…do it at your own pace and do it for real.

Are you fatalistic? All or none? In it to win it or you just couldn’t care less?

If you or a family member is like this, you are not going to go very far in the heart healthy arena.

Yes, you can psycho diet and hit your goal quickly. You’ll be down 20 pounds in 8 weeks and aren’t you fabulous? Where will you be 6 months from then, though? You could still be down in weight, but odds are you won’t be any healthier.

The AHA doesn’t want you thin, they want you healthy. Having you lose the weight and the bad habits is not about making you look good in your room. It’s about keeping you alive in your room. Nothing is worse than getting excited about your new body and possibly having a heart attack because of it. Let me clarify that statement, too, because I think it will be lost on many. When you lose weight without investing in the process, you run the risk of having a weak heart but a lighter, faster body. This is dangerous stuff and you see this with people who want to just “lose the weight first” and then bring in the good habits second. The thing is, you strengthening everything—including your heart—when you do it the right way and leave yourself weakened and vulnerable when doing it the wrong way. Commit to at least one good habit every 2 to 3 weeks and you will be more likely to keep them.

Here are 3 of the easiest changes that you can get your mom, aunt, cousin, friend or whomever to buy into without them feeling backed into a corner:

1) Movement attached to something enjoyable. Typically shopping. Go with them to a mall and make them move at least once a week. While you’re doing that, ask them their schedule and have them tell you when they have periods of downtime. Give them examples of how they can fit 10 min. of exercise into those spaces. Things that do not count as exercise: running late, giving you the run around, jumping to another topic, etc.

2) One colorful food per day: Tell them they must eat one colorful fruit or veggie per day and they cannot have the same one two days in a row or more than 2 times in a week. That’ll make them a bit mad but they’ll get over it and begin to change or they’ll eat red peppers every day and tell you to MYOB. Beware of the latter.

3) A glass of water at 3 meals/day: You’re not saying every meal. You’re not saying they can’t have their precious diet Coke. You’re saying I just need you to have 3 glasses of water every day. If you can do that for me, I will {fill in the blank here: mow the lawn, pay your taxes, stop growing hemp in the basement, whatever} and they will be more likely to adopt this habit as well.

They say it takes 21 days to make a habit (and 3 min. to locate the nearest Coldstone Creamery—keep the away from Google!) so stay close to them for a while and encourage.

You know someone who is worth it to you. Help them along wouldja?

Previous Series Post Next Post in Series

Tweet This Post

“No one has ever made it to their goal and thought to themselves, now how did I do that?”
T.D. Jakes

If you are keeping up with the BetterU program like I am, you know they are now talking about tracking what you are eating and what you are doing exercise-wise so you know how you are doing and what to change if you are not getting the results that you want. This is like music to my ears.

Tracking for many seems cumbersome in the beginning and so many don’t want to do it but I wish I had a dollar for every smile that I receive when I tell a client that they are X% stronger, faster, lighter, healthier and so on. Tracking shows you progress. Your progress. As you embark on an endeavor as big as this, you need all the extra encouragement you can get because the road seems long and unending. The biggest mistake is to make the scale your only form of tracking. Seeing how your diet has evolved over the length of this program and how your workouts become easier and more frequent is rewarding. It’s cool to see things like that.

If you are helping someone else through this program, you know how important it is to give a word of encouragement to your mom, aunt, cousin, friend and so on. When you help them to track, you give yourself something to be able to use to keep them going through the weeks. However, they may not and you may not know things that you can track that show progress other than the scale. Here is a list for you:

Food choices. Let them know that they have been eating:

more good than bad
more fruits and veggies than refined carbs
more good fats
better timing with meals
more meals
drinking water
not drinking soda
drinking less soda

Exercise

more days working out than not
lifting once per week
lifting twice per week
lifting three times per week
going up in the weight
learning more advanced moves
can do “this” now when they couldn’t before
can workout longer
can walk faster
can walk longer
can walk longer AND faster

When you see it written out this way you realize there are a myriad of ways for you to keep track of your progress without having to step on the scale. What are you going to use as your litmus?

Have fun and don’t forget to track it all in your fitbook!

Previous Series Post

Tweet This Post

This is for my ladies!

You know I am coming after my girlfriends who smoke, do not exercise or eat unhealthily. I know you all read my blog—you tell me so all the time—so I figure I would sneak in a post about your heart health and see if you noticed I was talking about you.

I just entered the “club” (as TP says, lol). That would be the 40 year old club. This means many of my girlfriends are right behind me—although I have heard that some of them are bypassing it and going straight for the 21 club. Umm…yeah. But for those of us who are brave enough to enter the club, we have more to think about now than wrinkles and “cougar” status. Heart health is key!

