This recipe is courtesy of Theme Park Bar – which has some absolutely amazing drink recipes that you should check out.

The only change that I have made to this recipe is bringing the lemonade down to 1.5 oz so you can taste the other ingredients and pull some of the tartness out.

• 1.5 oz. Wild Turkey 101
• 3/4 oz. Jim Beam Red Stag (Black Cherry flavored bourbon)
• 2 oz. Lemonade (get a good one, don’t cheap out here)
• 1/2 oz. Grenadine
• 1/2 oz. Simple Syrup
• 1 drop Liquid Smoke (yes, the one you use for cooking)
• 3 Luxardo Maraschino Cherries (they are expensive – I omit them)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker and pour over ice.

I figured this was the easiest way to share my “secrets”.

Apps I Use

• Lose It! – this is what I used to count calories. Intuitive design and some paid features (optional) that can better help you plan your meals and days. (loseit.com)
• Renpho – I highly recommend their Digital Scale and Smart Measuring Tape
• Apple Fitness+ – available on OS devices only in the App Store

Equipment I Own

• Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic Rowing Machine Rower with LCD Monitor – a zero frills rowing machine. Doesn’t have an SPM counter, unfortunately.
• Neoprene Coated Dumbells – I have them in various weights and use them for various exercises. Easy to clean.
• Resistance Bands – available at Five Below.
• Gaiam Zafu Meditation Cushion – perfect for keeping your posture during Mediations.

Exercises I Do

• Core – anyone helps me feel the burn!
• Dance – an occasional Ben workout.
• HIIT – Bakari and Jamie Ray are my peeps!
• Meditation – a perfect way to shut down at the end of the day.
• Pilates – love my time with Darryl…
• Rowing – Josh & Bakari all the way!
• Strength – Sam & Kyle keep me sweating!
• Time To Walk & Time To Run – keep me moving.

Clothes I Wear

• Adidas – I am huge fan of the #3StripeLife and their shoes. My recent faves are the RESPONSE SUPER 2.0 SHOES (may be sold out) and ULTRABOOST WEB DNA SHOES for running; I use the FLUIDFLASH SHOES for indoor workouts and love the X9000L4‘s in Core Black/Core Black/Cloud White for walking and fashion. (Clicking “Adidas” will take you to signup page for their FREE AdiClub Program where you will get $10 off your first purchase!)
• Fabletics – I love their lined Fundamental Shorts! The liner pocket holds your phone super snug during runs. I use their One Shorts lined for swim trunks and their Training Day tees are top-notch. (I do receive a referral incentive if you click the link)

Anything Else?

• Honey – I save a ton of cash using Honey on most all of my purchases. It really adds up. (Click the link to join for FREE and start saving money – like I do!)

As many of you know, I set a personal challenge of #AlcoholFreeApril and limiting my Strength training to once a week. My weight loss has plateaued since adding weights into the mix around Christmas. As muscle weighs more than fat, I came to the unscientific conclusion that my muscle gain has secretly sabotaged my weight loss. This Alanis is textbook “ironic.”

I was also seeing an increase in my later evening drinking of cocktails with sugar, as many nights I had calories to spare, and an Old Fashioned or Smoked Turkey would hit the spot. On top of that, I also tried to cut all calories by 8p.

My other concern as I approached the finish of my goal weight was that I was overly focused on the number – and not how I felt. For years, many people have heard that the focus on a number rather than how they felt is dangerous. Based on my age and height, my “ideal” weight is somewhere in the 140s. If I were to get that low, I would look emaciated.

Taking that into account, I decided that my “goal” would be adjusted to whatever my weigh-in weight on April 30 was, and I would move forward on May 1^st with #MaintenanceModeMay. This would allow me to resume my Strength training, which I have missed, and allow me a less regimented caloric intake each day.

For April alone, my weight loss was 6.8 pounds, getting me down to a svelte 177.2. My initial goal was 170, but having been down that far as recently as 2010, I can honestly say I feel better physically and mentally at 177 than I did 7 pounds lighter. I am incredibly pleased with this on-the-fly adaptation.

In 280 days, I have lost 57.8 pounds. My clothes are smaller – my attitude is happier, and my physical well-being has greatly improved. I mean…I wore a white sweatshirt the other day and didn’t look like the Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man – and it felt great.

So what to do next?

LoseIt! presented me three options:

1. Lose 1 pound per week with Calorie intakes of 1,972 (M-Th) and 2,268 (F-Su)
2. Lose ½ pound per week with Calorie intakes of 2,207 (M-Th) and 2,538 (F-Su)
3. Maintain my current weight with Calorie intakes of 2,442 (M-Th) and 2,808 (F-Su)

All three of these intrigue me for different reasons.

