As Insane as I Get

Finally a night without late night binging--for lack of a better term--on my favorite cereal of the month, Honeycombs. Ironically I awoke the following morning to the Insanity infomercial.

Yes, you know the one. You've seen it. It's the one where a young woman proudly proclaims to have thrown up after the workout. Uhh...that's too insane for me. Yet, on this particular morning, I found myself being lured in.

"Get results that would normally take one year in 60 days!" It claims.

"I'm in the best shape of my life!" Many participants claim.

Working out to that level of insanity, one can't help but be in the best shape of their lives. I know this. I've always known this. And no matter how much I want to be in the best shape of my life, the fact still remains that "Insanity" is too insane for me. While my fitness level is closer to 3, folks need to be like 10 + for that kind of workout.

So, for me, I'll choose my own version insanity, which is any physical exerting exercise program that makes me sweat. Chris Freytag 10lb Slimdown, Jeanette Jenkins Beach BodyWorkout, Denise Austin Blast Away the Fat, or even a brisk walk or jog on the treadmill.

If, and when, I do any of these workouts on a consistent basis and clean up my eating, I do see results. No throwing up needed!

Have you tried Insanity? How is it working for you?

SkinnyFat Workout Plans

My daughter was only speaking the truth when she said to me, "Ma, since you're skinny you're going to have to work out harder if you ever want to lose any weight."  Harder meaning walking faster than 2.5 for 50 minutes on the treadmill. Harder meaning walking, instead, on 4.0 for 25 -30 minutes.

Is this fair? Absolutely not! However, if I want to do more than maintain my current weight, I HAVE to work my body hard. In retrospect, that's how I did it before. I hit the gym 3-4 days a week and walked and jogged on the treadmill and sometimes on the track. Then, I wasn't on the mission I'm on today. Then, I was working off the frustrations of a failing marriage. In those situations it's easy to--sometimes--to eat less and burn fat.

Today I'm motivated by a few factors:

1. I going to Vegas or Niagara Falls in a few weeks to get married. Ironic, huh?
2. Sometime this year or early next year I'm going on a cruise on plan to look fabulous in my swimsuit!
3. My best friend is getting married in October and whether or not I'm in the wedding party, I MUST look stunning in whatever dress I wear. This is my friend who rocked a bikini on the last cruise we went on last year.
4. Lastly, I want to be as close as possible to my ideal weight when I have that surgery I wrote about in a previous post.

LaCharmine (L.A.) Jefferson
Author, Writer, Blogger
Website: http://www.lajefferson.com/
Blogs by me:
L.A.'s Literary Love Life@ http://lajefferson.blogspot.com/
A Day in the Life of L.A. Jefferson @ http://lajefferson.blogspot.com/
All Things Love @ http://all-things-love.blogspot.com/
Naturally L.A. @ http://naturallyla.wordpress.com/
Surviving Work @ http://survivingmydayjob.wordpress.com/
Follow me on Twitter @lajefferson

My Little Secret

So far in my life when I've made major decisions I kept the details under wraps from those who have even the remotest influence over me. From remarrying my ex husband, to cutting my hair, I was able to follow my true hearts desire because I didn't have any naysayers in my ear. Hence why I'll be keeping my lips sealed about my plastic surgery plans.

Yep, I'm back to that again. Funny I always come back to it. This marks the sixth year that I've been toying with the idea of this quick fix. Until my mom advised me to wait until my son was like four or five, I'd planned to have the surgery after dedicating a solid year to eating right and consistently exercising. In the interim, Kanye West's mom died from complications on the surgery and the daughter of my moms friend complained that her stomach fat came back after having the surgery. Later, my boyfriend convinced me that the surgery wasn't worth the risk. He said I was sexy like just as was.

While that is true, at the end of the day I still can't stand the unsightly saggy skin that I've known as my stomach for the last 16 years. Of everyone in my family and circle of friends, I'm the most health conscience. I exercise more often than not. I stopped buying packages of junk food for my kitchen years ago. I hardly drink pop. I embrace opportunities to move my body. Still, this fat has made my belly its permanent home. How unfair is that?

Pride and fear also interfered with my plans. Having surgery made me feel like a failure, not to mention vain. Is it morally wrong to risk my life for sheer vanity? Then again, I'm not a 50 year old woman with high cholesterol or heart disease and such. Thanks to my years of trying to rid myself of this belly fat, I'm a pretty healthy person.

Exercising all of my adult life, I'm doubtful that I'll be one of those people who gain the weight back. This is a one time thing for me. No seconds, especially after what I've heard about the recovery process. I wouldn't be surprised if I was finally able to give up sugar and all forms of fast food to ensure no more fat settles around my belly EVER again!

I'll keep you posted!

LaCharmine (L.A.) Jefferson
Author, Writer, Blogger
Website: www.lajefferson.com
Blogs by me:
L.A.'s Literary Love Life@ http://lajefferson.blogspot.com
A Day in the Life of L.A. Jefferson @ http://lajefferson.blogspot.com
All Things Love @ http://all-things-love.blogspot.com
Naturally L.A. @ http://naturallyla.wordpress.com
Surviving Work @ http://survivingmydayjob.wordpress.com
Follow me on Twitter @lajefferson

Fitness Girl Crush

A girl crush refers to the infatuation that one heterosexual woman develops for another woman who may seem impossibly sophisticated, gifted, beautiful or accomplished. It's completely healthy and I'm not ashamed to admit that I have one. On my Zumba fitness instructor. Quite frankly, she has the best body I've seen on a African American female fitness instructor who wasn't on television! It's much more visually inspiring than the last AA female fitness instructor I went to whose belly was questionably NOT flat. Maybe she'd recently given birth. I don't know. What I do know is that I expect someone helping me get fit to already be fit themselves. Not just "healthy" fit, but "hot" fit! No worries with my new instructor. Her body simply rocks! And gosh darn it! I want it!

Guess I better keep going to her class, huh? And find out what she eats on a daily basis.

Want to share your fitness girl crush? Comment below.

Skinny Fat

Confession of the Day: Belly Gazing

If it's true that we're predisposed to characteristics of our parents--good or bad--boy oh boy, did I catch a doozy from my dad. Particularly, during my teenage years, I can clearly remember my dad criticizing--that's putting it midly--people, especially women, for being overweight.

"Ughh!" He'd unapologetically say. "These women are just lazy, letting themselves go like that. Who do they think is going to want them with all that fat on their bodies?"

Think I'm exaggerating? I'm not! Seriously! He would even talk about my mother, who wasn't even a big woman. But just the fact that she wasn't as skinny as she was as a teenager and young adult was enough to be on his "unsightly" radar.

But there's good and bad news. The bad news is that I'm not nearly as bad as my dad, but, I do possess his critical eye. And, like my dad, my primary target is women because, unfortunately, society dictates that it's okay for men to get fat. They can still be considered desirable. Since becoming a skinnyfat, when I come into contact with other women, my eyes automatically gaze toward their stomachs. It's become somewhat of an addiction. Anyway, if the stomach is fat I cringe for two different reasons:

1. It's unsightly
2. It's like looking in a mirror at how I look to the outside world.

On the other hand, if it's flat--or close to it--a myriad of thoughts ramble through my mind. Among them are:

1. What did I eat today? What did she eat?
2. Are small stomachs genetic in her family?
3. How often does this woman exercise?
4. Did she have a tummy tuck?

Crazy, right? I know. Believe me, I chastise myself each and every time. But that doesn't stop me from doing the same thing over and over again. It's a vicious, insane cycle!