My New Healthy Lifestyle!

So I thought I’d share with my lovely readers today my newest lifestyle change. Now I’ve contemplated for a while now whether this was something I wanted to share. I am by no means whatsoever an expert on anything health wise. I still am not sure I’ve got it right and I’m always looking for new and informative ways for me to stay healthy. However, I have been fairly successful this new year at loosing some weight and have seen some great results elsewhere. I decided to do this post when I went to write my skincare routine update and I thought to myself – none of this topical stuff would really matter if it wasn’t for my healthy lifestyle. It is the stuff I put into my body that is making the most dramatic difference in my skin’s complexion.

Here are some pictures of my skin last year. Although this is no where near how bad it got. I literally stopped taking pictures I was so embarrassed! 

Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks:

So while in Australia I got into some not so great eating habits and really became quite lazy. This resulted in some unwanted weight gain and an overall body image I wasn’t pleased with. I was low on funds in Australia, which meant I was eating a lot of carbs; carbs are cheap, filling, & delicious! Before heading home I said to myself that I really wanted to clean up my act. My parents have in the last 6 months dropped 35-40 each and I knew that adopting their eating habits was going to be a great thing for me. They went on the Dukan Diet and I thought I might as well go along with it. It is a French diet/eating plan that in a nutshell is a low to no carb high protein eating plan. Along with sticking to this diet pretty religiously, drinking a ton of water and actually exercising, I’ve dropped 15 pounds without much work.

Now by not much work I mean just sticking to what foods I’m allowed and trying to work out at least once a day. BUT it hasn’t been easy either. I have really craved carbs and a lot of the “bad” foods I ate whenever I felt like it last year. That being said, I have enjoyed everything I have been eating and I am really happy with the way I look and that I am still loosing weight and coming closer to my goal weight and my overall goal of being strong and healthy again. As a plus, my skin is a lot better! I owe most of that to cutting down on my milk intake. I was drinking lots of milk and my skin was a mess. Since I stopped drinking glasses of milk I only have minor hormonal breakouts and it only took about three weeks to see a dramatic change.

So here are my suggestions broken down into point form: (these are really in order either!)

•  Drink lots of water 
• Exercise as much as you can and when you do, push yourself. You should want to be strong and able to get better and better at various workouts. 
• Try and eat better. You don’t have to go as extreme as I have. Be strong physically and mentally too! You can have the will power to eat healthy! 
• Stay away from processed foods. I will not have skim milk anymore. It is proven to cause reactions in your body because it is heavily processed and contains extra hormones and for me that meant bad skin. Cut it out and drink water instead! (or almond milk! Delic!)
• Stay positive! When you get down you can really mess things up for yourself. You are the person who benefits the most from having a positive outlook in everything you do. It will help you in everything including your healthy lifestyle.

I’ll leave you with a quote:

“every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits.” – Tina Fey

I think this says that its not about what we look like but rather what we feel like that really matters. We cannot be all the things that society tells us to be and really that's not what its all about anyway. Be health conscience not body conscience and your whole life can change for the better.

Thanks for reading and please follow my blog!

XOXOX