Day 26, 27 and 28

Hello my lovelies,

Well, I have completed 4 full weeks on my program.  28 days down. 32 more to go til the first day of spring.  Yaay!

Day 26 (Friday, Feb 14)
Valentine’s day was nice.  Got some gifts from hubby. I have to admit I was really worried because we were snowed in on Wed and Thursday, so I thought, “Oh goodness buddy, you are so in trouble if you waited to the last minute to get me a gift” But he surprised me!  Hmmm. 

It was a good eating day.  We ate at a Mediterranean restaurant for valentine’s day.  I had filet mignon, lobster tail and steam veggies. Hubby had a prime rib and veggies. My steak was one of the best seasoned steaks that I’ve ever

Day 27 (Saturday, Feb 15)
I am getting ready to start running. I went to Target and bought my very first ever pair of athletic sunglasses. So glad that I have been watching the winter Olympics because every sport has protective eyewear and I keep focusing on how cool the eyewear was and then I remembered that my last visit to the eye doctor, she told me that I had some small lesions on my eye that is from the wind blowing in my eyes and sun damage. The doctor told me to wear sunglasses all the time when I am outdoors to protect my eyes from wind and UV rays. but I have a hard time wearing shades because I can’t get over the fact that it alters the way the outdoors look. I am affected by the amount of sunlight I get so shades blocking sunlight depresses me!  But I don’t want to continue damaging my eyes either.  so I decided to invest in proper eyewear. 

On Saturday night, we dropped the kids off at a kids-only party at a cousin’s house and then we attempted to go see Kevin Hart’s new movie, About Last Night (?) or something like that. The 840pm showing was sold out, so we went out for dinner and drinks at 42 Street Oyster Bar.  It was nice. I have always like the ambience in that restaurant. It has a warm glow that makes my skin look 15 years younger. And its always crowded and full of energy.  Our wait was 1 hour and 15 minutes so we hung out in the cocktail bar area.  I asked these 2 guys if we could share their table and they said yes.  They were Jay and Jim.  Jay’s a real estate agent and Jim’s a commercial attorney.  He is trying to buy a house in the North Hills area but it’s hard to find a house in that area because is such a high demand area.   Jay is 47 and looked 32 (maybe it’s that beautiful lighting that I mentioned).  Jim is 38 with a 3 year old and recently divorced.  We had a nice time.  I ordered buffalo shrimp, bacon-wrapped scallops, hush puppies (they have the best in town), black eye peas (to eat with the hush puppies — don’t laugh I grew up in the rural deep south).  and I had fries. YES, IT WAS A CHEAT MEAL! It was some of the best food I’ve had in a long time.  We will definitely go more often. 

Day 28 (Sunday, Feb 16)
I laid in bed all day.  I was going to go for a run, but I just laid in bed all day.  I wasted 2 hours of life watching “A room with a view” on Netflix.  The only reason I watched it is because Rupert Graves was in it, and I love him.  But I hated it because it had Helen Bonham Carter and I don’t think I enjoy watching her in movies. Her personal life is so quacky that it affects my ability to enjoy her in movies. Eating was so so. We went to BurgerFi. We love that place.

Okay.  I got to start running and I need to buy a blender so I had get more veggies and fruit into my family’s body!

Week 5 here I come.

Day 25 of 60

Day 25
35 days til spring (5 weeks til spring)
Thursday,  Feb 13, 2014

Still iced in.

I worked out about 9pm to my kickboxing DVD (Les Mills Combat).  I warmed up to Beyoncé’s “Get me Bodied”.  That song is crazy!  The video is awesome and when you hear the songs you can’t help but try to do some of the dances that Beyoncé does in the video, except I look really stupid.  The only person who saw me is my hubby.  Luckily we can laugh together at my ridiculous-ness!

So after I warmed up to “Get me Bodied”.  I put “Moves like Jagger” on repeat and did some punches, jabs and kicks to that song for about 4 times. That song is the PERFECT kickboxing song!

Then after I was sweating and really hyped up and full of energy, I put on the actual DVD.  The DVD was a letdown after being hyped up by Beyoncé and Adam Levine.  But I love the structure of the DVD and  love the workout in the DVD.

DEADLINE GOT ME NERVOUS
So as you know, this blog is for 60 days only as I countdown to the first day of spring 2014, which is March 20, 2014.  I am feeling anxious because I only have 5 weeks left and I am not as far along my journey as I would like to be.  So I need to tighten up and get serious.

• On Saturday, Feb 15th, I plan to start running this weekend (I love to run). I am actually starting my training for a 5k that I will run with my kids and hubby on May 17th.
• SLEEP. Turn television off at 10:3pm so I can be sleep by 11pm.
• WHITE SUGAR, WHITE FLOUR — eliminate these as much as humanly possible. It’s very difficult for me to lose weight when I eat sugar and high glycemic foods, like starches, flours, etc.
• take my supplements (probiotics, omega 3’s, omegas’s, ubiquinol, carnitine, DMAE, multivitamin, Candida Cleanse, etc)
• WEIGHT TRAIN –  I have dumbbells at home, so I will do a mock-Body Pump workout until I actually purchase Les Mill Body Pump DVD. Which I plan to do in the next few days.
• Pilates DVD 3 to  5 times a week for core training and flexibility.
• HIP HOP ABS – I may buy this DVD because I need to learn some new dances moves. I can’t keep doing the cabbage patch, running man and the prep forever!

I am not scale obsessed like I used to be. I am really not focused on the scale moving down each day.  I really want to look great in my clothes.  I already feel healthy.  Once I started eating clean back in September, I started feeling healthy. The pains stopped.  I knew that eating clean was the secret.

Now I am working on getting fit.  I want to be cardiovascularly fit.  I don’t want to huff and puff when I walk up stairs.  I want to be able to run for 30 minutes like I used to back in 2011.

I want muscle tone. I want to sculpt my body through weight training so that I stand tall and so that my clothes fit my body in a pleasing way.

I am willing to put in the hard work.

DAMN IT!  I WANT THIS.

end

Kim Ford

Day 24 of 60

Wednesday, Feb 12, 2014

We are iced in.  Which means that all the heart wants to do is lay in front of the fireplace, watch the Winter Olympics and eats comfort food.  That’s sounds great. And I am sure that the hubby, kids and I will do that, but I also plan to:

• workout to my kickboxing DVD
• drinks lots of water
• eat my veggies, lean proteins, and my apple
• take my supplements (omega 3’s, omega’6, probiotic, etc)

So I will not let the fact that we are iced in and cannot leave our house, be an excuse to pig out.  One or two indulgences will be okay, AND I will keep doing everything else.  No need to drop it all.

I ran out of my favorite “brain” supplement, Rhodiola. It’s phonetic, pronounced ROW-DEE-OH-LAH   This supplement helps me and hubby with focus and concentration.  And I think hubby likes it because it also helps physical stamina when working out. I cannot really say for sure if it helps me in that way, but I am an analyst which requires hours and hours of deep focus and when I am sleep deprived (which is most of the time), then focusing just aint happening.  Love our Rhodiola. We use the NOW brand, which we get from Whole Foods.  As soon as the ice melts I am headed to get a bottle.

Hey please share your favorite herbal supplement, homeopathic remedies, or natural remedies. 

end

Kim Ford

Feeling Like Forrest Gump

Hello My Lovelies,

I am feeling like Forrest Gump.  I just feel like running.

So I will.

I will start training to run in a 5k in the spring on May 17. It’s the Purple Stride run/walk for pancreatic cancer.
http://purplestride.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1089444

My 9 year old and my 12 year old will run in it too. Hubby said that if the 3 of us run in it, then he will join us.  So there you have it. As of today, I plan to register the 4 of us to run/walk the 5k on May 17th.

I have only ran in one 5k in my life.  Though I did run/walk at 10K back in 1981 when I was 13.  I ran my one and only 5k in 2011.  That was after maintaining my weight for 1 year, I needed to up my game, so I started running.  I started running on March 20, 2011 (first day of spring) and then I ran in the Komen 5K three months later on June 11, 2011.

Muscle Tone
I am starting to see and feel muscle tone in my thighs and arms.  So I am happy about that.

Hip Hop Abs
I think that I will buy Hip Hop Abs.  or maybe Les Mills Body Pump.

Day 18 of 60

Day 18
Thursday
February 5, 2014

Workout
I arrived home from work at 4:45pm  By 5:10 I was in my workout clothes, sparring gloves on, and my kickbox playlist turned up as loud as it could go.  Okay, so my warmup song is Beyonce’s “Get me Bodied”.  But all my boxing and kicking is done to Adam Levine’s “Moves Like Jagger”.   That song is the PERFECT boxing song.

