Treadmill or Elliptical? What cha think?

Look at that cougar go, RAWR!

For about 2 weeks (even when I wasn't working out), I started to wonder and research which workout machine would one benefit from: the treadmill or the elliptical? I've worked out on both in the past and even now and I honestly believe that they both can whoop some ass and make ya sweat, of course depending on settings and whatever program the machine is set for. But I have also heard from other people say they do not get anything out of a treadmill workout and favor the elliptical and others say vice versa.



OkGo! Rockin' it out on the treadmill

I talked to my dad (the super duper weight-lifin', marathon running, whey protein drinkin' mofo) about it and he believes the treadmill is the thing to do for weight loss. When he got hired on at the jail last fall, he started at 217 and on his 54th birthday (May 23rd) he is now 180. He says that working out on the treadmill, your using more muscles and burning more fat, especially if your running.

From personal experience, I like the elliptical. When I first started this weight loss deal, I discovered it's hard for a 270+ big gal to truck it on the treadmill for 30 minutes and feel good after wards, hell naw! However, a friend of mine introduced me to the elliptical and found it was much much easier to workout on. The elliptical is easy on the joints and doesn't hurt the shins, as high intensity treadmill work does for an obese person (trust me, I know).

So, here's my plan... I'll try the treadmill training and see if I come along farther than what I have with the elliptical. I've actually started this 2 days ago and so far, I've gone from 275 to 270 as of today (along with plenty of water and lessened the fried food intake). At the end of the month, I hope to end up at 250. Welp, I'll leave you with this:

Never Give Up... I Almost Did.

It's been about 12 days since my last update. Been busy with work, getting ready to start classes at my new school, and did a lot of vacationing. With such a busy 2 weeks, I slipped away from my morning/afternoon workouts and got lazy like no other. My eating habits weren't too bad but I've could've stayed away from the McDonalds chicken nuggets and the easily accessible Coke. This week after work, I found myself tired, sluggish, regretful for not continuing to take care of myself and not in the best of moods. I couldn't get any motivation to get off the couch and forseriously almost gave up on trying to lose this weight... Until I read this article and found motivation all over again: . I started to understand that it's okay to mess up and I should just pick up from where I left off. So at 8:30 this morning, I got up, ate my cereal and hauled ass to the gym and told myself to just workout for 5 minutes and see how I felt. Got on the treadmill and 5 minutes turned into 30 minutes! After that, I worked on the exercise machines for 20 minutes and did a mile on the elliptical. I ain't gonna lie, after today's workout that crap hurt but my mindset was in a MUCH better place than where it was yesterday. Here are some tips from the article that helped me out, maybe it'll help you as well:

1. Try a short workout. Even five minutes is better than nothing.

4. Drink your water. Try to aim for 8 cups each day and you’ll feel the difference!

9. Exercise for 10 minutes. Jump rope, march in place, or do some crunches. Small amounts do add up to something big!

13. Go shopping for some healthy foods

19. Listen to an inspirational song. Better yet, make a playlist of them so you can turn to it whenever you need a boost. (I listen to a LOT of rock and rap so a mix of both definitely help!)

Just because you fall off the wagon for a bit doesn't mean all is lost. Just stand up and finish what you started!

Jam of the day, week, summer! I heard this in Atlanta last weekend:

Time to grub, Oh What to Eat?

Woot! Just got home from work and Krogering and it feels soo good to get out that heat! I haven't gone to the gym yet because I'm effin' starving.. Guess it's time to cook dinner, eh? Well, I'm having something new and normally out of my vocabulary:



That's right ya'll, Boca Burgers is what's for dinner! They were only $3.00 at Kroger. Always wanted to try one but been too much of a punk, until now. You could microwave these things but it's recommended to cook 'em up on the stove top, so that's what I did:



And instead of regular ol' hamburger buns, I got some Nature's Own Multigrain sandwich rounds:





Omnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom... I didn't eat much at work, don't judge me!

After the burgers were done cooking, I dressed up the buns with mustard, lettuce, and added ketchup later because I had NOOO idea how these cup coasters would taste. And here's the finishing product with a side of kettle-cooked reduced fat chips:


Bite #1 was all it took for me to fall in love with you <3


Blake looking up at me, hoping to God I'd get up and get a drink. Too bad I got one already pup, hahahaahahaaa!


Aww Bella your so.. Hell naw!

All in all, Boca is the shiznit with a cherry on top! I overcooked the patties a bit on purpose to stray away from that mushy taste, but they were perfect. I can definitely see that box of frozen beef patties being used as shooting discs to feed Ashley's trigger-happy rifle addiction :)

Welp, time to go work out, la8er days and feel free to comment!

Jam of the day, this is for my haters (yes, sadly I have them):

Bird in My Purse!

What the deuce is going on?! welcome to my first blog, first entry, where you not only read about the randomness of me and my rants, but mostly where I'll record my weight loss.

I've been struggling with being a heavy girl since I was in the fifth grade. I mean, I learned how to read thanks to the golden glow of the golden arches, the oddly shaped Hut on the Pizza Hut signs. Ma and Pa Al-Amin were proud that they had a smart girl on their hands, but little did they know this tiny Keithia would end up a 278 pound super-sized Keeto. Observe (Beginning week):





Both pictures were taken late April of this year. Seeing these pictures made me cringe because I never thought I would or could ever get so heavy and be so unhappy with myself. That day I decided it was time for a change. I got tired of being not only unhappy with myself and where I was, but I was tired all the time, not enthusiastic about anything, basically I wasn't the Keithia I once was years ago, I hated it!

I started slow by working out at least twice a week. The first week, I struggled to do a mile on the eliptical (which took damn near 20 minutes to complete), but it got done. Though I was slowly but surely getting active again, my diet was a different story.: Mcdonalds on the daily, eating large Little Caesars pizzas and a bag of breadsticks to myself, skipping breakfast and wasting $20+ dollars on fast food for lunch was how I was rolling and it took a minute for me to catch onto how I was killing myself...So I joined Weight Watchers May 2, 2010.

The first meeting was intimidating but the group was very quick to welcome me in as one of their own and the leader reminded me that I wasn't alone in this trip down weight loss hell. After that meeting and going over the material, Weight Watchers made losing weight look like a game: I choose what I eat and the lower the point values for the food, the more points I have to play with AND I lose weight! Working out while doing Weight Watchers was optional, but after getting back into working out again, I didn't want to drop the regimen. First week of Weight Watchers I yo-yo'd between losing 5-7 pounds (woot, right?) and I got an effin' A sticker for it! A whole sticker for losing fat that was once stored in the fat pouch in my back! See (2nd Week):





It's not much of a difference from the first pics but oh well..But then the following week I gained 2 MF'n pounds, but lost 3 more an hour later. Today I dropped Weight Watchers. I found out that being on it slows down your metabolism and fluctuates your weight. Even my leader who's been doing Weight Watchers since the Great Depression has had to quit at some point and pick it back up! Anyhow, Here's me week 3:



This picture was taken last weekend on our way to Atlanta. Looks like I lost a little, yay!

Now that I won't be using Weight Watchers Point system to help me out, I gotta do this on my own. Weight Watchers did benefit me when it came to learning when I got hungry, when I was satisfied, and definitely with new recipes and learning to substitute fatty foods for the healthier. Goodbye Weight Watchers, your tedious point system and expensive will not be missed! As for my workouts, I no longer struggle to get that mile in! In a matter of 3 weeks, I went from a mile in 20 minutes to 3 miles in 27 minutes (as of today). It's a beautiful thing!

Welp, time to watch Smack Down! La8er days!


P.S. My jam of the day: