Update #1: Life Direction

When I visited my blog to post my last entry, I found it ironic, though not entirely surprising, that my last entry was March 28. I imagine that I would have continued had circumstances been different. But on March 29 I was let go from my job, citing that probationary objectives were not met. I could get into the specifics, but they were kind of ridiculous. Let's just say that 'fit' was likely the real issue.


Something weird happened that day. I got in my car, drove home, and felt okay. Yes, I had some moments of doubt in my self-worth and other feelings that surface when one is let go from a job. But those feelings were completely overshadowed with a sense that everything was going to be fine. These zen-like feelings, though welcome, were so unfamiliar. The Shlo of not-so-long-ago would be having a balls to the wall freak-out about how life would be maintained and what would we do and and and. Instead, my partner and I had a good discussion about what this could mean and determined that I would take this time for me and figure out what to do next.

Wedding planning and a couple of karate-related events pretty much took over my schedule for the following three months (more on those in coming posts). Focusing on the short-term didn't allow for much time to think about the long term.

But now that those are in the past, I am having a hard time facing what's next. I could essentially go in any direction that is available to me, but I can't even open up my resume to update it or modify it for different types of jobs. Not to mention that the number of available opportunities within a reasonable commuting distance from our new home is frighteningly small.

We are stable, for now. Insurance benefits have us covered until January. In the meantime I've been trying to focus on my health, build up my endurance and strengthen my muscles (again, more on that in a comping post).

The thing is that sooner or later I'll have to face whatever demon I have going on inside, remember that I'm better than that stupid organization that lost out when they let me go, and start 'selling' myself to someone who believes that I can make their business better with me as part of their team.

Updates coming!

I'd been hesitant to pick this blog up again because I've been going through this starting/stopping cycle over and over again. But a lot has changed in my life and I'm feeling good about the future.

So a few updates will be coming your way about life, love, health, new directions. You know, about The Tao of Shlo.

The right trigger.

Whoa Nelly! Nearly three months since my last post. I feel like it's been much longer since I've felt like I can take on the world. But these last few weeks have been notoriously bad, even for me.

I've been eating poorly; my healthiest meal was likely Subway. I'd gone from drinking one to two coffees per week to having one every day. Tim Horton's became a regular stop on my way to work where I'd fill up on bagels and muffins and a fatass double double.

I'd been sluggish for days. I'd attributed my lack of energy to balancing some wedding planning while packing, moving, and just getting through all of my regular every day stuff.

Yesterday, still sluggish while drinking my third coffee, my coworker asked if I'd been sleeping well. I have, and despite the longer communte I'm not sleeping any less than before the move. She then asked if I take any vitamins. Eureka! It's so simple isn't it... my nutrition has been through the toilet so much so that apparently it's affected my brain.

So I'm clearing all this stuff out of my system. Drinking dandelion root and milk thistle tea to renew my liver. Eating mostly vegetables and protein for the next few days. Reminding my body that it does not need to crave sugar in all its glorious forms.

And find renewed energy to get my house unpacked and life back in order.

Top of the Year.

The holiday is over. And though I don't have eight families to visit over Christmas, I consumed my holiday excess through work events and lovely time with friends. And really, it's times like that where you shouldn't be restrictive about what you're doing. You shouldn't be over-indulgent either, but no one is going to deny me trying that pie or having a second helping of turkey.

But it's January, the top of the year and a good excuse to start fresh. You'll notice that my MFP weight loss ticker reads 0 lbs lost. I reset all my stats to shed the ideals and attempts of previous years. 2012 is a new year, and there's something about that number that's been speaking to me. Anytime we started talking about postponing the wedding date, I couldn't - there's just something about 2012 that tells me that that all the pieces will be tied together this year.

So what do I have on my plate this year? I've decided to trust in my knowledge of food and quit being so restrictive. I would like to rely less on processed, prepackaged food (within reason) and create more of my meals from scratch. And as a continuation of last years cutting out of any form of fried potato, I vow to cut out all deep fried foods from my diet.

On the exercise front, I vow to keep going to karate and absorbing as much information as I can. I will start my weight-lifting program, and once we move in the spring, I will restart my Couch to 5K running program.

