2017 Hair Growth And Weight Loss Challenge (jan-dec)

[YvetteWithJoy]

I tried to detox yesterday with the cabbage soup diet. Went for an hour run but I had hardly any energy. Today I went for a gentle 5mile walk as I had no energy. I eat two boiled eggs, plenty of soup and a tablespoon of peanut butter. Totally not following the diet at all.

Back to eating normal calories tomorrow.

I learned about the cabbage soup diet from the DivasCanCook lady/website. She says exercise is not recommended the week you do the cabbage soup diet. It's just to drop a few pounds, and not considered "normal" eating -- so it's not to be done frequently or for any kind of extended period of time.

 

[CharlieEcho]

I learned about the cabbage soup diet from the DivasCanCook lady/website. She says exercise is not recommended the week you do the cabbage soup diet. It's just to drop a few pounds, and not considered "normal" eating -- so it's not to be done frequently or for any kind of extended period of time.

I read her version but I prefer a clear soup so no tomatos or tomato juice. I couldn't stick to it anyway. I've eaten well over my maintenance but of mostly fruit, veg and a small cup of grains. I was feeling really shaken at work so I had to eat more to concentrate

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

I read her version but I prefer a clear soup so no tomatos or tomato juice. I couldn't stick to it anyway. I've eaten well over my maintenance but of mostly fruit, veg and a small cup of grains. I was feeling really shaken at work so I had to eat more to concentrate

Makes sense! I love her version: On certain days you throw in protein, etc. I was never shaky, but if I were, I'd definitely stop it, too. It sounds like you have a great eating plan.

 

[Daina]

@Alma Petra, how is the Bret Contreras program working for you?

 

[Prettymetty]

Between Mother's day weekend and my monthly cravings (last week), I'm afraid to step on the scale. Either way I'm weighing in tomorrow and doing some serious cardio.

 

[BellaRose]

Hi @LushLox .Welcome!

 

[BellaRose]

My whole family is going on a healthy eating month for next month. Will see how that goes.
I'm not seeing a difference in my hair so far. Think i need to start shampooing every week again.

 

[CharlieEcho]

Weirdly I have no appetite today and had plenty of energy for a 3 mile run. I'm feeling great! Down 1lb this week too.

 

[Prettymetty]

I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes last night.

Today I rode a stationary bike for 30 minutes and did some light strength training and abs.

 

[NaturalShe94]

So I'm getting serious.... Like for real! I lost a few pounds around the time I first joined the challenge, but, deciding to stay home on weekends watching "Once Upon A Time" on Netflix all day has seriously put the weight right back on me... Its the hardest thing in the worlddddd to watch TV and not go looking for carbs

I'm on the biggest mission to not give in to the TV cravings anymore.

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

I've had a GREAT week exercise and eating -wise. I'm ready to have a fabulous body! My skincare is improving by leaps and bounds as I absorb knowledge from LHCF.

I'm also going strong on my vitamin game.

It's on! Let's do this, y'all!

 

[NaturalShe94]

I've had a GREAT week exercise and eating -wise. I'm ready to have a fabulous body! My skincare is improving by leaps and bounds as I absorb knowledge from LHCF.

I'm also going strong on my vitamin game.

It's on! Let's do this, y'all!

Really great! Congrats!!! I'm squeezing in exercise when I can. I did 20 mins on the running machine Friday, but, didn't get to it on Saturday. My regular is twice a week. Trying my best to keep it consistent.

 

[BellaRose]

Did FitnessBlender's Low Impact Cardio this morning twice and their Hit the deck Cardio this evening, one round.

 

[NaturalShe94]

Anyone else find it the absolute HARDEST to drop those LAST 5 pounds! I can easily get to 125 and stay there, but, ya see those LAST 5 pounds! Ughhh. I'm trying to make it to 120, but gosh darn man...

 

[BellaRose]

Absolutely @NaturalShe94 . I'm trying to get rid of these 6 lbs. I've decided to remain at 145 lb.

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

I weighed in this morning.
136.6 pounds.

Accordingly, my goal is to weigh in NEXT Monday morning at 134 pounds.

Exercise this morning was great. It was weights and abs. My arms are DEFINITELY looking better.

Hair is up in a ponytailed twist out. It feels really good.

 

[Alma Petra]

@Alma Petra, how is the Bret Contreras program working for you?

Hello dear! Thank you for checking on me

So... I spent a lot of time just trying to understand what exactly is required of me. It was very frustrating because I had to flip the pages going back and forth a million times between the program description, the warm up chapter and the exercise glossary. I really wished I had a hard copy because navigating the ebook wasn't fun. Also some exercises didn't have descriptions in the book. Had to look them up on Google.

