Day 3: Mind-Body Connection

One of the things Tracy Anderson has always emphasized is the importance of the Mind-Body connection. The "tah-dah" moment as she calls it, when you are visualizing and connecting with your movements and extending your energy in each rotation.

I'm a huge believer in the old adage from Buddha, “What we think, we become.”  It's why I take a moment before going to sleep and before getting out of bed in the morning, to meditate quietly, visualizing the day ahead and the outcomes I hope for.  Mind-Body connection.

Watching 48 Hours while doing mat work lastnight, was NOT promoting the Mind-Body connection.

My girl Jen, always gets on my case for watching TV shows while I'm working out.  For me, it just helps get the workout over because I'm not focusing on the workout.  Therein lies the problem.  I'm not focusing on the workout.

Instead, lastnight, I was focusing on a Pastor who murdered 2 of his wives, one of which in a car accident where he claimed a deer caused the car to crash, killing her.  Well, Mistress of Mayhem, ended up waking up from a nightmare where there were dozens of deer dying in the middle of the road that I was driving on. Mind-Body connection, indeed.

WTF???!!!

JP is always on my case to stop watching true crime stories-- I swear, I was a CSI in a former life!  I'm obsessed.  Maybe it's my former career as a general assignment TV reporter, covering all the fire/murder/baby killer stories.  Whatever it is, it's not exactly promoting my Mind-Body Connection-- or good night sleeps, for that matter.

SOOOOO, I'm saying this to be accountable:  I'm cutting myself off from all true crime stories during this 30 day bootcamp.  Period.  NONE.  No Dateline, no 48 hours, no Killer Couples or Serial Killer Central.  Instead, I'm going to try to listen to music while I workout--- and watch/listen to some inspiring material when I'd otherwise be knee deep in a crime rampage.  Dealio?

Here is the workout/food log from yesterday:

Breakfast: 1 avocado
Lunch: 1 cup chicken salad, 3 pieces of shaved roast beef, small side salad with 2 Tb blue cheese dressing
Snack: 2 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
Dinner: Leftover steak and peppers

I'm going to start posting a screen shot from MyFitnessPal.  I came out rather low on the calorie side-- only 1127 calories, but my carbs were higher than I normally have at 33 grams-- I usually try to keep them <20 grams.

Workout: 20 minutes of Tracy's Daily Motion Dance Cardio
20 reps of BC Sequence 1
Weight: 144.8

Have a great workout, lovelies!

Love,

The Mistress
xxoo

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Hi Lovelies!

It's been, what----  a year and some change since I've written on this little old blog of mine?

If you don't follow me on Facebook, you may not know that I started a foodie blog, called "What's on Parker's Plate?" which chronicles my journey through delish.  I finally got my ass in gear, (and in shape, by the way, haaaaaaaay!!) and committed to making a name for myself in the food blogosphere.  I also now host a cooking segment on CBS Atlanta which has been fabulous and has taught me so much about not taking huge bites of food on camera translating good food to even better TV.

Last we chatted, I was lamenting a terrible car accident and the resulting injury, which rendered me unable to workout for about 6 months.  I was forced to figure out another solution to lose the 40 pounds that were creating a very unhappy, very puffy Mistress.

Enter a Low-Carb Ketogenic style of eating.  Hello Bacon!  Sayonara quinoa and green smoothies!  (Sorry, Kimberly Snyder, but if I had to choke down another Glowing Green slime ball smoothie I'd barf all over your yoga mat.)  No, this is not a prescription to clog your arteries...it's basically forcing your body to use fat for fuel instead of carbs. Here are some myths debunked about the low-carb/high fat (LCHF) style of eating on Mark's Daily Apple-- it's a great read.  Does this mean I'll never eat another banana?  Of course not!  But it does mean that I've swapped out Cheezits for fresh mozzarella and instead of filling my gullet with sugary, carby junk, I opt for a whole avocado sprinkled with sea salt.

I've been able to maintain my weight loss with very little exercise-- but rather than get all skinny fat, I figure it's time to get my butt toned. In the past, as documented by my fitness journey 2 years ago, Tracy Anderson's Bootcamp works wonders for me.  This time around, I'm not actually trying to lose weight!  I actually had to re-read that.  I'm not actually trying to lose weight!!!!

I'm currently 5'11 and 144 pounds.  I just want to tighten and tone!  Here's a visual of my journey from my all-time highest weight of 189.

My year long weight loss journey: 189 to 144 pounds

I will do another photo shoot at the end of the 30 days!

As far as diet, a typical day for me is this:

Breakfast: Espresso with heavy cream, 1 avocado
Lunch: 8 oz ground chicken with caramelized onion (seasoned with homemade taco seasoning)
Snack: Handful of olives and fresh mozzarella or chunk of parmesan, another espresso with cream
Dinner: 8oz salmon (or other protein- beef, chicken, seafood) with roasted broccoli
Snack: Chocolate Bomb (coconut oil with cocoa powder, truvia and vanilla) *will post recipe this week

I will track my food intake each day-- I'm curious to see if the workouts really amp up my hunger.  I've all but given up my beloved red wine because it's super inflammatory for me, but I do indulge in a vodka/soda water with splash of grapefruit juice and a fresh lime cocktail a few times a week.)  I don't monitor calories, just carb counts-- usually trying to stay under 25 grams of carbs a day.

OK, so yesterday was supposed to be Day 1 and I had an epic fail!  We are still unpacking, and I couldn't find my Bootcamp book and couldn't download the PDF file on my phone.  UGH.  So, I will make sure I'm prepped and ready to go for a great workout this evening when I get home.  Preparation is everything.

