3 Years...Almost Time

Okay, I can't believe it's been almost a year since I last made a post, but a whole bunch of things in life gets in the way and you get really sidetracked. 2012 has been a year of ups and downs, but none of it was regrettable. I'm blessed to have made it through the year and I'm looking forward to what 2013 has to offer. Blogging is not as easy as it seems and I learned that it seriously takes time and commitment to keep up and keep it interesting. 

My birthday is Friday and I'm approaching my 3rd SL anniversary at the end of this month (March 27 & 28). I'm excited of how I've come a looooong way and the patience I've obtained with this journey. I will post pics soon since my re-ti is tomorrow evening. I've added a midnight black rinse to my locs and will post about that as well. I hope everyone is having wonderful year so far and I look forward to showcasing my SL update.

SOOOOORRRRRYYYYY!!!!!!/2 Years Locked

Omg I am soooooo sorry for falling off, but of course life happens lol. Let me get straight to the point. I'm 2 Years SL'd! My actual anniversary was 3/27 & 3/28/2010, but here are some pics. Enjoy :-)

Workout Plan Weeks 3 - 7/Weight Update

Okay okay okay, I have slacked off with blogging big time. But I have fortunately lost 10 pounds!!!!!! Tooooo freaking excited people :o). But anywho, here is how my weeks 3 - 7 went:

Week 3: Oct  17 - 23
Treadmill: was no problem of course....walked at 8.0 incline and 3.0 speed
Stretching: no problem
Sit-ups: 4 sets and 25 reps were no problem
Planks: I HATE doing these and 3 sets of 25 seconds sucked for me as always.
Crunches: 3 sets of 25 were no problem
Wall Sit: 5 sets and 30sec were burning my legs are course.....sometimes I could not go the full 30secs
Sit Ups: 10lbs weights at 3 sets of 15 reps were difficult of course
Squats: I HATE doing these but not as much as the planks lol....20 reps were not always met
Calf Raises: 8lbs were not difficult at all for 3 sets of 50

Week 4: Oct 24 - 30
Treadmill: 8.0 incline at 3.5 speed was a little difficult....was more comfortable no more than 3.3
Stretching: no problem
Sit Ups: 4 sets of 25 was not bad
Planks: Worse nightmare of course at 4 sets of 25.......could hardly get past 2 sets
Crunches: 3 sets of 25 was no problem
Wall Sit: with 10 lb weights were deadly.....4 sets for 1 min was insane.
Sit-Up: with 10lb weight were still difficult
Squats: did not have medicine ball in gym, but its deadly to me either way at 5 sets for 20 sec
Side Plank....C'mon you already know the answer to that lol {not good at all}
Calf Raise: 8lbs at 3 sets for 50 reps burns of course, but definitely doable
Russian Twist: always difficult...3 sets of 20 reps were hard, but they were done
High Knees: 3 sets for 15 sec were difficult because I have a large chest area...nothing is easy to press against a large chest
Bicep Curls: 3 sets of 15 reps were not difficult to do
Tricep Curls: 3 sets of 15 reps...not hard to do, but really starts to burn at that 2nd rep
Lunges: with 10bs weight and 3 sets at 3 reps were difficult on my knees
Treadmill: Was not able to ru with 5lb weights because none were available in the gym...running for 1min every 3 min was not the easiest thing to to and was not accomplished at 15min. Jogging was more comfortable

Week 5: Oct 31 - Nov 6
Due to me having a busy week/overtime at work, the core/resistant exercises were not accomplished, but I did include an hour of cardio through Zumba 3 days this week.

Week 6: Nov 7 - Nov 13
Due to a busy week/overtime at work, I worked out this routine twice this week, instead of 4.
Treadmill: 9.0 incline and 3.5 speed was a little difficult as far as speed wise. Incline is never an issue for me
Stretching: is no problem
Sit Ups: 4 sets of 25 reps were no problem
Planks: 4 sets of 60 secs, ummmmm no lol. I could do half of that.
Crunches: 3 sets for 25 reps were no problem
Wall Sit: 15lbs weight was really hard......1 min did not happen
Sit Ups: with 10lb weight was okay.....3 sets for 15 reps were taking longer to do
Squats: medicine ball was no applicable, but 3 sets of 15 were not difficult, but hard on my knees
Side Plank: could barely do 1....
Calf Raise: 10lbs at 4 sets of 50 reps were more of a burn, but accomplished
Russian Twist: difficult with 10lb weights.....chest area is an issue
Jumping Jacks: with 5lbs weights were hard due to my chest area
High Knees: difficulty with chest area
Lunges: difficult on my knees...medicine ball not applicable
Bicep Curls: 3 sets of 15 reps were okay.....always burned at 10th rep
Tricep Curls: 3 Sets of 15 reps were okay.....always burned around the 10th rep
Box Jump: not applicable
Treadmill: running is not my forte....especially for 3 min every 2 min :o/......just walked on 9.0 incline at 3.0 speed

