Strength Training: Key to Building Muscle & Losing fat

Strength training is exercising with the goal of increasing your physical strength.

From own understanding, strength training is the building up of muscles and muscles burn fat.
Strength training makes you feel good and look good. Strength training with diet and cardio burns fat more than cardio and diet alone.

Challenging your muscles with strength training (also called resistance training) exercises 2 or 3 times each week is all that is needed to improve the strength and tone of your muscles – and gain you several long-term health benefits – provided you keep up the routine!
For more info google is your best friend:)

So this week I decided to try my hands in some weights and boy did I almost cry. My gym instructor is mean!!!

One other thing strength training prevents is sagging skin and it promotes a toned form.

You should try it out.

Meal diary

I have been getting mesages to share what my meals consist of and what exercises I do.
Firstly I'll like to mention that i am a beginner at this and that's why I need you all to advise me on anything that has worked for you. All useful opinions are very welcomed *wink*.

Secondly, one of the things i have discovered so far is that every little change counts.

- I now cook with olive oil
- I take out the yoke from the egg
- I use soy milk instead of full cream milk
- I substituted white bread for wheat bread
- I don't miss breakfast
- I reduced my carbohydrate intake
- I take green tea often
- I take a lot of fruits( still working on the Vegs)
- I use wheat pasta instead of the regular white pasta.
- I opted for the salty popcorn and water when I went to the movies on Monday .
- I drink a lot of water.

Am also proud of my ability to say NO!!! My friend ordered this yummy looking club sandwich and kept trying to make me eat it. Literally Begging me to eat !! See me see trouble o.

Anyways,Here is what my meals looked like for the past week .

Weigh-in mondays.

Hi peeps, it's been a minute. What have you all been up to ?

At the beginning I decided to weigh myself every Monday so I can monitor my progress. Well it can be a bit discouraging if the scale doesn't shift to my favor. That's what happened to me last week Monday . I stepped on the scale and no change. I was so devastated and I complained to my gym instructor and some friends. They told me I should limit my weigh-in to twice a month and not every week. So since then I have been staring at my scale and resisting the urge to jump on it.

This morning I couldn't hold it any longer(should have waited till month end) and am happy with the results.

I have lost 4.4kg since I started on the 1st of November *whoop whoop*

Yeah I know I still have a long way to go but my target is to loose 5kg every month for 6months . So amma kip kip pushin!

Hopefully at the end of this month I'll meet my target.

Xoxo

Ignore my toes oooo

Just because.........

Just bcos....

-jst bcos it is low fat doesn't mean u get to eat d whole bowl/pack

-jst bcos its fruits doesn't mean u shd over eat it

-jst bcos it is wheat doesn't mean its zero calorie

-jst bcos u work out doesn't mean u must stuff urself afterwards.

-jst bcos its Soy milk doesn't mean u should over indulge.

-jst bcos its ur cheat day doesn't mean u shd go over board wit junk.

-just bcos u've met ur target doesn't mean u shndt maintain it.

-jst bcos u get a few compliments bout a lil weight loss doesn't mean u shd go off ur diet.

-jst bcos its xmas doesn't mean d calories won't count.

-jst bcos ur man likes u this way doesn't mean u shdnt be healthy!!!

-jst bcos u hit a plateau doesn't mean u shd giv up!!!!

Emotional eating: Feeding Your Feelings

Most people have been victims of emotional eating, I myself have been a victim either when I am bored or sad. Most especially when am sad. What is emotional eating?
"Emotional eating is eating for reasons other than hunger," says Jane Jakubczak, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland. "Instead of the physical symptom of hunger initiating the eating, an emotion triggers the eating."

Sometimes the strongest cravings for food happen when you're at your weakest point emotionally. You may turn to food for comfort — consciously or unconsciously — when you're facing a difficult problem, stress or just looking to keep yourself occupied.

But emotional eating can sabotage your weight-loss efforts. Emotional eating often leads to eating too much, especially too much of high-calorie, sweet, fatty foods. But the good news is that if you're prone to emotional eating, you can take steps to regain control of your eating habits and get back on track with your weight-loss goals.
Emotional eating is eating as a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness and loneliness. Both major life events and the hassles of daily life can trigger negative emotions that lead to emotional eating and disrupt your weight-loss efforts.

Tips to avoid emotional eating

Tame your stress.
Have a hunger reality check
Get support
Fight boredom
Take away temptation
Get enough sleep.
Seek therapy.

