Adina’s Cute & Perky Blog!

Sometimes it takes a long time to realize a dream…

I named my oldest child after a kid I babysat. His name was Micah. And he loved his mama.

No. He LOVED his mama!!!

There were four kids in that family. Micah was always the last one hugging on his mom as she left.

As a general rule, as Jane walked out the door, the other three scattered immediately!

Not Micah.

He had to have a little down time. He used to sit next to me on the couch. We watched a lot of baseball. He would look at the screen and then at me.

“Ms. Adina. I’m going to be on TV some day. You can watch me. Will you watch me?”

And I always watched Micah. I went to his little league games, his high school games, and his college games.

I went to his wedding. I loved him enough to give my child his name! Of course, I watched him. There were times I went hoarse yelling for him!

That was a long time ago.

He’s grown now.

And by chance I ran into him last weekend. We were both at the soccer field in our home town.

I took off running when I saw him. Arms outstretched.

“Micah Hoffpauir, you better come hug your babysitter!”

And he did. He’s a big boy now! In fact, he towers over me, so it was one of those scoop-you-up hugs.

And all these years later, I finally got to tell him, “Micah!! I saw you on TV and I screamed and yelled in my kitchen just like when you were a little boy, and I was at one of your Dixie League games!”

He laughed.

And tears stung my eyes…because y’all…that little boy who asked me to watch him on TV when he was only four years old is now number six for the Chicago Cubs!

Sometime you have to wait a long time to achieve what you’re after….but just keep at it

There is no way Micah understood the scope of his dreams when he was four.  And maybe therein lies the secret…you just have to have a dream and keep at it till you make your dream a reality.

Did you look at your calendar yesterday? 

I really was glad I took a look at mine.  Kind of put things in perspective for me. 

I did the math.  I really took pen to paper and added it up.  If I chose to indulge at every occasion, I would gain 5.47 pounds over the holidays.

I wasn’t lying.  I really did the math.  And I hate math and it hates me!!!  But I like being this size, so I did what I had to do.

So…what it boils down to is this: how often are you going to choose to eat off plan and what constitutes a special occasion?

As a general rule, I eat off plan once a week.  Notice I don’t call it cheating.  It’s planned cheating, maybe, but not cheating.  And it’s not a whole day off plan, it’s a meal off plan.

There are more than one of these occasions in several of the holiday weeks, so it’s not as simple as planning my weekly planned cheat around those days.

So…once I had it all before me, I had to choose.  And so I thought, “What is a special occasion?”

Christmas in one for me. 

Taking cupcakes to my son’s party at school is not.

Taking a group of foster kids out to dinner is a special occasion for me, and will be one of my meals off plan.

Eating lunch with my coworkers is not.

I marked six of those 25 things of mine as special occasions.  And I will stick to that list.

And if you’re thinking I will enjoy my days less than the ones who choose to indulge, you would be wrong.

Because you would be surprised how little, if any, of my joy comes from food.

And those nineteen occasions I’m not going to eat off plan?  I could easily give you nineteen reasons why being fit and healthy tastes better than any party food I’ve ever had.

My joy will come from watching my son and his friends have their party.  I don’t need a cupcake to enjoy that.
 
And besides…my hot ISS friend Kevin would kick my booty if I had 25 cheats in two months!  And I’ll kick yours if you do!

Got it?!

OK, people!  Time to get out those calendars.

We’re going to be interactive and proactive.

You HAVE to be proactive to lead a healthy life!  You HAVE to be!!

Y’all know when I repeat myself that I’m driving a point home.  So…drive your booty over to where you calendar is and get it out!

I want you to take a look at your schedule between now and New Years.  Mark down all the events you have coming up that will mean either skipping a workout or eating off plan. 

What did you come up with?

I did this activity about two weeks ago with my FitnessRX people.  At that time, I had a list of 25 things.

TWENTY-FIVE!

That’s a lot of things, y’all.

I can’t skip the gym or eat off plan 25 times.

But what do we do when these occasions come up? 

We say the magic phrase that makes it all better, “But it only happens once a year.”

