Something's Eating Me

My journey to healthy living did not  happen overnight and or turn on one day like a light bulb!! I wish I could say that I woke up one morning and said you know what, I'm tired and I'm going to just eat and live right. I didn't. It was over time that I realized that something literally was eating me...and I used my eating/ lack there of to cope with it.

After failing repeatedly with this thing. I analyzed every failure and set back..after all, I am a therapist, so I did some introspection. I've been really doing some serious self-discovery over the past couple of years. From my self discovery time, I noticed a pattern from re-reading my journal entries, poems, songs, etc. I found there was a specific time that I gained weight the most....in the winter. I found that during the  winter I was most likely to eat all the stuff I had worked so hard not to eat throughout the year. I was most likely to get involved in unhealthy romantic relationships, spend unnecessary money, etc. Needless to say I was most unhappy....and so i filled it with something unhealthy thinking that it would make me happy.

There's a term for this....and a lot of women and people overall do it. Its called emotional eating. When our emotions are stressful or when we're going through, we sometimes eat or don't eat which adversely affects us.  We eat cause food is good...so good at times and it helps us to cope with what is eating us. I'll be honest with you, there are certain foods for me (cakes and pies:), that i feel like i'm having an orgasm (ooh the coconut cream pie shake from Sonic! My God!!)...its just that good to me (sorry, but I'm being honest..u can bleep out that part lol). So I've been trying to do a better job at realizing when I'm emotionally just out of control...cuz that's when I go hard for sweets and whatever I can put my hands on. I haven't arrived yet, and am still working on it.  But self- awareness is key and learning how you cope with stuff helps you to be able to change it.

So here's this week's challenge: If you can journal for a week do it:) if you can only do 3 days do it.... do what you can.  Just jot down your feelings and what you ate for the day. Thats it...and lets discuss the findings (post your comments)

The world's Cheapest Gym: The Jump Rope

 I guess you guys thought I was playing when I talked about  using the jump rope for my dose of daily activity while I was in Atlanta attending the International Soul Music Summit. Fortunately, a fellow artist, Mr. Kenny Wesley, was there to record some of my morning regimen. Check it out!

Will you take the jump rope challenge for this week?
-5 min in the morning
-5 min in the evening

Just for 2/3 days...come on what say you?!!!

leave your comments and let me know your thoughts about the challenge etc:)

On the road...

This past weekend, I attended the International Soul Music Summit in Atlanta and let me tell you, I was a little nervous about the trip.  I wasn't nervous because I was going to meet other indie artists and would have to be ready to promote my craft on the spot...nope that wasn't it. No, the first thing on my mind was how am I gonna stay on track healthwise?  I thought about that 11-12 hour car trip to the ATL. I thought...I'mma miss my group exercise classes (thurs & fri) and then there's the food piece. Trapped in a car for an 11-hour ride to and from...how do I keep focused with all the twizzlers, chips, etc?

Before I let my anxiousness get me in a tizzy, I planned. I know that planning:) decreases anxiety:)

Since I've started this healthy living journey, I decided that when I go on trips and or on vacations, I take my workout clothes and my trusty sneaks with me...so even if I just go walking its movement/some type of activity. This time, for my trip, I took my workout clothes, my sneaks, and a jump rope (i.e. the world's cheapest gym). The jump rope gets ur heart rate up and its easy! Before you know it, your heart rate is up and your sweating like a cow lol! You should try it! I plan to put some movement in throughout my day!

Now for the food. I packed alot of snacks:) fruit, carrots, lean meat, english muffins, drank a lot of water etc. I like crunchy foods:) so I kept health crunchy things on hand:) It worked. While others were snacking on twizzlers, salt and vinegar chips...I had blueberries and my lil weight watcher mint chocolate cookie crisp:), and fresh veggies and I was A okay:) The people I rode with were like dag you came prepared:) yup (not to mention I took up some space lol)!! I planned to not go off the wagon during the trip by being unprepared!

You know sometimes any change in our schedules can throw us off:) but learning to adjust and switch up here and there helps out; (be flexible).  And its easy to say we don't have time for a gym workout...but we can use simple things like a jump rope to get in some physical activity or the steps out front :).  Also, if you know whats coming, plan ahead! Keep a stash of a piece of fruit or a healthy snack in the car:)

Challenge of the week: choose 1 or the other:)
Get a jump rope and do 5 min in the morn and 5 min in the evening:) workout out.. the time adds up:)

or

Plan ur snacks for 2/3 days:)

Let's discuss (leave your comments)

NEW Blog B.E!!

I'm just an average person (not really average lol) who found herself battling this same issue for years---> the issue of the yo-yo diet. Since I can remember, I 've never been skinny and I've always had an ample supply of butt (buttocks for the prim and proper lol) for myself and for others. So since high school, I have done that tug of war with the scale.

I was 130 lbs leaving high school, 145 lbs my sophomore year in college (Lets go Pitt!), 145-150 lbs thru my grad school years up until the age of 28. Then I reached my highest weight ever at 162 lbs at the young age of 29!!! For me, the 162 lbs and the emerging double chin was enough for  me. Don't get me wrong, I was still cute but I had come to terms that I was the weight of my grandmother when she was 62 years old at the tender age of 29. I didn't like the direction I was headed in. Most of all, I didn't like that I had failed at being consistent and that often times I would quit....I'd go for a while...be good...avoid eating sweets...exercise for a month...and then when I didn't see the results fast enough..I QUIT!! I went back to what I was doing before and this cycle repeated forever!!

 Many of us have been in that situation, so I figured  I would write about my journey and the things I learned along the way in hopes that maybe it would help or inspire others to be empowered to take charge of their own journey.  You see, my favorite flower is a sunflower and what I like about sunflowers is that you can add a little dye to the water and it'll change the color of the sunflower:) (thats how we get the reds, the blues, the purples, etc)....so pretty....so thats the goal here...add a little change here and there and witness the beautiful difference of becoming your own unique sunflower:)