If you have an episode of emotional eating, forgive yourself and start fresh the next day. Try to learn from the experience and make a plan for how you can prevent it in the future. Focus on the positive changes you're making in your eating habits and give yourself credit for making changes that'll lead to better health.
You have the power!!! Yes you can!!!

Xoxo

Parties!!!

A Party is a danger zone for any dieter. Temptation in the name of food flies left and right. All sorts and assorted junk food is being offered to you from all angles .

As I type this am at a party and I just keep chanting to myself "Bibi u can do this,there would be red velvet and small chops mid next year!!! Right now you can't have any"

Since i started i Sometimes refuse to go out cos I know I will consume excess calories:(

Well am working on my will power and I have said NO! to junk food:) So I can go anywhere without succumbing to the temptation of eating more than my allotted calories for the day(1200cals)

If you have any tips on how you control yourself at parties plssssssss share.

On a final note, happy birthday to my home girl nnena a.

Xoxo

Dr. Oz's 100 Weight Loss Tips

1. Automate your eating by planning your meals ahead of time. That way you're less likely to make an unhealthy last-minute food choice.
2. Oats are your friends! Eating a cup of oatmeal in the morning will prevent you from gorging in the afternoon.
3. Foods with healthy fats such as olives, salmon and walnuts help you feel satisfied.
4. Skipping meals can cause your body to go into a fat-storing starvation mode, making it harder to burn calories.
5. Got nuts with nuts. Eating a handful of nuts will help you stay full. Try soaking them in water for a different texture.
6. Use meditation to help you cope with chronic stress, which can lead you to crave feel-good carbs.
7. You may be used to fried foods but there are other, sometimes healthier, ways to cook including: roasting, steaming, poaching, baking, braising and broiling.
8. Do your grocery shopping with a list and a time limit; that way, you're less likely to stray into the processed foods section.
9. Don't confuse thirst with hunger. Drink a glass of water when you feel hungry to see if that's what you're really craving.
10. When out at a restaurant, ask the server to hold the bread, snack mix or chips and salsa that might come before the meal. If you're hungry, you'll be tempted.
11. Tired of eating your salad on a plate? Fill a whole wheat pita with salad and a splash of lemon for a twist.
12. You might do better to replace an occasional dinner with a nice roll in the hay. Healthy sex may help control the amount of food you eat and it's great exercise.
13. Create emergency packs filled with healthy foods such as nuts, fruits or sliced vegetables to help you avoid unhealthy temptations.
14. Add red pepper flakes to your pantry. When eaten early in the day, red pepper lowers the amount of food you'll eat later.
15. Odds are you're eating too fast. Try holding a conversation while having a meal so you're not gulping down more than you need to feel full.
16. Take a brisk walk before lunch or dinner. Not only will you get in some exercise, you're less likely to choose something unhealthy after a little movement.
17. Looking for the benefits of salmon but you don't feel comfortable cooking fish? Try canned salmon as a simple and affordable alternative.
18. Are your dishes too big? A healthy dinner should fit on a 9-inch plate. You may find that kid-sized plates are more appropriately sized to feed an adult!
19. Never eat any snack food out of the box, carton or bag it came in. You're less likely to overeat if you separate snacks into appropriate fist-sized servings.
20. Boost your metabolism with some green tea or chili peppers.
21. Get your Zzzzzs. Sleep deprivation alters levels of hormones in the body that regulate hunger, causing an increase in appetite.
22. Muscle burns at least four times as many calories as fat does, so try twenty minutes of strength straining two to three times a week.
23. Decaf coffee is a great low-calorie fluid when you're having cravings (and a great source of antioxidants).
24. Eating liquid-based foods such as natural smoothies and low-sodium soup can help you cut back on calories yet feel full.
25. A pedometer can help keep track of your steps. If you're not getting 10,000 steps a day, you're not moving enough.
26. Natural applesauce is an excellent dip for fruits such as bananas and melons.
27. Take every opportunity to move around, even in small ways. Studies show fidgety people tend to be skinnier.
28. Identify the emotional triggers that lead you to seek unhealthy comfort food. Picture your goal weight the next time a trigger strikes to help you resist temptation.
29. Use a vegetable bean dip such as hummus instead of ranch dressing or a fatty cream-based dip.
30. People who regularly weigh themselves and keep track of their progress in a journal are more likely to lose weight.
31. Use a dash of cinnamon to give fruits such as bananas and melons a richer dessert feel without the sugar.
32. Give your protein extra low-calorie flavor by adding a salsa or chutney instead of a gooey cream sauce.
33. Distracted dining will get you in trouble. Avoid eating in front of a television or in a movie theater, as you're bound to consume more calories.
34. Pass on pop. You'll be amazed by how much weight you drop by simply switching to water.
35. Beware of "fat-free" or "zero trans fats" foods as you could be trading fats for huge amounts of sugar or sodium.
36. Try drinking skim milk at breakfast instead of juice. Overweight people who drank skim milk for breakfast ate fewer calories
37. Sugarless chewing gum can suppress your appetite in a pinch.
38. Snack attack! Puree peaches, berries or pears for a sweet spread to go on pita chips.
39. If you're having trouble getting started, make a small move such as starting an eating log or buying walking shoes. You're three times more likely to follow through if you start with small gestures such as these.
40. Always have vegetables on hand. Saute a big bag of frozen mixed vegetables in olive oil and garlic. Add some red pepper or turmeric for additional flavor and separate into portion-sized containers for the fridge.
41. Edamame (soy beans) are a great low-cost snack. Look for them in the frozen foods section.
42. Soups can be both filling and comforting. Try making a garden or bean soup with low-salt broth and store in portion-sized cups for later.
43. Save time and money during the week by buying lean protein such as chicken breasts in bulk and cooking a week's worth on Sunday night.
44. Save the kitchen and the dining room table for cooking and eating. Try not to use it as a place to do work or other activities, or you may be tempted to eat more.
45. If food was your only source of pleasure, make sure to reconnect with other things you enjoy -- music, sports, volunteer work or movies, for example.
46. Try to have a little lean protein with each meal, as protein tends to be more satisfying than carbs or fats.
47. Think ahead to how you'll eat and exercise on the weekends. It's easy to get too relaxed on Saturdays and Sundays, but healthy living is a 7-day-a-week endeavor.
48. Dump the junk food. If you want to avoid temptation, make sure you clean out the fridge and the pantry
49. When you eat calorie-friendly fruits and vegetables that are in season, they tend to taste better and you're more likely to enjoy them.
50. People who eat breakfast have a better shot at losing and maintaining weight loss.
    
