Battle of the Post Holiday Weight Gain

 

Did any of you over do it like me this past holiday and gain weight like me?

Who am I kidding? With me breastfeeding for the majority of 2015, I let my eating habits go awry, anything and everything I wanted, I ate inhaled. Now all that post baby weight I lost, is pretty much toast. I’m back to my normal weight which is not bad, but for me, I know that I can do better. I can tell by the bloat that the carbs I’ve been inhaling are not doing my body any good. So, it’s time to get my food portions and meals in order. I’m not going to go on a juice or tea detox, because it takes a lot to oil this 6 foot machine! I am just going to do some meal planning and eat less processed foods, eat more veggies and fruits, and drink more water. I’ve done this before if you have been following my blog posts.

I am also back in the gym! I started back last week and it felt glorious! The Fitbit is the reason ‘m back full fledged.

Image Source: FitBit.com

I bought a Charge HR(In purple!!!!) to inspire me to get off my butt and on me feet as well as track my heart rate. What I didn’t think would happen was my competitive spirit to kick into full blast! On the Fitbit app you can add friends, and can challenge them during the week, cheer their progressions and taunt them in competitions. It’s an amazing device and they have many different kinds.I got this one on sale during the holidays and I must say it’s one of my best purchases in 2015.You can check out the various Fitbits here. Today I did about 45 minutes of intervals on the elliptical, as well as took 5 flights of stairs back to my desk and took the 15 minute ab class they offer at the gym at work. I also make sure to track my food and connected my Fitbit to the wonderful app MyFitnessPal which helps you track your food and helps you set goals for eating. Before I put something in my body I will put it in MyFitnessPal to see if it’s a good food or a bad food. Food planning helps and they even help you set goals for exercise and things. I really love the app and it helped me lose 25lbs a few years ago. I am SO excited that I am back on track and I can bring you guys some great fitness content and potential yummy recipes  soon. I am so happy to be on my journey again!

 

 

“A healthy you is the best gift you can give your family emotionally, spiritually, and 

mentally.”

-Joyce Meyer

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Hey there!

I have not posted on my blog in some time. Months actually. If you are wondering why, it was because I had nothing positive to say. Absolutely nothing. I had nothing encouraging to say because I was in need of encouragement myself. I guess you could say a part of me did not want to blog because if I were to be candid, I would be airing my dirty laundry and possibly disrupting my peace, another part of me was suffering in silence.  Those selfies I have been posting on Instagram and Facebook, well they were happy moments but deep inside I was living in hell, living in torment, and praying to God for relief of it all. I was waiting on someone to save me from the trials and tribulations I found myself in. A super hero in a cape with extra starch. Once I came to the conclusion that no one was going to save me but myself, I began to try to rebuild. I turned to the best thing I could, my spirituality. My faith. My God. I needed to lean into him more than ever in my time of need. In this turbulent moment in my life.

What was it that was tormenting me? A custody case. It has been the the thorn in my side. I tried to fake it, smile through it all. The truth. I struggled and I find myself still struggling through it. When the communication breaks down between two parents, the results can be absolutely awful. When you experience disagreement to this level, sabotage takes hold. It would give me great pleasure to find a medium and co-parent peacefully. When you are involved with someone who is emotionally driven and convinced you are an enemy, there is no way co-parenting can take place.

So, the best thing I can do is accept the things I cannot change. I accept that this is a flawed situation. I speak into existence that things will turn around and get better and we will find our channel to communicate properly. I pray that we will spend our money on our child versus our lawyers and other frivolous things that come with custody issues. I have learned, I can only control my peace, my sanity, and my actions and cannot wish, ask, or request that others comply and do the same. I must accept that things will be this way for some time. Is this what I thought parenthood would be? tumultuous? Absolutely not. I know there are no perfect formulas or magic potions to getting it right.

