Fitness Ventures: Belly Dance

I get extremely bored with working out. Probably because deep down I'm not interested.

I much rather be at the state fair eating funnel cake...lol.

But, since I do have my interests in being healthy, I take it upon myself to find fun ways to work out.  I've tried yoga, walking workouts, and running outdoors, but without a mash-up of many things, I get very bored.

Hence I try: belly dancing.

The yoga studio that I frequented the end of last year was known for their belly dancing.  I've always wanted to try it, but was so much on my "yoga trip" that I decided to save that for later.

Later is now.

After a light lunch at the Belgian Cafe (who has delicious fries with an equally delicious mayo dip, btw), we traveled about 4 blocks and went to Studio1831. They had a great Living Social deal not too long ago, so the class was relatively full for a Thursday night.  We all got lined up with our cute little sashes (which they loan out to you during the class), and began shaking our hips like Shakira. Lol.

I definitely need to work on my stomach undulations, but besides that I think I did pretty well. Elsa said I looked pretty good during the class in which I said, "Like I always say, fake it til you make it!"

Lol. Def should try out belly dancing if you were thinking about it, and if you are in the Philadelphia Area, Studio1831 has awesome classes to try this out!

Check out studio1831.com for more info on their classes, and check out their performance here (c/o studio1831.com)!

My Weight Loss Journey: How People Compliment

I thought this was hilarious...lol



What people don't realize is potentially damaging to your former self-consciousness is the way some of their compliments are structured. If structured in a somewhat damaging way, that compliment turns from something sweet to an insult to the "fat" girl that is still inside you.

A lot don't realize how much of a battle it is to keep that girl at bay. How I know I salivate at the thoughts of eating every culmination of junk I can get my hands on. But the key point to the lifestyle change is that you must hold back those unhealthy urges and replace them with healthy ones.

Back to the compliments...

So since I'm down somewhere around 57 pounds, it has become more and more noticeable that I'm losing weight (which is exciting and uncomfortable at the same time). I get tons of great compliments like "how much have you loss so far, you look great" and one of my favorites, "skinny", but some compliments have a distinct edge to them that hurts my delicate feelings.

A co-worker of mine said to me- "look at you, you got some hips now!" And in my brain, my sensitive feelings said, "when the hell didn't I have hips?" I must say that at any size, I was a girl with a great shape, and I can't believe that someone would try and say something like that without thinking twice.

There are 2 things that scare me when it comes to losing weight:

1. Never being skinny enough (and still being considered fat),

And

2. Gaining the weight back to other's disappointment (meaning, the insults will start all over again).

My thoughts are: will I go back to being fat again, and if I do...will I "not have hips" then?

So the moral of this story is: the things you say can ring in people's ears forever, so don't say something that can be damaging to my current, former, and potentially but hopefully never future-self.

Diets & Lifestyle Changes

I've dieted a million times, but I can only recall one other lifestyle change besides the one I am experiencing now.

I was 15 and lost 60 pounds with Weight Watchers. I was MY thin- 160 pounds; a curvy size 8. I felt like I looked amazing!
I was getting so many compliments and praises. My best girlfriend at the time hated on me relentlessly. At some points I ate only 800 calories a day, and was completely satisfied. I felt like my family was proud of me.
I FELT SO UGLY.
Low self-esteem has been my truth for a long time.
A million people could tell me I'm beautiful. Women of all races would stop me and tell me how gorgeous I am.
At age 16, I remember when I came out of anesthesia after getting my tonsils out, and my reaction, my raw emotion, was to burst into tears until I hyperventilated. My mother almost cried too until I became fully conscious and remembered what was happening. And as my mother and the nurse wheeled me out the outpatient center, I remember how 3 nurses walked up to my chair to tell me how beautiful I was. To bask in all my beauty. Had nothing to say but how pretty I was and moved on.
At age 19, a woman stopped me in a casino of all places, telling me she's a makeup artist, and hair stylist, a woman in the beauty industry, telling me how beautiful I was.
Until she passed, my grandmother always told me how beautiful I was, I looked like her. I look like her. Those "Hick's girls", the crowd stunners, crowd pleasers. Some of the most beautiful fair-skinned black women I have ever met, my grandmother and her sisters, my great aunts. I was a part of that.
My father's sisters, one of the most presence-grabbing, attention getters I have ever met. An actress, with one of the most full, beautiful faces I've ever seen. Lips that were just as full as mine. Hips that were full like mine.
Shortly after I lost 60 pounds, the man I loved more than life left me. I suffocated the life out of him, hoping he would give life to me. Instead he had some other woman blow life into him.
I was crushed.
That was the straw that broke the camels back. Life was spiraling forward ever since...since I realized he wasn't worth me. Since I realized he wasn't worthy. He was what he was- my man, the man I loved more than life, but only I made him that. I was not ready to feed this man my whole spirit, and I did. I left myself nothing but heartache and a bucket full of tears.
But who's to say who's lucky?
As I progress into a state of physical, and most importantly, mental well-being, I can truly say I'm blessed to have my full mind back.
I've relinquished some of the fears of my self-image. Tried my best to fulfill my life with loving friends and relationships, and I must say, I have, for the most part, exceled past my own beliefs.
I'm not perfect.
Before, after, or in-between.
But I know, progress is always forward-moving. And with that in mind, I can always succeed.
Minus 46 pounds and my heart dances with every color love. There are still some things I want in my life, but in time I will get them.
Life is an oyster for me to crack. Delicious, I say, delicious.

Zumba & Flirty Girl Fitness: Let the Sweating Begin!

