Donning a Swimsuit

Posted by IrieDiva on Aug 21, 2011 in Health | 0 comments

So these past two weeks have been a whirlwind of a time for me and my family. There was lots of food and fun times involved and I threw all diet rules through the window. At some point along this journey I’ll find a comfortable spot where I can be in a 5 star resort and not eat all the decadent things laid out before me….but this was not that time.

There’s a swimsuit that my mom made for me a couple years ago that has never seen the light of day on its own, I’ve always been in some kind of coverup. I decided that this was the trip that I’d be brave enough to wear a swimsuit and nothing but. Its black, and you know what they say about black, and it covers all the right areas.

Vodka, chocolate cake and 5lbs…its the holidays

Posted by IrieDiva on Aug 2, 2011 in Health | 0 comments

Dieting on holidays is not fun. Well…its non-existent. Weekend after weekend I have been unable to stick to my regimen completely and this past holiday weekend was the worst of the lot. KFC, Burger King, ting and vodkas,  all inclusive parties, chocolate cake. Sigh……………

It makes everything else looks like a waste. 5 days on and two days off…..I’ll still lose weight right? Because it seems that I’ve been on the 5/2 diet, not the HCG diet. I only have 10 doses of HCG left before my regimen is over and I enter maintenance mode. I did say that I will not repeat the HCG diet and that still stands. Lifestyle change…not a diet. Moderation, not starvation. More clean eating, more home-cooked, more veggies, less eating out, less desserts, less drinking. Oh, and much more exercise. That’s the way we’re going here.

I did at some point make it down to 175 and how glorious it felt. It didn’t last long though and as of right now I stand at 180 again. Sigh. It was a horribly decadent weekend. Next time I’ll try to go half in, not all the way in. I was like fck it, I’m on vacay and threw out all my rules. That was not a good idea. I could have had jerked chicken instead of KFC, I could have passed on the chocolate cake. I could have had cran-vodkas instead of ting and vodkas. It was an all-inclusive party, I wasn’t gonna not drink.

But being back at 180 is lesson well learned. Seeing progress and knowing I was acting counter to that isn’t a great feeling. So I’m back on my regimen and trying to go hard this week to at least get back to 175. I was looking and feeling great in my little layered black and white party dress (above) on the beach and I want to continue this progress.

Today so far I have had strawberries and a bowl of cereal. I will be having chicken and corn for dinner and more strawberries for my second snack (if I feel hungry again after dinner) I will hopefully make it out to the park for my 3 mile walk/jog But if not, I will be doing my Jillian Michaels work out in a few minutes….just in case. All this week I plan to do both work outs daily to try and hit back my 175 mark.

Inspiration: 3 Bebe dresses. I love the Bebe brand. Don’t own one….working my way into one soon tho!

Adding exercise to the mix

Posted by IrieDiva on Jul 21, 2011 in Health | 0 comments

So as you know I’ve been rather disappointed with the HCG diet so far because I have only lost 10lbs in a month. That is an amazing feat on its own but not on the HCG diet. But admittedly, I have not followed their diet strictly because 500 calories a day is really painful and the weekends have been horrid as my social life picks up unexpectedly. However, I have a very sedentary lifestyle and did not incorporate much exercise with the program. They ask you not to do anything heavy because you’re only eating 500 calories but suggest you do some walking.

So last week I started doing my Jillian Michaels DVD again, it would be considered heavy exercising as there is strength training involved but the workout is only 20 minutes. Somehow I doubt 20 minutes a day can deliver on the promises that Jillian Michaels issue but I’ve been fortunate enough to also find walking partners that are motivated to keep at it. You know life is easier when you have partners to push you plus my goals are firmly planted in my mind. I must lose this weight once and for all. So we started walking in Emancipation Park on Monday of this week. 10 laps = 3 miles and we do it in one hour.

