…the scale.

Oh, the horror.

As I’ve said… I’m a proponent of “fit,” not thin. So… I make a big deal about lifting weights. I mean.. a big… big deal.

I get e-mails asking me if I’ve mourned my lost curves, and the reality is that no, I didn’t have to hold a funeral survice for my curves. I’ve still got great ones. I work hard for ‘em, and I love what my hard work has produced.

Truthfully… the scale feels like a car crash in slow motion every time a weight lifting woman steps on the scale. The pressure to continually see the numbers decrease coupled with the desire to actually build muscle in a respectable fashion is… difficult to handle, to say the least.

That being said… let me offer up Exhibit A:

You'll just have to deal with my 'fro... long time readers already know how I am with my hair. LOL

I weigh more in the picture on the right… than I do in the picture on the left. Why?

Muscle!!!

Listen…. if you are a weight lifting woman, let me tell you something. A cube of muscle that is an inch tall, an inch long and an inch wide…. weighs almost twice as much as a cube of FAT that is an inch tall, an inch long and an inch wide. If you don’t believe me? Visit a butcher at a grocery store and ask them. Think of the last time you chopped a chunk of fat off of a piece of meat, and think of the last time you chopped a chunk of muscle off of a hunk of meat. You and I both know which weighs more.

So, as a weight-training woman, why would you torture yourself with the scale?

In the comparison photos above, there’s almost a 15% difference in my body fat. Yes: My body fat, on the left, is approximately 38% on the left; on the right, it’s approximately 22%. That means that approximately 22% of my weight is comprised of fat. I’m okay with that progress, because I’m still progressing.

And speaking of progress, just because I know some will want to see a real comparison…

No, I don’t mourn the curves I had… ’cause I’m still perfecting the curves I’ve got!

As someone who is serious about her weights, I’m abstaining from the darn scale. Who’s with me?

Photo Proof: The Stupid Scale Doesn’t Matter is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Refuse To Be A Slave To The Scale
2. Q&A Wednesday: Why Does Body Mass Index (BMI) Matter?
3. Rapper, Fat Joe, Loses 100lbs: “Scale Couldn’t Even Measure My Weight”

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2012. | Permalink | 60 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: body fat percentage, fat loss, scale, weight lifting, weight loss, weight training

I kind of had to develop a split personality, and beat myself at my own game. It sounds like I need psychiatric help, but it’s true in a sense. I needed to identify my own excuses, and start shattering them along the way so that I could begin to see my healthier self. I had to acknowledge, personally, that I was afraid to venture out into the world of working out because I was afraid to face the struggle that comes with it. I won’t lie.. I was also afraid to disappoint myself those weeks when the scale doesn’t move. To avoid the disappointment, I simply wouldn’t bother.

How awful does that sound?

I know not every woman will be able to identify with that, but I know some will. And even if that doesn’t define you, it may define someone you know. It’s important for you to understand this kind of mentality – not saying that it will always apply, but the self-defeating attitude that so many of us carry when it comes to weight loss and overall personal health? The difficulty of incorporating a routine in our lives that we might’ve never saw growing up? We might not’ve ever saw our friends partake? I had ONE friend in all my four years of college that worked out. It felt silly… why it might’ve felt silly? That’s a topic for another post, if you ask me.

Having realized my self-defeating attitude, I had to start slaughtering my excuses as they came. Can’t go to the gym? Fine. I’ll do a p90x workout, or other work out at home. I don’t have to “get dressed.” I don’t have to “look-presentable-even-though-I’m-going-somewhere-to-go-get-sweaty.” I don’t have to waste time in the commute. I can get just as good of a workout in the comfort of my own home.

That’s the purpose behind this series. I’m hoping to post videos from the web that showcase awesome techniques for working out at home without a single machine, barbell, or bendy band thingy. I don’t have them, and I do pretty well. Besides, this is a recession and jobs are here today, gone tomorrow, unfortunately. We want to focus on the ability to be healthy without having to purchase something.

In short, the Home Workout Routine is the excuse killer. If you make it as easy as possible for you to jump into, there’s nothing stopping you from doing so! Enjoy the series!

The Importance of Building A Home Workout Routine is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Building A Home Workout Routine: Hip Extensions
2. Building a Home Workout Routine: Jump Rope!
3. Building a Home Workout Routine: Trunk Rotations

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: exercises, fat loss, mentality, workout at home, workout routine, workout tips

Black Girl’s Guide To Weight Loss will be explaining calorie counting, and ways to win the war. This is post 4 of the series – post 1, Defining The Basics of Calorie Counting, can be found here. Comments are always welcomed, and questions will always be answered to the best of my ability.

