Measurements

I took my measurements today and they are as follows:

Bust - 39 inches
Waist - 33 inches
Hips - 40 inches
Thigh - 24 inches
Calf - 16 inches



These are the main parts of my body that I am concerned with toning. I am not really concerned with my arms because I naturally have a muscular build and I don't work on toning my arms because I easily show muscle definition. Here is a picture below from 2010, I was approximately 145lbs and I was doing mainly cardio to lose/maintain weight. I was doing absolutely no strength training on my upper body and you can see how muscular I am...it is all natural.

 

 

The way I am built used to bother me. I used to want a more feminine build but I have come to realize that God gives you one body, one face, one shape, etc. You can tweak it here and there to get your desired look, but for the most part, what you are born with is what you are going to have. For example, my hips will always be slightly more narrow than my shoulders...no exercise will change that. I've learned that you can focus your energy on complaining about the things God gave you that you cannot change or you can focus your energy on more positive and productive thoughts. At this point in my life, I am satisfied with who I am physically. Losing weight enhances who I am but it is not changing who I am (if that makes sense). It is not plastic surgery, it is just a slimmer me.

 

Now back to the main topic which was about measurements. My goal is to decrease my waist measurement to 28 inches. I know, that is alot of inches to lose but I have been 28 inches before, even after going through pregnancy. My chest measurement is fine and I am sure it will shrink some as I lose more weight and I am fine with that. I would love to keep my hip measurement at 40 inches and if I could increase it to 41 or 42 inches (through adding more muscle to my bottom), that would be ideal. But just like my bust, I know that if I lose another 20 pounds, my hip measurement is bound to decrease so I will do the glute exercises I posted about earlier this month and go from there. Also, I have big thick legs. If I can takes a few inches off my thighs and calves, I would be happy.

 

So there you have it. I think a month is sufficient time to do an update on measurements to see if anything has changed. So I'll be back towards the end of October with updated measurements.

Week 8 and FINAL Recap on Weight Watchers

This past week was my last week on Weight Watchers. As I discussed in my recap last week, I think I am okay to finish the rest of my weight loss on my own, without the program. I have a good idea of what foods I should be eating, how many calories I should be consuming, and how much food I can consume while still maintaining at least a 2lb weight loss per week.

With that being said, ironically, this week was not a good week for me. It all started on Thursday. My employer was nice enough to treat us to lunch. The lunch seemed healthy enough, not too terribly bad: ham sandwich w/ cheese, lettuce & tomato, potato chips, an apple, two cookies. It was my intention to eat the lunch I brought that day but I decided to eat the box lunch because I was tired of eating the same things (my fault, not WW).

Then after I ate the lunch I started adding up the caloric intake of this lunch. Sandwich w/ cheese and mayo....potato chips and they were not even baked lays...two huge cookies (see cookies by the apple)....yikes!! So immediately guilt set in. I'm taking this weight loss thing seriously so guilt is a natural part of that I think. I hate feeling guilty when eating because we all have to eat to live. Some people can eat everything under the sun and moon and remain as slim as a pencil but I sit here feeling guilty over a ham sandwich boxed lunch. Don't know what else to say about that.

I have this perfectionist attitude that really messes me up from time to time. It is an all or nothing type of personality. If I cannot do it perfectly, then I won't even try to do it partially. If it cannot be 100%, I won't feel motivated at all about doing 90%. That is how I felt after consuming what weightwatchers.com considered 23 points out of my daily 26 points allowance in one meal! So that kind of set the tone for the rest of the week and weekend...I'd already messed up so I did not feel motivated to be so strict on myself the rest of the week.

So Saturday, I went to a birthday party and this was my menu over the course of a few hours: cheeseburger and sour cream/onion chips, cupcake, candy, slice of pizza, slice of cake, another slice of pizza and cups of kool-aid here and there. Not cool! Not cool if you are supposed to be on WeightWatchers and watching your weight, lol.

