Are you relying on Body Magic or the MAGIC of your Body

Now going into this blog I have accepted the fact I may step on some toes, I may upset some people & I may even loose a FB friend of a blog follower BUT I wouldn't be ME if I didn't tell the TRUTH!!! This blog post is also manly for the ladies but fellla's you can listen up too because they sell Body Magic for men also.
OOOOOOOOOOOOK now that we've gotten the disclaimers out of the way let me go in on this subject. Lately on TV, in the celebrity blogs and on Facebook everyone's carrying on about Body Magic. Well honestly I was clueless because I don't pay a lot attention to some of these advertisements so I was like "What is Body Magic". So I looked it up and here's what it claims (DIRECTLY FROM THEIR SITE) Reshape YOUR body INSTANTLY . . . No Diets, No Exercise, No Surgery. . .

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!?!?! That's all I could and can say. Are you freaking fracking serious?!?! Now let me say this, I am not knocking girdles or fitted slip tops or items like that which will keep you from having too much jiggle or make you have smooth lines in your clothes. BUT THIS HERE IS ANOTHER SITUATION! As I combed over the site and listed to people talk about it and watched the infomercials it's claiming to reshape your body in 10minutes and you can loose up to 3 dress sizes. Well here's what I have to say to that. . . NO WAY, NOW HOW . . . NOT HAPPENING PERIOD END OF DISCUSSION!!!
It's very unfortunate that we have become a society of RIGHT NOW and seeing this product made me believe that more now than ever before. When it comes to your Health & Fitness its not a RIGHT NOW thing its a LIFESTYLE CHANGE and a PROCESS!! I'm sure all of you have heard this and you will unfortunately have to hear it again . . . ANYTHING WORTH HAVING IS WORTH WORKING FOR!!! We want a good job we WORK on educating and equipping ourselves to get that job, we want a new car we WORK on saving and searching for that perfect car, you want a great relationship with your significant other and you WORK at making it happen. . . so what happened to WORKING FOR A HEALTHY & FIT BODY?!?! Truth be told the body is a perfect instrument created by God. In this perfect body that we have been gifted we possess an INTERNAL BODY MAGIC which is called MUSCLE!!! We will digress back to my blog post several days ago where I discussed the importance of resistance training which will help you build lean muscle which will in-turn help you burn more fat. Well that same lean muscle that you're gaining with the resistance training will automatically serve and your INTERNAL BODY MAGIC!!
I am 33 years old with a 5 year old (soon to be 6) daughter, I weigh between 150-155lbs and being that I am more into my health & fitness I am smaller now than I was when I was 23 and I weighed less back then. Now if that doesn't show you the positive affects of your INTERNAL BODY MAGIC I don't know what will. Muscle is a MAGIC thing and it can help you!! It can serve as your body's internal girdle, it can protect your bones, make you strong and if you're going about this entire process the right way you will most likely be healthy. People I just want you to understand there is no such thing as INSTANT!! Body Magic claims NO DIET, NO EXERCISE, NO SURGERY well guess what else . . . NO CHANGE in your body either. If you want a change you have to do something different and wearing Body Magic isn't it! Once you take that contraption off you are right where you started and possibly worse because it's been giving you a false sense of what you're really working with and you could've possibly allowing yourself to indulge more and exercise less which means you're putting on weight. This is a VICIOUS cycle and we MUST BREAK IT NOW!! There are NO MAGIC pills, NO MAGIC potion, NO BODY MAGIC contraptions that will replace hard work when it comes to changing your body. I'm sorry to be the barrier of bad news but I'm also the deliverer of the TRUTH!! So with this being said please feel free to comment, debate with me or agree you know all are welcomed here at any time!!
Love ya like always (regardless if you promote Body Magic or not)
KQ

Plan, Prepare then PROSPER!!!

For those of you who know me and know my mommy you knows she's hella organized and she is all about being PREPARED!! So growing up I used to talk so much trash about all this organizing and all this preparing and what not cause I just thought she was INSANE. Well as it would be the Lord BLESSED me to live long enough to 1) live on my with others & on my own and 2) have a child & responsibilities of my own. When those things occurred (Thankfully not all at the same time) I realized this lady wasn't as crazy as I once told myself she was and I also realized her habits had rubbed off on me. I really found out how bad I had it once I had my daughter and I had things lined up, bought special organization things for her closet, drawers, bottles, etc. Also how I line everything up in the pantry and what not. . . it's almost sickening but hey it makes life flow smoothly for me. And when I'm not organized please believe it makes me NERVOUS & UNEASY and things get outta whack really quick.