Last night when we went I jogged a bit of my way and was pleasantly surprised at my endurance. I never thought I would ever be a jogger but now I’m motivated to keep going. I want to be able to jog a whole lap. One lap is 500 meters. Every time I complete a round of exercise I look down at myself like damn…I’m still fat. Ugh. Gotta keep going! I’m walking around the track doing my power walking and the skinny heffas are floating past me and I’m like why are they even here? If I looked like them I certainly wouldn’t be on no track sweating away when I could be at Tracks and Records eating sliders and deep fried shrimp with coconut cocktails.

Then I think to myself that’s the reason I’m fat! Here I am thinking about mud slides with the good ice cream and the skinny heffas pushing past me like “ugh look at her! lemme do one more lap” Lifestyle change…lifestyle change…say it with me lifestyle change!!!!! WHEN I get to that stage I gotta maintain too. Gotta keep my endurance up and my sexy going. So far today I have had an apple, half a chicken breast and some broccoli. Damn I’m hungry! Lemme go make some sugarless tea. I need to make it into my swimsuit at the end of this month.

One month update with HCG

Posted by IrieDiva on Jul 19, 2011 in Health | 0 comments

So tomorrow makes one month that I’ve been on my HCG diet and I’ve only lost 10lbs. But I’ve lost 10lbs!!!!!!!! The diet promises at least a pound a day maybe more so to only lose 10 is a disappointment since I could have done that with normal diet and exercising. I feel as if the cheats I’ve done weren’t that big of a deal to set me back so much but hey you cheat you lose. What I am happy about is that my lifestyle has really changed, I’ve made better food choices, I’ve cut back on the amount of alcohol and juices I used to have and I don’t do fast/processed food anymore. Locally grown and home cooked for the win!

I made a video to document my progress….have a looksy

Video: Keeping track of my progress

Posted by IrieDiva on Jul 12, 2011 in Health | 0 comments

What size is this?

 So I was reading this post on BGG2WL recently and thought of course! That makes sense…and then I went to find a dress and well………just watch the video. You can tell that I’m really nervous…not in the camera shy kinda way but in the “am I really gonna show all these people my gut” kinda way in the video but I am about accountability!!!!! I need to get back into them jeans!!!!!

By the way after I made and then watched that video I went and did a round of Jillian Michaels 30 day shred because them love handles ain’t bout that life! I can’t believe I left college over 6 years ago damn I’m old!

Baked Fish Goodness!

Posted by IrieDiva on Jul 11, 2011 in Health | 0 comments

Daily inspiration

I am not a fan of baked or steamed fish. If its fish I want a fried parrot out by the beach with some festivals and a half a bammy! They tried to change my mind at Christmas dinner past with a baked fish in foil that was stuffed with garlicky goodness and it was good…but not enough to make me crave it. I crave fried fish. All the time. I don’t know how to fry it myself to make it taste as good as out by the beach, I’ve never tried. Some things don’t need to be recreated, just go to the source and get it.

Since I’ve been trying to eat healthier I have been buying fish fillets at the supermarket pretty regularly trying to find a recipe that makes me love fish enough to put it on my weekly dinner roster as eating baked chicken breast every single day is not the business and I’m not a red meat lover. I’ve tried quite a few different types of fish and have finally settled on this white snapper fillet I see in my supermarket these days. Its inexpensive and tastes good at the same time. Next was trying to find a recipe. I tried to do a baked parmesan but I put the recipe that I know calls for butter. I tried a different recipe with more bread crumbs and italian herbs. I think I got away with the italian herbs and I wasnt feeling. I’ll just stick to my normal recipe next time because I do like parm baked fish.

But today I think I have finally got another recipe to add to my arsenal. I was looking over baked fish recipes on google and notice that most say to add butter to white fish like my snapper because it gets dry. I think thats one of the reasons I like this fish. Similarly to the reason I love chicken breast, I don’t like an overly moist fish. So I thought about that whole butter thing and the fact that I was planning on making my asian green beans and got to thinking. I put some ginger, garlic, fresh thyme, dried parsley, scotch bonnet pepper, salt and pepper in my food processor and then mixed it all in with butter and rubbed  that all over my fillets. Popped it in my oven on 400 degrees, 20 minutes and voila!