So Sunday, I had that same mentality that I had messed up and I was not going to lose any weight this week so I decided to eat two ice cream sandwiches back to back to satisfy a sweet tooth. More damage :(

Despite all that, I managed to lose a small bit of weight for which I am grateful. Here are my results:

Results
Week 1, Monday 7/30 – My starting weight was 172.2 lbs.
Week 2, Monday 8/6 -- I weighed in at 170.8 lbs.
Week 3, Monday 8/13 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 4, Monday 8/20 -- I weighed in at 170.6 lbs
Week 5, Monday 8/27 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 6, Monday 9/3 – I weighed in at 163.0 lbs
Week 7, Monday 9/10 – I weighed in at 159.8 lbs

Week 8, Monday 9/17 – I weighed in at 157.2 lbs
Final weigh-in on WW, Monday 9/24 - I weighed in at 155.4 lbs.

Total weight lost for 8 weeks on Weight Watchers: 16.8 lbs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

On another note, I stepped on the scale sometime mid-week last week and heard a crack. The digital scale still worked and populated a weight, but after that crack I could not trust that it was the "correct" weight. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a new scale and also something that I have been wanting but did not have, a measurement tape. As for the scale, I bought the same one I had already, and sure enough, there was a difference in my weight when I stepped on the old scale compared to the new scale....not a lot though, like 8/10 of a pound.

 

 

I will be using the measurement tape here soon to take my measurements. Even though I am more than half way through the initial 50lbs I wanted to lose, I think taking measurements at this point will be good because I can determine where my body is headed with my toning efforts. Am I losing inches on my stomach? Am I gaining any inches on my hips/butt? Those are the type of questions I hope to answer. Talk to you all again soon. If you have not noticed, I am on a roll updating this blog this month :)



Milky Way Saga Remy Human Hair Wig ~ Destiny

Earlier this month, I made a blog post about one of two wigs that I purchased from samsbeauty.com. Here is the post about the first wig if you have not read it already.

The second wig I bought was called Milky Way Saga Remy Human Hair Wig Destiny in the color 1B. Here is a picture of the wig, but this one has highlights in the front.

To be honest, the first few times I tried on this wig, I did not like it at all. It was something about the cut and the layers from the top to the bottom, it made the wig fall a weird way. So I decided to curl it with the curling wand and proceed to brush out the curls some so that it gave the wig a beachy wave pattern.

I loved the results and it changed this wig from one that I would probably never wear to one that I will be wearing alot because it now seems very flattering compared to before. The option to curl the wig is why I am glad I decided to purchase human hair wigs rather than synthetic.

 

Natural Hair

At age 20, I went natural...went into the bathroom with a pair of scissors, without even thinking twice, and cut off all of my hair. I was in LOVE with this hair you see in the picture. I loved everything about it at this length. I loved how I could condition it really well and it would just form these beautiful curls. I loved not worrying about styling it, just wash it and go. I would even wear hats sometimes tilted to one side that allowed a few small curls to peak out from the other side.

I don’t have the courage to chop it all off the way I did back then but I do miss the beauty, plushness and fluffiness of having natural hair. It is a texture that cannot be mimicked with relaxed hair. It spoke to my personality in a different way than relaxed hair does. I like both textures, relaxed and natural, but my heart misses my natural texture in this moment because I have not seen it in all its glory in years. There is no way for me to have the best of both worlds because when my hair was natural, I could not straighten it to a point where it would resemble relaxed hair. And to be honest, I did not try it more than a few times because I was fearful of damaging my curls beyond repair with heat.

