Yep! I'm still here

I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last post. A lot has happened and on the flip side, not much has changed. Since my June 13th post, I became the mother of a teenager. Yikes! It's been stressful, trying and sometimes I look at my son and think, "that is not the kid I gave birth to." So far I haven't killed him or caused bodily harm. I've been showing great restraint and patience.

Don't let the cute face fool ya

In September, my maternal grandmother passed away. It hit me hard. I mean really hard. She was my last surviving grandparent. She's the one that gave me my name. It still hurts but I know that she is in a better place. Always, the up side to a death in the family is that family comes together. It was great seeing all of my uncles, aunts and cousins. We are scattered all over the country and don't get to see each other as much as we should. With the death of my grandmother, we all made a vow to not let so much time go by without visiting whether it be in a central location or whatever.

The weight struggle continues on. I went to my Gyno at the end of last year and I didn't gain any weight! Woo hoo! But I hadn't lost any either. Boo. So right now, I am using the internet to help me with my weight loss. I'm using the Lose It! app to track my calories and workouts. Thanks to Pinterest, I discovered the workout jar. You put $1 in the jar for every time you workout. Once you get up to $100, you buy yourself a treat. I'm at $15 and I started the Workout Jar back in February. LOL! Baby steps. I have been consistent with tracking my food. Now I just need to do that with working out. Now that the weather is nice, it won't be too much of a hardship going to the gym (I hope). And I have decided to not let anything or anyone get in my way of getting to the gym. I'm putting myself first. Everyone else can wait.

A friend of mine (ex co-worker), Felicia, was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago and she passed away last month. She fought the entire way. She didn't let the diagnosis or the treatment slow her down. She wasn't sure if she would have a little or a lot of time left so she did everything she wanted to do but had always put on the back burner. She traveled to Europe, visited New Orleans. She had her own bucket-list that she was determined to fulfill. I admire her so. damn. much. And I learned so much from her. Life is too damn short. Live it. Love it. Enjoy it.

That's how I want to live my life. Not everyday will be a great day or even an ok day. But I am going to be appreciative that I am alive to LIVE another day. The one thing Felicia taught me was that we should treat our bodies like a temple. She was into holistic, natural remedies and products and fitness. She was a runner and was trying to get me to start running. Thanks to her, I've started making my own products -- facial cleanser, body scrub, hair treatments. It's cheaper, better for you and you actually know what you're using on your body. My husband is on the same healthier living kick. He is about to turn 41 and he does not want to get the "Whitmore belly" as he calls it. So we as a family have cut back sugar, processed foods, red meat. We do allow ourselves to cheat because you still want to have that nice steak for dinner and that yummy cheesecake for dessert. But we are more cognizant of what we're putting into our body. Like I  told my husband, I don't want to be 50 and taking a bunch of meds to be able to function and get through the day. No sir, that will not be me!

Hopefully this won't be my last post for another 10 months. I will be getting back to being more consistent. We're actually going on vacation this summer to Aruba! (That's another motivator for getting my ass in shape). I will be detailing my journey through life. Some of it may be boring, some may be interesting but either way, I can guarantee I will find a way to make it funny!

Motivation (or lack of)

Motivation is a mutha, ain't it? Since my last post I have made it to the gym thrice (3 times). I am awesomely consistent with working out Saturday mornings. But the other days of the week? Not so much. I try to workout before work. I set my alarm at 4:30am with the goal of rolling out of bed and going to the gym. I set two alarms to be exact; scheduled to off 7 minutes apart to make sure that I don't hit the snooze and go back to sleep. Do I go to the gym? Nope. My bed is too comfy and it's too cold outside. I then vow to go to the gym after work. But after a long day at work, a harrowing commute, making dinner, yelling at the kid for who knows what, I'm pretty much exhausted by 7:00pm. I put on my comfy sweats and lounge on the couch until bed time. And this is the cycle that happens everyday, Monday thru Friday.

What am I to do? These are the times where I wish I could afford a personal trainer. Knowing that someone is there waiting for me, someone that I am paying, would help get my ass out the house and to the gym. Unfortunately, a personal trainer is mucho expensive and I don't have that kind of extra money to spend. I don't workout with a friend so I don't have a gym buddy to help keep me motivated. I'm all on my own here.

I need to come up with some type of reward/demerit system for myself. I am my own cheerleader and motivator. I need to focus and stop letting LIFE get in the way. And stop with the excuses and procrastinating. Easier said than done, right?

On the bright side, I've been eating much healthier thanks to not having any migraine medication for almost a month. I've had to do a better job of managing my triggers (food, stress, alcohol) because I didn't have any meds (thanks to my raggedy-ass insurance). That's a long story for another day. Because of this, I've been cutting back on the sugar and fat and alcohol. The change hasn't been reflected on the scale but I am happy that I held off getting a migraine without medication. This is not to say that I don't want my meds; I do. I see the medication as a safety net; Use In Case of Emergency.

