Hey Fellow Bloggers, Readers and the Likes...

On my last post I said I wouldn't be posting because my mother was sick. I have an update on that she is doing better, she has pneumonia, and she waited until she was extremely sick before she went to the doctor,. The doctor told her he has no idea how she made it the way she was but if she had waited one more day she would have died. When she arrived at the hospital her pulse was high, her blood pressure was low, she had shallow breathing and the list goes on. She even lost about 15lbs and she only weighed about 115 to begin with. She is using an oxygen tank to help her breathe but she is recovering really well. The doctor is going to see her again on Monday to let her know more about how she is recovering and maybe to give her an idea of when she will be able to come home. I want to thank Joy and Tim for the kind words you left I really appreciate it. I want to thank everyone else who read it and still remembered us in their prayers. Since I know my mother is in good hands I can get back to posting. I didn't completely go away though I still read others blogs and I left comments here and there. 

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Not going to blog for a while

My mother was admitted into the hospital today and she may have a life threatening problem. We won't know for sure until she gets a scan done. She has been sick for a few weeks but we finally convinced her to go to the doctor. For that reason my complete focus will be on my mother and I will be too busy helping my sister with my 3 year old nephew and taking care of what we can while my mother is in the hospital, I doubt I will want to exercise or blog about anything related to my weight. For some reason it seems so insignificant right now. I will still try to stay on track with my eating though. Earlier I wrote that this was going to be a stressful week little did I know how stressful. I thank you all in advance for your support.

I am Thankful that...

... I made it to 27 :D Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! Happy Birthday to me :D Today is my 27th birthday! Jeez in three years I will be 30. Yikes! lol

Last week I had set goals to be under 200lbs by my birthday but unfortunately I really slacked off this week because of a stressful week so I didn't meet that goal. But I am Ok with it. And I am still going to eat a piece of cake, I am going to try to get some workout sessions in today, nevertheless on Saturday I am going to go full force back into my exercises. 

Other News

I have an update to make on Turbo Fire I am still committed to the program but I am going to do the first week over because I did not work out this week and I don't want to do more advanced exercising when I barely made it through the first week without my heart trying to break free of my body. I feel good that I am able to maintain at 202 lbs even though I haven't been exercising or eating particularly well. To me it means that the way I am  losing weight is working for me. In the past I did really restrictive diets where I would lose 4lbs after 2 weeks but then I would regain that 4lbs in 2 days. The fact that that didn't happen this time is inspiring to me. TOM will visit me the beginning of next week I think and I haven't even gained any weight as a result of that in like 3months which is good because I used to gain 5lbs. But anyways until the next post!. 

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are celebrating it. Happy Thursday to everyone else and Happy Birthday to ME ME ME!!!! 

Stress Filled Week Ahead!

This is the last week of the semestre and I am sure it is going to be a week from hell for me. I have so many things that I need to do that I am feeling overwhelmed already. I was going to run on about how bad my week is going to be but I thought maybe it would help just to give tips on the things I am going to do to deal/cope with the stress:

1. Listen to Relaxing Music: I love to listen to Enya when I am feeling overwhelmed. She has a really soothing voice and the music is so calming that just listening to it relaxes

2. Breathing Exercises. Mediation: Taking long deep breathes and clearing my mind allows me to see things objectively.

3. Write Everything down. It helps me to write down everything that I have to do. Sometimes when it's only in your mind you think How can I get all this done? But when you see it on paper it suddenly seems a bit more doable because all you have to do is organize it in terms of priority and cross it off the list once it is done.

4 Don't wait for the last minute!: Work on Things a little bit at a time. This is my biggest problem one day I will take my own advice.

5. Exercise: I read that this is a good stress reducer but it does not work for me. It takes too much energy for me to motivate myself to exercise when I am feeling overwhelmed.

