Do What Works for You, Just don't Quit

All diets are not created equal . . . that’s really the bottom line. There is only one method I know that works for everyone, eat good food and exercise but for a lot of us, that’s easier said than done. How much exercise is necessary? A 30 minute walk everyday is enough for some, for others, it takes hard core cardio and strength training to drop the pounds or maybe you need to train to run a marathon in order to push pass the weight your body is holding on to. And food, some need high protein diets, others need a healthy balance, some need to just leave all meat alone and go hard core vegan.

Now, I have been challenged - or rather I opened my big mouth and gave a number – anyway, I have a challenge of 20lbs or so to lose. Actually, peeps, The Collective. Let’s see how far I get by the end of the year but hell, as long as I can fit into my favorite red dress without wearing SPANX, I’m happy.

I have heard a lot of advice on how to make it happen. Do Weight Watchers (nope, but I’ve seen the results work well for others), Go Running (this actually works but I HATE RUNNING), Try an all liquid diet or all raw food diet (this is a great jump start actually, check out one of my friends doing it - Under200poundsby40). Do a Cleanse (I have NO problem with the exiting process), and cut this-cut that, so I have decided I’m going to do what I know works.

This morning, at 5 am, I put in a new Zumba® Instructors video (shout out to all my ZIN family) and got it in.

Thirty minutes later, I was in the shower and feeling good. I actually feel thinner already, no really, I do. I put on a skirt and tucked the blouse in . . . I look HAWT! #Pixiedustpotent. I’m also using the principles of the Flat Belly Diet promoted by Prevention Magazine. This diet actually promotes eating well and concentrates on eating Monounsaturated Fats which are good for you and keeping each meal to 400 calories. It even includes what you can eat from a fast food menu and make that belly go away. Why I like this diet? This one helps me keep my energy up all day long instead of having those crash and burn sessions. I’m eating on schedule and eating enough to keep me going until the next meal. But this is my mental challenge: When people start heating their food before its time for my next meal, my brain goes, “Mmm, smell that? You could be eating too. Oh, go ahead and eat now.” But I’m not finished burning the fuel I have, I have another hour to wait; besides I’m not hungry, am I? Discipline yourself girl! Take a sip of water, that will tell you if its time . . . nope, not yet. I can hold out.

Its funny that when I tell my friends and family that I’m attempting 20+ more pounds, they look at me and ask, “Where you gonna find 20 more pounds from?” I have one place in mind but that would require surgery and uhm, I ain’t got the money for that . . . besides, I kind of like the “girls.” In additiona to my early morning Zumba ® sessions, and teaching class 3 days a week, I’ve put strength training on a schedule too – Mondays and Wednesdays. The third day is sort of a floating holiday because things always come up with my crazy schedule. I thought I didn’t have time and I was really considering letting the challenge go. I then realized that I could be the encouragement someone else needs to get up and get moving (and I look PHAT TA DEF in that red dress). Is that what you need? Be honest. You need someone to dig in that tail and say get up!! Okay, GET UP! If you’re sitting on Facebook, just take a 15 minute break and go walk around the office. Go ahead, Facebook will wait for you; so will YouTube and Twitter, go ‘head. My challenge to you is to make a determination right now what you’re going to do about your body, your weight, your heart, your blood pressure, your sugar, your cholesterol. Write it down, make a plan and make a schedule. Then put the goal in big letters and say, “Whatever it takes, I will not QUIT.”

I've been Setback!!!

Eating right and working out is hard. Eating right and working out is hard when you have a tight schedule. Eating right and working out is hard when you have a tight schedule, are lacking sleep and just down right down feel like it. What’s harder is feeling like you fell off and have no way to return; when you feel like you’ve failed. (Sigh)
This weekend I had a photo shoot with my favorite photographer and my Radio Show Co-Host (Speak on That coming soon to blogtalkradio.com). We chose red dresses for one look; RED is my favorite color! I bought this dress two months ago and let me tell you, I look HOT in it!!

As I slid the dress on and zipped it up, I found out that I had gained weight in EVERYONE’S favorite spot . . . yes, the midsection, the belly, the dreaded abdominal devil had expanded just enough to make me say, “AW MAN” and at that point, I hated my favorite red dress. I didn't even NEED a spanx or ANYTHING to hold it in just TWO months ago. Now I’m thinking, “I’m here, I don’t have a back up red dress, WTH do I do?” I go for the suck in and PRAY that it doesn’t look that bad in the pictures. Do you know what happens when you suck it in? You look stiff and fake and scared and like you’re not breathing . . . makes it hard to look natural in pictures; my advice, don’t do it, no matter how good you think you look, it just makes you look like . . . uh, you’re sucking it in. (Sigh)

So now, I’m sitting here evaluating what did I do wrong? I’m drinking my water, I’m going Zumba crazy, eating good food, eating often . . . wait, how much did I eat? My new beau is a chef and has been making the best meals. Only one problem, he doesn’t know how NOT to fix me a huge plate of food and I’m bad at saying, “I’ve had enough” especially when it’s so good. And yes, I, even I have slacked on the weight training because of a tremendously busy schedule. Key Key, you’ve got to make a choice honey. I’ll admit, I went on scolding myself and then gave myself the “yo, snap out of it” look in the mirror. This is a minor setback that I can come back from. I just have to reorganize my schedule and tell some people and things, “No, can’t do it. I’m busy taking care of myself.” My schedule is already packed pretty tight (actually it’s being held hostage by my full time 9 to 5, but let’s not go there). Last summer, I was weight training on my lunch hour and doing cardio at home. That’s not hard is it? Nope, it just means going back to being diligent and going to the gym the same way I come to work every morning (I love seeing nice, hunky men sweating and grunting . . . oh, sorry, sometimes that is the extra motivation).

Let me just say, I want to beat myself up so badly and say to hell with it all but then I remember how good I feel now compared to how I used to feel. I admittedly think about the people I know that say to me, “I wish I could look like you” and I really want people to keep saying that. I like going into a store and being able to fit a regular size and even more than that, I think of how I’ve lowered my risk for a myriad of diseases that plague my family like Type II Diabetes, High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, Gout, Migraines due to poor food choices, increased adult acne, chronic fatigue, joint problems because of weight, asthma, and on and on . . . That’s when I remember that it’s just a minor setback. We can come back. SO . . . if you didn’t do so well on the food challenge the past two weeks, let’s try again. This time, You may eat food outside of your house on the weekends (except fast food) but TRY really hard to be sure you fill up the food chart, eating vegetables and fruit. AND DON’T FORGET THAT WATER!!!

The next installment will be “What you don’t know about food.” You’d be surprised at how some foods we eat are marked as “Healthy” but some of them turn out to be the culprits in our diet. One that you’ve probably had recently: Cereal. I know, I’m getting ready to ruin your life over cereal but trust me on this one.

Keyona
#PixieDustPotent