When you feel that little devil on your left shoulder whispering that in your ear, take the halo off the angel whispering in your other and smack him.

“It” doesn’t come once a year.  There are special occasions every few days through the holidays.

So what do you do?  You take a step back and look at the grand picture.  Mark the days you allow for deviances from your plan, and stick to it.

If I were to have just an extra 1,000 calories of food a day at all 25 of these functions, I would easily pack on 5 pounds. 

And I love the holidays, but that is not worth it to me.

So while you have your calendar out, mark yours up too.

Remind yourself why you can’t go off plan every other day through the holidays.

But by all means, do enjoy yourself at the days you allow for the deviances from your plan.  That’s part of being proactive too.  Learning that this lifestyle is enjoyable.

In case some of you missed it, I was asked by the Editor and Chief of FitnessRXmag.com to keep a featured Blog about weight loss. 

So…while this one is for motivation (I hope!!), that one is for weight loss support.

So, I thought I would show you what I’m posting up over there today.  Since it is a football story, I thought my guys might like it!

Speaking of guys….WELCOME Adam’s mom!!!  Isn’t it funny how we forget we all have real names and not just screen names?!  When she said Adam, I was like who?!

Oh…and did you see we had a rare addition to our Cute and Perky Breakfast Club yesterday?  A MAN who will ask for directions!  Way to go MadFun!  WOO HOO!!!

But anyway….here it is!!

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We’re talking about EXCITEMENT this week.  Something you’ve got to find to achieve weight loss success.

Let me take you back.  Twenty years back.  To my senior year homecoming  game.

We won very few games that season.  And as luck would have it, our homecoming game was against a team that was undefeated.  FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS.

UGH!!

So the game started.  And we quickly fell behind.

The crowd was uninspired, as we saw no hope.  I mean, come on!   THREE YEARS UNDEFEATED.

But there was this one guy who saw it differently.  And sometimes, that’s all it takes.

As it turns out, this guy was a college cheerleader in visiting relatives.  And he was not content with the lack of excitement in the stadium.

And so he did something about it.

He started where he was.  He stood up and started yelling.  And as he got louder, the people around him joined in.

He didn’t stay where he was.  He moved over a few rows and got some more people worked up.

But he didn’t forget the first group.  He kept running back to them too.

And before I knew it, he was on the sidelines…firing up the guys on the field.

And our little stadium was as loud as I’ve EVER heard it.

And y’all…we won that game!

We beat the unbeatable team…by one point.

And twenty years later that game ball still sits in our school trophy case.  Dead center.  And that game is still referred to as THE Dangerfield game.

Excitement can lead to actions that you don’t think are even possible.

I want you to get excited about the journey you are on….because you are going to find that same excitement and beat what you think is unbeatable!

It is in you.  I know it is.

Until tomorrow,
Adina

So, Viper1 left me a question on my main page yesterday:

“question…how do you deal with the "out-of-shape" folks who ask you about your workouts and then start to critique and criticize the workout you’re doing? I just had that happen tonight and I wanted to SCREAM! but I just nodded and continue to eat my healthy dinner.”

And actually, I get this sort of thing a lot.

I’ve had people who had surgery to lose weight tell me I’m doing too much cardio.

I’ve had people who have been overweight for decades tell me I go to the gym too much.

I’ve had people with no visible muscle critique my form.

And I’ve even had people approach me at restaurants when I’m eating grilled chicken to tell me I shouldn’t be eating at a place like this, but they won’t tell.
 
But here’s the thing…

I’ve made living a healthy lifestyle “my thing.”

I live it, and I breathe it.

So it’s to be expected.  It’s part of the territory.

Getting in shape and staying in shape is hard work.  And so many people think it cannot be done.

So when we do it, and continue to live it there are toes we will step on all along the way.  There is no way around it.

There is an overweight woman who has been going to my gym for about two years now.  She knows I lost the weight and has even asked me about it.

But about a month ago she stopped to tell me that her book says I should be doing cardio in a different way.

In the two years she has come to my gym, I do not believe that she has lost a pound.  Yet she felt the need to stop and tell me what her book says I should be doing.

Her book?!
 
