one down, one to go

Today is Wednesday, and I've just logged my second to last training session before the Brooksie Way on October 3rd. I just received an email that enclosed my BIB Number, and it's 4776. I'm excited!!!

hiit

You want to know what HIIT is? Steve will tell you. Burn more in less time, but pushing out 100% and alternating that with periods of rest or reduced output. I usually do this on my runs where I warm up to an aggressive walk for five minutes, enter the maximum speed that I can run (currently it's 4.5 mph) for 10 minutes, reduce to 4.0 mph for 5 minutes, kick it up to 4.2 for 5 additional minutes, then to my 5 minute cool down. As you know, I'm preparing for a 5k, so what I've been doing in my last few workouts is choosing Day 1 to build up speed, then on Day 2 I work on endurance.

I can't believe how much I'm enjoying running! It feels great!

two strand twist out & curl activator

This is a two-strand twist out using Hawaiian Silky Gel Activator that I did last night before bed.  I don't use a comb usually unless I'm conditioning/de-tangling, but I did massage the ends with activator in order to untangle any snarls.  After working out this morning (ran two miles and upper body workout) I styled, separating the twists into at least four to get a full look.  No additional product was needed.  My hair felt incredibly soft.  It's about 7 inches long all over since I recently cut about an inch all around.  I have 3b/4a hair.  Yes.  It shrinks!  But I love my natural hair.  It's so versatile and I never have to worry about bad hair days, i.e. rain water frizz-ups!

healthy pizza

I just watched a YouTube video of my favorite snack growing up.  I remember learning how to make pizza in my home economics class and then would spend my allowance on ingredients almost every weekend.  LOL.  This pizza is made of whole wheat flour.  Although the pizza yields 30 calories less and a few grams of fat less than restaurant style, it's the fiber that makes the grade!  I haven't made homemade pizza in years.  But I still consider myself a connoisseur of the pie.  Enjoy!

co-washing with apple blossom & shea butter oil

    

Great Find!  For 99 cents you can't beat it!  After a co-wash with White Rain Apple Blossom conditioner, I twisted my hair and let it air dry.  It takes about a day for the moisture balance in my hair to check itself, so the next day I clipped my ends after sectioning it into small ponies, added my Shea Butter Oil to the ends, working it up the ends to the scalp, and did a dry twist.  I wore my twists for a whole day, and untwisted them today!  Very nice.  It's big, the air is windy here in Ypsi, and I love my natural hair blowing in the warm breeze.  Now my allergies aren't too happy about it, but my hair is a laughing fool!

carol's daughter - healthy hair butter

Ok. So I ordered some Carol's Daughter last week, thanks due to JAY-Z and his sellout concert at Yankee Stadium, which gave me 15% off my order. YAY! I love Hair Milk, so ordered a set (cheaper here than Sephora) and picked up the Light Curl Booster. I had been wanting to try the Hair Butter and used this special price as an incentive to try it.

I love it! Now I have 'shrinking hair' when wet. So any product with moisture will take my 8 inches of hair and shrink it to 4 inches. I'm embracing it! LOL. There is no point of trying to go against Mother Nature. My hair is curly, it likes to shrink. I embrace it. I can pull off a decent twist with most products on wet hair. But Hair Butter, rocks it like no other. I've been asked to try BeeMine products, and because of their trial sizes, I may consider it. I am loving my natural hair. And I'm always trying to find what works best, for less, of course!

rest...

I often happen upon YouTube videos or some blogger chatting up about a diet (I HATE DIETS...ok!) they've tried and working out 3-4 hours a day, seven days a week. HUH? Crazy! Are you preparing for a competition or something? I don't get it! Yo Yo Alert!

People. You need to create an atmosphere of exercise and nutrition that you can stick with during the holidays, vacations, weddings, and funerals! I've mentioned this before and I'm afraid that it may just turn out to be the most redundant heavily tagged subject of my blog or YouTube Channel - you can't lose weight if you are punishing yourself. Eating healthy takes practice. I know. Exercise takes practice. I know. But I am not a glutton for punishment and don't you be one either. You can exercise and rest without falling off the wagon to success. Actually, it's needed. Your body needs to restock and repair itself. Overexercising leads to fatigue, injury, and burnout.

Think ahead, plan short and long term goals. Rotate your schedules, reps/sets, meals, and you will remain challenged. Find what works for you. And you may just be surprised that you don't have to kill yourself or hate yourself to be healthy. I'm currently on a Day On/Day Off plan. I used it last month, loved it, so I followed it this month. But I'm not stressing about plateaus because I've increased the weights I lift, increased the speed and stamina on the runs, and guess what? I'm still losing weight.

