5 Reasons Why You Just Can’t Lose Weight

Why You Can’t Lose Weight

You step on the scale and groan at the number peeking between your toes. “I’ll go on a diet today!” you think. Not so fast. Unless you are mentally ready to lose weight, any diet you try is likely doomed to failure.

In a widely accepted model of behavioral change, there are five stages of motivational readiness. If you’re stuck in an early stage, your diet won’t work, says registered dietician Karen Collins. Studies suggest that people may feel ready to lose weight, but if they are unprepared to alter their behavior, they’ll fail, reports the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. in a column titled “Nutrition Notes.”

The five stages of motivational readiness that can be applied to dieting, exercise, or just about anything in your life:

Stage One: Precontemplation

A person has no intention of changing.

Stage Two: Contemplation

A person intends to change–later.

Read the rest of the stages here.

Vivrant Thang blogs about life, love and music over at Songs In The Key Of Life.

Afrobella Celebrates “Beautiful Big Girls Working It Out”

Afrobella, one of my favorite blogs that hopefully you are reading as well, is celebrating the beauty of the full-figured form, particularly Toccara Jones. As you may remember, Toccara was a contestant on America’s Next Top Model and is now featured in the first issue of Vogue Italy to showcase all black models.

She talks about inspirational it is to see Tocarra and other full-figured Bellas like Missy and Queen Latifah slimming down for their health as opposed to trying to fit society’s ideal of what a woman should look like.

Watching women like Toccara become fitter while still maintaining their curves
is inspiring to a bella who is trying to improve her health and shed some weight
by way of diet and exercise. For me, looking at photoshopped images of Mariah, Janet, or insert-hypersexed-scantily-clad-pop star here has never worked as inspiration. Instead, I look to celebs who I can identify with, who I know must work consistently hard and sweat to achieve their goals. Read more…

Here here Bella!

Ironically, as I was losing weight I had a picture of Tocarra and Queen Latifah up as my “ideal.” I never wanted to be thin and waifish. I embrace my curves and celebrate those that have them.

Kudos to those bellas working hard to regain their health and truly feel beautiful – whatever that may look like to them.

Vivrant Thang blogs about live, love and music over at Songs In The Key Of Life.

The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1

Healthy Foods For Any Budget

I don’t know about you all, but a trip to the grocery store puts me in a major funk these days. The prices on some basic items such as bread and milk are just unreasonable compared to what they were just a year ago. I can’t imagine what families with growing children are going through. Forget about shopping much at my favorite store, Whole Foods.

We won’t even talk about the cost of meat. I’m a hearty carnivore and fish lover but now it’s a treat to have a piece of steak, pork chops or salmon.

In my quest for alternatives, I’ve started going to farmers markets for fresh produce and fruit and Amish markets for meats and fresh juices. It’s been a good thing as I’ve been rediscovering what fresh food really is.

It’s never been cheap to eat healthy, but this is even more true in this economy. I fear that if we continue on this way, the obesity epidemic will get even more out of control. McDonald’s Dollar Menu hasn’t been affected by the economy.

Tell us about some of your cost-saving solutions for healthy eating in the comments.

Get some ideas from this article, The 20 Healthiest Foods Under $1

1. Oats
High in fiber and complex carbohydrates, oats have also been shown to lower cholesterol. And they sure are cheap—a dollar will buy you more than a week’s worth of hearty breakfasts.
Serving suggestions: Sprinkle with nuts and fruit in the morning, make oatmeal cookies for dessert.

2. Eggs
You can get about a half dozen of eggs for a dollar, making them one of the cheapest and most versatile sources of protein. They are also a good source of the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin, which may ward off age-related eye problems.

Serving suggestions: Huevos rancheros for breakfast, egg salad sandwiches for lunch, and frittatas for dinner.

3. Kale
This dark, leafy green is loaded with vitamin C, carotenoids, and calcium. Like most greens, it is usually a dollar a bunch.

Serving suggestions: Chop up some kale and add to your favorite stir-fry; try German-Style Kale or traditional Irish Colcannon.

Vivrant Thang blogs about live, love and music over at Songs In The Key Of Life.

