Defeat Starts in the Mind...

Tonight I feel compelled to share with you the mental defeat I almost allowed to take over my progress and motivation. I would be a complete liar if I didn't honestly tell you that I have experienced some major mental setbacks over the past 2 months in my weight loss journey. I have experienced emotional eating, depression, self doubt and low self esteem all at the same time. I would stand in the mirror and be so disgusted my own image that i'd just forego my workout and tell myself "Im still gonna have these stretch marks on my stomach no matter what" so why am I stressing myself out? Now keep in mind that yes, I just had a baby 8 months ago, and people tell me all the time "you're looking good to just have had a baby" but I am still a Fitness Trainer and I am expected to look fit. Therefore, I've been constantly beating myself up about being out of shape and being overwhelmed with my new motherhood duties were taking a toll on me. These things sent me into a serious depression. Here I am the one who guides thousands of others through successful weight loss journeys and I couldn't seem to navigate myself through my own. All the while neglecting the fact that I have actually lost 60 pounds in the last 8-9 months. We spend so much time dwelling on what's wrong and not focusing on what we're doing right! This is what I call Mental Defeat- - Beating yourself down, or telling yourself you can't do is mentally defeating yourself before you've even given yourself a fair chance to accomplish actually losing weight.

Next, I did what I know to do best about it....

Stay Focus...Pray...Eat Well

I feel so bad, it took me so long to post because I felt so bad that my 10 pound challenge dismantled and I felt I had disappointed you guys. Most of he members of the 30 day challenge did in fact complete the challenge, however, I was having a hard time gathering the weekly results and therefore fell behind in posting. So.....Whew.....it's addressed and out there.

Meanwhile, I myself, still weigh 151 pounds and I am not at all thrilled about that. I should have blasted through the 140s by now. I DO NOT make EXCUSES with you guys, I put it out there because it makes no sense to lie, you can see the progress or lack there of for yourselves. The good news is, the baby started her first week of our new sitter (my aunt) this week and I will be able to put in some WORK and possibly get some things done.

I wanted to share a something with you.......there is a site www.freedieting.com this site has absolutely awesome calculators listed on it that are critical to our weight loss success. There is a daily caloric intake calculator for those of us just wondering how much we should be eating per day. However, there are also calculators for Protein, Carbohydrates and fat. I highly recommend these calculators if you are trying to get your eating under control and better understand what you should be taking in.

I highly recommend you grab you a Polar heart rate monitor/Chest strap whenever you can (or add to your Christmas list) in order to better track how many calories you are burning during your workouts. This will serve as a tool to keep you wanting to burn more but to also help you gage whether or not you've put in enough work to get the results you're looking for. I've been using mines quite often lately. I suggest this particular brand because most Cardio machines (treadmills, ellipticals, etc) will sync with the chest strap and give you an accurate reading on the machine as well.

I also wanted to thank the few ladies that approached me about the blog lately to share how much they enjoy following. It was really what I needed to keep it going because I didn't think anyone really followed it much but now that I know it is missed I will stay on top of it!

10 Pound Challenge Week #2 (44 lbs Lost in 1 week!)

As we complete Week #1 of our 30 Day Challenge let us remember that we still have 3 weeks to go! I was so proud to see the Challengers dropping those pounds and getting their extra crunches in. It really just showed me that you truly were up for the challenge and dedicated to getting back on track! Last weeks challenge was to eat 2 salads per day and complete 300 crunches 2 nights last week in addition to your regular workouts. We also had a few new Challengers join in so we welcome them as well. This week its still 2 Salads per day & 300 Crunches 3 nights this week- Get your Homework DONE! NO EXCUSES
Miesha lost 3 lbs 151.2 & 34.6% Almost back in the 40's
Tujuana lost -6 lbs
Nik -0 lbs (stayed same)
Lanetta lost -2 lbs
Corrinne lost -2 lbs
Tomica lost -3 lbs
Kim C lost -4 lbs
Stephanie H lost -4 lbs
Fatima lost -2 lbs
Veronica lost -4 lbs
Jeaneen gained + 2 lbs (need a push this week)
Brev lost -2 lbs
Prudence lost -1 lbs
Stephanie N lost -4 lbs
Dwaynette lost -1 lbs
Myesha T lost -5 lbs
Anita ?
Ayesha lost -4 lbs
Tia lost -1 lbs

