Goal Setting Time- A Link up Challenge

Today I am linking up with the RX Fitness lady (if you are not following her do so now please, you can thank me later) for her mini blog challenge. The goal is to blog for 7 days using prompts she has provided. Today’s challenge is to solve a problem for my readers…

 

Originally I thought Well who am I to give advice and I can’t struggle to even keep it together… umm then I realized I’m the same person that helps over 100 people per month at my job. Do as I say not as I do mentality over here LOL!!!!

Then I decided to use this post to help me as well. I need some new goals and not the broad I want to be happy type but goals that I can reach and know when I have reached them. Lets face it happiness? It comes and goes right? Oh that just me….

Today I want to talk about SMART goals. A goal is something that we want to accomplish and the best way to get there I have learned is to be SMART about it.

Specific (and strategic):  Answers the question—Who? and What?

Measurable:  The success toward meeting the goal can be measured.  Answers the question—How?

Attainable:  Goals are realistic and can be achieved in a specific amount of time and are reasonable. (i.e. don’t say I want to lose 50 pounds in two weeks)

Relevant (results oriented):  The goals are aligned with current tasks and projects and focus in one defined area; include the expected result. (i.e these goals have a place in your life. Im a therapist and I am terrible at math that is not related to my money or my weight so my goal would not be to become an engineer)

Time framed:  The goal has an end date. (I mean why drag it out forever. Be realistic with yourself and your commitments and then put a limit on it so you can achieve it and move on)

When setting a goal I am guilty of saying something broad like I want to lose weight. Ok that’s great but that has to be more or I could be losing weight for the next 50 years. So my SMART weight loss goal would look like this:

            I want to lose 70 53 more pounds. I will lose at least ten pounds per month for the next five months so that my goal weight is achieved by October 20, 2013…. Yes the goal can be more than one sentence!!! However its your world make I work for you!!! Hope this helped.

 

Tell the Truth Tuesday

Tell the Truth Tuesday!!!! This idea came from the Mr. and originally thought I would be silly and say the things we are all thinking but not saying (we don’t care about Kim and Kayne’s baby, your co worker is driving you crazy) but then I decided I needed to write about my feelings and tell the truth.

If you have been reading my blog for any period of time you know that I struggle with my weight. I mean struggle struggle like tears are shed sometimes. For a while I could not understand what I was doing wrong. Then I was diagnosed with PCOS. Ugh another recipe for disaster since one of the side effects is weight gain. AAANNND Im getting married in November. Needless to say I am on a weight loss journey.

I say journey because this process has not been linear. It has not been all roses and sun shine. Some weeks I love the scale other weeks I think she is a she devil in a plot against me. Now I will admit my eating is not always the best and you cant out run a bad diet. My weight has gone up and down and toggled between numbers and then BOOM I hit ONEDERLAND.

Well I don’t know if I got cocky, or satisfied that my fat girl jeans fit again but I became lax and started falling into old behaviors. I am human and this is a daily battle for me. If you are one of the ones that eat clean with no worries KUDOS to you. I however love fried chicken and potatoes.  With my bruised bone and edema working out is a no because I'm on crutches. So I have to be very careful about what I eat.

In the mean time I did it… got on that wretched scale…and guess what? No more onederland. I weighed in at 200 and almost had a come apart. Then I decided hold on Toya you have still managed to keep off 20 pounds. Reel in these emotions and this eating. Truly I think my lowest was 196 so that’s a four pound gain and while on some level it is bad, its not the worst or unexpected. I have had weeks where I ate whatever I wanted and downed mixed drinks like I was back in my undergrad days. So four pounds ehhh I guess it will be ok this one time.

However it is not acceptable to continue this behavior especially since I’m down at least 2 more weeks. I have been taking advice from a dear person in my life and hitting the sauna. I have been throwing a pity party when really I know better. Pity party leads to emotional eating and oh hell no!!!! So instead of continuing to feel bad about these four pounds I will celebrate the 20 I have lost and kept off. 

On this journey I know I will be derailed but I WILL NOT give up. I will fight to get to goal weight and lose at least 50 more pounds. I may not reach this goal by the wedding but I will NOT be 220.

There is my truth and since we all love a good before and after shot here you go…

Monday this week, and summer sometime in 2012

Grateful to be a Mom

Its mothers day!!! What that means is I get to be lazy and not feel guilty! LOL... I really dont have to much to say. This holiday allows me to express gratitude to the Lord for blessing me with his angel. My child really did save my life. Say what you want about teen moms, had I not gotten pregnant at 19 my life's story could be VEEEERY different. So as I enjoy being lazy this post is a dedication to the hip hop that saved my life. (If you didnt get that is a reference to a LUPE FIASCO song).

Happy Mothers Day!!!!

My future mother in law sent this to me and I wanted to share!!! (Love her)

Have a Happy Mother’s Day with much love!

 

Prettiest Moms!

 
 

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom-I had never been:

Puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put them down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I
couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom. 

 

 

 

So this is my neice but in myheart she is my first child!!!

 

 

 

Happy Mother’s Day….

MRI RESULTS and MISERY

Im down for 3 weeks...I will not be defeated. THIS WILL NOT BEAT ME!!! This is what I have been telling myself all day since leaving the doctor... The doctor said that I have bone bruising and and edema. So basically I was doing waaaay too much for my body and it got mad.