Maybe one day I will revisit my natural hair…

 

 

Typical Meals for a Day on Weight Watchers

Points Allowance for the day = 26 points

Additional Points gained from working out = 3 points

 Breakfast

Quaker Instant Peach Oatmeal (2 Packets) = 7 points

Banana = 0 points

   Water = 0 points 

 

 

Lunch

Healthy Choice Chicken Margarita Frozen Meal = 8 points

Cashews (1 oz) = 5 points

Apple or Strawberries = 0 points

Water = 0 points

 

 

 

 

Snack

One Nutrigrain Bar = 3 points

 

Dinner

Baked Chicken Leg = 5 points

Salad of Romaine Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumbers = 0 points

Fat Free Italian Salad Dressing = 1 points

Water = 0 points

 

Total Points Allowance for the day = 29 points

Points used = 29 points
 

Sometimes I will eat two snacks during the day because I get 49 additional Weekly PointsPlus Allowance which are basically just points that I can spread out over the days of the week or use all in one day for a splurge. I always drink water because I cannot bear using points that could be used for food on something like juice or soda (I don’t even drink soda). What I like about WW is that some fruits and vegetables have a points value of 0 so you can fill up on those items and not use up your points.

I just wanted to quickly give you an idea of how much food I normally eat each day while on WW. If you are considering WW, the good thing about this plan is that it does not limit what types of foods you eat. You can eat carbs, sweets, even a cheeseburger or pizza if you want to, you just have to stay within your points for the day/week. Because of this, I think it is easier to stick to the plan. You don’t feel deprived of certain foods you love. The only negative to WW online would be remembering to go in and track what you ate. If you are busy, you may forget, although going to the website and tracking what you ate for the whole day takes only 3-4 minutes.

Toning the Glutes!

So over the course of a few days (a few minutes here and there) I have been searching YouTube trying to find some home workouts/exercises that specifically target the gluteal muscles. I wanted “home” workouts because I wanted some exercises that I could do right in my living room with no additional equipment necessary. I wanted to share with you two of the best videos I found on YouTube from FitnessBlender. These videos really gave a variety of exercises that can be done, very easy to follow, and once you memorize a few of the movements, you don’t even need the video. You can just do them whenever you feel you have a few extra minutes to incorporate a quick workout. These videos focus on the butt and thighs and although my main concern was my butt, working out my thighs as well can only be a plus.

What I have noticed with losing weight is that a lot of my feminine curves start to disappear….or “deflate” would even be a better word, lol. So I wanted to wait until I reached my goal weight to start doing toning exercises because I did not want to build muscle and add pounds on my body from the muscle. Adding weight that is muscle is not a bad thing but when you are trying to make the numbers on the scale go down, if the numbers start going up (for whatever reason), it is kind of a motivation killer. At least it is for me. I figured if I do these exercises with no weights or light weights, the muscle I build should be negligible on the scale. We’ll see J

 

 

Week 7 Recap on Weight Watchers

 

Wow, it’s been seven weeks already? Time flies when you are trying to lose weight. Well guys, I will be honest. This week I did not track any of my food or workouts on weightwatchers.com. I believe in the program, I am living proof that it works, but I am losing my motivation for tracking everything I eat. I am still managing to lose weight and you may wonder how that is possible.

Well, after being on weight watchers for a while, you begin to get an idea of how much food you can eat everyday to stay within your points value without actually tracking the nutritional information to get the point. For certain foods, I have the points values memorized for a single serving. For the prepackaged frozen meals, the points values are normally printed on the outside of the box. So it is not difficult to gage how much you can eat to still lose weight every week.

This is good and bad. It is good because after I am done with WW, I can maintain my weight because I have an idea of how much I can eat to lose weight, and eating a little bit more than that everyday should be sufficient to maintain my weight. Ofcourse, it will be a trial and error process but after a while I will know. Also, not tracking my points on weightwatchers.com is a bad thing because the website takes into consideration how many extra points you get for working out and how many extra points you get per week to use how you please. I can’t keep track of those things in my head.

I think I am going to do one more week on WW online (that would make 8 weeks on the program) before I cancel my membership and continue losing the rest of the weight on my own. I really hope that it does not turn out to be a mistake but I have to fly solo at one point or another. I feel comfortable doing it now.