Anyway I eventually chose the gorgeous glutes program (lower body only) because it's shorter than the others. So far I have only gone to the gym to execute the program 3 times lol. I feel both excited and fearful when I think about going to the gym. Basically what I need to do is to work hard and I have never been someone to work hard in my life. So it's quite stressful. Also being unable to execute the exercises in good form, being so weak and easily fatiguable, being unable to maintain my balance on the mat, all of that is so frustrating and depressing. I don't even know if I'll ever have a break through or if I'll give up. I know that if I stick to the all or none mentality I will give up soon. At the same time I know that if I do my own (loose) version of the program, I won't get anywhere. It's a dilemma lol.

How are you progressing?

 

[WeirdoBeauty]

Sooooo, I still haven't gotten my butt into the gym. But I have committed myself to only eating meat when I got out to eat, which is about once a week. My meal plan just started at school, so I will go back not cooking much. The food that they are serving is pretty healthy, I usually get veggie pasta alongside whatever veggie sides they are serving that day. I'm going to try again for the gym next week, due to the fact I work the rest the of the week. Despite the fact I'm not going to be cooking much the rest of the summer until I move into my apartment, I still want to stock up on fruit, cucumbers and some healthy snacks.

----------
The pics attached are my length check, I'm officially past APL.

I know I'm pretty late but thank you @BellaRose @YvetteWithJoy

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

So glad you've joined, @WeirdoBeauty. Your hair is nice. I like your food choices.

Health

Yesterday DS#1 and I did weights. LOL! His form! Oh, well. He'll get better. The day before we jumped rope for our cardio, and he improved before my eyes. He wants to swim next time for cardio. Public pools. Mmm.

I am on week 2 of the New Chapter Woman II vitamin. Taking 3 in one dose hasn't been bad at all.

Eating: It's been SUPER healthy. I did have a snacking fail: Chocolate Oreos with coconut filling. Worth the taste. ​

Hair

I'm all the way together for participating consistently in Abena's hair growth study. Blog is basically set up.

I recently did a Soultanicals Sprung Coil Boosting Gelly wash-and-go. My hair feels GREAT in this gel. My wng steps and photos are here: https://myhairgrowthstudyexperience...ry-entry-2017-06-07-soultanicals-wash-and-go/

Detangling dreams: I detangled my whole head in 35 minutes using J.R. Liggetts shampoo bar. Unbelievable! My review is here: https://myhairgrowthstudyexperience...f-j-r-liggetts-coconut-argan-oil-shampoo-bar/

Lastly: I have hard water!!! VERY hard, they reported.I'm going to look into a shower filter from Home Depot. So glad I got the HairPrint Chelating Shampoo.​

.

 

[Prettymetty]

I rode a bike for 40 minutes Wednesday and walked a little over a mile on the treadmill. Then I spent 20 minutes in the Sauna. It felt good to really sweat.

Yesterday I picked up an extra shift at work. I guess that was my activity...

Today I did some lower body and ab training. I have been drinking a ton of water lately hoping to flush all the sodium.

I realize that fitness is 80% nutrition, so I have cleaned up my eating a lot!

So far I have eaten: a bagel with Cream cheese, sugar free jello and 2 boiled eggs. Im having baked fish for lunch and a cucumber apple salad.

 

[BellaRose]

Only exercised twice so far for the week. I'll make today my third day. Going to put crochet braids in this weekend. My hair needs to hide away for a while.

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

Hair

I've been pretty good about sticking to my written-down regimen. I wish that tonight I could just shower and go to sleep (I've had a full day and just got back to the house with the boys), but I'm going to start wash day now. I've nailed down the linked regimen to do for the first quarter of Abena's hair growth study, so that I can establish my baseline hair growth rate apart from hair growth supplements and such: https://myhairgrowthstudyexperience.wordpress.com/months-schedule-of-weekly-wash-days/​

Fitness/Health

I met with a group of black women to work out, and that workout was tough! We got a free, private session at a facility, and everything was top-notch.

We ran on the treadmill for 5 minutes at a time, did the rowing machine, did moves on the step, did abs works, did squats . . . and rinse and repeat a few times. The ladies were wonderful. So were the instructors! The young black guy came over and increased the incline AND speed of my treadmill while I was on it. I told him, "I promise you: I'm doing enough! I don't really run like this!" He just kept it moving. SMH.

I definitely worked out harder than I typically do for my home workout sessions. It's got me thinking. My at-home workouts and collagen intake DEFINITELY enabled me to get through the workout, though! Grateful for that, 'cause a lot of ladies left in sore and/or in pain!

The owner took a pic for us.