So I did my own kickboxing workout for about 20 minutes. Then I picked up my 8lb dumbbell and did tricep presses and scull crushers until failure.  I did some pushups, and some pilates moves for my core.  I am ready to start running and I am a bit eager to join the gym, but I will suppress the urge and try to get through these 60 days with working out at home. I wanted to go to the community center up the road for a run around the track, but my sports bra is a bit too little and it hurts.  It’s a really quality sports bra that I bought from Dicks Sporting Good 2 years ago when I was 20 pounds thinner. It’s an Under Armour and it really give outstanding support when I run.  I am at 38F, and if I try to run without a support-providing sport bra I look and feel stupid.

I don’t think that there is a larger-sized sports bra so I will probably just need to drop about 5 more pounds from my chest areas in order for it to fit comfortable enough for me to go for a 10 to 15 minute run.

My non-scale victories
One of the terms they used in Weight Watchers back in 2009/2010 when I was a member is “non-scale victory”, that when something good happens to you while you are on your fitness journey that has nothing to do with your weight.  Like when someone compliments you, or you fit into clothes that used to be too little.

• Today, when I walked into work this morning, I realized that I was walking very fast and with strength and gusto.  I was weighted down with laptop bag, lunchbox, and my general purpose bag.  But I realized that walking with all of that stuff “felt” easier and I was definitely walking faster.
• Today at work, walking up the stairs in my building seemed easier.
• On my car ride home from work, I was eager to get home to work out.
• On my car ride home from work, I was eager to go for a run.
• Yesterday, when I looked at myself in the mirror, my body looked smaller. I was so inspired I wore my high heels.

Body Pump
Okay I am ready to start working out with weights.  In a serious way. I may buy the Les Mills Body Pump DVD set.  I will just play it by ear. i have dumbbells here in my bedroom. And I already know all of the exercise because I have done Body Pump on and off for years. So I really should just put my own routine together.  Hmm.. let me try that first — don’t want to waste money. I can use that money to buy myself my next pair of Levi’s.

Post workout treats:

1. raw celery + ranch dressing
   (I really do enjoy this. I started last year when hubby and I would hit up The Fox and the Hound (our hangout) and we would order wings.  They bring them with celery and ranch, so I tried the celery with ranch and realized that the texture was pleasing and ranch dressing can make cardboard that’s good).
2. granny smith apple slices sprinkled with kosher salt + cayenne pepper. (yum-yum)
3. a bubble bath (the best part)

Dinner
I want a bowl of honey bunches of oats cereal.  But I do not have any milk, will text hubby to bring some home.

end

Kim Ford

Eating
We into the office today. So eating was really stable.

• breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs
• early lunch: chicken soup (chicken thigh + bone broth)
• late lunch: chicken soup (slowcooked chicken thight + bone broth)
• snack: gala apple
• snack: 1 hardboiled egg (white only)

(3) men that I lost recently

Phillip Seymour Hoffman
So my favorite actor died yesterday. Phillip Seymour Hoffman.  He’s a year old than me and he was absolutely brilliant.  I had a secret fantasy to flying up to New York with hubby the next time he was on broadway doing my favorite American play, Death of a Saleman. But he won’t act in that play ever again.  Dead at 46.  My favorite PSH movies are:

• Love Liza (indie film where he was depressed because his wife died, and he started huffing gasoline
• Stone Mountain  (he added comic relief as the Baptist preacher)
• Capote
• Before The Devil Know You’re Dead

Archie Buckley
The two men from my early childhood that shaped the ideal strong black man and husband in my young mind was my maternal grandfather and one of my mother’s boyfriends when I was 6.  He taught me and my brother how to dig for fish bait and how to fish. The only times I have been fishing, he took me.  He is my baby sister’s father. He was a good man.  He was a hard working man, a carpenter, and he would come home from work and would pop pocorn on the stove the old fashioned way and he’d put peanuts in the oven and roast them the old fashion way.  And we’d all snack while we watched TV. My husband have heard many stories of Archie because my husband reminds me so much of Archie. My husband is a good man.  I know he’s a good man because when I was 6 years old Archie Buckley came into my life and into my heart and showed me what a good man looks like. He died of cancer about 2 weeks ago. And I am filled with regret because I would have loved to have talk to him and asked him about that 6 year old little girl from his point of view. When he died he took his vision of me with him. And know I will never know about me from his mouth. I regret not seeing him earlier. He lived in Texas and now he is gone.  I called my big brother to ask him how he was dealing with Archie’s death. And we both were upset. So we decided to eat poporn and peanuts in Archie’s honor.

