There are so many fitness centers coming up these days that it's hard to choose - analysis paralysis! After 2 children, a very healthy appetite and a sedentary life, my body has definitely seen better days. I still look back with fondness at all the comments before on how I seem to eat like there's no tomorrow and still am stick thin. *sigh*
In school, I've always been the brainy one and never the fit one. I've always been the booster squad and never the cheerleader. My physical fitness then really revolved around my mom's mandatory ballet class (which I dreaded each time they rolled around). I'm thankful for those classes though as at least my abs have muscle memory on how tight they used to be. Or at least I'd like to believe that.
My first wake-up call came when I arrived home after a 10-month study abroad in Beijing. All the while there, I thought to myself how bad the quality of the jeans in China were - they were shrinking way too fast that I could hardly even get them up my thighs. The 2 pairs of Gap size 2 jeans I brought still fit perfectly well, albeit snug.
When I got home to Manila with my best bud and room mate Sarah, we headed straight to Boracay accompanied by my sister. Of course I brought my old bikinis. We were walking around Boracay enjoying the sun. When we got home, my sister, being the sister that she is, said - "didn't you notice I was walking as far away from both of you as possible? You both felt like you were so sexy but Ate, you were both so fat." Then my super favorite Tita's said, "Oh no! You look like all the little siopaos you like so much!" And my derma literally stood from her table, stared at my greasy and pimply face and said, "this is an emergency, do you want Roaccutane?" In 10 months, I had gone from 110 pounds to 135 pounds! My weekly Peking Duck 2 ways finished by just Sara and I, my daily bing jiding and daily yi-tiao baozi (1 steamerfull of little meat buns) and daily noodle soup with 6 pieces jiaozi (like little gyozas) had taken their toll!
So I had to move by butt. I got into badminton and aerobics and for the first time in my life, tried to eat just 1 cup of rice a meal. It worked! Whew! And FYI, the size 2 Gap jeans, upon closer inspection, were massively deformed after trying to fit me all those months.
Before getting married, I wanted to be more fit. I got into Bikram yoga and never felt cleaner and healthier in my life! While in class, I always thought I'll never go back this is torture but after class, I felt great. So my boyfriend and I kept coming back. It was really our quality time together. I never saw my actual wedding gown until my wedding day. I had only fit a muslin version of it. I saw the waistline and told the designer - that's too small I'll never fit into that! Lo and behold I did! Thank you Bikram Yoga!
I'd keep doing Bikram Yoga but I developed hyperthyroidism after I gave birth to Ava. Exercise took a back seat what with breastfeeding, a new baby and work. The next alarm came when my thyroid was getting controlled but my eating habits weren't. The weight started to come again. This time, Bikram Yoga was out because the heated room and my still too fast heart rate was a dangerous combination.
My sister recommended Plana Forma. I like the community atmosphere, the teacher's lively pep talks and that it's only 50 minutes long. In the class my muscles were really burning. Oh how that 1 inch up and down hurt so much. Being the procratinator that I am, I waited for the last minute to finish all my 10 classes. And boy did that hurt! My muscles were burning just holding the ball between my legs! Only then did I find out it's not supposed to be done daily. But my body responded - my old clothes started to fit and in just 2 months!
I haven't signed up again though because I panic bought 30 classes on Deal Grocer for Urban Ashram. Ahhh, the dangers of panic buying!
Yoga has always been my exercise of choice because I feel so relaxed during and after the class. It's been tough fixing my schedule around the Urban Ashram Fort classes though. I've only taken 1 class out of the 30 because I got sick after the first class. It wasn't the class' fault mind you. I was feeling under the weather even before I went to class.
Between the 2 forms of yoga, I actually prefer Bikram because I like the predictability of the poses and find comfort in knowing what's next. Sometimes, yoga classes become too teacher dependent and personally get bored doing sun salutations the whole time. But maybe that's also just my mind resisting the poses right?
Among the three, Bikram still gets my vote but I can't do it for health reasons (hyperthyroid). So between Urban Ashram and Plana Forma which would I choose? In a perfect traffic-less world, I would alternate between the two daily and be a totally hot momma. In this real world, I better finish all the classes I bought first then work out a more realistic alternating schedule between the 2 next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment