My Weight Loss Journey

My Weight Loss Journey

With one of my best friend's wedding looming in the beginning of 2O17 in Mexico, I decided I had some weight loss and toning up to do. Over the last eight months I have lost about thirty pounds of the seventy pounds I hoped to lose in a year's time. This was a great accomplishment thus far and I am proud with how far I have come in my weight loss journey. Aside from the fact that I have lost almost half the amount of weight I projected to lose in a year's time, my weight loss has seemed to slow down significantly since hitting about six months in, and I think I know why.

The first few months I was super dedicated to eating clean and working out constantly then I started to slip up here and there which I believe slowed down the amount of weight I was losing per week. Till this day (and over the last eight months), I have eaten pretty clean during the day for the most part including breakfast, lunch, and snacks. However in the beginning of my journey, eating clean was a lot less of a challenge and in the recent months I have found that eating healthy when I get home from work in the evening as well as on the weekends has been more of a challenge than I would like to admit. As well as, after suffering from an unfortunate lower back strain, my fitness has been less than great recently which has really made my weight loss journey suffer even more.

I am hoping from posting my weight loss journey, my ups and downs, my struggles and successes, and my real take on how it feels to try to become a healthier version of myself failures and all, that this will help me to meet my goals as well as, helping anyone else who is struggling to become a healthier or better version of themselves. And just maybe we can share tips, tricks, and support for each other along the way. This is all about keeping myself accountable to my actions and keeping things real because when it comes down to it, this has to be a lifestyle. Fads don't last and results are best attained when you are kept accountable so here is my first step in trying to create a better and more healthy life for myself.

God bless!

Sephora Face Mask Review

Sephora Face Mask Review

Sephora Green Tea Face Mask
Price: $6.00
Where you can buy this: Sephora stores, Sephora.com

On my exciting Saturday night yesterday, instead of going out like most people to celebrate Halloween, I decided to stay in with my family, watch the Cubs games, and try out one of Sephora's popular face masks. I have been having some trouble with my skin lately. Feeling blemishes under my skin that had not come to the surface yet, and unwanted texture that I couldn't seem to get rid of.

After looking thru my skin care drawer, I stumbled upon Sephora's Green Tea Mask, which is said to help mattify the skin as well as help with anti-blemish agents in it. My skin is mostly dry with slight oil in the t-zone area, so I wasn't to concerned about the mattifying effects that it could provide. However, I was optimistic about the anti-blemish aspect in the hopes that it would help to pull some of the blemishes that were stuck under my skin and illuminate the undesired texture I was experiencing.

According to the Sephora website, the Green Tea Mask is supposed to "mattify and purify to soothe skin while minimizing shine and reducing the appearance of outbreaks." This mask is a sheet mask which is a mask that is a sheet of fabric with the solution soaked into the sheet with cut outs for your eyes, nostrils, and mouth. I usually leave sheet masks on for about 15-30 minutes depending on the type of mask and how my skin is feeling throughout the experience. I left this mask on for about 20-25 minutes. After removing the mask, I washed my face with my usual face wash and applied my night time moisturizer and face oil.

Directly after removing the face mask, my skin instantly feel smooth and soft to the touch and did not feel dried out or dehydrated due to the mattifying properties in the mask. In fact, my face didn't really look matte at all. This morning when I woke up, I checked my face in the mirror and a lot of the blemishes had surfaced and appeared smaller than the night before to my pleasant surprise. As well as, the skin on my face was still soft and smooth to the touch.

All in all, I would definitely recommend the Sephora Green Tea Face Mask for someone who is looking to pull-out and reduce the appearance of their blemishes as well as, helping smooth out the texture of their skin. If you are looking for a mask that is going to reduce oil, I am not sure that I saw such a big difference even in my more oily areas in my t-zone.

All Photos by Becky Schutten