Health and Fitness

For those of you who personally know me, know that I lost 30lbs. from Sept.-Dec. of 2010 and I always get the question of how did you do it.  Well It wasn't that hard, it just took a lot of dedication and determination.  I made it a point to work out at least 3 days a week for at least 45 minutes each time.  After doing research on working out I found out that your body does not actually start burning fat calories until 15 minutes into the workout, so doing 45 minute workouts will give you a full 30 minutes of fat burning.  My workouts would consists of a variety of things such as P90x, Taebo, Jillian Michael's, Wii, treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, stair stepper and if it was nice outside I would walk the neighborhood.  It just all depended on how I felt or what I wanted to target that day.  I also purchased a sweat band to go around my stomach while working out to help me sweat more in that area since that is a problem area.  And since I am not a big breakfast person I decided drinking GNC Total Lean, Lean Shakes would work as my substitute meal replacements and I would drink 8oz along with a fruit, mostly bananas every morning.  For lunch I would eat whatever I wanted but just a small portion and with all the running around I do at work by the time I would get home I would be hungry but Special K bars along with Special K cereal became my friend as well as Vanilla Soy milk because I didn't want to work out on an empty stomach.  The biggest thing was drinking water all day, everyday flushing myself.  Throughout the day snacks for me consisted of nuts such as unsalted peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts, and jello or yogurt.  One thing to remember is that deciding to become healthy and lose weight or just get in shape is a lifestyle not just something you do one time and think it will suffice.  You have to constantly work at it and be conscious of what you are eating and doing because once you get relaxed, you will notice some weight gain.  So be diligent in reaching your goals and don't get discouraged because the end result is well worth the hard work and determination.

Hair products

Picking out the products that work well with your hair can be as challenging as trying to decide whether to do the big chop if you are transitioning from relaxed to natural hair.  Just be careful if you decide to keep your relaxed hair while growing the natural hair in because the "line of demarcation", which is the line where the relaxed hair meets the natural hair is very brittle and fragile, so the best advice to give on that is condition, condition, condition.  There are many times where I simply skip shampooing and just condition and do protein treatments.  Now there are also a few things you should be cautious of when buying these products.  Make sure the products do not contain petroleum jelly, mineral oil, propylene glycol (PG), sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate, as well as IMIDAZOLIDINYL UREA and DMDM HYDANTOIN, which are two products that release formaldehyde.  The Mayo Clinic states formaldehyde contributes to a hosts of issues within the body such as respiratory problems, cancer, weakening of immune systems and many more. So please look at the ingredient label before purchasing natural or supposedly natural products to expose your hair to.  Products with sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate usually dry your hair out and that is the total opposite of what you are trying to accomplish when growing your natural hair because moisture helps the hair grow.  Petroleum based products tend to clog the scalp up which makes it harder for hair to push its way out of the pores.  So once again, please check your labels.  Some of my personal favorite products are Carol's Daughters, Taliah Waajid, Kinky Curly, Curls, Shea Moisture, Herbal Essence Hello Hydration, and TRESemme Naturals.  To see pictures of them keep reading. .... P.S. yes I am a product junkie :)

I saw this product in Target and decided to give it a try and was surprised with the pleasant smell and way it made my hair feel after washing and applying.

I saw a few people on other blogs talking about this product and decided to try it and liked it

I enjoyed the conditioner, but I personally do not use the shampoo because it has a few ingredients that I don't agree with.  For those of you who have locks and braids the Moisture Clenz is good for cleaning your scalp in between washes.

The whole line of Kinky Curly is very good, but if you don't like your hair to be hard and have a natural soft feel, I don't suggest using too much of the Curling Custard.  Getting used to the correct amount to use can take some time, but will leave your hair nice and curly and ready to go out for fun.

This Herbal Essence Hello Hydration conditioner is one I heard a few people talk about and decided to give it a try and it leaves your hair moisturized but you need to follow it up with a leave-in conditioner to give that soft manageable feeling because it has a few of those ingredients that I spoke of earlier, but for the price it'll do!

I saw this product line in Target and tried it and  I love the whole line.  I would recommend this line to those of you who are trying to obtain moisture and a nice smelling head of hair for a nice price.  This line is at the top of my personal favorites list because of the feeling it leaves my hair with after washing and conditioning.

This product speaks for itself.  The whole line is great!!! I love the products and they ship really fast.  They smell great and help your hair grow and it is tailored towards all types of hair types.