Overall I had to check my feelings, outside of this situation was my life happy? Absolutely. Did I have to breathe life into the situation? No. So I made a choice. To feed nothing and I mean nothing into the situation. To let the thing die. So Sunday is the only interaction that I have with my child’s Father and that is even minuscule. He is to place his daughter in her car seat and have zero interaction with me.  This is not what I envisioned co-parenting to be, but it is required to be this way for some time. I choose not to air the grievances I have with him in full detail, but I am not in high approval of his actions, and others on his behalf, because they do not benefit our daughter and her well being period. I am convinced that he is upset about something and he is seeking revenge of some sort without looking at what the cost is. You(at least for me) have to get to that pivotal point in your life where you ask, What is best for our daughter? Do I want peace, or do I want to be right? What does peace cost and what does being right cost? That is something he will have to figure out . For me I choose peace. it is free, fabulous, fantastic, and gives me life. It gives me the ability to focus on the precious time that my daughter is growing. She is learning and growing so fast. I do not want it to wiz by me and I am focused on custody issues.

Now that I am in a more positive place, I feel redeemed. Freed and I can now share the wonderful moments and accounts that I have with my daughter as well as the adventures of living life in the 30 year old lane. Life is great and short, and I intend to be intentional about living a really good life. Praise God for clarity and grace, without it I would not have been able to get to this pivotal most freeing moment in my life. My custody case is not over, hopefully the end of it is in the early part of November, but I have moved past it.

Perfectly Imperfect!

 

As my child is fast approaching her first year of amazing life, I have learned some things. I embrace all the imperfections I once thought I never would. I embrace the fact that I may hit the snooze button on my seven alarms at 6am which is when I should be walking out the door. I embrace the fact that the clothes may not get folded and put in the proper place. Who cares when they are clean! I embrace the fact that a home cooked meal may be a Tuna sandwich and chips sometimes. I set the bar pretty high for myself when I first became a Mom. See, we are all taught to do our absolute best and aim for perfection in this life (At least I was), and at first, I took this approach. It worked for my singular self and it worked very well! I had great success! Being a Mom, however, it was sustainable at first, but like most Moms finding their stride, I realized that there is so much beauty in living in the moment and not focusing on being perfect.

Perfect does not mean you did it all and achieved. Look at all the in between. I woke up late, great! I get more snuggle time with my baby girl! London blew up her diaper, yes, inconvenient! Hey! I got to bathe and look my baby in her eyes and kiss on her as I made her stinkies all fresh. I wake up with a simple prayer in my heart before she stirs, “Lord thank you for allowing me to see another day, to be a parent to my daughter, to help me to learn what appreciation is, thank you for everyone you have placed in my life and may you bless them as well as you will bless me.” These imperfect moments have taught me to be grateful for all I have and helped me focus on learning that life is richer when every little thing is appreciated. This is not to say that I do not get flustered. I have plenty of character building (Attitude adjusting) opportunities. I’ve learned from past mistakes and present victories to pray! “Lord what is it that you are wanting to teach me? What is it that I am needed to achieve to grow ?”  I have learned in this year of parenting to have an extreme appreciation for life. To not take it all for granted. At one time, I did not have the relationships, the ties, the joy that I have today. I once had no clue how happy my life could be. I found that the more I focus on God, the more enriched and blessed my life becomes, the more peace I have. My fruits are bearing some things and it took some pain to get to this place of growth. I look forward to becoming increasingly more grateful in my life as parenting is teaching me to be transparent, to be upfront and to live and embrace what I have.

Now, it was by God’s grace that I made it out the house at 6:13am with London and myself fully dressed for our day today. (Really Really though). But I sit back and I can laugh at the fact that I got out the door! Thought I would add that since it is my praise report for today! (VICTORAAAAYYYY)

Halloween Workouts!

Halloween is approaching!

Why not have a workout inspired by one?! Tribesports has an awesome challenge that has a discount. Tribesports has teamed up with Run For Your Lives to offer a 20% discount off of their races. You can use the promo code TRIBE to get the special discount. Cool right?

In addtion to that, there are also 10 pairs of tickets for Run For Your Lives race entry, a Bodymax Kettlebone Kettlebell, and 5 Join The Tribe T shirts to giveaway in our competition which you can read more about here.

