longer and stronger

i have been slacking on the protein treatments lately, mainly because i forget a lot, but also because my emergencee and aphogee 2 min are in storage after our house fire and i refuse to buy more when i already have some. today i was on twitter and a friend of mine said she was doing a mayo/egg/EVOO treatment...and i had a serious "duh" moment! even though i just DC'd on friday, i knew i had to do one, so i mixed it up (it looked strangely conditioner-like) and slathered it on for about 30 mins. i knew it worked well when i rinsed it out and my curls felt kind of hard, so i smiled and counteracted the hardness with a gvp cb/raw honey mask with heat (provided by the 30 day shred). my hair is now happily sitting on some flexirods after being flat ironed. i will keep it like this for the next 2 weeks or so...that is, unless my exercise regimen has different plans.

still on it

shockingly, i am still following the BFC. i don't really record my food intake anymore, but i mentally track my sugar and carbs and it still helps. i'm hovering right around 128-129, and when i get on the 30 day shred like i am supposed to, hopefully i will tone up the way i want. i need to go do it now...feel a sense of accomplishment...but there are a lot of things i have to do today that i am putting off.

end of the road

i took my twists out the other night and detangled/washed yesterday. i had these twists a total of 2.5 weeks before i took them out...as pitiful as that sounds, it's pretty much a record for me. i always feel like they are so loose and scraggly looking that i HAVE to take them out. i think i'll give my hair a break for a week or two before i put in some box braids (hopefully those will last longer). right now my hair is blow dried and sitting pretty in a bun, but i may go swimming later and things may change.

my senegalese twists

as of today, i have had my senegalese twists two weeks. that is somewhat of a record for me, as around this time i get the itch to take them out. however, this weekend i redid a few of them (made them smaller) and that cured the itch...at least for the next week or two.

pros:

• extremely inexpensive hairstyle (i used 1.5 packs of 100% kanekalon braiding hair, $1.99 per pack)
• lasts as long as you want
• only took 4 hours to install (i part my hair into 4 sections, then grabbed and twisted the back two sections...took a break...and finished the rest)
• easy on my edges
• easy to keep your real hair (and scalp) moisturized
  

cons:

• can start looking fuzzy pretty quickly
• didn't make them long enough (i cut the hair in half, so they are only 1-2" longer than my real hair; next time i may not do that)
• heavy when wet (i cowashed them last week and had to wear them up till they were mostly dry)

i think i will redo my hair in 2 weeks...i will use the same hair, but change my twists into braids since they seem to fuzz less.

saving grace

now that my skin is on track (again), all i have to worry about are the dark marks. i usually use foundation for that, but i really hate getting all sweaty and having to worry about streaks in my foundation (or whatever other paranoid ideas i may get), so on most days i skip the foundation and simply wear MAC mineralize skinfinish in medium dark. i didn't quite get what the hype was on makeupalley and LHCF before i purchased it, but i kept hearing that it makes you look airbrushed. i figured it wouldn't do that much for me, but boyyy was i wrong. i can put this on with my 187 and have enough coverage to not feel bare-faced, but not so much that people can tell i have anything on. also, unlike my beloved satinfinish foundation, i can sleep in this (i still don't recommend that!) and not wake up with blemishes. i definitely have to keep this on hand at all times!

(pic from naturallysophia).

BFC day 4

i am determined not to post how much i have lost until monday -- however, i feel sooo much better. my belly is not gone (of course), but i am wayyyy less bloated and definitely don't look pregnant anymore! i did well today with the food portion (except for that whopper jr, but even that was only 6/2), but i did EXCELLENT with the exercise -- 2 reps of V sit-ups and a mile and a half around the track (i probably ran about 1/3 of it, which is more than what i used to do, or think i could do). my mind is clearer, my body is trimmer...it just can't get any better. this may just be one of the best fitness decisions i have ever made.

