I spent so much time - months/years - lamenting over all the things I couldn't do that I never thought to look at all the things I could do. That negative mentality really held me back.

As soon as I started focusing on all the things I could do, I started taking more chances, pushing myself more, and living life more fully.

I wrote a blogpost about having a Can vs. Can't mentality in relation to doing the Whole Life Challenge. Do check the link out :)

Tracking

I joined MyFitnessPal about 1 month ago (you can add me: PlumpetalsFit) and I have to say, I quite like it. I don't completely rely on the numbers they give in terms of calories consumed (I overestimate) and especially not on calories burned (I underestimate), but I do like the fact that it is easy for me to track and I can get an approximation of how many calories I have consumed.

My main meals have been good; however, I still struggle with snacking. Even if I snack on 'healthy' foods - such as nuts or dates, they still have a lot of calories and are ranked high on the GI index. I really need to get a hold on that.

As I prepare for both the upcoming week and the Whole Life Challenge (which starts on September 13th and I urge you to virtually join me for the challenge - read more about it here), my main goal is to avoid snacking and divide my proper meals into smaller portions. When I was on the challenge, I was a lot better at doing this. I would make a bigger portion of lunch or dinner and then I would divide it into two. I'd eat one part for dinner and the other part the next day for lunch - sometimes even for breakfast!

Adjusting the way I thought about meals, e.g. a snack doesn't have to be carrots and hummus or some fruit, it can actually be a smaller meal, helped me eat in a way that was more fulfilling and gave me longer-lasting energy.

It sounds so logical when I typed that out -- why haven't I followed the strategy?!

The thing is, at this point, I really do know better. It's time for me to stop being lazy and just do the things that need to be done.

I know that working out is not enough - I've got to eat right. Eating right 85% of the time isn't cutting it for me. I've got to ramp it up to 95-100% of the time. I know I can do it -- I've just got to get on with it!

So I guess I'm back to my old good habits -- planning, tracking, eating, exercising, drinking water, and sleeping. Gotta get to it!