Importance of Stretching and Black Planet Comment

Morning Family,

So I get up this morning and decide to do some stretches. It's the first time that I have ever stretched in the morning before doing anything and it's 8:00am and I feel fantastic. Okay, I know your thinking that it's early but I've done my workout, walked to work and normally, I struggle with lower back pain but this morning I'm free of the back ache. I suspect that it will remain this way for the rest of the day and I will let you know either way on tomorrow.

So, I'm a member of Black Planet and have been so for many years. When I first signed up back when it first started, it was truly a networking site and I tended to get great job leads but nowadays it's more of a dating site, which I can't wrap my mind around and as such, don't visit the site very often. However, given my feel good morning, I see that I am favored by someone on BP. I go to their site and they have no picture and little info about themselves, so I look at their friends and favorites. I see this guy, he looks interesting, so I click on his profile, only to discover that he's looking for a fuck buddy (that's cool) and I read his blog. I read blogs to get a sense of who people are and he writes about how all the men around him treat their women horribly, yet he is a good guy who is single and he begs the most ridiculous question I've ever read in my life, which is 'should he treat women differently?' In other words, should he start treating women disrespectfully because maybe that's the only way he will get a woman. Below is my response:

I must be in rare form this morning because I never comment on blogs but your question was truly evocative. You inquire about how you should treat women but I wonder when will the men who treat women respectfully learn to pull to the side the other men they know (the men that treat women disrespectfully) and check these men on their behavior or engage them in a conversation that encourages them to treat women with more respect? Why do men feel that because most women accept this behavior that somehow they need to engage in this dysfunctional behavior? And lastly, when will black men like yourself, stand up for a definition of manhood that includes treating women with respect and having functional and healthy relationship with women? peace and blessing always

Can I get an amen or have I gone crazy?
Enjoy your day, wishing peace, light and lots of good old fashion LOVE!

Weight Loss Journey Update

I ran for 4o minutes this morning, total 50 minutes with warm up and cool down. I haven't truly ran in over 10 years, wow that's a long time. It all happened when I signed up for this nutrition class with the local recreation department called Lose It Fast, Lose It Forever with Pete Thomas. I had no intentions of signing up for the boot camp that goes along with the course, I felt at the time all I needed are some instructions and I would figure out the rest. The truth is, once I attended the first class, I was so inspired by Pete, I signed up for the boot camp (Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays).

The first day of boot camp was Tuesday, June 21, 2011 and after nearly two hours of high intensity interval training, I could barely breathe and felt nauseous. I knew that people claimed to have this feeling after working out but I had never experienced anything like this. My body was completely sore for two full days. I could barely move and when Thursday came around, it was unclear if I would return. In the end, I went to Thursdays class but gave myself permission to leave if things got too hard. Would you believe that I, not only went to class but stayed the whole time and wasn't nauseous like the first night. I've been diligent every since.

Nine weeks later, with a starting weight of 306 pounds, I've lost over 20 pounds. My last weigh in was Monday, August 15th, 2011 and I weight 285. What I do know is this, I feel strong and despite my lower back pain, I am able to do the boot camp and can run again. Hip, hip hooray!

What I also realized a few weeks ago is that I have to love the body I am in. So every day I try to lovingly rub my fat rolls and thank them for a job well done, however, I tell them that they may shrink and eventually go away. I will miss my fat rolls but as the old saying goes, there is a time and place for everything. I look forward to the continued journey because I'm just at the very beginning but if this morning is any indication of things to come, I'm well on my way. I'm so proud of myself and it feels so good to accomplish something I thought I would never be able to accomplish ever again.

peace, light and much love