I need to schedule my workouts like I schedule doctors appointment. It needs to become a habit; something that I do daily, like eating breakfast. Thankfully a new week is upon us. Let's see how this goes.

Go me!!

On a roll!

Well, if you consider going to the gym two days in a row a "roll". I managed to dragg myself out of bed again this morning and made it to the gym by 4:30. My plan was to walk on the treadmill for an hour. According to my friend Courtenay (who's a former personal trainer), I should walk on the treadmill for an hour at least twice a week. Unfortunately, I didn't get the gym early enough to do the full hour. So instead, I walked for 45 mintutes, did a quick ab workout and stretched.  It's only Tuesday; I'll get those 2 hours of walking in one day this week.

I like working out in the morning because it's done and I no longer have to think about it. But the one downside (although there's many - haha!) is that working out in the mornings wreaks havoc on my hair. I take a luke warm to almost cold shower to try and cool my body temperature. And most of the time it works. I'm no longer sweating and can get dressed without feeling yucky. But it seems my head has other ideas. By the time I'm ready to do my hair, it is soaked with sweat. I have a wet/dry flat iron so that helps cut down on the time. But that means I have to run the flat iron over my hair at least 3 times before it's dry. Now that I've decided to let my relaxer grow out, it takes even longer to do my hair. I may have to sport "wash-n-go" look even though it's winter time and I really shouldn't be going outside with wet/damp hair. Almost making me rethink the idea of growing out my relaxer. I just need to figure it out. If I have to rock a ponytail most of the time, then so be it.

What do you listen to when you workout?

Great music is an essential part of my workout. If I'm tired of the music on my iPod, then I'm not motivated to go to the gym. Sounds crazy, I know, but music really gets me going. And it helps push me through my workout when all I want to do is quit.

My "Running" playlist is one of my favorite playlists. It's a mixture of Dance, R&B, Reggae and Hip-Hop. I never get tired of listening to it. I think it's due to the variety of music I incorporated.  This is what my playlist looks like:

1. Get Me Bodied (extended mix) - Beyonce
2. Sexy Bitch - David Guetta feat. Akon
3. 3 - Britney Spears
4. Miles Away - Madonna
5. I Remember - Deadmau5/Kaskade
6. Get Low - Lil John
7. Gasolina - Daddy Yankee
8. In Da Club - 50 Cent
9. Scream - Starkillers
10. So Fine - Sean Paul
11. Poker Face - Lady Gaga
12. What Is Love - Haddaway

I have many more songs in that playlist. I always shuffle the playlist so that I'm constantly surprised when the next song plays.

There are a couple of albums that I listen to in its entirety when I'm working out. That's very rare. But these are so good from start to finish and has me jamming while I'm on the treadmill or weight machines.

David Guetta - One Love (a double disc delux. The second disc contains club/extended mixes of tracks from the first disc)

Madonna - Celebration (a double-disc Greatest Hits CD. It contains some of my favorite Madonna songs especially like her more recent Dance hits like "Sorry" and "Hung Up".

M.I.A. - Kala (I was vaguely familiar with M.I.A. I saw her video for "Boys" on MTV Jams. I really became a fan and decided to purchase her CD when she released "Paper Planes".

My husband makes fun of me because I'm always complaining about how I'm running out of space on my iPod. He tells me I need to stop putting everything I listen to on my iPod. Well that defeats the purpose of having an iPod!

My child is so funny

Last night I was in the kitchen fixing Darrius a protein shake. Yes, he drinks protein shakes. Darrius is trying to get buff. Ha ha! While I'm fixing his shake, he walks into the kitchen and tells me that his workouts are starting to work.

D: Mom, look at my shoulders. They are getting bigger.
Me: Really? Let me see. Stand still.
D: You see how big my shoulders are? It's from my workouts.

I continue to stare at him. And then I realize something. Only one of his shoulders is bigger. It's bigger and red.

Me: Ummm, D, your shoulder isn't big from working out. It's swollen from the tetanus shot you got yesterday.
D: It is?
Me: Yeah. Is it sore?
D: It's a little sore.
Me: Take some Tylenol and put some ice on it.
D: That's ok. I'm fine. It doesn't hurt that bad.
Me: Can you move your arm without much pain?
D: Yeah see it's fine.
Me: If it starts hurting, let me know.
D: Ok.
D: Man, I was showing my friends today at school how my workouts are making me bigger. I was showing off my shoulders and everything. Flexing and showing my muscles.
Me: Well I guess tomorrow you'll have to tell them your shoulder is bigger not because of your workouts but because of your tetanus vaccination.
D: Yeah I guess. This sucks. I thought I was getting some muscle.

He then walks out of the kitchen, protein shake in hand, head hanging low.