Sunday, February 27, 2011

*Meet Chrissy (my car:))/ReFocused

As promised with my next update I'm back to a better mindset. I finally found an affordable car thanks to my wonderful fiance and running him crazy he found me something nice. Meet Chrissy, my old school Chrysler Concorde:

A few of the reasons I had been off track were: not being able to grocery shop,get to the track and gym as I wanted because I had no car.Finding a reliable ride to work was also hard though I have to thank some of my friends who really came through for me. Needless to say though job worries can lead to stress and as I'm an emotional eater that was definitely a trigger. Still working on not turning to food for emotions but its a process.

Moving on I also took the time to go back through my posts since I started this journey last October to see what has worked and what hasn't. When I first began I chose the Fat Smash diet because it was a foundation building diet which was something I needed.

The Fat Smash Diet lays out your plan over 90 days for developing healthy eating habits and a healthy lifestyle, to promote fat loss and maintain a healthy weight.

Phase 1 – Detox (9 days)
Diet is essentially vegetarian – mainly  fruits and vegetables (raw or steamed/grilled) to absorb natural nutrients, vitamins and minerals in 4 or 5 small daily portions, 3 hours apart, with plenty of water – plus daily exercise (30 minutes cardiovascular exercise 5 days a week, or a walk after dinner for up to 25 minutes).
This  phase rids the body of toxins and impurities, developing a good basis for the following phases.

Phase 2 – Foundation (3 weeks)
Additional foods are allowed from a given list (lean meat/seafood, selected cereals and extra dairy), and  physical activity is increased by up to 15%. The eating regimen of phase 1 is maintained (strictly no meals to be skipped) including plenty of fruit and vegetables, and fried foods are a ‘no-no’.
This phase establishes good eating and exercise habits for a healthy ongoing lifestyle.

Phase 3 – Construction (4 weeks)
Yet more additional foods are allowed from a given list (such as pasta and bread), portion sizes may be increased maintaining plenty of fruit and vegetables as before, with at least 4 daily meals stipulated. 1 non-fruit dessert per day is permitted (1 scoop low fat ice cream  or 2-3 cookies or graham crackers) and physical activity is again increased by up to 25%.
This phase builds the diet plan up from the earlier ‘toning-down’ phases.

Phase 4 – The Temple (remainder of the 90 days)
Most foods previously denied may now be included in limited quantities, and physical activity set at 1 hour for each of 5 days weekly.
This  phase is  to maintain the ‘temple’ of your body, in which your lifestyle achieves a balance for maintaining your desired body weight. If your goal weight has not been reached by the end of the 90 days, phase 1 may be repeated.

I did Phase One and lost 13lbs I think, and instead of progressing to the next phase and learning the habits I basked in my loss and switched programs and since then have been up and down, so some hard lessons learned its time to get my butt in gear and really do this.

I'm about to hit up the grocery store and possibly Farmer's Market, on my list:

*Kiwis
*Fresh pineapple
*Eggs
*Greek Yogurt w/ Fruit
*Fresh Broccoli
*Diet Green Tea
*Odwalla Smoothies
*Grapes or Cherries
*Chicken Broth
*I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
*Veg All or Mixed Vegs
*Sweet Peas
*Sweet Potatoes
*Condensed Chicken Soup (for soup)
*Chik'N Nuggets (vegan)
*SoyMilk
*Simply Apple Juice
*Quaker Fruit and Cream Variety Pack
*Rice Cakes

And I'll be starting unofficially tomorrow and hope to have my FitBook by the 1st so I can begin officially, speaking of which, I'm ever the sucker for a well thought out fitness journal, unfortunately I am hardly ever able to find one that includes everything I need to track all my goals, foods, and exercises and is cute. I've wanted one of these for months now but with the $25 price tag before shipping I couldn't justify spending nearly $40 for one book if I wasn't serious. And now is the best time like none before to be serious. I ordered yesterday and it should be delivered Tuesday, right on time.