Because not tracking my points, this week went well. I did not overeat on any day. We had a “na-cho average employee day” at work where they served nacho chips, nacho cheese sauce and jalapenos. I passed on that even though the smell of nachos filled the area and I have not had nachos is a long time. There really were not any major temptations given the fact I did not go to any social events or hang out with friends where there is food around. So the final results of this week equaled success. I’m feeling good about myself but still am eager to continue losing. I am still keeping my goal of reaching 136lbs by November 12^th.

Results
Week 1, Monday 7/30 – My starting weight was 172.2 lbs.
Week 2, Monday 8/6 -- I weighed in at 170.8 lbs.
Week 3, Monday 8/13 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 4, Monday 8/20 -- I weighed in at 170.6 lbs
Week 5, Monday 8/27 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 6, Monday 9/3 – I weighed in at 163.0 lbs
Week 7, Monday 9/10 – I weighed in at 159.8 lbs

Week 8, Monday 9/17 – I weighed in at 157.2 lbs

Total weight lost so far: 15 lbs
 

 

 

Wig pictured above is courtesy of rpgshow.com. Will do a post on this wig in the near future. Talk to you all again soon.

Juggling Many Balls

I am sitting here on a Sunday night writing a paper for school. Yes, I waited until the the last minute to complete it. I have been doing that a lot lately. I have lost all motivation for school. If it were not for the fact that I am two classes shy of completing my MBA, I might really seriously consider taking a hiatus from school. I have a lot of daily responsibilities between work and home and I absolutely HATE to have to sacrifice in others areas (especially my home life) for school.

In the middle of this degree, I went from taking two classes at a time to one. So right now I only have one class but it still seems to take up more time that I am willing to give. I have three young children. They need and deserve a lot of my time when I am home given the fact that I do work 8+ hours a day, so I try to make the most out of the time I spend with them. It is a blessing but quite scary being a parent because you know the things you are doing now, the things you are teaching your kids and showing your kids through your actions directly impact the type of people they are going to grow to be.

Because of this, after these two classes are complete, there will be no more school for me. I have considered the idea of going back for a second master's degree after giving myself an adequate break, but my children are more important. They need me and I want to be there. I don't have the financial means to be a stay-at-home mom but I do believe through a lot of prayer and guidance from above, we can raise good, decent, respectable children into adults given the amount of time I get to spend with them everyday.

So after school is complete, I am going to put my education on hold and focus my spare time on parenting my children. Even though I sometimes think I can do it all, the truth is I cannot and some things suffer in the process. I am learning my limits and what is good for my health and sanity, as well as what is good for the well-being of my family.

When you are juggling many balls, you can keep them all up in the air for a while, but eventually, one or two will drop. One of my old professors once told me that certain balls are made out of rubber and others are made out of glass. Work and school are made out of rubber, if you drop one of those, they can bounce and eventually will be okay. You can get a new job, you can attempt a class again, etc. But other balls are made of glass like family and friendships. If you drop those, it can have devastating effects. If I don't spend enough time with my kids when they are little, the results will show when they are older. If I sacrifice my important relationships for the "rubber balls" the damage can be irreparable. Something to think about, isn't it?

Candles

I am a lover of candles. For me, when my house is clean, the finishing touch is to light candles to have a lovely aroma floating around the clean house. During the summer, I bought four Bath and Body works candles that were in summer scents. Two of the candles I really really loved. Those two were Tiki Beach and White Palm. These two candles smell similar but a little different. I would light them at the same time because the two scents blend together so well. Here are the descriptions on the bottom of the candles:

Tiki Beach: Warm as coconut groves and white sand beaches, a delicious blend of toasted coconut, vanilla musk, and tropical island orchids.

White Palm: Like a warm Caribbean breeze, refreshing white palm leaves and dewy greens combine perfectly with sweet peach blossoms.
 

 

So the candles are regularly priced at $19.50 but every so often they go on sale for 2 for $20. I always wait until they go on sale because they go on sale frequently and I am not going to pay $20 for a candle when I can get the very same candle for half price. I definitely think the three wick Bath and Body works candles are worth the $10 because they last a very long time (and I burn my candles for hours at a time each day).