Soooooooooo how does all this relate to your Health & Fitness!?!? Taking care of your Health & Fitness is an everyday part of your life just like everything else so why not take the time to plan, prepare & prosper in that avenue too. I will give you a good example by using myself. I am extremely well prepared during the week by cooking my meals on Sunday for Monday - Wednesday then normally cooking again on Wednesday for Thursday - Saturday, but when the weekends come I tend to mess up with my meal times and have so many gaps in my meals and skipped meals or even grab something in a hurry cause its time to eat and I don't have my food with me. The same applies for my weekday & weekend workouts. During the week I'm on point with my times because like most of you I have a job, kids & things that need to be accomplished so I know I'm going to get up @ 6am, eat by 630am, out the door by 730am, in the gym by 8-815am and the day continues from there. But again the weekend comes and I'm like well I'll get up when I get up and I'll get there and get it done and normally it turns into a rushed mess and I miss my full workout or sometimes don't get one. Well are these weekend SABOTAGES getting me to my goals . . . I'll safely say NO!!

Now how are we gonna correct this . . . .we're going to PLAN, PREPARE & ultimately PROSPER!! For starters if you're not mapping out your weekday game plan YOU NEED TO BEGIN NOW!! I'm a notebook, calendar, Blackberry person and I try to keep everything organized using a combination of those 3 things. The key is to find what's going to work best for you and start implementing it. Some things are going to for the most part remain consistent, you go to work at X time, kids go to school & get out of school/camp at Y time, you want them in bed by Z time and so forth and so on sooooooooo by knowing all of this you can figure out how and when you're going to get your workouts in. Once you've mastered the weekdays the EVIL WEEKEND SABOTAGE is next!! This one is soooooo much harder but YOU CAN DO IT!! Again some things are going to be consistent like sports practices, hair & nail appointments and all the other fun stuff we do on the weekends. But the good about the weekends is the workout can be a ALL INCLUSIVE thing with the family!!No matter what you do or how you have to do it YOU MUST START PLANNING, PREPARING & THEN PROSPERING!!!

Love Ya
KQ

PS. . . How could I forget the most important part. Just like getting your daily / weekly schedule organized you'll need to do the same for your meals (yourself & your family). This will also help in SAVING MONEY & TIME (which is important to most of us). But the key is to plan, Plan, PLAN!!! Then prepare, Prepare, PREPARE!! Make your meal plan out for yourself & the family or one just you and one for the family (depending on what you're training for), hit the grocery store and purchase JUST what you need to facilitate your meal plan. This way you're ensuring there's not a lot of excess snacks in the house to tempt you. Of course you can't deny your family & kids but try picking healthier snacks that would serve a better nutritional purpose for them other than cookies and candy that way if you break down and have some it won't be wrecking your diet. Soooooooooooo now you've PLANNED & PREPARED both your daily workout schedule & your meal plan and you have NO OTHER OPTION BUT TO . . . PROSPER

3500. . .

 It takes 3500 Calories to burn 1lb of FAT. I know that sounds like a lot but don't get OVERWHELMED by that number because there's several ways we can tackle that number and burn that stubborn FAT!. Of course the majority of the population believes when you're trying to loose weight it's cardio, cardio, cardio. . . and trust me cardio will help but there's more to the equation than that. Let's start looking at our Health & Fitness equation as a pie. YEPPERS THAT'S RIGHT I said PIE, but I don't mean a slice of Grandma's Apple Pie or whatever you favorite pie is, but a pie chart. Once we start doing that we will see that there are three (3) very IMPORTANT compents that come together to complete our Health & Fitness pie. They are Cardio, Nutrition, and the most often forgotten RESISTANCE TRAINING. 

Our bodies are furnaces and they are constantly burning calories all day and yes the old equation is true

CALORIES IN - CALORIES BURNED =

WEIGHTLOSS!! 

But we can manipulate that equation to work for us in a more efficient way. For starters you're already gonna burn calories just getting up and going about your normal daily activities. We will assume for arguments sake since you're reading this blog you're concerned about your Health & Fitness and you're doing some level of cardiovascular exercise and at least are aware of where you're at nutritionally (those 2 areas we will revisit later on this week I PROMISE). So with that being said let's talk about Resistance Training . . . Now this is to all my lovely ladies (men you can tune out on this one if you'd like) LIFTING WEIGHTS WILL NOT MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A MAN!! There is no way, no how, NOT POSSIBLE. . . without the assistance of something (we will leave what that something is up to your imagination). But there's no way that normal everyday resistance training will having you looking like anything else other than a lean, mean, sexy fighting machine! Now that we've debunked that myth let's move on. As I stated previously it takes 3500 calories to burn 1 lb of FAT and ultimately the more FAT we burn the leaner & healthier we become. But did you know that 1 lb of MUSCLE burns 50 CALORIES compared to 1 lb of FAT only burning 3 CALORIES. Now obviously I'm no mathematician BUT clearly you already see the advantages to building lean muscle. But let's expand on this mathematical formula. If you start incorporating Resistance Training into your daily routine and you gain 10lbs of muscle (over time of course) you would be burning 500 EXTRA CALORIES A DAY. . . . hmmmmmmmmm ok so let's take that a step further. Now I've gained 10lbs of Muscle which now burns 500 calories / day there are 7 days in the week for a total of 3500 CALORIES!!! 