Week 7: Nov 14 - Nov 20
Due to busy week/working overtime and surgery, I worked out 3 times this week with Zumba for 1hr and 30min prior to surgery that Friday {Nov 19}.

Finally A New Hairstyle :o) {Courtesy of Sandra TheLocStar}

Week Two of Workout Plan...

Week 2: Oct 10 - Oct 16

Since I have to be bluntly honest of what I have been doing, I will say I behaved for the most part lol. I did all of my cardio within an hour consistently instead of breaking it up in two 30min intervals (public gym). I did this plan 3 days this week instead of 4, but my 4th day just consisted of resistant exercises and weight lift. I am still implementing my food intake before 7:00pm and I have also decided to eat vegetarian meat and fish during the week. My plank exercises still suck and I was not able to complete each set for 20 seconds consecutively smh. Some days I feel myself getting lazy, but I know nothing will change if I do nothing. I am not a happy camper being without my carbs, but my stomach does feel alot lighter since I have been away from it.


I can honestly say that this plan so far has helped me become even more conscious of what I am taking in and how it makes me feel when I do good or bad....Now, I will admit that friday of this week is noway that I am behaving due to the fair being here this week {at least I'm honest haha}....I dont eat alot of bread or fried candy at the fair, but meat is definitely going to be my problem. I just figured I would go ahead and put that out there ;o)


Unfortunately I have had a distaste for water this week. Like I have no desire to drink it :o(. Sometimes I get in that stage where that's all I want to drink, and then there are times I cant stand the taste of it. I dont know what that's about, but I'm hoping that it gets back to my primary drink soon :o/

Trying Something New....

Hey I know its been a minute, but I have been trying to make some changes to my diet/lifestyle change. It has been a challenge and I won't say that I have been enjoying this 100%. Struggle has definitely been the word to describe this feeling and it did not help when my doctor went in on me about my weight....The word she described was "disturbing" smh So, like any other person who is trying to lose weight, I am trying another method.

My best friend is currently in school and taking a fitness training course. She is going to provide a strict 7 week plan for me and a couple of other people to follow so see how effective her plan works. It started Oct 2, but this is one of the 1st steps I have to take to follow it....and that's to blog every week. As you can tell by the dates, I dont blog every week, but this is something I have to discipline myself with in order to make this plan work. So first things first, I had to report my current weight (which has not changed much) and my body measurements and goals.You guys already know my goal is to lose 100lbs lol. The requirement is for me to blog every week of how I did/did not follow this plan and this is how my first week went:
OCTOBER 3 - OCTOBER 9 {I always start over on Mondays}

Week 1: Balance
Warm-up(35min)
Exercise	Sets/Speed	Duration	Coaching Tip
Treadmill	1 set	30min	3.0 incline 3.5 speed
Stretching	1 set	15 sec	Hold each stretch for 15 sec
Core/Resistance(20min)
Exercise	Sets	Reps	Coaching Tips
Sit-ups	3	15	Do not touch the floor or your knees
planks	4	15 sec	Press your stomach to your back
crunches	3	15	Lift shoulder blades off the floor
Wall Sit	4	15 sec	Back straight, Legs shoulder with apart.  Do not rest arms on knees
Sit-ups	3	15	Do not touch the floor or your knees
Calf Raises	3	15	Slow/ Accurate Tempo
REST 10 SECS IN BETWEEN
Cool Down(40min)
Exercise	Sets	Reps	Coaching Tips
Treadmill	1	30 min	5.5 incline 3.3 speed
Stretching	1	30 sec	Hold each stretch for 30 sec