What do you get from calorie counting, you may ask? Let me tell you what it did for me (really, that’s all I can do at this point, LOL.)

Calorie counting reinforced my ability to be a conscious consumer. Meaning, I am much more able, now, to really take a good hard look at what I’m eating and gauge exactly how much I’m putting into my mouth. I no longer have the insane portion distortion from which I used to suffer.

Calorie counting gave me the ability to say “No.” Checkers? “No.” Big greasy 2,000 calorie lo mein platter from PF Chang? “No.” Eating half a box of fried taquitos in one sitting? “No.” Firecracker Stuffed [with cheese and everything else under the kitchen sink and fried] Jalapenos wiiiiiiiiiiiiith the entire thing of Chili Con Queso (1,950 calories, 134g of fat, and 6,540 milligrams of sodium) from On the Border? “Hell No.” I haven’t even BEEN to Checkers in 7 months. I’m starting to think I’d like to keep it that way. My newly developed self control allows me to follow through on that thought.

Calorie counting taught me how to gauge what’s in what I’m eating, thanks to all the looking up I did. (Note: Mind you, I OD’d on the looking up, thanks to that Lose It! app for the iPhone/iTouch, of foods just because I could.. no one has to be that obsessive with it to be successful. Looking it up the night after is just as effective.) I can now gauge how many calories is in that alfredo dish at Olive Garden. I can guess how many calories are in that KFC macaroni salad. I now know to avoid most dishes with a creamy consistency because of the potential fat levels, and that’s without even looking it up. I now know to avoid most salads at restaurants without telling them “cheese, avocado, dressing, and any other fattening mess on the side, please.”

Calorie counting taught me how to be more aware of what I was feeding my family. Please believe that it’s made me a more watchful cook for the people who eat from my kitchen. This has resulted in us all becoming healthier.

Calorie counting has helped me to understand my limits. I can’t control myself when it comes to goldfish crackers. I can control myself if I have ginger snaps in the house. My daughter might despise me for not keeping goldfish in the house anymore, but she’s happy with how I doll up her ginger snaps. Less sodium for her, too.

Calorie counting made me aware of the empty calories I was eating or specifically for me… the empty calories I was drinking. I eventually gave up sodas, except for mixing them with my alcohol… but then I eventually gave up alcohol. I occasionally had pop when I had an ice cream float, but then I stopped eating so much ice cream! It just became less of an indulgence for me. If my favorite soda was 200 calories in each time I drank it, and I’m only allowed 400 calories for lunch… what on Earth am I supposed to eat with it? Two pieces of cardboard? Pfft!

As I think of more benefits, I’ll probably edit this and add more.

Looking for other posts in the Understanding Calorie Counting series? Check the links below!

• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Basics
• Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
• Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself?
• Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success
• Understanding Calorie Counting: A Final Word

Understanding Calorie Counting: The Payoff – Why Am I Doing This To Myself? is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Understanding Calorie Counting: What is it? Calorie Counting Defined
2. Understanding Calorie Counting: Creating Your Calorie Goal and Being Honest About It
3. Understanding Calorie Counting: Preparing Yourself For Success

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: calorie counting, fat loss, overeating

Many thanks to everyone who waited patiently during the server outage. My apologies to those who subscribe via e-mail, who’ll be receiving the Q&A a day late.

Got some questions today about exercise, snacking and, well… weight loss.

Moderation: You're Doin' It Wrong

Q: What’s the quickest and safest way to lose weight?

This one is probably a whole post in itself… but there is no quick way. No matter how many pills, programs, and ad campaigns tell you otherwise… there is no quick way. In fact, the quicker the method, the more likely it can kill you. The more likely you will gain it back. The more likely it won’t work at all, and when you complain about it? They’ll just tell you “Ur doin it rongz.”

Trust me on this one. Weight loss through a quick, easy and “effortless” method has something like a 90% chance of coming back. The quickest way to healthy, long-lasting health and weight loss is through addressing what brought you the problem in the first place: your eating habits and your activity levels.

Q: Can you give leg workout exercises for those of us who are considered “pear shaped”? In the past, my thighs became bigger when performing lower body workouts. I’ve been told to lift heavy weights in order to fatigued the muscles. Thanks!

