Question & Answer Session 2day!!

Well hey ya'll . . . I hope all is well in your world today and that ya'll have some fun stuff planned for your mom's & yourselves this weekend. I have something fun planned . . . doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! LOLOL I'm exhausted from the ripping & running I've been doing so I think I'm just gonna rest and work on my bootcamps for next week at the gym :) I'm such a nerd I know but hey I get relaxation and enjoyment outta doing what I love.
Sooooooooo onto today's topic which really isn't a topic at all, it's actually a Question & Answer Session. I'm doing this today for several reasons . . .1) I kinda didn't have a topic in mind 2) I wanted to do a kinda get to know me where I came from msg again and 3) I got lucky enough for a fan to request all the information so why not GRANT her request for answers by sharing'em with ya'll too. With that being said here goes . . . below you will find the message that Anita posted on the Fanpage yesterday asking all kinds of good questions:

hi K, the folks in our boot-camp class this morning was curious about your journey, hope you don't mind me asking several questions. 1. how long? 2. how were you when you got started? 3. what was/is your diet? 4. how many hours per day did you committed to changing in your body? 5. did you ever drink alcohol? if so, when did you stop...? 6. how much weight did you drop per month? Again, WOW!!! I heard you had a baby? is that true? how old is your baby? I have 2 girls of my own, its difficult to find time to workout sometimes. I'm 200 pounds, i do work out 3-4 times per week, i usually eat right, have 2 small children, and almost 50 years old. what advice do you have for me? My goal is to drop 70 lbs...Thanks!

Okkkkkkkkkk ya'll so here are my answers:

1. How long? a few pounds did come off on their own after the baby but NOT A LOT!! It took me about 18-20months to drop 70lbs. This was due to lack of focus, plateaus, frustration and everything else you can think of!! The remaining weight has come off progressively over time  because the saying "the last 10lbs are the hardest to loose is TRUE (to some degree)!!" My body found a place it was comfortable at and could easily live with the way I was eating & training. So to make my body flip the switch I had to shock it and make some changes by STEP OUTTA MY COMFORT ZONE!! That resulted in smaller weight loss successes BUT more IMPORTANTLY I was RESHAPING MY BODY which is what was REALLY changing the game!! With that being said for the TOTAL 100LBS took about 5yrs. I know it seems like a long time but this is a MARATHON not a SPRINT!!
2. How were you when you started? After the baby I was between 240-250lbs give or take depending on the day. By the time I was FED UP and truly committed myself to my weight loss I was maybe 220-225lbs
3. What is/was your diet? OOOOOOOOOOK here comes the question that is literally & figuratively the MEAT & POTATOES of this journey!! This is also a TRICKY question, so here goes . . . .As I've shared with ya'll before I am a self admitted COMPUTER NERD . . . 1) b/c that's what my job is & 2) I'm addicted to information and knowledge. So I grabbed my computer & my laptop oh so many years ago and I FLOODED myself with information on nutrition, eating properly, weight loss, etc. As I've also shared I was a Collegiate Athlete so I knew about working out but not so much about eating right. But I remembered a Coach I had who used to try to give me nutritional insight and as fate would have it I had some info she'd given me to look over. I learned about eating my 4-5+ small meals a day and how that HELPS your metabolism, when to eat what, types for foods to incorporated & to COMPLETELY remove from my diet. With that being said I immediately went to eating 5 meals a day which all included protein, carbs & veggies (except for breakfast).  As time went on and I gained more knowledge this changed slightly here & there but I STILL eat 5+ meals a day. Nothing there has changed because that is the Gospel and its here to stay!! I still eat my proteins, carbs & veggies BUT in different combination's.  Now my CURRENT diet (right this exact minute) is geared towards my competitions so it is not what would suggest for ya'll. Again this Blog is NOT about promoting competing, that's just something I have chosen to do for myself. It's about promoting regular everyday weight loss. We will cover the EATS part of this journey more in depth in the VERY near future because it is a VERY INTEGRAL part of this equation to ensure a healthy & successful weightloss
4. How many hours per day did you commit to changing your body? OOOOOOOOK another MEAT & POTATOES question . . .I will again letcha know I am an "All or Nothing" person so once I committed myself I was COMMITTED!! Now that doesn't mean I spent every waking moment in the gym or that I do now because I don't!! Like I told ya'll earlier on the Michael Baisden Show initially all I could do was WALK and that's exactly what I did EVERYDAY. I started off with 30min then mapped out a 3mile path through my neighborhood and I would walk that for however long it took me to get it done. Once I could get moving & stay moving without hurting I purchased The Firm and started working out at home and those workouts were about 30min - 1hr depending on what it was. I also kept walking because I was doing that during lunch to clear my mind from the nonsense of the folks I hafta deal with!! Then one day I just said enough is ENOUGH and I joined the gym again. LAWD HAVE MERCY lemmi tell ya!! For starters I'd go laaaaaaaaaaaate at night so no one I knew would see me and I could barely do 5min on the elliptical without dying. But I stuck with it and I would push myself to do 20min on the elliptical, treadmill (walking) & bike. As the journey progressed how & when I worked out & how long I trained all changed based on what I was trying to do. I will say however on average I spend (even now) 1-1.5hr working out and sometimes that's broken into 2 sessions: 1) Cardio & 2) Lifting, I also have days where I just do 30-45min cardio and that's it. Now when I'm prepping for a show that obviously increases because again I'm going for a different goal. 
5. Did you ever drink alcohol? If so, when did you stop? WHEWWWWWWWWW LAWD LEMMI TELL YA. . . .Did I drink?!?! Prior to getting preggers I was a drinker and I partied and hung out on the regular and drank alcohol every time my foot stepped out the door. Currently NO I DO NOT DRINK AT ALL!! I stopped drinking for about 5yrs and when I started again it put several pounds back on me and I IMMEDIATELY STOPPED!! IF I drink anything now it is a sip for a celebration because I have NO tolerance and LC ain't trying to hear me getting twisted. Now I will say this . . .DRINKING WAS A BIG part of my weight gain and a lot of peoples weight gain if you ask me. Alcohol slows your metabolism down for a substantial amount of time. The reason why I say "substantial" amount of time and not a definite number is because folks debate about it all the time, but I would say for sure somewhere between 24-48hrs you could expect slower metabolism after what I will call moderately heavy drinking (by that I mean more then 1 or 2 glasses of wine. . . I'm talking bout GETTING YO DRINK ON!! Which let's be honest MOST folks do because its easy to put back 2, 3 or 4 beer, wine & mixed drinks in a night out with friends and depending on what you're drinking and your tolerance feel no effects of it.
6. How much weight did you drop per month? I honestly have NO IDEA!! I am sooooo sorry about this one. I kept up with it to some degree and I have it documented somewhere but since my move from Charlotte to Connecticut I have organized myself into confusion so I gotta dig it up for you and I promise I will!!
7. I heard you had a baby? Is this True? How old is your baby?  YESSSSSSSSSSS I HAVE A BABY!! But let her tell it she's NO baby anymore, but as ya'll know she will Always & Forever be my BABY!! My daughter is 6yrs old and a total Joy & Blessing 

