@Candid FitNut

5:17am pre-workout snack…homemade protein cookie.

P.S.: you know you get up too early to workout when you put on your underwear, which happens to be a thong, wrong…not inside-out, but the part that’s supposed to be in your buttcrack isn’t in the crack but around your hip siiiiiigh

Sylvia Fowles

Holy hottness. Here’s some motivation for you and some more here at ESPN’s Bodies We Want: 2011 http://espn.go.com/espn/photos/gallery/_/id/7030506/bodies-want-2011

5am – a version of this sweet potato protein muffin for my pre-gym snack

7:15am – 1/2 cup oats, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 banana, 1 cup milk (I think if I use a banana, next time I”ll just use water…this was a lot to eat and lots of carbs too).

9:30am – 16oz latte with 2% milk, no sweetener of any kind, no flavour shots either. I don’t usually have coffee but I was a little distraught this morning as I thought I lost a chain an ex-bf gave me so I “needed” the coffee to cope (btw, found the chain!!)

11:19am – I usually would have had my protein shake (milk/water mix and a scoop of protein powder) at about 10:30am but the coffee kinda messed that one up. I’ve got too much liquid rolling around tummy right now, but I’ll attempt the shake shortly anyway.

2:10pm – Soup! Made with skinless chicken drumsticks, whole wheat dumplings, pumpkin, celery, tomato, onion, garlic.

4:25pm – If I didn’t have coffee and was on my regular eating schedule, I would have had my afternoon snack by now, which would either be a can of tuna (with lime, onion, and tomato) or a simple chick pea salad.

5pm – I had another one of those pumpkin muffins as my afternoon snack. A little bit of healthy carbs (from the oats) and protein (from the protein powder and egg whites) makes for great afternoon noshing without the sugar spikes (my little muffins are sugar/sweetener free).

5:55pm – a pear…a pre-boxing energy boost.

8:20pm – Glass of milk with a scoop of protein powder and half slice of whole grain bread. Home from boxing and I’m dead tired with no appetite, so this is all I can stand to eat.

I’m not a super health freak by the stretch of any imagination….I’m not vegan (although I did try the vegetarian thing for like 7 years and, boy, did I miss me some curry goat and oxtail), I don’t nosh on granola all the time (or ever, for that matter), I don’t drink only almond/soy/rice milk, I don’t use stevia/truvia, I don’t eat/buy only organic foods, and I don’t run marathons. But I do try to eat as healthy as I’m comfortable with and workout a decent amount. When I don’t workout, after about three weeks, I honestly get sad…..my whole outlook on everything changes: I feel useless, I feel fat and ugly, I’m not productive in any way…it’s just awful. And if I eat something super fatty, like if I’m forced (forced = I’m starving and there are NO other immediate options) to eat a piece of fried chicken (for example), I honestly feel ill afterwards; I actually want to go home and puke it up…matter of fact, I did that once, but I felt kind of weird doing it, so I haven’t done it since….but you catch my drift.

I dunno. People will say to me “you’re not living…why be so strict…what if you die tomorrow…..blah blah blah.” And I get it, but I also don’t get it. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly do enjoy eating lots of doughy and dessert stuff, but I just don’t all the time and for me eating the way I do and working out as often as I do makes me soooooo happy and if I die tomorrow, I’d be OK with that (well, I really wouldn’t cuz I’d like to see kids, grandkids, etc) but I wouldn’t regret how I try to live my life.

What I don’t get is people who exercise and eat right for a particular point in life, example, like a milestone birthday, wedding, reunion, etc. Don’t get it twisted, I go super hard if carnival is coming up, but generally, I’m an oatmeal-protein powder-grilled chicken and fish-veggies and fruit kinda chick. I cannot comprehend how some folks get on the diet/exercise bandwagon for two months, admit that they feel great, drop some excess pounds then let it all go to shit once said event is done; how is it fun to see the flab come right back? It’s all about the lifestyle. Don’t bitch and moan about how big you and you  gut are as you down five alcoholic drinks at happy hour along with some cheesy fries AND not workout out AND then tell me that I’m not really living.