15 in 15 Weigh In and Rambling

Last week's weigh in I was 202, this week I am.... wait for it......... 202! So I had no change, I could go on and on saying how I didn't expect better because last week I did not eat enough calories, and how I am bloated because I haven't you know... stinky this week..lol (yes I said stinky). I even did what Tim did, I took off all my clothes, I took whiz, I even got up at 4am this morning to get in a last minute workout just do even sweat off a pound even if it was only water weight but that 202 would not budge for longer than 2mins. I looked down that the number that wouldn't budge and I wanted to scream "STUPID SCALE! THIS IS WHY I AM BREAKING UP WITH YOU!"...lol 

On a serious note, although I would have liked to see a number below 200:lbs I was not disappointed. I am fine with the scale. I am not only on a journey to lose weight (well it is but you know what I mean) I also want to be healthy. The weight will come off eventually! Hopefully I will lose it before I am too old to enjoy my sexy body. But, believe this! If it takes me until I am 90 to get a slim sexy body you better believe there will be a 90year old woman fitting my description, wrinkles and all walking around in a mini shirt checking out young dudes! Because I worked hard for it and I am going to show it off even if it takes that long. For everyone else's sake I hope it doesn't take that long...lol

Anyways back on point.  I am more excited about my workout today. Yesterday I did Fire 30 again. I made it 4mins longer than I did the first time I did it. For some reason I could not push myself enough to finish the workout even though I only had about 6mins left. Today the workout is called Fire 55 EZ Class. I am praying that EZ stands for easy. I am going to RANT about it if Chalene misleads me...lol

Anyways I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Thanks for reading!

Comedy Central: First Three Days of Turbo Fire...

... (sigh) It was... (bigger sigh) SO FREAKING DIFFICULT OMG!

Yeah... (smh - shaking my head)

I have been exercising for the better part of 2months. I have seen a lot of improvements in my stamina, and energy level, however, Day 1(Monday) of Turbo Fire made me feel like I am a novice. This was how it went. I started the DVD on my laptop, I was all excited and ready to begin. Charlene (the instructor) was full of energy as usual, the music started to play and I felt the adrenaline start to pump through my veins, I was ready to begin! I don't think I ever had a bigger smile on my face in preparation of exercising.

So we are doing the warm up that she normally uses in her Turbo Jam workout, only this time something was different. I was sweating 2minutes into the warm up and my breathing was heavy (controlled but still heavy). At first I didn't think much of it, my fan wasn't on in my room so I was ready to blame it on the humidity in the air.  Then we got into the workout and she is doing a lot of kicks and jumps and I said to myself holy Sh*t what did I just get myself into???? Then the siren goes off and Charlene says "Now I want you to give 110%". I was like "Heffa is you serious?" 

I got a flash back of when I foolishly convinced myself that I was ready to try insanity. (Can someone say that was an epic fail????) But I didn't want to give up so quickly so I pushed myself to give 100% more effort. Needless to say I thought I was going to hyperventilate! The workout was so intense! I had my phone ready to dial the ambulance. I seriously saw my life flash before my eyes. I said to the Lord, Lord is this how I am supposed to die? Doing a workout video? Really?

The workout was about 30minutes and but I managed to make it through 20mins of it (With the help of breaks of course). For the next 10minutes I stood there watching the moves while at the same time trying to control my breathing. There was NO WAY I could have finished the workout and survive (I am exaggerating but it is just that serious). I seriously thought about giving up the program and finding something else but then I thought about all the other times I had given up on my commitments so I stayed positive and said to myself Tomorrow is another day and another workout stick it through. So that was what I did, I finished my workout day with Leslie Sansone 1mile walk ( I always get a boost of confidence when I can finish an exercise dvd) I woke up feeling well rested then it was on to day two. 

Day 2 (Tuesday) workout was only 15mins but it was very difficult. Even more difficult than day 1. It was a HIIT session (High Intensity Interval Training) in a nutshell you are working out at both low and high intensity nonstop. I made it to 5mins then I quit. My breaths were so deep I honestly had no idea my lungs could expand so big. I just stared at the computer screen in shock. I asked myself again what had I gotten myself into? I started to question whether I should continue with the workout program, and again I thought about the other times I had given up. I decided that I would try HIIT on Wednesday because I was too tired to even try to push through the exercise. Instead I took a break and I rested for the remainder of Day two. 

