This blog is about health, fitness, weight loss, beauty, and relaxation.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Skin Care

Michelle at Chocolate and Marmalade Tea asked "what is your skincare routine?"

For many years I looked younger than what my actual age is.. so I'm told.  When I was in my mid-thirties I had a teen co-worker ask me why I looked younger than my age.

I told her one reason is probably just genes :-)  Here are some things that I do to take care of my skin.  I wash my face and neck twice a day.  I use the soap that Frank makes.  There are so many soaps I can't use because they contain perfumes I'm allergic to and Frank's soap doesn't have perfume.  It has coconut oil, olive oil and shea butter... and a few things I don't know what are.  When we don't have Frank's soap around I use Dove beauty bar, unscented.  After I wash my face I massage a bit of Cetaphil lotion onto my face and neck.  I like to massage my jaw muscles and my neck muscles to relax them. 

I use the soap Frank makes when I shower too.  I towel dry and apply either Cetaphil lotion or moisturizing cream.  My hands get Cetaphil lotion or hand cream treatment as needed throughout the day.  I use the cream mostly in the winter.  

I hardly ever wear makeup.  When I do put on a foundation I do it thinly.   Concealer is my friend for the dark circles.  

One bit of makeup I like to wear is lipstick or lip balm.

Femininity: Lipstick


I don't smoke and I don't sun worship or use tanning beds.  Fifteen minutes to an hour of sun a day is good for the skin and it is probably okay to be out in the sun that long without UV protection.

I don't have perfect skin; I still get little bumps on my skin.  There is always going to be an allergen around.  

Okay, that is my skin care.   What is yours?

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Breathing Exercises

We wake up and we are breathing... aaah a good thing :-D I have asthma and sometimes my breathing isn't so great. An attack happens when I do strenuous exercise. To prevent this I use my rescue inhaler about 15 minutes before exercising. I used my inhaler a lot on our walks on the trip we took out west last year. It made up hill walking a lot easier.

I try to do breathing exercises to help my breathing on a daily basis. This video is for menopause, but is the same exercise I do. It helps for panic / stress attacks too. Breathing correctly is important in physical exercise.... remember to breathe from the diaphragm and not the chest.

How to Do Breathing Exercises for Menopause

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Diet, Exercise and Goals

Do you cringe at the word 'diet'? I do. It seems different when you think of it as what you eat and not a strict regiment of eating foods you don't like.

I've lost somewhere between 10 and 13 pounds the last few months. What helped me lose these pounds was to eat 4 or 5 small meals a day. Believe me I don't get hungry. I'm down to 4 meals because I can't hold 5.

My weight doesn't seem to want to go down lately.

Probably because of my diet... right? I'm eating too many calories. I need more will-power and more patience. Those are my two faults.

Or maybe it is lack of exercise? I exercise don't I?

I can walk 30 minutes or more at a time. I haven't done that much in a while. What are my excuses? The weather was so muggy, but now it is nice and better walking weather. I need someone to walk with. My walking companion passed away more than 2 years ago... has it been that long... Annabelle, our dog, was a wonderful walking companion and I still miss her. Sometimes Frank, my dear husband, is up to walking with me. We don't seem to be able to keep it up though.

I was going to try to ride my bicycle. Um.... last week just up the street a man was beaten and robbed. So I don't want to be out in the neighborhood riding my bicycle or walking without someone with me.

Our neighborhood is nice. The homes are older. Apartments have been built amongst the homes in recent years. With the economy so bad people are doing more bad things.

I found a few illustrations of exercises I do for my knees and shoulder..... it seems physical therapy is never over.

When doing this exercise I sometimes put a ball behind my back... small cheap playball from the discount store. I just roll or slide down the wall until I'm almost sitting.



This is close as I could come to one of the exercises for my shoulder. I basically walk my fingers up the wall as far as I can. I sometimes roll the playball up and down the wall.

This one loosens the muscles in the legs.

This week I got lots of exercise. Frank and I ran lots of errands that required a lot of walking. Then there was putting away the products which required stretching and bending. There was regular household chores of the laundry, dusting, vacuuming and mopping. I also weeded one of the flower beds. I potted some mums and cleaned up the rest of the garden pot flowers. I have muscles that are feeling the extra exercise.

Goals for me now are to eat less calories and exercise more. Now tell me how I get the will-power and patience :-D