Yesterday was my 44th birthday. I can’t believe it. I remember when a woman in her 40’s was on her way to being over the hill, less desired, and washed up.

As of late, I was struggling with my weight. My body wanted to fall into “big mamma” mode. Doing yoga and pilates was no longer enough. It was time to integrate weights. Once I did that, my body began to fall in line. For that past few months, I’ve been almost exclusively doing HardCORE Yoga with Weights on YogaDownload.com.

These exercises are hard. Seriously. I have to take breaks about ever five minutes or so. But! They work, and I’m quite satisfied in the direction I’m going.

Sometimes, you have to switch up your exercise routine a bit to jumpstart your metabolism. Contrary to what some believe, weight training won’t lead to you losing your feminine curves. It’s virtually impossible to look like The Incredible Hulk-ess without some hormonal intervention. In fact, weight training will (eventually) make you thinner, because muscles burn more fat and calories.

I’m not weighing myself, so I have no idea how much weight I’ve lost. I only go by how my clothes fit…which is a lot damn better than they did three months ago!

The important thing for me is consistency. At this stage in my life, I can’t afford to skip a workout. It’s at least 20 minutes a day, six days a week, no exceptions. I’m due to go back to the doctor to check on my borderline sugar levels, but I think there will be some improvement. I was startled to discover my resting blood sugar was 100. Normal blood sugar levels are between 60-100, so I was right on the border. That shook me.

What are you doing these days to stay in shape?

Follow Christelyn on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our You Tube channel. And if you want to be a little moreabout this online dating thing, InterracialDatingCentral is the official dating site for this blog.