Brown-Skinned Man

Brown-skinned, beautiful brown-skinned man
Soft, smooth skin and strong dentures that can chew up bones to the marrow. 
Head strong, accommodating a sharp brain that invents and adapts with time
Hands well built like the ancient castles, the Great Zimbabwe 
The blood in his veins carries life, hard work, fruitfulness and plenty of goodness
His body withstands any weather, come rain or storm

But alas, his skin is not so beautiful,
For it turns him into a human target for savages' ferocious and relentless attacks
What good are his dentures when they are sprawled all over the place in pools of blood, 
Blood that carried so much promise but now means little as it seeps into the ground
That strong head? Broken. Brain scattered all over the place and I wish I meant that metaphorically
What good are his hands when they're tied up behind his back
Or his body when he's restrained and pounced upon like vultures picking out a carcass. 
His body can withstand the weather, but not the lashings of a neighbour turned villain
Where is my superman, children cry,
My superman has fallen, lying in a pool of his own blood while the villain licks his machete like the demented, cold-hearted murderer he is

Do you not realise that by persecuting your neighbour, you're handicapping yourself?
Do you not know that you are punching your own body, cutting your nose to spite your face?
Don't you hear the cries of my beautiful brown skinned man when you carry on burning him alive, because I certainly do, from thousands of miles away
And my tears could flow into a river if they found a way
Like parts of a tree, we need each other,
Love is the trunk and we are the branches, without love, we dry out and die. "One love, one heart - let's get together and feel alright".

30 Day Lean Me: Days 7-13

With exams and revision taking up my time, I barely have time to type up updates on my blog, but I definitely am keeping up with my workouts and clean eating. In this case, I've decided to post weekly rather than every three days in order to focus more on my revision. Now my workouts are getting more and more intense, and with 9am exams which are 3 hours long, some days I've had to work out early morning when I wake up, around 5.30am. This exam season is a blessing in disguise, despite how much I hate waking up in the morning! It's helped me to be more disciplined and my body is getting accustomed to waking up early.

Day 7:

I did my workouts first thing in the morning, had a glass of hot lemon water and then a bowl of cereal. 

granola, spinach and pepper omelette, baked sweet potato and beef livers

Day 8 I had left over livers from the previous night's dinner for lunch, with bread with hummus spread. Dinner was a lazy one, salad with grilled yellow pepper dressing and chicken wings from Nandos.

granola, livers, bread and hummus, and salad with chicken wings

Day 9 went perfectly well. I had granola again for breakfast, beans on toast for lunch and pork chop with half a jacket potato and sauteed vegetables. My morning workout went well and my body could feel the pain as intensity is increasing.

Day 10 was a day to be proud of. My gym partner had been home all this time, and I hated going to the gym on my own, therefore whenever she wasn't around I simply wouldn't go to the gym. This time, however, I remembered why I'm doing this - for me. Therefore that means with a partner or not, I should go to the gym. I was well sweaty and sticky afterwards, and I felt proud of myself! I ate pretty well as well during the day and I spent most of the day studying! For dinner I simply had left overs from the previous night, and I snacked on pistachios.

Day 11 I woke up, did my workout which has now increased in intensity as well, and prepared for the day. I had breakfast and prepared a packed lunch as I was going to spend the whole day in the library. I was disappointed with how the day ended as I was too hungry to return to my flat to cook, so I ordered food in one of the restaurants on campus. Although very yummy, it isn't healthy at all. I had chicken wings and a bit of fries! However, I was to make up for that the following day.

Day 12 I woke up around 6am for my 9am exam, did some revision and never got the chance to do my workout. I did after the exam during the afternoon, as I felt that it's better late than never and consistency is what will help me achieve my fitness goals. I had a quick breakfast of yoghurt and a raw fruit bar. Dinner was inspired by Ivy Mango Chatora, my kitchen role model as I like to call her. If I'm being honest, I got the inspiration to be even more creative with food from her and I absolutely love her works!

wholemeal toast, baked beans, egg and mushroom - the perfect post exam lunch!
Baked sweet potato wedges, grilled fish on a bed of vegetables (carrots, asparagus, peppers and onion)

Day 13 I had another exam at 9am (all my exams are at 9am) and once again, I didn't do my workout until after. It really is very hard now but I can't give up! I'm on a roll! I snack throughout the day to curb hunger and improve my metabolism, and I hope it doesn't just stop at 30 days!

raw fruit and nut bar, yoghurt, wholemeal toast with beans and eggs, and tuna-beans balls with sweet potato wedges and sauteed spinach with chick peas.

