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Mommies Who Love Fitness! Is a sister group to this blog; come meet other moms who are going through the same things you are with regard to your diet and fitness!

--Karyl

Forgiveness and Dieting

I think all too often as women we are geared toward sticking to a diet, buying a magical pill, buying a certain book with miracle diet recipes, to signing up to weight loss forums to give ourselves the illusion and excitement of embarking on a healthy weight loss regime.

We diet, and we diet. We cut fat, carbs and carve calories out of our diet on the quest to find that perfect formula that will enable us to achieve a perfect body and ideal health. Instead, we wind up resenting food, it's place on the planet, and the fact that we have to think about it in order to survive. How many of you think to yourself "I've tried every form of dieting and none of it works; I really suck!" This is NOT; I repeat, NOT the way to live... is it?

Inevitably we grow weary of the excitement and the newness wears off, and we 'fall off the wagon' disappointing or even depressing ourselves. Then we kick ourselves and guilt ourselves into oblivion for not keeping up on our commitments. Sound familiar? You're not alone.

Really, what we should be doing is listening to our body's cravings and sensual desires and celebrating our ability to listen and experience. Instead we have to get into a certain mindset of forgiveness.

Forgiveness for all we've done to our bodies, for all we will do, and just enjoy ourselves, because we all just have this life. It doesn't even have to take a while to get there.

HALF of body image and the destructive nature in which we treat ourselves when we're trying to lose those unwanted pounds could and can be avoided!

I just recently came across a CD I think is vital for all mommies to listen to, and that is called "Intuitive Eating" by Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole, and a LOT of it is based on the same principles I spoke of above. I strongly urge those of you who are committed to forgetting how to diet and shaming ourselves into fitness, but rather build positive experiences with food and fitness, and getting back to the core of life--enjoyment!

The Ins and Outs of Dirty

So you've made up your mind you're going to start mountain biking, but you haven't gotten a clue as to proper bike fit, how to brake or change gears. You think you don't have any business getting out there because you'll make a fool of yourself.

This is where your friendly moderator shakes you and tells you to wake up: How are you going to get fit unless you take some calculated risks, get informed, and get out there?

There is such a fun element to cycling, and mountain biking in particular. When I get out I am catapulted back into my carefree kid days and I feel an element of exploration that can't be rivaled by cleaning house and running errands.

It is truly a balance to have the ability to hop on two wheels and let the bike do all the work, going up gentle slopes and soaking up the oxygen the trees provide, looking through polarized lenses at the greenery and blue sky ahead, and feeling the air moving in and out of your lungs, especially on an exhilerating downhill.

There is something so meditative and singular and truimphant about muscling along a trail, feeling your legs and hearing your breath and the machine you are one with purring along underneath.

If there are aggressions felt, anger felt, hopelessness and helplessness felt at the beginning of the ride, it's all left out on the trail between those two boulders, embibed in those green tree branches. You won't have any aggressions when you leave the ride; that's for sure.


That is, if you just follow these simple steps.

1) Make sure your bike fits. Feel that your hands don't have a lot of pressure, your back or your knees. If your knees are too high, you won't be able to breathe in all the way, and you won't get the right stride. At the same point, don't put your seat too high unless you have to dismount quickly. Another advantage of having your seat lower is a lower, more stable center of gravity.

2) Make sure you've aired your tires and maintained your bike. Also, go to a free bike maintenance clinic held at your local bike shop or REI. Put your pride aside: a minute of knowing is better than an hour of frustration: I speak from experience!!!

When you do actually get on the road:

3) Mindset: Know there's a learning curve! Don't feel ashamed if you have to take the fireroads first! When you learn how to ski, do you hit the black diamond first? No! You start with the bunny slopes. Practice technique: practice, practice, practice.

4) Learn how to brake. This takes some practice... Personally, I only use my front brake lightly, and compound it with my rear on technical trails.

5) Practice changing gears on flat ground first, then on hills. The key to biking and mountainbiking is knowing how to change gears. If you can get through that first hour of frustration, you will wind up finding a lifelong sport you can go back to time and time again.

6) Mindset: Know at some point, you're going to fall. Why jump on a mountain bike with this mindset? Let's just say within the mountainbiking subculture, if you fall and scrape a knee, it's a badge of courage. It's the knowing as a result of doing. It's the building of the wisdom of riding, and the experience and triumph of having gone somewhere not everyone has been. Kind of like travelling to Europe, comparing scars is the same thing: you never know unless you go.

So, in closing, if you are thinking about getting into mountain biking, or just regular biking for that matter... Please know you just may have something more valuable to give to others when you get home; always much more than when you started.