It's all about what you do when No one's watching! So Continue to Eat Clean

Ten Pound Challenge & Weigh in #6

Today after spending some time at the studio with Nik & Tujuana, we all decided we needed a little push to get ourselves over a 10 pound hump we were struggling with. (yes, even our NuLife staff even get stuck too), So we all honestly weighed each other in an vowed to push past our plateaus by not overindulging, increasing workouts and sacrificing something to see significant changes over the next 30 days! Keep in mind 10lbs was just the number we felt we wanted to see gone right now but any losses are pounds gone!

Meanwhile, after teaching my infamous Monday step class today, I was compelled to do a pep talk at the end of class to motivate the class to not give up. I explained to them that this fitness journey is not easy by any means. You're going to have days where you don't want to workout, days where you're tired of eating the same things, and of course, days where you want to give up all together. However, the time we spend giving up on working out is time wasted that you could've been spent working on your goal, because you will one day decide to try to get in shape again! It's inevitable, we all have done it at some point. The words I spoke today were put on my heart to relay to the class and there were actually a few people who afterwards told me they needed to hear that and THAT my friends are the moments that I live for.

I will not post the weights of anyone other than myself, but I will post the losses for each of the challengers, so stay tuned and feel free to join In with us! Start by incorporating an extra day of fitness this week....you have until Sunday so LET'S GO!

For the next 30 days I Must Make Changes to See Changes!" Starting w/ Green tea instead of Sangria tonight! :)

Challengers: Tujuana, Nik,Stephanie,Brev,Prudence,Lanetta, Veronica, Fatima, Kim C, Corrine, Tomica, myself & YOU! Leave a comment & let us know what you're giving up or changing for the next 30 days, we'd love to hear from you.

Nike Training Club at Home

So Today, I chose to mix it up a little bit by getting up before the baby and get my workout in right here in my living room. It was quite convenient if I must say so myself, I was able to move some furniture around and go for it! I found this cool app called "Nike Training Club" which allows you to log and track your workouts while being pushed through them by a voice guided trainer. It was cool, if you have a smartphone or iPad download it and check it out. Its a great way to get your workouts in when you're away from the gym, on the go, or in between other workouts. If you try it out, leave a comment and let me know what you think. I am determined to rid myself of these belly rolls you see above...Gotta set a personal goal right?

By the way, my favorite snack this week is the Chobani Greek Yogart. It has a whopping 15 grams of Protein, no artificial sweeteners and only natural ingredients. Many other yogarts on the market are full of refined sugars and very little protein so this one is definately a plus!

Workout 8/2/11: Train the Trainer

I have truly enjoyed my fitness time with my brother Arvell over these past couple weeks. He has been a great motivation for me as well as I am to him. But this motivation is deeper. He has reminded me of that inner hunger that you have when you are deeply passionate about reaching a goal! He works outs every day NO MATTER WHAT! I admire watching his drive and tenacity for playing football as well as conditioning when he's not playing. I am truly blessed to have so many family members that are like minded when it comes to working out....We have all come such a long way! He will be leaving me in a few days so I'm not sure if I'll get to train with him again but I've learned from him and wish him the best in his future endeavors with getting picked up by an NFL Team.

We completed a mid-level workout of planks, reverse crunches, medicine ball lunges, skaters, deadlifts, push aways, and a few other moves. The moves were all timed 1-2 minutes each and it was a 30 minute routine.

