Lost 54 Pounds? I can do that.

It’s time to do this thing! Yes yes yes yes yes! A smidge of background for myself and for anyone who may want to know…

The most I have ever weighed in my life thus far is 230 pounds. Depression, plus not knowing how to be a good vegetarian, plus eating out all the time is bound to lead to one being a chunky chunkerson. I was still overweight in high school, but managed to lose a bit of weight starting in my sophomore year by taking an aerobics type phys ed class three days a week. My junior year I added a job into the mix and continued to lose weight. Hooray!

After high school I moved on to college, as many 18 year olds do, and I got poor. Poor and depressed. Poor, depressed and incredibly busy. I was living off daily 99 cent burritos from Del Taco and sourdough bacon hamburgers without meat from Jack in the Box. I was cashing in all the cans and bottles from beverages consumed in my apartment (I had quite a few roommates in college) to eat and do laundry. It was ridiculous. When I left college I weighed around 140 pounds, and while I still had a ton of fat on my body, I was a size that was ok. I wasn’t happy with it, but I was ok.

After college I moved in with a lovely guy, my first serious serious boyfriend, and proceded to gain about 20 pounds of “happy weight”. Bad bad bad! We started running and exercising and I lost about 10 pounds of it. 150 pounds at 5’4 isn’t too shabby, but it doesn’t look nice on my body. Not nice at all.

My relationship with the fella above didn’t work out, and after 3 years we broke up and, in what some people would consider a flash I started dating someone else and moved to San Francisco. Two and a half years into new relationship I was back up to 195 pounds and mysteriously 2 inches taller? WTF? Who does that? Lots of people, but why why why? Grr!

So this pretty much brings us up to now. Currently I am 174 pounds. The poundage that I have lost between 195 and now has happened for two reasons:

1. I became a vegan and got a bike. Brought me down into the 180s over the course of a year
2. For the last month I’ve been trying really hard to change the way I live my life

Two weeks ago I was 178 pounds, and decided that I am done being this overweight, tired, angsty, depressed, physically unattractive person. I want to feel vibrant, healthy, alive! I want the confidence I had in college. I want to wake up in the morning shooting lightning bolts of joy out my fingers. I want to be a radiant, whimsical reflection of all the wonderful that could be in the world. The body that I am working with is mine, and I love it for all it can do, but It’s not the best that it can be, and I owe myself and my body that.

So, 54 pounds. I can make that happen. I have no choice.

Naturally You

At first I thought this post would only speak to Black chicks, but y’know what? I was wrong. This post is for everyone who fights what nature has given them, at least in the hair department. What I’m about to say may be common sense to many, but I’m going to talk about it anyway.

People, life is SO much easier when you embrace and learn to love what the fates and the universe have given you. Ladies and gents, dump the curling irons, the blow driers, hair straighteners, the lye, and the unnatural chemical laced products you’re used to using on a daily basis. Let go of the things you’ve been brainwashed to think you need to look the way society wants you to look. Give yourself a break, even if it’s just a mini one.

Experiencing the world is so much easier when you don’t have these things to worry about, and when you’re used to not using them in your day to day life, they’re that much easier to go without while you’re travelling.

Two or so years ago I went on a month long trip to Denmark (wonderful!) and Sweden (fun!) with a super short stint in Switzerland. At the time I was blow drying and flat ironing my seriously kinky/curly hair everyday, and as you can probably guess, it was hell to deal with. The Danish bathrooms I encountered were not like American bathrooms. They were small, had very little counter space, and were basically a huge shower with a toilet and sink in it. I love them, they capture my wannabe minimalist heart, but they don’t make for easy hair straightening when you’re not used to them (and when you don’t want to be rude and take up the bathroom for 30 minutes). I gave up straightening my hair about a week in and wore hats the whole time. I was so uncomfortable. I felt disheveled, unattractive and just a general mess. Who can enjoy their travels when they feel like that?

Fast forward a couple years and I am so glad to be free of the burden that was straightening my ultra curly hair. Last years travels were here in the states, Portland and Burning Man (both great!), and not having to deal with my hair was fantastic! I took a wide toothed comb, leave in conditioner (to Portland, not Burning Man), a couple clips and a few headbands, that’s it! I’d wake up, shower, rinse my hair, slap on a headband, a clip, and TADA, done!

I believe there’s freedom in acceptance. If your hair is bone straight, frizzy, big, or gloriously kinky and curly, please do what you can to embrace it. You might be pleasantly surprised at how much you grow to love that part of you!