Following up on a vision from my 2020 Vision Board, it’s finally that time to write out my plans for “Thirsty 30 Body” to fruition.
#Thirsty30Body: the sexy, drop-dead gorgeous ideal body physique met by the age of 30 years.
[Read “2020 Vision Baby: Sharing My Vision Board” on Doc’s Castle.]
My weight-loss journey started in 2018. Nothing to do with it being about losing weight because I never viewed myself to be “big.” I was going through a moment I was falling off of a path of knowing what I wanted to do in life. It’s the first time I would publicly admit I was going through a moment of depression. I had recently quit my job as a dental business assistant, was dumped by my boyfriend at the time, and unfortunately was getting physically sick very often. I wasn’t feeling like my usual self. My journey started as another escape route from my self induced coma of writer’s block from updating DCM, as well. I thought why not go to the gym because I’m not doing anything else but working just to get off work to lounge all day. After hitting the gym a few times, I notice I felt more energized. Then I connected losing weight to feeling better which was the little motivation I needed to get out of a bad mood.
In 2015, I took an interest in studying how to strengthen my “will-power” muscle as a way out of some “drama.” So much so, self-discipline was my focus word coming into 2015, before I started making vision boards. It was another dark period for me. But I considered it an era where I truly started to understand my place in Baltimore’s Arts and Underground Culture, as well. I started taking the same mini habits and principles I learned and valued about myself during that time as a blueprint for how to get back to my sane place in 2018.
By little habits, I mean, I used my knowledge of the small habits about myself I’ve jotting in my notebook to push me forward. I already knew so much about fitness and weight loss because I’m a daughter to a dietitian. Since elementary school, I’ve known the food guide pyramid from corner to corner. Ask any of my friends about the foods I like to eat when we’re dining out, and they’ll say I’m the only person they know who’d order a salad as an entre for a meal. In this new journey, I decided to focus on the little parables, habits, and principles I valued as a way to help me set and achieve goals towards losing weight.
Here’s five examples of what I mean by habits, sayings, and principles I jotted in my notebook:
- If I carry a small notebook and flip through reading its pages often, it’ll inspire me to write and track new ideas in it often. (Using a notebook to keep recipe notes, nutritional tips, and shopping lists).
- If something is constantly in your face, view it as a notification that needs to be swiped away. (This helped me with posting notes of weight-loss goals everywhere I looked often and taking them down whenever I completed them.)
- “It takes 28 days to form a habit.” (Kept this in mind to help build my habits to eating new foods and drinking water daily.)
- The rule of 3 and 5 when completing my To-Do lists. (I used this while following Meal plans and completing challenges.)
- Making and completing mini-challenges are additional ways to developing steps for reaching your set goal. (Knowing this helped me to set squat challenges and not eating white carbs for a week challenges.)
I used simple ideas I always thought about as a foundation for building a productive lifestyle and as a way to form a healthy persona I wanted to meet.
I officially began pursuing what I now call the #Thirsty30Body challenge at the end of summer 2019 on a whim when I decided to join a 6-week fitness Boot camp named Hero Fit in Columbia, MD. I did it seeking to find another way to “self-discipline” and strengthen my will-power muscle because I reached another period in my life I believed I needed to regain focus. But this time I thought, “Hmm, what if I put a deadline on it?” That’s where 30 came into play.
Hero Fit reeled me in with their enticing incentive to reward anyone who met their challenge of either losing 20 lbs or 5 % body fat by 6-weeks. Winners could get $500 reward, have a trip for two to Las Vegas, and a 6-month membership for the fitness gym and resources. Hero Fit provided all their clients with an accountability coach and nutritionist to assist each member with carefully crafted fitness plans provided at the start of joining the 6-week challenge. People who join the boot camp gain friendships and plenty of useful information to aid in achieving a healthy lifestyle.
I didn’t win the Hero Fit challenge though I was short of the reward by only 3 lbs. I continued to take everything I did while enrolled in boot camp with me because what I found out was that my accountability coach and nutritionist knew as much as I did about my body. My meal plan and workout routine remained the same regardless of being enrolled there. It’s the accountability that gets me to where I needed to be and the best results.
Ding ding! It’s accountability and tracking that literally keeps me together in anything I choose to do. So I stuck to my notebook of simple notes and habits as a way to stay on track of my fitness goals. I believed in myself. I believed in my own accountability to reach my goal so much so that I betted on myself to do it without throwing money at things I wasn’t contributing to using on a regular basis, like my Planet Fitness Membership or subscribing to detox or fasting. All these things some people would think are absolutely necessary to lose weight. I canceled my subscriptions, memberships, and attention for everything I currently used for weight loss, and resorted to free resources and “habits” I knew I would actually enjoy doing to get me to my halfway mark of the #Thirsty30Body challenge.
At the start of the #Thirsty30Body Challenge, I weighed in on the scale at Hero Fit at 226 lbs. At the halfway point of July 1, 2020, I weighed in at 204 lbs. I lost a total of 22 lbs and I feel great! I’m not done. But definitely feel better. And weirdly so…this journey doesn’t feel hard at all because I’ve created new healthy habits that become normal daily actions. My body is starting to look like BAM and I like it.
Hey! Support Black Businesses! The above photoshoot was taken at the new production studio located in Baltimore, MD. TR3 Productions & Distribution Inc. is “a total solution to all media and audio production. From music production to radio broadcasting, TR3 supplies the resources needed for shaping and building a company’s branding message.” TR3 is currently renovating a new production studio in West Baltimore and is expected to open for operation in late summer 2020. Follow TR3 Productions & Distribution Inc. for more updates via their Instagram @TR3.Productions.
As I shared my pictures on my IG, people reached out for advice on how I stuck to losing weight. If you would like me to share some challenges I do to keep up with my #Thirsty30Body challenge, write “Do it” in the comments section below.