Major Updates: Slim Down & Tied Up

So the hair post part of this update.  I am one week post heading towards two.  I was tired of trying to figure out what to do with my hair so I went ahead and got it braided up before I changed my mind again.  Now in every way that is recommended not to do I've nailed a lot of them on this braid pursuit depending on who you look to for advice.  I got my braids early post relaxer and they are on the small side but not crazy tiny.  On the upside it's not human hair (again depending on who you talk to) so it's holding the look better and isn't super heavy on my hair.  And other than a bit of itching I didn't have any headaches or pains post braiding.  Now it's hard to get adjusted all this hair when I'm doing minor things but the gym movement has been good so far.  Granted that's only been two workouts but I'm not doing the puffy hair pat down right now and that kinda rocks.  I got some more braid spray and some braid shampoo today and we're going to see if we can get to at least the two month mark with the braids.  I'm not against a potential touch up if needed.  If my hair enjoys it and feels healthier then I'll get them again before my big summer trip.  So my hair updates will be a little different for a while.  Here's a photo of the new do.

Now the other update that may be just as big or little as the case may be lol.  I have lost almost 50 pounds now.  I'm about a pound way from claiming that milestone and will probably do a dance of joy when it happens.  The biggest part of that is none of my clothes are fitting or were fitting so I had to finally go try on new clothes.  I grabbed jeans the next size down and realized it was too big.  Same thing with the tops I tried on.  After a moment of disbelief I realized I am in size 14 everything lol.  I finally took a photo of myself and yeah it's not the body I used to have at all.  Still happy and glad to be moving forward but yeah I haven't seen this body since probably the 90s.  Here's a photo of that as well.

How goes your pursuit of healthy hair and bodies ladies?

Honey Who?: Tackling my own Honey Do list

The last few days, well week, has been completely nuts.  Such is any week before my mother goes on vacation.  Three doctors visits, an EEG, blood work, about ten little shopping trips for things only my mother would ask for (like summer robes cause you always need a robe in the house no matter if it is going to be 90 degrees), and then a post EEG meltdown that required a day in bed and random outbursts that accused me of both making her fly out and then not allowing her to leave to go do what she wants.  As of this moment however she has been with relatives several hundred miles away for almost exactly 24 hours and I am on my own lol.  That means adjusting to random noises in the empty house that I don't pay attention to when she's here.  And remembering to prep less food cause it's just me to eat it.  Other than that though there's a lot else to catch you up on.

So after I got home I finally moved the dilapidated grill out for the trash man.  I'm not sure if I have to call the bulk guys for it cause it's seriously falling apart but I was tired of waiting for it to crash into pieces.  That also meant tossing the grill cover that was a mess as well.I came in and bagged up a ton of things that had been sitting on the floor and needed to be tossed.  I relaxed my hair and it's much better than last time (went up to super strength instead of normal) but I would like a stylist to handle it again.  I need a trim in the back but I am moving forward with getting my hair braided and will leave it up for at least four weeks.  If it times out well I can leave it up until right before the pinup shoot in June.  I'll take it down let it rest for a day and then probably relax it again.  Whether or not it goes back up into braids will depend on how much my hair hates that process.  Some moments are great.  The others my hair is like chick I'm going to itch you until you break down crying.   Having said that though I kinda want it tucked away when I leave for my bucket list trip in July.  I'm not hitting all my bucket list spots--honestly I'm just going to one place BUT trying to keep my relaxed hair cute in another country doesn't sound like fun for me.  Plus I have to leave the country again about a month after that for a conference.  That's just up to Canada but again lazy on a quick trip seems like the best option. 

Today I have graded everything for two classes and all but one item for another.  I had to stop though because they were making me want to drink heavily.  I just got through having my lunch and now I'm writing you.  In a bit I need to wash clothes.  And I still need to get some smaller jeans or more belts or both.  Tuesday I'm going back to the airport I think so that I can try to get into that nifty Pre Check program before my flights start.  I have two trips to make for business before that too but those will be drives.  Life is busy but I'm happy and I am back to losing weight yippee.

I relaxed with the Affirm Fiberguard relaxer again on super not normal this time.  I probably left it on longer than I should have .  The front came out a little bit better than the back but not dramatically so in all honesty.  Detangling was a breeze after a quick deep conditioning post relaxer wash out (with a protein treatment and normalizing [neutralizing] shampoo from Affirm then a shampoo and condition with my Moroccan Oil products) using the It's a 10 conditioning treatment.  Anyhoo here are the photos--one post detangling and one post relaxer.

How goes life around your way?

Saturday Summary of Fitness Friday

So I've been light weight MIA the last few weeks.  After recovering from being sick I had a ton of stuff to do at work so the gym didn't happen.  I finally got off my lazy behind (ok not totally lazy) after my two week down time amounted to a two pound weight gain.  Given that has not happened prior to this month I'll take it but it made me unhappy.  This is my first week trying the tweaked workouts that Elizabeth gave me and they kicked my butt, Monday most of all because it was a lot of alternating weight work which takes a while for my brain to catch up to and process correctly.  Over the course of the week the weight has fallen off which means the gain was solely because my behind didn't go get my sweat on.  I was able to stick to my diet easily enough despite being sick so yeah even when I'm in maintenance mode I need to make the gym life my life otherwise I'll be packing the pounds back on.  Which leads to a different conversation.

My body is smaller than four months ago of course and it's reshaping a bit as well.  My clothes are also now too flipping big.  The sweaters are beginning to look like tents and the jeans just depend on the cut but there's more room in most of them around the waist than should be allowed.  No big deal right I'm sure I have some smaller ones here and turns out no I don't.  I've been in the same weight class as it were for so long that I have jeans that are bigger than my current size but not a single solitary pair smaller.  So I have got to start adding to the smaller girl collection just like with my workout gear and unmentionables.  This may be a TMI moment so skip it if you want but I've always enjoyed my breasts even if shopping for bras could feel like I was going bankrupt.  So I was a little apprehensive about going in for a new set because I was worried about how much I had shrunk.  I honestly had no idea I just knew my bras were not fitting well anymore.  I explain the situation to the fitter who measures me up and says yeah smaller band but no smaller cup.  That seemed unlikely but I tried on the new bra and it was like I had found a new friend.  I was also a little perplexed on the cup size not shifting but for the moment I'll take it.  I'm down two sizes in the panty range as well so now I have all of these oversized things in that arena as well.  I plan on donating the jeans and clothes that aren't too beat up.  Underwear I'll dump cause yeah no but can you donate gently worn bras?  The ones that I wore a lot are just going to have to be made into something else or dumped.

Last bit of information or update for today.  I have totally abandoned my Polar F7 watch.  It worked for like a nanosecond on Monday and then kept giving me the check the heart rate monitor error.  As I have gotten smaller the thing is just glitchy as hell.  My Fitbit is still on preorder so for the next month I'm just going to work out without all the tech you know like before when we didn't know those things existed or that we needed to track those things lol.  Ok I think I'm done rambling for now.  Gotta go update the sidebar. 

Anyway how goes your fitness goals?

P.S.  I keep saying I'm going to share one of my dinners and haven't done so.  So here is last night's very delicious dinner.  It's another meal from my trainer.  Mustard Salmon, brown rice and lemon roasted asparagus.