Adina’s Cute & Perky Blog!

So I took a day off from work today to do some things to get the boys ready for school.

Shopping.  Hair cuts.  School supplies. 

And isn’t it neat that every year in August, they get the chance to start over?  A chance to be something they weren’t the year before.  A chance to walk in with a new wardrobe, new shoes, and a new haircut.  A chance to be somebody different.

And sometimes schedules aren’t desired.  Or they get third lunch.  Or there are no classes with best friends.  But no matter what, when they walk in that door, they know this is only temporary.  This is just the next nine months. 

Losing weight is this way.

But the good news is you don’t have to wait till September to start.  You can start right now.  Your body will not know it’s the end of a month.  Or that it’s not a Monday.

No matter how much you need to lose, think back to when you were a kid in school.  That first day, even though you were filled with excitement, there was still this looming this-seems-like-forever feeling.  Not because you hated school, but because you were ready to get to the next phase of your life: freedom.

And let me tell you, losing weight is freedom. 

Freedom for the heart, the mind, the body, and the soul.

So treat your journey like a kid at school.

Pour yourself into it.  Apply yourself.  Make good choices and make good grades! 

And when you fail a test or call in sick, don’t be a drop out.  Go back.  Catch up on what you missed.

Do a few extra workouts and get some extra credit.

Go to gym class every day.

Pack a healthy lunch.

Be kind to your classmates.  They don’t know how hard you’re working.  And they’re not really that bad.  You’re just irritable.  And you’ll be glad you kept your patience.

Listen to your teachers and the alumni.  In fact, listen to anyone who can help you, whether they are your teacher or just a kind face that has been in your shoes.

Pay attention to your report card.  Notice if you are making progress.

And yes, conduct is important too.  As it will be all your life.  Know when to shut that pie hole!

And when the next school year rolls around, you get a fresh start.  And you will need a new wardrobe, because your old clothes do not fit.  For the first time, you will have under-grown those clothes!

And you will need new shoes, because you wore your old ones out.

And you will need a new schedule, because you understand the need to fit in time for yourself at the gym.

And it won’t matter what lunch period you get, because clean food is clean food no matter when you eat it.

But this time…this beginning….is more important.  It’s not the beginning of the next nine months.  It’s the beginning of the rest of your life.

And you will know…a year of hard work was worth making it to graduation.  And you may even go back and be a teacher, because you like it that much and you can’t imagine living any other way.

So I was having a little trouble with my Blog last night.  The Europa one.  My longest Blog entry ever!

No matter what I did, all these funny little symbols kept popping up.  This happens when I copy and paste it from word.  And Richard (BodySpaceAdmin) had sent me a message once before about how to fix this, but I did not heed his advice.  I usually just mess with it till I make it work and leave those funny little symbols in there.

But last night my Blog was just particularly screwy.  And I flashed back to Richard telling me to copy and paste it into notepad.  And I did this.  And it worked.  In fact, it worked better than ever.  All those annoying little symbols?  Gone.  Everyone of them. 

And I started to send Richard a little private message telling him his trick worked.

I STARTED to…

Until it hit me. 

He is not waiting for me to share this little tidbit of information with him.  He knows this works.  He told me weeks ago this works.  His screen name alone tells me he does, indeed, know that this works.  And not only is he not waiting for this information, I feel sure he would roll his eyes to even read it, thinking to himself, “I hate stupid, perky people.”

Yet, somehow, I am amazed, amused, and surprised at my own epiphany.

And isn’t getting healthy so much like this?  We search and search for what to do and how to make it to goal.

We are surrounded by people who could help us, yet we want to find some magical way, some different route to get there.

We want to ignore the fact that those who come before us have told us what to do.  Eat clean.  Lift.  Do some cardio.

I always find it amusing when someone comes to me and says, “I tried what you said.”

I always play my part here.  I know they are wanting to surprise, amaze, and amuse me the way I did Richard with my Blog skills.  So I let a few minutes of dramatic silence pass before I say… “And?”