BFC day 3

for some reason i woke up in a bad mood this morning...bills, finding a job and taking the MCAT is weighing heavy on my mind, so i tweeted a few friends and raised my spirits then went downstairs to make breakfast. i am a big breakfast person (when i am not in a rush) so the fact that all of my favorite breakfast foods are BFC approved makes it really great. i made a pseudo-sandwich with scrambled eggs, a slice of cheddar and a slice of turkey (all 0/0) on my honey wheat bread. all of a sudden, i got a really bad sweet tooth, i guess because i couldn't have jelly on my sammich. i got the brilliant idea to cut an apple in half and share it with my mom; that cured my sweet tooth and also cut the sugar in the apple from 13g to 6g. i am still at 10g and haven't eaten lunch or dinner yet, but reading through the original BFC thread on LHCF gave me more ideas for 0 sugar meals. this shrimp stir fry i plan on making seems promising, and with one of the chicken wraps (1g) i should be more than able to get through the night.

another note about the zipfizz -- the orange soda flavor kinda sucks. however, it is very good at giving me that energy boost that i need halfway through the day. i will give it another shot since i have 2 more in the box, but i prefer the pink lemonade one. for $1.50, i won't complain. i might go back to CVS to get the rest of the pink lemonade ones before someone lurking on LHCF beats me to them.

the main challenge will probably be the weekend for me -- that is, if i don't go to nags head with my roomies this weekend. my friend always makes dinner for me and my girlfriends, and he provides the pregame drinks too, and i can't regulate what is in his food. lucky for me, shots are 0/0, so at least i can control that!

hidden benefits of BFC

You know how some people just seem to always be hungry? I will come out and say it: I am Mojo and I am a snacker. I am notorious for sitting in front of the TV and all of a sudden being "hungry", not because I really am but because I eat in front of the TV so much that if I snack I turn it on and vice versa. I have stopped myself a few times to say "hey, you're not hungry" but I will still grab something.

Granted, I am only 2 days into BFC, but the urges I had to snack yesterday DISAPPEARED today. I am pretty sure keeping track of everything that went into my mouth had something to do with it -- when I reached for the cheese nips I had to first look at the label to see how much sugar was in it, and reading all these labels has made me super aware of what exactly I am reaching for. In addition, I ate a lot more protein today, and I think whoever said that protein fills you up was right. The only time I can't think about snacking is when I am noticeably full, and after the big protein-filled breakfast I had this morning and the large wrap I had with a whole chicken breast cut up in it, eating something else was the LAST thing I wanted to do. I think between reading the labels and writing down everything I eat, I may have found a viable solution to the mindless eating. So there it is -- BFC is helping me stop snacking.

I did extremely well today -- 13/6/34, 7 cups of water, 2 green teas, and a zipfizz...not to mention the run/walk (i ran a bit longer today). i feel this amazing sense of accomplishment. i also want to weigh myself, but that i will not do until this weekend. at least i will TRY not to.

good things come in threes...

1) the zipfizz i intended to get was originally $6. i thought $3 was fantastic so i picked up 2 boxes (3 orange soda flavored tubes, 3 pink lemonade). i got to the register and it was $1.50 per box!! i should have gone back for more.
2) i got a scale...and weighed myself...i am 130.8 lbs. lighter than the chick at the doctor's office told me (on their scale i was 135), but i still want to get back to 123, what i was a few months ago, or ideally 118.
3) i'm about to start my twists!! yay!!

BFC day 2

it pains me to say this, but yesterday absolutely SUCKED. i mean, it was going alright after i stopped panicking over what i was going to have for breakfast and realized eggs, cheese and bacon all count as 0/0. i made a great omelette, had it on toast (the no jelly thing is tough) and had 2 glasses of water. i felt really good about myself...until i went out with my mom. she took my brother, sister and i to sonic for happy hour slushes, and i went into meltdown mode. when i looked up the nutrition facts on my phone and saw that NONE of the slushes were under 70g of sugar, i screamed! i got one anyway, not wanting to suffer since a) everyone else was getting one and b) she does not believe in turning on the AC in the car and it was 96 degrees. i felt SOOO bad, but decided to make lemonade out of those lemons. if it hadn't been for the slush, i did pretty well, with an S/C of 26/7 and 34g fiber. i don't even think the 26 was so bad since 13 of it was an apple i just had to have.

