Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Homegirl's First 5k & Outdoor Run In The Bag!

Homegirl's first 5k & outdoor run is in the bag! 

I totally did not train properly for it. Mostly because my first run went so well. After covering almost 2 miles in less than 30 minutes, I was like 'Pshhh 5k? I GOT this.' Only I didn't. After not training for the 5k, I still ended up running a 12'52" (12 minutes, 52 seconds) mile to finish the race in just over 40 minutes. Considering that it was also my first time running outside (I only run on treadmills because...you know...the dogs), I am actually satisfied with that time. Still kicking myself because it could have been so much better.  I was holding out on putting this post up with hopes for an official finish line photo, but a search for my bib number over at Brightroom.com, the official race photographers, turned up not one photo of me in action. I was chip timed though, so there is some official record of my first 5k. A Facebook friend of mine told me she saw me running on Fox News Austin, but I couldn't find the video. If anybody else does, please send me the link. I'm rambling. On to my official race report...

Please continue reading my full Race Report on HomegirlRuns.

Thanks!

My Treadmill & Food Network TV: The Perfect Marriage

I watch all my Food Network shows on the treadmill at my gym. There is no calculated reason behind it. Psychologically, maybe it makes me work harder in anticipation of eating awesome-tasting food post-workout? Although that never happens--I usually eat pretty healthily right after a workout. The real reason may be that I simply love Food Network TV. Since I do not usually have take the time to watch TV, or to read my ever-growing stack of unread books and magazines during the day, I get guilt-free daytime TV in when I can. I also watch it on the rare occasion I go to the gym at night. The other night, I met my new Food Network boo. I didn't pay attention to one thing he was cooking, because for me it was all about how he cooked it. But we're talking about daytime FTV watching right? So anyway,  I cook everyday and Food Network is perfect for fresh cooking ideas. I do not follow recipes often, but I do tweak my kitchen repertoire with new twists on our favorites. For example, I learned how to use peanut butter to liven up a spicy chicken stir-fry, and how to make savory oatmeal with green onions and scrambled eggs, and how to cut, peel and seed a cucumber for a super-pretty salad.  So Food Network TV helps make every minute at the gym count...and it makes every homemade calorie consumed after the gym taste awesomer.

Reason 127 why I love my two-year-old...

Today after I changed his diaper, post "nap" ( The quotation marks are because he actually spent 2.5 hours in his room singing songs to his Thomas The Train singalong book and playing with his Lightning McQueen cars), he stood up on the changing table and said, in the cutest monotone staccato, "I'm. a. ro.bot.  How. 'bout. you. ma.ma?" Oh emm gee, y'all. He keeps me laughing and shaking my head non-stop.

My Toddler Is Making A Vegan Out Of Me

This week at least.

Inspired by SLY's post over at Sociology of Sheena, I was inspired to strike through my meal plans for this week, which included lots of egg whites, chicken, fish, oats, brown rice and veggies (working out my Serena Williams thigh envy in the spirit of summer), in exchange for a meal plan towards a greater end: Getting my toddler to eat like a toddler.

He turned two in February. Partly because of an insanely long list of food allergies, but mostly because of a food texture aversion, my toddler is currently a vegan. He will be starting school (Montessori, of course) in June and I am on a mission to get him chewing and swallowing food before then. I swear, if I have to send my son to school with Gerber oats and pureed fruit for lunch...

I know I can't rush him, but in an effort to help him along, this week I am going to only eat what he can also (potentially) eat for breakfast, snacks and lunch. I'll leave dinner open to indulge in my beloved cooked animal flesh, but only if my flesh is weak. If I am strong enough to forgo the flesh, I shall. So I will be gluten/wheat/egg/meat/dairy/nut-free for the next 7 days. The only exception will be on my weight lifting days, on which I drink a dairy-based protein shake after my workout. 

I am halfway through the first day. I had oats and a banana for breakfast and brown rice macaroni and peas for lunch. We will snack on raisins and pickles and dinner will likely be a repeat of lunch. If I can keep this up longer than a week, awesome.

The best part about eating what my kid eats is that we get to sit and have our meals...the same meals...together, which we haven't done on a regular basis. He really gets a kick out of seeing me chew and do the happy dance for the food party in my tummy. My goal is to get him eating like a big kid. Discovering a new way to be the source of his louder-than-any-toddler-should-be, crazy-catchy laughter is just icing on the cake...er...hummus on the carrot? *shrugs shoulders*

Progresso Souper You Debut Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Progresso Souper You Debut giveaway, giving us a total of 85 official entries!