Day 3 (Wednesday) went a lot better than the first two days, I was still really tired while I was doing the HIIT session but I took some B12 vitamins and green tea supplements before I started. I don't know if it is a  mind thing or they really help with energy but I made it through the HIIT workouts without prayers and with minimum rest periods. The workout is 15mins and it took me 20mins to finish it and I did not do the modified version of the workout I gave it my all. I was really proud of myself that I was able to make it through the DVD. I followed up the HIIT workout with the recommended 10minute Stretch DVD. 

Lessons Learned:

• All I need to do to get through this is to stay focused
• It is alright to take breaks when my body is telling me I need it and not when my mind says that I need it!
• Intense workouts makes me feel GREAT!

Final Thought

Yeah I did a lot of complaining while I was working out and I may have said a curse word or two but I feel amazing right now, even with my sore muscles. I am curious what Charlene has in store for me tomorrow! I am looking forward to the day that I can finish the workouts without taking breaks! 

Added Motivation:

My birthday is next week Thursday. If I can lose 5lbs (or at least be under 200lbs) by my birthday I will have a very happy birthday. I want cake and Ice cream and I am getting it!

Would I recommend Turbo Fire?

I will have to answer this when I am done with the program. I can say this though, I don't think it is possible to do this workout program and not see results! (I really need to get a measuring tape so I can track my progress.... is there a pill to make me stop procrastinating?)

If you are curious what the workouts look like there are some videos on YouTube. I don't want to post videos on my blog without the makers permission. 

Mini Vacation and Turbo Jam

Although I have been working out (sparsely but still) I have not been sticking to my plan like I planned. Therefere, I am starting over. My boyfriend and I are going on a mini vacation right before Christmas. We are going to be spending 4 days at a resort in Treasure Cay, Abaco (which is an island in the Bahamas). We will be there from the 16 December to the 20 December. I am so very excited.We did a similar trip early this year where we visited another Bahamian Island and we had a blast. We went bike riding, we walked the beach and investigated the reef. We saw small fish, crabs and a lot of sea urchins. We went fishing, we filled the hot tub full of bubbles it was a blast. We would have revisited Andros but we wanted to try something new. (I got a bit of track). 

A few of the pictures we took during our trip. The yellow building (top left) is the whole entire airport...lol  I got a serious tan too. That is how much time we spent outside in the sun it was amazing. (May 2010)

Anyways although we had a lot of fun in Andros one thing we didn't do was take enough pictures. There were two reasons for that, one we were having too much fun to take pictures, and two I am not comfortable taking pictures. I really regret not taking more pictures from our vacation in Andros. I am not making that same mistake twice.  I plan on taking tons of pictures in Abaco. Also, I want to look my best in the pictures, so I am using that as a source of motivation to get back on track with exercising.

For the next few weeks, I will be following the Turbo Fire exercise routine. This is the first time I will do the complete workout plan (well I won't follow the diet plan). I love doing turbo jam it gives me a lot of energy and turbo fire is a more intense version of that workout plan so it should be both challenging and fun. I haven't gotten a measuring tape yet but I will try to get one today. In a later post I will give my measurements and show a current picture of myself.

The Junk Food Diet...

The other morning, I was watching an American morning newscast and one of the featured story was on a Professor of Nutrition who claimed that he was able to lose 27lbs eating nothing but twinkees and junk food (for the most part that was all he ate). His diet is called the "Junk Food Diet". The study was conducted under the premise that portion control was more important than nutritional value when one is trying to lose weight. Therefore as long as you stay within your calorie intake you lose weight no matter what you eat. The first thought that came to my mind is that this guy is looking for a way to make money. Sure enough, he is writing a guide for his "revolutionary diet". Honestly, there is nothing remarkable about his study. Everyone who has done research on weight loss knows that calorie counting is an important aspect which promotes weight loss. Weight Watchers for example, makes millions (if not billions) of dollars on this theory. Portion Control is the basic calories in calories out that all "diet experts" and bloggers promote.I think everyone who is trying to lose weight knows this already.