    I have posted just 50 tips. To see the rest go to
    http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/dr-ozs-100-weight-loss-tips
    
    I'll defiantly pick one or two from this, if not all.
    
    Xoxo

TGIF.....:)

In the past, weekends have been particularly difficult for me,difficult in the sense that my diet gets bursted. This time around I have decided to put in more effort, not that I have a choice(my weight*which must not be mentioned* is of major concern).
Yesterday was my off day*smiles*. My meals yesterday consisted of

Breakfast
All bran n soy milk & green tea
Snack
Wheat bread n peanut paste
1 garden egg&2sweets
Lunch
Sweet potato n gravy chicken
Nutri c
Dinner
Tiny demo n okro
2glasses of red wine
No exercise

Today I worked my ass off exercising and my glutes hurt. My meals consisted of

Breakfast
All bran cereal n soy milk/fruit salad
Green tea & slimmin tea
Snack
Glass of wine
Lunch
Chicken salad
1/4 Roast chicken
Dinner
Sweet potatoes n gravy
Red wine.

Fitness gurus out there,How did I do?

Finger crossed I'll be good for the rest of the weekend.

Xoxo

Some of my favorite Quotes to live by

These are a few of my favorite weight loss quotes, they keep me going and they crack me up and they defiantly make sense.

I also got some from my bbm group and I would quote some of my fellow members....hehehe

"eat to live don't live to eat"- biola
"don't eat away your future"- Bisi
"a moment on the lips.....a life time on the hips"
"you are what you eat"- bolanle aka showbaby
"my body is not a dustbin"- oyime
"the fat would last longer than the flavor "- omotara
"move it to loose it"- tosin o
"you can have that treat next year. This is Nigeria . They'll still be making red velvet cake in 2013"- biola
"half ass efforts gets you half ass results"
"food is for fuel not for pleasure"

I love love quotes! If you have any inspirational quotes please share.

If you don't see your favorite here, post it for others!

Mark Twain: Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.

Julius Erving: If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end.

Jim Eason: If you want to look young and thin, hang around old fat people.

Unknown Author: Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can.

Vince Lombardi: It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up.

Milton Garland: My advice is to go into something and stay with it until you like it. You can't like it until you obtain expertise in that work. And once you are an expert, it's a pleasure.

Winston Churchill: Never, never, never, never give up.

Eleanor Roosevelt: No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.

Horace: Rule your mind or it will rule you.

Ellen Degeneres: You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where the hell she is.

Benjamin Franklin: You may delay, but time will not.

David Viscott: You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be.

