YES!! Back on Track!! sort of...

Hi All!

Forgive me again for the late postings. The first weigh in is this Friday and I am trying to get as close to my goal (15 lbs) as possible. Thank you to all for your support, I promise to start being more active on the comments also.

Last week was sucky. In addition to not losing any weight (but losing a couple of dress sizes), the ride decided that I wasn't spending enough money on it, and the starter blew! $300 freakin' bucks! Oh, Mr. Windstar, your days are numbered.....

Still, I did manage to do my lunch walks, get to the gym and do my nightly long walk. I did cut back on the pork skins and added more water and salads and fish ( I love tilapia - recipe to follow!). So, this morning as I hobbled to the bathroom to the scale, muscles sore and knotted, what did I get? For all my pain and suffering? (Actually, the weigh lifting was kinda fun - I got felt up by this cute Mexican guy! Well, he was showing me the correct way to do squat lunges, and I kept "forgetting". Hey, at this stage in the game, I'll take any sweaty man action I can get!)

Anyhoo, got on the scale -IT READ 235.8!! I LOST TWO MORE POUNDS! RIGHT HERE IS WHERE I WOULD USUALLY SAY "YAY!!".......but to be quite honest, I was pissed! Two lousy pounds?!? And what is with this .8 crap! I sweat about five gallons this past week! Get off fat!! Get off my body dammit!!

I know, I know, slow and steady weight loss is the best, don't expect so much too soon, pork rinds are the devil, bla bla bla....but I set a goal and to reach it I am going to have to lose 6.8 lbs by Friday morning. I cannot safely do that, so I guess I will continue my workouts and see where I am at on Friday. Don't get me wrong, I am proud of my 9lb loss, I just wish I hadn't made the "strong invincible black woman" speech in the other post. Now I'm gonna look like an ass....according to dear old mom. Ah well, wouldn't be the first time.....

So, while I am sitting here slathered in Icy-Hot, I thought I would backtrack and go over some things that I mentioned in previous posts. TS did a post on the difference in attitudes on weight loss between white women and black women. I would like to give my version of this.

OK, to all my white friends that are reading this, don't be offended, I am only telling it as I see it! Love you all!! Hey Becky! Hey Bob! Hey Cyn! Margarita's (low carb) this Friday!

So anyhoo, I believe that the main factor in the whole beauty/weight thing is that when it comes to looking good or rather the illusion of looking good, Black women have a much more.....forgiving attitude. We just think that we look good in everything! Go to church one Sunday....plain janes during the week will transform into big gorgeous swans on Sunday morning! And don't let there be a Family reunion or Anniversary - O Lord, we pullin out the GOLD LAME'!!!

I still think that I am the cat's meow, at any size. I have known some white sisters that would have stuck their heads in an oven if they were my size. And I have noticed that before the fat monster gets out of hand, they are doing anything and everything to control it. And, most of the time, they succeed! No talking, no excuses - just action! In the time it takes to buy a new wardrobe in a bigger size, they have lost the weight and moooooved on! Why can't we do that?

True story: At my last job, I worked in an office with two other big sisters and one healthy sized white sister. I will call her Ms. X. Ms. X had had enough of being the size she was ( probably 16-18) and went on this diet consisting of - I kid you not - vienna sausages and grapes. That is all she ate, three times a day. Now, of course, us big sistas, we just thought that that was the craziest thing, and not healthy to boot! So we decided that we were going to tell Miss Thing about it and "save" her from her silly diet!

Soooo...one day we all gathered in the lunch room, Ms. X with her grapes and vienna's and the Three Buttyteer's with our take out fried chicken dinners. We were going to give her a piece of our minds!

"Girl! (chomp chomp) that is not healthy!" "Uh uh, girl (chomp, smack) you need more protein than that! Are you gonna eat that chicken skin? Hand it over (smack, lick)"

This is my favorite, cuz I am the one that said it - "Guurrl, I couldn't do that diet!! You need fat to keep your skin moist!! (shovel, chomp)"

Now, I am sure that Ms. X wanted to tell us exactly which corner of hell she would have liked us to go to, but she just smiled, wiped the chicken grease out of her hair, and continued to eat the vienna's and grapes. And you know what happened? UH HUH, she lost the weight!! Still looks good to this day!

I think that it is great that we have high self esteem in the hair/clothes/makeup and nails department. But when you look faabulous and your personal life and health are a mess, you have jumped over the fine line that separates self esteem and denial. Ladies, I am dealing with this now. Looking in that mirror and taking a good, realistic look is hard. Do I have the relationship that I want? What about my health? Am I really living my life to the fullest? COULD MY WEIGHT POSSIBLY BE THE THING THAT IS HOLDING ME BACK?

Get your pens and paper out, I'm going to share a secret with you that lots of other women know but black women don't seem to grasp (me included):

It Only Takes A Year!!

......that's right, commit to this for a year and watch the pounds come off and your quality of life improve. One year! Some of y'all are locked into car payments for 8 years! Some of us continue to make the same mistakes and bad habits year after year. Come on Y'all!! YOU CAN DO IT!! MAKE THE COMMITMENT! Put that toe into the uncharted water and see what happens.

I bitch and moan alot, but I am also very excited as to what each day brings as I get closer to my goal.....I wanna do this for me, not just the cash! There, I admitted it! I wanna wear short shorts and show off my shapely legs! I wanna go running and do aerobics in my nice new body clinging outfit! I wanna have men knife fighting over me - except I get the winner this time!!

Sooo....let's do this thing Black women! And I would also like to hear from Sista's that have won the battle! I need some tips! Like how to lose 6.8 lbs by Friday!

The saga continues......til next time!!