Going no.2 can be a rather uncomfortable topic of discussion but I love pushing people out of any boundaries they try and put around themselves and challenge them to engage, think and grow.
So, here we are talking about how often you go. How many times you visit the porcelain throne?
If you missed my Twitter poll, I'm urging you to stop reading and go comment your answer at the end of this post.



Below are the final results of the poll, I'm glad to see that 60% of 59 that took part go once a day! Poop and poop habits are pretty varied and no two humans bowl movements will ever be the same.

Well the experts say, a wide range of pooping frequencies are considered normal. Some adults may visit the loo three times a day, while others may only go three times a week. How often you go is influenced by factors such as stress, genetics, and your diet - less fiber it includes, the less often you'll probably go and how often you break a sweat.

How many times have you heard someone say, "Oh I can't eat that it has too many calories"?
I honestly can't relate because I surround myself with people who love food a tad too much to calorie count. I found my tribe yo! 

But as a personal trainer, I know that understanding how calories work is key to learning how to make the necessary tweaks to your diet and you all know by now that what you eat and how much you consume directly influences how fast you will see results and how long they will stick around.




The amount of energy in an item of food or drink is measured in calories. When we consume (in food & drink) more calories than we use up, our bodies resort to storing the excess as body fat and if the cycle continues of always consuming more than you use, you will over time begin to put on weight.

As a guide, an average man needs around 2,500kcal (10,500kJ) a day to maintain a healthy body weight.

For an average woman, that figure is around 2,000kcal (8,400kJ) a day.

These values can vary depending on age, size, and levels of physical activity, among other factors. (so if you use them, make sure it's just as a guide - visit your local dietician for a personal plan). 





CALORIES & ENERGY BALANCE 

Our bodies are simple, they need energy to keep our organs functioning and when we eat and drink, we put energy into our bodies.

This energy is used up in everyday movement simple functions like breathing, sleeping or running. So in order to maintain a stable weight, the energy we put into our bodies must be the same as the energy we use by normal bodily functions + physical activity.

So the key here is to find a balance between the energy you put in and the energy you use.




CHECKING CALORIES IN FOOD 

Ever seen that little block of nutrition information on the back of a product and thought, "Meh, how do they expect us to understand this?"

Understanding the calorie content of the food and drink you consume will help you ensure that you aren't consuming too much.

While researching this topic, I came across a cool website that serves as a guide for calories in foods depending on serving size and also gives you an idea of the kind of activity you can do to burn the calories consumed. See snap below:

www.calorieking.com

READING FOOD LABELS 


Calorie counting many shop-bought foods is less intimidating than you might think, the information often appears under the "Energy" heading and is given in kcals short for kilocalories and also in kJ which is short for kilojoules. *different names, same thing 

A "kilocalorie" is another word for what is commonly called a "calorie" so 1,000 calories will be written as 1,000kcals.

Kilojoules are the metric measurement of calories. To find the energy content in kilojoules, multiply the calorie figure by 4.2.

Many labels will state the number of calories in "one portion" of the food but, keep in mind that the manufacturer's idea of one portion may not be the same as yours.

So if you are to make use of the calorie information use it to assess how a particular food would fit into your daily caloric intake.




BURNING CALORIES 

The more vigorous the physical activity the more calories will be used, example fast walking will burn more calories than walking a moderate pace.

So if you find yourself gaining weight it could mean that you are eating and drinking more calories than you are using, so you already know what you need to do to start seeing change - tweak your diet and get physical!


Thank you for reading!

Y'all, my trip to the north was nothing short of lit and extremely tasking on my body. So, in an effort to feel like myself again (fatigue is the name of the game since getting back, which does nothing for your body's natural immunity🙄), I'm doing a 2-day tea detox.


Try a green tea cleanse and discover how good it feels to detoxify and refresh your body. After all, nothing deserves a good spring-cleaning more than your body.

Hello guys,

Remeber that time I DIY'd the Yeezy Sock Boot, well someone saw how I rocked it on my Instagram and asked me to make them one too!

Here is the final product! Thrifty, quick and oh so chic!

original boot

final product

I think it would be super cool to do a DIY blog collab, if you are reading this and are interested - drop a comment below and let's get our creative juices flowing!

Coconut oil!

Every natural hair lovers best friend! Can I get an Amen?
I love love love coconut but it hasn't always been this way. For the longest time, I jumped from brand to brand of lotion and oil for my hair. Whatever I could get my hands on was the motto.

Then a few years ago my lovely mama *S/O came home with this bottle of pure coconut oil and my life has never been the same since! No lie. I use coconut oil for everything, I cook with it, I use it as lotion and it's my go-to for all things natural hair care.

Pro Tip: When buying coconut oil be sure to look out for the pure, unrefined ones - that's the stuff you want. Unrefined coconut oil means it hasn't been processed, bleached or refined in any way.

• Aids in reducing inflammation, and supporting the bodies natural process - add it to your coffee as a creamer (let melt into coffee/ tea) 

• Makeup remover ladies – generously rub coconut oil all over your face and then take a makeup removing wipe viola! 

