Back

(I thought maybe if I write about what is hurting it will make me feel better.)

Definition: The rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.

Lawd! Have mercy!!

My back hasn't hurt this much since I fell out of the bed, landed still asleep on my laptop, and had a burn mark from China all the way to Chicago on my back when I woke up.
I'm not known or familiar with having back pains so this is new to me.
After my Tabata class on Tuesday, I have no back.  I only have a thousand little puzzle pieces that can't figure out how they got there or what their suppose to do in the first place. The bad thing was... When I was doing the exercise that annihilated my back, I asked myself if I was performing the exercise correctly.  The exercise has had a history of playing with a nerve which was always my sign to calm down but never had I experienced a devastating destruction of my back.  But, I did managed to finish the class even though my back was hurting only after the first ten minutes.
Aleve for back pain can shove it.  That crap did nothing and still is doing a good job at nothing.  The best name brand sugar pill if you ask me.
On Wednesday, I prayed for an angel to come and get me out of the bed. Twenty minutes later after I summoned the powers from Dragon Ball Z, I was at the least, standing... After finding everything that I normally do in the morning harder than coming in second for the Olympics, I was ready for work.  I was on self-check the whole day trying to baby my back to bend.  We all know that I can't stand self-checkout so I must have been feeling some type a-way.  I just didn't want someone to say, "I have water on the bottom" or "I have sodas on the bottom" or "My entire order is on the bottom.".  That would persuade me to start up a Free Day Holiday or drag cashiers from random places and get them to scan stuff for me. I did notice that people where complimenting me on losing weight and added that I looked like I had lost more recently.  I agreed but informed them that my fifteen minute wavy wacky inflatable tube man struggle to snake my way into my clothes burned off five pounds this morning. By the afternoon, my back did give long enough for me to accomplish a handicapped version of Zumba.
Good question- When your back hurts, how should you sleep on your bed at night? 
Because if floating was an option....

Arms Around Me

(one of those many blogs I was suppose to write a million years ago.)

So, one day I had a co-worker who asked a simple question.  She asked, "When did you realize you had lost a lot of weight?"
She didn't believe my answers...
I told her that earlier that week was when I had finally noticed how small I was getting.  It's the weird things I had noticed.  It wasn't my jeans getting bigger or my shirts sliding off of me.  I told her it was the first time getting on Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens and having the lap bar close.  Considering the fact that the lap bar didn't close without a fight when I attempted to ride it for the first time when I was fifteen. I didn't want to get on the ride the second time around but seeing that bar close without the slightest force made the fear tears flow freely after the first drop.  I should have purchased the on-ride photo just so I'd have proof of riding. 
It's the weird small changes that blow my mind the most.
Another event that occurred to convince me further that I had joined the skinny club was when I walked around bored in a movie theater waiting for the show to start.  I happened to walk by a set of double-sided mirrors that employees in the office could look out but all you saw was your reflection.  All I could think of was this mirror must be from a Funhouse.  It didn't hit home until one of my friends came to stand next to me that it was indeed me....the way everyone else saw me, everyday.  I think I would've been less shocked if my leg was missing then to see that half of me was absent from the mirror.
Here is one last way that I knew I was losing weight...and probably the one I remember the most.  I had gotten past the denial phase and just entered into the accepting phase.  There was a friend that I hadn't seen in forever.  We talked for a while but before he left, he gave me a bear hug.  When his arms went all the way around my waist and then some, I could have fell out.  Usually, when your overweight, people hug your neck or hug your shoulders.  Or they do that retarded move where an arm is out straight and the other arm hooks around whatever it can.
But no....he hugged me.
The second his arms went around me, it was a new system of measurement.  I hugged him back so I could compare them when I got home.
On the chart of "Best Moments of My Life" this falls right behind me getting my new phone and in front of the Ravens winning the Super Bowl.

Not My New Year's Resolution

(I need to stop eating at the computer.  Just spent three minutes blowing crumbs off.  I'm lightheaded from this amount of work.)

