Water, water, water, water EVERYWHERE

All I have seen for the past three days is WATER! It's been a water life for me. As stated previously my goal for this week has been water intake! That has been my SOLE focus and I am so happy to say that I am doing great things in that area. On Monday I took in 13 cups of water, on Tuesday I took in 8 cups(I returned to work and forgot my water bottle at home) and today I took in 12 cups. Chile I looked at my water log on my iphone and was like

Water has been my motto! I've been doing it and doing it well. Go on girl! Woop! My goal for tomorrow and the rest of the week is 16 cups. That's equivalent to one gallon which is eventually where I would like to be on a daily basis. I bloat really bad and it has been said that drinking plenty of water on a daily basis can aid in decreasing your bloat. I am truly looking forward to that! We shall see. Til the next blog

1 Luv
KL

Week 1...and a possible reboot?

So for the past week I've been detoxing with Jillian Micheals and bootcamping. Instead of taking the bootcamp week by week, I had a genius idea to combine all of the weeks. Chile this was an

 

 

See I am ADHD with a touch of autism and a touch of OCD .... my mind stays all over the place. I am the type of person who needs structure at ALL times. You cant let me hang all willy nilly and expect great results. This week, while trying to follow ALL of the rules at once, I've been all over the place. So I came up with the decision to take it week by week. The control freak within me is not going to be pleased because I know all of the steps but that is ok. If I can focus on just ONE thing all week I feel that I will be more successful ..... and less likely to beat myself up and binge eat because I feel that I have failed. So it's Monday .... I've gone an entire week and now I'm ready to reboot! So for the rest of the week my focus .... my ONLY focus .... my SOLE focus .... .is on water intake! My goal is at least 16 cups a day and I know that by solely focusing on this goal that it will be easy to obtain it.

 

So since this is my goal and only goal this week lets talk about WATER! Drinking water fills you up. Remember when you were little and your mother told you to eat your food and stop all of that drinking(now as a mom I say the same thing. Karma!) Well it was because liquids have a way of filling us up and preventing us from overeating. Many health books(websites) recommend drinking a glass of water BEFORE your meal. Water also aids in increasing your metabolism. A quick trick to this is drinking a glass or two of cold water(some people say lukewarm but whatever) as soon as you wake up. This will get your metabolism going. Water flushes out the toxins in your body and also lubricates your joints(my joints need lots of lubrication). It's really good for you and plus it has ZERO calories .... I think that's the thing that I love the most about it. If you find it to be boring, add a little umph to your water but adding sliced cucumbers, cayenne pepper, sliced fruits or lemon. For me the easiest thing to do is keep it in the freezer until it gets ice cold and then proceed to guzzle it down. Whatever works for you. Til the next blog post .... 

 

 

1Luv

KL

I AM my hair

India Arie once wrote a song that was called "I am not my hair".  I get what India was saying(she is not her hair, she's more than her hair, don't judge her based on her hair yada yada yada)  but I feel differently ... I AM my hair! My hair IS me! We are connected. When one looks good, the other feels good and vice versa. My hair is a part of my identity. It has been with me for my entire life and that is what made the last couple of months so difficult.

Between having a baby, having extreme hormonal issues, filing for a divorce, being fired, looking for a job, being harassed, and just being stressed to the max period ... my hair has changed. When it first started falling out, I went to my beautician and had it cut thinking that would help. It did not. My hair continued to thin out and fall out to the point that I developed two small bald spots in the back of my head and my edges were gone. My hairline was reminiscent of Lebron James' hairline and it did wonders for my self esteem. Did you catch that sarcasm? Some nights I was all like

So once I finally got my hair together, I decided that I wanted it all off. I have eliminated much of the stress that was in my life and now it was time to fix the one thing that was holding me back. My HAIR! I didn't want it to be a distraction and it was the only thing holding me back from being the woman that I normally am. So I headed to see V. When I sat in the chair, my beautician asked me what I wanted. I showed her a picture of my hair cut short and we proceeded. First and foremost, the BEST thing ever is having your hair washed. I am addicted to that feeling. I would marry two people without thinking: a man who washes hair for a living and a man who does pedicures for a living. Both give me life but I have digressed!