Workout 8/2/11: Nike Fit Club Training

I have truly enjoyed my fitness time with my brother Arvell over these past couple weeks. He has been a great motivation for me as well as I am to him. But this motivation is deeper. He has reminded me of that inner hunger that you have when you are deeply passionate about reaching a goal! He works outs every day NO MATTER WHAT! I admire watching his drive and tenacity for playing football as well as conditioning when he's not playing. I am truly blessed to have so many family members that are like minded when it comes to working out....We have all come such a long way! He will be leaving me in a few days so I'm not sure if I'll get to train with him again but I've learned from him and wish him the best in his future endeavors with getting picked up by an NFL Team.

We completed a mid-level workout of planks, reverse crunches, medicine ball lunges, skaters, deadlifts, push aways, and a few other moves. The moves were all timed 1-2 minutes each and it was a 30 minute routine.

Weigh in Day #5 7/28/11

It has been a few weeks since I weighed in but I am not hiding my results by any means. I told you before that I'm committed to showing you my journey all the way to the end and I will do just that. Now, I'm not claiming that I've been doing all that I need to do on a daily basis but I am working really hard to get a consistent schedule around the baby and my training schedule. I have been experimenting with different protein/energy snacks: Pistachio's, Cliff Bars, EAS bars, etc. However, the Muscle Milk Light's don't seem to be sitting well with my stomach, so I'm ditching those. Nutrition is all about finding out the right proportions for your fitness goals and always try new foods and veggies to keep your meal plan exciting. In good news I'm down in weight according to the scale but my Body Fat is not so good! I got some work to do: 152.2 & 34.8%

Training with An Athlete 7/26/11

Yesterday, I trained with my younger brother (former NCAA QB) on upper body and abs (500 reps to be exact). He pushed me, pushed me and pushed me again! It was much needed to relieve some heavy stress and get me back on track with what's most important (my body). I am posting some video and pics for you to check out since I've been gone so long! Feel free to leave any comments, questions or concerns.

Please note.....I will be moving the blog to tumblr soon. I'll keep you posted on that.

My Snack of the week is Red Pepper Hummus w/Sliced Cucumbers-

Missing In Action...

Firstly, Let me apologize for my 3 week delay. I have gotten so unorganized with my schedule, workouts and food. They have been all over the place. I haven't had a phone since my family reunion 2 weekends ago, which I placed in the jaccuzi with me. I typically take a lot of footage with my phone so that was devastating. Myself and 4 other family members completed a gruesome workout in the mountains that morning as well but I lost all the video from it. So proud that more of my family is beginning to enjoy being fit and working out while on vacation. I have been working out and teaching classes but it has honestly not been consistent. My mission is to complete some type of workout or fitness activity everyday. Fitness should be daily just like brushing your teeth. Actually, we're trained to brush more than once a day, so maybe the same should hold true for fitness....hmmmmm. I was stopped by one of my clients a couple weeks ago as she expressed her great appreciation for me posting my journey on the blog, I was so grateful to get such positive feedback and it motivated me to keep pushing through these rough patches. I will be posting my workout from yesterday that I completed alongside my younger brother (a former NCAA Quarterback). All I can say is he wore me out!

3rd Place Again??

I came in 3rd place again but I'm just proud to have completed this Insane time Challenge Workout! I'm definately increasing my strength. This was my workout from this Sunday 7/3/11....Tujuana and Kanela jumped in on this one with me again and challenged me to the end. The workout consisted 4 rounds of 4 exercises, form and balance is key:

 Jump Squat & Touch Down- 20 reps

 Balanced Skater- 15 each/leg

 Reptiles- 20 reps

 One Leg Hop Kick-20 reps

       Kanela 15:25

       Tujuana 15:36

       Miesha 17:25

This was definately a Fat Blaster, when I demonstrated the moves they thought it was easy...well boy were they wrong. LOL Call me crazy but I enjoy conquering difficult things. Try it out and post your times so you can join in on the challenge. Here's a video of the moves...

