Tracking Myself

     Yesterday's workout went well. One hour cardio; 30 minutes treadmill on an incline and 30 minutes elliptical. Then I did 1 hour weights, I tackled every body part, I am a little sore today but not too bad.

     After the gym I went to the pool for a bit, came home and made a carrot soup.

    Today I constructed this little chart:

     If I do my workout I get a red music note, consume 3 liters of water a green one and eat healthy ( fruits, veg, protein, no more than two servings of starches and one small sweet a day) I get an orange note.

    This only goes up to July 12 because I leave for Greece on the 11th.

    Don't ask what the reward will be( or if there will even be one). I haven't figured that out yet. 

     Thanks for reading! 

Read more...

This Week's Challenge

I

   Selfies while sweating it out at the gym. 

Remember when I said I wanted to lose 10 pounds by the time I went home? I did it but now I would like to drop another 6 by the time I leave to get me to 230.  I am happy that things are going in the right direction.

    I told myself when I reached 225 I would treat myself to individual eyelashes at the salon. Well, a deal came up and they are half the price, so I am going to get the eyelashes before I head home. Obviously, I need to justify my purchase. I will do this by going to work out for 2 hours Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. One hour cardio and one hour weights. I will see how I feel after Tuesday. 

Wish me luck!

Read more...

Fatkinis: Yes You Can!

     Since I live in a country in which it is hot 99% of the time I have learned to love bathing suits. I especially love the new high waisted bikini styles.  I have learned to love what I have and if you don't want to look turn your head.

Forever21+

H & M in Qatar

Forever21+

   I have to credit a lot of the confidence to plus sized model Tess Munster:

I figure if she can do it so can I!

Thank you Tess!

Read more...

I Did It!

     I drank 3L of water yesterday! Yessssssssssss!I am going to try and do  it again today and add another 500 ml to make it 3.5 L.  I didn't go to the gym because I was pissed of about something that happened at work, but I did do my Arm Challenge at home:

• 50 bicep curls
• 18 push ups
• 25 dips

  I am going to hit the gym later today because I am heading to Abu Dhabi later tonight.  We are going to a beach party tommorrow! Woop woop!

Read more...

Arm Challenge

     

     I am on day 7 of this challenge. I decided that I had to do something about these arms so I decided to try this challenge. The bicep curls aren't so bad, I usually start with a high weight like 8 kg (18 lbs) and do as many reps a I can, then I move down to 7, 6 and so on until I reach the required reps. The push ups are so hard and so are the dips, but I keep pushing on.

    I have more time at work these days so I will be updating more regularly ( or trying to). 

     I am challenging myself to drink 3 L of water today. Inshallah, I can drink it all.

    

Read more...

Yes Sir!

    Life here is the Middle East is going well. I have been finishing work early. Heading to the gym and going to the pool. The weight is coming off and I am seeing numbers in the scale that I haven't seen since I arrived in August.  I am excited that things are finally going in the right direction.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Read more...

Sway, sway

     In Arabic 'sway, sway' is an expression that means, slowly, slowly. That is how I feel about my weight loss right now. I have been workout hard, eating well and things are at a standstill. I am going to keep pushing because I know that the plateau has to break eventually. I may have to go back to juicing for a week. That usually helps. 

Sigh. 

Read more...

The Plan

-Workout for as many days a weeks as I can (this week I got four days in)

-drink at least 2 L of water a day (this is so hard for me )

-Eat mostly fruits and veggies. Not too much meat. Minimal sweets. Next to no carbs.

-STAY AWAY FROM THE SCALE! (I am addicted! I think I am going to have to give it to my friend and only weight in one a week) 

Read more...

242

  This is what 242 looks like.

     I have joined a gym here in the UAE and I am recommitted to my health and fitness routine. I have slacked and I am hoping to drop 10 pounds before I go home in July. The fact that I am going to spend a week in Italy before I go home is not going to help, but I will cross that bridge when I get there.

Read more...

Compliments

   A new girl moved into my building and I went over to see if she needed anything. I was wearing my workout attire and the first thing she says is,'Are you a body builder? You have a great shape!'

I was so shocked because I rarely get compliments like that. Nevertheless, I will take it! 

Thank you! 

Read more...

Hotel Workout

    As you know I live in the UAE I am usually in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in the weekend. I have become accustomed to caring my workout clothes with soni can get in a little workout either at the hotel or at a friend's place if I am staying there.

   This morning I woke up headed to the gym, did half an hour on the treadmill and some weights.

Read more...

Yesterday

Summary of yesterday's workout. I went back to the stairs, it was brutal because it was 31c around 4 pm. I think I am going to have to start going later because the sun was beating down on me. The scale is moving in the right direction though so that is good. Monthly weigh in is on March 4th! 

Have a great weekend! 

Read more...

Day 5, 6 and 7

   I was so sick on Saturday and Sunday, so no workouts were had. Today was the first day that I started to feel better so I went for a 20 min walk with a friend and I am now doing 20 minutes on the elliptical paired with some squats and overhead presses. 

So all in all this challenge was a semi fail. At least I tried! 

Read more...

Day 2,3 and 4

Day 2:

Woot woot! I didn't do the stairs because I got my act together too late. So I did my trusty elliptical. 