The first time she cut my hair I knew it was not right. My head felt heavy and I could still feel the hair on my neck. So when she turned me around I immediately said "Nope not enough, shorter".  So she went back to cutting. As I felt the scissors snipping my hair away and as I watched the hair fall all over me, I blinked back tears. It's crazy but I felt so much better. When I felt the clippers buzzing through my head I just wanted to shout. Finally she was done. It still was not as short as I would like but I didn't have any hair on my neck and the style was cute.  More than anything once I stepped out of the chair, I noticed the extra bounce in my walk. I noticed the way I stood and the huge smile on my face. Everything that I have done since "the cut" has been done with energy and spunk. I just feel so much better and that lets me know that "the cut" was the right decision for me.  I'm going even shorter in 3 weeks. I can't wait.



My new cut!  :)

1Luv
KL

Bootcamp day 4

I sucked today. There is no excuse.  I could say I was in the pits emotionally, I could say that hormones had my stomach feeling like a black hole, I could say mother nature was rearing her ugly head but all of those reasons are irrelevant. The point is I overate, I did not workout and I sucked. I don't even feel like talking or blogging about it but I have to so this blog entry will be short.


Water: My water intake was aight. Every morning I fill my 8 cup jug up with water and place it in the freezer. Once it's good and cold I begin to drink it. Well how about today some mofo drunk half of my water. This totally threw my water intake off. What can  I say .... today was just a shitty day.

 

Food: My food intake was horrible too. Two slices of pizza for breakfast, cereal for my morning snack, a cookie for a snack and spaghetti for dinner complete with garlic bread. I do not even wish to spend time on food. It was what it was.  

 

 



Exercise:  No workout

Success: Spices(oregano, garlic, parsley)

Keep working on: Fast food, water intake, meditation, sweets

Til tomorrow

 

1Luv

KL

Bootcamp Day 3

For some reason I could not sleep last night. Oh it was not for some reason...it was because my 8 month decided that she wanted a girl's night and would not go to bed. So I finally dozed off at midnight and sure enough, at the crack of dawn I was up again. I DO NOT GET IT! Maybe my body is preparing for my return to work. All I know is that I got six hours of sleep which is no bueno!


Water: My water intake was much better today. I took down 10 cups of water. Still short of my goal but better than yesterday. I'm trying not to beat myself up. The last time I did the bootcamp I beat myself up over everything. If I did this wrong or did that wrong, I'd come down on myself so hard. If someone lost 9 inches and I only lost 1, I'd beat myself up about it. That's not life and I refuse to do that again. I'm truly trying and if I am giving it my all, that's all that I can ask. I also made sure that I took my water jug with me to work today. That helped A LOT!

 

Food: I had a good idea for breakfast in my head. It's too bad that didn't translate over to my plate. A while ago I had wheat French toast made with egg whites and cinnamon, topped with greek yogurt and strawberries. It was the BOMB! However this morning I did the same recipe with peaches  and vanilla greek yogurt mixed with vanilla whey protein. Chile I had a lot going on. I thank God for that turkey sausage link because it was my saving grace. It wasn't nasty but it was delicious either. It was just blah! After breakfast I headed to work armed with a fiber one bar.(Look at me planning and ish). The only problem that I had was that I only planned on being at work for a little minute. I ended up staying there way past lunch and by the time I left, I was starving. I wanted fast food so bad but I reminded myself that it was simply not an option. It didn't help that I passed by a thousand fast food restaurants before I got home. Every time I passed one I was like

 

I wanted a cheeseburger and large fry so bad. But I made it. I stopped by Walmart to pick up a few last minute ingredients for dinner and grabbed a bag of chips.

 

 

Chile those bag of chips was 450 calories. I could've had a cheeseburger and fries for that. Ok maybe not the cheeseburger but definitely the fries. Guess I have to cross chips off the list too. That was an insane amount of calories. Anyhoo, the highlight of my day was dinner. I see that I'm being limited to one great meal a day and I really need to get that in check lol. Dinner consisted of wheat spaghetti and homemade meatballs, corn on the cob, and garlic bread. The meatballs were oh so yummy. One of the rules of bootcamp(and the one that I really love) is limiting processed foods. So I looked up a recipe on allrecipes and boy oh boy....it was delicious! Like seriously...they were so freakin delicious! And easy to make too.(ground pork, beef & sausage, 2 eggs, breadcrumbs, milk, oregano, parsley, white pepper, salt, thyme, minced garlic, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese ... baked at 350 degrees). And I wont even go on the smell in the kitchen while they are baking. Just know that my house smelled lovely for about a good 60 minutes.