And this is when glee washes over the other parties face and I hear THE phrase, “It worked.  You were right.”

Well imagine that.

Eating clean.  Lifting.  Cardio.

They work. 

Who would have guessed it?

You can try all the crash diets, quick fixes, and easy ways to lose a few pounds fast, but you’ll just be filling your Blog with crazy little symbols.  And after all your struggling and redoing to find other ways to do it, you will just have to come back do it the right way.

Eat clean.  Lift heavy.  Do cardio.

Then come leave me a message that it works…and I’ll still act surprised and brag on you…just a little…..even though I told you so.

In response to yesterday, I got a few sad private messages.  The same theme rang true for all….a resounding sadness in place of the internal fire I had mentioned in my Blog.

I can tell you this: when I was heavy, I ate away almost every feeling I had.  The bad ones and the good.  We’ve all heard this phrase, “I ate to stuff my feelings.”  But do we know what it really means? Because you have to grasp what it means to pull yourself out of it.  You can’t fill your tank if you don’t know where your gas cap is.

When you eat to stuff your feelings, you are eating to the point that you are so full, you cannot feel anything.  All you can focus on is the full feeling you have created in the middle of your body.  Oblivious to all other parts….heart, mind, soul…..everything.It’s hard to feel sad, happy, or anything at all when you have eaten beyond your need.  It takes all your focus.  When you decide to make changes, you will have some hard times ahead.  You see, when you take away the main way you dealt with every occasion in your life, happy or sad, you don’t immediately know what to do with yourself.

But the hard times won’t last forever, or really even for very long.  Not in the grand scheme of things.

I cannot tell you how to skip this stage, nor would I even if I could.  It’s an important battle in the war you are waging with yourself.

All I can do is tell you what I did.  And that is, I learned to let myself feel.  Whether the moment was happy or sad, I had to learn how to feel without stuffing the feeling away.

And here is what I learned and what I take with me….

I will not die from allowing myself to feel a broken heart.  But I would have died from the heart disease that my obesity would have brought me over time.

I will not die from allowing myself to feel the aggravation of people who irritate me.  But I would have died from the aggravated blood pressure that was on the rise due to my eating behavior.

I will not die from learning to deal with people who are not sweet to me or do not treat me with kindness.  But I would die from complications of diabetes from continually putting sweet things in my mouth.

But isn’t it good to know…

I am more alive than I have ever been, because I chose a different path.

Joy can be found in simple things, because I learned not to stuff every feeling away.  I was missing out on a lot, y’all!

The things that used to bother me were greatly magnified by my magnified size.  And as I became smaller, so did my problems.  Because I learned to deal with things as they occurred.  In my former life, I stuffed them.  So the same problems kept surfacing over and over and over again.  Every time they popped up, I zapped them with a Twinkie.  Now?  I face them head on and punch them with some girl muscle!

The road you are on is not a quick-fix, but it is a permanent fix.  Once you learn it, you learn it.  And life is better.  Better than it ever has been.

And think of it this way.  Whatever you’re dealing with or struggling with today, will it really help to compound that problem by not exercising and eating clean?    Those two things are in your control.  Always.  Just grab the reins back from whomever or whatever you gave them to.

And just as one ash from a smoldering cigarette can light a whole forest on fire, one internal spark of realization on your part can set your whole soul on fire…

And the next thing you know, you’ll have a Cute and Perky Blog too…because, y’all, I’ll share that name!  I don’t have it copyrighted, but I did right the book on it!!!  I’m just waiting on YOU to write the next chapter!

Today is a good day to stop talking and start doing!

No, let’s make that it’s THE day to stop talking about losing weight, joining a gym, gaining muscle, or getting your eggs in your basket and just DO IT!  Nike won’t mind if we borrow their phrase!  I buy their shoes!