Finding Time for Fitness

Wow...I have really been in the shoes of my clients these past few weeks. I have been fighting through fatigue, work, family and business to make time to get my workouts in. Although I have been teaching cardio classes, It is still vital for me to get my weight training done. My body craves it and my mind needs it to maintain order. Over these past two weeks, I had my wedding anniversary, brother leaving for college and the holiday. I must admit, I did not lose weight this past week and I know that my diet and lack of planning is the cause of it. So since I do not allow my clients to make excuses neither will I. I ate a few things over these past few weeks that in no way were beneficial to my fitness and diet regime.. and its all about discipline, simply put I didn't exercise that discipline. I am a true believer of practicing what I preach so it's really important to me to be honest with you. Meanwhile, I managed to capture a little footage of me teaching the other day, enjoy!

Wake Up and Work!

Sorry guys, we had some last minute changes at the studio that forced me to come off of maternity leave early and jump back into teaching classes. When you are a business owner you are technically never "off" so when duty calls you "Wake up and Work"! With that being said, it threw me off my schedule quite a bit but I definitely worked up a sweat and still managed to lose 2lbs this week!!! Its been 4 months since I taught classes and even longer since I've physically given my all while teaching. The honest truth is, this experience is allowing me to get back in tune with my clients and appreciate once again what it feels like to struggle through the "NuLife Fitness Camp" classes. I believe when you are no stranger to the weight loss process and challenges that come along with it, you can better develop workouts and routines that target the needs of your client. As far as I'm concerned I am one of the clients right now and I wear that title ever so proudly! So the same concept of "Wake Up and Work" applies to your weight loss journey, you are never really off from getting or staying fit because healthy choices and healthy activities should be a part of our daily lifestyle. Everyday we have to be sure we are working on some part of our weight loss goals, eating "Clean", lifting weights and getting in some cardio.

Workout 6/21/11: Fight To Be Fit

There are so many reasons, distractions, stressors, etc, to keep you from staying on track with your fitness regime, but it is up to you to make it a priority to GET IT DONE! This workout The Mr. & I did last night at about 9pm, we were both tired, hungry and sore from the day before but we pushed each other to go ahead and knock it out! I will be honest and say that I didn't do any cardio yesterday besides the 7 minute warmup on the Elliptical machine, LOL. However my strength training was completed and I was glad I'd already planned the workout so that I could get in and out pretty quickly. So "Fight To Be Fit" was suitable given the fact that we have to sometimes fight through life's obstacles to get to the "Fitness Finish Line".....

Workout 6/20/2011:Marriage Muscle

I managed to get my Hubby in the gym w/me again to tackle Leg Day! We did 3 sets of 15 reps of the exercises you see below and boy was it brutal! It also gave us a chance to build up our physical muscles as well as our "Marriage Muscle", which is having a strong marital bond! Finding healthy activities to do together is always healthy for any relationship. Besides the fact that we had to create a makeshift Leg Press with the Smith Machine, we were able to complete everything as planned. The past few days I have eaten too many Sunchips and I'm truly not happy about it. (I bought them for my daughter to take to Summer Camp as a snack, so why am I eating them?)
1. They are processed and it is always my mission to eliminate as many processed foods from my diet as possible. (Even if they say they're 30% less fat, they are STILL PROCESSED).
2. It takes constant discipline to plan out your meals and stick to the plan! (I need to take my own advice).

Other than this Snack Blunder I am on target and proceeded to plan out my foods for the rest of the week by cooking 5-7 cups of Brown Rice, 4 Grilled Chicken Breasts, 1 pound of Broccoli and I cut up fresh fruits and salad ingredients to eat between meals. Its so vital to prepare, not only does it save you money, but it saves you time and the possibility of eating the wrong things.

Weigh in Day #4

It's Sunday morning and it is vital that I finish out this week with a Gut Blasting workout to work off the glass of wine I had last night at the wedding reception. It really wasn't worth it either, it was too sweet and not worth the wasted calories. So... yes I gave into temptation simply put! No EXCUSES! I had company in the gym today which always makes my workout that must better! Kanela an Tujuana came in ready to work and I loved it! We started out with a 9.5mph 30x30 Sprint session (5 rounds of 30 sec sprints w/30 sec recovery). We then repeated the 12 minute Ab interval that I bombed on Friday. I did much better today though, I told you I can't accept failure. Then we finished out with the 300 Rep Home workout I previously posted on YouTube Click here - I came in last place but I finished and I was so proud for not giving up! All of you ladies out there dealing with Post Pregnancy Fitness, don't focus on where you are now, focus on where you want to be and keep working towards getting there!

