Fast Five

Y'all still been working out?? Yeah, me neither. But, I have been making great strides with my healthy eating. So here are five things you can do today and start to see results tomorrow.

1. Steamfesh Vegetables ~ In my household (of one person) we have vegetables with every meal. Couple of reasons: you can fill up on veggies and they are usually 0 or 1 points. (JHud ain't the only one feeling good.) These vegetables are wonderful because all you need to do is throw them in the microwave, add a lil seasoning here and there, and then you're done.

2. Groupon ~ Now this idea I stole from one of my girls: she's given up her gym membership and uses Groupon purely for her exercise needs. She's constantly changing up her workout, getting great deals/discounts, and is no longer tied to a gym membership.

3. Weight Watchers bar code scanner ~ This might be WW greatest invention thus far; you use the bar code scanner app on your phone, scan the bar code on the item and it automatically tells you how many points the item is.  Genius!  Now I walk up and down the aisle of the grocery store scanning and scaring myself into only eating fruits and vegetables.  Again...Genius!

4. Crystal Light ~ Let's keep it all the way funky...drinking water is boring, soda is definitely where it's at. But soda, although delicious, is terrible for you. This is where Crystal Light comes in; it tastes good, is sugar free, and has a really cool name ;-) They're even adding flavors like mojito and appletini so you can fake your cocktails too.

5. 1:1 Water/Cocktail ratio ~ As I've told you before, I have a very active social life due to my undeniable personality and popularity.  One of the things I've learned is the 1:1 water/cocktail ratio.  Drinking a glass of water after every drink fills you up AND keeps you hydrated....no hangover!

My social life vs. My six pack

I'm 28.  I live in New York City. Much of my social life is standing around a bar stool or sitting at a booth stuffing my face.  This gets tricky while I'm on my quest to lose 40 pounds.  Now, am I cool? Absolutely.  Still fat? Yep.

The problem is, I feel like I have to make a choice between enjoying myself, my friends and my city or my six pack.  Don't get me wrong, I want that six pack, hell I'll take a two pack, but not at the expense of my social life.  Now, I've made some strides... gym with co-workers instead of bar with co-workers, snacking on carrots instead of chips, but is it enough?

I know, I'm complaining...it's probably because I'm hungry.  I'm just tryna figure out a way to be cool AND healthy.

How do you balance your social life and your healthy lifestyle? 

Mid-March Resolution??

How's that New Year's Resolution working out for ya?  Kinda ehhh?  Yeah, I've found myself slipping A LOT recently.  So, here's a lil mid-March pick me up for all of us.

On a Cardio Day:

Depending on time and available machines, pick 3 or 4 machines and do equal time on each.  For example:

Elliptical (interval program): 10 min

Bike (Interval program): 10 min

Row Machine: 10 min

Treadmill (Walk, jog, or run): 10 min

On a Strength training day:

This website has a lot of different exercises and shows examples with both men and women.

For Lower Body (Do 2 or 3 sets of 15-20 repetitions of each exercise):

BOSU Upside Down Squats

Forward & Backwards Walking Lunges

Leg Press

Leg Press Calf Raise

Leg Extension

Stability Ball Leg Curl

Lateral Band Walks

For Upper Body (Do 2 or 3 sets of 15-20 repetitions of each exercise):

Dumbbell Chest Press

Seated Cable Row

Arnold Shoulder Press

Front Shoulder Raise

Lateral Shoulder Raise

Cable Tricep Pushdown

Standing Cable Bicep Curl

Take a Class:

Try something different. See what classes are offered at your gym or in the area. Try classes like Zumba, Yoga, Pilates or Bootcamp.  I recently went to a Soca dance class & had a blast!

Aight yall...let's do this together!

New Years' Guide to the Gym

So it's the beginning of January and you along with 6 million other people have decided that losing weight is your New Year's Resolution.  Well, congratulations!  As an experienced gym goer myself, I* wanted to share some tips to gym newbies; a guide to lead you through your local gym.

Ellipticals, Bikes and Treadmills - The most important thing to remember on these machines is Intervals.  When you get started, set the machine to Interval so you will be varying your work out.  And make sure you do at least 30 minutes.


Abs - The key to flat abs isn't doing 1 million crunches a day.  The key is diet and cardio, like the elliptical.  Crunches and other ab exercises (like planks and leg lifts) will absolutely help strengthen your abdominal muscles, but to get rid of the layers of rolls on our stomach (which I affectionately refer to as my 'chocolate puddin'), you've got to diet.


Squats and Lunges - Ladies, put those booty pops away, these are two of the best, if not the best, butt and thigh exercises. Nobody wants a flabby butt and cottage cheese thighs but these 2 exercises will help firm up those areas.  What's more, you can do squats & lunges anywhere because they don't require equipment.  Break out a few squats at work in the middle of a meeting or a lunge while you wait for the train.  Add in some free weights and make this a compound exercise (See below).


Free weights - The beauty of free weights is the freedom of movement. Machines lock your body into a fixed position determined by the machine. Face it, we are all different shapes and sizes and these machines are forcing your body to take on a path of motion that is probably not natural for you. Also, use the free weights and add on a shoulder press or bicep curl to your squats and lunges, and you have a full body compound exercise just like that. BOOM!  On top of everything else, they are convenient and inexpensive if you want to purchase a set for your home.