Saturday, February 26, 2011

*Unmotivated/Don't Want To Be A Fat Bride/Newlywed*

Its been a tough week ,and for some reason I can't find the motivation to do what I know I need to in order to lose weight. :( And the scale shows my slacking I'm up to 347.4, *sigh*

I seem to be nervous about my upcoming life change and the fact is regardless of whether I'm ready for it or not its going to happen. May 13 is getting closer and closer and the days are flying by and soon after I'll have to start wedding prep and who wants to go dress shopping at 3+?

I know he loves me regardless of size but continuing to put things off is only harming me in the long run and I'm finding myself depressed about my lack of effort but not much is changing.

Hopefully with my next update I'll be back on track.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

WWPlus Meal of the Day



Spinach Salad with:

2 cups Spinach (0 Points)
1/4 Apple Cut up (0 Points)
10 Cherry Tomatoes (0 Points)
Handful of Almonds and Dried Cranberries (3 Pts)
McCormicks Salad Topping (1 Point)
4 oz. Grilled Chicken Tenderloins (2 Pts)
* Poppsyseed Dressing (4 Pts)

Total:9 PointsPlus,
* You can use any low cal dressing for only 2 Points, I just happen to love Brianna's Poppyseed .

Toss everything together and enjoy it :)

Served with Sparkling Cranberry Juice also 0 Points.

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Countdown to Graduation



You have to give it to me it seems that I'm an eternal optimist :) Been having a good couple of weeks though I've had some downs ,still seem to be making progress.
And as promised when I received the Zumba kit I was going to be going hard core :)

My motivation?

May 13, 2011 my fiance graduates from college and will be moving in with me permanently, that's in approximately 12 weeks, and I have every intention of watching my boo graduate in a body thats below 300lbs, so that's at least a 46lb goal for the next 3 months. Its doable and since him graudating will mark the beginning of our new lives together while I won't be at my goal yet I do want to have established some healthy habits.

Including:

*Cooking healthy yet tasty meals we can both share.

* Exercising at least 30 minutes a day.

* Established commitment to the Weight Watchers Plus plan so that I can and will continue on to my goal.


My tools for this.

****12 Week Financial Goals****

Something I also need to work on before we combine finances is learning better financial responsibility with my own. So those goals include:

*Buying no weight loss aides, journals, exercise dvds, or weights.

I currently have:
*Zumba kit with toning sticks,
*a 10 lb Kettlebell with workout dvd,
*5lb weights,
* the Jump Off toning program,
*Weight Watchers 3 Month Journal,
*seperate journal to record finances, moods, and summaries,
* Dance With Me Workout dvd,
*Pussycat Dolls workout dvd,
* Tae Bo Amped series,
*Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga,
* Biggest Loser BootCamp
*Jump Rope
*Stability Ball
*Stationary Bike

So needless to say I shouldn't need anything anytime soon, I have more than enough things to workout with and not be bored so, banning anything except maybe vitamins during this time frame.

* Save $50 to 75 each check in piggy:



It may seem strange that I would save money in my Piggy, but its best that I not keep it in my bank account since Piggy stays home and my debit card goes everywhere with me and I'm a bit swipe happy.

*Limit Eating out for lunch to no more than 3x a week, preferrably less but being realistic.

* Limit dinner out to no more than 2x a week.

* Make a menu and grocery shop once a week, no more wasted food aka wasted money.

* Limit lending money to only a trusted few.

*Track ALL expenses

* Give myself a weekly allowance and stick to it.

Pretty simple and I think doable, so I'll make my 12 week countdown tracker on the side.

Another motivation for this is regardless of what I acheive or don't he will be graduating and moving in so if I choose to be lazy and not acheive my goals I'm letting both of us down.

