Digging Deeper ..

This morning I decided to do abs and cardio. Now, I know you can't spot reduce and that I have a lot of fat over said abs that needs to go before I'll be able to see any definition, but hey it's worth a try. It was a very productive workout.My goal was to work my abs until I couldn't anymore. And now it hurts to laugh, which is good, I guess. LOL (well, not really)

ABS:
100 crunches
100  bicycle crunches
100 W-crunches
100 leg raises
100 jack knives

Afterwards I did 10 out of 15 mins of Insanity Cardio ABS which left me sweaty and achy. Just when I was about to tap out at like minute six Shaun T says "Now I'm going to go over to Tanya" - and I'm like ...say what now? How you know my name? *record-scratch*. Of course, he was talkin' bout some Asian chick in the video, but it sure was enough get me going as if he was sitting right next to me!

This will probably be an every other day routine. My abs will surely be needing a rest day after this! Tonight I plan on doing some legwork, but for right now I'm tiyad and I need to study for Organic Chemistry and the GRE. *le sigh*

Workout Music?

         Why is making a fitness playlist so daggone hard? It has been scientifically proven that music can be a boon when working out - namely, fast and uptempo music can bolster motivation. I have found this to be true in my own life which is why my 'workout playlist' is full of ratchet music. Music has the effect of turning my exercise into swaggercise. Seriously, play a Rick Ross track (heavy rotation: "Hold Me Back") while I'm on the elliptical in the gym and watch the RPM skyrocket as well as me get my stank face on. Admittedly, being a boughetto black girl from Washington Heights - rap/hip hop is always going to be a part of my musical repertoire.

       However, being an eclectic music snob (that plays 4 instruments *horn toot*) there has to be more than just Ciara, Sasha Fierce, 2chains, and Rick Ross. So, I gots to thinkin': what makes a  good workout song? With a bit of empirical studying I have discerned that my main requirement is:

"I like my beats fast and my bass down low."

      I think the tempo affects my pace and the bass just gives it that power. This led to me downloading a playlist full of songs for my workout playlist and I must say that I am quite pleased with the results. To be real though, my playlist is still rather ratchet. As a fairly educated black chick, I'd probably be embarrassed if someone were to hear me bopping to this playlist outside of the gym because it is rife with "b*tches, money and all those fancy things". Rap, some dance and dubstep are the only genres that really meet my criteria. There is nothing I hate more than having to pause my workout to switch songs because it is too slow. Aint nobody tryna to work out to Ledisi, okay? There aint no stoppin' me now though...cuz um...these ninja's can't hold me back.

     If you were to take a gander at my google play library you would seriously scratch your head. It is literally an amalgam of almost every genre of music from jazz, rock and classical music, to dance, alternative, hip hop and pop music. I would say R&B, but it apparently has been phased out (ig: Ne-Yo's RED album).

Rise and Grind Routine

              I used to be a morning person. As a matter of fact: I still am - I thrive in the morning with the sun's effulgence energizing me like it does superman. However, I am just not a get-out-of-a-comfy-bed person. You know when you're getting that good sleep, swathed in your warm and plush blanket with your head nestled just right on your pillow? Who the hell wants to leave such a place - especially to go do things that aren't any fun?  Well, that is why I have my rise and grind routine. My momma used to say a hard head makes a soft ass. Well, I say, STAYING in a soft bed will keep a soft ass. Now before you get to griping, 'but men like it soft' - don't nobody want a mushy booty, you hear me? Nan one.

So, I set my phone's alarm for 5:00am (me and odd numbers) with an annoying ass tone and a droid voice that says "Get yo ass up" and I do - get up, that is. I'm not a personal trainer - just a person that's training. Nothing else can be done unless I get down on the floor and put in work.

Rise and Grind Routine: 30 mins
100 jumping jacks (to get my heart rate up)
1 minute plank (I use this as a resting pose)
High Knees - 30 secs
1 minute plank rest
100 bicycle crunches
50 W crunches
50 leg raises (I don't like to think of things in sets)
30 burpees (I don't like these too much)
1- plank rest 
Mountain climbers- 1 min

Afterwards, I can go and shower...I sure am sweaty.

Sidenote though...on a TMI tip - am I the only one that queefs when doing leg raises? YO!  Don't you dare laugh at me. Seriously, I don't have a loosey goosey coochie; I know it's caused by air being pushed up there (I googled it), but damn it if I wasn't set aback when the sound from down below rent the air of my silent bedroom. Yea, no male personal trainer if I were to ever get one ...

No photoshop - just fitness!

I thought the idea of an unphotoshoped(retouch), photoshop produced image was ironic. No gaussian blurs and smudge tools to erase away my many imperfections. I don't want to just look good in pictures...I want to look damn good in real life. This is my current body - 5'5, 155 pounds.