Congratulations to Craig Johnson, who entered like a million times to increase his odds and it paid off! Craig, please email your shipping address to me at homegirlblog at hotmail dot com and I'll forward it to the folks at Progresso to ship your prize!

To those of you who did not win, thanks again for entering!

 

Fashion Friday:Crystal Renn Photo Shoot for V Magazine and My Size Issues

 

Plus size model Crystal Renn and fashion's newest face, Jacquelyn Jablonski, 17 are featured side by side in this month's issue of V Magazine wearing identical outfits. They are both 5'9", but Renn is more curvy at a size 16. Both models are beautiful, but Crystal is serving it...and I'll take what she's having. Top fashion photographer Terry Richardson, photographed them for V Magazine's Size Issue in several high-fashion looks in this latest in a string of campaigns for designers and magazines to use models with more varied looks and sizes. More dueling photos after the jump.

But before you witness more of the fabulousness that is Crystal Renn, I just want to say how much seeing these images and reading about Crystal's journey as an anorexic size 0, teen model to a top model at a natural size 16 has encouraged me to re-purpose my weight loss goals. Do I still want to be thin? Of course (just keepin' it real), but I struggle with letting go of my obsession with thinness that started when I was barely 13.

Fashion Friday: Fitness Trifecta for Amazon Women

So my weight loss journey comes back off hiatus on Monday (see DailyFit to play catch-up). I have been trying to get my mind ready...and eating lots of cheese pizza...in preparation for the changes I'll be making starting next week. I'm planning meals, cooking and freezing portions and getting my gym clothes together. When it comes to gym clothes, I am not looking to attract anybody and I don't have parts that I care to show off (yet). My goal is to be comfortable enough with myself that I don't mind sweating and making my ugly face in front of people. I don't need much--just a good bra that will work hard for me (for my cups runneth over), pants that are long enough to cover my ankles (and hug my thighs just right--to look cute...you know...for myself), and sneakers that fit my size 12s and actually look like girl shoes. My husband has an abundance of promotional t-shirts and old college tees, and they do the job for me. I haven't had much luck shopping in the stores for sportswear that fits properly, so I turned to the Interwebs, where tall, thick-boneded girls like myself can find the perfect fit. 

Here are my favorite finds for gym wear for the Amazonian chicas:

Sports Bras that keep big ones at zero-gravity-type suspension

Big girls, bow down. You are looking at your sports bra queen. Enell bras are made for us. And work like nothing you have ever tried before. Enell.com. Another brand worth checking out is ShockAbsorber.com. I haven't tried them, but they claim to lead the pack in decreasing bouncing...check their bounceometer on their website.

Pants that are long enough and are NOT men's sweats from Target

These yoga pants from FitCouture.com are the perfect amount of cute and comfort...even for shorter homegirls. The pink band is a cute bonus. Yoga pants are perfect for all of my workouts. Although I haven't tried spinning yet, which I plan to do and am sure I'll need some extra padding, from what I've heard. Cross that bridge when I get there. LongElegantLegs.com and Victoriassecret.com have them too.

Shoes that fit my big feet and don't look like they came from the men's department

Zappos.com is my mecca of shoe shopping. Mainly because department stores other than Nordstrom ($$) stop at size 11 and I now wear a size 12 post-baby. I found these super cute sneaks by Onitsuka Tiger for Asics there. I picked these because I wear my gym shoes even when I'm not at the gym and don't really ever intend on doing exercise out of doors (It took a while, but I have finally accepted this fact--I will never be a runner). These ones will go from Body Pump to Elliptical to Pilates to Spin, no problem. Also, I'm not a super-girly dresser, and usually live in black and white Chucks, so these don't venture too far from my norm. 

Day one of RawBella's Green Smoothie Challenge

So a friend of mine who is a raw foodie, her website is http://www.rawbella.com, has challenged me and hundreds of others, to drink one green smoothie a day for 10 days. She's a hard core raw food way-of-lifer, so her smoothies are incorporated into full days of eating raw food. Although I can see the benefit in a raw food day here and there, I can't imagine and don't want to know how I'd give up hot food altogether. Cooked food is what's helping me through this first challenge day. Apparently, I'll be so pumped with energy and...um...flowing freely...flowing...freely... after ten days of drinking one green smoothie a day, that I will make green smoothies a way of life. After my first day I'm not so sure, but remain hopeful.

