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Life, Shedding my Weight, weight loss

The Little Things in Weight Loss

Sirua

It’s easy to want to see fast results when you’re on a journey to weight loss. That’s why small goals matter. Ones that are easy to reach. Celebrate them accordingly and it’ll help your mindset, motivation and confidence.

Last month I purchased distressed Bermuda shorts in the size I usually buy and felt as if they were tighter than usual. I felt defeated and upset since they were so cute. I put them with the pile of “Jeans that might fit later” which is right next to “Pants that will probably never fit me again”. Sad, but true. I decided to try them on today with not much hope since I didn’t feel all that different. It’s been almost 2 weeks since I became serious about my journey and BOOM! They fit like a glove. I even did the squat test and they didn’t feel like they were going to rip and the button didn’t dig into my abdomen. As I silently sit here and do my quiet hurrays. I can’t help but feel even more motivated. This means I need to be more diligent. Find beauty in these tiny victories. Where will I be a month from now? 3 months? 6 months? A year? Let’s hope I’ll be fitting into one of the piles of jeans I have for later.

Life

Countdown to Vacation Time

Sirua

My husband and I have yet to ever take a vacation together at all. Every year something always came up. The excuses would pile up. Until this year. I said enough and finally booked us a cruise to the Caribbean. As the days close in and we start packing my anxiety builds. This is going to be the first vacation together after 8 years. The first time we will be away from our son for a week. The conflicting emotions made me tear up. However, as parents and spouses we definitely need this. I’m so glad my son has my parents. His grandparents to love and take care of him. I know he will enjoy his stay. He will be comfortable, loved and fed that when I come back. I’m not even sure he will have missed us. Here’s to new things and more adventures!

Life, Shedding my Weight

Week 1 Weight Loss

Sirua

I thought this week would be harder. I’ll admit I’ve opened my eyes and see how people can be tempted back into old habits. How easy would it be to eat that cookie? To order pizza and not count how many slices I’ve already eaten? Or wake up and eat a snack at 3 am? Yeah it’s hard. But I set this goal for myself. For my health. To show myself that I CAN do this. Some days while I’m walking outside with my son in his stroller. Legs still a bit sore from walking for over a mile yesterday (Well everyday of this week so far). Been drinking the fat burning shakes once everyday for the past 5 days. It’s yummy besides the aftertaste which is tolerable. 1 pound down, so much more to go. My husband and sis in law have joined to help ourselves start a healthier lifestyle. Of course they’ve lost more than I have. Which is amazing just wish I would have the same results. I’ll have to try harder and be more careful with what I eat. Drink more water and keep up with the walks. The goal is at least 5lbs down by the end of the month.

body modification

Industrial Piercing 1 Week Update

Sirua

Alright so this is where it gets real. It’s been over a week actually I’m on Day 11 of having this piercing. I have to admit y’all it’s definitely has been annoying to say the least. My nose piercing I would occasionally forget and rub my nose by accident or if I needed to scratch my nose I would forget too. No big deal. But with this piercing just about everything irritates it. I have long hair and washing it has been a bit of a hassle. Requires lots of patience for sure. I sometimes forget the piercing is there and that the bar is a bit longer to give it space to swell. I miscalculate and accidentally bump it while washing my face, washing my hair, if someone brushes my side, trying to tie a ponytail, having my hair down irritates it. Cleaning it no matter how gentle I end up taking an Advil to help with the swelling. It itches which is a good sign. There’s yellow crust around it which is also a sign of healing. It doesn’t throb and the swelling isn’t excessive. Thankfully! No signs of infections and hopefully it stays that way. I have a couple of products that I’m using that has been a huge help. Cartilage piercing take MINIMUM about 3 months to heal to a year depending on your body, healing processing and aftercare. Purchasing these products can definitely help with the healing process and a good addition to your piercing aftercare routine.

H2Ocean 4oz Piercing Aftercare Spray

Urban ReLeaf Piercing Care

These are the two main products I’ve been using to care for my piercing. The H2Ocean is a sterile spray that has sea salt and mineral that help speed up the healing process. You can choose to make your own which I did at first. However, there’s a chance that it won’t be sterile or the amount of sea salt won’t be enough or too much. Plus this is more portable in case you have to be away for the day or a while.

The second product is the Urban ReLeaf Piercing care. This is contains sea salt and botanicals which makes it not only smell lovely but also helps prevent infections. It’s for soaking the piercing for a few minutes to flush out the piercing and soften the crust that forms. The tea tree oil is a natural disinfectant and aloe Vera is known for its moisturizing properties. Overall, the ingredients are beneficial to your healing piercing in both preventing infection or if you notice signs of an infection starting to form.

*As an Amazon associate I do earn commission on qualifying purchases on the above links*

I hope this helps anyone who has gotten a recent piercing or still trying to find ways in helping their piercing heal. I don’t regret getting my industrial just wish the healing and care wasn’t so tedious. Overall I have to say that I love how it looks and hopefully no infection starts. I’ll update next week with how things are progressing. Thanks for reading!

Shedding my Weight, weight loss

Shedding the Weight

Sirua

It begins. My journey to weight loss through the years has been a battle. I always say I’ll lose and never do. My head was never in the right place. Depression. Comfort eating. Bad habits. All of it just came back every time I tried. I want to start today and see where it takes me. I’m not going to do a crash diet or anything of the sort. Simply going to be more aware of what goes into my body. Change little things here and there. Measure my portions. Morning walks with son for an hour and drinking some Lean Shake I bought in the mornings before hand and tracking my calories with the MyFitnessPal App. Later on in the journey I’ll hopefully reveal my true weight but I’m still uncomfortable in doing so. Every Sunday (or Saturday) I’ll keep everyone updated. Hopefully I can put this in a separate tab somewhere so it’s easy to follow.

