The Fat Yogi’s New Digs: A Modern Loft Conversion!

1400 Square feet basically in one room.....

 

I have not been to a yoga class in 8 days and my body is starting to feel like a stiff old man. There is definitely a yoga class in my future today. Though I must say Bill and I have been a tad bit busy this spring. If it (spring) would ever actually arrive and stay.

 

My next project will be to turn this loft in to a lovely home for Bill and I.

 

We made an offer on this loft in Downtown Saint Paul, in Minnesota two weeks ago and this week we finally removed all the contigencies…….how busy!!! The biggest issue got removed yesterday at 5:11 PM, Bill was offered a job at a great firm in Saint Paul and we certainly do not want to commute from Minneapolis to Saint Paul.

 

This lovely unit is 1400 Square feet, it is kitty corner to Mears Park in Lowertown Saint Paul. Just a couple blocks to the Saint Paul Farmers Market, Connected to the Saint Paul Skyway so Bill can walk to work with a short sleeve shirt even if it is -20°F outside. Mears Park is filled with movies, festivals, some of the best bars and restaurants. The Skyway is open till 2AM so we can get all over downtown without needing a car.

 

We got one car space and it is indoors and heated…..so necessary in Minnesota!

 

Bill and I really like the raised area, looks like it might be a stage for a drag show......or I can put a mirror on the wall and call it my yoga studio up there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has a nicely sized patio. We are not street facing so we have no view of the park or the street. We will avoid the noise of the street and the dust....

 

We are kitty corner to the crown jewel of downtown Saint Paul, Lowertown's Mears Park. Complete with a band shell and music and movies in the park in the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is plenty of space to entertain!

 

 Bill and I are moving to Saint Paul! Bill finally landed his new job at a software company in St. Paul and we will be moving there in may.

 

We had made an offer a couple of weeks ago and it finally looks like the deal is done and can close baring any unforseen problems.

 

 We have been so busy arranging the move, removing the contingencies, and all the other excitement that I have missed yoga for 8 days!  I am already stiffening up! Good thing I have managed my food intake well…still sitting this morning at 195 pounds, after our celebratory dinner last night!

Good thing these are before pictures. I can't wait to decorate this place!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes the KITCHEN needs work.....back splashes, new cabinets, a beautiful custom made pot rack has been ordered!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of space in the hallway!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This area is going to get a complete transformation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This room area is huge. We are going to build a loft a above for guest to sleep in and build walls around part of the area to enclose a bedroom for Bill and I.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a nice large fun place!

I Have Lost 36 Pounds! My Waist is 33 Inches! Check out my After Photo! Nothing is ever coming between me and my Calvin’s!

Nothing is ever coming between me and my Calvin's ever again!

The last couple of weeks have continued to be as busy as we have made an offer on a loft in Saint Paul, bought bikes and have been cycling the great city of Minneapolis. I have been stretching and doing yoga at home. I have a 20 minute routine I have developed to keep me flexible between yoga classes when I get busy. If anyone would like to learn my 20 minute routine let me know. It is simple but gets your major joints open each day for a more enjoyable day. Especially if you are an avid outdoor enthusiast. We are planning to do cheat day bike rides as a way to get out doors and see the Twin Cities

 

It is like the Twin Cities have been asleep for 4 months and has just woken up and everyone is outside…..I love it!

Want to loose 35 pounds? Eat this!

Seared Pork Roast, served on top Madras Lentils by Tasty Bite at Costco. Just warm, plate, and lay your pork tenderloins on top.

Just a quick inspiration from tonight’s dinner. Bill seared a pork tenderloin after coating it with Montreal Steak Seasoning. He then placed it in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Accompanied by steamed broccoli, this meal is tasty and healthy. We had a glass of Pinot Noir. The perfect Slow Carb dinner.

I had a bad week food wise last week and the details are difficult to write about, but this weeks success are what failures are all about! It seems that even when I was not following the plan perfectly last week, I only ate one bad meal or item per day, so I did not allow my food binges to go on and on all day long. It was just a meal here, a snack there. I am sure I am underestimating. But the confessional is shaping up to be a pretty intense post.