If you have been reading my blog, I am representing the AHA Better U program for the month of February and into March and April. Every week I will have a post on this topic giving you the lecture of a lifetime good information about how to be heart healthy. And you need to listen. (By the end I know I will be calling y’alls out by name.)

During week 2 of the Better U program it calls for you to follow Your Personal Course of Action. OH I LOVE THIS!

Let me break that down for you:

Your Personal: This means this is yours. Not mine. Yours. YOU decide what it’s going to be—so no pressure here. Go at your own pace. YOU put it into action—this means there’s some accountability on your part but it’s worth it. Lastly, YOU reap the benefits—not your doctor, not me, just you. There is a personal reward in this for you—Heart Health!

Course: This word implies plan with a known destination. You are going to PLAN for your success. There is a road to be charted, paved and followed. No mystery involved. And because it is Your Personal course, you set your own destiny, your own pace, if you want someone on the course with you, how long the course will be, etc.

Action: DO something! Quit smoking, eat better, exercise, pay your bills (Ooo, sorry. Did I just put someone out there? Bwahahaha, j/k) I don’t care what it is, just put something in action! This means to move. To head toward a result. Let’s just do this and get it over with, shall we? It must be horrible to be healthy, live a long life, enjoy your children and so on so let’s just try to make the best of it while we can.;)

Ok…that’s my heart healthy lecture of the day. Thanks for joining me in the fight for a healthy heart. I know I will reach you all soon enough. The stakes are too high. Love you!

Woop woop!:o)

Previous Series Post Next Post in Series

Tweet This Post

I am old enough to remember one of the best underground era’s for music: house music. Yes, there was punk and grunge and what-have-you, but for my culture—it was house music. Some of the BEST workout music came out of the 90’s with this movement which brings me to today!

Today is BLOG YOUR HEART OUT DAY and Fitlosophy, the American Heart Association and all of us Fitbloggers want you to join in. We want you to add a pep in your step today and make the Go Red For Women Campaign your mantra today. How?

MOVE JUMP JACK YOUR BODY and STOMP!

MOVE!
Get your family involved. Yes, you work out—now get them there. Have them join the Better U campaign and get moving!

JUMP!
On to Facebook, twitter (use #goredforwomen and #blogyourheartout to find us), Linked In, Buzz (What is this one about? Do we need another? OY!) and promote the Go Red For Women Campaign today. Also, link your blog to as many BYHO bloggers as you can (or to at least one to start a chain).

JACK YOUR BODY!
It’s time to make your family’s health a priority, too. Encourage your mom, your aunt, your sister and whomever to get involved in their health and get moving. Tell them to wear red today. YOU wear red today. Let’s do this ladies!

STOMP!
Out heart disease! This is so preventable! My girl Angela at Fitlosophy has all the stats and all the reasons why we need to do this. Check her blog out, get a fitbook and join in! While you’re at it, enter to win a gift card from Starbucks from my fellow BYHO blogger Joanna and tell all the people behind the counter about the Go Red movement, too!

Girl I heart you, girl I heart you, girl I heart you, MOVE JUMP JACK YOUR BODY STOMP!

Ahhh…brings back memories!! You need to sing that to the tune from the 90’s, Move Jump Jack Your Body. Now I need to go find an outrageous pair of pants, some humungous dolphin earrings and a beeper. Haha!  See you on Twitter!!

Previous Series Post Next Post in Series

Tweet This Post

Honestly, I do not remember how old I was at the time, but I will never forget the night my father came into my room with a very “calm but panicked” look on his face. It takes a lot to rattle my cage—and I was rattled.

Let me back up first by saying I come from a very interesting household. We were not fitness buffs or health nuts but we never ate processed food, my mother cooked every day, she also played tennis every day—without fail—Monday through Friday with her friends, I was involved in every sport possible and NEVER sat still, my other siblings not so much but for all intents and purposes we were a very healthy household. There were a few treats here and there in the cabinets but you would be more apt to run into a piece of fruit before you would find something really naughty/yummy in the kitchen. All in all we were in great health, none of us ever getting sick and we were pretty well balanced. Then there was Dad…

My dad was a work-a-holic. Back then, he held a high position at M.I.T.’s Clinical Research Center and I am sure the politics and demands of the job were rough. He had four little mouths to feed with the help of my mother but never seemed to let it phase him. Sweets were a must in his life since his mom grew up in the deep south and was a psycho baker. She could do things with butter that were criminal (if you don’t know about my love for butter all I can say is, OH BOY) and my dad had grown accustomed to that taste. Pound cake was his favorite as was not eating for long periods of time. Bad mix for a sedentary man who spent much of his time in a computer lab. So it’s no surprise it finally caught up to him…

