No sweetie, you're NOT still a virgin.

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Homemade deodorant , shampoo, toothpaste

Im going to give homemade deodorant toothpaste and shampoo (for the kids or now) a whirl, so here are the recipes I found... want to put it here so I can save it.

  DEODORANT

Ingredients:
 6-8 Tbsp Coconut oil (solid state)
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder or cornstarch (arrowroot is preferred)

 Directions: Combine equal portions of baking soda & arrowroot powder/cornstarch. Slowly add coconut oil and work it in with a spoon or hand blender until it maintains a firm but pliable texture. It should be about the same texture as commercial deodorant, solid but able to be applied easily. If it is too wet, add further arrowroot powder/cornstarch to thicken. You can either scoop this recipe into your old deodorant dispensers or place in a small container with lid and apply with fingers with each use. Makes about 1 cup. This recipe lasts about 3 months for two people with regular daily use.

 OR

 6 T coconut oil
1 1/2 T beeswax (helps keep it from melting when its hot because coconut oil has such a low melt point)
1/4 cup (4 T) baking soda
 1/4 cup (4 T) arrowroot powder
essential oils (optional)

 or

 Ingredients for Man-Smell Killer Deodorant
 equal parts aluminum free baking soda and either arrowroot powder or GMO-free cornstarch (I use about ½ cup baking soda and 1/2 cup arrowroot) mix with coconut oil until moist and then store in a jar seriously. that’s it. If you want to get fancy, though, add a little lemon, tea tree, rosemary, lavender or bergamot essential oil Quick Tips: Rub a SMALL amount in using your fingertips until it’s invisible. It works that well! (plus if you cake it on it can leave oil stains on your clothes). Store in an a reused glass jar.

 OR

 you can spoon the mixture into an old deodorant container and rub it on that way! Also, some people find that the baking soda is too alkaline for their skin, which can cause irritation. If this happens try cutting the amount of baking soda in half. OR this recipe and then follow with the powder 1/2 cup witch hazel 1/4 cup aloe vera gel (or juice) 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (you can leave this out if needed like I do) 10 drops Clary Sage Essential Oil Then mix arrowroot powder and the EO of choice

  SHAMPOO

 For normal hair, or as a base to add your own scents, use
 1/4 cup distilled water 1/4 cup liquid Castile Soap
1/2 teaspoon jojoba, grapeseed, or other light vegetable oil
 Flip Cap Bottles or Foaming Bottles to dispense

 OR

 1/4 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup Liquid Castille Soap (like Dr. Bronners)
 1/2 of a teaspoon (or several capsules) of Vitamin E oil
 20 drops of Essential Oils of choice
 For dry hair: add 1/2 tsp olive or almond oil (optional)

 How to Make Natural Shampoo: Combine all ingredients in an old shampoo bottle or jar of some kind (pump soap dispensers and even foaming dispensers work well for this. If you use a foaming dispenser, add 1/4 cup of distilled water) Shake well to mix. Keep in shower for up to a month. Shake before each use. Use about a teaspoon every time you shampoo. If you use a foaming dispenser, it also makes a great shaving cream- just dilute with 1/4 cup distilled water!

  TOOTHPASTE

Ingredients: 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
 3 tbsp of baking soda
 10 drops of Peppermint Oil
 3-4 drops of Stevia to taste (Im going to use xylitol instead)

 Directions: Mix the room temperature coconut oil, baking soda, peppermint oil and stevia. Once it is well mixed put into a small glass jar with a lid. Use about a teaspoon or so to brush your teeth as usual.

Hashimotos sucks

So Ive been doing some research on hashimotos thyroiditus, which I was diagnosed with about 2 years ago. The trouble Im having losing weight has led me to googling and googling and IM NOT happy with what Im finding. :(
It appears that people wish hashis struggle and struggle and do everything right, but cant lose weight no matter what they do??
Also Im kind of scared with the things im reading about how its an autoimmune disease and Im more susceptible to all these other diseases and problems.

there are so many foods, and supplements etc that are suggested, but its SO MUCH I cant even keep it all straight. Crazy overwhelming.