Although, I am not particularly fond of this study, I think there are some positive implications to what he is doing. For persons like me who enjoys eating junk food, we know that can successfully lose weight even if we slip up and eat junk food. We know that we don't have to go on a very restrictive diet and see junk food as a devil that will hinder our progress. We know that IT IS OK TO INDULGE (within limits) every now and again. We can do that without feeling guilty. I know from personal experience that overly restrictive diets (eating plans) do not work for me. What usually happens when I try to avoid certain foods is that it becomes a source of temptation for me and I end up binging later. On the other hand, if I treat myself to something sweet when I am craving it I am able to control how much I eat without going overboard. Eventually, I want to get to the point where I do not eat junk food, but until then, I eat what I want but I track. (is it bad to be addicted to tracking? because I feel another addiction (habit) coming on...lol)

I am going to post some links if you are interested about reading more on the professor and his "studies". Tell me what you think of him. I think he is an opportunist but thats just my opinion...lol  Eating foods that have no nutritional value can lead to deficiencies. Junk food normally contain a lot of sodium also which can lead to high blood pressure. Can someone say this professor is begging for a lawsuit??? 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/11/09/professor-loses-pounds-junk-food-diet/

http://www.hivehealthmedia.com/lose-weight-eating-twinkies-junk-food-diet/

Slave to the scale...

It is almost as if it is taunting me, it calls my name constantly. Every ten seconds I have the urge to stand on it.  It is like a demon in my ear, I hear it whispering to me, every time I eat something, exercise or drink something, it calls to me, it is almost like it is seducing me. (with a Pepe Le skunk voice) "Hey pretty thing, be a good girl, and stand on me, weigh yourself, you know you want to do it. And I want you to do it. Will you please stand on me and ease this pain of separation that we are experiencing"  Rather than fight the temptation I do it, I stand on the scale and I weigh myself, I have gotten to the point that I weigh myself no less than 30 times a day.  I am sitting here writing this blog and thinking about weighing myself. In fact I am going to take a pause and go and weigh myself...lol (Seriously I did weigh myself) All jokes aside, Hi My name is Shantell and I am addicted to the scale!

Week in Review

Life

My week was quite eventful and uneventful at the same time. We are winding down the last few weeks of the semestre so I had a heap load of presentations make and reports to write. The worse part about it was that the  lecturers told us from Day 1 what was expected of us. They warned us not to wait for the last minute to start. They advised us to work on it throughout the semestre.  But guess who always has to wait until the night before to prepare??? Yes you guessed it me. Some how I have managed to convinced myself that I think better under pressure. So I have spent this week working on reports and I think for this week (M to R) I have only slept a total of 10hours. So now I am sleep deprived and I will probably be really hungry today. The upside of that was that I have finished the majority of the work I had left this week. I have one more presentation on Tuesday and two papers to write for that day as well then I will be able to relax and think again. Which is why I haven't been posting or working on my exercise challenge. I had too much else to think about that I took the out to stop thinking. I was in autopilot. A few times the light was on but no one was at home. 

Eating and Exercise

I managed to work out one day this week for a little bit over an hour. I think it was 1hr20. I have been eating under 1000 calories this week too, it is not intentional I have just had so many things to do that food didn't cross my mind.  Nevertheless today is a new day. I am going to relax today, eat good and worry about everything else next week...lol As far as weight is concerned. I lost 1.9lbs I am exactly 202 ( I can smell 199) It will probably take me 2 weeks to get there but I am going to try to do in 1week. 

The rest

Again I want to say. thanks to everyone for your support. I have been reading everyone's blog even if I didn't comment. I have three posts in draft I am going to edit and get them up if not today, tomorrow. If you have a blog and I am not already a follower of yours let me know I am happy to follow everyone! I have learned so much already from reading others posts and I have an opinion about EVERYTHING!...lol Until next time! 