Lastly, There are some Halloween inspired workouts that they have created so we can all look great in our costumes!!!

 

1. Zombie Fitness Circuits

 

2. Zombie Wrecking Ball Workout

 

 

 

3. Evasion and Escape Workout

 

4. Survival Under Siege Workout

 

DOMS?

 

DOM DOM DOOOOOOM!

Let’s talk about DOMS aka Delayed onset muscle soreness. It is also know as muscle fever to some. It’s that pain and stiffness you feel after an epic workout. Only you do not feel it the next day, you feel it 48 hours later. How can you prevent such a travesty? By hitting the Sauna, stretching, massage, hot baths, and a foam roller, or even going for another workout  I am a victim of DOMS, and it can be brutal. 24 hours after your workout, you feel fine and then when you hit the 48 hour mark after your workout, and things get real. It feels like you slammed yourself into a brick wall at 180 mph. Yikes. I honestly find comfort in the discomfort. How? I like that I feel my muscles growing. I like that I feel myself getting stronger. Sure it hurts to climb stairs, and squat, and sometimes stretch, but I have a goal and I am seeing major results. Don’t let a little DOMS stop you in your tracks, push though it and let’s all get sexy!

Tomorrow is my Company’s Cook off and I need to figure out how I am going to do that and get my Back and Biceps workout in. I may have to forgo seeing scandal and set the DVR and go work it out tonight. I also have midterms this weekend. Wish me luck!

Legs

 

Pull out the handicap signs.

Yesterday was Leg day! My oh my! I have a new personal best. leg pressing 180 in 3 sets of 30 with a rest pause. Brutal. I was dizzy and my legs were weak. Fun times. I have 2 days of rest (today included) and I am going to recover!

My leg workout consisted of:

20 mins of cardio on the elliptical

150 seated barbell twists per side

1 drop set of a total of 100 reps  leg extensions starting at 170lbs and dropping to 30lbs after every 10-20 reps (BRTUALLLLLLL)

Seated leg curls at 70lbs w/ 2 warm up sets 10 reps and  3 sets of  20 reps 

Leg press w/ 2 warm up sets of 10 reps at 90lbs and 3 rest pause sets of 30 reps at 180lbs

Hack squats w/ 2 warm up sets of 7 reps at 70lbs and 3 sets with 7 reps at 80lbs

20 mins of cardio on the bike 

And a wheelchair LOL. I felt like I needed that. I hope everyone’s hump day is going well. Mine is. I downloaded this new app called Bitstrips it’s like a comic version of yourself. I have had tons of fun posting things on my social network sites. Who knows, I may post one on here! Hahah Happy HUMP DAY!

 

Check out my Progress! (After a week of eating cakes, pies and ect)

Shoulders, Calves and Abs

 

Yesterday I hit the gym pretty hard and rocked out my workout. I did my shoulders, calves and abs. I thought the workout would be easy being that there were not that many exercises. No. My shoulders were on fire and I had the slow disoriented waddle, when I walked out the gym yesterday. My workout consisted of:

20 mins on the elliptical

150 reps, per side of Seated bar bell twists w/ 20lb bar

3 sets to failure in 15 reps of Side Lateral raises w/10lb 

3 sets to failure in 15 reps  of Front Dumbbell Raises w/ 10lbs 

Superset of 

3 sets to failure in 12 reps of Side lateral raises w/ 5lbs

3 sets to failure in 15 reps of Front Dumbbell Raises w/ 10lbs 

Machine Shoulder Military Press w/ 25lbs

1 warm up set of 8 reps

3 sets to failure in 15 reps

7 sets of Seated bent over Rear Delt Raises in 15 reps w/ 15 lbs 

Standing Calf Raises 1 warm up set of 10 reps and 5 sets of 20 reps

3 sets to failure 20 reps each of Sit ups

Elliptical for 20 mins

150 twists w/ 20lb bar

 

I was pooped I tell you!!!  I also noticed this amazing phenomenon. A lot of women do not lift. I got a lot of stares and questionable looks as to why I was in the free weights area. Usually a woman is accompanied by a man in this area to be trained briefly or they are just passing by. So, it is overall a male dominated area. Most women dominate the cardio equipment. I would like to encourage all of my female fitness enthusiasts to join me! Come to the weight area. It is not a scary place, it actually is a great place to look at men! lol See the various forms and different workouts that other people do. I am a beginner out there in the weighted world, but I would like to see women get their weights, and toning in too! I am all about showing these guys what I can do! The stares were welcomed by me, and I even got a few smiles out the guys when they saw me working hard!