Saturday morning, I had to take my oldest son to the high school for football pictures (GO BULLDOGS!)  This process was going to involve me sitting in the car for over an hour.  UNLESS, I made a plan. ..

And I did.

My plan was to jog.  My hot friend Kevin has me walking on an incline.  So, it had been almost four months since I jogged.  I just wanted to do it for fun and see where I was endurance-wise.

So, I get to the high school and get out of my car.  I hear a few people saying, “That’s the lady who was on TV.  Look, she’s going to exercise.  We should do that.”

I put my water bottle in the shadiest part of my car, so it might be a little bit cool when I got back.  My friend comes up to ask what I was doing.  When I tell her, she says, “I should exercise, but I just can’t find the time.”

I proceed to strap on my trusty heart rate monitor.  I don’t usually wear it, but I wanted to know if I had lost or gained endurance the last four months.  Strap one of those on in public and people WILL come ask you about it!  And again, same response, “Oh, I should be doing that.”

So I take off jogging.

I jogged 4 miles in 32 minutes.  Heart rate was staying around the 90% level!  I was the Queen of Cardio!

And 32 minutes later I jog up, red-faced and sweating, to the same people, at the same places, having the same conversations.

While they were talking about what they needed to do…I was doing it.

And that is the difference.

I have seen so many people plan themselves right out of getting healthy and fit.  They pull out planners and search for the perfect time to squeeze in some exercise.  Or they look ahead and see if there are too many temptations to start a diet now.

The only plan you need is which gym to join and which diet plan you are going to follow.  The day to start it is today.  Even if it’s midday when you’re reading this.  Yes, that means you can start a diet at lunch.  Because at any given moment, you can chose to live a healthier lifestyle and make better choices.

And do you know why?  Your journey will not be perfect.  You will not have 365 days where you perfectly planned your diet and exercise.

As soon as you let go of the idea that you will find the perfect time to fit it all in and start, you will be well on your way to where you need to be.

Go look back at your stats.  If you have been on this site for a year with no changes, and the majority of your posts begin with, “This time I’m going to do it…” then it’s time to get down to business. 

Every time you feel the need to post that phrase, drink a glass of water and take a walk!  You can plan your diet and move at the same time!

When I got back from jogging, I was approached by several people asking for my help.  I gave several my contact information and told them to use it.  But you know what I will tell the ones who want it badly enough to call me?  I will tell them, while I was jogging, you were wasting your time.

Put your day planner down and go take a walk.  Go get some clean food, and go find a gym to join.  Because that’s what it’s going to take.

I don’t care what your planner says, today is a good day to start.

I have some bad news for you: your mama was wrong!

She was wrong when she told you to not eat before dinner, because it would spoil your appetite.

Do you know why I do eat before dinner?  It spoils my appetite!

Let me tell you what I mean….

If you ever see me, and I’m carrying a purse there is only one thing that is sure to be in there.

I have the most useless purse you can imagine!

Need a tissue?  I don’t have one!

Driver’s license?  Usually in the car.

Hand lotion?  Don’t have that either.

Chapstick?  Nope.

Hand sanitizer.  Not even a passing thought!

My purse is a random act of violence on a strap!  If you were to dump it out, you would hold up multiple things and utter, “Why?”

And I would have no answer.  It’s just quirky.  Much like its owner.

But there is one thing you are sure to find: an Oh Yeah! Bar..  Usually the Peanut Butter and Strawberry one.  Or sometimes it’s chocolate one…yes, I’m a bar hopper!

And I don’t mean the sissy size bar.  I mean the big whomping weight lifter bar.  And I use them to spoil my dinner.  I really do y’all!

But here’s what I mean….

I do not like to let the unexpected moments of everyday life cost me a cheat day or even one cheat meal.  If you allow yourself to have a cheat meal every time a meeting runs long, or you aren’t at the right place at the right time, or you just waited too long, well, you would have a cheat meal almost every day.  Sometimes twice a day.

Life happens.

Things get in the way of your diet.

