Let's recap...
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| Baby Fro!!! October 2010 |
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| January 2011 |
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| July 2011 |
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| July 2012 |
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| October 2012 |
But peep the progress! With 3 weeks left until my birthday, I'm on my way to a fro of epic proportions!
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2012
Update: A Fro in Progress
Last update: http://tenby30.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-fro-in-progress.html
Let's recap...
I know that last pic is kinda blurry. *my bad*
But peep the progress! With 3 weeks left until my birthday, I'm on my way to a fro of epic proportions!
Let's recap...
But peep the progress! With 3 weeks left until my birthday, I'm on my way to a fro of epic proportions!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
A Fro in Progress
I was born with a thick head of coily, kinky, curly, spongy hair. For years I tried to impose gravity on my hair, when by nature it was designed to defy that very thing. Instead of working with it and loving and appreciating the awesomely wild beast that is my fro, I worked hard to tame it.
I began a cycle of growing out and cutting my hair until I got fed up in April 2010 and quit using a chemical relaxer to straighten it. So I grew out my hair for four months, and in September 2010, I cut it (ha!) into a baby fro. I never really knew how to care for my natural hair properly. I had chopped my hair off before with the intent of "going natural," but I always gave up and returned to relaxing my hair. I didn't know there was a growing wealth of knowledge for women with my hair type who wanted to wear it the way it grew out of our heads. Growing up, I didn't know very many women who wore their way like that... you know... nappy.
So now that I've gotten to know my natural hair, I'm growing it all the way out into the biggest fro I can muster. Peep the progress from July 2011 to July 2012:
Want to see what my hair looked like boy-short almost two years ago? Click here for a throwback.
Or click here for video I made celebrating one whole year with all natural hair.
I began a cycle of growing out and cutting my hair until I got fed up in April 2010 and quit using a chemical relaxer to straighten it. So I grew out my hair for four months, and in September 2010, I cut it (ha!) into a baby fro. I never really knew how to care for my natural hair properly. I had chopped my hair off before with the intent of "going natural," but I always gave up and returned to relaxing my hair. I didn't know there was a growing wealth of knowledge for women with my hair type who wanted to wear it the way it grew out of our heads. Growing up, I didn't know very many women who wore their way like that... you know... nappy.
So now that I've gotten to know my natural hair, I'm growing it all the way out into the biggest fro I can muster. Peep the progress from July 2011 to July 2012:
Want to see what my hair looked like boy-short almost two years ago? Click here for a throwback.
Or click here for video I made celebrating one whole year with all natural hair.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
When you don't feel like doing ANYTHING...
Motivation, I think, is a myth. Not just a myth, but a crutch that people rely on to propel themselves into the fantasyland of success that they have built up in their minds. At the risk of sounding cynical, the other crutch may be inspiration, which is also somewhat emotional.
Either you do something or you don't do it. There is no "try." I love that. I use that notion often to get my butt out of bed at 5:00 am to head to the gym before work. I use it to push through each work day, and to catch up on that neverending pile of laundry/dishes/whatever. We like to coddle ourselves and others around us in an imaginary hammock stretched between failure and success. Failure is not a bad thing. It is a simple fact that we somehow allow to change and define us. What we do with failure is either positive or negative. Failure itself rests on neutral ground.
My last blog was about goal setting. I wanted to talk about motivation because, this week, my motivation has been very low. Last week was pretty awesome, but this week sucks for some reason. Maybe it's the cloudy weather we've had since the weekend. Maybe I'm just generally feeling funky. Sometimes I am hit by a wave of BLAH that renders me useless. I decided to create a vision collage to remind me of all of the reasons why I am reaching for my goals. Although inspiration alone won't make me do the work that is necessary to reach my goals, it does help me to focus on what needs to be done, rather than how I feel.
So, if you don't really feel like doing something you probably *should* do... do it anyway. Or if you don't do it, just don't wallow in guilt and beat yourself up. Take a nap or go for a walk or chill out for a while [or go make a vision collage!!!], and start fresh.