Flash back to my room. My dad is standing in front of me in a full sweat, holding his chest and telling me he had really bad heartburn and could I get him something stronger than Tums. I don’t know about y’alls, but about this time something clicked in my head and it sounded like this:

{Starts off low murmer} Man…dad doesn’t look good. He’s kind of grey.
{Getting a bit louder in my head} Why is he sweating so much?
{Loud enough that I think it could be someone talking to me} Jo—he told you earlier this afternoon he didn’t feel so well and wanted to lie down.
{Full out screaming in head} Holy Toledo! He’s having a heart attack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What happened after this is text book of what NOT to do {yes, it’s a pattern in my life}:

I did not call 911—mistake #1

I put him in my car and drove him to the hospital—mistake #2

Halfway there (in my lame defense, it’s literally 5 min. from my house) my father told me to slow down, I was going to give him a heart attack. BWahahaha! We still laugh about this one!—mistake #3 {we could have been stopped—wasting more time—or worse, got in an accident}

Lastly, I did not park in front of the door to let him out.—mistake #4 {this would have alerted medical staff of the emergency}

You never know when this is going to strike. It is the silent killer that most of just do not acknowledge enough. We act as if it cannot happen to us and we are infallible. We fool ourselves into thinking we are healthy because we may eat right and exercise occasionally or we may not be overweight so we’re not at risk.

My dad was fine even though he had a major heart attack. He was lucky. He had a quadruple (yep, 4) bypass performed and made it through with flying colors. That was about 15 years or so ago. Most are not that lucky. What’s worse, if you are a woman and reading this, you are even more at risk because you almost NEVER think it can happen to you. We seem to think this is a man’s disease. On the contrary!

• heart disease kills about 1 woman every minute, or approximately 450,000 women each year
• more women die of heart disease than the next five causes of death combined, including all forms of cancer
• 90% of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease
• 80% of cardiac events in women may be prevented by making the right choices involving diet, exercise and abstinence from smoking

Some of my dearest friends from high school smoke and are sedentary. I’m specifically talking to you ladies here. Pay attention to your health. Love yourselves and your children enough to reduce your risk factors (i.e. smoking) and get moving. If you are a blogger reading this, spread the word, too. On February 12th it’s blog your heart out day. Let’s get the word out that this is real.

This is week 1 of a Better U: Goal setting. Get in, confess and become accountable. If you check it out, it’s great for getting started so you have no excuse. Let me know how you do on this…I am anxious to know. For me, my goal at week 1 is to challenge myself above my normal workouts. I’m using my Fitbook to track my workouts again and I’m kicking my own arse.{interpret that as ‘sore, cranky, hungry all the time’} Time to shoot for a higher level again. This is a big deal for me because I have sooooooooooo much going on {who doesn’t? clearly time to get over myself}. But alas, what’s life without a challenge?

WOOP WOOP!

Previous Series Post Next Post in Series

Tweet This Post

No, I am not a peeping Tom and I don’t want to come over and help you get dressed! But…

Would you mind wearing red for me today?

Ladies this post is for you. It’s for your health and it’s for your family’s health. What am I referring to?

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION’S Blog Your Heart Out Campaign that I am a proud participant of. I will be blogging for the next 12 weeks (yes, I’m back and in full swing! Woohoo!) on behalf of Fitlosophy, the makers of Fitbook, and the AHA for their Go RED for Women campaign and their Better U fitness series.

To tell you I am excited doesn’t even scrape the surface.

Heart disease in my community (black women) is huge and underrated. I will be opening your eyes to things that you take for granted everyday and I will be pointing out how you can fool yourself into thinking you are healthy because you are “skinny” when in fact you are not even close.

I will be picking a day of the week to discuss this topic as well as the normal “look good naked” topics I usually cover for the rest of the week. How can you help me while I do this?

• Join the Go Red for Women movement
• WEAR RED TODAY! It’s National Wear Red day and I want you showing your true colors.
• Commit to any type of workout challenge for the next 12 weeks and follow the Better U program, too. I also encourage you to track your progress using a fitbook. It’s great to see how far you have come and this is the best way to do it.
• If you have a blog, Join us on February 12th to Blog Your Heart Out on that day and link to as many BYHO sites that you can.

Heart disease is no joke and it is taking approximately one woman every minute. That’s more than breast cancer and the top 4 women killers combined. WHOA! It’s time to do this. Hit the closet, find some RED and let’s get this done, ladies!

Woop woop!

Tweet This Post