Anyways thats about all for now. Be blessed all.
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Saturday, February 19, 2011

*Weekly Update*

Well my lovely readers its time for another update and I'm happy to say that I've lost 4.8 lbs this last week, really didn't think it was going to be that great, but comibing the Diet Free lifestyle with Weight Watchers Points Plus seems to be working.

Still waiting for my journal and Zumba which according to the tracking are out for delivery today but with my postal service I'm expecting it next week, but fingers crossed on getting it today. :)

That's all for now; thanks for reading.
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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Cute Face, Cute Shape



Cute face, cute shape that's all I want, its funny when we were talking about what I wanted to acheive as a goal weight today at work and as I've mentioned before I've been 220lbs + since I was 13 so I'm not even sure how I would look close to that weight and don't really have a goal weight in mind I'll know it when I get close to it. I have a goal size in mind I'd love to see what something below a size 20 feels like, so for now to reach an 16/18 W is my overall goal. Once I hit it I'll reevaluate and see if I want to lose anything else.

They think its funny that I'm not striving to be tiny or even anything below plus size, I'm comfortable with my body size I just want to be fit and fabulous. Healthy at whatever weight I am.

Non Scale Goals

* Lower my blood sugar

* Lower my blood pressure

*Lose the belly flab or at least greatly reduce.

* Able to complete a 15 min. Mile

* Enjoy the now of things and work on finding joy in everything.



On my way to becoming Fatabulous :)
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Transition Files: Week 14

I am 14 weeks into my journey to natural hair and figured its time for an update. The last two months I was experiencing some very irritating dry issues and breakage and thought I was having a major setback as well as I trimmed about !n inch and a half.



Dec. 2010/Jan. 2011

My regimen was pretty much the same but over the last few weeks I've been a bit more consistent with deep conditioning on dry hair with heat, JBCO every other day, still using a bit of peppermint oil in my dcs, and baggying with either castor oil or olive oil.

Added to it was my favorite oil Argan :) I have been using it just about every day and the breakage is basically now done to none. As a heat protectant I have been using the Argan Foaming wrap lotion and my hair had been super soft and moisturized.

Today I tried out my new blow dryer and these are the results, looks like I'm finally seeing growth!



Feb. 2011

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

*Rehab* Starting Fresh



Hi, my name is Cyone and I'm a tryaholic.

Be it hair care, weight loss or skin care at some point I'm bound to give it the old college try. I am the queen of infomercials, can quote virtually every one dealing with weight loss from Slim in Six to Power 90 (the original thats how bad it is) I watch them as I would my favorite episode, waiting for my favorite parts, its really quite sad.

I flirt with this hair growth journey of mine, I'll see a product reviewed on Hairlista or Youtube and slowly but surely it will make its way into my product closet to go unused after the first few times money wasting away and yet still I go back for more.

The drawers under my TV are full of dvds that I haven't done more than the warm up on from the Pussycat Dolls to old school Tae Bo to my new craze dance workouts with Billy Blanks Jr. And Dancing with the Stars Cardio Dance. I even have Zumba ordered and anxiously await to see what new treats it will bring to add to my already vast collection.

Grocery shopping is an exercise in futility I'll pack my cart full of healthy items and add to that foods for my last hurrah because of course this time will THE time, I'll finally get it together. Food goes out of date or just sits in my cabinets as I still frequent the fast food places and hit the store up for just one more snack and start fresh tomorrow.

And don't even get me started on the creams, toners, cleansers, lotions, and moisturizers that litter my bathroom counter, slowly going to waste.

I've tried and failed to use them all, so I'm quitting, I really had a chance to look at my self destructive behavior for lack of a better term. Nothing will work if I don't use it. Doesn't matter what it promises if I never make it past the first day. Its going to require me to stop being a lazy ass and start clicking that this is my life and if I don't want to spend the next quarter century as I spent the first wishing I could but never put any effort to it my life will be over before I ever have a chance to begin it.