Sisters, Stop Waiting on God to Bring You a Man

God Is Not Going Bring You A Man

Sisters, stop waiting on God to bring you a man.

As a matter of fact, if I hear this particular meme out of the mouths of otherwise intelligent and accomplished women, one more time, I think I’m going to scream. The complete insanity of this statement and how it misrepresents God’s role in our lives never ceases to amaze me.

Let me ask you this: Would you wait for God to pay the rent? Finance your education? Fix your car? Better yet would you say, “Oh, Im just going to wait on God to finish this degree. I know when he is ready for me to have it, he’ll let me know. I can’t rush these things.”

No? Sounds ridiculous right. Well if you’re one of those women who are constantly talking about how you’re waiting for God to being you your H.I.M. and you won’t rush that, or won’t questions God’s pace as you sit and languish in dating no man’s land, you sound just as ridiculous as my hypothetical situation above.

Look. Ultimately God helps those who help themselves. I know that’s in the bible somewhere. I’ve heard it quoted often enough. So if you want to find your special someone than you have to actively help God out to make that happen. God’s role isn’t to find your man for you and drop him off at your front door, but to help you make a decision between the three men you’ve narrowed it down to and make sure that you choose the best guy for you and not just the one that makes your lady parts the hottest (even though hopefully they will be one in the same).

I recognize there is a very powerful Christian lobby out there that is conspiring to keep Black women single, in the church and hoping for a man. Well I’m here to tell you that that is not how it works. Just as many of you have worked hard to earn degrees, move up the corporate ladder and have otherwise successful lives–you’re going to have to use those same skills to find your future husband.

Yes, I would love it if God dropped off a 6’3 250lb Idris Elba look-a-like with a PhD and a tenure track job at a major university who is an accomplished writer and could set the sheets on fire at my front door, but I know it doesn’t work that way. And you should too.

Here’s My Workout Playlist

My Workout Playlist

Since I write about music over on my blog, Songs In The Key of Life, it’s only fitting that I share one of my workout playlists that I use when I’m moving my body. Gotta have a soundtrack!

Dance for Me, Mary J. Blige | Buy Now
Naughty Girl, Beyonce | Buy Now
Real Love, Mary J. Blige | Buy Now
Pon de Replay, Rihanna | Buy Now
Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough, Michael Jackson | Buy Now
Touch It, Busta Rhymes | Buy Now
Bad Girl, Usher | Buy Now
Dancing In September, Earth Wind and Fire | Buy Now
Just Fine, Mary J. Blige | Buy Now
Get Me Bodied, Beyonce | Buy Now
Ring The Alarm, Beyonce | Buy Now
She Wants to Move, NERD | Buy Now

This is one of my many that I have created. I’ll share more in the future. Tell me what’s on yours in the comments.

Vivrant Thang blogs about life, love and music over at Songs In The Key Of Life.

Drug Resistant Breast Cancer, Threat To Black Women

Drug-Resistant Breast Cancer A Danger To Black Women

We’ve really gotta start taking better care of ourselves:

Black women are more likely to have diabetes, hypertension and certain forms of breast cancer than the general community. Yet many are reluctant to seek early treatment.
–
African-American women in general don’t get the appropriate care they need,” says Shonda Perry, a physician at St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital. “Many don’t have access to care, they fear going to a physician. There are so many obstacles they face.”
–
Although a higher percentage of white women are diagnosed with breast cancer, black women have a higher death rate, Baker says. Black women also tend to be diagnosed later than white women.
–
“That’s partially because of how late we wait to seek out treatment and some early detection methods,” Baker says. “Lack of information and knowledge, lack of access, transportation issues, there’s a multitude of issues that contribute to late diagnosis.”

Baker also sheds light on a form of breast cancer unique to black women called “triple negative.” The cancer is a triple threat because it strikes early, it’s resistant to standard drug treatments and it’s more likely to kill.

Adore The Skin You Are In

You live, you die
And spend the years in between asking the question
Why you’ve been through what you been
You lose, you win
You even pay for other sins
But you must always adore the skin you are in

A couple of weekends ago, I went out to a sports bar with a girlfriend. We were dressed to the nines as we planned to head out to a club afterwards to meet up with some folks for a birthday celebration. I was wearing a sassy skirt and a sleeveless top that dipped dangerously in the middle. When I weighed over 300lbs you wouldn’t dare catch me in anything sleeveless. Even though my weight was pretty evenly distributed over my 5’9 frame, my arms were extremely large. I was disgusted by them so naturally everyone else would be. For most of my teens years into my twenties, I kept them under wraps.