You’re not always going to be at a place you can get a healthy meal…unless…you keep with you the tools that you need to succeed.

If my meeting runs late, I break off half of that bar.  And I don’t cheat.

If I am eating with friends and we end up going to a place with no healthy choices, I will eat half of that bar before I go there.

I go so far as to eat it right there at the table.  You bet that will spoil my appetite for some fried comfort food.  You cannot eat after a protein bar!  We all know this!  Many side salads for dinner have occurred because I ate an Oh Yeah! Bar at the table!

I will EVEN eat one before eating with my MAMA!

If I’m headed to a party?  Yep.  I’m eating a bar on the way.  I eat it EXACTLY 20 minutes before I hit that door.  That way my brain has had time to tell my belly it is full and does not need party food.  It just needs a party!

If I end up all day at an event with no good food choices, I will eat half that bar.  Three hours later?  You guessed it, the other half of that bar.

Sometimes the bar stays in my purse so long it’s mangled by the time I eat it.  But that’s OK, it’s just in bite-size morsels.  And that means I’ve had a longer run than usual with no food trials or temptations.

The last time I turned to my trusty bar?  I was at a bodybuilding show with a friend.  It ran longer than we were expecting.  And we were both getting hungry.  And a cheat meal was sure to ensue…except, remember, I keep the big whomping bar?  That’s the reason.  I broke it in half, and gave the other half to my friend.  And our next meal was a grilled chicken salad, just like it should have been.

Sometimes, you have to go against what your mama told you and spoil that dinner!

And when you think about it, it takes little time, effort, or even thought on your part to always keep on hand one simple thing to keep you from blowing your diet.

But your mama was right about wearing clean underwear, because you really just don’t ever know….

The road that brought me to where I am was basically a two year journey.  I am 38 years old.  So that means up to this point, that road was what?  Five percent of my entire life?  And as the years go by, that road that seemed so long will be the blink of an eye.  Good Lord willing, there will come a time when that was only two percent of my life.  Then one.

People!  That is nothing in the grand scheme of things!  NOTHING!

We tend to look at getting a fit body in a different light than we use on everything else around us.  We think because we don’t see immediate changes, it’s OK to quit.

Would you tell that wide-eyed child walking in high school, “Look.  You going to have 3,332 tests, embarrass your self royally at least 3 times, and there is no way you will enjoy Senior English, but have a great 4 years!”

No.  You say, have a good first day of high school.  Enjoy it, because it will be over before you know it.”

Would you tell someone about to quit smoking, “You will want a cigarette 3,332 times before you feel like you’ve made it; and even when you have made it, you’ll still want one from time to time?”

No.  You would say, “Make it one day without one and try for another.”

Yet we walk in the gym, and expect to see our sculpted bodies emerge from a miraculous set of perfect scenarios.

I did it….every single time I failed. 

I have to admit I was a little worried yesterday when Justin (JPodz) began an E-mail to me with. “I had an Adina moment yesterday.”

Because let me tell you, this is never a good phrase! It means something has gone awry! Or that someone has tried something that they think only I would do. The possibilities are endless and boundless. And no, I know that’s not necessarily a good thing!!!

Ends up, he was anxious to try his new protein powder and took a bite….just like I did when stuck in my cubby the other day. Different powders, same results! Y’all would just really be surprised how hard that stuff is to chew!!

Now, I think I described my dilemma thoroughly enough that no sane reader of this Blog would go out and “try this at home.”

Only we ALL know it made people try it!!! Some of you are going to go search for the Blog entry now to see what you need to try! It’s human nature.

It’s like when the waiter tells me, “Ma’am. Don’t touch this plate. It’s very hot.”

What am I going to do the mere second this man turns his back? I’m gonna touch that hot plate! And if I’m quick enough, I’ll do it with him looking at me. I don’t care. It’s mine. I’ll burn my fingers if I want to. Thank you very much!

Or just let me pass a “Wet Paint” sign without the Adina verification method!