Check out Kanela killing those Prisoner Get Up's in the video above! My abs haven't gotten strong enough to master them yet but I'm gonna keep at it til I get it! Her and Tujuana were really toughing it out today, I was like a proud momma watching them. I wasn't in this video but I'll be sure I'm in the next one! The 300 Rep Workout was a time challenge and we will complete it in the future to see if we can beat out personal best times. Kanela finished in 17 minutes & 35secs, Tujuana 19 mins 27secs, & me  23 mins 01secs . My tummy doesn't like me venturing off my meal plan and is giving me the blues right now! So I will definately be planning out my meals for the rest of the week...Stay tuned for that!

Workout 6/17/2011:Struggle To Sexiness

Ok I'm gonna be totally honest and admit that I truly had a rough time completing this interval workout. I used my hubby as my coach to help me through this one. I did so badly in my scores that that Dee just stopped writing them down! LOL- So since I can not accept failure I'm going to repeat this Interval Ab workout on Sunday. I'll be making Saturday my Rest Day for the week as I allow myself to regroup, refresh, and attend a couple of events. The interval workout included Kick Ups, Peak Mountain Climbers, Knee Hugs, Prisoner Get Ups, Plank Jumps & Side Plank Knee Tucks. I just keep telling myself this is the Struggle to Getting My Sexy Back, Gotta take the good with the bad. Next week I will begin to post my daily meal plans as well.

Workout 6/16/2011:Fighting Excuses

So yesterday was Cardio Day and I was so burned out from the day before that I had to push myself into NuLife to conquer Kanela's Step class. By now you can probably tell that I lovvvve Step. My calves were so tight that they felt like they were about to rip! But I blame myself for not properly stretching at the end of  my workout, I know better.  I am starting to get used to her calls and sequences but I do find myself getting frustrated when I get confused! I still tried to remain positive because it is truly a good workout! She keeps my heart rate up the whole time and has awesome combinations. I found every excuse in the world not to go work out, the rain, running errands, tight calves, etc. So I'm glad I found the stamina and determination to tough it out because I really needed to stay on track and get that cardio in. If you notice in the pictures, I was struggling at a couple points.

Workout 6/15/11: Fitness w/Friends

Today's workout was an INSANE 310 Rep AB, BOOTY & ARM Blasting Beatdown... I even had company who joined in and took on the Challenge! Jamila, Nik, Tujuana, Dee & Jameel (Eighty81) allowed me to convince them that it wouldn't be that bad (tehehehe) :) and boy were we all wrong! I think I might of even cried a couple times myself. LOL- Today's Workout was a time challenge and one of my Favorite Trainers (Jamila) blew us out the water finishing in a whopping 36mins & 50 seconds! Nik: (41:40)   Tujuana: (43:47) Miesha (48:61) ----I sucked today, but I didn't give up!

Workout 6/14/11: Love & Fitness

Exciting Workout today because my Hubby (also a trainer @NuLife Fitness Camp) joined me in the gym today! With a newborn baby, multiple businesses and growing family we sometimes miss the little extra together time so the gym time was refreshing because not only were we getting quality time in but we were getting our bedroom bodies together! :) He has this tendency to push me beyond my limits and it hurts so GOOD! I started my day w/my infamous Oatmeal (raisins,protein powder, & nuts), Feta Spinach Wrap for Lunch, Post Workout NuLife Protein Shake, and Friday's Chicken Cobb Salad for Dinner (minus the bacon). I finished off my day with some much needed Cardio from one of my Fav trainers' Kanela! She taught a mean step class, I pushed through it with a falling arch and all!!!

