It's My One Year Anniversary, and I'm just getting started!



Committed and Dedicated to my health
and happy about it. Look at that smile!

I've been a regular physical activity girl for quite awhile, but today, April 26, marks one year that I have been working out with the greatest trainer in the world, Berhane, and my life will never be the same. I must proudly say that I have NEVER missed an appointment since I started working out with Berhane. Once I commit to something, I see it to the end unless it just doesn't work.

About two months before my one year anniversary of working out with Berhane, the greatest trainer in the world, I started getting excited. I told him that on my anniversary I wanted him to take me to McDonald's, and I wanted him to buy me anything that I wanted. Of course this was a joke, because there is no way that I will eat anything that comes from McDonald's.

But on a serious note, I was really thinking that after a year of working out with Berhane and incorporating everything, and I mean everything that he has taught me into my life, I really thought that I should be able to  relax. I was going to workout and eat without giving it much thought. Just relish in my accomplishments. I thought that after a year, I could coast alone and maintain.

Berhane quickly told me that "I sounded like a loser." Very hard pill to swallow, but after he explained it to me more, and I REALLY thought about it, I got the point.

Who gets to the top of their game and relax? Do you think that Beyonce, Bill Gates, the founder of Facebook, President Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Drake or anyone else who is at the top of their game is relaxing? I must continue to focus on being stronger, riding my bike and running faster and for longer distances, always look for ways to improve my diet etc. I'm really just getting started.

I really thought about the idea that I thought that I could relax since I am at the top of my health game. How many of us have reached our goal weight, relaxed, and slowly, but surely, went back to old habits and gained back every one of the pounds that we lost and some? When it comes to our health and many other areas of our lives, we can never relax. We can't have our dream career and relax. We must work to keep that dream career a reality. We can't get married to the guy or girl of our dreams and have kids and then relax. We must work to keep the marriage strong and happy and work equally hard to raise our children to be happy, productive people. There is no time for relaxing!!!!

I must quote my favorite blogger Erika:

You must be vigilant. Not because one cookie is sooo bad for your diet (and, depending on how small you are, it actually could be), but because if you are breaking from a sugar habit, even the slightest act of submission can result in it coming back full force. If you’ve gone weeks without sweets, you’re training your mind to forget that sweets work as a means of making you “feel better.” When you give in – even the slightest bit – you remind your brain again, and you give the compulsion more power. You can’t do that… which is why I say it may take months or even years to fully defeat. I don’t get cravings for sweets at this point and can go to parties without eating the cake offered there. I can even bite into a cookie, and not eat the other half (especially if it’s a crap cookie, and you can usually tell.) It just requires a lot of thought, a lot of vulnerability – you’ll now be dealing with lots of emotions, especially during your cycle – and a lot… and I mean lot of honesty. If you’re only “a few weeks in,” you’re not ready to test yourself. Excerpted from Q&A Wednesday: Menstrual Cravings & Defeating The Sugar Demon | A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss

I love Erika's blog......

After working out with Berhane, the greatest  trainer in the world, for a year, here are a few things that I have learned and made apart of my life:

• I'm just getting started and will not stop until I leave this planet.
• The insides of my body are so much more important than the outside. I do want to be appealing to my eyes, but I think so much more about what I do to the insides that contribute either positively or negative to my outsides.
• It's been confirmed to always work hard and try to go to the next level, not to please others, but I do it for myself; it makes me feel great. Guess what? This idea has carried over to other areas of my life: career, relationships, biking, running etc.Working hard ain't easy, but it sure is fair.
• Alcohol is a poison, and I should limit my intake. It is impossible to go to my maximum health consuming alcohol on a regular basis. 
• Eat to live, not live to eat. Food can kill.....
• I can sneak and eat whatever I want too, but the body does not know how to keep a secret; it tells everything.
• Hips are not hereditary. That is where my family may store fat. Once I lowered my body fat, the hips dwindled down.
• Sugar is the enemy and should be limited and/or avoided.
• If I eat things that are good for my body, I will never have to count calories again. HALLELUJAH!!!!!
• Stay off of the scale and get my body fat checked often. Over Christmas, I lost two pounds, but my body fat went up 1%, and that's bad news.
• It's not how much I eat, it's what I eat that really matters.
• Being healthy has no goal, it's for a lifetime.
• Make NO excuses. Either I am going to do, or I'm not.
• Good or bad results are depended upon what I do consistently.
• I NEED other people on this journey; I can do it by myself, but I don't want too.
• TAKING CARE OF MY BODY FEELS SO GOOD!!!!!

This year of working out with Berhane has been an investment in myself that I definitely do not regret. I am looking forward to getting leaner, stronger, and finer.....(Ok Berhane, I know I shouldn't worry about being fine, but please let me have my moment.)

Here's what I have been doing over the past year:



Part 1: The waist!

Part 2: The Waist!



I hate doing pushups, but I love having a strong upper body!

Doing a push and rolling a ball from side to side. TOUGH!

Part 1: Squat with the sand bag!

Part 2: Squat with the sand bag!

Push up on the bench!

Part 1: The back!

Part 2: The Back!

Squats with the bar!

Part 1: The Kettle Bell!

Part 2: Kettle Bell!

Part 3: Kettle Bell!

Part 1: The Pull-Up

Part 2: The Pull Up!

Part 3: The Pull Up!

Lunge to the left!

Lunge to the right!

Had to show the squat with the sandbag again. This
exercise makes me feel invincible!!!!!

At the end of a workout!

Phyiscally and Emotionally I am in a GOOD place! Why don't you join me?

As stated before "Hard Work Ain't Easy, but it's fair!!!!!!

Results are based upon effort always!