 

 



Exercise: My workout was me unpacking at work. When I finally made it home, me and the fam loaded up the truck and hit the tennis courts. I must say now that my level of respect for Serena Williams went up by 100. Tennis is no joke. We had a 25 minute game before I had to wave the white flag and give up. My clothes were soaked in sweat and I could hardly breathe. It was awesome! Definitely a great workout. Of course my legs are sore but that's ok. Tomorrow I plan on working out my core.

Success: Spices (use oregano, thyme, garlic, parsley), water intake, no fast food, no sweets

Keep working on: Making better choices ..... 450 calories for a bag of doritos is ridiculous. Also planning better. I am away from home a lot so healthy snack options need to be researched.

Til tomorrow

 

1Luv

KL

Bootcamp Day 2

I woke up at like 5 am with enough energy to strap a truck to my back and drag it down the road. Ok ... I'm exaggerating but still you get my point. I was crunk ... at the crack of dawn. Where is this done at? Apparently at my house.  After showering, eating and watching the ghetto soap opera (Love & Hip Hop) I fell into bed and called it a night. That left me with a good 8 hours of sleep and baby my body was appreciative. I think it was the basketball game. My body was tired and I slept like a baby.


Water: My water intake was aight.

 

Like seriously, I gave my water intake the Phaedra face. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't good either. I managed to take in 8 cups of water. That's nowhere near the 13 I took in yesterday or the 16 that I wanted to take in ... but its better than 1 or even worst ... none! *gasp*  My water intake would've been a lot better if I had PLANNED! I was gone most of the day and did not bother to take a water bottle, water jug, water hose ... nada! Chile that messed me up. So when I did finally make it home...which was at 7:30 pm, I chugged as much as I could. I chugged so much that my belly ached (now I'm singing he bought me home with a belly ache...ugh!) I wanted to add an additional four cups but it just was not going down. Oh well tomorrow is a new day ... and I definitely will have some form of water with me at all times!

 

Food: Breakfast was beyond good today. I can't lie ... the egg whites left a sour taste in my mouth. I just was not prepared to go down that road again. So I went in a different direction. I had oatmeal with a dash of cinnamon and ground flaxseed and a large peach. I had greek yogurt out but by the time I finished the peach and oatmeal I was beyond full. It was yummy too. When I added the peaches to the oatmeal, my mouth had an orgasm. Dude it was

 

 

I tell you no lie. I didnt have a lunch and dinner was the same from last night.  Snacks consisted of a multigrain bagel from Dunkin Donuts with strawberry cream cheese (oh gosh its so delicious) and strawberry ice cream from Baskin Robbins



Exercise: I had plans to work out early this morning ...... and then I have no clue what happened. Seriously, I looked up and it was no longer 6 am but 9:30 and I needed to head to work. It didn't matter because work was my workout. My body is aching at the mere thought. I recently got a new job which meant I had to move all of my things to a new school .... and my classroom is on the second floor. Moving in and setting up my classroom consists of me running around like a chicken with its head cut off, going up and down stairs, carrying boxes, etc. And I was there for hours. Needless to say my legs are sore hunty! If I even think about walking, they send a quick signal to my brain that says "STOP IT GIRL! Don't you know we are tired"  I tried to go and play tennis with my son and my legs were like

 No but seriously, I'm sore. Workout complete .... if you ask me.

Success: Spices (use oregano, cumin, garlic)

Keep working on: Fast food, sweets, water

Til tomorrow

 

1Luv

KL

Bootcamp day 1

So I know that I would like to blog my daily progress with this boot camp but I don't know what format I would like to use. So bear with me. There are a couple of rules to the boot camp but since I know them all I'm just going to do them how I want to. Sue me.  Maybe that's how I will blog too. Ok so here's a recap for Day 1--Monday, August 06, 2013


Water: My water intake was good today. I did 13 cups which was pretty good considering that I have not had a drop of water in like two days. I have an eight cup water jug that I filled with water, placed in the freezer, and drunk throughout the day. It worked .... I hate water but ice cold water is something that I love to indulge in ... especially in this Florida heat.

