Operation: I'm Bringing Sexy Back!

I REACHED ANOTHER MILESTONE TODAY!! I have OFFICIALLY LOST 60 POUNDS Since October 2011. Weighing in at 170.8! I am SO Proud of myself. I've had some set backs but I stayed focused and determined NOT to let it get me down! Yay me!!!

My 34th birthday at 232 pounds

Any hoot! The past five years I've been doing West African drumming and healing my heart,spirit and soul. It's time! It's time to have a balance of my emotional/spiritual self and physical self. My starting weight was 232 pounds. The first change I made was to change what I ate! I declared I will no longer by sweets. I will replace it with fruits. For my 35TH birthday I was given a American Express gift card and I marched right to Wally World and purchased a Black and Decker Juicer for $30. I LOVE strawberries,blueberries,blackberries,kiwi,bananas and found a new love for mandarin oranges and raisins. My kitchen STAYS stocked with these fruits.Mostly to eat and at times I juice them. Honestly, it's very costly to juice. I use it as a TREAT for my hard work sometimes. I also declared NO MORE soda or juices that contained high fructose syrup in it Note: I also found by eliminating the high fructose syrup helped with my son's behavior in school he was able to stay focused and on task. So, I only bought apple juice or grape juice that DID NOT contain HFS. I kept with the chicken, fish and ground turkey so no big change there only in how I prepared things.  I did learn a lot from my ex-boyfriend about food because he had a trainer at one point so I made sure mine and the kids plate contained a 4ounce piece of meat and the rest of the plate was filled with vegetable. I started off with this little green plate that I ate from to help me control my portion control. It is a little bigger than a saucer but it helped. Joan, had suggested that I start taking walks.I have lived in Lexington my whole life and never knew where the arboretum was but I was making NO EXCUSES and goggled it and found where it was and started walking daily AS SOON as I got off from work. I had the mind set that I would get off come home change into my walking cloths and walk right back out the door! I gave myself
NO TIME  to sit down and relax. Walking the arboretum in completion is 2miles. I did it everyday. It kept my mind clear from those days when it was really hard getting over my ex,or i had a sucky day at work, or any stress I was having it took it away. I got to the point where I didn't want to miss a day because it felt good! For the most part I didn't let anything interrupt my scheduled time from 2:30pm-4pm. If it wasn't important you could catch me AFTER my walk. Another great thing my ex gave me before we broke up was this knowledge of a free app to put on my phone called NOOM. I gave my weight and set a goal weight. I told it how much I planned to workout and it told me how many calories I need per day of good(green),bad(red) and ok(yellow) foods I could eat and the percentage on a pie chart. It allows me to log my ALL my meals and tells me if its good,bad or ok. So, now I'm still drumming and healing the inside. I changed the way I eat. Now, I'm actually keeping track of what I eat! At the bottom of the food log on NOOM there are five stars and as you eat you either keep all five gold stars or you start to lose them based on you ideal calorie intake to what you actually took in. Honey, I started really watching it like a little kid I didn't want my stars taken away!  I allowed myself  ONE cheat day(which is Saturday) to eat what I wanted BUT within reason. Not like it was OK to sit down and eat a gallon of ice cream. Soon the weight started coming off!


I set small goals for myself. The first was to reach my made up club of the Under 200pounds club by New Years.  That gave me about 3months to get it together. I kept walking but after a while I felt my body wanted more. I became in sync with my body mentally and physically . Walking wasn't cutting it anymore I needed to do something else. I heard about this Afro-Caribbean class was being taught at Consolidated Baptist Church and was only $3. Honey, that was right up my alley! I love to dance and Afro-Caribbean and it was close to my house and only $3. Thank you Jesus! I went. I got there and there stood Jason Thompson a guy I had grown up with in church I was SO EXCITED because I knew Jason could dance,I'd seen him perform before and was in total awe. I got to moving in that class ya'll non stop and we took a short water break and I ran to the bathroom and straight threw up! I was like dear god he is trying to kill me!! but, I wasn't going to give up. I washed my mouth out and went right back in there and did my thing! After class I told Jason what had happened and he chuckled and said,"Good that means you were working hard!" I came back for the next class ,and the next ,and the next. Oh the scale was coming down. Unfortunately, classes somehow stopped and I was left with nothing but walking again. I kept walking til one day Jason posted on Facebook that he was teaching Zumba at the Legacy Cheer center. I was like YES!!! I'm so there. 

Jason Thompson Zumba instructor ,mentor and friend and I
Legacy Cheer Center 261 Ruccio Way Lexington,Ky Mon-Wed from 7-8pm

I walked in that class on a Monday evening at 7pm and there stood not one, not two but FOUR skinny girls! I was like "Hell Naw why I got to be the fat girl in the class!" My mind quickly went into ego mode. That's when you let your ego flare up and take control like," I'm going to keep up with these skinny girls they ain't going to be laughing and talking about me." Jason started the music and it was on! Going to be honest I COULD NOT do all the hopping and jumping at first. Let me tell you it ain't easy lifting 200+pounds off the floor. Jason kept smiling at me and telling me I was doing a good job and teaching me modifications I could do JUST DON'T STOP and I didn't!! I was there EVERY Monday and Wednesday night. I couldn't do his Tuesday class cause that was Joan's day and you don't touch that day! After awhile the choreography was getting easier and Jason noticed so he began to challenge me more to do those hops and jump and push myself. Don't get complacent with just doing what I could do, do more. I did. For you know it I was rocking it out and people started noticing a change in me emotionally and physically. It was GREAT.


So January 1,2012 came and sister girl didn't make her goal, but was cool. I knew I had been working hard and it would come just had to work harder and it did I MADE the UNDER 200 Club and I was wearing a size 14 in women's! So, I'm rocking Zumba and now Mondays and Wednesday from 7pm-8pm became sacred. Don't you dare fix your lips to ask me to do something on Monday and Wednesday between 7-8pm or Tuesday from 7-9pm! 

January 2012 under 200 pounds wearing a size 14!

Once I reached that goal I set another. I set my eyes on the Fifth Third Bank building in downtown Lexington also known as the Big Blue Building. A commercial came on T.V. about the Urban Mountain Challenge to climb the 29story 638stairs! Oh yeah it's on baby!! The registration fee was $45! Man! I don't have that kind of money and I was ready to give up on this goal but remembered Joan teaching me about manifesting and believing in what I wanted and it would come. I remembered my church teachings "Ask and ye shall receive" So I did both and came up with the idea I will ask my brothers to donate so I could pay the fee. I called my oldest brother, Orland and told him what I was trying to do and he gave me the $45! Thank you Jesus! I paid my registration and was ready to go. Then, I got discouraged again because I have never climbed that many floors and the paper said you could ONLY STOP on certain floors for a break during the race! "All Hell what have I gotten myself into!" My goal was NOT to race just complete it. God and the Ancestors stepped in again and I found out you can do the steps at the 5th3rd building ANYTIME they are open for FREE!!!! All you had to do was sign a waiver that they weren't liable if you hurt yourself. Sign my name on the doted line! So I began doing the stairs on my free days of Tuesday afternoon before practice and Thursday. It killed me but thank the lord for Jason's love of doing squats in class my legs were so prepared. 

On January 28,2012 I completed the inaugural Urban Mountain Challenge in 11minutes 47seconds! Goal completed next goal set a 3K!