Well, as we all know I set some New Year promises that I failed miserably at last year.
Let's recap:

1. Pay more attention to my fitness blog. X (Epic) FAIL!!
• I can count on one hand how many post I made last year even if I had two fingers missing...)
• I can list how many other things I paid attention to... like my dogs, and my job, and my bills!!
2. I STILL need a CALENDAR!!
3. I gained more weight than the last two years combined.
• I will post my weight when I accept the fact that I gained it. But until then...
• I did tell myself that I would only be blogging when I started taking the diet and exercising serious.  What's the point of blogging if it's not about fitness.  It is a fitness blog after all.
• I have been on my diet and exercise plan since the day after Christmas and lost eight pounds so far. 
• I do believe I'm back to my regular routine because I weighed-in Monday with the mysterious eight pound weight loss that I was carrying around all day Sunday.
4. I found my Skinny video hiding on the hard drive of my new computer. 
•  It's not finished, it may not ever be finished. 
• If I can't make a simple post on my blog, what makes people think that I have the time and patience to edit and produce a music video? P. Diddy in the house!!
• If I ever go on vacation at my job, I promise I will finish this video.
5. I don't know whether to buy a 2014 calendar just to make up for ignoring the whole year or just apologize and move forward.  That means I didn't do one single weigh-in Monday. SMH..I got lazy, not fat...There's a difference...
6. I started my diet...
• Yes, this means out of the entire year I was only on my diet for two months.
• I was unable to go "cold turkey" like the first time.  Sometimes the mind is stronger to battle the second time round.
• I looked good in April for the trip to Florida and the Bahamas.
• I do believe my constant overeating during the holidays made the switch in my brain click to off and cause my hunger and cravings to cease. We can guess that I have been going to the gym nonstop until my legs fall off.
• On the same note, losing my grandfather made everything I was trying to accomplish seem petty.
 
• My graduation seemed petty since the person that pushed you to reach for greatness is gone.
• My problems seemed petty since a person who put their problems aside to deal with yours, is gone.
• I don't like bringing up the grandfather topic because there will always be a sore spot in my heart.
• Always express yourself while they are with you because it burns like hell when they are gone.
• What burns the most is that I WROTE THIS before and DIDN'T FOLLOW MY OWN ADVICE...

• Free advice anyone? This child is immune to her own advice so she's just giving it away!!

*Even though I am not working on the blog as much as I use to, I encourage people to read it for motivation, tips, and tricks to help during the journey to lose weight.  These things definitely do not expire so redeem them as much as possible!

FINALLY!! (MAYBE?!)

As you can tell, school is going great because I have not written a blog entry since then.  Just to let everyone know, during my hiatus I have not lost a single pound.  More or less, I have gained a couple pounds.  With me trying to juggle everything in life, it is getting harder to eat (not the healthy part, just the timing).  Some days, I wouldn't eat anything till five in the afternoon and then the overeating would start five minutes after the initial first bite.
Well, that was until last week...
I was thinking to myself that something had to give.  I weighed in between the same two pounds for about a year.
I was sick of it...
It was the same feeling I had when I first started dieting at 318.  So, I decided to cut back on my current definition of "cutting back." 
Just like MyFitnessPal said, "The more exercise you do, the more you can eat."
I destroyed this motto because I do the sweat pouring exercises but my late nights at Pizza Hut should have had me in Barbie clothes by now.
Well, my issue was not the exercise, it was the eating so here is my motto I made.
"The more exercise you do and the less you eat equals the weight you lose."
I'm not going into details about what I'm eating now, but lets just say that if I drive by a Golden Corral I would drive through the front window and eat everything...twice.  But it's all good because I'm taking my Flintstone vitamins everyday to get through this.
With my motto in my head, I began to re-evaluate how to eat differently. I regained my self control and common sense when I got hungry.
I'm guessing somewhere between the five in a half mile walk/run through Gloucester and the countless hours at the gym, something clicked.
My weigh-in last Tuesday was 242.2.
I weighed in this morning at 230.4.

(Don't look at my feet, they're ugly.)

If we recall my last Monday weigh-in back in January that I blogged showed my weight at 237.8.

Thank God I had socks on in this one!

The first thing I thought when I looked at the scale was, "I must be dying..."
I was in complete shock but happy.
This is kind of a positive-negative situation because you should only lose up to three pounds a week.  If you lose more than three pounds a week, it could lead to health issues or it will be very easy to gain back.  But in this situation, I'm going to be the 99% of the people that tell me it's water weight.  I will find out a week from now if it continues to be water weight.  Hell, I don't mind it being water weight until I get down to 200.  This puts my overall weight loss journey at 84.6 pounds.
Yay Me!!

Weigh-In Monday 2014

Yeah, I survived my first week of the 2014 diet.  As I promised in the last blog, I was going to post my weekly weigh-ins.  So let me show you how much I weighed last week.

(After fighting my scale...)

 



And this is my weight this week...

I lost three pounds!!!

 



In my head that means I am almost back down to my starting weight from last semester.  My goal is to stick to it or die trying...from eating too many doughnuts...