1lb muscle = 50 calories burned x 10 = 10lbs of muscle = 500 calories burned x 7 days = 3500 CALORIES

Now you haven't counted 1 calorie or done 1 long drawn out session of cardio. So think about the outcome when you add those 2 components in. OMG!! You're about to take yourself to a level where you're getting some SERIOUS FAT BURNING going. This now also explains to you how some people are having weeks where they're loosing 3,4,5+ lbs a week. They are like FAT BURNING FURNACES because they're building the lean muscle, they're watching their nutrition & incorporating intense cardio thus allowing them significant weightloss thus reaching the ULTIMATE GOAL of being . . . . 

HEALTHY & FIT!!!

Ok so I've officially ran my dern mouth too much today and I'm gonna say good-bye and let you "chew the Fat" amongst yourself (LOL) and ponder over the information I gave you today. If you have any questions, concerns, arguments or whatever you know as always you're free to comment and I'll always do my best to respond, clarify or partake in some playful back & forth debate if needed LOLOL

As always LOVE YA

KQ

PS. . FAMILY WE'RE TRYING TO RESHAPE THE BODY!! All your first 2 basic components of Cardio & Nutrition will help you change but you throw RESISTANCE TRAINING in and you will COMPLETELY RESHAPE THE BODY!!!! 

Do you have a PLAN?!?!

So far since I landed back in Charlotte this past Saturday from my 18days in CT I have lost 4.5 lbs.

WHAT. . . WHAT?!?!

We're back to 156.5  on CD24 (4 more days until my cycle starts so this weight is good) and I'm happy. I actually told myself this past Sunday I would be at 156-158 by the end of the week no matter what and I've already accomplished that goal with 2 more days remaining . .. YEAH ME!! Now of course I'm still not 100% satisfied but I pleased and this keeps my GAME FACE on. I know where I WANT to be & where I NEED to be and with 6wks & a few days out from my show I'm in a decent position. So I will continue to push on for the remainder of the week and see where I come in at weight wise by Sunday morning which will allow me to set my goals for next week.So it is time to employ one of my FAVORITE motto's

"If you FAIL to PLAN, then you PLAN to FAIL". 

This goes hand & hand with setting GOALS. I have a goal of where I want to be on June 26th so me & and my AWESOME trainer Buffmother have devised a P.O.A. (PLAN of ATTACK) to get me there but in the meantime between time it is a necessity to make small goals to help you attain the BIG ULTIMATE GOAL and those little goals need their own P.O.A. too!! I mean honestly people if you don't know where you're going how in the world are you gonna get there?!?!? Ok, ok, ok get off my soapbox. . . I know I'm gonna sit down and hush and get back to the reason for this blog LOL!!

Soooooooooo anyway all of that is to say I want to be @ 145 or less when I walk across that stage on June 26th and be a lean mean fighting machine. I have even given myself goal measurements for my waist, hips & thighs which will also be truth tellers as to whether I'm on the right path or not. Now I know I've set some lofty goals but I am up for the CHALLENGE. What is life if we don't have Challenges & Obstacles to overcome. If everything was easy and everything came easy then what would we really have to work for. As I said today on my Facebook page . . .ANYTHING WORTH HAVING IS WORTH WORKING FOR! I believe that 110% and that applies to every aspect of my life . . .if I want a well behaved & respectful child, I discipline and teach them the way I want them to behave. . .if I want a good job I get a good education and do what's needed to attain that job so why would wanting a good body be any different. You have to feed it and train it properly and you will reap the benefits and that's what I'm about to do to reach these goals and that's what I want you to do too. 

Set your ULTIMATE GOAL, then create a PLAN of ATTACK and to ensure you reach your ULTIMATE GOAL set some smaller goals and create plans of attack for them too. Remember if you don't know where you're going how in the ham & cheese are you gonna get there?!?! 

