DIY Yoga Mat Cleaner

This was my favorite one. Lol. I just like the attitude. 

So a while back, when I was doing the work out month February of last year, I thought about doing a yoga mat cleaner. Back then though, I thought to myself, Self, why would you do a yoga mat cleaner? 

You work out at home.

Then I started going to the gym. That’s right. Me, miss anti-work out in public, is going to the gym. In fact, it’s become my second home.

While at the gym, I picked up a yoga class, and then I realized why you’d want a cleaner.

The same class you do your yoga on is the same class that hot guy doing pushups and free weights sweats on. And the same class the Zumba people dance on with their shoes.

Does anyone else think about where dirty shoes have been?

I do. Ew.

And other peoples sweat, even that hot guys? Blech.

So I finally got down to business and made a yoga mat cleaner, because why not? 

I hunted around Pintrest, until I found a recipe I liked. I found one at Greenback Girl here. 

Here are my ingredients. 

You'll need some water, witch hazel, tea tree, lavender, eucalyptus oil, and a spray bottle. Well, really only the tea tree oil. that's the true disinfectant. But the others are good as well. 

First, you need a 1 cup of water. 

The website I got it from didn't say distilled water specifically, I picked it up, because distilled water is better than regular water, right? Besides this was only a dollar.  and I got to drink the rest. 

Next comes the witch hazel. 

You need 1/4 cup. Witch Hazel. This is a cleanser and air freshener. (You can use it on your face too.) I personally don't like the smell of witch hazel, but it helps clean and it makes it better. 

Next come the essential oils. 

You need 10 drops of tea tree oils. Again, a disinfectant. Personally, I love the smell of tea tree oil. 

 Then, 15 drops of lavender oil. This is for calming. It also covers the smell of the witch hazel. I like the smell tea tree oil smell better.

5 drops of Eucalyptus. Another air freshner and cleanser. 

Then you put it all in a bottle and. . . 

Shake, shake, shake. 

Then you spray spray spray. 

Give it a few minutes. Wipe it off. It smells aaaammmmmmaaazzzzzinnnnnnnnggggggg. I really mean it. It smells super good. And it felt pretty clean. If nothing else, it smells good. 

So this is the first post of 2017. I hope every one enjoyed it. 

Eating Habits

Oh man. I hate talking about eating habits, because then I have to examine my own, which aren't too pretty.  Unfortunately, for my life examining your eating habits is crucial to weight loss.  Now, I don't know if any of you remember the Jenny Craig commercial.  If you're happy and you know it, eat a snack.  If you're sad and you know it, eat a snack. Yeah. That's me.  Or if you're bored and you know it eat a snack.  So examining my eat habits is terrifying. I can sit down and literally eat like two boxes of Cheeze-its and then eat dinner, and then have a snack. Yeah, I'm that person. 

That's me. 

But, honestly, you need to look at what you eat. That is a major part of loosing weight, and just in general being more healthy. 

Here are a few things I've found help me be aware of what I'm eating. 

Asking myself, am I hungry? 

I'm a bored, emotional, social eater. Basically, if you can use it as an excuse to eat, I use it. A lot of the time, I'm bored. Mindlessly watching tv, eating food, which is the worse, but because I feel like I need to eat something simply because I've trained myself that tv is the place to eat. 

Ok, one way to remedy this... don't watch as much tv. 

But on days I end up at my dad's house and there's junk food and tv galore I usually ramp up my snack intake. The thing I've started doing is drinking water., simply so I have the sensation of putting something in my mouth. Sure, it's substitution method, but it works for me. If I drink the water I don't eat the food. 

Another thing I do is count my calories. I use the my fitness pal app and count the calories. It really makes me aware of what I'm putting in my body. I don't believe in denying myself, but seeing something and then knowing I have so many calories left it makes me wonder if I want to waste my calories on it. 

Sometimes, the simple fact of being aware amps up what I do and don't eat. Along with this don't drink your calories. 

Have you ever thought about how many calories are in a soda. My two sodas a week thing hasn't worked as well this month. It's been a long month. But honestly, drinks count. 

Last thing is know your week points. That will help you avoid them. Where I work, there's a plethora of food, and most if it's fatty and sweet. At first, I had a problem with grazing at the food all day. And I still do, but not as much. I knew it was a problem area, so I took what control I did have and had the food choices be more healthy. Or I learned to say no to it. 

Now the problem is home. When I get home, I eat food non-stop. I get really horrible fast food cravings too. I know that on certain nights, I'm going eat out.  Those are the hard nights. 

 Those are the hard nights. But I overcome them some how, and some times I don’t. Personalty, food guilt is the worse guilt of all. 

I know we all struggle with it. I hope this helps you in some way. 

Here's a few more motivational posters for you to look at. 

Yoga VS Aerobic Exercise

Now, I'm not a personal trainer. I can only speak to the research I've found, personally. Also, the things I've experienced for myself. 

 I'll get this out of the way. On a personal level, I enjoy yoga, but I have to team it up with aerobics to see any true changes in my body. I do know that when I did yoga I did build a lot of strength. I went from not being able to do the back bend at all to being able to hold it for a ten count. 

So despite the meditation aspect of yoga that some people employ, exercise in general improves your outlook. Elle said it best.

Now into the comparison. 

  

So calories burned? Aerobics does it best. Yoga does burn calories, but you're most likely going to burn more doing a hard aerobic exercise. Now, if any of you care, there are hot yoga and Vinyasa that burn a lot of calories, but still Aerobics is going to burn more in general. That goes with fat as well. Aerobics vs Yoga in calories and fat burned

Point to Aerobics. 

Just because aerobics burns more calories doesn't mean it's better for your muscles. Sure if you're doing weight lifting, you'll gain muscle, but aerobics and yoga. Yoga trains your muscles better. 

  Aerobics can't help you do that. 

Aerobics vs Yoga in strength

Point to Yoga

So cardiac benefits do go to aerobics. It hasn't been proven that yoga has cardiac benefits. Now the stretching of yoga is better for realigning and relaxing muscles.

Again, I like a mix of both. 

If you've got problems, like a bad knee I would recommend starting with yoga until you get strength built up. I mean if doing things like Brazilian Butt Lift are too intense, yoga is a great place. Like I said, I actually enjoy a mix of both. Yoga feels great on my tight muscles and sometimes I'm too tired to do hard core exercise