Monday, May 26, 2008

Hot Yoga

I've been doing hot (or Bikram) yoga on and off since December 07. It's one of the hardest workouts I think I've ever done. It was very hard in December when I first started it. Ninety minutes in a room heated to 105 degrees in the least amount of clothing you can wear because of the heat and humidity and in front of an amazing amount of mirrors. Arrrghhh. So I lasted a month but it affected me curiously and I (what they told me later) "hit a wall" so I stopped for awhile and since then due to lack of exercise and quitting smoking I've put on 20 pounds. So when I decided I was going to go back I had to face the humiliation of buying BIGGER YOGA CLOTHES. So now I was going back to the same heat and humidity and mirrors but in bigger exercise clothing.

Well, it seems to be having the same curious effect on me as it had the last time. It's a wonderful workout, you sweat like a pig and think you're going to die but you get through it. Even with the mirrors which are a terrible torture. But I become completely ravenous at the end of the workout and when I get home I eat everything in the house. I've tried starting out eating all the fruit in the house, but then I'm still hungry and I go on to the cheese, then the bread, then the cookies, etc etc etc. Now I've almost finished a month of this second course of hot yoga and I've gained another 6 lbs. But I'm much more limber now and can reach cookies hidden away on the tallest shelves or bend down and get to the chips in the back of the lowest cupboards. Is this a good thing? I'm thinking no.