I thought I'd start simple: banana, spinach, icy water. So I made the smoothie. Yuck. But, because it's a challenge and because I'm determined not to be wasteful, I sipped it and placed it in the fridge between sips. By the time I made it to the last sip, after about 4.5 hours of sipping, it started to taste ok. I imagine with a little more experimenting and adding ingredients like dates, mango, berries and apples to the green stuff (spinach and collards mostly), I could actually get into the green smoothie thing. The benefits seem harmless...actually helpful and it's a great way to cut calories and increase nutrients, antioxidants and fiber, which is a huge reason why, after sipping on spinach for 4.5 hours, I'm looking forward to day two. I won't be posting daily updates, but do wish me luck!

And eff why eye...

In case I haven't already told you, I'm posting to my weight loss blog again after a two-month break. Less than 30 days to lose not lose 30 pounds. I'm on a journey. I know it's impossible to lose that much weight in that amount of time, but I can sort of kind of try, right? I'll treat my body like a temple for the next month (and beyond, of course), in the process, so it's a win-win whether I lose all the weight or not.

If you're new to DailyFitGirl, click HERE for the intro and to catch up. If you're use to reading my ramblings about my eating and weight issues, then get over there and pick back up where I left off almost 2 months ago.

You will see less of me soon...promise. ;-)

Friday Randoms

• I went to see Maxwell live with my husband this week. It was so fun! The opening act was Laura Izibor. I hadn't heard of her before the show. She's Irish,has awesome hair and is a wonderful singer/songwriter. She performed with only a keyboard and a guy with an acoustic guitar, which was all she needed. That and her AWESOME HAIR! Maxwell put on a quite sexy show. The live band was so tight. He was so funny too! He talked a lot in between songs. After the show, he was like, "Austin, I really appreciate y'all getting dressed up and moisturizin' and getting your hair did, and fellas puttin' on your cologne." He gave Austin much love and we gave it right back. I tweeted through the opening act and after the show. Did I mention how sexy his show was?
• VOTE for ME! in the Black Blog 2009 Awards. Vote <<HERE.>>
• Dear lady at the gym who caught me looking at you crazy, I would say sorry, but I won't. Because when you wear a bra top to the gym sporting a 2-liter instead of a 6-pack, you should expect to be looked at crazy. Put a shirt on!
• Reminder, to any of you guys thinking about attending Blogalicious 2009 (at the W Midtown in Atlanta on Oct. 9-11), early registration for the conference ends on July 11th. After July 11th, the fee goes up to $265. Blogalicious attendees get a special promotional rate of $149 until mid-September. So register and book your rooms early!
  IMPORTANT NOTE: The sessions and events at this conference will focus on interests and issues of the female blogger of color, but it's all love at Blogalicious 2009--we're all brothers and sisters, so to my non-color blogger peeps, you are welcome! Come! You know you want to. 
• My twin brother is here with me! And my mom AND my bff are on the way and will be arriving today! I'm going to be in my happy place this weekend. :)
• And speaking of my twin...here's a totally random photo/photo of the day:

And yes, that's me with a LOT less hair. We'll talk more about that later. Happy Friday! :)

Daily Fit: Weekly Reflection 14- Time for a "diet" week

No weight loss this week. But, just as important, no weight gain. I had a hard time keeping up with eating 6 times a day and ate way too many ribs and slices of pound cake to lose anybody's weight this week. I had a good talk with the instructor of the Body Pump class I take and am ready to step up my workout game. The past couple of weeks, I've done cardio everyday and Body Pump twice a week. I'm feeling great, but really need to SEE some results from all the work I'm doing. My instructor gave me these exercise guidelines if I want to see results in the next few weeks:

Click <<HERE>> to continue reading this post on the DailyFitGirl blog.

Locker Room Revelation

After my workout today, I went into the ladies locker room to wash my hands and pee...and wash my hands again. I decided to go further into the locker room than I ever had to see what it was like for folks who actually removed and replaced their clothing in there. I was alone, so I felt free to poke around. It's pretty posh. There's even a pretty big lounge area complete with sofas and chairs and a big screen television suspended from the ceiling. Today it was tuned in to Oprah.

On the way out of the lounge area and past the showers, I saw it. A digital scale. I did not hesitate to step on it since I weigh myself everyday at home. I was sure I knew how much I weighed, I just wanted to see if I had lost any weight so far this week--my goal is three pounds. When the numbers stopped moving, I just stood there on the scale and looked down for a good long moment. I weigh myself everyday. And according to that scale, either I had gained 7 pounds since breakfast or my home scale sucks. I was only slightly bummed, because the number doesn't change the fact that I have lost 17 pounds. I'm just not as close to my wedding day weight (not my ultimate goal, but a pretty big milestone) as I thought I was.