So today I went to bath and body works to smell the Fall scented candles and I must admit, I was not impressed. They had a lot of candles that smell like pumpkin, spice, cupcakes, frosting, nutmeg, caramel and things like that. I like the way the house smells when you are baking but I don't like that sugary sweet smell in a candle. I like my candles to be a bit more crisp and fresh rather than sweet and sugary. The only exception to this is one candle that I have loved for years (that I did not see in stores today) which is the Warm Vanilla Sugar. I like this one in the wintertime when it is cold outside.

Today, I ended up buying the candles Cotton and Lavender Vanilla. They are not really Fall scents but they are the fresh clean scents that I like. I did notice that Bath and Body Works has two different kinds of candles now, Slatkin & Co. that I have seen previously, and White Barn which I believe is new. I have the cotton candle lit right now and I must admit, I don't know if it is the particular smell I chose or if it's White Barn candles but the aroma is not as near a strong as the Slatkin & Co. candles I have had in the past. A little disappointing. I am going to try the Lavender Vanilla and if it is the same type of weak smelling candle, I won't be buying White Barn candles anymore from Bath and Body Works.

Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer

So a while back, I did a post about Bee Mine products and how much I love their moisturizers. I still do, that has not changed, but I decided to try the Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer because I have heard a lot of great things about it. I tried this product in the past and it was just okay for me but I think it's okay to revisit products that you have tried years before to see if your feelings change about the product. Now, I must agree that this product is pretty awesome. It is very comparable to the consistency and moisturizing capabilities of the Bee Mine Luscious Balanced Cream Moisturizer but at a fraction of the price.

Right now on the Bee Mine website, the Luscious Balanced Cream Moisturizer (8 oz) is selling for $18.97. I bought a 8.25oz tub of the Elasta QP moisturizer for $6.99 at my local beauty supply store. So that's more product for less than half the price, although I must add that Bee Mine products are all natural and organic whereas the Elasta QP moisturizer is not so that has to be taken into consideration as far as the price is concerned.

But for those of us who are limited to how much we can spend on our hair products, the Elasta QP moisturizer is a good alternative and it works really well. It is very thick so I would not recommend it as a moisturizer if you are wearing hairstyles where your hair is down and needs to flow or have great movement. A lighter/thinner moisturizer would be better for those type of styles.

So if you are looking for a good water based moisturizer (the first ingredient in this moisturizer is Water/Aqua/Eau), give the Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer a try.

 

 

Body Mass Index

I located a BMI calculator on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website. I will put the link at the end of the post for those of you who are interested. The site gave the following information:

BMI Categories:

·         Underweight = <18.5

·         Normal weight = 18.5–24.9

·         Overweight = 25–29.9

·         Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater 

So I put in my height which is 5 feet 2 1/2 inches (to be exact) and my current weight as of today 159.8 pounds. My BMI computation came to 28.8. That puts me in the overweight category. At my starting weight of 186 pounds, I was surely in the obese category (33.5 BMI). Doesn’t make me feel good at all.

So out of curiosity, I plugged in my height and my goal weight of 136 pounds. That put my BMI at 24.5 which in the normal weight range but as you can see it’s barely in that range. Another.5 (which would be 139 pounds) would put me in the overweight category. That is crazy to me. If only you could see how thin I look at 139 pounds.  

I have to do more research on this topic as it does not seem to take into consideration the size of a person’s frame and I personally have a large frame. What I mean by frame size is the size of your bones. One test of frame size is to wrap your thumb and middle finger around your wrists. If your fingers overlap you have a small frame. If your fingers touch, you have a medium frame. If your fingers have a gap between them, you have a large frame.  When I do this test, I have a gap. More to come on this topic.

BMI Calculator: http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

Week 6 Recap on Weight Watchers

So it was another successful week. I am so thrilled that I a moving closer and closer to my goal weight. I have outfits envisioned in my mind that I want to wear that I really could not at 186lbs. I am not talking about revealing outfits, no not all. I am talking about tasteful outfits that did not look good with a little belly hanging over or super thick legs.