Love ya always 

KQ

Today's AWESOME Plyometrics & Olympic Lift workout

MAN O'MAN O'MAN!!! Today's workout was KILLER and something to write home about thus the reason why I'm blogging about it to you guys LOLOLOL!! Since I have an athletic background I love those off the wall functional fitness workouts and that's why I loved what I did today. I know you're gonna think I'm totally crazy but I was so anxious and excited about today's workout I couldn't wait to get to the gym and get my Plyometric and Olympic lift circuit ON & POPPING!!!
As defined by Wikipedia . . . Plyometrics is a type of exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system, generally for the purpose of improving performance in sports. Plyometric movements, in which a muscle is loaded and then contracted in rapid sequence, use the strength, elasticity and innervation of muscle and surrounding tissues to jump higher, run faster, throw farther, or hit harder, depending on the desired training goal. Plyometrics is used to increase the speed or force of muscular contractions, providing explosiveness for a variety of sport-specific activities.

But PLEASE understand these types of exercises are not just for past & present athletes these types of exercises help EVERYONE. Anyone can do machines all the time or cardio all the time and possibly go from an apple to a cherry. I mean if you look to your left you see virtually the same shape just a different size. NO, NO, NO, NO NO . . .That's not what we're going for. . . WE WANT TO CHANGE THE BODY! As I was once told you can either carve a block of granite with a spoon or a jack hammer. Now eventually we'll get to the same result but obviously one will take longer than the other so we're trying to use these types of exercises and go from overweight Star Jones to Angela Basset or Madonna.

Now Olympic style lifts are pretty standard and don't really change much or have a lot of variations but when it comes to Plyometrics the sky is the limit. You can do so many different Plyometric moves in so many different ways its almost unimaginable. Click here to read over a sampling of different plyometric & olympic lift exercises and still this doesn't scratch the surface LOLOL. So what did I do today you ask . . . well here goes. I superset (Two different physical exercises performed back-to-back, without a period of rest between them) my exercises 

10min warmup - Arc Trainer

• 1 arm snatch 3 x 5 @ 35lbs
• burpees 3 x 20

• Hang Cleans 3 x 5 @ 95lbs
• Mountain Climbers w/Bosu ball

• Push Press 3 x 5 @ 95lbs
• Box Jumps 3 x 20

• Plie Squats 3 x 15 @ 50lbs
• Layup Hops 3 x 20 (for this one I'll have to take a video for you)

• 1 Legged Squats off bench x 10 each side
• Toe taps (I'll hafta video tap this exercise too b/c I can't find a picture for you anywhere)

•  Bosu ball pushup
• Box Lateral Side Shuffle

Now after all of that I'm going to eat some grilled chicken & TONS of green beans then do some abs before I finally climb in the bed. So that was it for the night and if you have any questions you know how to get me

As always BE FREE UNTIL YOU'RE FOOL!!!

KQ!!


  

Despite today's obstacles . . .

I pushed on and got my 1st workout in with MUCH success!! I'm feeling a bit down on myself for not pushing as hard these last several days since the show ended so I'm "wanting" to do a little extra without going overboard so I decided I'll get in some AM cardio.
Well today started off well with me getting up @ 6am and immediately eating my oatmeal & chicken breast then began getting myself together before I woke Kyndal up. Once I woke her up that's when things started going DOWN HILL!! For starters she's as DRAMATIC as a Soap Opera Star (wonder where she got that) and she was carrying on about being tired and her legs hurting which is what she says every morning cause she wants me to let her lay back down and watch TV. So anyway, we move on past that and its time for me to do something to her hair. Now someone PLEASE tell me if this child slept on top of her head last night b/c it was a WRECK. I was like WHAT IN THE WORLD, URGHHHHHHHHHH!! Needless to say what normally takes me 15-20min to do when I'm restyling in the morning too 45min again I say URGHHHHHHHH!! Now my plans of being to the gym @ 730am are COMPLETELY RUINED!! We finally get off to school and I'm stuck with just a few minutes before time to log into work so I decide to come back home, log in, look over mail talk to my mom then leave for the gym @ 9am. WELLLLLLLLLLLL that plan was spoiled when she told me about my grandmother still having a swollen hand and needing to go to the Dr. Now as ya'll know I live in CHARLOTTE, NC. . . they live in COLUMBIA, SC. . . why was I the one who had to call the Dr. who's also in COLUMBIA, SC.
Now after all that I FINALLY got a workout in. I had to take my lunch break EARLY and hustle to the gym and do the following:

• 10min Arc trainer warmup
• 15min INTENSE PLYOMETRICS
• 15min Stairmill intervals
• 5min cool down

M2 time came right before I left for the gym so I did 1 tbsp peanut butter with celery and once I got back home I ravished my next meal which consisted of 2 sweet potato patties & 1/2 cup turkey and egg white mixture. YUMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! Now I'm working and I'll go back to the gym this afternoon to do my Legs and prolly go stretch in the sauna which will feel like pure HEAVEN!!
KQ