The Maintenance option would increase my weight loss budget from 1,520 & 1,736 respectfully, which is between 900 and 1000 calories more than I could ingest for the past nine months. It would make me more susceptible to getting lazy with my logging. I mean, what’s an entire bag of Tapatio Doritos when you have 920 more calories to eat, right?

The 1-pound option only increases my intake 400 or so calories, which is plenty, but I am also not looking for weight loss, per se, but rather accountability without massive temptations.

In the end, I chose the ½ pound as I believe it indeed affords me the best of both worlds and still allows me to more appropriately gauge what food influences I can explore better without a severely regimented calorie suppression.

So as I begin this new journey, thank you to those who have supported me verbally and physically – helped keep me accountable, especially when I need that constant push – and those who have joined in on the journey mid-stream and have used my story to help write their own.

We’ve got this people – Let’s Go!

#closeyourrings #makegoalsnotexcuses

I had been counting it down for the past week or so, as I knew I was getting close, but since it is here, let’s celebrate; 1/2 a year of closing my Move Ring! Since September 23, 2021, I have successfully closed my Move Ring (calories) every day. That’s 183 consecutive days! Looking at the photos, I only didn’t close my other rings one day – October 9.

I am so incredibly proud of my achievements these past 241 days – the day I started on my weight loss journey. The day I decided I needed to stop adding letters and numbers to my sizes and start subtracting them.

I increased my fitness around my birthday – September 9, by updating my Apple Watch to allow me to use the Fitness+ Workouts both at home and away. Never in a million years did I think I would be doing HIIT exercises or even know what a “reverse lunge” or “skaters with a jump” were; exploring Meditation and Yoga or even going for walks before/after work, seeing as how that’s what I do for a living!

I added Strength Workouts in at Christmas. I have completed a workout (Strength, HIIT, Pilates, Walking, or Running) every day since December 25 – 88 consecutive days of at least one workout!

As I explore Pilates and the benefits those workouts offer, I am encouraged to have lost more than 50 pounds, as that number has fluctuated since adding weights into the mix. I plan to go #AlcoholFreeApril to try and hit my weight loss goal so I can switch into Maintenance Mode on Lose It! It makes me sound like a lush, but having discovered an affinity for Old Fashioned’s and Smoked Turkeys (it’s a Disney drink), I’ve added some extra sugar to my evenings that may be holding me back.

Today was also a massive milestone in my Running Workouts as I completed another 5k (3.1 miles). It has become my baseline standard to walk/run/jog at least every time I go out. I have been building my endurance, and today ran all but .12 miles of my 5k! My last “official” walk/run/jog 5k time (Virtual Charlie Brown Christmas) was 35:08, but today I reduced it to 30:43 with splits of 10’15”/9’01”/10’22” – the 9-minute mile also being a personal best!

I also set a new HIIT Workout Record today of 374 Calories during my 30-minute workout while also bringing my March Challenge needed daily calorie burn under 600. So I will also be hitting that monthly challenge in the coming days.

These changes have all contributed to me having more excellent overall mental as well. This has been an enormous challenge over these past five years, and while I still have moments of sadness and grief that will never go away, this concurrent journey has significantly helped me immeasurably. 

This has also helped reestablish my unhealthy relationship with food, as it would be my crutch more often than not. I have also found my palate branching into new and exciting tastes and flavors I would not have ventured into without proper guidance in the past.

Thank you to those who have been witnessing from afar or following me every step via the Apple Watch. 

Thank you to those I have endured Challenges with – told you I was going perfect on that last one, Jeremy! You have paced me in times I needed a push.

Thank you to Bakari, Kyle, Sam, Sherica, Kim, Jamie-Ray, Jhon, Molly, Dustin, Jessica, LaShawn, Gregg, Amir, Ben, Scott, and Darryl. You’ve pushed and motivated me on days/nights I wasn’t inspired, guided me on vacations and trips away from home, and made me feel good about myself and the skin I now live in. Oh, and to my Burn Bar Fam – sorry I keep staying “Ahead Of The Pack”!

Thank you to everyone who encouraged me face-to-face or via Social Media. I’m glad you helped inspire me and to those who have shared that I became an inspiration to them – thank you for helping keep me that much more accountable.

Enjoy the day! #closeyourrings #makegoalsnotexcuses #applefitnessplus #DayOneJournal #WeightLossJourney