~I did not go completely without carbs...but when I ate carbs, it was whole wheat, but most of my meals consisted of fruits, veggies & protein
~ I followed the cardio exercises as required, but I  didnt feel "challenged". I always walk at a higher incline than 3.5 - 5.5 and I need a good sweat to feel like I really worked out.
~ It was not easy to hop off the treadmill to work on my resistant exercises due to other people being in the gym at the same time. Once you hop off that treadmill, 5 more people behind you are trying to get it after you.
~ I added more resistance by doing dumbbell presses since I could not add more cardio
~ Resistant exercises are not my favorite {particularly planks}, but I'll probably get better as I keep doing them
~ I also implemented the not eating after 7:00pm & I already lost a pound this week. I probably would have been 2 pounds if I did not eat carbs at all. My goal is to do much better for the 2nd week. The 1st is always the hardest since there's so much that has to be stopped so abruptly {carbs}.
~ I've already been doing this for a while, but MyFitnessPal.com is also helpful. It helps me stay at 1400 calories a day.

Im Back To Black :o)

Finally! I've overcome my fear of putting a color rinse in my hair :o) I'm officially back to jet/midnight black again and I LOOOOOOVE it!!!!!!!

I was really worried that I didn't know what I was doing and that I may experience slippage, but thankfully all is in tact *big smiles*. 

Before applying my rinse, I tried to research videos and blogs of how you perform a rinse on sisterlocks and all I found were vids and blogs on permanent coloring and traditional locs. Everything I found on SL's only had ladies saying "yeah, I applied a rinse to my locs & this is the result" but there was no description or steps of how they did it and that made me nervous.  I know a rinse is much safer than permanent, but I'm someone who is no expert on locs & everything I do other than washing is going to freak me out b/c of fear that something may go wrong. ....I've only given myself a rinse when my hair was relaxed.

But anywho, I just thought about the steps my old beautician did when I used to get relaxers and applied it the way she did....minus the relaxer of course ;o)

PRODUCTS:

 ~Clairol's Beautiful Collection: Midnight Black {always used this color when I had a relaxer & your hair smells good afterwards}

~SL Starter Shampoo diluted w/ water in a dispenser bottle {the spray bottle was broken :-/}

~Black gloves {doesn't matter what color you are using} and rubber bands to section off my relaxed ends from my locs

 DIRECTIONS:

1. Wash hair 1st {only have permission to use the SL starter shampoo, so that's what I used. Also, this is the ONLY time I get the green light to wash my hair without braiding & bundling}

2.  Towel dry {dark colored towel} and part sections of locs so you can dispense color rinse evenly. {Since I have relaxed ends, the rubber bands were also used to separate my relaxed ends from my locs....could only dispense color where my locs began & ended to prevent unraveling.}

3. With gloves, apply color approx .5-1 inches away from scalp {you don't want to have blk/blue scalp!} and run your hands down your locs and apply additional amount as needed. {And by the way, I only needed to use one bottle! I thought I was going to need at least 2, but I guess you can say I have short-med length hair}

4. Once all of your sections have been colored, tuck your hair in a clear conditioning cap & sit under the dryer for 10-30min.....I sat under the dryer for 30min b/c the longer you sit under the dryer, the longer you color will stick.

5. Unfortunately I forgot to put my gloves back on, but when you do, rinse your hair again with a good shampoo and rinse until the water runs clear from your hair....my beautiful french tip nails were turned green :o(

6. After towel drying again, I parted my locs in sections and separated them individually to prevent tangling & bunching {thank God I did that!}...As I separated my locs, I went ahead & started to braid and bundle as if I was getting ready to wash it. I made smaller bundles to have a tighter crinkle....I'll admit, this was very tedious, but the outcome was for the best :)

7. This step does not have to be done, but I sat under the dryer again for 30min to make sure my hair would be dry by the next day {my hair holds water}. 

8. I wrapped my hair with a satin scarf first and a cotton bandanna after...the bandanna holds my satin scarf in place & it always prevents color from seaping onto your pillows....one of the cons of when you first get your color rinse.

BEFORE

Dusty, reddish-brown hair

AFTER

Back To Black!!!!!! :o)

DIFFERENCES

This picture helped me distinguish where my natural hair ended and where my relaxed hair began...this is from the front part of my head where the majority of my hair is relaxed..the back is more natural due to my bob cut prior to locs.