Even though this week was successful, it was not easy. I had a lot of cravings this week and I just wanted to eat. I mean like really eat…not watching portion sizes, or calories, or caring about any of that weight watchers stuff.  But I managed to push through and not give into my cravings because I have a goal to reach and I don’t want to backtrack and have the numbers on the scale start moving in the opposite direction.

I tried a Healthy Choice meal today that I picked up while at Target this weekend. I will normally take a Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones frozen meal to work for lunch and/or dinner but I saw these Healthy Choice meals and noticed they also have the Weight Watchers points already calculated and printed on the box which is kinda cool. The Margherita Chicken was delicious! It had some kind of sauce made from balsamic vinegar that was so flavorful and the portion size felt pretty filling compared to some other boxed "diet" meals.

 

 

 

Anyway….here are my results:

Results
Week 1, Monday 7/30 – My starting weight was 172.2 lbs.
Week 2, Monday 8/6 -- I weighed in at 170.8 lbs.
Week 3, Monday 8/13 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 4, Monday 8/20 -- I weighed in at 170.6 lbs
Week 5, Monday 8/27 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 6, Monday 9/3 – I weighed in at 163.0 lbs
Week 7, Monday 9/10 – I weighed in at 159.8

Total weight lost so far: 12.4 lbs

I’ve found my Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred DVD that I used to love sooo much. I am going to incorporate that DVD into a few workouts this week if I have time.

 

 

I gave myself a deadline/goal of November 12 to reach my goal weight of 136lbs. 9 more weeks to go!

Top 12 Snacks for Super Hair

Check out the article linked below. It gives some common foods that are easily accessible and good for your hair. I personally eat 10 out of the 12 foods listed on a regular basis. It is interesting to know how it benefits my hair.


Top 12 Snacks for Super Hair

Milky Way Saga Remy Human Hair Wig ~ Unity

So I bought two wigs from samsbeauty.com, one of which I have been wearing for the past few days and I absolutely LOVE IT. The one I have been wearing is called Milky Way Saga Remy Human Hair Wig Unity.

 

It comes in different colors with the bangs highlighted in various shades but the website I bought the wig from only had the color 1 and one with purple highlights in stock so ofcourse I cannot do purple hair, so I chose the 1. I was afraid it would be too dark but it’s fine. The cost was very inexpensive, only $24.99.

It does not have combs, only adjustable straps in the back. The fit for me was great. I love the cut of the bang. The back of the wig looks like a stacked bob although I don’t have any pictures of the back to show.

 

This wig is awesome and I plan on wearing it as much as I can this relaxer stretch while keeping my real hair moisturized and braided underneath. I have received tons of compliments on this wig, and some people actually thought I cut my hair rather than thinking it was a wig.
 

 

Week 5 Recap on Weight Watchers

Well, week 5 on WW went awesome. I had no issues this week. I had no temptations and no situations that would cause me to compromise my daily points value. I exercised my normal five days out of the week, Monday through Friday.

Results
Week 1, Monday 7/30 – My starting weight was 172.2 lbs.
Week 2, Monday 8/6 -- I weighed in at 170.8 lbs.
Week 3, Monday 8/13 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 4, Monday 8/20 -- I weighed in at 170.6 lbs
Week 5, Monday 8/27 -- I weighed in at 167.8 lbs
Week 6, Monday 9/3 – I weighed in at 163.0 lbs

Total weight lost so far: 9.2 lbs

I have clothes in my closet in different sizes from the various sizes I have been over the years, the smallest being size 7/8 and the largest being 15/16. I was wearing the size 15/16 jeans when I was at my highest weight of 186lbs. I am proud to say those jeans no longer fit. Not only that, I tried on my size 9 jeans in my closet this week and to my surprise, they fit!! I was very shocked because in the past I could fit size 9 jeans when my weight is in the 140s, so for them to fit in the 160s was strange. I don’t know if I am carrying my weight differently or what but what I do know is that I do not want to get down smaller than a size 7.