“Don’t remove this tag?” Gone before I even leave the store.

But some warnings are meant to be heeded…. Don’t drink and drive. Speed Limit 70. Don’t kill.

Yet many warnings we don’t heed lead us down the road of killing ourselves. 

How many of us came from obese families, yet did not heed the warnings of what it can do to the body, mind, and soul?

The smallest of injury is multiplied when it happens to the unfit. Yet many don’t heed the warnings of keeping active and being good to their body.

How sad to watch children follow in the footsteps of unhealthy parents. Or for any of us to not learn from anyone in our lives we saw eat too much, exercise too little, or just not face this world head on.

I walked in a restaurant the other day, and I heeded the warnings.

You see, I looked around me and every single person in that place was obese. Most morbidly so. I knew from glancing around me that I was in a place I need not be..

I took a look at the menu, and just as the warning signs indicated, every single item was fried.

And I heeded the warning. I left.

You see, just because you’re already in the door doesn’t mean you have to stay there. I may have followed someone’s footsteps in, but I don’t have to stay.

And I didn’t.

And it only takes one quick step to get you in the right direction….one moment where you choose to heed the warning signs around you. One moment where you realize you are in the wrong place, and do what you need to do to get out of there. One moment where you face those signs and know that you just gotta do what you just gotta do!

Get after it!  I’m rooting for you!

Another thing I get asked about quite frequently is the taste of the food I eat.

You see, I eat very, very plain.  People look at me and assume it must be boring.

Boring.  Hmmm.  Boring.

You know what, guys?  I don’t really turn to my food for entertainment.

I went out to eat Friday night with my good friend, Ken.  While the food was great, it did not entertain me.  Ken entertained me.  The owner of the restaurant entertained me when she sat at our table to visit.  The waiter entertained me.  People-watching at the restaurant entertained me.  Texting my friend entertained me.

Not one time did my food get up and do anything entertaining.  It didn’t sing.  It didn’t dance.  It just sat there.  You would think it was dead.

Oh, it was pretty.  It was a very nice place we were at.  So, if my food WERE going to entertain me, clearly, this would have been the place, y’all!  Clearly.

But isn’t that the problem?  We expect too much when dieting. 

If you have eaten the wrong foods for decades, and think you are going to find diet food appealing from the start, you won’t. 

You will have to make it through a few months of dietary torture while your taste buds adjust!  I mean really, no matter how you slice it, that baked apple with Splenda is not going to fill your need for an apple pie a la mode! 

BUT…it WILL fill you.

And you stick with it long enough, and you gradually lose you taste for what you used to eat.  In fact, the food you used to eat will make you sick.

For me, that time period was two months.  I had two perfect months with nary a cheat.  And I was not able to enjoy the cheat when I had it.

You see, it doesn’t take that long in the grand scheme of things to change your eating habits.  For me, it just took two months.  And…aren’t you worth that? 

That was so long ago I don’t even remember feeling deprived.  I know I had to have felt that way at the time, because I remember eating Sugar-Free Jell-O. Lots and lots of Sugar-Free Jell-O!!!  But….I truly can’t recall how bad it was.

When people ask me whether or not my diet is boring now…or what I think about my diet…I tell them I love my diet.  It is the key to me maintaining the body I worked so hard on for two years.  I remember thinking my hot friend Kevin was crazy for telling me to eat this much food.  It seemed like mountains of food after eating diet portions for so long.  But…it’s what keeps my mole hills from turning back into mountains!

But does the food on my plan entertain me?  No.  It really doesn’t.  It’s plain.  And some would think it bland.

But boy, can I ever go out and entertain myself with the body, the mind, and the spirit it helps me to maintain.

And when someone asks me what my boring, bland, stinky diet tastes like?  I tell them. “It tastes like another pound just fell off my body.  And in another few hours I’m going to eat some more.  But…when your food starts singing to you, call me in.  I would really like to see that!”

Cause I would y’all!