Usually, my workouts consist of tons of walking (and I mean tons!), yoga, cardio step and dancing, and as a new addition, jump rope workouts. It really helps to switch up my routine and add new types of workouts to not only develop more overall fitness, but to keep me from getting bored.

I love trying new things, as far as fitness is concerned, when I initially heard about Zumba, it peeked my interest. I watched a few videos of Zumba online, and it looked like something that could be fun, so I proceeded to go to Zumba's online website and look up some classes.

I found a class once upon a time, but never was bold enough to go and try it alone.

Ironically, about 2 weeks ago, a good friend of mine brought Zumba up and said she'd like to go to a class. I excitedly replied yes and we made plans to find a local class. We found one about 15 minutes walking distance from my apartment that was open on Saturdays, and proceeded to make plans last Saturday to attend the class.

Wow, did we realize what we were in for?

We got to the class and there were only about three or four girls there...Thank goodness because there weren't as many people to look completely uncoordinated in front of lol. Anyways, we proceeded to go through the class...boy, do you need tons of stamina for Zumba. It's not like being in the club...dancing your heart out and all...you are dancing non-stop for 10 minutes at a time at a pretty fast pace. Now what we didn't know until we got there is that it was a 1-hour combination class between Zumba and Flirty Girl Fitness...BONUS!

But as tired as I was after Zumba (which was hard, but sooooooooo fun!), I didn't know if I could make it through another half hour for Flirty Girl Fitness. So after about a half liter of water, I proceeded to try and make it through Flirty Girl Fitness. It wasn't that it was hard, but as hard as I was sweating, and as tired as my body was, I barely made it through it.

After the class, I was exhausted! I don't think I've worked out that hard in a long time. I walked back home from the class (because the trolley was 2 blocks down the street when I missed it, and I was not running lol), and I might of left my feet somewhere 3 blocks before my house because they definitely fell off lol.

I patted myself on the back, treated myself to a delicious smoothie of mango, pineapple, strawberries, and cantalope, and fell out on my bed.

Four hours of headache later, I realized I should of waited for the trolley because I definitely overexerted myself.

Whew!

I would love to go to the class again, but its awesome that now I know what I'm in for: a soaked through tank top, burning feet, and exhaustion.

Gotta love fitness! lol

Getting Down to Six Flags Weight!

It's sad to say but I'm saying it: Six Flags is not for fat people.

I hate that word, but that is how I felt the last time I was there: FAT.

Huge, ginormous, disgusting, ridiculously...FAT.

The rides are just all so small, or maybe I was just too big.

Everything I wanted to get on was such a challenge.

If I fit, I barely fit, and if I didn't fit, I was given a ticket for another ride that had "larger seats".

Who said I wanted to fit in a larger seat?

It was so embarassing feeling like the ride operators had to struggle to secure my seat.

Gosh I hate reliving those memories.

I was sad and big and wanted to leave that amusement park because I wasn't amused at all!

WELL THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!

I'm down 44.5 pounds and almost at Six Flags weight, or at least the weight I feel will keep me from being embarassed while trying to get on the rides.

I made a promise, to get down to Six Flags weight so I could attend Fright Fest...see you there if you're going! ;)

The Tightest Hottest Mini-Skirt, I've ever Owned

So, I went to Old Navy not too long ago just to peruse the aisles and see if they had anything good cuz I haven't been shopping in awhile.

I'm down 39.5 lbs and I thought it'd be interesting to see what I could slide up into, that and I think I had something cool to go do with my friends. So, I'm walking around the store, and the only things that stood out to me were some awesome denim leggings, and a couple skirts that were hanging around the same area.

I grabbed a skirt in a larger size and a mini-skirt in a smaller size. I realize that the mini-skirt may not fit, but I wanted to see how far along I've come with my weight loss progress.

First I tried on the skirt which was a size 20. I knew it was very possible that it was too big, but there was definitely a point where this skirt would of fit pretty snug so I gave it a try.

Now, since I was so eager to try on this mini, I tried that first.

I held up the skirt and looked at it, it was pretty small to me. I proceeded to try and hike it up anyways.

I put both thighs in and when I realized the skirt was sliding up my legs, I got so excited! I managed to pull it up over my hips and give it a zip...I was wearing a size 16 for the first time since high school. Granted the skirt was a little tight, but that was ok because I managed to put it on in the first place. I put the denim leggings to the side to purchase in the fall (didn't wanna get too crazy during my shopping experience), and bought my new skirt.

I am so excited to wear it after I lose a few more pounds.

Yay me!

Thinking "Slim": My Droopy Butt Skinny Jeans

Ok, I know. Not the most savory title.
But all I have to say is I'm estatic about this.

So I'm walking down the street with my friend and walking partner, Erica, chatting as we get off the train and head to work. I am wearing an old pair of favorites: some skinny jeans I wore often last year until I could no longer button them, even laying down. About 2 months ago I realized they fit when I was rushing to prepare for work, put them on, and didn't realize until I got on the subway that I wasn't sporting my old 22's, but my old trusty 18's that I cherished so dearly.

Can I just say I was ready to scream?

Anyways, so I am walking down the street and realize, these jeans are no way near as snug as they previously were! My jeans actually have a little sag in the rump!

Ok, I know, I know. Sag in the rump is not cool and I needed a belt, but this is a great breakthrough! Not only was I able to fit in my old jeans, but I was actually able to have a little room in them!

31.9 pounds later and I am feeling so awesome!

Those skinny jeans may have been my old faithfuls, but I can't say I'm less than estatic to buy a smaller pair!