Her book?!

Does she not know that I wrote the book on weight loss?!

But I know what it’s like to be on the other side.
 
I let her say what she needed to say.  I even said thank you for the advice.

And I went right back to doing what I do…because…I DID write the book on weight loss!

But in the end, listening to someone costs me nothing more than a few minutes of my time.  And I can spare that without losing any dignity, pride, or temper.  And as a general rule I tell them, “I have learned what works for me, and I’m glad you have to.”

But clearly, my way works better!!!!

Sometimes, you just have to stop, take a look at what you’re doing,and say, “Whoa them horses, Nelly!!!”

OK…y’all probably don’t use THAT phrase, but you know where I’m going!

Back to that woman who hates me…

A group of us went to dinner one night out at the lake.  It’s a little dive of a place, but we love it.  Only thing is, the portion sizes are ridiculously large. 

Being as there are lots of “community dogs” out at the lake, we always pool our leftovers in one “community pile”.

Community dogs.  Community scraps.

Well, we mounded that pile high with foods the dogs would eat. 

Suddenly we hear a voice yelling across the table, “Oh no you don’t!”

And the one who hates me grabs a fried shrimp from the pile of, well, DOG FOOD!

There were 6 or 8 of us there.  I can’t remember exactly.  She had no clue where this mystery crustacean came from. 

And let me just tell you: if you are still are still hungry after eating a plate of food at THIS place, you have issues.  Maybe even subscriptions.

But, y’all, she grabbed that shrimp right out of our mini-compost pile and ate it.  Didn’t even ask where it came from.  And it was sitting on top of food we had all taken bites from.

Can I get a “gross” from the choir?!  I know the choir usually says “Amen”, but this occasiona calls for a different word.

GROSS!!!!

EEEWWW!!!

So…do you see what I’m saying, people?

Sometimes, you just have to stop, take a look at what you’re doing, and say, “Whoa them horses, Nelly!!!”

If she had been able to step outside herself and see how desperate that looked, she would not have done that.

But sometimes, you just make bad choices.  And since you can’t take a step back and look at yourself, sometimes you just have to stop yourself. 

You either control your actions, or your actions control you…

And then you wind up hating perky people who would give anything to be able to help drag you out of that pit you’re in.

Good morning, people!! 

It’s time for some shout outs!!!

Take a look at BryanGee’s Blog to see a very cool reason to shout.  He’s being featured on the bodybuilding.com Company Newsletter!  How cool is that?!

And what about DeborahAnn?  Look at her profile to see some great inspiration!  WOW!!!  She’s a hottie!!

And GeminiJedi is right.  Those transformations from skinny to buff count just as much!

And it looks like we have a transformation in the making!  Way to go KelKing.  Way to go!!!

I love to see our people doing well.

Did you notice that?  OUR people.

One of the best things I did along the way was to let go of the idea that fit people didn’t want to talk to me.

When I was heavy, I just knew the gym-going people would be too busy to talk to someone like me.

I waited until I had lost 50 pounds to get my brave on and join a gym.

I lost 100 before I would talk to people in the forums!!

I always thought that were I to set foot in a gym at my heaviest, people would point and stare wondering, “What is SHE doing here?”

I’m on the other side now.  I have been out of obesity for over two years.  And let me tell you, I have never once wondered why an obese person walks through the doors of the gym!  Are you kidding me?!

I seek them out!!  (I know.  I’ll pause for your moment of shocked surprise here!)

When I see a new, obese person walk through the doors of my gym, I become like that yappy cartoon dog who bounces around that bulldog.

You see, I don’t wonder why there are there.  I KNOW why they are there.

And it’s exciting!

So…if you’ve been holding back at getting to the gym…get off your booty and do it!!

And don’t be worried about who sees you.  We’re all looking at our own reflection in the mirror anyway.  If we’re not watching our form, we’re flexing to see the pump we just made.

But…we’ll be glad you came!  And we won’t be wondering why.

If you read my Blog, I imagine you’ve seen my Before and After pictures.  And you know that I’ve been on TV and in various magazines.

My story is out there.