I have come to the realization that those of us who try our hardest to be healthy and fit have something the general public does not: mystery minutes.

You see, people approach me all the time for help.  But when I tell them what I do, I am often told: “I don’t have time to do what you do.”

Maybe, just maybe, they haven’t tapped into their mystery minutes?  Maybe they have not unlocked the power of the unused minutes in their own day?  Maybe they don’t know that sometimes you CREATE minutes by getting up at the butt crack of dawn?  Or that you can use minutes in double time?  I can watch TV and pack my cooler at the same time, y’all.  That doubles my minutes!

I also use my lunch hour.  I don’t need an hour to eat.  More mystery minutes.

I am known for jogging around football and soccer fields while my kids are practicing.  While others are holding their seats down to keep them from floating away, I created more mystery minutes!  I have literally jogged up to other parents telling me they just can’t seem to find the time to exercise.  They killed hours just sitting in their car…waiting.  Those were their mystery minutes.  They just don’t know it yet!

I keep just enough dumbbells at home to be able to do biceps or triceps while packing my cooler and watching TV.  That makes TRIPLE minutes y’all!

Time is not the factor here.  We all have the same allotted minutes in our day.  Some of us choose to use them to stay fit and healthy and some of us do not.  When you look at someone who looks the way you want to look, stop yourself from saying they have more time.  They don’t.  They just make sacrifices and better use of the same 24 hours we are all given.

But the next time someone asks for my help and tells me they don’t have time, I know exactly what I’m going to say…

“I know you don’t.  Very few of us choose to harness the power of the mystery minutes.”

And then I’ll walk on.  I could stand there and listen to them tell me why they don’t have time to exercise or pack a cooler, but my mystery minutes are ticking away. 

It’s funny to watch someone squirm when they are trying to explain to you why they didn’t eat right or go to the gym.

Sometimes, I just stand there in their uncomfortable silence for my own, personal enjoyment!  Hey!  Squirming burns calories, ya’ll.  If you think about it, I’m helping them!  There are numerous places I go that people feel compelled to tell me the second I walk in why they didn’t exercise.  Faces turn red.  Junk food gets quickly stashed.  Some days I swear I’m the fitness police!  And there are citations I could give daily!

But one thing rings true wherever I go.  There are always excuses.  ALWAYS.  They’re just never good ones!

“I’m eating this pie, because I didn’t have breakfast this morning.”

“I didn’t have time to go to the gym this morning, because I have to go to the dentist at lunch.”

So, when offered up these excuses, I feel compelled to offer excuses as to why I DO eat healthy.  Why I do exercise.  I WANT to say….

“I’m eating this tuna and rice, because I like looking hot.”

“I did my cardio at 5:30AM this morning, because it was my only free hour of the entire day.  And getting up that early was worth it to me.”

“I lift these weights, because I wanted to be a goddess at my 20 year reunion.”

But who really does like excuses?  Good or bad no one wants to hear them.

So listen! 

If you feel compelled to offer excuses for your daily actions, you are not at where you need to be.  If you get to the end of yet another day and feel the need to confess to someone about what you ate, or your lack of exercise, you are not at the right place.

I could go into a dissertation every time someone offers me their list of excuses.  I could say, “Look.  I get up at 4:19 in the morning to do an hour of cardio.  The last thing I do every night is pack my cooler for the next day.  I schedule my cheats.  The next one is August 16^th.  I use and enjoy every second of my day, because I have a body, mind, and soul that I worked hard to transform.”

But…I don’t. 

I say nothing. 

Because when you think about it, the reason they are offering excuses is because they know that I did what they chose not to do.

They chose to sleep while I was doing cardio.  They chose to watch TV while I was packing my cooler.  They visited with friends while I was lifting.

The goal is this: live your life in such a way that you don’t feel the need to offer an excuse for anything you did or did not do at the end of the day.  Life is just better this way. 

Make it your mission today to have an excuse free day!