One thing I have noticed about yoga is that creates a desire to eat better foods. Your body naturally begins to want more space to do the poses. So you also start eating smaller portions.

BONUS TIP!!

Once you get the diet down, start reducing your portions. There are no portions on this food plan, but we all tend to over eat. We even tend to over eat the good foods. So next meal leave two or three bites behind and work yourself up to 25% of the entire dinner. Once there you can start putting less on your plate.

 

Ellie gets bored by Eggs In Morning: Here are 10 breakfast options to help her stick to it

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack

Ellie, a Fat Yogi reader, asked the following question

Hey Will!
I was wondering, do you get tired of your meals? I normally have the same breakfast every day (1/2 cup egg whites on half of an english muffin + fruit), and some days because I am just so tired of having eggs, I’ll eat whatever else is available, which is generally unhealthy! Do you have any tricks to prevent that (Ellie posted on http://thefatyogi.com/food-plan/ )

Actually I do get tired of eggs everyday, so here are all the breakfast options I have come up with to deal with breakfast.

1. My standard breakfast is a three organic eggs, scrambled with fresh or frozen spinach topped with salsa.
2. One of my new favorites is Two Egs fried in canola oil or spam, served on top of Amy’s Refried Organic Beans with Salsa. Sometimes I get the two pieces of bacon really crispy and mash all the eggs and bacon and beans together…..yummy!
3. 1 Cup of Full Fat Cottage Cheese with sliced tomatoes. Remember there is a no dairy rule for this diet, due to the glucose load produced in the blood stream two hours after food is consumed that becomes fat if not used for energy. So, yes you can eat cottage cheese since, unlike other dairy is has a lower glucose load.
4. One Think Thin Peanut Butter protein Bar or any other protein bar that is high in protein, low in carbs, no sugar added, no fruit, no gluten, no dairy. They have 20 grams of protien and are sugar-free. There is a lot of controversy over alcohol sugars as an artificial sweetener and whether or not it mimics the insulin response. I personally don’t find the occasional protein bar for breakfast the end of the road.
5. Left over turkey, pork, chicken chili beans from the night before with two fried eggs on top. The beans with the eggs provide good flavor and protein.
6. Guacamole Deviled Eggs for Breakfast. See recipe click here.
7. Two Eggs and two pieces of bacon. No more than two pieces, period.
8. Develop flavor profiles and cook stir fried vegetables with either Italian, Indian, Chinese, or any other flavor profile and top with vegetables.
9. Plus you can always substitute a lunch or dinner option for breakfast
10. Do a simple lunch meat, chicken breast and your favorite veggie. I love sliced red and orange bell peppers with ham…..I know the salt. I do hot Yoga so the slat is helpful due to all the sweating.

I Hope this helps Ellie and others! It sure helps me to have an arsenal for breakfast. 

People really do eat the same few things on a day to day basis. My number one breakfast recommendation is to cheat on your cheat day for breakfast. Sit down breakfast with all the fixings from waffles to potatoes. Last week I had Brisket Hash with Eggs and a Waffle. Now that breakfast on cheat day keeps the rest of the breakfast in line.

Good Luck Ellie!

With Wonder and Awe!

So I had a bit of a holiday from blogging with my trip to California, from there we had a family funeral, dealt with some estate issues near St. Cloud, Minnesota, had a ten day visit from two of my daughters, and on and on.

So here are the highlights that will make up my next several post:

1. My unhealthy relationship with food. Sometimes you wonder if you are going to share too much. I had one weak week during the last month. I have SHOCKING PHOTO EVIDENCE and a tale of woe and deceit. It is amazing that I lost another three pounds!
2. Forward bends in the shower every day for life. Waking your body each and everyday with simple stretches. Maybe that is how I lost those additional three pounds!
3. Updates from my various trips with photos. The Yoga Championships, Prom Dress Buying, My Daughter’s Career in Theatrical Make-Up, Visiting a California Pot Club 
4. Preparation for the 100 Day Challenge! Yes I am going to do a 100 Day Challenge. Tommy our ‘heroin chic’ yogi is on 90 something days in a row. On Saturday, Tracie, is going to hit day 300. We definitely need to know what time she is going to class Saturday. I am going to Little Birch Lake Friday night so I hope she is going to the 4:30 Class!!! With more than 33 pounds lost I figure another 100 days should help trim another 20, So I am motivated to do 100 days!