Push-ups - These work out so many muscles in the upper body.  They work your chest, back, triceps, shoulders and forearms. Don't worry if you can't do military-style push-ups.  Do a modified version: girl push-ups, on your knees, or an even more modified version, on the wall.  But still try to work your way up to real push-ups though. The only way to get better at them, is to DO IT!  


And finally, if your muscles ain't hurting, you're not working hard enough.  


*For all of yall looking at my pic thinking I know this chick isn't giving me gym advice, this was written in collaboration with my sis who is a certified personal trainer.  Nah-nah-nee-boo-boo.

That was you??

My sister calls this pic Jolly ol St. Nichol-crys.  (LMAO, that still cracks me up everytime).  Usually when I show people this picture I get the same reaction, "That was you???"

This was me, Christmas 2005.  I never actually weighed myself but I'm deducing that I was about 250 pounds in this picture.  Yikes!  It still amazes me that I used to look like that cuz that is not what I saw in the mirror.

Fast forward to Christmas 2007 when I decided I wanted to start getting fit.  Not for anyone else, but for me.  I wanted to live my best life, and I needed to be ALIVE to live it.  I called up my local gym on January 2, asked for a trainer, and the rest is history. The End.  Well, not really.  Losing weight is a process, that's why people often call it a journey.  You learn a lot about yourself, your body, your habits, everything.  Here are a few things I learned during my journey.

1. You can't do it by yourself, get a trainer.  Some people think a trainer is a waste of money, but I wouldn't have gotten where I am without mine.  Your trainer pushes you to the point of exhaustion and pain, but it's worth it.  I mean, they're the experts in getting you thin, you're the expert in getting yourself fat.

2. Just because you start to work out does NOT mean you will automatically lose weight.  The first 3 months of my workout, I lost 5 pounds.  FIVE POUNDS. My trainer asked me if I changed my diet, and I hadn't.  Well, you kinda have to do that as well.

3. For the first couple of months, you will be hungry ALL THE TIME.  Your body is adjusting to a healthier lifestyle, you're burning more calories, and eating smaller portions.  Your body will hate you for this.  But, push through that feeling.  You will think about food 24 hours a day.  Don't worry, it's normal.  You will begin to hate food; that which was once your friend will become your foe.  Don't worry, it's normal.  This is when most people fall off the wagon, but you have to press through this.

4. Weight Watchers.  I will forever sing their praises (It's a neeeewwwwwwwwww day *JHud voice*).  I'm just as tired as yall are of JHud telling me she's a size 0, but WW really works.  You can still eat food, just not as much.  WW monitors your portions, which we as Americans never do.  Like seriously, when was the last time you measured your cereal?? Well, I did.  After being on WW for 1 1/2 years, measuring your food and following the serving sizes becomes your routine.

5. Don't weigh yourself every day.  I actually only weighed myself once a month.  Your body weight fluctuates every single day and it's very easy to get addicted to 'your number'.  So, let it go.  Do your work outs, eat right, and check in once a month to see your progress.  Trust me, seeing you lost 5 pounds makes you feel better than .5.

6. Eat every 3 hours.  Now, I'm not talking about eating a value meal every 3 hours, but you definitely need to snack.  Once your metabolism kicks in, and it will, you need to keep it properly functioning.

*At my lowest weight, 194 pounds

7. Let go of your number!  You know, that number of how much you weigh.  When I finally reached 199 pounds, I called the local news and threw a ticker tape parade in the streets of Maryland.  Then I realized, I had been holding on to the shame of my number my whole life.  Not anymore.  It is, after all, just a number.  (And for those who are curious, I'm currently 215 pounds.  There, see how easy that was??)

*My current weight

8. Don't replace your whole wardrobe.  I went from a size 20 to 12 in a year and a half.  However, I did not buy clothes for every size I was in between.  Get your staples (jeans, a few shirts, dresses and most importantly belts!)  Trust me, you'll feel wonderful the moment you walk into a skinny-girl store and no one is looking at you side ways....

9. You have to maintain it, or you'll gain it all back.  In the middle of my weight loss journey, I moved to NYC.  For the first few months, I was good.  Even got down to 194 pounds.  My body was in shock from all the walking I think.  But then, New York started getting comfortable to me.  Not to mention, it is INCREDIBLY expensive to eat healthy.  So, poor grad student + NYC, the food capital of the world = 25 extra pounds.  It happened slowly, over the course of 18 months.  So, what was my first move...get a trainer.

10. Remember, it takes time.  It took you a lifetime to gain it, you'll have to wait a lil while to lose it.

So, here I am today.  I just recently lost 5 pounds this month (yes, even over Thanksgiving; it's possible).  I see my trainer about 2 days a week & work out on my own at least twice.  I'm making smarter food choices, but not depriving myself.  I still get a Big Mac or Mojito when I feel like it, I just do it in moderation.  So, that's my weight loss journey.  I can't wait to hear yours!

*Sorry this post is so long, but I could talk about this for hours.