Mimi's Fitness and Things!

As every knows my new favorite hobby is running.  Which is very shocking to me since I used to hate running so much. But when the opportunity came for me to start a running group through the " Black Girls Run "  I jumped at the chance because at the time I wanted something to challenge me.  And at the time running was the ultimate challenge.  When I started the group last May I could barely run a mile.But over time as I got  better I realized that it wasn't that I hated to run, I just wasn't doing it right which in turn made me not like it. After building my endurance and learning more about the sport I realized that I love running.  So much so that in the year that I've been running I've completed 4 5ks ( that's 3.1 miles) and I've completed 2 half marathons ( 13.1 miles). All of which occurred in the last 5 months.  I've really been wracking up some miles hitting the pavement. But like with every sport there's a downside.  running really tig...

BGR-Synchronize swim??  So my next  installment of "Workouts I do so you don't have too..."  was water aerobics!  Now I know what you're thinking because I was thinking it too.  You immediately had visions of little old women in  a pool as you gently moved through the water sort of like a wet ballet.  But this was far from it. It was actually pretty fun.  One of the members of my running group hipped us to the class at the Pompano Aquatic Center. Great thing was that it was only $3.50 for the class. I was late because I got lost, thanks to Google who said the aquatic center was on 20th Ave and not 18th! UGH!  But once I found it I was in the pool in a matter of minutes.  Our instructor was pretty young, not more than 25 years old and she had legs I would have killed for!  Not an ounce of fat anywhere!  LOL. We did sprints, jumps, fast kick ups all in the water. Now anyone who's ever done this on land knows how hard these c...

By now many of you have heard of this new craze called extreme couponing. You'd probably heard of the show on TLC where these people go into the stores armed with coupons and come out with hundreds of dollars worth of food and only a fraction of the cost.   It seems like a great idea. You collect coupons and go into the store and buy massive amounts of food for pennies. Who wouldn't want to get in on that deal. So After watching a few of my friends and family jump into this I decided to take it on also.  So I did what the experts said.  I went into Publix ( my local grocery store) cased the joint. Walked up and down all the aisles looking at what was on sale, what had coupons, BOGO, etc.....  Then went home and prepared my coupons. I've been using coupons here and there for the last few weeks But today I was determined to come out with a good deal.  But one thing that I noticed about all the coupons I have is that the majority of the coupons are for proces...

You like it? It's a name one of my sorority sisters gave me when I was talking about working out in the afternoon. (Thanks Cylia!!)  In the last year when I was on my major weight loss kick, one of the things that helped me was working out in the afternoon.  Yes I had a regular 9 to 5pm like many people, and I have a 3 year old son and a husband.  Sometimes I'd come home from work and would prepare dinner then crash.  The thought of working out seemed like the farthest thing from my mind.  I just wanted to rest.  But then I'd think about what I ate that day or the fact that I have been inactive for a day or so and I'd start to feel guilty.  There had to be a better way I thought to myself.  That is when I incorporated the lunch break workouts into my routine.  I am fortunate to work at a place that has a gym and has fitness classes such as Bootcamp, Zumba and Yoga, as I've blogged about before.  Well  after doing bootcamp for mon...

Ok not really but I am in print. And unlike the Kardashians or the Lohan's of the world I was featured for one of my favorite passions right now and that's health and fitness!!   Back in early October Self Magazine had asked the masses to send in their weight loss success story to their magazine, especially those who had used their Jump Start Diet.  So I wrote to them telling them of my weight loss journey and how the Jump Start food plan really helped me along my journey.  It really made me realize that I was eating all wrong!  Like we're talking all kinds of wrong. My portion sizes were out of control, I was eating out ALL the time and even when I cooked it was processed/packaged foods. This plan taught me how to eat better and make more nutritious selections.  So anyway I told Self Magazine all of this and of course attached some photos and a couple weeks later one of the editors contacted me!  I was so excited!  She called me and we chatted...

Last Sunday I ran my first half marathon!  I ran the  Rock N Roll Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon. I know in my previous post I said that my first would be in January but this opportunity fell into my lap and I couldn't say no.  So I laced up my sneaks, attached my heart rate monitor and put on my bib number and ran 13.1 miles.  Ok it wasn't that simple but to say I was nervous was an understatement.  I was so nervous that I went into total denial about the whole thing.  My running mates would ask me if I was excited and I'd say yes but in my mind I would be thinking that there was no way in hell that I was running this race. I was so much in denial that I didn't book my hotel room until the night before I was supposed to head down to South Beach. After that I went to put my race gear together.  My sports bra, my "Black Girls Run" tshirt, my capris, socks, sneakers, and my ankle brace. I had my energy gels and water bottle ready to go....

What do you mean eating clean Miriam? I don't eat off the floor or dig threw the dumpsters for dinner!   Well that's not what I mean by clean eating.  Eating clean is the new catchphrase that is used to describe a person who eats natural whole food.  It's sad that our society must categorize food into areas such as real food and fake food, or like some people like to call Frakenfood.  That's food that's put together in a lab somewhere.  Clean eating also scares people because they think it means eating plain boring food with no flavor. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Eating clean simply means getting your food source from it's most natural source.  So dinner every night doesn't have to be bland chicken breast with broccoli and brown rice.  You can still eat hamburgers and fries! No I'm not joking. Only thing is you'll have to get lean meat and eat it on whole wheat bread. And cut up some sweet potatoes to make into fries.  Pres...