I'm rocking out a whopping 15 minutes of cardio-- whoo hoo!  And 20 reps to start....adding in 5 reps a day up to 40 and then adding ankle weights. I don't have time for 3 1/2 hour workouts this go-round!

Good luck with your workouts, lovelies!

Love,

The Mistress
xxoo

Scattered, Smothered, Covered and CHUNKED.

Even if you don't live in the South, ya'll probably know about Waffle House's famous hashbrowns...You can have them scattered (on the grill), smothered (with onions), covered (with cheese) and/or chunked with hickory ham. Well, lovelies, the Mistress has been all 4 the past week....and Miss Muffin Top and her nasty ass sister Gutty McFatty are tucking into another roll on my belly as I speak.

Scattered, Smothered, Covered and CHUNKED.  Just like me.

No, I haven't been late night binging at Waffle House!

But I have been....

Scattered:  Tons of stressful deadlines recently that I have under control, but my scatter brain has been even more scattered, making it tough to concentrate and get shit done.

Smothered: By my own negativity and self-doubt...I feel like as soon as things start going well for me, I end up sabotaging myself.  WHY?!?  I want so much to make things happen in a productive and fabulous way--- for me, for my career and for my personal and professional fulfillment.  So let's DO this, Parker!  

Covered:  In hives.....and more hives.  My new nickname is "Scratchy McBumpy."  I have developed some very serious food allergies since getting off all my medication and this is what happened when I had gluten this week, in the form of a cookie and some bread:

And this is what happened when I had peanut butter:

Mistress of Many Rashes

 WTF?!

Badmuthafucka is convinced the breakouts are stress related.  He could be right.  I have an appointment for a full battery of allergy testing on September 10th, so hopefully I'll figure out what's going on.  

And lastly, I have been further CHUNKED.  In the form of an additional 5 pounds.  I'm not even going to utter that number.  You do the math from my last post and you'll know why I'm freaking out.  I actually took a pregnancy test yesterday, thinking that MUST be why I've put on more weight.  Negative.  (Which is a good thing right now!)

It's times like this when I really don't get ME. I am the same crazy bee-atch who abstained from all food for 17 days and subsisted on lemons, water and laxative tea.  And that girl can't be moderate and simply EAT CLEAN and EXERCISE like a normal person?!  There has to something I'm missing.  And yes, I'm being hard on myself because there are simply NO MORE EXCUSES.  My inner fat girl is screaming at me and I'm shoveling Boursin cheese stuffed salami in my mouth!!!!

Seriously, folks.  It's time for some action.

I've been pretty good about my workouts--- almost done with level 3 of Meta. (OK, well, it's taken me 2 1/2 weeks to get through 10 days...) I've also been much better about waking up to get my MS and 30 minutes of cardio finished before work.  But there's a disconnect somewhere, because my results (and the scale) are moving in the wrong direction.   MAJAH problem.

So what now?  Muffy and Gutty are urging me to throw in the towel and just resign myself to join them and be known as "Chubby"....Can't ya just see the three of us-- Muffy, Gutty and Chubby on a road trip to the Kingdom of Pudge. "That's how we ROLL," would be our favorite saying!

Gross.

I can't fit into any of my clothes, so I went to Goodwill yesterday and bought a double digit size (let's just say it wasn't a 4, 6, or 8) so I could have something comfortable to wear.  I figure, paying $3.75 for some fat pants certainly won't commit me to that size-- and in a few weeks, when the single digit clothes fit me again, I can recycle those big ass pants back to Goodwill.  Everyone shopping there yesterday had about 100 pounds on me, so it wasn't as mortifying as it might have been, had I been shopping at Nordstrom's next to some anorexic soccer Mom.

I know some of you are rolling your eyes, thinking, "OMG.  She's shopping at Goodwill?!  That's for poor people!  And aren't those clothes dirty and used???"  Well, girls, they are all of the above.  But, when things got really bad for us financially, Goodwill was awesome for cheap (and often cute!) clothes.  Go to a Goodwill in an affluent neighborhood, and you'll find insanely expensive labels-- and some clothes that have never been worn.  I've discovered Gucci, Prada, Guess, Lilly Pulitzer, and even Chanel at some of these thrift stores!  They are also great for finding gently used kitchen wares, like sets of china and cool wine glasses.  I even found a new juicer that I bought for $15 that retails at $70!  Goodwill is also where I bought my rebounder-- for $22!  If you haven't checked out a Goodwill before-- do it!  One woman's trash is another woman's treasure....Just sayin'!

So, anyhoo-- it's time to get serious, Mistress of Many Promises, here....I don't have time to blog every day about a 30 Day Challenge right now, so let it be known that I am committing to giving up booze for 2 full weeks.  I love drinking wine while I'm cooking, but it's gotta go, if I'm going to make any traction here with weight loss.  Whenever I've gone without it in the past, after a few days, I forget about the great buzz the empty calories and it always leans me out!  I'm also giving up my beloved morning joe with Irish creamer and sugar.  Not sure I can stomach it black, but I'm going to try.

I have another huge TV opportunity coming up (more details later!) and I have to get my ass in check-- literally....

I posted this pic of me on FB while doing a sound check for my radio piece.  Thank the LAWD the weight gain doesn't show in my face....But consider this the official proof of my promise to KISS Miss Muffin Top and Gutty McFatty goodbye, FOREVAH!!!!

Kiss Off Muffy and Gutty!  And don't come back, ya'll hear?!

xxoo