So get ready! The posts are going to be fun, short, rapid, emotionally revealing (not gonna be a short post), provocative, real, and hopefully funny with a small dose of tears.

I am still not sure about the Weak Week Post…….but one can only move forward when one is honest.

Yoga is a lifestyle and a way of living and many of my future post are going to involve the yoga lifestyle on a personal level. Being healthy and fit as you age opens you up to a life of fun. Bike rides, roller coasters, hikes to fabulous views, whale watching, horse training, scuba diving, and long afternoons on warm beaches.

There is so much to do in life and when we take care of our body, we do it easier and enjoy it more.

Yoga has inspired my life. Even my failures are greeted with wonder and awe. I have failed at so many things in my life, but I have always found a way to bounce back. That ability to fail and fail and fail,again, and again and still not give up has always been tremendous strength of mine. I would have to say, the one characteristic I was blessed with, resilience, has rescued me from one failure after another. Yoga takes that strength and lets me see all my weaknesses and imperfections as a person with wonder and awe. 

Yoga is a daily bouncing back both mentally and physically!

 

My First Class With Bikram Choundry

 

Will and Rajashree at the Yoga Championships: More to come tomorrow on my interview with Rajashree and USA Yoga! Plus videos of the Minnesota competitors!

I was able to escape from the harsh winter of Minneapolis, MN to the perfect March in California for 10 days. On my first full day there, I went to the Los Angeles headquarters for Bikram Yoga, to take a yoga class at the world headquarters. I knew that on the following Monday Bikram himself would be teaching but as long as I was in Los Angeles for the Yoga Championships I would practice at the Head quarters. Imagine my surprise when he the teacher that day.

After four months of hard winter in Minnesota, I was surprised at how perfect the weather was on my drive to my morning class. Of course my own winter madness had not thawed as well as I had hoped when I found myself chewing out a fellow yogini for taking a parking space that was rightfully mine. So you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the lobby of the studio that was jammed with students, not just a packed class, but a class so full that our mats and towels overlapped our neighbors mat and towels on all four sides.

Abbey and her husband rescued me by taking my mat and towel. I was so happy to see a familiar face in that sea of people, I hurried into the locker room and changed. Abbey and her hubby had saved me a place next to them.

Bikram made his way into the class and began teaching right from the start. He let us know that his classes were always long because so many people come so far to takes his class that he always gives 100%. This class was no exception it went about two hours.

Bikram is 100% a large personality person and he is a happy person. You can’t help but feel his excitement as he teaches. You actually smile and giggle a lot in his class. Of course the class is so crowded. My head was in the guys feet in front of me and my feet were all over the lady’s face behind me. It was a little disconcerting too not be able to see your knee, your eyes, or anything you wanted to look at to correct in the mirror, all you could see was bodies, but not your own.

When I bent over to do separate leg stretching, on my way down I had to sway to the right so that my chin would not hit the backside of the dude in front me as I went around his leg then ducked under his butt. However I forgotten how I had gotten there when Bikram finally released us from the pose. I raised my head straight up in to the ass of the guy in front of me.

Bikram really explains each and every pose and in a class of 80 or more students he had no end of students to guide into better expressions of the current pose. Of course that means the rest of us are free to remain in the pose until Bikram releases us. Yikes!!! No wonder I forgot how I got down separate leg forward bend and almost knocked the guy ahead of me over.

If you have read either of Bikram’s books or listen to his CD’s, you know that Bikram is a character and a live wire. I don’t really want to tell you everything he said or everything he did that inspired me to be a better yogi, but he was definitely inspiring!

Bikram is a celebrity in the world of yoga and to take a class from a world-class teacher, who has taught presidents and movie stars, is treat that we should all make time to enjoy.