This is what happens when I blink

I blinked and when I look again I had 21 followers! WAY COOL! I am so amazed! I never thought that I would have 1 follower much less 21! Really??? Anyways thank you everyone for your support! 

Tag!

I have been tagged by Ellen at Fat Girl Wearing Thin she has a great blog if you haven't checked it out yet do so!

The rules of the tag is that you have to answer the four questions then write four questions for the person you tag to answer.

1.  Name the furthest place you’ve ever been from home.

The furtherest place I have ever been would have to be France. But I have also been to the Netherlands about 6times I have been to Mexico, Cuba, Belguim and a few states in the U.S. (I am from The Bahamas)

2.  What is the most physically demanding thing you’ve ever done?

I would have to say carrying four heavy bags through the terminal (by myself) because I didn't want to pay 5 dollars to borrow a trolley/cart

3.  How long have you been blogging and what was your initial reason for starting?

I was blogging since March of this year and I started because I thought it would be fun to talk about random things that was on my mind.  

4.  What is the best thing that’s happened to you in 2010?

I would have to say the best thing to ever happen to me in 2010 was getting to spend 3straight months with my boyfriend. ( We are in a long, long, long distance relationship) I had an amazing summer! We stayed at the resort in Andros that is another island in the Bahamas. We took bubble baths in a jacuzzi. We went for long late walks in Holland. We went to the movies and ate a lot of Ben and Jerry's and we were laughing I had a great Summer.

Questions for others:

1. What is something that you bought this year that you still have but wish you could take it back to the store?

2. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

3. Are you planning on making New Years resolutions?

4. What is one of your fondest childhood memories?

The people that I am tagging: I have no idea who have done this tag already. So if you are reading this and you want to do it. Do it and leave a comment saying you did it so I can read your response thanks :D

Day 2 and 3 of Personal Exercise Challenge

To sum it up the two days were complete and utter failures. I did not work out at all. Monday I only slept for only three hours and so when it was time for me to exercise on Tuesday I was literally falling asleep. After 20mins of trying two different work out videos I gave up trying because I wasn't giving it enough effort for it to have any effect. I was going to make it up yesterday by working out for 1:30mins but I a lower back pain I can even bend over because my back hurts too much. Writing this seems like I am making a lot of excuses but nevertheless I am going to make up my hours this week. I hope I have better luck today.

Day 1 of November Exercise Challenge is Complete.

I am going to be honest, I don;t feel like blogging right now (I am feeling stressed and have a lot going on right now) but a part of my challenge said that I would do updates on how my challenge is going because I feel it will help me stay on track . Overall yesterday went well, I pretty much met all the requirements. I drank enough water and I watched my calorie intake and I kinda worked out for an hour yesterday. I say kinda because I started working out at about 11:50pm and I didn't complete my workouts until about 1:10am. Yes PEOPLE I workout really late. I hope it still counts according my to boyfriend the next morning doesn't start until the sun comes up...lol 

To be honest I prefer working out at night, I have no idea why but it seems like I can't muster enough energy to put on my workout clothes and tennis until it is late in the evening. Another reason why I work out so late is because, it is the most convenient time for me. It is when my house is quietest and it is less likely for my 3 year old nephew to interrupt me during my workout sessions. However, there is a negative side to working out so later! It took me an hour to fall asleep after I finished my workouts! It sucks but looking at the bright side at least I did it.

November 1st Workouts:

1. Walkaway the pounds 2mile walk: I used 2lbs weight instead of the weight balls (I don't have those) and my arms were burning but I am happy I did it (30min workout)
2. Yoga Booty Ballet Cardio Cabaret.: I have to say that normally I don' t like dance workouts I hate Zumba but I really like this workout. As the name suggests it combines principles of yoga dancing and ballet. It was a bit hard to keep up with the moves sometimes but I still really enjoyed myself. It was fun to do yoga again.  When they were done I seriously wondered where the time went. I am going to do this working again most likely on Friday. (30min workout)

Tips to Motivate Yourself to Exercise.