Why?

My body has no idea what to expect from me. I'm always changing up, throwing it a curve ball, here and there. But, I've learned this through trial and error. I promise you if you plan, rest, and work the plan, you will get results!

registered today...Brooksie 5K here I come!

I'm so excited! And tomorrow is a run day for me! Yes...I'm working on my goal. I still have a few weeks yet. Wish me a leg break!

salsa and chips

My favorite snack is without a doubt salsa and chips. Nothing fancy, not really. Garden Fresh Gourmet Salsa's made right here in Michigan is my favorite brand. I've tried many of their delicacies. They make all kinds of delicious treats like hummus, chips, and other dips. My favorite salsa's by GFG are Jack's Special Medium, Thick & Chunky, and the Mango Peach. Scoop few tablespoons into a finger bowl, line a plate with a serving of your favorite chips and enjoy!

my reference for exercise and proper nutrition

For two years, I carried a subscription for Oxygen Magazine. Because I was moving around a bit, I allowed the subscription to lapse. But I didn't lose out completely. There was a wealth of information in the many books I still have on hand. I'm considering getting a renewal, for the current events. If there is one read that will get you well on your way, it's this one. It's packed full of work out routines to help you meet your goals, testimonials from novices and seasoned vets, and easy recipes to surely lean you up!

Interactive Issue

my natural hair care

It was a long time coming, and I didn't think a change would come! I was introduced to the creamy crack at the age of nine. I never knew that the one that got me hooked would become my inspiration to get into 'rehab' and stick with it. I think my first relaxer was some Super brand of Ultra Sheen which slicked, fried, and laid to the side, by hair. The next relaxer was one by L'oreal. I'm not sure if even brands still exist but it my addiction didn't stop there. You see I had to have the infamous 'jheri curl' during the 80's, and on, and on...until my hair had enough.

You ask if you transition to natural hair was one birthed by some pilgrimage to the Mother Land...and I tell you, absolutely not! My hair was long, but it was damaged. And because I working out in the gym most days of the week, it stayed in a pony tail or bun. Nothing new there. I've always had a love-hate relationship with my hair. Growing it long was never a problem. Finding a way to keep it healthy during daily sweats at Bally's proved to be a daunting task.

Every wash was a freak out session which regularly came with large clumps of tresses running down the drain. Enough! I was tired of trying to salvage the breakage, one year of therapy wasn't repairing it. So I shaved it off! Yes I did. What the scissors wouldn't catch, the clippers took to the scalp. It was so liberating. As it. In three months, it will be two years nappy, curly, natural...or whatever. I call it simply freedom. I get to have the versatility I had been craving for decades. But I haven't gone straight, nor have I allowed a pair of flat irons or blow dryer touch my tresses.

I admit I donned a wig out of laziness. But mostly because it was pressure by others who are still on the 'straight' is best drug. What ever! Some old favorite products remain on my shelf, but I've embraced a new product line that took some time to convince me to purchase. And guess what? I love it! Carol's Daughter, won me over!


For daily maintenance, I revisited a product creator, once used from my days of relaxers and cold waves. No it's not chemical. Ha! Hawaiian Silky not only makes a curl and relaxer, but it has the best conditioning moisturizing creams and gels in store! I use the gel activator, the cream activator, the spray moisturizing conditioner, and of course the 14 in 1. Good stuff! It's all that it says it is--miracle worker indeed.


In addition to that, it's Eco Style gel, dark. I'm really considering trying their Olive Oil gel. I'll do a sample of it, and let you know what I think!

my first 5K

Yes, I know for you runner bunnies that's a brisk walk. But this girl, it's a trip to Mount Olympus! Seriously. I was never a runner. I took Aerobics in high school to avoid 'gym class'. To be a walker, I wasn't a very upwardly mobile runner. I hated it literally. I didn't know how to breathe, my knees were weak from Osgood's and no one bothered to show me how to do it. Well in the last few years before my colitis rendered me bedridden, I hit the track and tried to work myself up to what some might call a runner. It didn't last. When I was sidelined, I threw my entire discipline away.

Well, I'm back! And on October 3, 2010 I intend to run my very first 5k. I train three days a week and have been building my speed and endurance without my knees and arthritic ankles groaning to the punishment.

Here's me June 10, 2010, just one week into my return to exercise at Planet Fitness. My dress was so tight, I had to turn sideways in the picture to look thinner. Camera tricks! Look at how the material was pulling! OMG!