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| source |
Either you do something or you don't do it. There is no "try." I love that. I use that notion often to get my butt out of bed at 5:00 am to head to the gym before work. I use it to push through each work day, and to catch up on that neverending pile of laundry/dishes/whatever. We like to coddle ourselves and others around us in an imaginary hammock stretched between failure and success. Failure is not a bad thing. It is a simple fact that we somehow allow to change and define us. What we do with failure is either positive or negative. Failure itself rests on neutral ground.
My last blog was about goal setting. I wanted to talk about motivation because, this week, my motivation has been very low. Last week was pretty awesome, but this week sucks for some reason. Maybe it's the cloudy weather we've had since the weekend. Maybe I'm just generally feeling funky. Sometimes I am hit by a wave of BLAH that renders me useless. I decided to create a vision collage to remind me of all of the reasons why I am reaching for my goals. Although inspiration alone won't make me do the work that is necessary to reach my goals, it does help me to focus on what needs to be done, rather than how I feel.
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| My vision collage |
So, if you don't really feel like doing something you probably *should* do... do it anyway. Or if you don't do it, just don't wallow in guilt and beat yourself up. Take a nap or go for a walk or chill out for a while [or go make a vision collage!!!], and start fresh.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Reaching for the Stars: Why I'm in Love with Goal Setting
I have always loved stargazing. There is nothing better to me than sitting underneath a blanket of stars. Even better to catch a glimpse of a shooting star or rare comet. I have loved astronomy since I was a small child. For a week of my life, I seriously thought I wanted to be an astronaut. But I kind of suck at science, and I hate math so…
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| source |
I grew up believing that I could be anything, and that the possibilities for my life were as endless as the starry universe. All I ever wanted was to know my purpose, and to truly live my life, free as a bird, with no regrets. To be honest, I often have no idea what I’m doing. I still don’t have a solid grasp of what my purpose is. I don’t even know if I think I have one purpose. Maybe my purpose is an underlying thread that ties all of my experiences together. Maybe my purpose is not what I do, but who I am/who I will become. #deepthoughts
I love setting goals. It makes life more exciting for me. When I pinpoint a goal, I get giddy with excitement. My imagination runs wild. My heart races. I start to focus instead of floating randomly through life, like a feather through the air. It gives me a sense of purpose. I immediately start researching and figuring out what I need to do to reach that goal. I become obsessed and relentless until I reach it. No matter what your goal is, the steps to reaching it are pretty much the same:
1) Ask yourself: Is this goal reasonable? Like, seriously? If it is, give yourself a deadline.
2) Ask yourself if you are really willing to do what it takes. The only thing stopping you is yourself. That pretty much eliminates excuses. You will always find a way to do what you truly want to do. You can't always rely on inward motivation or outward inspiration. Sometimes you are not going to feel like doing anything. Stuff happens. The goal becomes bigger than yourself, and a consistent effort is what will produce results.
3) Do some research. Read stuff. Ask people who have done what you are trying to do… how did they do it?
4) Break it down into small steps so it’s not so overwhelming. If your goal is a big one (like running a marathon or purchasing a house), set some mini, short term goals as stepping stones to the end result.
5) Surround yourself with like minded, positive people. Get yourself a support group. There is power in numbers.
6) Eliminate anything (or anyone) that is not helping you reach your goal. If your goal is weight loss, get rid of the junk food in your house. This also goes with #5—if there are people in your life who will not support you, cut waaaaaaaaay back on the time you spend with them.
7) Get organized… okay, try to get organized. Do your prep work. Do your homework. Work toward your goal a little bit each day/week. Results come with consistent effort.
8) Spend your time more wisely. I am a die-hard procrastinator with a love/hate relationship with schedules. I hate the monotony of following a routine week after week, but I need it so badly! Haha! I made a block schedule of my week in 30 minute increments so I could figure out where to fit in various activities (like my daily workouts).
9) Reward yourself for reaching your mini-goals. This doesn’t have to be anything big and expensive. Give yourself a pat on the back, or a sticker or something. Enjoying the journey is just as important as the end result.