Goal: 135 lbs and losing the highlighted areas. :)

STRS (STARS) Plan

Now, as aforementioned me and food got a love thang going on that has left me with a lot more baggage (as in love handles, flab and muffin tops - sounds cute, but it isn't.) that I will be getting rid of. I have found that my main issue is not necessarily that I eat bad things, but just that I eat TOO DAMN MUCH. I mean, if I know I've got a refrigerator stocked with healthy yummies - what do I do? I get to munchin' like I never heard the trite "too much of a good thing" saying.

         I have discovered that my most effective approach to weight loss is to simply...STOP eating. I don't mean I'm going all anorexic or anything, but just that I have implemented an intermittent fasting regimen to my diet which I call the "STARS" plan. I like acronyms as mnemonic devices because it is helpful for my ADHD brain that likes to forget things.  What's the STARS plan, you ask?

Sunday Tuesday ThuRsday Saturday (added an A just to be cute).

On these days I will eat (1700 calories of healthiness) as well as go to the gym for my High Intensity Circuit Training for 90 mins. Mon, Wed, Fri. are my STOP days which I wont eat. Of course I will drink liquids such as my requisite cup of coffee in the morning and 100 fl oz of water throughout the day. I don't know why, but MWF just go together in my head - and so remembering NOT to grab something to eat on those days will easily become routine. On the days that I am not eating I will not do too vigorous exercise besides jump rope for thirty minutes which is more for my pent-up energy than fitness. I have also constructed a detailed meal plan for my ON days so there will be NO half-steppin'. I love excel, btw. I'll post that if I can. So, yea - its simple enough and easy to remember. LEGGOOOOOOO!!!

Now, I know the idea of fasting for fitness is frowned upon because it is believe to promote eating disorders. But, again...that is not the case. Some of you may think this is a fad diet for me, but its not. I am, after all a biochemistry major - so I didn't just up and decide to throw myself headlong into something without painstaking research - peer-reviewed, research, that is.

http://www.pnas.org/content/100/10/6216.short
 http://www.jnutbio.com/article/S0955-2863%2804%2900261-X/abstract
 http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/112/20/3115.short

Intermittent fasting has taught me discipline and that I can survive hunger. I haven't died just because I didn't have my regularly scheduled meals. I am learning, slowly, but surely to eat to live, not live to eat. Do what best works for you.

Operation SEXY in SEVEN.

I Don't Want to be Like My Parents

The Story

               I was fortunate enough to grow up in a loving two-parent household, with parents who loved me unconditionally, but they didn't love themselves. They did not love themselves enough to take care of their health or to be mindful of the toll their poor lifestyles was taking on their bodies until it was too late. My rose-colored glasses of childhood prevented me from seeing the effects of my family's bad habits until I was forced one night to call the ambulance for my father when he complained of his leg going numb. My father was superman to me - someone who I had never seen suffer a cold, so I didn't think my father was having a stroke, but he was. On the day before Thanksgiving in 2004, my superman died weighing over 400 lbs fighting the battle against obesity.

       By the age of ten I could name any type of vodka just by its smell. The stringent aroma of liquor practically permeated from my mothers pores, so it was a knack I naturally developed.  I always knew my mother was an alcoholic - hell, I had gone to a few AA meetings with her - but I didn't know the damage it was wreaking on her body. My mother had me in her forties, surely no spring chicken, however, when she was diagnosed with early-onset dementia it took us by surprise. The doctors said it was alcoholism induced dementia. Important dates like birthdays and cherished memories slipped from her grasp like water.Then, last year, in the continuous buffeting of fate she was diagnosed with renal and congestive heart failure.

To say good health is in my gene pool would be a lie. However, this isn't some sob story about how life and genetics has handed me a bad hand. Eff that. At age 17 I weighed in at my highest of 277 - in a year I dropped down to 167 - through an albiet very strict diet (implaced by my aunt who I moved to live with) as well as moving to a Podunk town in PA without a car which required me to walk a mile to the school bus stop everyday and 6 mi. to the local mall with my friends. It was wonderful being able to shop in the mall with my friends instead of just helping them pick outfits I could never fit.My confidence skyrocketed and I took that upswing with me to college. Oh how that pendulum of confidence oscillates...

      I am now a senior in college and the novelty of simply being smaller has worn off.  I am still not comfortable with how my body looks. I can fit the 'regular' store clothes, but I just don't look (in my opinion) good in them. My stomach is still pretty big and I've got flab and stretch marks galore. For years my weight has fluctuated from 160-170, but at 5'5 with a small frame- that still doesn't look right. Every year I start working out- only to abandon it with the excuse of my heavy course-load (science double major). My ADHD (diagnosed) makes keeping up with things all the more difficult, especially with my penchant for being involved in  (and mismanaging) a bajillion projects. But - this year - starting at 155 (I lost 10 over the summer) I will get down to my goal weight of 135 and look DAMN good by my birthday (7/10). I think 2013 being my year is a sign since 7 is my favorite number and I'll be 24 - 4+3 = 7!
      Care to join me on the journey to LOVING my BAWDDDDYYY?!