Shout-outs to my favorite sites!

Yikes! I just realized that I haven’t posted this month yet and we’re half way done with the month of May. Where does the time go? 

I spent earlier this morning reading through my blog entries from January. I can’t believe it’s been 5 months since I started writing this blog.  It reminded me of the goals I had set for myself. This morning I weighed myself and realized that I had reached some of them. I posted back in January that I wanted to l weigh 155 by July, which meant losing 17 pounds. 

Well I am happy to report that as of May 17, 2011 I achieved my goal and have lost the 17 pounds and am currently weigh 155 pounds!   Woohoo!!  When I told my husband this morning he gave me a high five and told me to smile and be happy I accomplished this goal. Because truth was I wasn’t happy.  I am still not happy about my body. But after he prodded me and forced me to smile I did start to revel in the fact that I had accomplished my goal and it was far sooner than I expected.   The next step is to continue with my fitness journey and get my body to the place I want it to be.  I’m trying not to let my emotions be ruled by the weight on the scale but it’s so hard. We live in a cultural that’s all about the numbers. 

Right now I’m well within my normal range for my height and age. My body fat percentage is in the normal range also. It’s still on the high end but it’s gone down.  I’ve lost 3 inches in my waist, 4 inches in my hips, and 3 inches in my chest.  I’m truly transforming my body but I’m not done!  Health and fitness isn’t a destination journey. It’s always continuous. You can never stop being healthy or stop working on your fitness. 

I have to remind myself of that sometimes as the days and weeks go by. I’m always telling myself I only need to work out like this or eat healthy until I get to my desired weight. But that’s not true. I can probably slow down from working out 5 days a week to working out maybe three days when I reach my desired weight but I can never stop. This is a new lifestyle for me, not just a fad.  I don’t ever plan on gaining that much weight again. 

So that brings me to my next segment!  The blogs and websites I visit and use to help me in my fitness journey.  Let me tell you I couldn’t have done this by myself. I’m online a lot reading and searching for health and fitness tips.  I also subscribe to a few magazines. 

I used to subscribe to Shape magazine. I got a free 2 year subscription 2 years ago when I did some random survey online. I’ve been looking for another offer like that but haven’t been able to find it.  LOL but I realized that most of Shape’s magazine content is online.  So I go to their website.  www.shape.com

But I know subscribe to Self magazine and Fitness magazine.  For me right now Fitness magazine is my favorite right now. And it’s only $5.99 for a year subscription. You can’t beat that.  I also love their online content also. Fitness   http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/ 
Self www.self.com    They both have Facebook and twitter accounts which I follow and get valuable tips, recipes.... So if you don’t want to subscribe or get emails, you can just get tips from social media sites. 

 

As far as bloggers go I follow two main sites. One is BlackGirl’sRun! www.BlackGirlsRUN.com  

These two ladies are trying to start a movement to get African-American women running. Let’s be honest yall, how many black women do we see jogging??  Very few.  It’s not a coincidence that collectively we are in poor health and have high obesity rates! They've also started running groups all over the country and I'm the leader for the group in my area. We meet every Sunday at our local park to run. So far it's been a lot of fun.  

Another blog is Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss.  http://blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com/

Love this site. I actually know the woman who runs it. She’s my sorority sister.  As is the women who run Black Girl’s run site.  Despite the name of both those sites anyone of any color OR gender can get valuable information from these sites.  On the Black’s girls guide to weight loss,  you can find recipes, health tips, exercises. .Erika is full of personality and gives a lot of colorful commentary on issues on food issues and other relevant information regarding women and their health!   She went through an amazing weight loss journey and uses her blog to inspire others also.

Another site I recently found was Tone It Up! ToneItUp!

This has got to be my favorite site. Not only because the girls are so cute and bubbly but they have made working out look so much fun!!  LOL  I love the way they package their workouts and put it on Youtube for you.   They also make the workouts printable. So I print them out and put them in a notebook to keep handy when I'm at the gym. They also have a blog and they have a nutrition plan that they sell. I haven’t bought the plan yet but I’m seriously considering it.  Oh they also give away lots of prizes!! 

So now that you all know the secret to my success, join and be successful too!!  As I mentioned before all these sites have a Twitter and Facebook accounts so you can follow them and get information, recipes, motivation, exercise tips, prizes!! What are you waiting for???  Go!