10) Once you’ve reached your goal, set another one right away! Rinse and repeat. Don’t stop until you die.
So basically, if I didn't reach any of the goals on my 10 by 30 Bucket List, it's because I probably faltered on one of the above steps. Or maybe I set too many goals at once. That’s been known to happen… 
Sunday, March 11, 2012
All about the Female Body Breakthrough
I admit, I've been hiding from everyone/the blog/my life. Sometimes I feel like a multitasking ninja, managing family, work, fitness, recreation, whatever without breaking a sweat. Occasionally, I freak out and let the madness consume me. I get tired, become emotional, get stressed... and work myself into a funk. And then, I'm paralyzed. I usually snap out of it after a few nights of good sleep and get back on top.
So, I said I was going to dish on the workout program I've been doing for the past 9 weeks. The Female Body Breakthrough is a 16-week strength training program, designed to help build muscle mass and lose fat in a reasonable amount of time. I know a lot of women think that lifting heavy weights will make them beefy, but the truth is that we don't nearly as much testosterone as men do. So, it's much harder for us to build significant muscle mass. As you build muscle, your metabolism increases, allowing you to burn fat at a faster rate and burn more calories even when you're not doing anything at all.
There are four 4-week phases, all with different workouts. You can also improve your nutrition in four phases for optimal fat loss. Basically there are 3 major components of fat loss, in order of priority:
1. Nutrition
2. Strength training
3. Cardio
The first phase (Base Phase) has you doing 2-3 strength workouts per week, and no cardio at all until the third week. You focus on cleaning up your eating by eliminating processed and fried foods from your diet.
Each phase has two strength workouts (A & B) which are alternated each week. There is one day of rest or stretching between workouts, in order to give your body ample time to recover. For example, if you do 3 strength workouts each week, your schedule looks like this:
In each following phase, the workouts change again. You lift heavier weights for fewer reps, and do more challenging exercises. You gradually add 1-2 highly intense cardio interval workouts (HIIT or metabolic circuits as they are called in the book), and by the third phase, you can add 1 more day of cardio-of-choice. By then, your workout schedule may look like this:
This may look like a lot of exercise, but each strength workout is really only 30-45 minutes long, maybe as long as an hour, depending on your pace. The HIIT cardio takes only 20-30 minutes. In the book, author Rachel Cosgrove recommends that you only do 30 minutes on your day of optional cardio. At most, you may be working out up to 6 hours each week. Considering that there are 168 hours in a week, that's really not a lot of time at all.
I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to "tone up" or build strength. I'm sure you'll get excellent results with consistency and patience. To be honest, I've struggled with my nutrition. In the book, Rachel has you eating clean and not counting calories until the final four weeks. For me, counting calories is much easier. When I can see the numbers, it motivates me to up my protein intake. I know what to eat to manipulate the numbers, so I trick myself into eating more veggies, less starchy carbs, etc. I don't eat a lot of processed food, but I do have a tendency to eat too much food, period. Especially carbs. Carbs are not forbidden, but you must eat the right kind of carbs (complex, full of fiber--sweet potatoes, green veggies, fruits) at the right times (in the morning or before and after a workout). I still struggle with carb timing, but I am giving myself time to improve.
My results so far have not been dramatic, and I know it is because of my eating habits. But I am figuring out what works best for me, and sticking with that. Consistency is what will lead to success.
So, I said I was going to dish on the workout program I've been doing for the past 9 weeks. The Female Body Breakthrough is a 16-week strength training program, designed to help build muscle mass and lose fat in a reasonable amount of time. I know a lot of women think that lifting heavy weights will make them beefy, but the truth is that we don't nearly as much testosterone as men do. So, it's much harder for us to build significant muscle mass. As you build muscle, your metabolism increases, allowing you to burn fat at a faster rate and burn more calories even when you're not doing anything at all.
There are four 4-week phases, all with different workouts. You can also improve your nutrition in four phases for optimal fat loss. Basically there are 3 major components of fat loss, in order of priority:
1. Nutrition
2. Strength training
3. Cardio
The first phase (Base Phase) has you doing 2-3 strength workouts per week, and no cardio at all until the third week. You focus on cleaning up your eating by eliminating processed and fried foods from your diet.