​

 

[von rose]

Can I still join? My weight has gotten totally out of control and I gained close to 100lbs over 3 years Its completely my fault since I stress eat the worse things and fall off meal prepping all the time. The other thing is I'm tall so weight doesn't show up until its a massive amount (and we don't have a scale).

Hair Goals
Current Length: BSL
2017 Goal Length: Full waist
natural (with color)
How you will achieve goal: PS and stick to what works. Also no more cutting!

Weight/Fitness Goals
Current Weight: 280
Goal Weight and/or Goal Inches to lose: 165 - 175
How you will achieve goal: Heatlhy eating and weight training

 

[Prettymetty]

I did a 30 minute bike ride today and some weights.

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

I had to wig it today. Someone threw my schedule off this morning. My hair is under the wig in APB Soufflé DC under CurlyProverbz DIY Hair Growth Oil.

 

[faithVA]

Sooooo, I still haven't gotten my butt into the gym. But I have committed myself to only eating meat when I got out to eat, which is about once a week. My meal plan just started at school, so I will go back not cooking much. The food that they are serving is pretty healthy, I usually get veggie pasta alongside whatever veggie sides they are serving that day. I'm going to try again for the gym next week, due to the fact I work the rest the of the week. Despite the fact I'm not going to be cooking much the rest of the summer until I move into my apartment, I still want to stock up on fruit, cucumbers and some healthy snacks.

----------
The pics attached are my length check, I'm officially past APL.

I know I'm pretty late but thank you @BellaRose @YvetteWithJoy

Congratulations. You are way past APL.

 

[faithVA]

I have been avoiding this thread because my weight has just been going up and up I've been eating well but I need to get rid of the nuts. So no more almonds for me. I can do pumpkin seeds but almonds just cause me to hold onto extra weight.

I'm back to cycling. I did 26 miles on Saturday. I've been doing the stairs at work and avoiding the elevator and I try to remember to do wall push ups when I take a bathroom break. Both have been paying off. I can tell the difference on my longer bike rides.

Today I signed up for my 1st triathlon. I am looking for a training group to help me get ready. I'm ready to get back on my healthy eating plan. Hopefully between the two I will drop this weight.

I guess my hair is retaining but who knows. I have decided to try henna again since I have struggling with the messiness of the semi-permanent color. I am hoping I feel more free to wash and moisturize my hair without worrying about my color fading. I'm wearing the same flat twist style for the entire month of June. Going to switch to another for the entire month of July and then a third for the entire month of August. I am hoping keeping it simple will provide me with good results with my length check in August.

 

[CharlieEcho]

I've been avoiding this thread too. Last week was a busted flush with food although I did run 6miles nearly every day. It annoys me how easy it is for me to gain weight while putting in a lot of effort exercise wise . I gained and lost 2lbs so I'm stuck at 160Lbs. I'm doing the egg diet as of today. I started it last Friday but Sunday ruined everything. Back to trying it today

 

[BellaRose]

Can I still join? My weight has gotten totally out of control and I gained close to 100lbs over 3 years Its completely my fault since I stress eat the worse things and fall off meal prepping all the time. The other thing is I'm tall so weight doesn't show up until its a massive amount (and we don't have a scale).

Hair Goals
Current Length: BSL
2017 Goal Length: Full waist
natural (with color)
How you will achieve goal: PS and stick to what works. Also no more cutting!

Weight/Fitness Goals
Current Weight: 280
Goal Weight and/or Goal Inches to lose: 165 - 175
How you will achieve goal: Heatlhy eating and weight training

Welcome!!

 

[BellaRose]

I have been avoiding this thread because my weight has just been going up and up I've been eating well but I need to get rid of the nuts. So no more almonds for me. I can do pumpkin seeds but almonds just cause me to hold onto extra weight.

I'm back to cycling. I did 26 miles on Saturday. I've been doing the stairs at work and avoiding the elevator and I try to remember to do wall push ups when I take a bathroom break. Both have been paying off. I can tell the difference on my longer bike rides.

Today I signed up for my 1st triathlon. I am looking for a training group to help me get ready. I'm ready to get back on my healthy eating plan. Hopefully between the two I will drop this weight.

I guess my hair is retaining but who knows. I have decided to try henna again since I have struggling with the messiness of the semi-permanent color. I am hoping I feel more free to wash and moisturize my hair without worrying about my color fading. I'm wearing the same flat twist style for the entire month of June. Going to switch to another for the entire month of July and then a third for the entire month of August. I am hoping keeping it simple will provide me with good results with my length check in August.

Been doing the stairs since yesterday. But i do squats in the bathroom. Can't do wall push ups like before as the walls are not concrete. lol. Keep it up.