Harder they come...

This diet is harder than I thought. Summertime was not the best choice.

I did pretty well last week but the weekend was horrid. I even made Oreo cheesecake bars...who does that on a diet? At least I only had one. I leave the rest to the skinny minnies. Even though my eating wasn't so good, I did go to the gym 4 times. Not too shabby. This week I can only make 3, so I don't know if there's weight loss hope for me next week.

So get to the point Shumpy. Ok, ok. I lost a whopping 1 lb LOL. I feel like one of those biggest loser contestants trying to break a barrier. Most of them are trying to get under 300 lbs or 200 lbs - things aren't so rough with me but if I could do another 5 lbs off, I'd be somewhat content.

Take the good, take the bad...

Bad news first.

::HUGE sigh:: Day 14. Nada this week...not even 1 lb. Nothin. But it's ok. I'm still encouraged. Just gotta keep at it.

Now the good stuff.

I had a fab (but busy) weekend - friends are so fun & so are great hussys - and saw 3 movies...1 at the movies, 2 from Blockbuster.

Precious - I've been wanting to see this ever since I heard about it. As usual it took me months to finally get to it. It was good. Gripping. Sad. Mo'nique did an excellent job. I can't imagine that being anyone's reality but the sad thing is, it probably is. If you haven't, you should see it. It will be worth your time.

Leap Year - Ok. I won't recommend it to you because I don't want y'all mad at me lol. But I loved it. I like to spend time watching mindless romance. No suspense, no plot thickening. Just plain ole romance. I'm just that kind of girl. I liked it. It's no Australia or Clueless (hehe)...it'll be on ABC Family or WE one day is my point.

Robin Hood - Now, this was a good movie. Right up your Braveheart, Gladiator alley. Go see it. One thing though, I thought there would be more robbin' the hood. Like seriously, it was like a before he became Robin Hood movie because he didn't become Robin Hood and have his men till a good hour and 40 after the movie began. I fell asleep 3 times in the movie. Not because it was boring but because it was past my bedtime. I never fail to amuse myself.

Then from last week, I forgot to say I watched Iron Man 2. It wasn't that good. But as far as sequels go, it wasn't three three bad. You wouldn't be mad if you paid money to see it. I promise. Cause Robert Downey Jr and Mickey Rooney make a good pair.

Now onto WAAAAAAY MORE IMPORTANT things....

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JUNE 30

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Day 7

4 lbs down!

I couldn't be happier & more motivated to keep at it. Check my sidebar ticker out :) If you click on it, you'll see all the gory details.

So how's the diet going? Slowly but surely. I did have a huge black and white cookie, and overate a bit on Sabbath (who doesn't) but I was always mindful so I made adjustments to my diet. Just like instead of having all my banana chips at one sitting, I've separated the bag into 3 servings. Progress, people.

Gym? I did exactly 3 times this week. I wanted to go on Sunday but life wouldn't permit and I'll be busy again this coming Sunday so we'll see...can I tell you, I introduced Hugh to kick boxing & now he knows true pain...teehee, he had to skip out half way. Like his sis though, he's a glutton for punishment and ready for more this week.

Day 1

Ready Vicky???

LOL. Okay, we're off! It's day 1 of our May challenge. For the month of May, we are doing a modified special K diet and exercise (3 times per week) regimen to lose weight and tone our bodies.

What's a modified special k?

*One healthy correctly portioned meal for lunch/dinner

*Two Special k (cereal or shake)/cornflakes/oatmeal/healthy low calorie meals per day

*Healthy snacks throughout the day

*Plenty water

*Little to no sugar

There you have it. So every Monday morning, I'll weigh in and update my ticker (see below & on side bar). School is out and I have no reason to not be able to do this challenge successfully. I don't really need to lose 20lbs (more 15) but if I do, that gives me room to expand (teehee).

girly fridays: 15 lbs to get rid of

& I'd love to rid myself of them before June....remember that swimsuit?

Well my pal, Vicky and I were supposed to be making plans to lose some weight but "stuff" keeps coming up - yea, we're likely unconsciously avoiding. Well, the time has come. Finals are done next week and come May 3rd, it is ON. Weight is a funny issue. There are people saying I don't need to lose more but ahmmm, yes I do. I don't obsess about my weight and if I seem to, it's not genuine. I just wanna be down to a comfortable weight so I can maintain. I'm tired of trying to lose weight.

So what's my plan?

>>Exercising/gym 3 times per week, every week

>>Drinking water

>>Portion control

>>Healthy snacks in between to prevent starvation eating (a.k.a. overeating) lol

So ladies, what's your summer weight loss plan? I know there are some lucky ladies who don't need a weight loss plan but I'm not one of them.

this week in review

-- In the news--

Numero uno - Vancouver winter Olympics. I am an Olympic gal, winter or summer. So I've been loving it. The beginning was sad with the death of Luge athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili. Is there a reason those walls are so low? So sad. However, there are inspirational stories a plenty. The one of the Chinese pair figure skating coach, Yan Bin, got my attention in particular. Can you imagine not recognizing your own child because you'd been away so long working to make gold medalist skaters for your country? I hope he can retire soon. Who knew speed skating, biathlons, alpine skiing, and figure skating could capture my attention so fully? I'm proud of all the winners :) Does anyone know how the lone Jamaican skier did?