• Naturally abundant in Vitamin E which makes it great as a natural body moisturizer (rub all over your body after your bath or shower)

• Hot oil treatment - unlike its sister oils mineral or sunflower, coconut oil has been found to greatly reducing protein loss in hair, it is able to penetrate the hair shaft making it a an efficient hair protectant 

• Remove gum from hair or furniture (apply and allow to soak and it should come right out). 

• Mix with apple cider vinegar as a natural lice treatment 
• Put down the margarine or butter and use coconut as a guilt free substitute - use it to bake, fry or saute  

• Oil pulling this is a great way to refresh your gums and teeth. Oil pulling has been proven to decrease tooth decay, gum disease, plaque and general strengthening of your gums & jaws 

Whatever the question, coconut & avocado is the answer!

PS: Dischem has some yummy huge tubs of organic coconut oil options, check them out.

So, here's how I give back to fellow bloggers, with social media platform growth tea tips haha that was a mouthful. But on a real, I had a Twitter account for like 4 years and during those four years tweeted like about 30 times, most of the time those were useless updates about what I was currently doing, and never really bothered to learn anything about how it the platform worked. TBH that 140 character limit put me off. (we've since worked out our issues :P)

Fast forward to 2017, this year started I decided to really give this blogging thing a solid shot. I had blogged in the past but I always ended up deleting blogs and losing inspiration. I am no longer a victim to lack of inspiration, I find ways to stay inspired - read, write, workout, meet new people, train clients, eat; my list is now endless.

1. Username: This is a personal pet peeve of mine, I do not enjoy people constantly changing their handles *rolls eyes and on more than one occasion have mistakenly un-followed someone because I didn't recognize their name and assumed it was someone I followed by accident. So I recommend you choose your handle wisely and if its one thats related to your blog you wouldn't want to change it anyway because it makes it easy for people to find you. Should you need/ want to change it, I say announce it - let your readers know that you've changed your name. Simple.                                                                                                                                                                                      
2. Like, Comment, Retweet: Let's face it, you want people to engage with your fabulous self and blog so make the effort to do the same. Browse different profiles of people doing what your doing and those just generally doing other awesome things and if you genuinely see something you like, let the person know. We all appreciate feedback.                                                               
3. Twitter Analytics: Yes, they are available and free make use of them to gain a better understanding of the types of posts your audience responds to, what the best times to post are and much more. Below are a few screenshots of my analytics, snaps for the growth in followers, impressions & engagement!                                                                                          

Analytics round up from Feb 2017

Analytics round up of Mar 2017

Analytics round up of July 2017

4. RT for awareness: I've seen first hand how the Twitter community respects those 3 words, be sure to use them wisely.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
5. Tweet Smart: Make good use of those 140 characters, whether you are sharing a blog post, a thought or experience. Add flesh to your tweet by making use of gifs there is an endless library of them that Twitter offers, or use a beautiful image that you took. 

6. Pin Tweet to Profile: I've seen people make use of this feature in various ways, for a blogger this feature is cool to use to highlight your latest blog post, a featured post you think everyone should read etc. Make this feature work for you by adding a link to your blog, it's the first post people will see when they visit your profile, make it work for you. 

Hello guys!

How are you doing? How was your weekend? Mine was restful, maybe a little too restful. You know that feeling you have when you know there is something you should be doing but you can't quite figure out just what it is? Yes, I figured it out, I have a huge project due in a week.


Anyway, lets get to today's post, it was inspired by my Mask On! post. I recommend reading that post first as I talk about the importance of applying a mask properly.
I'm sharing my top 3 'Do it Yourself' face masks. Enjoy!


1. Moisturizing Greek Yoghurt & Honey Mask: Revive dull skin with this cooling mask. A simple yoghurt applied at least twice a week will leave your skin feeling soft and supple & you can save a few pretty pennies on moisturizers that sell dreams.
Mix greek yoghurt, honey and lemon until you get a creamy paste. Then just apply it to your face and neck with a clean foundation brush. Set your timer for 20 minutes and allow the mask to sit then rinse off with warm water. Apply a light moisturizer if you feel you need it, my go-to is coconut oil and slay honey!









2. Tumeric Coconut Love: Tumeric has long been known as a spice that adds flavor and color to Indian dishes and in many parts of India is used as a beauty treatment - when applied to the skin it can treat acne, eczema and aids in skin rejuvenation. Coconut oil is one of the best natural moisturizers, honey child it is the best thing you can do for your skin. It aids in removing acne and any scaring on the skin. I use it everywhere! Mix the turmeric powder with the coconut oil until you get a paste, apply it to a freshly cleansed face and let it sit for 20 minutes before rinsing with warm water.
Pro Tip: You will will turn yellow haha but fear not, it will wash off after a few rinses.









3. Bentonite Clay Mask: If you are a sucker for simple DIY's than this is the mask for you. Bentonite clay is a natural healing clay comprised of minerals and is formed from natural volcanic ash. It is a very powerful clay and produces a negative electric charge when water is added to it which aids in drawing out and removing toxins, evening skin tone, treating acne, preventing blackheads and unclogging pores.

You can get your hands on some from Clicks or Dischem. Bentonite clay is safe to use both internally & externally, yes you can actually consume it if you have good quality clay.
Simply mix the clay with water and apply to your face. Let the mask do work it's magic and rinse once you see the clay has dried. Moisturize and go!





Thank you for reading, if you try out any of these masks let a girl know!