I bought a new scale since my old one tended to fluctuate up to 11 lbs in one weigh in, fooling myself with lower numbers is not hurting anyone but me, so after calibrating it to be sure it is correct I have my new start weight, unfortunately not my posted weight of 332, but 339.6, not that bad of a difference and I hope to reach my goal weight of 199lbs in the next year. (Healthy Rate of 2 to 3lbs. A week with plenty of exercise and counting my calories in the 1200 to 1400 range and keeping my carbs lowered by avoiding the white ones) I would post my body fat% but let's just say 2/3rds of me is fat and not in a good way)

As far as my hair journey goes I'm banned from Sally's, the beauty supply stores except for more wigs and thats limited and the ethnic hair aisle at WalMart, I have regime that works if I just work it and 2011 will remain a perm free year. I have my new dryer and all my staple products so unless something runs out I
don't have much use for trying new items yet.

And skin is simple Cetaphil, Palmers, Lava soap, and African black soap tada!

I'll probably do a scale shot and video later but for now this is where I am.

Thanks for reading.
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Friday, February 11, 2011

No More Creamy Crack/Cream Of Nature Argan Review

*******Cream Of Nature: Argan Oil Review**********

Love,love,LOVE this line of products!

Argan Oil Glosser $4.74 @ WalMart



Uses excellent for adding shine to hair and useful in blow drying.

Very light oil that doesn't weight hair down.

Great smell!

Cuts drying time down.

I used this in my dc and to dry my hair and it came out so smooth and shiny, not to mention soft. Also NO Breakage!

Argan Oil Foaming Wrap Lotion
$7.47 @ WalMart



I was a little skeptical at the cost and I don't often use wrap lotions but read a tip online about using it to blow dry hair so I decided to try. Its well worth it.

Gives great slip and shine.

No breakage during blow drying and hair dried in half the time it normally would have.

Hair straightened out which meant I didn't have to flat iron as much.


Argan Oil Intensive Conditioning Treatment
1.47 @ WalMart



Best conditioning treatment I've used by far.

Same as the entire line, gives shine, and I was having issues with breakage and after treatment none whatsoever!

I did a post yesterday about having issues with this transition to natural but discovered yesterday that it is all a matter of which products my hair responds to, I had time yesterday to do a full treatment and my hair came out great, and after flat ironing I acheived a straight look that rivaled my best perm :) With the right tools, consistency, and actually tending to my hair I will be able to fully transition to natural hair. My goal is just to get through 2011 relaxer free.

My regimen:

1. Wash with Mane&Tail Deep Moisturizing Shampoo.

2. Quick condition with a mix of Palmer's Coconut Conditoner and Aussie 3 min miracle for 10 mins then rinse.

3. Deep Condition with Cream of Nature Intensive Conditioning, capful of Castor Oil, and capful of Argan Glosser, put on plastic cap and put under dryer for 20 mins.Rinse.

4.Motions CPR Intensive Leave in Conditioner, Argan Oil Glosser, and a few pumps of Argan Foaming Wrap Lotion.

*At This point I will probably be airdrying and wrapping my hair going forward but yesterday I did a blow dry and flat iron.

*Loved The results and I'm 14 weeks post relaxer and my hair came out shiny, soft, and bouncy, wish I had taken pics but it went right back into a protective style.:)


*********Cream of Nature Argan Oil Review*********

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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Seeing A Difference!

Weighed in this morning and it briefly flashed 319.4 which would have made me ecstatic, but it settled on 322.8 which I will gladly take! Didn't quite make my 7lb.goal this week but came awful close so I'm happy. I took pics to compare where I was when I started and where I am today. Think I'm seeing a change :)



December 2010




February 2011

Subtle but I know I'm heading in the right direction, did my weigh in a day early so I will be updating in 8 more days with my new weight, since I've had big losses these past two weeks, my new goal is to finally hit 319 so my goal next week is 4 lbs.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011