That's all for now, until next week xoxo

30 Day Lean Me: Days 4-6

Getting fit is no easy task, that's for sure. Plunging in to a journey head-first without mentally preparing yourself will deter your success, so will setting unrealistic goals. The key to achieving any goal is consistency in everything you do to work towards that goal. That being said, I'd like to share that I had my doubts on day 5 when the intensity of the morning routine increased, and I looked with dread at days 21 on-wards when it will get even worse. I used to set myself goals (fitness goals), but rarely stuck to them and rarely saw them through. I'm happy to say that's a thing of the past and I'm even more disciplined now than I was then. Having goals that you can actually visualise (comparing myself now to myself early last year when I had a healthier lifestyle) is such an encouragement. I've removed myself from situations that tempt me to go off my clean-eating, and even as I go to work, I'm not tempted to order creamy mash or chips with my food but head straight for that salad without batting my eyelids! I can't explain how liberating that feels! One needs to discipline one's body before it rules them. I do not wish to be one of those people who end up being unable to focus or control themselves, because self-control begins with even the smallest things like not pressing the snooze button on your alarm each morning (I'm still working on that), not procrastinating (still working on it), and another important thing this journey is teaching me is to plan ahead! I plan my meals ahead and have to schedule my day to accommodate exercising time. This will hopefully become habitual at the end of the journey, which is exactly what I will need for the forthcoming academic years.

Day 4:

I did all my workouts and my muscles were starting to ache a little bit. Below are my meals:

Breakfast - granola with semi skimmed milk and banana

Lunch: wholemeal toast with baked beans and freshly made strawberry and banana smoothie

Dinner: Grilled chicken thighs with avocado and pineapple

Day 5:

The workouts were intense today and I killed myself in the gym some more!

Breakfast: Fruit salad (apple, tangerine, strawberries, grapes) with strawberry yoghurt

Lunch: two boiled eggs, carrot sticks and baked beans

mid-afternoon snack - home made hummus spread on a slice of toast

Time spent on a cross trainer

Time spent on treadmill. Calories counted 15 minutes in, therefore inaccurate

Working a sweat

                                          

Dinner: roast pork ribs, broccoli and sauteed aubergine, mushroom, onion, peppers and garlic

Day 6:

Woke up with achey muscles after last night's gym session! Did my morning workout, wincing throughout but it worked out well.

Breakfast: Fruit salad with cherry yoghurt

Lunch: wholemeal toast with baked beans and my first attempt at poached egg

Mid afternoon snack: hummus with peri peri drizzle and an avocado

Dinner: left over pork ribs, aubergine, mushroom, peppers, onion, garlic, and baked sweet potato wedges

Midnight snack (raw cocoa, dates and nuts bar) in the library while I studied

I'm quite pleased with my progress the past three days. The first three were disappointing on my part, but I worked hard to rectify that! Hopefully, the show goes on and I get better and better!

30 Day Lean Me: Days 1-3

Day 1:

Today is the beginning of what shall hopefully be a lifestyle thing! That summer body won't come while I sit on my butt doing nothing, so I motivated myself to get out of bed this morning and did my workout. My current body mass and body fat are very poor, therefore I feel the need to do something about it.

Weighed in at Boots

First, I stretched to avoid achey muscles, and then I did the first round of squats, sit ups and lunges. My body was still slightly stiff from sleep, therefore it took me a few seconds longer to complete than the second round when I breezed through it since my body muscles were well stretched out.

Afterwards, I took a slice of lemon and put it in a mug with hot water, then I drank it all. I had 500ml of water, took a shower and then had breakfast. For breakfast, I had granola in semi-skimmed milk with raisins and banana. It was actually very yummy and filling.

To start off the day...

For lunch, I made baked jacket potato with baked beans and broccoli. I didn't get a chance to do the optional afternoon workout as I had to go to work, however.

Lunch...

For dinner I had a large mixed leaf salad with cherry tomatoes and cucumber, dressed in char-grilled yellow pepper dressing, and a quarter chicken. I spent hours on my feet moving up and down that by the time I got back to my flat, I just collapsed in bed from exhaustion.

Dinner

Overall, day 1 was a good start. The more I keep it up, the easier it will all be.

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Day 2:

 Today I woke up quite early to travel to Hendon for a training weekend. I had a quick moment to do my morning work out:10 sumo squats (squating with legs wide apart), 10 sit ups with raised knees, 10 lunges (hold lunge for 5 seconds) and repeated it all. After my shower, I had granola again but only with raisins this time.

Breakfast

The rest of the day was a shambles to say the least! Firstly, although I brought my fruit along for lunch and snacking (grapges, banana and apple), I was so hungry by the time I got to Hendon, and luckily it was lunchtime. I had an egg and cress sandwich on wholewheat bread, which was a better option to BLT or bacon and chicken! I had plenty of water throughout the day to keep any hunger at bay. Dinner time we were taken to a pub where I ordered a steak with peas and fries *covers face*, and to make it worse, I succumbed to temptation and had dessert! Quite a disappointing day overall, but tomorrow will be better!

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Day 3:

For breakfast, I went to a small restaurant and ordered vegetarian sausages with eggs, mushroom, hash brown and baked beans to go. It's not entirely healthy, but the alternative was bacon and that was out of the question!

Quick brekkie

For lunch I had yet another egg and cress sandwich and orange juice. I also snacked on a banana, and drank loads of water. I then travelled back to Colchester and made myself dinner! I had an oven grilled fish seasoned with salt, garlic, lemon and lemon grass. I served it with two tablespoons of mash, sauteed asparagus with mushrooms and garlic. It was a really light, yummy meal which I thoroughly enjoyed! I did 20 minutes of P90X and then got ready for bed. 

Dinner...

Overall, this weekend has been somewhat disappointing, but I'm glad I began, therefore tomorrow I'll make sure I remain consistent. 3 days down, 27 to go!