I don't do scales, unless I use it to weigh my food! So there it is. A slimmer me, September 10, 2010. I was brave enough to do a full frontal. December 10, is my next photo op. Now it will be cold here in Michigan, but I will still model the same dress. See you soon!

can't afford to eat healthy?

Really? Try this study. Record what you eat from all of the restaurants you spend money at during the course of one week. Get back with me with the results. I recently read a post somewhere (I won't say where.) that a perspective dieter for Weight Watchers was feeling down and out because she didn't think she could afford the food. I read her posts daily and you could feed a small village in Africa on the money she spends on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yes! She eats fast food for at least three meals.

This isn't the first time I've encountered such a client. I had one like this before who literally sabotaged her diet just so that she could have the 'glory' of telling me I had failed her. Mind you, she was a paid customer. So in the end, who was the real loser. I would have trained her for free if she only followed my suggestions instead of behaving like a contrite teenager. For this reason, I charge clients and no longer drive to their convenient location.

So, when you say you can't afford to eat healthy, document how much you spend on dining out. Cutting dollars in non-essential areas will save you money in the short and long run. Just consider the health care costs of a cesspool diet, that alone should make you want to dine in and weigh your portions.

scales are E-V-I-L!

Measuring girth, height, length, volume, are potentially fair assessments of quantity. But in terms of body mass, scales are typically unfair, and often compromise weight loss programs.

Why are they unfair? Well let's see, if they don't measure lean mass, bone density, water weight, it is likely that your numbers are not going to be adequately summarize your weight.

Does that change a persons desire to use it like it's some street carnival fortune teller? Heck no!

Do I shutter when people become so obsessed with their numbers that they forget that they need to build muscle mass? Yes!

Most of us want to be the number we were in highschool, and yet we forget that those lanky bodies were equated to youth, walking immensely, and keeping active. As we get older we lose muscle mass, become sedentary, drive, and yet we continue to eat the same diet we consumed in our youth, expecting similar results of yesteryear.

Very rare occurence that you will achieve your highschool weight.

If you really want to have a sucessful weight loss program, measure yourself at the onset if you must, and then in 6-8 weeks (again if you must). Otherwise let your clothes tell you how you are progressing. In that regard, find an outfit you love and try it on in the size you realistically want to be. In the progress of a well structure exercise program and a modified portion controlled diet, try that garment on regularly. Notice the changes?

Scales are E-V-I-L! Women beware!

good food, wise choices, & portion control

Every holiday conscious dieter binge-eats and wonders why they slipped down that slippery slope into oblivion. One answer. And it's a well documented one. First trouble hits when you dare to avoid the feast. Second issue is that you sneak and wind up eating more. And third, you forget to measure!

Labor Day in on the horizon. And for those that celebrate the observance and fell off the wagon, make good on your diet plans and atone by next holiday celebration. Begin the day after? Sure, why not? How you eat daily is a good training exercise for the holiday olympic eating.

1. Invest in measuring cups, a food scale with a tray, and 7 inch plate.
2. Learn to measure portions using Bally Fitness object comparisons.
3. In the beginning, for at least 6 weeks, journal what you eat and when you eat it.

Most feel that eating small meals causes them to gain weight. I have trained numerous clients who completely disagreed with my suggestions, and wound up sabotaging their entire success. It does take time to transition. However if you never start, how will you ever taste success?

4. Eat clean, and eat often (at least 5-6 small meals), control portions. This means you literally have to pack a sizeable cooler or large insulated lunch bag with at least raw fruits, vegetables, water, etc. Basically following Tosca Reno's plan (see video below).

5. If you choose to eat 3 meals, and 3 small snacks in between, opt on your meal to consume 3 ounces of lean protein or protein exchange along with a complex carbohydrate. You can always opt for a meal replacement bar or smoothie as a meal substitution. Good snacks are 3 cups of light popcorn, a fiber one yogurt or bar, 1/2 a large apple, orange, or pear (or 1 small).

6. Don't drink your calories unless you need to get hydrated. If you do, supplement with a fiber powder. This way you get hydrated, feel full, and add benefits to your digestive tract. Kellogg's All Bran Pink Lemonade or Iced Tea is a preference of mine.

Now when the holiday arrives and you can't resist eating at the buffet, here's a trick that doesn't include the measuring cups and spoons. Pull out that 7-inch plate. Make sure that you have protein, carbohydrates. Save your desert for the snack to take home or to enjoy as your snack (in 2-3 hours). Do not over fill your plate and do not stack food on top of eachother.

7. Drink lots of water, stay hydrated! Often the sensation of thirst is confused for hunger.

Enjoy your holiday or buffet without guilt!