The Workout That Nearly Killed Me

Today's workout is a brutal one. You see me struggle, you see me sweat, but what you don't see is me giving up. I dug deep and got through it; you can too. Come try it with me...

​This workout includes a warm up and cool down. The workout itself took me around 30 minutes. Don't be afraid, try it out with me.
4 rounds of:
10 burpees (with pushup)
20 goblet squats
20 jump lunges
10 knees to feet
20 kettlebell swings
10 v ups

This was very intense, take breaks as you need to. Or start off trying just 2 rounds and work towards completing the full 4 rounds. This is not for the faint of heart. And if you don't have a kettlebell you can substitute 20 jump squats for the goblet squats, and 20 or 30 squats for the kettlebell swings. Don't worry that it will be any less intense without a kettlebell, it'll still be well worth doing.

I hope you guys like it and maybe even don't find it as challenging as I did. I could just be having an off day, who knows. I get overzealous putting too many cardio moves back to back sometimes. Let me know what you thought.

I made these amazing tofu stuffed shells this weekend, but the recipe made so many that I kept eating leftovers for days after. This made my life easier in regards to not having a lot of cooking to do, but eating so much tofu made me feel terrible. Prior to making these I hadn't even eaten tofu for many years; I do not depend on soy as a protein source in my plant based diet, and that has turned out to be a good choice for me, as I've found I do not respond well to foods with a high phytoestrogen content. Most notably I've reacted very unfavorably to flaxseeds and now tofu. I do fine with small portions of soy products and I make sure not to eat them on any kind of regular basis, and that keeps me feeling well enough. I am just left feeling kind of upset though with how quickly my body retaliated against me eating a few shells for just a few days in a row. I felt so debilitatingly fatigued all day long, and yet had trouble sleeping and slept fitfully. Workouts were exceedingly difficult; just walking around I felt like I was limply dragging my body from room to room. I don't like feeling that way.

This happens because I'm sensitive to anything that can even remotely disrupt my natural hormone levels. This is the reason I cannot handle hormonal birth control either, anything extra wreaks havoc with and unnaturally adjusts my hormone levels, making me too over-emotional, sick, and fatigued. It's just not worth messing around with for me. These phytoestrogens add what my body sees as more estrogen (it looks a lot like estrogen, and though it isn't exactly the same, it's close enough that it mimics estrogen's actions) into the mix and creates unfavorable results. The female body very meticulously doses out and regulates hormones itself; a few years ago I was given a cortisone shot without any explanation of how it might affect me, and it brought my period on a week early. I was furious. Cortisone is a hormone, and putting it into my body with my naturally occurring hormones created disarray. I am very much about naturally maintaining a regular cycle, tracking my periods and fertility, and observing, learning, and understanding why symptoms occur when they do, why I'm feeling the way I am, and if that is normal or abnormal for me. The book I'm reading that has been invaluable in the incredible information it's taught me/provided me with is Taking Charge of Your Fertility. This should be required reading for every woman; we know and are taught so little about our reproductive health and it is such a constant part of our lives, we really should better understand it and take control of our health.

At any rate, even if you feel perfectly fine or even great eating lots of soy, I still think it's important to pay attention to how much you eat, and to not go too crazy eating it every single day. And not just women, men too. Ultimately the choice is yours though, I just felt very compelled to share my experience. It's worth considering all the information, both good and bad, about soy because there's a lot touting how wonderful it is for hormones, but there's really so much that ultimately disproves that. But do your own research, come to your own conclusions, and make your own decisions. I personally don't feel well when I eat it, but I am not you, and our bodies are all different. You have to do what works best for you.