There is nothing that makes me more or less noteworthy or spectacular than you.

We are ALL spectacular.

So what I’m getting at it is, why haven’t you shared your story for goodness sakes?  It’s been my turn a long time!  I can share!  I like to share!

Think about the woman I told you about yesterday.  You know?  The one who hates me…

My story is of no value to her.  She is too close to me.  She has been hurt by the attention I have received, and my talking only worsens her pain.

Maybe it’s YOUR story she needs to hear.

I know people are timid about sharing their own story.  I certainly was.

BUT…this is the Cute and Perky Breakfast Club, people!  This is a safe place!!!

So…I’m sending you on a wild goose chase…or…maybe it’s more like a transformed goose chase!

Have you seen a profile lately that needs to be showcased?

Have you seen a transformation that has gone unnoticed?

Tell me about them.  Let’s turn them in for some good behavior!

And if you have a story to tell…don’t make me hunt you down like that transformed dog that you are!  Because I WILL eventually find you.

You can count on it!

If you are timid about it, send me a PM.  It won’t hurt!  I don’t bite…usually.  Well, it’s not hard when I do.

Have a good day, everybody!!!  And find me some names!!!

Good morning, people!!!

Let me tell you what’s going on today: another good day!

Do you know why?

Because I said so.  That’s why!!

I had someone try to take my good day from me Saturday.  She is a friend of a friend of my two best friends…  And she hates me.

Why do I know this?  Numerous people have told me.

Her best friend tells me it’s because of the weight loss. 

You see, we started trying to lose at the same time.  She had the lap band procedure.  And two years later, she has gained weight, while I have lost.

So it stands to reason that I am a sore subject for her.

I know the attention I get from losing the weight is uncomfortable for her.

But I watch her do things that show me why she never lost.

This is gross, but I’m going to tell you any way.  Besides…she hates me.  What have I got to lose?

One sunny evening we had a get together at the lake.  Just a potluck type of gathering.  We were both struggling to lose.

But knowing she had just had the surgery, I was thinking she would beat me to goal.  Until I watched her that day.

She ate.  And she ate.  And then she ate some more.

Then she got up, leaned over the patio….and…you guessed it.   Tossed her cookies.

And then she sat down to eat some more.

And I watched her complete this cycle many times over.

And that is why I do not hate her.

I am sad for her.

Sad that it’s easier for her to hate me than it is to find it in herself to conquer what would hold her back.

And when she tries to take my good day, I remember what it was like to feel the way she feels now…and I go on.

Because she is sad…and I am happy.

And no one has permission to take my good day.

Happy Monday, Cute and Perky readers!!!

Did you have a good weekend?  I did!!!  I went to a Halloween party at the lake!

I didn’t wear a costume, because the party was hosted by my two gay best friends.  And trust me, there was NO way I could out-do their costumes!!!  Not a chance!!

But I was talking to my buddy Ron Harris over the weekend.  If you’re an MD reader, Ron wrote the article in this month’s issue about Victor Martinez.  Y’all know by now that he’s my favorite bodybuilder!  So, we’ll let Ron be my favorite writer!

Ron has a new book out about bodybuilding and I was telling him how excited and anxious I am for my two sons to read it.  Here’s the link to it:  www.ronharrismuscle.com/book/.

I would love for you to check in out!

But did you catch what I said? 

I’m excited. 

And I know y’all are used to me being excited…and perky and all.  But it goes deeper then that.

I am truly excited to get that book for my boys, because living a healthy lifestyle and being a good example to my sons excites me.

How many people do you know who dread going to the gym or would rather peel their fingernails off one by one than eat healthy?

And how many times is it because we have made the healthy lifestyle look anything less than desirable?

I can tell people how much better being this size is, but it means nothing if I gripe and complain about every workout or every meal.

If I want people to join me in this way of life, I have to make it look like a way of life worth living.

My oldest son told me the other day, “Mom, other people don’t look at going to the gym the same way you do.”

And he’s right.

I get excited about it.

Because every time I set foot in that gym and that metal touches my hand or I eat my next healthy meal, I am creating a better me.

And that is something to get excited about!