Now that I have lost the weight, my arms still remain fairly large. Although it’s been a while since I stopped covering them up, whenever I see pictures of myself, my eye still goes to my arms and how they appear in comparison to the rest of my body. I often try to pose to hide them.

On this particular night as we were finishing up dinner, a photographer came around taking picture for the restaurant website. I hate being photographed because I don’t consider myself especially photogenic. Probably stems from the days I was super morbidly obese and was reminded of how I looked to other people every time I looked at a photo of myself. As the photographer started to take the picture, I unconsciously pulled my jacket up over my arms. He gave me a disapproving look until I removed it.

Afterwards, he sat down next to me and told me how beautiful I was and how women out there were paying thousands of dollars to get what I had. “Love what you got. Don’t be ashamed of it or cover it up.” I didn’t get the sense he was trying to get his mack on. He was just telling it as he saw it. His words definitely gave me plenty of food for thought.

When I decided to have the surgery, my main goals were to be healthy and to truly be comfortable in my own skin. I wanted to like what I saw when I walked past the mirror. So many women, whether they are a size 2 or a 22, are not happy with themselves. If you’re not happy with yourself, how can anyone else be happy with you or around you. I don’t want that. I want to truly embrace and adore the skin I am in.

Do you? If not, what are you doing about it?

Find Your Motivation To Get Fit

“Get Motivated, Get Active, Get Fit!”

That was the title of my daily meditation e-mail this morning. Talk about right on time, as I had been planning this post for today.

As I shared in my last post, my motivation for getting fit wasn’t simply so I could fit into a smaller dress size. Hypertension, borderline diabetes, sleep apnea, and asthma necessitated that I drop a massive amount of weight. I had tried everything – any and every popular and fad diet known to man. I exercised – making sure to do the things that I actually enjoyed. However, I never succeeded in losing and keeping off the kind of weight that I desperately needed to lose.

When my supervisor casually asked me if I had ever considered gastric bypass surgery, I almost blurted out “Hell no!” She and another co-worker had both undergone the procedure and lost well over 100lbs each. However impressive that was, I was not subjecting myself to what I thought would be a lifetime of one tablespoon of food.

The months went on and my joints ached more. I continued to eat uncontrollably and pack on more weight. I don’t quite remember the final straw and what led me to start doing my own research. However, after an emotional and arduous journey, on July 8, 2005, I climbed on that operating table and risked my life to save my life.

Here I sit, well over 140lbs and seven dress lighter, and it still remains the best decision I will probably ever make in my entire life.

I won’t tell you that my experience has been a walk in the park and gastric bypass is not for everybody. I know some people who were not successful at it and regained a lot of the weight or had a lot of medical problems afterwards and wish they had never done it. A lot of people have died. It was the best decision for me. I was blessed to be swimming laps across an Olympic size pool one week after surgery. Nothing but God could have made that happen. He has things he wants me to do and the weight was holding me back. It had to go and that’s how I had to make it happen.

Over the past 2 1/2 years, I’ve often wrestled with whether I should ever tell anyone who didn’t know me before. I’ve gotten quite adept at explaining to people why I only eat a quarter of my meal. Anyone that didn’t know me would never be able to tell by looking at me.

I’m shaped like my mother, who has never been bigger than a size 14. At 61, she’s a size 10/12. This is the way I’m supposed to look.

Although I am a virtual success story, I am far from perfect. I can eat pretty much anything I want – and I do – sometimes more than I should. This surgery does not automatically erase the issues that caused you to become morbidly obese. If anything, it exacerbates them! I can no longer turn to binge eating to deal with my emotions – not without dire consequences. I have been in therapy off and on (now on) and I plan to start attending an eating disorder support group in the next few weeks. Frankly, I would rather die before I let myself get back to that “before” picture. What happens from here on out is entirely up to me.

This is my motivation to get fit. Share yours in the comments.

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