Product Review, Skin Care Beauty

Petal Spa Oil to Foam

Sirua

In my skin care I have a Rose theme going on and I continue to add more things Rose related. I recently bought this oil to foam cleanser from Mamonde to make my nightly skin care much easier. It melts away my makeup which is usually mascara with some eyeshadow and liquid lip. After it’s well distributed. I add a tad bit more with water and foam it up. It feels so luxurious and smells lovely as usual. Leaves my skin feeling soft and clean. The consistency is almost like an oily gel so it’s easy to over use the product thinking it won’t be enough. Plus, whatever bit of makeup or anything is left I usually use my toner and cotton pad to get everything completely off. Honestly, just from the week I’ve been using it’s a definite permanent part of skin care routine as long as it’s available. I always look forward to my night skincare since it relaxes me before going to bed so having something that feels like I’m pampering myself is amazing. You can find this at Ulta by clicking on this link—-> Mamonde Petal Spa Oil to Foam

Life

Bittersweet Memories

Sirua

Oh August how wonderful and bittersweet you are. It’s the last month before fall which is my favorite time of year. It’s the weird in between month where it would be the last month before school started. The month before the season would change. You felt the breeze become cooler. The energy of the city would take a different turn as businesses and families prepared for the upcoming school days, the cold and of course the holidays. I would swell in excitement and skittish vibes. What would the year bring? Always hoping it would be better than last year. Growing up my perspective was different. It was hopeful and at times a bit lonely growing up. Then things changed….

August 2016 changed for me after I lost my daughter. I go back to that whole month savoring and reminiscing in the last good memories I had being pregnant with her. Finding out we were having a girl. Playing Pokémon Go to get in my walks for the day. We were looking forward to everything with her. Being pregnant in the winter sounded perfect to me. She would of been born close to my birthday. Losing her changed August for me. I might not smile the same but I feel the breeze for her sake. I enjoy the change of seasons because she didn’t. I will include her and her brother I lost after in May 2017 during holidays. I’ll hold their brother who’s running around right now tighter. These bittersweet sweet memories I’ll always hold near me. August will always bring it back to me and for that I thank you.

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live. -Norman Cousins

Life

Being Their Voice

Sirua

Before ever becoming a mother. The thought brought an anxiety that was so overwhelming I didn’t think I would have any children. How can I take care of this little person that’s my own? Was I capable of being a good mother? Show them that the world is both beautiful yet so cruel. All these thoughts still haunt me. Little less than before they’re replaced with other things now but they’re still there some days.

I also realized throughout life and now having my son. How careful we as parents need to be when we speak to them as they’re growing. It’s easy for them to absorb everything. Children are truly sponges to those around them. We parents are legitimately their first interaction with the world. It comes to no surprise that even to this day I can still hear my parents voices for a lot of the decisions I make in life. It’s something I find humorous most days. When I went to get my first tattoo I could already feel the disappointment of my parents and hear them saying how I probably ruined my body by getting it. Mind you, I was 22 almost 23 and didn’t really mind their disapproval at this point. I’m usually confident in most of my decisions and what I do with my body now that I’m older. Yet, even still I hear them in my head before doing anything. It’s becoming more faint as the years go by and it made me realize that the strongest voices in our children is mostly ours. Their self esteem, confidence, fears and overall sense of self mostly comes from being around us. I hope that I can be better and give my son more positive thoughts than negative ones. That he won’t feel the need to hide things from me. After all, we have free will. Regardless what we tell them. They can choose to rebel against it or listen. They’re always listening. They’re always watching. Strive to be better cause perfection does not exist.

This has always been a fear of mine with having kids. I hope one day if they ever do hear my voice or their dad’s voice. It’s help guide them through life decisions and if it’s small things that they’ll laugh like I did. All in good time I suppose.

Life

Industrial Piercing

Sirua

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part is mostly after. The aftercare and trying to remember the piercing is there. It’s fresh and it hurts when I forget it’s there! It’s rare but it happens and I’m sure it will continue to happen. I’ll be posting healing updates and progression photos until I change it. One thing for sure I completely forgot I can’t swim underwater with a fresh piercing. Gladly, the vacation I have planned isn’t all about swimming.

Day 1 Freshly pierced

Day 3 Little to no blood and not much swelling

This might take a while to heal anywhere from 4 months to 1 year. Hoping for the best healing wise. Wish me luck.

Life

Body Modifications

Sirua

I’ve always been interested in piercings. Growing up I wanted extra holes above the ear piercings I had already. Get my nose pierced and snake bites. Never did the snake bites though. My body is prone to scarring easily and didn’t want to chance the skin around my lips bruising. The nose piercing I ended up loving and still do! It’s been 2 years and I still love how it makes my overall face look. I was tempted to get a septum but with a one year old who am I kidding?

Today I’ve decided to get an industrial (A bar in my upper ear cartilage) which makes me nervous. I think sitting here on the bus on my way there. I’m building up anxiety and a non existing expectation of pain. I’ve gotten tattoos. Pierced more than once. Given birth with epidural and yet a needle still makes my stomach flop. How’s that even possible? I need to get it together. If anyone out there reading this has ever gotten an industrial or pierced in worse places. Please tell me I’m crazy and I’m nervous for no reason.