Transformation Tuesday: Mental

Today's transformation tuesday blog is about a mental aspect of transformation rather than physical. Yesterday I started a new routine as part of a program that I am following. I don't know how long it should have taken me to complete it, but I suspect that I took longer than it should have. Why? Well, because 1.) I was scared of a little red box and 2.) I didn't want to quit.
First I saw the red box and I thought to myself "HELL YEAH! I don't have to do these on a bench" I had been previously using a bench for step ups and now I had to do box jumps, which I thought I might also have to do on a bench. However,  I show up to the weight room and voila, there's a box there. Yes. As I prepare to do this jump, I start getting scared! Why? I've jumped before, many times. The thing was that the landing surface seemed so small to me! I kept thinking that I was going to land on the very edge and tip over or not land at all!
Listen, at this point a while back the old me would of said "eff this! I'm scared! Lets do the alternative move!" BUT NOT THIS TIME! I started repeating to myself "you can land it! and if you fall just get back up." So I finally did it. It was so incredibly relieving lol I'm not going to say it was easy, but I got it done. All 4 sets. It got easier each time. I felt like a bad ass!

I proceeded to do the rest of my workout like the bad ass who I felt like. Then….Tun! Tuddunn! Tun! Tun! I get to the single leg romanian deadlift with single arm row! I've done single leg romanian deadlift many times before so I thought it would be no big deal. It was a big deal. A big sloppy deal. I couldn't keep my balance for crap! I kept tipping over to the side and having to side step. I started to get mad at myself because I was having such a hard time. Again, the old me would have quit or done something easier. Instead, I dropped all the weight and I practiced it without weight. Then, I added two dumbbells for equal balance and rowed both of them. Finally, when I felt like I had it down, I did it as instructed in the book with a single dumbbell (heavier than the two previously). It wasn't "easy" duh, but I could do it. I figured out that I had to stay focused on a single object and keep my focus fixed on it as I hinged from the hip up and down and as I rowed up and back down.

I know that its little achievements here and there that are what keep me going. Little by little it all comes together. The word "can't" is slowly making it's way out of my self talk vocabulary. Everytime I am about to say "I can't" I catch myself and I rephrase that to "I will". On the contrary if I don't' want to do something I say, "I won't" or "I don't want to", but "I can't" is a lie. I can do anything I set my mind to.

Tips to Get You Started Towards Your Body Transfomation Goals

I'm not a professional nutritionist; so please do not take my advice as gospel….
With that out of the way, I'd like to share some tips to help you in your journey to being a healthier you!
Not everybody is the same, but these are some things that have helped me that I still practice today.

Do you know how much you should be eating everyday?
Well it's time to find out! If you don't track your food, you don't have to. You are not required, but I would recommend that you do for a little while. This is to put your  daily food intake in perspective. You may think that the food that you are eating only has so many calories when in reality it has more, or fat, or carbs, or sodium! OH MY!

• I recommend that you use a site like : Scooby Workshop to get an idea of how much you need to intake daily. Be realistic with yourself and answer the questions in such manner. Now that you have an idea of what you should be eating go over to My Fitness Pal and start tracking! Warning, my fitness pal is going to ask you a brand new set of question and they will give you a calorie amount that you are supposed intake daily according to your goals. That has always confused me because it is at a deficit and I don't know why, I just don't get that science. However, once you are logged in, you can go to goals and adjust your goals according to what Scooby told you. Also, if you track your workouts with my fitness pal they will expect you to eat that food back, DON'T because the data from scooby already includes your activity. 

While on the subject of food here are some tips in the kitchen to make your tracking easier and that you can continue to incorporate in your daily life.

^^^ My dinner plate. All carefully measured out. 1/2 cup of quinoa, 6 oz of wild caught salmon, 2 cups of classic garden salad, 2tbs of raspberry vinaigrette, 6 croutons, 1 tablespoon of sweet chili sauce. Sounds like a lot of work, BUT once you've been doing it for a while, it's second nature.

• use a food scale and weigh your food raw
• use measurement cups and spoons *p.s. sometimes I eat my snacks right out of a measurement cup. It's a mind thing because 1/3 of a cup doesn't taste like a 1/3 of a cup when you're eating something yummy. lol It tastes like a tablespoon.
• buy organic when all possible. I know that organic is generally pricier than non organic, but the difference in flavor is worth it. Yummy, delicious and fresh flavors also helps us feel satisfied at the end of a meal. =) Here is a list of the top produce you should be buying organic. Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Strive to buy organic anything that you see in the dirty dozen. 
• If you have to use canned food then drain and rinse it (when possible) to get rid of some of the sugars/sodium etc. I do that with beans, fruits and veggies.
• Know what you're eating everyday. Have a plan. You don't have to plan that far in advance, but at least know what's in your fridge and plan what you will be eating the next day. It makes it easier to stay away from drive thrus and the table of gourmet treats at the office. I plan a week in advance. I stay true to that plan about 90% of the time. 
• Don't let hunger strike! NO! NO! NO! Hunger will cloud your judgement! lol Try to eat before you are hungry! I eat every 2 to 3 hours max!