Me (KQ) & My baby girl (KZ) after her 1st bath

Me & Mini Me knocked out!!

 

 

 

Me & KZ @ her 1st day of school

Me & KZ @ my 1st show this year. She was SOOOOO PROUD OF ME!! Btw that's my mom back there sipping away on her beverage LOL!!

Hopefully I've answered all your questions to the BEST of my ABILITY!! I apologize for the length but I have a tendency to be long winded & to tell the WHOLE STORY LOLOL!! If you have any additional questions to go along with my answers to the ones you asked above please feel free to comment and I will do my best to answer those too. 

Again Thank You All SOOOOOOOOO MUCH for liking my fanpage and following me on the blog. I greatly appreciate it and I hope you enjoy all I that I have to offer and TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE A CHANGE!!!

As always wishing ya'll much success & blessings in your endeavors . . . 

Love KQ~

Work, Fitness, Family & Life Balancing Act . . .

For starters let me begin by saying OHHHHHHHHHHHHH HOW I FEEL BLESSED!! What is currently in motion now is what I have prayed & worked for over many many years!!! The Lord has been good to me and I Thank Him for it EVERYDAY!! I am a VERY humble person and right now it's just unbelievable to me the impact I'm having on people I don't even know. It's such a blessing & a wonderful thing it just brings me to tears at the mere thought. . . also I'd like to Thank All of ya'll for listening to my crazy ramblings on the Michael Baisden Show!! For all ya'll who know me ya'll know I am completely off the chains and Free until I'm Fool sometimes. When it comes to this journey I am an open book and I have no problem letting my guard down and revealing it ALL to ya'll. . . . so with that being said lemmi get off my emotional soapbox and get to the reason for the topic of this blog.

As most of ya'll know Fitness isn't my bread & butter (yet), I have a full-time job that I'm still working in conjunction with my Personal Training aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Competition Prep. YEAHHHHHHHHHH I know it sounds like a lot and honestly it is because to add to that I have a family to take care off too :) Well over these last few days I have totally become overwhelmed and realized I need to immediately enact a Work, Fitness, Family & Life Balancing Act to ensure 1) no one or nothing gets neglected 2) I don't go crazy in the process 3) my family nor ya'll throw me to the wolves for not being able to provide you everything you need & require from me. Remember on the Baisden Show I said . . . Self First NOT Selfish!!! By that I mean. . .you HAVE to take care of yourself first (mentally, physically, spiritually, etc) in order to be able to take care of anyone or anything else!! If you don't everything will fall apart including YOU and we just can't have that now can we!! Sooooooooo today while I was in spin class I started thinking to myself its time it's time to enact a PLAN and stick to it!!