Joe Larry Spivey
Joe Spivey was my first boyfriend.  We dated in 1985.  He was crazy about me.  He was one of the nicest men that I have ever known. Everybody loved him. My mom loved him. My cousins loved him. My siblings loved him. I loved him, but unfortunately, he wanted to get married, but I had big dreams of leaving that small town so I was not happy at the thought of getting married out of high school eventhough I had 2 friends who got married in high school and another one immediately after high school.  So I broke up with him because he loved me.  I thought of him constantly and always planned to see him when I went home for visits. I told some of my male cousins that I was going to apologize to Joe the next time I saw him. and they all told me “NO!”.  They told me that it would take something from Joe’s manhood for his old girlfriend to apologize.  I did not believe them and had no plans to listen to them, but my hub told me that my cousins were right.  So I listened and never went to visit Joe for our ‘conversation’.   Another regret.  The last time I saw Joe Spivey was in September 1986 when I came home from bootcamp.  He and I went out for dinner my last night home.  We were both 18 years old.  My last moments with him were just us talking about our dreams.  I was headed to Camp Lejeune in NC. and I think that he got married within 2 years. When my sister called me and told me that he’d died of cancer. I cried.  I was shocked that I cried. But I did.  I knew. I knew that with his death the conversation would never happened.  I always envisioned Joe and me sitting around a table perhaps in our 50’s remembering the 80’s and our youth.  Remembering being 16 and 17. I wanted to know what I was like when I was 16.  But I wanted to ask him, because he was the one person who I know for sure actually liked me as a person when I was 16. I wanted to ask a man who loved me to pieces to tell me what I was like at 16. I had every intention of telling him what a wonderful young man he was.  I believe in giving people their flower before they die.  I did not get a chance to give Joe his and I did not give him a chance to give me mine. I will carry this regret with me always.

For Archie Buckley and for Joe Spivey, I will take Dr. Seuss’s advice:  DON’T BE SAD THAT IT’S OVER, BE HAPPY THAT IT HAPPENED!

Day 15 of 60

Day 15
45 days til spring
Monday
February 3, 2014

Question
Is it true that if you exercise when your energy is low, then you will get energized?

That is so counter-intuitive. Sorta like when we found out that hot water freezes faster than cold water.

Well, I put the question to the test — out of desperation. Around 5 pm, while helping my daughter with her math homework, I got really sleepy.  I have no caffeine in the house.  I searched.  Actually, I had that drinking chocolate that I told ya’ll I bought this weekend.   Drinking chocolate seems to be crumbled up dark chocolate candy bar that melts when you put it in hot milk.  I thought about eating a handful of that for the caffeine in the cocoa.  but it has sugar in it and didn’t want the sugar.

I did not feel like doing my Combat DVD, but I did feel like punching and kicking. So I put on my kickboxing playlist, which consists of 2 songs with a strong beat that I love:

1. Moves Like Jagger by Adam Levine
2. Get Me Bodied by Beyoncé

So I just put those 2 songs on repeat and just did some jabs, crosses, and kicks from my that I learned from my Combat DVD.

I was feeling great. And sweating. I threw in some lunges and squats since I was winging it.  Then I remembered I had just downloaded Pink’s song “So What” and that used to be the track that we worked out our biceps to in my Body Pump class at the gym.  So I put on that song and picked up my 8 lbs dumbbell and did some bicep curls and hammer curls and some tricep presses and some rows for my back. and since I was holding 16 pounds in my hands I went ahead and did some more squats.

22 minutes.  I did that for 22 minutes and as I type the sweat is still pouring down my face.  And I don’t sweat. I wish I sweated more because sweat is just confirmation that you are working out, but I have ran 2 miles and came back with a dry face and neck.  But today, I sweated. The last time I sweated like this is when I took a spinning class with hubby at the gym.  It was suppose to burn 600 calories an hour and I truly believe that it does.  It was the hardest cardio and most rewarding cardio workout that I have ever done.

So yes, exercising does give you energy and sweat!

OK. Now I am going to take an ibuprofen and take a hot shower.

end

Kim Ford