Workout 6/13/11--Interval Training, Dips & Lats

Don't be fooled by this 6 minute interval workout! It was brutal and as always good form is key! I never just do moves without correct form for the sake of saying I did a lot of reps because in all honesty without proper form, you're not getting anything out of the exercise and you could hurt yourself. I was still feeling the leg day from earlier in the week so I was struggling through this session and I truly felt like my quads were gonna rip apart so I had to regroup and give it a 2nd shot (my first set of number were a disgrace). TD joined me again & blew me out the water on the Mountain Climbers (Not Shown) but I couldn't let her out work me so I sucked it up and got it in! (intervals set up w/ Gymboss Timer App on iPad or iPhone)- we added Flat Bench Dips and Lat Pull Downs for Resistance. As always Our scores are listed so try to beat our Personal Best.

The Truth Behind the Woman

Teaching Fitness was never a Lifelong Dream of mine. I would be lying if I told you I wanted to teach fitness since I was a kid. Clearly, this was God's purpose for my life and He put me in this position as he saw fit. I dreaded working out "per se" when I was younger simply because I was always thin and like many people didn't feel I had a need to. It was not until the birth of my first daughter 10 years ago that I gained 70lbs and realized I would have to do something to get the unwanted excess pounds off, that just wouldnt fall off by themselves. I had somehow shed 40 of the 70lbs but still had 20-30 that had to GO! So I started consulting my aunt out of state who was a long time personal trainer in the military for advice on shedding the excess weight. Of course she said..."Well first you have to stop eating all those Doritos and start working off what you eat!"

Weigh in Day #3

Today I weighed in at 155.6 & 36.4% Body fat...So that means I'm down 2 more pounds but I think all that Spinach Dip I had over the weekend sabotaged my Body Fat! Didn't realize my granny made it with Miracle Whip!! I was devastated when I found out but can only blame myself for not checking the ingredients first. I have yet to take my measurements and will be sure to do that this week!

Fat Attack...Interval Training

Today's workout was Brutal.....My assistant TD joined in on it and boy did we have to motivate each other til the very end. This 12 minute workout consisted of Intervals broken into 3 parts. Part 1 was (4) 50 second rounds with 10 seconds of rest in between, Part 2 was (12) 10 second rounds w/no rest & Part 3 was (4) 50 second rounds w/10 seconds of rest again. If you're saying oh 12 minutes is nothing,

Back to the Gym June 2011

I will be sharing with you some of the workouts I'm doing as well as a little photo or video (hopefully I don't bore you too much) but hey you gotta start somewhere... This was my Leg & Shoulder day this past Saturday. My hubby (also a trainer) yelled at me for not doing variations in my shoulder exercises, since I only did Shoulder Presses...this was my workout that day:

Before Photos-"Anti Cardio Body"

So here we go, I'm actually gonna bare all and put myself out there for my clients and the world to see! I have absolutely nothing to hide and I am determined to show you that not only can I transform others but I can transform myself! One of the most important things to note here is that my goal is to not have an untoned "Cardio Body" (which I have successfully accomplished before) I truly wish to accomplish putting some muscles on this flabby, post pregnancy body you see here! Pray for me you guys, "PAIN COMES WITH CHANGE!" (You'll here a lot of these Mieshaisms' as you follow my journey. The photos here were taken after losing an additional 7lbs from my starting weight in my first post. Weight: 157.2lbs & 34.2% Body Fat

Post Pregnancy...Pre Transformation...

After gaining over 60lbs during Pregnancy, I am ready to embark on one of the more difficult journey's of my life....Getting Back in Shape. As a Fitness Trainer, it is extremely important to walk the walk that you expect your clients to walk. I take pride in being a motivational force in so many people's lives so I hope that seeing my journey and my struggle will continue to inspire them even more. Even trainers need motivation too. Unfortunately, I didn't capture a photo of myself right after having the baby so that you could get a true glimpse of my starting point but better late than never (in my grandmother's words). Before getting pregnant I wore a slim 142 pound, toned yet not fully muscular frame. 10 months later, I weighed in at a whopping 207 lbs of both FAT and Baby!!