Returning to Natural Curls
My last relaxer (following 8 years of torture) was on October 17th 2010. Here's my chronicled transitioning journey back to basics

muffintop-less:

It’s not a “diet” it’s a lifestyle. Make health a part of your life!

You can’t eat healthy, lose weight, and then go back to the way you were eating before and expect your body not to change… Make it a permanent change! Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring either! There are tons of great recipes out there (literally thousands) so if you’re someone who likes to change things up… give this a try!

www.cleaneatingmag.com =)

muffintop-less:

Dealing with Change

I am often asked how to deal with friends and family who don’t understand the desire to eat healthy and exercise…

 Honestly, it can be rough at first. What you need to keep in mind though is that it’s natural for people to be wary of things they don’t completely understand. When you decide to change your lifestyle to something of a healthier nature, be prepared for people to question and criticize you. Change can be a very difficult thing for many people to handle. Some on the other hand will be there to encourage you along your journey.

Here are a few tips I have for those of you going through this:

• Lead by example - make healthy food, eat healthy food, exercise, be positive. By showing people that you enjoy your life and the things you do, they will be more likely to understand.
• Explain when asked - if people don’t get why you’re skipping dessert or choosing grilled over fried, be prepared to explain that you want to put only good things in your body. It’s the only one you have, so you’re treating it well.
• Be patient - it may take your friends and family some time to adjust to this “new you”.. but so long as you give them time and remain patient with them, it’s more likely as time wears on that they will come to accept, and perhaps even join your new, healthy way of living!

Be prepared for some people to never accept this. As hard as it is to hear… you may come to find that some people in your life truly weren’t your friends to begin with. I myself discovered this… When I stopped raging every day and didn’t want to grab Taco Bell and lounge around on the couch all day, there were people who not only made fun of me and criticized me, they virtually disappeared from my life. In the end though, I’m thankful for this. It made it much easier to weed out the ones who were genuinely happy for me and WANTED me to be happy and healthy… and those that just wanted me to keep them entertained and make them feel better about their OWN lives.

Be strong, stay positive <3

(Source: strengthfromstruggle)

muffintop-less:

I get asked almost daily how to get abs, or how to tone the stomach. The truth is, you cannot spot-reduce body fat and you cannot get great abs through any gimmicks or magical pills. It takes hard work to get abs, otherwise EVERYONE would have them wouldn’t they? =)

“The most popular misconception is that you can get great abs by “doing thousands of crunches to burn fat off the stomach.” We have seen enough infomercials out there that all continue to promote these misconceptions. If these solutions were viable then we wouldn’t need to write articles on proper abdominal training and how to make them visible! 
The most important thing to remember is that something worth having (like great abs) is going require a lot of hard work and persistence to get it! No amount of gadgetry, gimmicks, or fad diets will get you what you are looking for until you come to grips with this fact. It may also take a considerable amount of time.
There are two aspects to developing a great midsection. The first (and probably most important factor) is to be lean enough to have these muscles become visible. The second is that to maximize the appearance of your midsection, there must be significant muscular development there.” - Jon Habeshy

To get abs, clean up your diet and start strength training (your whole body, not just your core)! You can also add in some cardio, which can be helpful in burning body fat.

Want theeeese