Updates

Okay everyone.  I realized I haven't updated things in a while.  My last relaxer was in June not April lol.  It was a few weeks before my trip to Amsterdam because I got my hair twisted before I left.  The workout count is SHOT.  I won't try to fix that right now but I will keep a count some kind of way for the workouts till the end of the year.  FitOrbit which I loved so much has gone kaput but my trainer and I are still working together through Total Coaching now.  We'll see how this platform compares as my new plan starts tomorrow.  I am over my not sure I want to be smaller thing as well.  So life is okay.  My last hair detangling process was more complicated than I wanted it to be but it was because I left my hair up much longer than it should have been.  These will be out at the latest by mid November.  I'll relax my hair then OR whack off everything but the new growth.  There's lots of it, really lots of it.  How goes things with you all?

Setbacks and Reboots and Moving Forward

Okay folks I haven't written in a while but that's totally my fault.  Life has been kicking my butt with the amount of work I've been doing.  My hair I thought was taken care of since it was up but apparently the braids were too tight in places as there was some breakage.  Not so much that I'm distraught but more than I would like.  Some areas grew like weeds but that has created an uneven neckline so it will need to be trimmed on Wednesday when I go in.  My plan after a lot of conditioning and protein and the like yesterday is to relax tomorrow afternoon.  I might have waited longer but I'm still teaching and on Friday I'm flying out for another pinup photo shoot.I was going to rebraid my hair in a few weeks before I take off for my first real vacation in a month of Sundays (don't you love old southern woman speak) just so I didn't have to deal with it but was planning on box braids or larger individual braids instead of the micros.  It again didn't do as much damage as it could and my hair feels oddly thick even if it's not down to my butt lol.  There is quite a bit of new growth that I need to take care of as well so we'll see how that goes.  If I'm not loving the hair life post vacation and work conference then I'll take down the braids and do a massive chop of whatever isn't super straight.

With all the hair out I can step on the scale and have a more accurate reading.  Turns out I was about right about how much weight they were adding to the scale because as of this morning I am officially 51 pounds down since I started working with Elizabeth at FitOrbit.  I can't say what weight I was at when I took the original photos but I was in a size 18/20 or XXL or XXL in vintage clothing at the time.  Now I'm in 12s and 14s and no bigger than an XL in some of the vintage clothing designers I love.  I actually shed a bunch of clothing that I can't wear anymore and my closet looked sad until I hung up the vintage clothing and now it has its own little section in my wardrobe lol. 

I'm very excited about the vacation even though I'm slightly nervous about going alone.  However, I've vacationed in the US alone so this shouldn't be too much worse.  I'm paranoid at all times and overly cautious.  I've gotten some good travel advice and now can't wait to catch my plane and wake up in another country.  And I get to do it again a few weeks later for a conference but this one will be more locally out of the country, just crossing the northern border.  Oh oh and I got a research grant so I can move forward with the studies I wanted to do this summer.  Yeah for me.  So yeah the hair thing not so much fun BUT the rest of my life is going well.

When I get back from the photo shoot, tennis lessons start and I'm thrilled that I can take my ridiculous amount of tennis knowledge and make myself look totally incompetent while I work out.  I'll try to take a photo or short video to share my pain with all of you.  What's up in your world ladies and the occasional gent?

Fitness Friday Late Update

So I haven't checked in for a few days my bad.  I mentioned in my last posts (October 31 and today) that I had hired a trainer from fitorbit.  I need the guilt/encouragement/guidance of my trainer.  Yep I'm claiming her.  Before our week together really started I made sure to start cutting back on what I was eating and how I was eating and I made sure to get into the gym because I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to squeeze in the full workout this past Friday and Saturday because of work stuff.  From that sad weight I posted a few weeks ago I am officially down six pounds.  I have already had six workouts, including abbreviated ones on Friday and Saturday when I was in conference mode.  If I hadn't stumbled upon the brownies I MIGHT have done better with the weight loss this week but any weight off is great at this point.  This week I can focus again and attend to both diet and workout.  Today felt great and while I'm a little sore but feeling great.  Back to the gym on Wednesday and Friday and Saturday.  Let's see what the next weigh in gives us.  How's life treating your workouts?

Fitness Fridays: Getting in Gear

So this blog is meant to document both my hair journey, which I am usually pretty good about, and my fitness journey which let's face it has been hit or miss.  I have lamented many times that I would love a trainer.  Preferably one that was already at my gym so I didn't have to travel to yet another gym to get trained. When I joined the Y so that I could take classes in addition to the swimming I thought I could find a trainer there but literally no one has ever called me about it so I was getting discouraged again.  Yep I had added the yoga classes to my swimming classes but two hours a week of sweating and moving my body wasn't putting a dent in the spare set of tires around my belly.  I was still wanting plan B to come together but I wasn't putting much effort in after getting no where with local folks for months.

As I was tending to Influenster and my participation in the Vidal Sassoon campaign, I noticed another relatively new thing on there called VoxPerks.  I clicked on it and actually paid attention to the one I had scrolled over before for a website called FitOrbit.com.  Influenster was offering a discount on registration so I said what the hell let me check it out.  Turns out I was pretty impressed with the program and went through the registration.  The sign up is easy enough and actually more detailed than I would have thought.  From there you are given your top three matches but can keep looking at others if you don't think you will click with the ones they suggested.  Oh and if you hate your trainer you can switch to another one which I thought was great too. 

I chose my trainer, Elizabeth, because she seemed to be good at all the things I wanted to work on and was friendly.  We started narrowing down my wants, interests, routines and habits even more as well as any food limitations I have.  She's been great in the few days we've been working together so that I can officially start on Sunday.  I spent part of the day working on part of what will become my Friday workouts.  I went partially because I haven't been in a while and partially because next Friday and Saturday I will have to work to get a good workout in because I will be at a conference.  I totally forgot about that when I picked the 2nd as my start date but I will do something even if it's a short workout.  It was great to be moving again at the gym that got my lazy behind off the sofa in the first place but woosah it was a killer and I didn't even finish it all.  It's good to know that it's set up to be a good sweaty workout and as feared I need to mix them up instead of doing them in order because my upper thighs hate me right now lol.

I spent the rest of my afternoon/evening shopping for the things on my new meal plan--that's right no guessing what to eat on top of the workouts--that I didn't already have at home.  I did switch out a few things that were allowed switches (yeah I kinda hate broccoli) but for the most part I have the ingredients I need to start things off well.  I will still hit the pool and yoga in the morning.  And then Sunday morning both Maroon 5 and I will be singing a new tune.  In case you have no idea what I'm talking about with my estranged scruffy tattooed yoga enthusiast Jewish rockstar husband I will leave what I mean at the end of this post.

Who has a trainer?  Or had one?  Or has questions?  See ya for the next wash day.