Insanity Week 1

Week 1

It arrived last week, so I gave myself the rest of the week to relax and enjoy eating the junk that I love to eat so much. On Sunday night I enjoyed a delicious Daim bar. I still have the wrapper as a reminder. Monday was the day I began Insanity.

To add some context, I've never been hugely overweight, but as a woman, I've exercised my perogative to never be happy with my weight. I'm a self confessed yo-yo dieter slash, yo-yo exerciser! I'll spend a few months eating really well and working out, then I'll have a rest day that turns into a week and before I know it, I'm back to eating junk. So what's different about this time? Everything I hope.

I've noticed that as I've gone up in years, so has my weight. Each year I seem to add a pound or two. Now, in isolation, it's not a big deal, but if I don't conquer this now, I'll be a stone heavier in 7 years. I'm not happy with that. So it's time to try something different.

I've been eyeing up the insanity workout for a while now, but never committed due to the cost.  Then I thought, 'ah blow it' and as I said, it arrived last week. I began with the fit test on Monday 10th November 2014. The fit test was a real wake up call. I've renamed it the 'unfit test'. I was panting and sweating within minutes of starting. Here are my results:

Switch Kicks 40
Power Jacks 44
Power Knees 77
Power Jumps 19
Globe Jumps 8
Suicide Jumps 12
Push-up Jacks 12
Low Plank Oblique 25

Start weight 148.8 lbs
Height 5'3

I am having trouble walking because my body is aching so much. This workout really pushes you. But I'm hoping for great results on day 60, which I have worked out to be 11th January 2015. My sister and one of my friends are doing it too. We'll keep each other motivated so we can all reach day 60 knowing that we did every workout, ate healthy and gave it our all. Let's do this!

Relaxer Day October 2014

I went to the hairdresser to get my hair relaxed on 25.10.2014. I'm not certain how many weeks post I was, but I'm sure it's at least 16 weeks.

Now this wasn't the best experience as I did get some burns at the side of my head and at the back of my head.  (I think I'll revert back to self relaxing for next time). Thankfully they were only small and have healed well this past week. I've just been really gentle, avoiding scratching and making sure to oil my scalp.

Today I washed my hair with my favourite and go-to product 'Creme of Nature Moroccan Argan Oil' Shampoo and conditioner. Before I washed I put the ORS conditioner on my hair along with oil and added a heated cap. After washing, I wrapped my hair in a t-shirt to absorb the water and allowed it to air dry for the evening.

I've got some bantu knots in at the moment, 5 in total, one at the crown, two at the back and one on each side. Hoping for a great voluminous style for church. Let's hope it looks good tomorrow!

Braids Again

On 21.8.14, I did something that I haven't done in a very long time, years in fact. I paid for someone else to braid my hair. I was desperate for a change and did not have the time or patience to do it myself, so I went to my sisters hairdresser. This was an interesting experience and was a reminder of why I started doing hair myself.

I asked for my braids to be BSL, but they were more tailbone length. The amount of hair used per plait was too much as it is almost impossible for me to grip all the hair with one hand to style it. And it is super heavy. BUT... she did to a great job. My hair was neat and wasn't braided too tight at all. The other benefit is that it only took 4 hours. I arrived at 5pm and left at 9pm. Which I was very pleased about.  Had I done it myself it would definitely have taken 12 hours.  Definitely. However, this is because I had 2 people doing my hair at any one time. I bought 4 packs of expression hair. But didn't use it all.

So it's been in for about 6 weeks now. I wash them once a week with a mild shampoo and condition with the red HE conditioner. I spray it with braid spray every day and oil my scalp from time to time.

I really should take them out, but I'm going to try and hold on to it a bit longer and just re-braid the front and edges. I'm going to see how long I can keep it up. Braids are so low maintenance, and I love that.

A Fresh Start

It has been an absolute age since I last posted a blog. It certainly was not intentional, it just kinda happened. Plus I have no computer at the moment and have to use my phone which is far from ideal. I really can't remember when I last relaxed my hair, but it was probably sometime in May or June.  But that is not the reason for this post.

Those of you that follow my instagram may have noticed that I cut my hair into a bob in July. The hairdresser said she took off about 6 inches and I was amazed when I saw the hair laying on the floor. It looks like so much more! I really thought that my hair needed a good cut to give myself a fresh start. I have been saying for a long time that I'm not retaining length and I really need to get back to basics, so I cut my hair for a fresh start.  I must admit I love having shorter hair and I actually think it is just as versatile as my longer hair. All in all this is my fresh start. I would say my hair is grazing shoulder length now.

Last night I doused my hair with Coconut Oil and Neutrogena Triple Moisture Conditioner and then covered my hair with a plastic cap, 3 plastic bags a headscarf and a bonet. I'm hoping this will give my hair some much needed moisture and help to soften it too. I still wash my hair weekly and intend to grow out my hair once more and will keep you posted on my progress.

Wedding 12.7.14

Biotin Trial

Holland and Barrett Biotin

Since I have hit a stumbling block with my hair for the past 18 months, in that I have not retained any length, I have decided to try a different approach.  Following my relaxer in February, I began to take biotin in early March.  I anticipate that this will help my hair to grow, to retain length, get healthier and to get back on track. I started taking the 300mg (4 tablets with my lunch) once a day every day until I finished the 100 tablet bottle. When I ran out, I bought the 1000mg tablet bottle and began taking that early April.  Below is a picture of my hair length airdried at the beginning of March 2014.  I'll give you an update of how it went once I have finished the bottle.  If anybody has any advice on other things I could add to regime, please let me know. Thanks.

Relaxer Update - February 2014

I know it's been a while, so I thought I'd provide an update, albeit a couple of months late! Oops.

I relaxed my hair on 23/02/2014, the first relaxer of the year.  To do this I used the ORS Relaxer.  I had purchased the Super one, and decided to add a conditioner to the relaxer to dilute it so it didn't process as fast.  I'm so glad I did this as it took me about 30 minutes to get through my whole head and to smooth.  I did time myself to make sure I didn't go over the time.  I was just too lazy to go through the long process of the half and half method, I just wanted it all done as quick as possible.  This is not normally a good thing, as when I rush, I often make mistakes, but thankfully, there were no mistakes this time.

After rinsing out the relaxer I towel dried and added the dye to my hair as normal.  I then put on the plastic cap for 20 minutes and processed with heat before I rinsed and air dried.  Here are a few pictures.

My hair sectioned prior to applying the relaxer

Hairstyle

Ponytail airdried