Well here's the PLAN. . . Thankfully my job offers a program where you can take extra vacation time and I decided it would be beneficial for me to participate in this program. And I actually decided this waaaaaaaay before things started rolling like they are now so ya'll know I'm glad I made that choice :)  Starting in June I'll be working an abbreviated weekly work schedule which will allow me to 1) spend more time with my family - AKA my pumpkin Kyndal & LC during the Summer  2) devote more time to building my personal training business & building my fitness/spokes model career 3) log tooooooooons of man hours being an Ambassador for Weightloss and helping each & every one of you in any facet that I can when it comes to reaching whatever goals you may have regarding your health & fitness!!

I am TRULY one of those people who tries to do it all and I recognize that in myself. And anything that I do or put my mind to I do it to the fullest (as you can see by the tremendous weight loss I experienced). Now knowing and understanding these things I also know & understand I have to balance them all to be sure they are all completed successfully. Another thing you'll hear me say a lot and you'll prolly get sick of it but Oh To The Well . . . If you Fail to Plan then Plan to Fail and I ain't Planning on no Failure anytime soon, so here's my schedule . .

Monday, Wednesday & Friday:
Work on anything related to Fitness

• Training clients
• Working on things for the Fanpage, Blog, Website, etc - which will include but not limited to: workout & cooking videos, workout plans, nutrition plans, video taped question & answer sessions, my story or what I'm currently going thru (along with featuring the story of others) and anything else ya'll want insight on
• Basically HELP as many people and do as much that I can related to Health & Fitness in 1 day

Tuesday & Thursday:
WORK FULLTIME JOB!!! Limited access to Fanpage, Blog, etc so I can focus on keeping my bread & butter until the Lord sees fit for me to move onto Bigger & Better things
Saturday:
I will dedicate a few hours in the early AM to do all the things related to Health & Fitness that I did on Mon, Wed & Friday then it's off to be with the Fam!!
Sunday:
TOTALLY A ME & MY FAMILY DAY!!! Very little interaction on Facebook or my blog outside of reading and catching up on what I need to do on Monday.
I hope in setting up this schedule I'm not neglecting ya'll or anything I'm just going to hafta do it this way to ensure everything continues to run like a well oiled machine!! Soooooooo come tomorrow its ON & POPPIN. . . . so ya'll better hold on to the seat of your pants cause I'm hitting the ground running EARLY tomorrow!!
As always Much Love & Success to all of ya'll
KQ~

Ready, Set, Gooooooooo!!!

That's right . . . Tomorrow is the BIG DAY again!!
Now just a little history . . . last year this time I was competing in my very 1st show and it was this exact same one which is why I HAD to compete in it again this year. Last year however I was in the fitness model category which was fine but now I'm where I belong which is FIGURE baby!!!

here's a pic from last years show (4/2010)

And just to recap last year as always I wanted to win but my main goal was Top 10 and I achieved that by placing 8th. I was happy with that and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I learned a lot, I met a lot of great people and the fire was lit in my belly!! I honestly don't normally talk weight or anything like that except the fact of the total weight I've lost in this journey but I will share that I went into this show between 153-155ish which was AIIIIIIIIIIIGHT but NOT acceptable on any level if I was really trying to make my mark.

pic from 4/16/2010 show

For the show that just passed on the 16th I was the Leanest & Meanest I've ever been and walked on stage at an AWESOMELY SMOKING 143-145lbs. I felt GREAT, I looked GREAT & the outcome was GREAT!! Ya'll know as always I wanted to win but Top 5 was the plan and again I had another SUCCESSFUL mission and placed 5th. I still have lots to learn and was given great advice from my trainer who has been a complete God Send!! I have listened to him 100% and stuck to the plan and have been more then PLEASED with the results. So I know if I keep sticking with him and doing as I'm told I will continue to see the results on and off the stage that I desire.
With that being said lets talk about this show and were I'm coming in at . . . HOLD YOUR HATS FOR THIS ONE . . . As of this AM I weighed in at

140 lbs

WHAT?!?! WHAT?!?! Ya'll betta act like you know!! Who would've ever thought?!?! NOT ME!! I made myself several promises when I started this journey almost 6yrs ago that I wanted a better body then I had when I was a teenager and NOW I HAVE IT and I WORKED FOR IT!! I'm just so overcome with emotions I can't even begin to explain it to ya'll. There are times when I think back I can just cry for the sake of crying because I was DELIVERED from being overweight!! Heck even when I thought I was "right" I was "wrong" LOLOL! I so hate the word I'm about to use but it's all so "surreal" to me. I saw this body in my mind but I never thought I'd attain it or better yet I didn't know how or if it was even possible for me to attain it.
So now we approaching another Showtime and like normal I WANNA WIN!! And without a shadow of doubt I believe I have exactly what it takes to make that possible but there's always a goal which is Top 3 this time and I know I'm rocking a Top 3 body. With that being said I'm going to go out there tomorrow and present to them with my physique in the BEST WAY I know how and the cards will fall where they may. Regardless of the outcome I want ya'll to know I'm already a WINNER!!! So with that being said I'm going to wrap this blog up and get ready to get my tan and rest for the remainder of the day. . . As always I LOVE YA'LL & Thank Ya'll from the bottom of my heart for all the support and kind words. I'll keep ya posted on the progress of the day and I'll post links to the site where you can watch it live.
KQ