Well, first, let’s talk about why your thighs became bigger with your lower body workouts. Weight lifting/strength training builds muscle. You put your body through stress (the actual exercise); your body, in return, responds by building muscle to help make that exercise easier. So, you develop muscle that will help make this regular rigorous exercise easier for your body to handle. (Your body is extremely efficient at making things easier… it likes easy. Note that this is sometimes a problem!)

So, yes. Your legs would grow larger with the workout. The problem with this is that for those of us who are trying to tone up and tighten up a figure, we don’t want things to get bigger. We want them smaller!

If you want to go smaller, conventional wisdom says to slow down on the strength training. Not stop, slow down. Use that time and energy and put it into a more rigorous cardio workout. If there are no other issues with your diet or your overall health, I think you’ll slowly, but surely, see the progress you’re looking for.

Q: Can you give us a few quick snacks for late night hungries?

Hmm… snacks, you say?

I keep grapes in the freezer. They’re harder/take longer to chew, light in calories and actually taste pretty good. I also keep peanut butter pretzels in the pantry (divided up by portion, mind you) so that I can give myself a little something after my workouts that won’t interfere with my sleep. I also make little sandwiches – a slice of bread folded in half with peanut butter, or my strawberry preserves that I’ve made. Those work well, also. Shoot, you could also give yourself a couple cuts of meat, some honey mustard and a slice of bread, too. My all time favorite, though, is a glass of water and a shower. That’s not sarcasm, either. Usually by the end of both, I’m no longer hungry. If I am, then I hit one of the options above.

Q: For weight loss-is more cardio better? How much cardio daily is recommended for weight loss?

Aerobic exercise – also known as cardio – is a great way to burn calories, but the best thing for weight loss is addressing your eating habits. If you don’t put “it” in your mouth, you don’t have to burn “it” off!

As for how much, go until you feel like you can’t go anymore. If that’s five minutes, that’s fine – because then you’ll know that next time… you need to try for six!

Keep those questions coming, and I’ll have ‘em ready for next week! Have thoughts? Let me hear ‘em in the comments!

Q&A Wednesday: Pear-Shaped Figures, Cardio, and Snacking! is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Q&A Wednesday: Overcoming Cardio Fear
2. Q&A Wednesday: Snacking and Packing Lunch For Little Ones
3. Study: Cardio Beats Resistance Training In Belly Fat Battle

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: exercise, Fad Diets, fat loss, pear shaped figures, snacking, weight loss

Q:I have a problem with belly fat – after I had my son in ’07, people keep asking me how many months I am… it looks like I’m about 6mos pregnant, and I hate it! Can you please help me?

Hmmm.. If your tummy is sticking out like it was when you were pregnant, it sounds like – for starters – you might want to try to add WAY more fiber to your diet. It will help rid you of some of that excess waste (which means you’ll be spending lots of time on the potty), but it will help you figure out where your tummy really is.

Secondly, here’s the short version of dealing with fat: you can’t control where it burns. Sure, you might be able to do crunches to tone it up, but if you have lots of fat covering it up, you’ll need to tend to that first. Aerobic exercise (also known as cardio) is your best bet. Give yourself a slow start – walking each day. Walk for weeks until you feel like running, then run. Take your little one for a walk in the stroller. Walk until you feel like running (I put my daughter in an umbrella stroller and pushed her while running). If you can hit a gym, hit the treadmill. You’re going to have to move something to get it down.

You’ll also have to ease up on the processed foods. Go light on the breads, fries, and excess sugars. That alone will get you down to looking more like 3mos than 6, at least! Couple it with the walking, and you’re on your way.

Q: Is losing inches a prerequisite to losing pounds?

If you’re losing pounds, you’re definitely losing inches, but if you’re losing inches, it doesn’t always mean you’re losing pounds. Here’s why:

Losing inches can mean that you’re either losing fat, or becoming leaner by developing muscle. Since muscle weighs just as much as – if not more than – fat, you can lose inches and not see any change on the scale (unfortunately.)

Losing pounds means that you’re losing mass. So theoretically, this means that the tape measure has to move. Just don’t always expect it to move in the exact same place each time.

Q: How many times did you quit exercising/eating right before you started toughing it out?