Toyota blues - They're calling it the Great Recall. O boy o boy! To think, the Camry for the past 2 or 3 years has been my dream. I mean, since I have to drive something before I get my Mercedes, and I need something sensible, why not? I always thought they were the most cost effective choice (most ppl consider Toyota, Nissan, & Honda to be somewhat comparable). Some how I went with the Accord instead and now I'm glad I did. I cannot keep track of all the models being recalled, or all the reasons. But I do know the U.S. regulators were slack on their standards during testing, that Toyota has had to (temporarily) close plants, and that I won't be in one any time soon. Have you noticed how Hyundai advertisement has been crowding TV? lol, them, Mercedes, Audi, and US manufacturers are taking advantage big time. I just Googled, and I guess I'm not the only one who noticed - click here.

Tiger's back - Am I the only person who doesn't care? I don't want to see any pics of him or hear about his return to golf. I guess golf fans missed him, women were mad at him, and yes, he may have some issues. Truth be told, I never really liked his public persona. He's done nothing to endear himself to me recently so I still don't care. He has LOTS of issues but who doesn't? If his wife is as gangsta as she's been made up to be, I'm glad of it, and she should keep the golf club elevated over his head until all's clear.

Clearly there's someone madder than I was yesterday. It's Joe Stack. Now he is some hero. All I have to say is, I'm glad I wasn't in that building, I'm sorry for all who were victims of his attack, and I'm relieved there werer't more casualties (though even 2 is already too much). He can be no hero of mine, flying planes into buildings of people working hard to survive what he was too coward to deal with. Real life. The rest of us are still here.

Give me free! Circus zebra breaks free and causes traffic in Atlanta. He prolly needed to go "find" himself...I mean, he doesn't even know if he's white with black stripes or black with white stripes! Yes ppl, I love me some Madagascar.

-- Funnies --

Quote of the week "Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invaribly they are both disappointed." Albert Einstein. Sooooo funny :)

-- Shumpy --

Mi back mi back mi back mi %#@ back! (& no, I don't know much more of the song lol) Well, I decided to add another class to my gym routine and it knocked me out of the gym all week. It has nothing on kickboxing of course but I must say I did one of those funky jazz dance moves wrong and now my hip is all out of whack. Well I'm back on Monday cause I can practically hear the fat cells rejoicing...

Biostats - I literally don't want to talk about it. I'm hoping if I keep my head down and close my eyes, my professor will forget I'm in the class :(

For those of us with undiagnosed seasonal affective disorder we are supposedly gonna have sunshine this weekend so no complaining at the moment. But with last week's storm, and Tuesdays mess, I'd just about had it! Supposed to see more snow showers Mon eve. Goody goody gum drops *smirk*

Counting my blessings! They finally sent my updated transit card so now I can purchase my bus passes via my pretax dollars that have been chillin' in my account while I shelled out of my pay check to get into work all Jan and most of Feb. Also, March is on the way, which means April is on the way, which means warmth, more living space (I'm moving!), and hopefully other great things.

Bad hair days have been numerous. I needed a relaxer like 2 weeks ago. But instead here I am going 10 weeks without one. I watched Good Hair, Chris Rock's documentary on black women's hair. It kinda sucked. I looked forward to it sooo much but that whole hair show segment ruined it for me. I don't know much about southern hair culture but I'd have done well without that. The other parts weren't so bad. I loved the barber/beauty shop talk parts the best. I'm still keeping my creamy crack, thank you very much. When I choose to give it up, I'm doing locs.

I have a dream

So now, after reading Rach's blog, I have decided to put myself in an awkward position by declaring that this summer I'll be donning a monokini! Yup. I have decided that my body will be of such a quality. Wearing a bra and panty in public isn't really my thing so I'll likely be rocking this look on a lonely beach lol. Maybe I'll even post a VERY blurry pic. Keep in mind that even in my tiny days, this would never have happened so we shall see.

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no pain, no gain for realzzzz

o.m.g.

I gave my body to the kickboxing gods yesterday at 8 pm and I think they broke it.

Was I ever exercising before? Like, seriously. I loved my time at Curves. I've been doing my classes 3, sometimes 4 times per week (not a circuit girl) for over a year. I lost 18-20lbs there. I thought this new gym experience would be similar. As soon as I noticed they offered kickboxing, I said, "I have to take that!" I was excited to see how I could do because I did kickboxing back in college. I def thought I could hold my own even if I'd be winded at the end. That must have been some moment of delirium. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No need to tell you all that I forgot the class in college was called cardio kickboxing. Yes, that made all the difference. This class was clearly for professionals. I should have taken the hint when I saw class members take out boxing gloves, and the instructor put up punching bags. OH CRAP. Push ups, jumping jacks, step ups, mountain climbers, squats, bicycle, suicide runs, and a whole range of other exercises I have never had the displeasure of meeting...my arms hurt, the joint that connects them to my body hurts, my back hurts, my thighs hurt. I want to take them off and put them down to rest.

Of course I called in for reinforcements and complained to Ra & Hugh. What did I get? Betrayal. "That's so cool!" "I wanna join!" "Now that's a good exercise!" At least I'll have company in the class soon cause I'm not quitting. By the beginning of summer I will have this class by its ovaries.

the number 8!

Why am I loving the number 8 you ask?

I am now back to fitting in size 8 NY & Co work pants *HUGE grin*

That's my dream size. Don't wanna get too small now. I plan to have another reason to love Mr. 8 because you see, before the spring is over I hope to have lost 8 lbs. I think that will make me a comfortable size 8 a.k.a. a size 8 on bloated days *tsk tsk*

Wish me luck!