Each phase has two strength workouts (A & B) which are alternated each week. There is one day of rest or stretching between workouts, in order to give your body ample time to recover. For example, if you do 3 strength workouts each week, your schedule looks like this:
Day 1
|
Day 2
|
Day 3
|
Day 4
|
Day 5
|
Day 6
|
Day 7
| |
WEEK 1
|
Workout A
|
stretch
|
Workout B
|
stretch
|
Workout A
|
REST
|
REST
|
WEEK 2
|
Workout B
|
stretch
|
Workout A
|
stretch
|
Workout B
|
REST
|
REST
|
In each following phase, the workouts change again. You lift heavier weights for fewer reps, and do more challenging exercises. You gradually add 1-2 highly intense cardio interval workouts (HIIT or metabolic circuits as they are called in the book), and by the third phase, you can add 1 more day of cardio-of-choice. By then, your workout schedule may look like this:
Day 1
|
Day 2
|
Day 3
|
Day 4
|
Day 5
|
Day 6
|
Day 7
| |
WEEK 1
|
Workout A
|
HIIT cardio
|
Workout B
|
Stretch
|
Workout A
|
HIIT cardio
|
Opt. cardio
|
WEEK 2
|
Workout B
|
HIIT
|
Workout A
|
Stretch
|
Workout B
|
HIIT
|
cardio
|
This may look like a lot of exercise, but each strength workout is really only 30-45 minutes long, maybe as long as an hour, depending on your pace. The HIIT cardio takes only 20-30 minutes. In the book, author Rachel Cosgrove recommends that you only do 30 minutes on your day of optional cardio. At most, you may be working out up to 6 hours each week. Considering that there are 168 hours in a week, that's really not a lot of time at all.
I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to "tone up" or build strength. I'm sure you'll get excellent results with consistency and patience. To be honest, I've struggled with my nutrition. In the book, Rachel has you eating clean and not counting calories until the final four weeks. For me, counting calories is much easier. When I can see the numbers, it motivates me to up my protein intake. I know what to eat to manipulate the numbers, so I trick myself into eating more veggies, less starchy carbs, etc. I don't eat a lot of processed food, but I do have a tendency to eat too much food, period. Especially carbs. Carbs are not forbidden, but you must eat the right kind of carbs (complex, full of fiber--sweet potatoes, green veggies, fruits) at the right times (in the morning or before and after a workout). I still struggle with carb timing, but I am giving myself time to improve.
My results so far have not been dramatic, and I know it is because of my eating habits. But I am figuring out what works best for me, and sticking with that. Consistency is what will lead to success.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
FBB: 4-week Results!
So, I just finished the Base Phase of the Female Body Breakthrough. Annnnd here are my results from the first 4 weeks:
Weight lost: 6 pounds
Chest: -1 inch
Waist: -0.5 inches
Hips: nada (buildin up the booty, y'all)
Arms: 0
Thighs: + 1 inch??
Oh, and though I'm too shy to post progress pics just yet, I swear my tummy is much flatter. I've got baby biceps trying to bust through my arm fat. And, *drum roll please*......... I am now an early morning exerciser, y'all! Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Those are 3 words I would have NEVER used to describe myself four weeks ago. I'm pretty freakin proud of myself! I feel like I got a great start. I cleaned up my eating tremendously, although I still allow for a "splurge meal" once or twice a week. Don't worry, I imagine I will post my bikini progress at some point. ;)
I am happy to have cardio back in my life--although, truth be told, the strength workouts provide plenty of cardio, as moving from circuit to circuit is great for getting that heart rate up. I am now working out 4 times a week, which is totally manageable. I do my strength workouts at the gym at work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. On Saturday, I do my HIIT workout at home. I am already excited to add in another HIIT workout at Week 9, but I'm only at Week 5 so I guess I need to slow my roll... How bout, lemme figure out how to do some chin ups? I was supposed to do like, 6 of them in today's workout. But I got shy (as I was not alone in the gym) and wimped out by doing some lat pull-downs instead. Ha!
