The parents

My parents are in town visiting for two months. For the first time in ever, I am going to be 32, I am alone with my parents. Usually, my sister is around to be the buffer. She is more of  a people person than I am, so she is better at dealing with the parents than I am.
Now don't get me wrong, I love my parents, but this country has uselessed me when it comes to being pragmatic. I am very impatient and I like to be alone and do my own thing. I am a lone ranger and a homebody. Usually when people say they are homebodies they are usually using the wrong term. When I say I am a homebody, it is an understatement. I endeavor to fit every errand into my weekday schedule so that I don't have to go outside my apartment on the weekend, I don't even check the mail on weekends because that involves looking "not crazy" and going outside. With this in mind, imagine my difficulty with having the parents with me? constantly around and about and wanting to talk and what not. I
 am praying that at the end of this stay they will not disown me. I am actively reminding myself to be patient and to exhale and to remember that these are the people who brought me into this world, raised me, educated me and made me into the woman that I am today. I just have to revert back to my naija self and act right, abi na wetin? I also need to find a church before my mom loses her mind and sends me to mountain of fire for deliverance.

416 days, Myfitnesspal streak broken and struggling to stay on track

For the past few months, I have been having a difficult time sticking to my health and fitness goal. I have been cycling through periods of steadfast motivation to stay on track and long stretches of wanting to binge on everything in sight. I have weighed myself twice in almost three months and my pants are tighter than they were a couple of months ago. This is the longest stretch of time in a particular pant size, I usually go down a pant size every month and a half; not this time.
Despite all of these roadblocks though, I have not lost hope. I am still fighting and wading. I have not given up hope. I am struggling, but if I am consistent in trying to make the right choices, eventually I will break out of my rut. The fact that I am being honest and accountable and trying to stick to my healthy choices is already a big deal. Usually I would have given up by now, but I refuse to undo over a year of hard work, hours spent at the gym and time spent eating better and being better to myself in general. I am worth time, I will not roll over and give up because I deserve the best me there is. I hope that with time and patience I will be able to continually do what I need to do to be a healthier version of me. I can do this, I will do this, I am doing this.

Progress-396 days and counting

I ran my first 5K yesterday and I completed it in 44:52. To say that I am proud will be the understatement of the century. I am still in disbelief, especially since I barely trained for it. It is not that I didn't train at all, but I did not put in the required time and effort the experts would recommend. Sill I was able to complete the race and do it in under 45 minutes. Now I am more than exited to train for another 5K and to continue to stay on track with my healthy lifestyle. There are so many firsts for me with this journey that I look forward to even more of it. Also, having my wifey in my corner helps a great deal. I also noticed that I am not as angry as I used to be, granted my promotion and new job has something to do with it, but I also want to believe that having other things beside my work to focus on is helping. I also noticed that I am gradually breaking out of my habit to wallow too long in my stress filled life. I realized that I am a stress eater, usually I would just eat and eat and when I finally noticed that I was gaining back the weight I would give up and just continue to eat. This time, I am catching myself and breaking out of my funk. Hopefully I will keep this up and reach my goal. Besides, I can't afford to spend unseen amounts of money on eating food that is bad for my waist, my teeth and my wallet. It is so enlightening to be able to see what all my mistakes cost me and be able to correct them. I hope I can remain as dedicated as I am, eventually I plan on opening up to people about my journey and maybe help others as I have helped myself.

Happy New Year! 4 months in....

Happy New Year!!!!! I know it's April, but this is my first post of the year hence my greeting. There have been a lot of changes in my life. Many of which have been for the best. Most importantly I have not fallen off the weight loss band wagon. I am currently 104 pounds down, I have had a lot of stumbles, mostly due to stress eating, but I have stayed mostly on track with eating right and working out. I am currently training for the Susan G Komen race for the Cure 5k on May 10th. I try to participate every year by walking it or volunteering, but this year I plan on running the race and I am very excited. I will make sure I write a post about the race.

I moved out of our house last month. We ended up renting the place out since I cannot live with a roommate and I now live on my own in an apartment. I am 31 years old and this is the first time I have lived on my own. A lot of the excitement of having "my own place" is still stirring within me; each time I open the door there is a rush of excitement that overwhelms me and I am loving it. On the flipside, I have to keep reminding myself that I have to make sure I remember that rent is due at a certain time every month and I better not forget. Wouldn't it be ironic if I, who goes after late rent payers for a living, became one of those late rent payers? LOL!

On the travel front, my brother came to visit from Nigeria and I had to travel to Atlanta to see him. It was fun especially since I never go anywhere. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and I am looking forward to taking more trips. Maybe one a year or so, unless someone else is paying for me to take the trip then I could take multiple trips a year :)

In general, I have had a stressful few months, but since life is not always smooth sailing I am learning to roll with the flow without letting the stress derail my plans. All that is left now is for me to start going outside on the weekends. I have registered to be a volunteer for the WABA (Washington Area Bicyclists Association) Hopefully I will not be one of those flaky volunteers who never shows up to anything....