198 Pounds: I am in the Onederful Club!

Last Saturday morning I finally hit 198 Pounds and am under 200 pounds. This week has drug on like the weight is not coming off. The few times I got on the scale I actually weighed more than last weeks low, until this morning, 198 pounds, again! So, hopefully, if I stay off the scale until Saturday, I will be under 198 pounds on ‘weigh-day’.

Even though it seems that I am losing the same week this week that I lost last, my body is visibly thinner, so much so that Bill noticed it while we were watching American Idol last night. Bill is a total American Idol fan, and this year truth be told, so am I. At least none of the Palin kids are on this one, last year when Brandi got sent home, Bill went totally ‘Wisconsin’ at the TV set….back to the point…we’re sitting there watching the show and Bill is looking at me and he goes, “Will, your nose is getting smaller”.

I guess I can add that to his list of of loving observations; “your face is not as large as a globe anymore”, “you arms don’t hang like a gorilla’s any more”, “the house doesn’t shake when you walk around it”,  or “oh look at your jacket, it almost fits”. Of course I made one of those up!

But I have noticed changes this week, my POLO jeans, that I have not had on my ass in several years went on easily. I am so taking those to LA today! During yoga I noticed that I almost have only one chin. The triple chin is long gone and the double chin is half-gone. It may even be 3/4 gone, but it is definitely smaller.

I won’t have my scale to weigh myself for the next 9-10 days, but I am going to be in Los Angeles for the Yoga Asana Championships. From there I will be hotel hopping around California visiting friends and family. This poses a challenge for a person wanting to live a healthier lifestyle. Where am I going to do yoga at? Where am I going to swim at? How am I going to eat? This is where some creative planning come in.

Doing Bikram Yoga while I am gone is simple. I will just go to the Bikram website, click on the World Headquarters Schedule and go to a class. In fact there is one tonight at 7:45 PM that I will be attending. While I am there I will try to take a class with Bikram himself, or even his wife.

There is a great website for swimming locations. It helps you find the best pool, that is closest to you.

As for the diet, you can bet that Chipoltle Burrito will be my friend for dinner. I will consume a large amount of protein bars, which are not perfect, but they will get me through tough spots. I will locate a local store for hard boiled eggs and keep a stock of fresh veggies in my hotel room. It should be pretty easy as long as I am prepared with protein bars.

I will probably eat a higher protein diet similar to Atkins with a heavy dose of vegetables, low on the beans. It is simply easier to eat a high protein diet when you’re on the road when your options are fewer.

So that is my plan. I would like to come home and be around 195 pounds.

Eric the studio owner asked me yesterday if it was all yoga or yoga and diet that have changed my life. It is both! One fo the interesting things about yoga is that you really do change what you eat the more you practice yoga. Your body literally request that you eat better or your yoga practice suffers. It is most amazing how the cravings for crap leave you once you actually make the committment to eat better.

I have found this ‘slow carb’ diet very easy to follow and I can do it for month after month with ease. Of course I live for pig-out days and I have developed some really cool tricks for breakfast that I will be sharing with you.

So I have a plan for SDY, (Swim, Diet, Yoga) while I am in California. I will be interviewing yoga teachers, I will be filming the local yoga champions, and taking pictures for the blog.

I have found that having a plan makes it easier to stick to a plan and eating and doing yoga are lifestyle changes. Besides practicing yoga at new and different studios introduces you to new people and new types of yoga!

60 Day Challenge Completed, NOW WHAT?

 

Standing Head to Knee. Stand with your heels and toes together.

Today I am going to do day 61 of Bikram Yoga. Might as well, I have gone everyday for the last 60 days. I feel better and I am thinner, my pants are falling off in public places. I guess I could remedy that by wearing smaller jeans, but there is something rewarding about your pants falling off, especially when just two short months ago they were so tight my belly was straining against the belt and pouring over. It was so attractive.