Last, but not least! Keep your iron in check!! and by Iron I mean weights! lol Make weight lifting a part of your workout routine. If you are new to weight lifting and don't know where to start. Here are some resources that you might find helpful: Body Building, New Rules of Lifting For Women, (there's also a non woman version, which anyone can use) and Drop 2 Sizes. These are sources that I have actually used and have given me great results.

Repost: Numbers Don't Define You - Nia Shanks

This is an awesome read that I came across today and I thought I'd share.

Your self-worth, beauty, strength, and overall awesomeness is not defined by numbers.

You are not the size of your jeans.

You are not the number of calories you eat each day.

You are not the percentage of body fat you carry at any given time.

You are not the number on the bathroom scale.

You are not the cup size of your bra.

You are not the circumference of your waist, glutes, or thighs.

You are not the weight on the barbell you pull off the ground or the dumbbell you hoist overhead.

Read More...

Transformation Tuesday

Most of you who know me, have never known me like this. Yeah, I was BIG and I didn't have a clue or I didn't care. It wasn't until mid 2008 that I realized just how big I was. I arrived in Quanitico, VA, which is very close to D.C., which also happens to be the country's second fittest city. Everywhere I turned there was people running or working out in some type of way. This made me very aware of how innactive I was. I remember when I unpacked our stuff I saw the scale, which up until that point was only used by Rey, who was the only one worried about weight (marine corps height and weight standards). I stepped on that scale and I was pushing 200 pounds!!! I'm only 5'2 and a half! The half counts! lol Holy flipping shit!! I weighed more than I did the day I was checked into labor and delivery for Alysa.
I immediately started doing something about it. However, I was doing it all wrong. I took upon fad diet after fad diet, this pill and that pill, and this shake and that shake because they all promised a land of fucking rainbows and butterflies. Let me tell you, being desperate to be "skinny" will make you do some pretty shameful stupid shit, all of which I regret now. There was moments when I was skinny and then when I was too broke to spend money on a refill of whatever pill I was on at the time, I'd get fat again! It was a vicious cycle. I did every zumba class, kickboxing class, fucking pole dancing class, you name it, I was first in line at that class. They all that helped a little. Yet, none of those things thought me how to eat properly. In fact some trainers encouraged me to eat 1200 calories a fucking day, just the calories my body needs to live if I was in a fucking coma!! I beat my metabolism to the ground, of course I didn't know that then.
In 2010 I discovered this BULLSHIT diet called the HCG diet. It helped. I met my goals in a very stupid and wreckless manner. I pretty much trained myself to live off of appx 800 calories a day. This diet lietarlly encouraged me to not exercise. I was happy as all hell because really. who wants to work out? lol ME! Well now I do, I didn't then. I kept my weight off until the holidays then I was back on a diet again. Then I got pregnant with Leon and I got fat again. lol Once I had him I was on the "loose the baby weight" wagon. I did for a while entertain the idea of doing the HCG diet again....until I realized that it had been banned in the US and I would have to order it from China, in vials, and administer them as injections. FUCK THAT!
Then something in me clicked, "there has to be a better way!" There was, I'm on that path right now. I read and I read and I read, I went to sleep and I dramnt of the shit I would read. I book marked so many blogs and so many scholarly articles from expert sources. I learned many of the methods I use today from these articles/people. I eat! I eat well, I eat healthy and I eat to fuel my daily lifestyle, which happens to include weight lifting and interval training at one point it included training for a marathon. I spent so much time in the past looking at food as the enemy, when in reality food is your friend!!! Well, not cheesy french fries, they're no ones friend....well sometimes, but not always. lol
Anyways, I felt the need to write all of this because its a way to clear my mind and get along with my inner voice better at the same time. There are days when I wrongfully compare myself to others and I think "why has it taken me so long to get here when it took them only so and so time" Well that's why. I was ignorant and it took getting it wrong a lot of times before I got it right. I was lazy, I didn't want to read. I was looking for the magic pill, the magic shake. It's not out there, it doesn't exist.
While I am in a great place right now, it's not always peaches and cream. There are days when I wake up and I'm bloated because I ate too much fiber (lol) or I indulged in a ramen noodle soup (hey, i like poor gourmet sometimes lol), my skin is braking out because I let the sweat hang out over my face too long while I worked out the day before, etc. Shit happens. We're not all perfect!

Here is my advice for you if you if you are just starting out on your journey (with bullets yo)

• stick with it
• stop expecting immediate results
• save your money! unless it's creatine, caffeine, amminos, protein, or vitamins, or any other thing that your body already produces on it's own, or that you can get from food, DON'T toxify your body with that bullshit! (in reference to supplements) 
• WORK  B***HES!! 
• Lift weights
• Eat the food. 
• Count the macros 
• Focus on fat loss
• READ! and research!
• LOVE YOURSELF

I feel like I have to say this, even though you guys already know this, I AM NOT AN EXPERT! lol
This is my story!
I'm not done with working out because I feel like it's a part of my life. While, I am confident that my metabolism is up to speed, I'm also afraid that if I let go I'll look like my before picture in no time lol
As God is my witness, I will NOT let that happen.