Honestly… I went back and forth countless times. I’d actually give up out of embarrassment. I’d be ashamed of being at the gym and seeing all these fit people struggling to not snicker at the fat girl who couldn’t survive an incline on the treadmill. I’d be embarrassed and frustrated by eating a salad around my skinny friends who OD’d on pizza and crap when we dined out. I’d be mad that I couldn’t figure out the formula…

…until I figured out the formula. I stopped giving a damn what the people around me thought/were doing, and started focusing on me and what I needed. I realized just how WRONG the people around me get it, so I figured I couldn’t trust anyone else’s understanding of what was best for me BUT me. From there, I sought out my own answers, and I was straight. It took one final time of quitting the gym, frustrated that I hustled for 6 months only to lose 20lbs and then gain 10 back in 90 days (that’s one pound every nine days…sigh) for me to realize I didn’t have my head together. Once I got my eating habits right? I was straight. I’ve been smooth sailing ever since.

Q: How important is it to actually eat three meals per day? If you don’t, how does it affect your metabolism?

I have a post coming up on this, but you absolutely must nourish yourself regularly throughout the day. Without it, you become sluggish, and your body – now feeling like food may not come for a while – starts to hold onto the energy it has stored within (read: the fat you have on your body) and makes it harder to burn. This is why you become sluggish.

Keep those questions coming, and I’ll have ‘em ready for next week! Have thoughts? Let me hear ‘em in the comments!

Q&A Wednesday: Inches, Belly Fat and The Quitter’s Disease is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Q&A Wednesday: My Belly Won’t Shrink!
2. What Causes Heart Disease?
3. Study Says Common Food Chemical Packs On Belly Fat

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2010. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: belly fat, exercise, fat, fat loss, mentality, metabolism

A part of my OWN home workout includes skipping rope, and it’s been working wonders for me. I have a nice cheap jump rope that I got back from the dollar general, LOL, so I don’t use the cool rope this gentleman has in his video. Some days, I don’t use the rope at all, and I “mock jump rope” throughout the morning. Give yourself a good five minutes with this exercise, and after a few weeks you’ll definitely start feeling some changes in your body!

Building a Home Workout Routine: Jump Rope! is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. The Importance of Building A Home Workout Routine
2. Building A Home Workout Routine: Reverse Crunches
3. Building a Home Workout Routine: Trunk Rotations

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

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© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cardio, exercises, fat loss, workout at home, workout routine, workout tips

I didn’t even know what a “core” was, and I told him such. I had this awkward look on my face like, “This might be a stupid question, but.. what is a core?” He grabbed my hand and said, “There are no stupid questions in my house!” As he went on to say that the core is the entire batch of muscles that controls our midsections, I promptly told him, “Oh, I don’t have any abs. I mean, come on – I have to grab the top of the car in order to lift myself out of it.”

He laughed so hard at me, I felt like getting mad, LOL.

“We all have abs, Erika. Sure, we might have different levels of strength, but we all have them.”

I felt like telling him a giant “Whatever,” but I didn’t. Instead, I just listened as he offered up tons of exercises and tips for me to try to help “get some abs.” Here is one of those exercises. Hopefully, they’ll help you as much as they’ve helped me.

There you have it – a nice, challenging, simple method for working out your core. You don’t have to do a thousand of ‘em, you don’t have to do a hundred, either. Going from zero to 20 is challenging enough. Try whatever you can, and when they start feeling too easy, let natural progression tell you to try doing more. Be happy, be healthy, be good!

Building A Home Workout Routine: Reverse Crunches is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. Building A Home Workout Routine: Hip Extensions
2. Building a Home Workout Routine: Trunk Rotations
3. The Importance of Building A Home Workout Routine

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Abs, exercises, fat loss, workout at home, workout routine, workout tips

I know that my biggest thing was getting over how silly I felt I might look trying to workout at home. As a friend said, “Some people need to go to a gym to feel as though they’ve accomplished anything.” I can’t necessarily say that this was how I felt, but I know that whatever it was was costing me my health in the process, and I needed to get it together!

The first of our exercises is something that will help with stretches as much as they will help with the booty area (yes, we will be giving the booty extra special attention!) as well as the upper thighs. Check out this hip extensions clip brought to us by the folks at expertvillage.com!

Building A Home Workout Routine: Hip Extensions is a post from: A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss. Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

1. The Importance of Building A Home Workout Routine
2. Building a Home Workout Routine: Trunk Rotations
3. Building A Home Workout Routine: Reverse Crunches

The FULL list of meal plans is currently available. Check it out and get your copy today!

Get BGG2WL delivered wirelessly to your Kindle! Click here for more info!

© Erika for A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Abs, Booty, exercises, fat loss, Legs, workout at home, workout routine, workout tips