 

There are things that change when you do yoga, one is your appetite. Of course I have been following the Slow Carb Diet which is basically beans, lean meats, and vegetables with lots of water. The diet is basically gluten and dairy free, except one day a week I binge and eat whatever I want. But beyond the diet there is the changes that occur to your diet simply because you do yoga daily. You find that you eat less.

 

Lock out your left leg and bring up your right leg.

Completing a 60 Day Challenge in yoga is a big deal, but I don’t really have an amazing story to tell or a great secret to share to make it easier for the next person to do it.

 

Seriously it is about making a commitment and sticking to it, no matter what. It seems like that is the hardest thing to teach a person. The value of making personal commitments and sticking to it.

In my life I have seen many great things happen as a result of personal commitments I have made. But does the yoga commitment end at 60 Days or it is a lifelong practice. After 4-5 years of start and stop yoga, this is the most committed I have ever been to a daily yoga practice.

So, now what?

 

Grab both hands under your feet. Ideally your fingers should be interlocked. Mine won't reach around my feet yet, my belly is the way. So I grab with one hand at a time. As I thin down more room will be created.

I guess I go to yoga today, day 61, maybe I will do another 30 days. I am getting flack from Bill. He is always so practical. He reminded me that my daughters are coming in a few weeks and that I need to not let yoga get in the way of our time with them. One good thing is my daughter Hillary loves Bikram Yoga. I have not got Felicity to do it yet. Though I have gotten my eldest daughter Jayne to do a class.

 

What Bill is referencing is his desire to go to Lake Superior with the girls during spring break, of course I want to go to Miami. There is no Bikram at the lodges at Lake Superior or the Wisconsin Dells.

Of course, after five years of Bikram classes I can go through all 26 poses on my own, so I can do yoga anywhere. It is just comforting following the directions of the teacher.

So 60 days down and a lifetime of yoga ahead of me! Join me on this journey and you will see your own life change.

 

Ideally my head should be to my knee and after two months of yoga, this is how far I have gotten. It is not about getting there your first try, it is about sticking to it and evolving to a better position. For at least a month I stayed in picture number two, just locking out my leg. Eventually my head will be to my knee!

 

 

OMFG!!! Check out my before and during photos! WOW my belly is going going ……..

Yesterday was day 53 of the 60 Day Yoga Challenge. It feels so good to see that I am capable of what I thought I was not capable of. If I can do it anyone can do it.

Only seven days to go till I complete the Bikram Yoga 60 Day Challenge. There are many things going through my mind as I near this first step in creating a healthier lifestyle for myself. Perhaps the most compelling thoughts are those related to my ability to stick with this self-imposed commitment.

60 Days of Yoga, not missing one day, no matter what, now that is committment! I was pretty confident when I started this that I would be able to do 60 straight days. I had done about 20-25 classes between Thanksgiving and Christmas preparing myself for the 60 Days. I knew it was coming, Tracy, who attends the same yoga studio I do was fast approaching 200 straight days when she challenge me to do 30. I, of course being all butch and masculine decided, I’d do 60 days.

December 17, 2010 230 pounds!

February 17, 2011 I weighed 202 pounds yesterday for a total weight loss 28 pounds.

 

That was a hell of a commitment. What was I thinking? To tell you the truth, I was feeling pretty desperate. My body was falling apart. I felt like shit. I was miserable. I needed relief and I needed a challenge. I needed to struggle and fight my way back to living. I needed a mission and a focus. Tracy’s challenge was just what I needed.

December 17, 2010 Left side photo

February 17, 2011. Just two months later my belly is shrinking! I can totally do another 30-40 pounds!

 

Let me be the first to say that this has been a battle. It has been a personal war on my own attitudes and a war on my body. I am not a flexible person. Many of these poses feels like I am stretching cold hard rusted steel into position instead of a sinuous body.

Yet I have prevailed. I have only seven days left. I am going to make it, nothing can stop me from hitting this first goal. Yoga is a life long practice that generates life long well-being and I have benefited tremendously from the last two months of yoga.

My injuries have begun to be healed. I can walk with ease and have started to swim five nights per week. I have lost four inches on my waist. I have plenty of energy and I have hope for a better and more healthy life. I have lost about 30 pounds. All from yoga!

