From the Root to the Toot

I have so many tiny goals to achieve it can sometimes seem a bit overwhelming. I have one main goal: to become and remain a healthy, happier me inside out... that includes my roots.

I have been a happy nappy girl for four years now and just this year really decided to take my mane serious. I am focused on getting it to it's healthiest self and retaining length.

For the past three months (coincidentally how old my son is) I have been 90% protective styling my hair by usually getting a predominantly cornrowed hairstyle with a section (usually something bang-like) in two-strand twist. This leaves every strand of my hair protected from being manipulated for at least two weeks. I then let my hair breathe for a day or two (depending on my stylist's schedule) before I try either the same do with a twist or something new all together. Today, I am getting my first REAL set of box braids. I am so nervous because I don’t know what the outcome will be. I see sisters all the time pulling off this hairstyle with the greatest of ease and it's SO fly. But the one time I started to do them on my head it was looking ridiculous! Well, this time I am coming with enforcements: my stylist standing out of the blue corner at 4' 9" tall at a whopping 110 pounds. lol

It is no secret that I am not good at styling my own hair unless it's two-strand twists, which I really just started perfecting within the last year. I can also make myself a super duper fly chunky twist-out. But I want to unravel twists (because it is so easy to do) in a week for fabulous twist out results. The secret to retaining length I am learning is to keep your tresses conditioned, moisturized and protected. Protective styling like braids and twists, especially with the winter coming up, are a necessity to stop breakage and retain length. So, I am going to need to commit (there's that word again) to a system so that by spring, I can see some change not only on the scales, but in my mane as well. I just took my hair down yesterday and it's awesome how big/long my hair is getting. I know that is in large part to the protective styling (AKA being lazy) I have been doing since my sun was birthed into the world. So this fall, I am starting my first-ever hair care & protective style challenge to see what actually listening and paying attention to my hair can do. Wish me luck that I don't look crazy with box braids... I really want to conquer rocking this style as box braids take more work to undo than two-strands, so I am more likely to leave them in for longer than the week or two I leave in my twists. Also, it will afford me the chance to begin styling, trying pin-ups and what not so that I don't get bored.

I am still working on my daily schedule as I stated in the previous post and I am almost done once I get my hair routine(s) figured out and squeezed into the flow of things. October 2007 is truly going to kick off an amazing transformation for me from the roots of my head, to my spirituality, to my muscles... in other words the TRUE meaning of "mind, body and soul." Next fall, I will emerge a more beautiful, healthier, longer haired, butterfly from HEAD to TOE with a new job and lifestyle. I see it, and it's perfect.

My schedule. My plan. My life.

I have been weighed in twice since my official return to Weight Watchers and I am down 3 pounds! The first weigh in, I gained nothing/lost nothing. This was more than perfect for me because I usually take a week or two to really get in the swing of things when committing to Weight Watchers. So today when I went in, I was ready. I had tracked about 40% of my meals, got in more than my daily water everyday and was active 3 days out of the week. I knew the scale would move downward, the question be how far down? The answer was an even 3 and I was ecstatic. Now this week (week three) is usually the week where I really start to get into my groove. I've got a whole new outlook on how to excel at this beautiful way of life... persistent, hard work. I can't get by with the half-assed way I used to do things. I must reach far beyond my goals.

My two main goals I really want to attain with recommitting myself to WW this time around (besides life membership) is to continuously see progression:

1. Don't miss a week -- at all.
(I looked at my old weight tracker books and saw how sometimes I wouldn't go for a week or two at a time. This is not the way to become a life member. Not at all.)
2. Do everything in my power to FOLLOW THE PROGRAM and avoid gains. In other words: LOSE LOSE LOSE.
(A plateau, while still not as sexy as losing is better than gaining. I am determined to lose SOMETHING every week. No gains. Full speed ahead, dammit.)

I have my pamphlet to be a team leader on my fridge along with an old picture of me in high school. Granted, I don't want to be as thin as I was in high school, my goal weight is actually 10-15 pounds more than that, but it gives me the "after" picture I am looking for.

