Tracking My Progress: Hair and Wellness

Bun #5 is one that is a little different from my norm. On hair that was heatless stretched, I did two loose flat twists and then did a "Southern Tease" style ( here's a link to a nice video showing how to do it ) using one of the many hair combs that I've purchased.  Bun #6 is my regular slicked back bun. I used to always make my buns with a middle or side part, but honestly, it's so much simpler to do a no-part bun, so I've been doing it quite a bit lately. Maybe I'll switch it up with a middle part later this week. 

  Today's bun is from the same hair that was heatless stretched. I'm finding that the simplest bun to make is to just stick with the hair slicked straight back. I still like my center/side parts, but this just takes less effort. I woke up, added ecostyler and gently brushed it, then did a ponytail and didn't pull the hair all the way through. I kept my scarf tied on tightly on the way to work and here's a pic right before I go inside. I really like it! I'll definitely repeat this again. 

  I think that I've done more buns than I've posted, but that's okay. Bun #3 on May 3rd is a low bun done with a satin donut. I've done donut buns for years and always kind of worried about the roughness of the bun former, which, to be honest, I don't know if that's a worthwhile concern. Well, now I don't have to worry at all since I purchased a satin donut on Amazon-- here's the link to the ones I got . My hair was cowashed and regular wet bunned the previous day (no picture of that one), then I woke up and did this one.  Bun #4 is a high bun done on stretched hair. I apologize for the hastily taken picture in the bathroom at work. The previous day, I shampooed and deep conditioned, then placed my hair in 4 large twists to get mostly dry under the dryer. When I woke up, I added Elasta QP Mango Butter as a moisturizer and combed through it with a wide tooth comb, then slicked up my edges with Ecostyler and edge control.  The conundrum with my buns is thi...

The month of May is always going to be a season of celebrations for me. It's my birthday month, as well as several other people in my family. It's Mother's Day, which I consider to be one of the most important holidays of the year. Additionally, it's graduation season, and in a large, close-knit family like mine, I don't think I've gone a single year without attending somebody's graduation. I really love that for us--we are not playing about higher education!  I've settled on an eating pattern that continues the forward momentum of my progress and alleviates the stress of trying to find foods that fit into my calorie allotment while enjoying the festivities with my family: OMAD, or one meal a day. I simply fast the whole day, usually having some coffee to stave off hunger or just the boredom associated with not eating, until the festivities. Here's a closer look at three specific days recently. Last Friday: That evening, I was going to attend a seafo...

I took a break from blogging for a little bit because I was finishing up my grad school coursework for the semester. I still have about 6 more days in one class, but whew....it feels great to be closer to the finish line!  This week's meal prep was done in about 1.5 hours late Sunday night.  Breakfast:  2 eggs fried hard with about 2 oz of turkey sausage + 6 oz of blackberries + Small coffee with 2 cream and 2 sugar. Macros: 351 calories, 29 carbs, 9 g fiber, 26g protein.  Lunch:  1 air fried chicken thigh w/ 1 tbsp of sweet and sour sauce + 1 cup of broccoli steamed in the microwave+ 1 cup of strawberries. If I feel like it, I will grab a diet coke from the work cafeteria as well. Macros: 355 calories, 23 carbs, 5.4g fiber, 31g protein.  So with these two meals, I've already hit 58% of my daily fiber goal (14.4/25 grams) and 57% of my daily protein goal (57/100). Not bad for the first two meals of the day. 

Holy cow. Something about low carb has shocked my body and that number on the scale is dropping quickly, which, as I predicted, is motivating to me. Additionally, I really don't feel deprived at all. Here's what I've had on Monday and Tuesday of this week, along with what I'll be having on Wednesday. All of these days are under 150g of carbs. I'm on a feta cheese kick, as you'll notice.  Monday:  Breakfast - 3 eggs with olive oil and feta, raspberries, and coffee with whole milk.  Lunch- steak with feta-topped steamed spinach and steamed carrots.  Snack -Apple with caramel sauce.  Dinner- 1/2 cup rice with 3 chicken drumsticks and steamed spinach. Tuesday: I had some observation work for grad school to do today and wouldn't have access to a microwave. So I left my lunch at home and skipped breakfast. Lunch- Bought  a Mediterranean salad with chicken, falafel, and feta (of course)  Snack- Coffee with whole milk while grinding away at my homework Dinne...