If you think yoga won’t change your life or burn off fat or improve your mood, I challenge you to do 60 Days of yoga and see if your life does not improve. Besides look at the photos!

I had a sloshy fart in yoga during wind-removing pose and thought I……(plus ‘guess my weight poll’)

Well, I thought I shit my yoga shorts! I know it is hot yoga and that the room is 105°F and that I had been sweating for a good 45 minutes before we got to ‘wind removing’ pose, but that did not erase my fear that my fart was not only wet, but bubbly. My mind raced as my body jetted out of class screaming in my head, “did anyone hear that gurgling slosh from my groin?”

Of course, as I ran to the toilet, just sure I had filled my yoga shorts with a less than desirable substance, I was pissed! How could I possibly go back into the class after I shit my pants? I am almost done with my 60 Day Challenge and I still have the entire floor series to go. Do I smell? Did I leave an odor trail behind me? Is there a brown stain on my yoga shorts….shit shit shit…..my mind rambles as I run to the men’s room.

As soon as I get the door closed behind me, I peel my yoga shorts down squat on the toilet. The verdict, a sloshy-sweaty fart! All that panic, fear and worry and I just farted! One would think that with as many beans as I have been eating for the past two months, farting would be a regular occurrence in class, but the more beans you eat the more your body becomes used to eating beans and the side effects of beans disappears.

After my fart scare I returned to class and finished the floor series with gusto. That was about two weeks ago and still I can feel the panic that fart illicited. In hot yoga they really want you to stay in the class for the entire class and not leave. This was a difficult thing for me to get used too, especially since I tend to have the occasional asthma attack. I really can’t do my inhaler in the heat. So I have to learn to breathe calmly so that I don’t trigger an asthma attack.

My asthma was a challenge as first in Bikram Yoga. I had to learn how to breathe slowly and deeply before I could really focus on going deep in the postures. Once I learned how to control my breath during the postures and focused on being relaxed and calm I could avoid the asthma attack and I could avoid leaving class during instruction. All of us know our body’s and we know how far we can push them. It is generally OK to leave class if your are going to barf or go to the restroom. Other than that we are instructed to stay in the class. Despite the voices in our head that are screaming, LEAVE!!!!

The problem with yoga newbies is that we tend to work way to hard to get into the pose and we let our breathing get out of control. Then we panic and flee. Trust me I flee is I get a wrinkle in my yoga mat. I don’t need an excuse. I simply need an opportunity! I am not alone, sometimes Martha stands guard at the door!

Just a week ago this young jock showed up in class for his first time. Prior to class I shared with him some tips that I think will make the class more bearable and he does what a typically in shape dud does, he dismisses the fat guy. Isn’t it funny that physically fit people dismiss fat people‘s input on health matters. NOT!

Well, fifteen minutes into class he is down for the count laying on his mat for the next 30 minutes then going half-assed through the rest of the class. He should have listened to the fat guy!!!!

After class I ribbed him a little about it, in a nice way. He was totally humbled by the experience and said that he wished he would have listened to me. To his credit he did stay in the class the entire time and once he caught his breath he did much better.

Listening seems to be the real issue in developing a stronger yoga practice. we need to listen to our yoga instructors. I have been practicing Bikram Yoga on and off for almost five years and even though the dialogue is the same everywhere I go, I still pick up information that improves my practice.

If we breathe slowly and calmly while we are following the instructions from our teacher we will make progress getting into and out of these poses, even ones we never thought we would be able to get into. Today will be day 53 of my 60 Day Challenge, only seven days left!

My life has changed do to yoga and yours can change also. I am thinner, my blood pressure is lower, my body is stronger and I feel wonderful.

Did you know that you can eat this Chipoltle Burrito Bowl twice a day and loose 20 pounds in 30 days? This is the perfect fast food solution for Slow Carb Dieters. Simply do beans, meat, veggies, salsa, Guacamole, and lettuce. You will be satisfied for hours! Two bowls a day are about 1400 calories, plus eggs for breakfast!