I weighed in on my scale when I got back home and confirmed that it was a big fat liar. If my jeans weren't sagging on me, I'd see this as a setback, but fortunately my bathroom mirror and the mirrors at the gym do say the same thing---I'm slimmin' up! And that's my real goal anyway.

My First Day Back At The Gym

Yesterday was my first day back in the gym since I got pregnant with Zack. Back then, I was going to a kickboxing gym and absolutely loved it. I actually looked forward to going everyday after work. On the rare occasion I missed a workout, I always made up for it by taking a weekend class. I lost a good amount of weight and saw my body begin to change pretty quickly. Then I got pregnant and my body changed in...other...ways even quicker. When I started thinking about joining a gym again, I looked for the kickboxing place, but they have since closed down.

So yesterday I was officially back in the gym. This time I had my baby with me. I was unsure how he would do in the kid's play area while I worked out, because I don't really leave him with people. He has stayed in the church nursery about 5 times and 4 of those he was a happy camper. Today, after I had signed him in a waved goodbye, I peeked back around the corner just to make sure he was really OK with having just waved goodbye to his mommy, and I was surprised to find him happily totting over towards the first toy monster truck in his path. My ego was a little bruised to see him doing OK without me. When does that feeling ever go away?

I went on over the the circuit training area and did a pretty good job pretending that I did this sort of thing all the time.

Daily Fit: Weekly Reflection 7, On My Mental Health

I lost a couple of pounds this week, to minus 17 pounds, which is great. But I'm really tired, and not from working out. I'm a mom. A stay at home mom and I'm tired. I'd like to have a little more energy. I'm eating enough and sleeping enough, but based on what I've read, I'm sure I would have more energy if I could fit more cardio into the early a.m. hours. I'll need to restructure my morning activities...maybe go to Zack's story time/playgroups in my workout clothes and walk with him at the park after. That's looking like the best option right now.

Also zapping my energy is the mental conversation I've been having with myself for way too long.

7 Inches

There is an explanation >>HERE<<.

Workout, Rinse, Repeat

I spent a lot of time on the treadmill at home yesterday. I'm hoping to spend more of my free time this way. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it. I read two magazines, which made the time fly by. I read this great piece in the April 2008 issue of Women's Health magazine that had all these tips on how to cut 100 calories from every meal/snack and lose 2 dress sizes in 2 weeks. I don't really need to cut calories, but I enjoyed the little nuggets of information. Like, did you know that a small fries from Wendy's has fewer calories than a baked potato with sour cream and chives?! Who knew?

And yes, I'm aware that I mentioned nuggets and fries just now, and yes they are on my mind--love me some Wendy's nuggets and fries kids meals.

Excerpt from today's post on my other blog, DailyFitGirl.

Daily Fit FYI: "During" Weight Loss Photos

Recent post from my other blog, DailyFitGirl:

Friday, March 13
So you've seen my "before before" and "before" photos (if you haven't, click HERE). Once I have lost my first 15 pounds I will begin posting "during" pictures, Biggest Loser style, to show the physical changes my body is undergoing. I'll post the pics every 15 pounds up to my goal of 60 (with possible bonus pics in between the 15s if I'm feeling particularly cute). The last time I weighed, I had only lost 2 pounds, but there are more pounds to lose. I will see you You will see me in 13!

My new blog, DailyFitGirl, is LIVE!

I started DailyFitGirl in a last ditch effort to finally lose the weight that I've been trying to lose for 7 years now. I made great progress in 2008 with kickboxing, but just as my thighs were approaching awesomeness, got knocked up (totally on purpose of course). I gained 40+ pounds during pregnancy and lost it all within a few months, but am still stuck in my "before" stage. I'm trying to get back to "before-before", or at least as close to "before-before" as I can. I started posting to the blog last week to get a feel for it before the big reveal.

"Before" pics, goal and link to DailyFitGirl after the break!

Mark your calendars!

On Monday, March 9th I'll be starting a new feature on my blog called "Daily Fit". It will chronicle my effort to get fit this year. I plan to report briefly, but daily on my diet and exercise and weight loss. My hope is that fear of massive public failure of this effort will motivate me to keep gong even when I want to quit. 2009 has to be the year I finally do this. I have at least two more kids to give birth to and I really need to see myself fit before that happens. I want my Michelle Obama arms dammit!

Follow my progress, get more details and see my before pics here @ Daily Fit.