Morning Shake

Morning Quick Shake

½ packet of the spirutein powder exotic red protein powder
1 cup of blueberries and raspberries
½ cup of yogurt
9 pieces of Trader Joe’s frozen mango
4 strawberries
¼ cup of water

Blend & Eat!!

Inspiration/ New Starts

Dwelling in the past to try and figure out -- where you would be if you just made this choice, or completed this project, or worked out yesterday—is a recipe for disaster. You can only start from today and envision where you want to be tomorrow.

Sometimes, I think I haven't had the success I want because I find it hard to complete projects -- often because the projects I have completed don't bear the fruit that it should. I am learning to take the inevitability out of the way I see time. You should not throw out a plant because it does not bare fruit—we don’t ask our kids to drop out of school because they failed one test. To truly achieve what you want you must try and try.

Today I recommit myself to this blog and to goal of fitness. I hope my journey inspires all women (especially African American women) to put themselves first.

With my mind in a positive space -- I saw the June Cover of Oxygen Magazine (a magazine I have been scared of because of the muscles and the women with them) with Alicia. She looks so fit and muscular in a non-scary way that she has become my new inspiration. I am not sure if my body can become as tight and tiny as a Victoria Secret Model (nor do I want that -- I think) but I can be come fit and strong with (dare I say) some definition.

Alicia has become my fitness inspiration. What is yours?

FINDING YOUR GOAL

When embarking on a new avenue people often become to gregarious, too diligent, or just take on too much at once. I don't know why I am using the word people when I am alking about me. This year as I approach the self challenge I am making my goals reasonable (and non-food).

I fell in love with this Diane von Furstenberg dress... The dress name is Nalia. I saw it on a commercial shoot for 4oo bucks (and thanks god for ebay because it is now 150). I am going to buy this dress in my size to kick off Month 3 of my commitment to fitness.

My goal is that dress.. what's yours??

Definition of Insanity

The definition of Insanity is to keep on doing the same action and expecting different results. Well I am not insane…. Well I am not trying to bring the insanity from previous years into 2009. I am approaching my weight loss in a fresh way.
• Acknowledging my weakness- from television, to chocolate to sheer laziness at times. I can’t pretend that I am immune to chocolate and then wonder why all the cupcakes are gone in my house. Or all of the wheat thins… too much of anything can be bad for you.
• Acknowledge my strengths- I love to cook, love walking, and socializing
• What I want I want to acquire - I love for a specific exercise (when I was a kid it was the Stairmaster and step aerobics), discipline, and do more non-television activities.


So what am I going to do??
• Weight watchers- everyone has success on the program and it can change the way you relate to food.
• RUN- yup signed up for the MORE half marathon in New York (I can run/ walk it if I like)
• Write- journaling helps you stay ground and see what triggers things in you.

For the blog… I will add celebrity workouts… we don’t need to see what they say they do… like egg whites and veggies in the morning protein and veggies for lunch and salad and chicken for dinner… that sounds boring… I will also try and do a couple of book reviews.

Alabama Slaps a Tax on Fat People

Alabama Slaps a Tax on Fat People
By Sean Kelley August 26, 2008

Should you pay more if you weigh more? That’s what Alabama’s State Employees’ Insurance Board thinks. In 2011 the board will start charging overweight state workers—those with a body mass index greater than 35—$25 a month for health insurance, which is currently free for all state employees.

(The state is giving workers a two-year head start; if they sign up for free health screenings and make progress, they won’t face the insurance fine.)

Being the second fattest state in the country—behind Mississippi—costs Alabamians lots of money—up to $1.32 billion a year in estimated medical charges, according to a 2004 study.

But is a pay-as-you-grow tax fair to the obese? Well, Alabama, like some private employers, already charges an extra fee to state workers who smoke. Private health insurance companies, of course, base their rates—and coverage refusal—on complex data related to the buyer’s health. Some private employers, who often encourage workers to lose weight with onsite diet and exercise programs, are considering more aggressive measures: Next January, one company in Indiana will begin charging employees up to $30 a month for missing health targets based on smoking, weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

At the government level, however, most health levies have been consumer taxes—on cigarettes and booze, for example—and few people, beyond the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation, have argued that taxing fat people simply for being fat is a good idea.

At first glance, the Alabama initiative rang warning bells in my head: Government using a blunt instrument to attack a very complicated problem. (And I say that despite the fact that I pay Alabama taxes, which contribute to the health-care costs of state employees.) But now I’m not so sure it’s a bad idea. Being both Southern and fat, I could use an incentive to lose my extra weight. And if I could, so could they. Maybe this kind of program would begin to reverse the tide of obesity in the Deep South. Or maybe a whole bunch of initiatives need trying to find out what will work.

For many people, $300 isn’t a lot of money. But if the fear of diabetes, heart disease, and death isn’t enough to motivate people to lose weight, fees and taxes tend to get everyone’s attention.

(PHOTO: 123RF)
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