 

I have fought hard to lose these 20 plus pounds and KEEP IT OFF, and trust it has not been easy. I have yo-yoed around, gone up and down like a roller coaster If you read my post yesterday then you know I have been having pain in my hip/groin area. So I went back to the doctor for the results of my MRI and I felt like I was in the twilight zone...

Ok I know your thinking this chic is dramatic but I'm 28 and I've never broken a bone, had crutches, sprain an ankle (except when I fell in step class and I didn't go to the doctor I just kept it moving)or anything of the such. So yes after getting the news that I am on crutches for three weeks I have been dramatic. I dont even know how to use them. whats even sadder is I have adjusted to the pain so I dont think I need the crutches. But I will be using them because I dont wanna do more damage.

Oh and since Im venting online.... the spots I saw were in fact cycsts.... The paper says that in the  "correct clinical setting" I would be diagnosed with PCOS (which I already have been and you can read about here).
 

 

 

X-rays, MRI, oh and its MONDAY!!!!

Well Monday definitely kicked my ass today. Let’s see I woke up at 7:48 I’m supposed to be at work at 8 and on a good day I leave my house at 7:15 on a regular day I leave at 7:25 so yea I was late. Then I had to cancel some clients because I had to get to the doctor… 

Oh yea I haven’t shared on here yet. So I recently (about 1 month ago) decided my goal was to workout 6 days a week. The week I started that I began to feel an intense pain in my… uh… *looking for a technical term*… hell its Monday… panty line area. The way I describe it is where my leg connects to my body. I have heard the professionals call it my hip, and groin. So I get to the doctor they do the second X-ray (I had one last Tuesday after I couldn't walk) and she talks, pokes, prods, and says it sounds “like a tear but I need to see what’s going on in there.” 

Unfortunately these X-rays only reminded me that I have PCOS, because yes I'm a doctor and can read the scans so I know exactly what I am looking at... Ummmm NOOOO I saw dots and spots that looked like cyst in my pelvic region and I'm of course freaking out thinking wow its more than when I had the ultra sound (they totally may not be cysts), and  oh yea I need to find a new OBGYN or go see the one that was slic rude. That's another post...

So then I’m sent for a same day MRI (because lets be real I cant keep taking off work, I need that PTO for the wedding and my mental health days LOL). This was the first MRI I have ever had. Let me tell you baby that small tube, coffin like, loud ass machine is not my friend. The guy who did the MRI was nice, smelled like man cologne, yes I said man cologne my daughter started that and that’s a completely different post.

Before and after the MRI... Maybe I should have brushed my hair LOL

BUT HE LIED just like a man. LOL. He told me my head would be in one spot then the machine pushes me further into the coffin like thing that is the MRI machine. A minor freak out occurred then I reminded myself that I’m a therapist and to breathe deeply and imagine myself in a safe place…. 

Now since I have been injured I have not worked out in a week. This has lead to some depression, feeling like goal weight will never occur and downright sad Sally type thinking. Do I know this is wrong? Do I know this will pass? Do I know that running is not the only way to lose weight? Yes to all. BUT I have developed a relationship with running and Im not sure I want to give it up. Since I have been running I can see some really good results. 

However I will be real, sad Sally is a TWIN to Fat Toya and we have been EATING AND DRINKING everything in sight. Nope I have not been on the scale I don’t even want to know. 

Here is what I do know engagement pictures are scheduled for June 8. I have been working my budget so that everything I wear for this shoot will be new except maybe my shoes (only because I have no more room for shoes and I have some I’m dying to have photographed). I WANT A SMALLER SIZE DAMNIT!!!!!! So you know what that means...Drinking water like I’m being paid, no alcohol except on weekends, cardio 6 days a week even if it’s the elliptical and no running, and very little if any carbs. I have to get back to what works for me… Hell the last time I did this I lost 7 pounds in one week. You think that would be enough to make me stick with it...This is a journey and I will take it day to day. 

Hello my name is Toya and I’m an emotional eater…

Featured in an Online Magazine Yall!!!!

Blogging for me is about accountability and making connections. Little did I know that my friend from school and soror (ZETA PHI BETA SORORITY INC) *shameless plug* would be following me on Instagram (Where I post a lot of pics related to the never ending weight loss journey) and ask me to write a story for her online magazine called ImBettah.



 

The magazine is all about empowerment and foward thinking. From their About section: Informed, Marketable, Black, Educated, Talented, Trendy, Aware & Healthy. IM BETTAH is an online magazine intended to provide you with a new experience and vision of the Black community. This will not be your average media platform. We share knowledge on issues that affect our daily lives.

 

I say check them out folks! Anyway back to the feature, she wanted me to share my journey thus far and how I got started. so many times people including me have started to lose weight and give up for whatever reason/ yu know the reasons, slow results, laziness, lack of comittment any ole reason will do. So of course I was flattered and said yes.

 

I have shared parts of my story on the blog and you can read that  here when I did the biggest Loser link up... someone needs to do another one... hmmm.. anyway. My story was featrured and would love if you all would go check it out and like it tweet it or whatever I would be soooo appreciative!!!

 

Oh and one more bit of a news. As a result of this feature and my wellness wednesday posts I will be writing mental health related pieces for the publication monthly!!! Im totally excited about branching out. This will give me the opportunity to share my life's work with the massess!!!