Walking at Home

Forward Progress
Please forgive me!  It's been almost four months since my last entry and in that time, so much has changed.  Ya girl is still on stamps, but I'm actually a small business owner.  What?  Yeah girl, I am!  I've actually been in business since February but I've stepped my game up and it's coming along..a little slower than expected but at least I can see getting off public assistance.

I celebrated my 42nd birthday this month.  I decided that I'd try to get as fine as possible before; so  I walked for almost 30 days straight.  But here's the thing.  I didn't go to the gym because remember, I'm on the come up.  I didn't go to the park everyday either.  Though I'm now 50 pounds overweight, I still tend to get alot of  attention on the streets which I do not enjoy.  I mean I've been celibate for almost ten years so men lookin' at my booty just doesn't do it for me.  I digress.  So where did I walk? In my apartment.

Why?  No excuses.  Walking in the comfort of my own took away every excuse not to.  So to those who are financially challenged and overweight; here's a great way to get in shape in the privacy of your own home.  Here's how I did it!

Walking at Home 

I started by just walking for one hour at least 6 days a week for 30 days.  I preface by saying 30 days because small intervals seems to work for me as opposed to me saying "I'ma work out 6 days a week for the rest of my life!" I found that I could handle that.  To be able to count down the days down as opposed to counting the ones in front gave me more motivation.

Then the next week, I walked for 19 minutes and ran in place for 1 minute.  I repeated that for the entire hour.  The next week, I'd run in place 2 minutes every 20 minutes and before my 42nd birthday I was up to running 3 minutes every 20 which meant I was actually running for at least 1 mile - on and off - within that hour.  Did I confuse you?  Hopefully not, but do what works for you.  Until next time...

The Food Stamp Dilemma

How to eat healthy on $200 worth of food stamps for two? 

Impossible?  I think not because with God nothing is.  I know it can be done but I smirk because my thinking has to change.  Because I've been overweight for almost two decades, my valuation of the cost of food is excess because I've eaten in excess. 

My mind wants to struggle with this but the goal is to NOT EAT as much which means this $200 food stamp thing may just work.

Money Has Nothing To Do With It

While on Facebook, I decided to take a look at one of the women I'd like to be my mentors photos, Marshawn Evans, 'Reinvention Strategist, Entrepreneur, and Entertainment Attorney, founder of ME Unlimited, and author of 'SKIRTS in the Boardroom: A Woman's Survival Guide to Success in Business & Life.' And while perusing I noticed a recurring theme; all of the sistas were thick and the white girls were thin.

This immediately reminded me of a conversation I had with my bff.  He's a Global Marketing Strategist for Home Depot and in one of our conversations he made the statement that the majority of the sisters where he worked were fat.  Mine you, when he's talking to me, he's not diplomatic at all so when he said fat, he meant it as F A T!  

I wanted to be offended but I knew better because I'm 60 pounds overweight but I'm on food stamps so I shrugged my shoulders and subliminally charged it to the game.  But as he repeated the statement I knew he was directing it towards me on the slip, so I had to just take it and be truthful. 

Though humorous, he said that the women would wear tight fitting clothes and walk with an air of confidence like 'Yeah, I know I'm overweight but so what! I'm still fine and you still lookin!'  I knew the attitude so well because we do. 

But as I looked through this accomplished woman's pictures I thought 'Wow! She is so small.'  As I continued to look, when compared to her white counterparts, she - the sista- was even smaller! WTW!  So when I saw the picture of her with the sisters, they were all thick!  They didn't look slouchy or anything, but it was a major difference.

My excuse WAS if I had bread like them, I'd be in the gym er'day; but would I?  

These women were brilliant in their own right, major players on a national stage, tossed it up with CEO's all the time and still they struggled with their weight.  So for today, I have come to the realization that money has nothing to do with me being overweight; those accomplished women took that one away from me.  Now what? :)

I Like Me!

Yesterday I realized something.  There are so many women who are a lot bigger than I am who desire to be my size.  Sounds simple enough right? But that statement alone is life-changing!  Why?

Because it gives me the opportunity to be satisfied with the size I am and not cringe when I pass a mirror.  It gives me the freedom to value the size and shape that I am without a constant reminder - verbal or otherwise - of what I need to do.

After I thought that many women would like to be built like me, I decided to be thankful for the shape I'm in.  Be grateful for my thick thighs and my badonka-butt. 

Yeah, yesterday was a good day for me because I realized that though I may be overweight, I'm still fine...just the way that I am.

Won't you join me?

The Makings of Being Healthy in the Hood

This blog started as a result of living below the national poverty level for years and struggling with weight throughout that period.  It's easy for people who have access to healthy foods and gyms to make recommendations on how you should lose weight. But what happens when your monthly income is $160 in child support, $188 in food stamps, along with receiving $1500 in student loan grants that has to last you to the next disbursement which is usually 4 to 5 months away? 

I lived that way for two years and throughout that time I made the decision that I'd write about how to get healthy in the hood.  No, I'm not out the hood but I'm not where I use to be when this journey began.  I was living in a rat, roach, termite, and wasp infected rent house in South Dallas.  Hood folk know if it was like that on the inside, the outside was just as infested.

I had to figure out a way to be healthy off of Family Dollar, Save-a-lot, and Minyard brand products on what I was receiving monthly.  You do the math.  Food is higher in the hood than anywhere else.  Now factor in the experts want a ninja to eat fruit, vegetables, protein shakes and what not plus I'm on the bus?  How is this supposed to work?