 

Today is leg day and I have my handicap sticker ready lol. I may be crawling out the gym when I finish wish me luck.

 

 

Photo credit: Womenshealthmagazine.com

Thoughtful Thursdays

It’s Friday eve!

I am excited. I was not able to workout since last Thursday.I have a lot of school work to complete and I am on the organization committee for Customer service week I finally was able to workout and continue the Kris Geithen 12 Week program. I should be on week 4, but I am on week 3 and so far so good. You can find the workout on Bodybuilding.com.

Yesterdays workout consisted of:

Cardio
20 mins

Seated Barbell twist
150 reps per side

Dumbbell Bench Press
2 warm up sets of 10 reps w/ 15 lbs
2 sets to failure in 8 reps w/20 lbs

Straight – Arm Dumbbell Pullover
1 warm up set of 10 reps 15 lbs
2 sets to failure in 10 reps 20 lbs

Incline Dumbbell Flyes
2 sets to failure in 12 reps w/20 lbs
1 drop set to failure 20 lbs to 15 lbs

Cable Rope Overhead Triceps Extension
1 set to failure in 7 reps 20 lbs
2 drop sets to failure 15 lbs, to 10 lbs, to 5 lbs

Dips Triceps Version
3 sets to failure 12 reps

Superset:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension
3 sets to failure in 10 reps

Bench Dips
3 sets to failure in 12 reps

Cardio
15 mins

Seated Barbell twist
150 reps per side

After all of that lifting, yes, I was tired. I need to mention I have officially lost 26 lbs so far. It has been a long journey, but I am here from a huge 198 to 172!!! For a tall person I am moving into the realm of skinny. 150 is rail thin for a person of my stature. So I am excited! I should post a pic for Transformation Tuesday! Happy Thursday to everyone!

Leg Day!

Today was Legs day!

I started out my workout by carrying boxes to my car (Cardio) from my soon to be old 3rd floor apartment.

After that I put in this type of work.

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I really did not want to do this workout, I was thinking of the bajillion things I needed to do today and was like, how in the heck will I even have energy to even look at this. I looked at the workout and it was simple quick and I worked it out!

Tonight I need to break down my bedframe, get lots of newspaper to pack my dishes, find my check book, I packed it somewhere and I have no clue where it is, pay my last little rent and pack up some more kicknacks that need to go to my new space.

I forgot, I need to do homework, but I think I will do all of it on Sunday. I have to secure my move first. Wish me luck!

Full Body Dumbbell Workout

 

Hey there! It’s been a while! But Tribesports never fails me! They came up with an AWESOME workout that will work every part of your body! Just follow the steps below with a 5,10, or 20 lb weight, depending on your fitness level and you will be set. Work your way up to the 20lb dumbbells if you can. Check it out!

 

 

Pretty cool huh? Tribesports.com has also added some more cool features to their site such as the new training features. You can now log. your daily exercise, and even saving different sessions as “Workouts” to re-do them at a later date. Almost everything imaginable is covered from back squats and individual weights exercises to yoga and even fitness classes and sports, and we are constantly adding new exercises and sports to improve the system.Use it after a day at the gym, a run, a biking activity or whatever. Use it! Check out all the functionality of the new and improved site here

 

This weekend came together nicely. I am walking with my Company in the annual UNCF walk for education on Saturday and that should be fun, then I am participating in a biking event with my sis in Prairie View called the Tour de pink. It’s an annual biking event that raises money for Breast Cancer research. Really exciting stuff!

How is your weekend coming along? Anything cool going on?