And in the meantime, my partner and I will pack up our apartment, find a place to live, move, unpack our apartment, plan a wedding and get married. All by the end of June...the second half of this year is going to be a breeze!

Karate is kicking me arse.



I am LOVING karate, even though I've been flooded with so much information that it will take me a while to process and retain it. Still, I cannot tell you how awesome it feels to be in class barely scraping the barrel of what is in store for me.

Physically, I don't feel like I'm overexerting myself. Yet each time, beads of sweat form on my forehead letting me know how hard I'm working. In the days following a class my muscles feel like they want to shut down and I know that I'm using them in a way I never have before.

The other areas of fitness aren't going as well. I just don't think I have the physical aptitude (yet) to handle expending all this energy. So Karate it is for now.

I'd like to start my heavy lifting next. But since I'll be actually increasing my calorie intake for the first time in this journey, I want to make sure I do it right. I have to reread the information given along with the offered diet plan and see if I can work those meals into my lifestyle.

Sorry running, you're taking the back burner. Even though I already did week one of C25K, it's just not the season to start it up for a newbie like me. I'm not planning on dropping it altogether, but it's just the hardest piece to work into my schedule. I'll pick it the regiment in the spring (likely after we move) and in the meantime I'll just do a little bit here and there at the gym.

Whoa, wait, what? Where did the week go?

Oh yes. They were lost in a haze of exhaustion, poor eating, and wedding planning. Bloody wedding planning. It's been taking up so much of my energy. But that's a story for another day.

So unsurprisingly, I exhausted myself last week. Even as I was writing the blog detailing all I was taking on, I was worried that I was taking on too much. But let me tell you, I did not think that Karate would kick my butt as much as it did.

The classes themselves didn't seem that hard, but after class was another story; we'd get about three quarters of the way home and my brain would stop functioning. I fell asleep out almost immediately after class on Friday, and after a fantastic yoga class on Sunday, my body just shut down. I made it through work ok on Monday but was left with little energy and motivation to get out and do something at night.

On Tuesday I probably could have gotten back into it. Instead I caved and swung the other way: lazing on the couch and ordering pizza. And I paid the price. I could not fall asleep comfortably. My body was really angry at me for feeding it crap.

The rest of the week wasn't much better. With a few lunch meetings at work, and a festive celebration all day Wednesday, it was easy to give up on good eating habits. And eating crap does not give you the energy to get up and go.

But enough excuses. I fell off the wagon for five days, and I'm back at it tomorrow. I won't overdo it, and I plan on pushing forward at whatever pace I can.

I'd love to try running at lunch time, but winter running is hard without investing a LOT of money into gear. I will continue to run at the gym, but it's a lot more boring and not as easy to work into my schedule.

And I got far enough into the New Rules of Lifting for Women to realize that it's structured more on a curve. It eases you into the heavy lifting, starting you out with workouts that you're used to. This, in addition to three workouts a week vs. five, makes me feel a lot more confident that I will succeed with the program.

So, here we go (again)!

Tweaking the program along the way.

This past week brought me some little successes, but I want to ensure they continue. I'm continuing my research into heavy lifting with a book called The New Rules Of Lifting For Women by Lou Schuler and Cassandra Forsythe.

I ripped through the first half of it in a couple of days. Research, myth-busting, a ton of statistics to prove their points (but not too much, or else it would be way too hard to get through). A diet plan that mirrors the type of food I'm already eating (yay!), just asking for more of it.

More? Well, it makes sense. If you're putting your muscles through the ringer, they are going to need to be able to repair themselves. And they are going to need more than 1200 calories a day to do so. I'm not worried, for so long as I'm packing away nutrient-rich foods, I cannot be doing my body any harm.

I've just reached the part of the book that gets into physical excercises, why you are doing them, why you aren't doing the others, and the seven-stage fitness plan. Yup, seven stages. Now I haven't really gotten into the stages themselves, but I like knowing that this road is a long one. It is going to take some damn hard work to transform this body, and anyone that promises me they're going to get me there in three months isn't going to get my buy-in.

So tonight I plan on delving a bit further into how to get this process started. The three workouts per week seem a bit more acheiveable than the five workouts a week demanded by the BodyBuilding.com heavy lifting program I posted about last week.