If I said to someone “how can you life your life eating the way you do and not working out”, I would be considered an asshole. So then, why are the folks so say similar ish to me, not assholes too? Live and let live (then rant about it on a blog)….if you love to eat certain things and really enjoy the food, then so be it, I truly don’t care…I’m all for doing what makes us happy. But please don’t turnaround and tell me that I’m not having a fun life….let me be me; respect my choices as I respect yours.

btw….this post is totally out of left field….definitely didn’t intend of writing about this. oh well!

@Candid FitNut

Ahhhhhhhh boy I have no excuses, no reason, nada, zip, zero, zilch why I haven’t touched my blog in over a month. Laziness perhaps? Lack of motivation? Definitely lack of motivation.

I haven’t really been lazy, per se. I’ve just been going through a funk, I guess you’d say. I was unmotivated about everything in my life. But I had to slap myself very quickly before it got out of hand. I think for the most part, I’m over the funky feeling; it still lingers but I’ve got other things to focus on for now. The hope of the future (not to sound all wimpy and cliche) has me going…I’m working on some things so we’ll see.

Otherwise, my gymming has been great…I’ve got a new back workout and leg workout. And I’ve taken up boxing as well…like for real, actual boxing. So I’ll write about those soon too.

I’m also thinking of modifying the focus of the blog slightly…I still for sure want to write about healthy stuff but I feel like that’s so restrictive for me…I dunno. We’ll see.

Friday update: my triceps are in pain #DOMS.

[pic source]

Healthy Caribbean Coalition

If you know me, you’d know that I have my Masters of Public Health, so this is definitely an interest of mine.

On March 18, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition www.healthycaribbean.org launched “Get the Message,” a civil society-led text-based social and traditional media communication advocacy campaign to inform people of the region about chronic diseases and their risk factors, and support Caribbean leaders at the UN Summit. The campaign seeks to mobilize and empower Caribbean people by better informing them of chronic diseases and associated risk factors. It aims to indicate support for Caribbean leaders at the UNHLM with the goals of impressing on them the need to aggressively address the common disease risk factors of tobacco exposure, excessive alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity; and the re-structuring of health systems to deal effectively with NCDs. Here is how you can participate:

1.      For information about the campaign, visit HCC’s website and search the on Facebook under “Healthy Caribbean”

2.      “Like” HCC on Facebook

3.      Follow HCC on Twitter: www.twitter.com/healthcaribbean

4.      You can do most things from this page: http://www.healthycaribbean.org/get-the-message.php

5.      Share details of the “Get the Message” campaign on your Facebook page

6.      Encourage people to show their support for the GTM text campaign through your websites.

7.      Insert the campaign banner on your websites or blogs.

8.      Become an associate member of the HCC, thus receiving all postings and mail-outs.

Healthy Caribbean Coalition

I don’t know why it took me so long to download the Nike Training Club (NTC) app and try it out. Wow!

I really wasn’t too sure what to expect. When you start up the app, everything is right there for you: do you want to do cardio, build strength, do specific focused  but shorter workouts? Just pick then choose your fitness level. Then it pulls up a few workouts and all you have to do is pick one. I LOVE that the app describes each drill you have to do AND has a little video as well.

I knew today was going to be a cardio only day for me so I figured I’d try NTC…I think I was expecting it to tell me to do ’2 mins on incline of 5, 3 mins on incline of 7….”‘Not so much. This was a circuit workout consisting of jumps, hops, planks, lunges, burpees, moutain climbers….you get the idea. You do each exercise for either 30 seconds or one minute and you’ll do about four exercises before you get a one minute break….it was very intense; I definitely had trouble finishing a few of the exercises, was breathing heavily, even had that “I’m feel like I could puke” feeling…amazing! Afterwards, those endorphins kicked right in…holy natural high! I for sure want to incorporate NTC a couple times a week and I’m super motivated as I want to unlock different celeb-trainer workouts.

NTC is winning.