The way I operate, the way I need to start to be successful at damn near everything I do needs, needs, needs to start with a plan. A schedule, if you will, for success. From my daily routine with life to the maintenance of my hair, I now understand I need a daily blueprint to follow. For life to be so short, it sure is busy. There aren't enough hours in a day, so one should spend her time making the better of every one of them.

From my religious studying, to family time & home life, to work, to fitness and my healthier lifestyle, to my hair, everything needs it's own little commitment in my days and weeks for it all to emerge victorious. My goal for the rest of September is to get my schedule -- for each of the important things that comprise what is my life -- in order for continued, visual success in the future months to come.

It would be nice to at least be at my 10% target before year's end: exactly 14 pounds for 14 more weeks/weigh-ins. (The goal would actually be to be MORE than my 10% but since I am nursing, a pound a week, every week for the rest of this year would put me at my 10% at a healthy pace without sabotaging my milk production, but you know what I mean!)

60% Mental 40% Physical.

So, I found and accepted a different job (part time) during my maternity leave and told my previous employer to kick rocks. And I am settling into my fourth week of work of the new gig. I like it. I'm a marketing/office manager for a much smaller company and it's working out very well.

Speaking of working out... I have not been. After like my first week of work, I went to pick out (i.e., shop for) a few choice items at a couple of my favorite stores and they were four dress sizes larger than what I was last year this time. :-/ Needless to say, I didn't buy everything I wanted... my pride wouldn't let me.

I originally wanted to be 14 pounds lighter by next week, seven weeks ago. This really isn't going to happen. Since this is absolutely not going to happen (I've actually gained some weight since I let the cookie fetish WIN once I got back to work and cooking daily starting to dwindle) I've got to start anew... really getting on my game.

Not only do I need to get on the ball with my certifications, but also I simply must just GET in gear. And I have finally admitted to myself that I need help... accountability. SO, Friday, I got up at my normal time and went to a WW meeting before I went in to work. Yep, I signed up again. This time it was for the monthly pass that includes FREE eTools (that makes me happy, I loved eTools but not enough to pay $12 a month or whatever it was for it). As usual, it's taken me a few days to get into the swing of things.

But today, I finally got my water intake and I took a vitamin after forgetting to do so for two days in a row. I also, after not being able to crawl out of bed this morning because RJ was irritable and wouldn't let me go very far, worked out to my step DVD. Erm, for 17 minutes. *sigh* The DVD was 30 minutes long. I felt flushed and hot and my thighs were stinging in 17 minutes. Finally RJ started whining in his bouncer chair and I used it as an excuse to stop. I probably could have finished, but man, it was a mess.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like a complete novice loser -- NOT that people who just get on the ball are losers. That is totally NOT what I meant but for ME, I am in a slump. Any who, this feeling is something I hadn't felt since I first decided to get back on the ball and take charge of my health/weight in Summer 2003. The first time I remembered I used to be a dual athlete in high school and tip-top shape. The first time (since that one time in college) that I went to a floor aerobics class and was sweating like a faucet. It left me breathing like my lungs were on fire.

I feel it in my body when I walk around the house. Things jiggling cause they have lost their muscle tone and it kind of depresses me. I know I have a beautiful excuse, who lays next to me sleeping as I type... but it's still a little hump to get over. But today, I no longer live in the dark. I accept the fact that while I am still fabulous, there is work to do. No more pretending it's not happening. I have to take control before it gets outta whack. I have to start being accountable for my actions. Weight Watchers helps me do that. They WATCH me. I have however, decided that I am going to get a note from Sandy (my nurse gyno) saying what weight is a healthy for me. While Weight Watchers wants me to be 135, I think that's a bit too small for me. So my LM goal will be 145. As of my weigh in Friday, that's 33.6 pounds AKA the weight I was a mere last summer. It's so amazing how fast it can come back without paying attention.

This blog is my first step at not only being more accountable for myself, but also as a great marketing tool (of some sort) for my fitness business. I will be on the scale once a week. The OFFICIAL scale... watching it decrease and resuming the life I once loved but with an adorable addition -- my family.