I set a new record last Thursday in my Shockwave rowing class.  I did the 100 meter row in 16 seconds.  As a result, my legs are now reenacting lime throbbing jello. 

Happy New Year!!

Many wishes of good luck that will follow you to blah, blah, blah...
Anywhooo....
Who made a New Year's Resolution?
Was it to lose weight?
Was it to save money?
Get married?
Stop Smoking?
Huh?
Come on, you can tell me...
My New Year's Resolution was to pay more attention to my fitness blog but I failed that five days ago when I was originally suppose to make this blog entry.  All I did was change the date so it looked like I made it on the first.  I'm also trying to stay in touch with MyFitnessPal.  So whenever I make a new blog, it will also pop up on MyFitnessPal and Facebook news feed.
*Click and read at your own risk*
As my good old friend Anthony said best while recovering from a brain tumor:

It shouldn't take a new year for you to start something for a promised week.  What was wrong with the last 365 days of 2013?  (Some of y'all may have a valid reason but the other 93.6% does not.)

Announcements:

• *I just want to give a Shout-Out to all the people that found their way back to the gym.  But just as a side note, walking into the middle of one of the aerobic classes just to say hi, is not cute... :o(
• Nor will it ever be...
• Quit it...
• Now...
• *I need people to stop telling me how skinny I am.  That has backfired two times now.  In my head, (which is referred to as a Picasso painting) if you call me skinny, I'm going to go out and eat tons on "un-skinny" food until I look in the mirror and see Shamu.  Yes people, this is also my way of admitting that I have gained back the ten pounds I lost back before the semester started.  Thank God it was only ten pounds!!
• *My blog entry for the Perdue Simply Smart Chicken is nine clicks away from the big 1,000...Which means, Perdue should be paying me for that mess.  "You gonna pay what you owe!"
• LOL, just kidding... I never expected the review to get any attention but when a company does a good job at making good food, I let them know.  Here is the link for the review, just in case you want to click it nine more times...  http://verysherri2006fit.blogspot.com/2012/02/product-review-perdue-simply-smart.html ...but if you just don't give a damn, keep reading along.
• *My Skinny video which will rock My Fitness Blog and make people question why do I call it a "Fitness Blog" is set to come out this month.  I know I said it was coming out in the middle of December but after my laptop meltdown and Christmas being very impatient, I'm broke. 
• Also, I know my friends are hiding but I need 4-5 of y'all in order to finish filming this.  So, if any of y'all are not busy Thursday the 9th, text me, Facebook me, call me, send a smoke signal, anything.  The quicker y'all stop hiding, the faster the video will be done.  Just so nobody gets confused, if I posted this blog to your Facebook Wall, I'm talking about you.
• *Last but not least, though my New Year's Resolution is to pay more attention to my blogs, if at anytime my schoolwork, gym time, or sleep is in jeopardy, the blogs will slack.

Now this is the part where I usually tell people my current standings...BUT!!
I'm going to skip this week because something is wrong with my scale.  Maybe it's getting old, or I have thrown it too much, it could even be messed up from Asian batteries, or I'm just fat, but it has failed to give me an accurate number since I went back on the diet.  I really think it's because I have an extra pound of Arabian horse hair on my head and it's confused.
#TEAMBEYONCE
This also gives me enough time to purchase a 2014 calendar. 
To end this on the brightest note so far in 2014, I am noticing that everyday I go to my rowing class, I get better.  Here are my new record results for that.

300 meters: 55 seconds

200 meters:  37 seconds

100 meters: 17 seconds

I do believe, this is the first time I actually tried in the 300 meters.  With that said, Good-night everybody...

I'm exhausted...

 

 

P.S.=I'm dead serious.  If this is posted on your Wall and you fall off the side of the Earth on Wednesday... I...WILL...HUNT...YOU...DOWN!!!

BWLW September Challenge

It is September so we know what that means!!
A NEW CHALLENGE!!!
(Yeah, yeah, I'm late as always with it.)
This is actually a challenge I agree with and have already been doing!

Track What You Eat

Yes Ladies, it is time to get your myfitnesspal.com accounts and lose them pounds.  If you have a myfitnesspal.com account then it's time to dust it off and use it.

You can use any program you want when tracking eating habits but I personally recommend myfitnesspal.com.

For those of y'all that don't know what this program does, let me explain it to you.  You set your weight loss goal and how much exercise you plan to do for the week.  You then track your eating habits and exercise daily for the week.  In the end, the program informs you of how much you could weigh in five weeks if you continue your good eating patterns.  I am living proof that the system does work.  BWLW also includes meal plans and I do believe a exercise plan that you can find Here