We all know that exercise is important for our health. Likewise, we know that there are many benefits to physical activity. For example, it can improve your mood, it helps to relieve stress, and it helps to manage your weight. (Just to name of few) However, sometimes finding the motivation to exercise requires so much energy that you may choose not to exercise. In hopes of motivating myself (and possibly others) I have listed  7 tips that may help motivate myself (and you) to exercise. 

1. Do exercises that you love doing: This is very simple to comprehend. If do exercises that you love to you will do it more readily as oppose to doing an exercise that you don't like doing. Make exercise fun rather than a chore. The more fun you have while exercising the more you will want to do it. 

2. Reward Yourself: If you are finding it hard to exercise, it may help to reward yourself every week or after you have done a certain amount of hours of exercise.

3. Challenge Yourself: I have found that challenging myself helps me to stay focus. I am very competitive so I don't back down from a challenge, especially if I am going to be accountable for my actions. 

4. Read Success Stories:  Reading the success stories is a great motivational tool. It is evidence that weight loss can be achieved. 

5. Think about how you feel after a good work out: I always feel amazing after a good workout. I mean a real workout! One that gets your blood pumping and has you pouring sweat. It is energizing and amazing that along is motivation for me and probably anyone who has experienced the same thing. 

6. Get a reliable workout buddy: I think it is best to workout with someone who is already committed to exercising because that person can help encourage you to workout as well. It is also more fun to workout with someone else because you have someone to take your mind off of your actions.

7. Do a variety of exercises. Doing the same routine over and over can bore you. Boredom leads to exercise avoidance. Find ways to keep your workouts spontaneous, and fun. 

November 1st! New Personal Challenge.

November is my favorite month. I love November because I am a November baby :D My birthday is on the 25th and I am going to be 27 years OLD! (My fiancés birthday is also in November) I am so excited! I remember when I used to fear getting older, now I see it as a blessing. So many people whine about how bad their life is and they focus on the negative so much that they don't see the positive things that they have accomplished. I am determined not to be one of those persons. I appreciate life along with the good and the bad that comes along with being alive. But this is not what this post is about so I moving right  along...

This post is actually about exercise and my new challenge. I have not been exercising as much as I should. Last week I only exercised once I did a two mile walk. I was trying to do the Leslie Sansone 4 mile walk but I stopped after 2miles. I didn't stop because I was too tired to continue, I stopped because I didn't feel like working out. Lately I have been unmotivated to exercise. I am not going to make excuses so I am going straight to the solution. I have decided to do another 30 day exercise challenge. It will end the first Sunday in December, I choose to run it a week longer because I want to take progress pictures and I don't want to take the picture until next week because this week Tom is visiting. 

Terms of the Challenge

1. Exercise for a minimum of an hour a everyday except on Rest Days. On Rest Days I will only exercise for 30mins. There will be two rest days a week. 

2. Drink at least 64oz of water everyday. Even though I have not exercised as I should, I have still manage to lose weight. I think that is because I have been doing well with drinking water and I am staying on track with eating 1300 calories a day.

3. Make a blog post reflecting my how my exercise went and whether I met my requirements. I need accountability. Posting about my progress forces me to be accountable for my actions. 

4. Take measurements. I will do measurements next week, I need to get a measuring tape. Sometimes we get discourages because we arent losing weight at the rate me want it to go, taking measurement is a great way to track progress. I think seeing the inches I have lost will help me to stay motivated. At the end of my 37 days I will do updates on my measures. 

5. Eat between 1400 and 1500 calories a day. I have noticed that I do better with my weight loss if I eat between 1400-1500 calories a day if I am exercising a lot. Anything less than that and I only maintain my weight. On rest days I will eat between 1200 and 1300 calories. I think that is sufficient because I lead a non active life style at the moment and since I am only exercising for 30mins on Rest Days I there is no need for the extra calories.

6. Evaluate my progress once a week. At the end of each week I will do an evaluation on how I am doing in terms of weight loss and eating. Then I will make changes to my challenge if needed.