Another post with no pictures...

Sorry, I know the text blogs can be a little monotonous… but I haven’t showered and I am working up the motivation to work my butt outtttt!

I’ve been watching my diet and exercising for three whole days now (well, today is day three so probably by the time you read this I will have done my morning work out so I think that it’s fair to say that I’m on day three). I’ve made some progress in the snacking department. I have limited myself to about two snacks a day and I’m amazed at how much candy I haven’t eaten. With that said, I did have two no bake coconut cookies yesterday and two mini muffins the day before (both totaled 200 calories or under and I didn’t go over my “limit” so I think that I did pretty good).

One thing that I have learned is that it’s ok to slip up and eat sweets… what’s not okay is to sneak into your boss’ office at lunchtime and gorge yourself on Reese’s and Hershey’s kisses. Even if they are there for the taking.

I find the temptation especially great at the place that I work just simply because it’s EVERYWHERE. For example, the day that I started my “just say no to sweets” diet, there was a breakfast social with coffee cake, cinnamon rolls, and muffins (oh and fruit and bagels but ooooh the muffins!) and it was someone’s birthday so of course there were cupcakes! My nightmare. Cupcakes.

I can say that though I have thought about eating those cupcakes when I had lunch, I didn’t. Wam, bam, thank you, God.

I think that dieting can be a spiritual journey if you let it. I realized that on my own, I have no will power, if there is a cookie or a cupcake, I will eat it, no questions… but when I started thinking more about taking care of my body, not just for myself but because God had entrusted it to me, it made more sense to exercise more and eat sweets less.

Right now, I’m enjoying the fact that I have newly discovered will power - thanks to my awesome God. I am also rediscovering that I like cooking and shopping for healthy things. It makes me feel like I”m doing something good for my body….

As far as the exercise goes, as I sit here and write to you, I’m achy all over, but I love that! It makes me feel like I worked hard and that, with a little patience, I’ll be seeing some results! I’m currently doing either Zumba or some strength training workout dvds in the morning, and walking at a brisk pace with Matt for about 40 minutes after dinner.

What are some healthy foods/exercises that you enjoy? I hope you all have a beautiful Thursday!

God bless xo

Summer Bronze

Hello everyone!

I recently looked through my archive of blog posts and noticed one from last summer about wanting to find a great sunless tanner. Well my quest continues but I've tried a new product and changed my opinion of an old one.

Stay tuned for the results!

Nudey nails

Hello readers!

I saw that Fleur De Force posted a blog about the perfect nude nail polish. I too was on the quest for the elusive "perfect nude" and I think that I may have discovered a trick that can help you achieve that nude finish.


I have to preface this by saying that I am a stickler for perfect home-manis. I hate glopy, gloopy, and chunky manicures as well as any smudges or nicks in my polish. I also should say that I'm more of a natural manicure kind of girl. I've tried the brights and the pastels but they just don't work for me.

Anyways, now on to my nude polishes. What I do is I mix two different polishes to achieve the nude finish that I want. The two polishes that I think work well together are Sally Hansen's "Hard as Nails Hard as Wraps" polish. It's a nude/natural colored nail hardener. Alone, I frankly really detest this polish. If you want an opaque finish, it needs several coats, and it gets gloopy. But when paired with Essie "Madamoiselle" (a pale, translucent pink) it looks great! I find that one to two coats of the Hard as Wraps polish with one or two coats of the Madamoiselle polish does the trick. I top it off with the Sally Hansen "Insta-Dri" top coat.

Now before you go getting the wrong idea and think that I'm sponsored by Sally... I'm not. I actually have resolved to never by this brand of nail polish ever again. I have had nothing but trouble from Sally. The polishes I've tried are truly chunky, sticky, and too thick for my taste. But the ones I mentioned above, somehow, worked for me.

Have you had the same issues with Sally that I have? Leave a comment!

June's Ins and Outs

Ins

Eating fresh/steamed veggies! - I highly recommend peppers and cabbage, so good!

Using a crock pot

Sunblock

Unheated swimming pools

A good, working fan

Family visits

Comfortable couches

Reading the Bible with my friends

WEDDINGS!

Outs

Sweating your face off…

Deodorant that doesn’t live up to its promises

Bad kitties

Too many pop bottles

Humidity

I do have one more out that I think I’ll count as the “out of the week.” On Saturday, my sister and I decided to go shopping at Target… much to my dismay, at the checkout my car keys were nowhere to be found. Yikes!

After circling the store, asking several unhelpful employees, and having a near meltdown in the fitting area, we found my keys… locked in my car… that was still running. Stupid!

Now I did learn a couple of things from this misstep:

1) Always check that you have your keys before you exit the car.

2) It’s ok to laugh at frustrating situations. After I had my initial “I’m so stupid, what do I do, it’s all Matt’s fault…” moment collect yourself and laugh about it.

3) It’s ok if you don’t handle the situation with as much grace as you would have hoped. Apologize to husbands and ask God to help you maintain more control next time you face a situation like this.

I hope that you all have a safe and blessed Fourth of July holiday! Just remember that TRUE freedom comes from Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the sins of man (yours and mine) and rose again and ascended to Heaven.

God bless <3

The problem with exercise... and some solutions

Before you tell me, "Camella, exercise is sooooooo good for you and absolutely necessary if you want to maintain a healthy body and weight!" let me preface this by saying yes, dear reader, I know... and you're right!