I haven't had my body fat professionally tested yet, which is something I really, REALLY need to do. I don't go to a regular gym and I ain't gots a trainer, so I'll have to figure out how to get that done.
So, I started the next four-week phase, which means I'll be doing more intense exercises and lifting heavier for fewer reps in order to define my newfound muscles. And it means learning how to do a motherlovin chin-up. My focus will be on eating even cleaner, timing my carbs around my workouts, and eating just 2 servings of fruit per day (as opposed to 3 or 4). The nutrition aspect is always the hardest for me, since I luurrrrve food, like forreal. Like, food is my BOO, y'all. Deprivation is no bueno, and variety is key. For instance, I had steak tacos for dinner on Friday. I grilled some marinated sirloin. Added some of my favorite veggies. Instead of wrapping all that up in a low-carb tortilla (or 2), I cut the tortillas into quadrants, sprayed them, and baked them. I topped the whole deal with cheese and... healthy NACHOS. Twoulda been bangin, but apparently whole wheat low-carb tortillas get pretty chewy when baked. Oh well--at least the flavors were still there *mwah*. That reminds me, I am hoping to post some of the recipes I've tried along the way. I've come across some good ones! Except for this one...
This is a homemade chocolate peanut butter protein bar, believe it or not. It definitely tasted much better than it looks...
So yeah, stay tuned. ;)
Weight lost: 6 pounds
Chest: -1 inch
Waist: -0.5 inches
Hips: nada (buildin up the booty, y'all)
Arms: 0
Thighs: + 1 inch??
Oh, and though I'm too shy to post progress pics just yet, I swear my tummy is much flatter. I've got baby biceps trying to bust through my arm fat. And, *drum roll please*......... I am now an early morning exerciser, y'all! Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Those are 3 words I would have NEVER used to describe myself four weeks ago. I'm pretty freakin proud of myself! I feel like I got a great start. I cleaned up my eating tremendously, although I still allow for a "splurge meal" once or twice a week. Don't worry, I imagine I will post my bikini progress at some point. ;)
I am happy to have cardio back in my life--although, truth be told, the strength workouts provide plenty of cardio, as moving from circuit to circuit is great for getting that heart rate up. I am now working out 4 times a week, which is totally manageable. I do my strength workouts at the gym at work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. On Saturday, I do my HIIT workout at home. I am already excited to add in another HIIT workout at Week 9, but I'm only at Week 5 so I guess I need to slow my roll... How bout, lemme figure out how to do some chin ups? I was supposed to do like, 6 of them in today's workout. But I got shy (as I was not alone in the gym) and wimped out by doing some lat pull-downs instead. Ha!
I haven't had my body fat professionally tested yet, which is something I really, REALLY need to do. I don't go to a regular gym and I ain't gots a trainer, so I'll have to figure out how to get that done.
So, I started the next four-week phase, which means I'll be doing more intense exercises and lifting heavier for fewer reps in order to define my newfound muscles. And it means learning how to do a motherlovin chin-up. My focus will be on eating even cleaner, timing my carbs around my workouts, and eating just 2 servings of fruit per day (as opposed to 3 or 4). The nutrition aspect is always the hardest for me, since I luurrrrve food, like forreal. Like, food is my BOO, y'all. Deprivation is no bueno, and variety is key. For instance, I had steak tacos for dinner on Friday. I grilled some marinated sirloin. Added some of my favorite veggies. Instead of wrapping all that up in a low-carb tortilla (or 2), I cut the tortillas into quadrants, sprayed them, and baked them. I topped the whole deal with cheese and... healthy NACHOS. Twoulda been bangin, but apparently whole wheat low-carb tortillas get pretty chewy when baked. Oh well--at least the flavors were still there *mwah*. That reminds me, I am hoping to post some of the recipes I've tried along the way. I've come across some good ones! Except for this one...
So yeah, stay tuned. ;)
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