Food: Breakfast consisted of egg whites, veggies, and turkey sausage stuffed in a wheat pita pocket. I cant lie ... it was nasty. I have not had egg whites since my last day of school and my tongue did not miss it. Lunch was better. Lunch consisted of a green smoothie with spinach, kale, fruit and a scoop of vanilla whey protein. It was yummy. My only regret is that I shared half of it with my spouse and the shake was so yummy that I would've preferred to drink the entire thing by myself. By far the best meal of the day was dinner. I tried a new recipe from Allrecipes.....stuffed chicken breast with spinach, yellow rice and steamed carrots. Looking back I should've done something healthier than yellow rice but it was delicious. I had to make myself stop eating the chicken cause I could've easily eaten more than what was placed on my plate(despite my full stomach saying otherwise). I look forward to making that chicken again. Snacks consisted of the new Cheerios cereal(which sucks by the way) with a cup of organic soy milk and a chocolate rice cake topped with almond butter. I tried a new almond butter because Jif has some strange things going on with their ingredients and it was oh so yummy.



New Almond Butter Brand

Whoever came up with almond butter needs an award. I mean seriously. The ish is so delicious. I can eat two tablespoons of it without blinking ...... it's great on everything .... on bananas, on toast, on celery, on apples, on rice cakes ..... you see what I'm saying? This ish is delicious. How do you like those apples almonds?

Exercise: I have not exercised since the beginning of July. Honestly I've been lazy. Here's the thing about exercising ... you have to be consistent with it. Once you stop, your body adjusts and it's hell to start back up again. I was trying to decide what I would like to do and finally decided on basketball with my son. I'm competitive. Chile I hate to lose. So I went hard for 20 minutes on the basketball court and

my exercise for the day was done. I had a great one too. Sweat was everywhere and my body felt as if I had gone round for round with Roy Jones ... .from back in his ya'll must've forgot days. (Act like you know). Chile I was sore.

Success: No fast food, no sugar, water every hour, spices (use oregano, cumin, garlic)

Keep working on: Better options .... yes Vigo I'm talking about you.

Til tomorrow

1Luv
KL

The weightloss struggle is REAL

Weight loss is like everything else in life. It is a job! Like seriously... you have to work at it. You cant relax. You can't think that you have it under control. You cant think that you have mastered it because when you do, weight loss will change it's mind and you'll be stuck wondering what in the hell happened. That's what happened to me.  Just sip and read.....

I guess the last time I blogged I talked about returning to work after having my baby. Well a lot happened in between THEN and NOW! I was determined to lose all of my baby weight and I did. I started a clean eating boot camp with a couple of women from one of my Facebook groups. The camp was informative. I truly learned a lot and not only did I learn a lot...I LOST a lot. I finally ditched my 16's and was rocking 12's. I side eyed my extra larges and comfortably slid on mediums. I was fitting into ish that I had not fit into in years .... years I tell ya!

Medium snitches!

The camp was 16 weeks long and each week consisted of a new rule. After it ended I was confident that I had learned the basics to continuing with the weight loss. Not long after completing the clean eating bootcamp I started another challenge. This was for 30 days and consisted of no alcohol, no sugar, a gallon of water and exercising. I did great with it. I thought it would be hard to give up alcohol but I stopped cold turkey and did not miss it. The sugar was something else. I am a sugar addict(as I found out) and cutting it completely out of my diet was very hard to do. Imagine Pookie from New Jack City .... .well that was me. I had serious sugar withdrawals. Still I managed to complete this challenge and was eyeing the pants in my closet that I've never been able to wear.


Then New Orleans happened and I have been struggling ever since. I took a trip to the Essence Festival. A trip that consisted of delicious food, wonderful sweets, and lots of alcohol. I did a lot of walking but exercising with weights or with Jillian or with Shaun was pretty much thrown out of the window. Then went I got back it was a trip to Orlando. While alcohol was not on the menu, eating out and lack of exercise were. To sum it up in a short story, I gained 8 lbs back.

People who were commenting how nice I looked when I lost the wight, were now side eyeing me and asking"dang you're gaining it back huh?"  Yes it was/is that noticeable. My belly looks as if I am a good 4-5 months pregnant. Can you believe someone actually asked me how far along I was while grocery shopping in Publix? I finally realized that I had a huge problem when I went to attend my cousin's wedding. I had purchased a beautiful dress and on the day of the wedding, I found myself unable to zip the dress up. I knew then that something had to change. I had worked so hard. I could not let it all be in vain. I remembered how I felt when I was able to shop without worrying about the size and I wanted that feeling back. So I'm going back to what I know works....I'm back boot camping. And this time I plan on blogging my journey. That is my goal .... welcome to my journey.

1Luv
KL