 Winning! 

Stairs tomorrow! 

Day 3:

     Stairs didn't happen. I cannot go once it gets dark because it is too dangerous. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical (sorry no pic) and we out dancing.

Day 4:

Back to the stairs, 8.5 times up and down. I was sweating like a mofo it was so hot.  Started my polar late so I am sure I burned more than 600 calories.

Have a great weekend! 

Read more...

I Needed A Push

      I have been eating ok, but the scale seems to be at a standstill, so I decided to push myself and challenge myself to one hour of stairs everyday for one week. I further went on to challenge my friends on Facebook to one hour of cardio everyday for one week, many of my friends stepped up to the challenge.

     Today was the first day and I must say it went well. I did 45 minutes at the stairs and the 15 minutes on my elliptical at home!

What about you can you do one hour of cardio everyday for one week? 

Read more...

Ups and Downs, But Always Winning

   Some of you have been here for awhile so you know my journey, but for those of you that are new here is a little summary: I started this journey in 2007 at 272, in 2011 I got down to 209 (206 for like a day) went back up to 252 the fort few weeks living in the UAE and now I sit at 237-240.   I found some old pics the other day and made this little collage.

The picture on the left was from 2007 and the picture on the right is from two weeks ago.  Even though I am up, I am still down overall. I am not perfect but I am still working in it.

Have a great week! 

Read more...

10 pounds Down

   Yes! Yesssssss! It is week 6 of 2014 and I have hit my first mini goal: 10 pounds down! Only 15 more to go before I am 10% lighter. Feels good. Been juicing up a storm and making good choices. Eating less meat and more veggies. Less soda and more water. Feels good! 

Been killing these stairs! 

Have a great weekend! 

Read more...

Workout Music

     Yesterday was a weird day. I was not in the mood to workout, nevertheless I called up my friend and we headed to the stairs. We did two sets and then it started to rain so we packed it in. When I got home I didn't feel like I was finished so I sat on my bike/elliptical and started peddling. I had downloaded a new podcast

And let me tell you that I worked out for 50 minutes! Wooooo! The time was flying by. My parents are from Trinidad and I am a HUGE soca fan. I find it is the best music to workout to. It is upbeat fast and gets your waist moving. I love anything by Machel Montano and cannot get enough of DJ Private Ryan's podcasts (he is just soca he mixes everything). He has some great soca for 2014.

Here are a few songs I love right now:

Not all of them are soca but they are all great.

I also made a yummy juice yesterday:

Mint, apple, cucumber and ginger.

Yummers! 

Read more...

I Heart Juicing

     One of the first pieces if kitchen equipment I bought when I moved to the UAE was a juicer. I really love juicing. I have always been a fan of making drinks (alcoholic and non) and juicing allows me to be creative and healthy at the same time. Juicing also allows me to intake vegetable that I am not usually a fan of (carrots) in quantities that I would never consume. I drink at least two juices a day, usually one for breakfast and one after I workout.   Depending how late it is at night I may have one then too. Here are a few of my favorite juicing combos:

-pineapple, lemon and ginger (you can also add mint)

-carrot, orange and ginger 

-Apple and mint

-cucumber, pear and mint

I have a few more put don't remember them of by heart.

If I could find spinach and kale here I would use those regularly also. When I go home this summer I will definitely incorporate those in my juicing regime.

This morning's after workout juice combo.

If you haven't tried juicing I think you should give it a try, if you are worried about the price of the juicer wait for your next birthday ;) or check Amazon.

Read more...

Proud of Myself

   These my friends are the Al Ain stairs 

 A few weeks ago I started to run (walk) them. The first time I could only do them twice up and down and I swear it took me almost am hour. I set a goal of doing them 10 times. Well my friends, today I reached that goal!

I am so proud of myself! Woot woot! 

I then came home and made some sweet potatoe soup. I was worried because I have been looking for sweet potatoes in the United Arab Emirates for a few months to no avail, I finally found some today.

Such a great day! 

Now if only I could find kale that doesn't look like its grandmother died and cost a gajillion dollars, I would be a happy camper. Oh and FRESH spinach too.

Read more...

Back In the 230s

    I have been back in the game since I game back from my Christmas vacation. I came back Jan. 3 and weighed in Jan. 4 at 247. On Feb.4 I have lost 6 pounds. I was aiming for 10 but I am happy with the progress I am making. Today I saw this:

Yeah! 230s. I bought an elliptical machine for my apartment before Christmas and a set of 5kg (about 12 pounds) weights. On the days that I don't hit the stairs I do my workout at home. Hopefully by the time I go home in July I will see some really progress. My first goal is to lose 10% of my body weight (25 pounds) and get to 222 when that happens I will treat myself to eyelash extensions (hey, I gotta try them once!). 

Hopefully, everyone is well.

Xoxo

Haneefa 

Read more...

Back In The Game

 I know, I know, I have been gone forever. I am back in the game! I have been killing these stairs in the UAE at least twice a week:

  

Since Jan. 4 I have dropped 6 pounds and I am working hard to loss 10% of my body weight. I cannot say how often I will post but I will try my best. Thank you Naledi your comment inspired me to get back on here! Will update the page soon!

Thank you for still being here! 

Read more...