i also managed to get in a workout -- walked/ran to the park near my house and did a half lap around the track before coming back. it's not your ordinary track -- that thing is HUGE. matter of fact, i just looked it up and it's 2 miles around. i think today i will walk over and try to run as much of it as i can.

day 2 is going well...i have to go buy some zipfizz (which i found 50% off at cvs), frozen veggies, and more chicken breasts. i scored big yesterday at wal-mart when i got these carb balance wraps -- 1/2 and 21g fiber! if i have one of those with chicken and cheese (both 0/0) for the next 6 days, lunch will be a breeze.

wet bun

i was supposed to put my braids in sunday...then monday...and MAYBE tonight, but it was so hot today i had to take a shower after i washed my car, and i really didn't want to let an opportunity to cowash pass me up. my hair was hanging so beautifully after i plopped it, but i weighed the pros and cons of a WNG and decided to wet bun. my buns are finally to an acceptable length and i'm so happy!!

the belly fat cure

yesterday, i hit a wall with my weight. i found out about 2 weeks ago that i have gained about 13 lbs over the course of a few months MAX, and i was devastated. not having a perfect beach body was one thing, but now that i know i am gaining weight like that i knew i had to do something. i am trying to get the motivation to go over to the park and walk/run a few laps, but for some reason i cannot get off my butt. i went to the health and fitness forum on LHCF yesterday to come up with a plan of attack, and i saw this thing called the belly fat cure challenge. i am not one for dieting, especially fad diets, but the more i read the more intrigued i became. not only that, but it is SIMPLE...in addition, you know there is always a group of people on LHCF willing to try anything, and there is a group of women taking the BFC challenge that are actually losing weight. i told myself the challenge is only a week long, which is perfect for my short attention span, and i read up on it (the site is www.jorgecruise.com if you want to check it out for yourself). the guidelines seem pretty simple:

• 15/6 rule: only 15g sugar and 6 servings of carbs per day
• foods with less than 5g carbs are "freebies"
  
• 30g fiber to rid anything else (ahem) that may be keeping you bloated
• 8 glasses of water (duh)

i was game this morning, but then i remembered this may not be so easy, being that i can't do my own grocery shopping in my own apartment anymore. i scoured the kitchen for about 15 minutes, sadly putting away many of the foods i usually turn to in the morning. even fruit was hard: i reached for a nectarine before looking it up online and seeing that it would put me almost at my sugar limit for the whole day! all of a sudden, i had a moment of clarity and decided to look up the ingredients for my latest favorite, omelettes. cheese is a freebie...and apparently so is an egg...and bacon as well...so i was ecstatic! i made one and put it on a slice of honey wheat bread (4g sugar, 1 carb, 3g fiber) and went on my merry way. i'm already planning for lunch, and it looks like it will be a sandwich and salad of some sort, as long as i can find something sugar-free to put on it.

to top it off, i am trying to make it to the track this evening once the heat advisory goes away so i can at least walk a few laps. if i make it 7 days it will be a miracle.

two-strand twists redux

just as i enjoy pulling recipes from websites, message boards and cookbooks, i do the same with hairstyles. i saw this one about a month ago and fell in love:

the first one with the auburn twists BLEW ME AWAY, although i knew i would never be able to recreate something like that on myself. instead, i did the next best thing and did them on my sister. the only drawback to having only one view is that i had to interpret the back for myself, but i still think it came out great.

quit faking the funk

about 2 weeks ago now, i took the box braids out of my sister's hair and decided to forego the extensions for a while. frankly, i did it out of sheer laziness -- i didn't feel like buying, then washing, then detangling and sectioning all that kanekalon at the time -- but i also did it to see how long her two-strand twists hang without the aid of BSS hair. she got quite a few compliments, mostly from my mom (who then coerced me into twisting her hair) but also from my brother, who was absolutely sure that wasn't all her hair. i just hope he doesn't expect me to start twisting his hair too!

prep: wash, DC with aussie moist, detangle with shower comb.

halfway done...


and here is the finished product.