 

My goal weight is 136lbs. That is 27 more lbs. At 136lbs I should comfortably fit size 7/8 clothes. I am going to give myself a goal of 10 more weeks to reach my goal weight. 10 more weeks will be November 12, a few days after I turn 29 years old. That is very reasonable. That is approximately 2.7lbs a week. Last week I lost almost 5 pounds which is definitely more than I should be losing for healthy weight loss. I am not going to lie though, I am happy with the number this week.

BTW, last night on YouTube I was watching a documentary called My 600lb Life that originally aired on TLC. It documented the story of four people over 600 pounds going through gastric bypass surgery, multiple skin removal surgeries and how these things affected their lives. I pulled a few images of that documentary off the internet, see below.

These people really touched my heart for various reasons. First of all, because they were no different than you and I.  They were people who somehow managed to gain an enormous amount of weight due to food addiction and/or using food as a coping mechanism. But their hearts and spirits are the same as anyone else and you can see the emotional pain that the weight has caused. I loved their personalities because they were genuinely good people, just in a bad situation.

We live in a world where people judge others by their physical appearance which is not the way it should be. Just because someone is overweight does not mean they are fat and lazy. You just may not know the circumstances that got them to that point. Treat them with respect and compassion. Judge them by their character and what’s in their heart. Pray for them that they beat the food addiction and become healthy. Teach your kids that there are people who may be different from what we consider is normal and that is okay. We should love each other. We should care for each other.

If you have a chance to watch the documentary on YouTube, please do. It is quite interesting and extremely inspiring. I found myself smiling a lot as I watched these wonderful people reach some of their weightloss goals. It is also a motivator for anyone who is overweight to get their weight under control before it gets out of control. The more weight you put on, the more difficult it is to take it off.

Love you all J Be blessed!

I Love a Good Updo

Yesterday was Saturday and I will normally wash my hair on Saturdays so I took down the style I have been wearing for the past week and deep conditioned on dry hair. I put the conditioner on and let it stay in my hair with a plastic cap for a long time while I did things around the house, maybe three hours. I used Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Hair Masque. I love this product.

Then I washed it out and did a co-wash. I am trying to use up some of the conditioner I have because I have lots of them in different brands from the days when I was trying everything in sight to see what works for my hair. I co-washed with the Herbal Essence's Totally Twisted conditioner in purple bottle (see pic below) but for some reason my hair just was not feeling as silkly soft and I am used to after a deep condition. Don't know if it was the Herbal Essences or not but I am not feeling that conditioner right now.

Since I relaxed my hair, I have not wanted to be bothered with it. So after wearing it down a few times the first few days after my relaxer, I have been wearing alot of updos. I take the updo down mid-week to comb out shedded hair, moisturize and then I will put it back up. What I have noticed is that I am shedding ALOT. I don't know if it is a reaction to the weightloss my body is experiencing, or do to change of seasons, but it is annoying me. I truly hate shedding even though it is a natural process your hair goes through. In my mind, it is like why put all this time and energy into growing and taking hair of your hair when you are just going to be losing strands and strands everyday. Silly I know, but I need my strands to stay in my head, lol.

So I put my hair back into an updo that I will probably wear until next Saturday and take it down to wash and condition it. I ordered some wigs so I am excited to try them out when they come. Here are the pictures of the style I did yesterday. This was simply a wavy ponytail that I had in a box in my closet. I put the ponytail on, pinned it up in a bun, left a few tendrils hanging down to frame my face.

I created some interest in the front on the top of my head like I normally do by simply rolling and pinning my hair. Sorry, it is kind of cut off in the picture where you cannot see it well. I think it looks pretty and the best part is, I don't have to comb my hair everyday.

I'll be back tomorrow with a weightloss update. The weightloss has really started to show on my frame and I am excited!!!