While my understanding of the human body is basic at best (I did take several anatomy/physiology/exercise based classes for my course requirements, I want to make it clear that I'm in no way an expert and this blog consists of my opinions on exercise and diet from my own perspective and educational level), I wanted to try to start a conversation about what makes us not exercise and in doing so, give us a better understanding of what inspires us to be healthy and to stick with it.


My problem with exercise is that my motivation starts off at a really good pace, then slowly declines until it has withered away into nothing. The problem with exercise for me and a lot of other people is that studies have shown that in order to become "addicting" or even to benefit your mood in the long term, endorphins (ie the warm-and-fuzzy, feel good neurotransmitters that give you a feeling of well-being as well as pain inhibition) need to be released by the brain and this doesn't happen until EIGHT WEEKS of CONSISTENT EXERCISE (ie 30 minutes a day 3-5 days a week). I would much rather sit here on my couch, blogging and YouTubing it up than force myself to run a 5K or even do a few situps. It's painful, sweaty, and not much fun.



My other issue is that I can never stick with it long enough to see any meaningful results. I'm sure we all have the image of the tight abs, firm booty, and strong arms that Cosmo tells us is beautiful and necessary for survival but alas, I have never achieved these elusive signs that I am fit and trim. So I huff and puff up the stairs at my work, I shuffle across campus in hopes of achieving these things that I need to be beautiful.


Now you see my problem? Eight weeks is a long time and usually, my motivation subsides after only three!


So how do we solve the problem of keeping ourselves motivated? I did a little digging and found some good ideas that might just help us lazybones out! (Some of them are from the last article I linked to, some are from my own noggin... feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments!)

1) Do your research! The more you believe in a healthy lifestyle, the more likely you are to maintain it... the more time you invest into your research, the more compelling the arguments are to actually get off your duff and sweat a little.

2) Find your starting point! Find out your BMI, weight, measurements, etc as compared what is considered healthy (by a medical standard, not Glamor Magazine's!) Keep in mind that you're looking for the average... and that everyone is unique and sometimes people fall below or above the average. Don't beat yourself up over numbers and measurements... averages are like a bell curve, the reason a number is considered "average" is because more people fall within this set of numbers than others, they're clustered in the middle of the curve.... it isn't right or wrong, it's just a starting point... This is just to get you focused on change and to give you physical data to compare back with once you are consistent with your exercise and diet.

3) Everyone else is doing it! Find some positive inspiration from athletes you admire or family members that have started living a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes, I past up pictures of active people on my fridge to remind myself of my goal to be healthy. Use these people as role models and look to them for inspiration and as a model of determination. Whenever you feel like quitting, think to yourself, "Did Venus and Serena give up? Did they decide that it wasn't worth it to keep at it?" and who knows? Maybe you'll find some of that elusive determination!

4) Make it fun to sweat! Find exercises that you enjoy doing and try new things! Take a class, buy a dvd... whatever your style, try something new! You're more likely to stick with something if you like doing it!


I hope that my ramblings on exercise and motivation helped you out. I was trying to give myself a pep talk about keeping up with my fitness routine and I think that maybe I feel inspired to give it another go.


If you're interested, here are some links to interesting articles I found pertaining to the topic of exercise and endorphins as well as how to being and maintain an exercise program. Good luck!

http://www.overcoming-depression.com/depression-and-exercise.html
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro05/web2/mmcgovern.html
http://www.rd.com/health/fitness-fundamentals-begin-and-maintain-an-exercise-program/

Back in action

Hello everyone!

I'm so glad to be back. I was feeling a little uninspired to tell you the truth and let my blog fall by the wayside... but now I'm feeling much more inspired, and after a slight re-vamp to my blog itself, I'm ready to go!

I feel like I wanted to change direction with this blog. I don't want to do strictly makeup or strictly product reviews but I want to treat it kind of like my Tumblr, and just let it be kind of organic and free-flowing ideas dealing with what I've been up to and things that I've been liking. I'm hoping that if I use it in that way, it might be easier to keep up with.

I'm hoping to take my YouTube channel in that direction too, just because I think that it's more me. Not that it wasn't before, but I just wanted a little changey-poo.

So tell your friends, I'm back and this time, with a true vengeance.

xx

In the Buffs! A Monday Story

Matt had a bunch of these “buffs” a while ago but when his Dad came to visit, he gave Matt this one from Ghana.

They’re quite cool. It’s a tube of fabric with no seam that can be worn a ton of different ways… not to mention they make cute headbands. Love it.

So what have I done today you ask? Not much of anything. I was informed at 7:00 that my supervisor was calling in so I didn’t have to go in to work today. So now, I’m in the process of making “Good Luck Soup”…. I’ll post the “proper/complete” recipe here if you ask for it. Basically, it’s just a bunch of dried beans soaked overnight add your choice of meat (it recommends ham hock but I had a bunch of frozen beef left over from the wedding that we used) and water boil for 2 - 3 hours, add salt, pepper, lemon juice, etc. Boil for another 1/2 hour + and it makes a great dinner. I’ve never tried it yet but I’m using my crockpot so it will simmer/boil for longer than it says. We also chose to add rudabega aka swede to it (which Matt tells me is like a potato?)

I’ll probably be adding more veggies later on since I’ve been obsessed with multi-colored peppers lately (so yummy)! Anyways… I hope that your Monday is going well. Have a wonderful week, dear readers!

<3