My very first reformer Pilates session of 2013 at London E8 was surprisingly trouble-free, and while there was more than the usual huffing and puffing, I managed to get through the hour with a smile on my face. I think my muscles didn’t have much time to recover because while I was smugly enjoying the idea of breezing back into being back on the Pilates reformer after a month off; my second session a couple days later had me properly grimacing through the rounds. Sometimes it amazes me how exercising lying down can be so darn exhausting…
In fact, the lying down aspect of a lot of the exercises at Tempo Pilates is probably one of the reasons that I so surprisingly, comfortably, slipped into enjoying the sweat. When you spend most of your time staring at the ceiling and focusing on your breath, you realize that there isn’t even a chance to start feeling self-conscious – everyone else couldn’t see me messing up even if they wanted to. Brilliant!
The diet aspect of the New Year, New You Challenge structured by Tempo Pilates’s nutritionist and instructor, Jane Grogan, has definitely been the most… challenging. Particularly the initial 3-day detox, an experience that had me daydreaming about cheese and bread a lot of the time. As much as I was mentally up for it, my body refused to accept hot water with lemon as an acceptable substitute for coffee. I don’t even drink that much, but I was amazed at how my body decided to just yawn its way, half-asleep, through those three caffeine-free days.
As for the raw food aspect, it was difficult to adjust at the start, but I couldn’t believe how easily my stomach filled up with virtually only raw fruit and vegetables inside. Even now, with healthy snacks all planned out, I haven’t felt those annoying, gnawing pangs hunger (which are the usual trigger for my running for the cheese and bread) and eating healthy is just a habit and not a chore. Nice!
But watching my boyfriend happily chomp away at some pizza was one of the most painful things so far… Below is what I looked like