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

George Bernard Shaw: You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"
Ralph Marston: Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality.

George S. Patton: You're never beaten until you admit it.

Lee Iacocca: You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance.

Unknown Author: You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.

Unknown Author: You don't realize how strong a person really is until you see them at their weakest moment.

Goethe: Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.
Jim Rohn: Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.

Thomas Fuller: That which is bitter to endure may be sweet to remember.

Samuel Johnson: The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.

Marvin Phillips: The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph!
Plato: The first and the best victory is to conquer self.

Vincent Lombardi: The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince.

Leigh Hunt: The groundwork of all happiness is health.

Anthony Robbins: The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.

Roger Bannister: The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.

Author unknown: The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.

Thomas Jefferson: The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best.

Carl Sandburg: The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.

Harold Wilkins: The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist.

Heraclitus: There is nothing permanent except change.

Swedish Proverb: Those who wish to sing, always find a song.

Elie Wiesel: Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.

Harriet Beecher Stowe: When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus Horace: Who has courage to say no again and again to desires, to despise the objects of ambition, who is a whole in himself, smoothed and rounded.

NOW... take two more minutes and POST your favorite motivational quote. It can be by YOU, a loved one or someone famous.


Xoxo
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Aqua aerobics - A fun way to work out

I had a fun time working out today.... It didn't feel like a work out one bit and at the same time it was intense #insanitytinz (in my mind).

I read somewhere that you can burn as much as 600 calories and even up to 1500 calories when you swim for an hour. Check out calories burned calculators in the app store if you use an iPad or iPhone. Very useful I tell you.
If you know any other fun way to work out or you have a personal favorite please do share.

Xoxo

The 800 calorie diet

Hi peeps, i stumbled across a site called african weight loss and a weight loss doctor outlined a diet of about 800 calories a day. What's your take on this? Is it healthy? Is It do-able . I will try it and let you know how well it goes.
Here is a draft of how the diet looks like

800 calories a day

Mon
B-2tbspn of marvel,2slices of wheat bread,1boiled egg.
L-1moimoi
D-1 chicken lap

Tue
B-2apples,2tbspn of milk
L-10tbspn of beans,1small meat,2spoons of stew
D-1medium cat fish,1banana,

Wed
B-4 carrots,1banana,
L-1 apple,1moimoi
D-veg salad-1cup lettuce,3medium tomatoes,1chopped cucumber,1cup green beans,1egg

Thurs
B-2slices of wheat bread,1egg,
L-1 chicken lap
D-1 medium catfish

Fri
B-1 egg,2spns of milk
L-10spns of beans,2spns stews,1beef
D-ugwu veg,1boiled plaintain

Sat
Brk-veg salad
L-wheat&1cup okra&1turkey
D-2apples

Sun
B-1 wheat bread&1 fried egg
L-10spoon cooked rice(156cal),3spns(105),turkey(70)
D-3apples

What do you think?

The journey so far

I decided to go to *WAR* when I realized I gained 13 kg this year!!!
War against what you may ask, war against fat!!!!
That was my Ah ha moment. I couldn't believe my eyes when I climbed my digital scale which I conveniently  ignored in the past months.
My scale told me I was 122kg *coversface*

 Well am ten days into my lifestyle change and I have lost 2kg *whoop whoop*. I now weigh 119.9kg,  I hope to lose more before the month ends.

My primary goal is to lose 30kg by April 2013,so I have to lose an average of 5kg a month(YES I CAN!!!)

So far I cut out all fatty foods, reduced my carb intake and reduced my juice intake(still working on how to cut it out completely), and I hit the gym. I leave my trainers and work out clothes in my car so I have no excuse not to work out. With time I want to try insanity, p90x3, and all them fancy work out plans I keep hearing about. I hear they work really well and pushes the body more. Am looking for someone in the uk to hook me up wit insanity because I can't seem to find it in lagos. Anyways I'll  work with what I have now, so am going swimming(fun way to burn calories).

Well am off........to kick ass!!
Xoxo

First of all.......Introduction

Well where do I start from......my battle with weight loss started at the age of 13(the period when I became conscious of the opposite sex...hehehe). I noticed that I was bigger than most of my peers and I decided to lose the extra weight so I could be lepa(skinny).
Fast forward some 13years after and am still fighting the same battle *bbm straightface* & *sadface* I have decided enough is enough !!! Hence the essence of this blog.
This is a platform for me to share my journey with you all. I will post pictures of me trying to lose weight....my meals,exercise,helpful links,info and basically anything that has to do with this personal battle of mine.
THIS MEANS WAR!!!!