So many symptoms that I have, and apparently will always have, because there is no cure for this disease. :(

Im assuming at this point I just keep plugging along and hope to become a "fit fatty" with my workouts and eating. If I cant lose weight, at least I can tone up right?? *sigh

Some of the symptoms and signs of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis include:

Fatigue & Exhaustion
Unexplained Weight Gain
Anxiety & Depression
High Blood Pressure
Bloating
Periods of Sweating, Weight Loss, and Irritability
Muscle Spasms
Sore Throat
Rashes
Acne
Headaches
Infertility in Women
Insomnia
Forgetfulness
Constipation
Dry Skin
Intolerance to Cold
Swelling in the Front of the Neck
Trouble Swallowing food or liquids
Tender and stiff muscles

Been a while, and welcome to my bodybugg journey

So its been a while since I updated my blog.... EEEK! Guess I dont have as much time as I thought I did. ;)

So as usual my blog will be about my trying to lose weight, since that is an endless battle for me.
I just got my thyroid meds upped so I REALLY hope that will help. Ive been struggling SO BAD since I had Jacoby to lose weight, and it all coincides with when my thyroid issues started, so I do think they go hand in hand.

I started over a month ago giving southbeach a try, after reading the book "why we get fat, and what to do about it" by Gary Taubes. This was all in all a good read. VERY Long winded and repetitive, but basically weight issues are from carbs (DUH). So by the end of the book he pretty much wants you on an atkins type diet. SO I figured why not... started doing atkins, lost 4 lbs the first two days, but I was really Nauseous, and decided the southbeach diet sounded healthier and like it wouldnt upset my stomach as much, so switched to that. I followed that, even tracking my food intake on myfitnesspal, for close to 2 weeks without losing another pound. Now of course during that time I Missed out on family things... For instance Jacoby had his birthday, and I didnt enjoy cake and ice cream, and yummy dinner with my family. I sat there and watched them all eat it wishing I could have a tiny bit lol!!! I dont think life needs to be that way. Everything in moderation right?
SO anyways... I decided that maybe southbeach was too low calorie for me and my body was freaking out, because most days I was taking in about 900 calories a day (THE HORROR!) and the first two weeks of southbeach, people usually lose up to 12 lbs, the fact that I lost nothing raised some redflags for me.
So anyways.... started just tracking my foods on myfitnesspal, and following the "plan" on that site, calorie wise etc.
Now for anyone that hasnt been on myfitnesspal, there are message boards on there as well, and it appears that the consensus on them is that IF you exercise, you need to eat your exercise calories back, because MFP program has a deficit set up for it already, so you should lose weight even if you are NOT working out.... but if you work out and dont eat those calories you are creating too big of a deficit and you will make your body freak out, thinking its starving etc, and it will hold onto all the fat you have. So upon reading that OVER AND OVER I decided I need to do that. so for 3 weeks I did just that... made sure my net calories (what I took in minus what I burned) was at least 1200 calories a day etc. AND yes I was working out 5 days a week. Now during that time I DID notice my pants getting a bit loser and I FEEL a bit better, but I HAVENT LOST ANYTHING!!!! GRRRR!

So I decided there must be something wrong with my metabolism or something, so last week I ordered a Bodybugg. You might have seen them on the biggest loser. Its an arm band with a high tech digital device on it that tracks YOUR PERSONAL calorie burn for the day. You wear it around the clock (yes even when sleeping) and plug it into your computer and it uploads data with your exact calorie burn. I was AMAZED how many calories I burn doing laundry and other "mom' stuff.
So anyways, with this program, you should take your daily calorie burn and then deduct from that to get your calorie intake. So for instance, if you want to lose 1 lb a week, you deduct 500 calories from your daily burn, to get your daily intake, 750 for 1.5, and 1000 for 2 lbs.
I have been doing that, but having trouble getting my calorie count high enough, cause of course you should be eating HEALTHY calories, not cheeseburgers and french fries. On the weekend days I burned well over 3000 calories a day, so I needed to be taking in AT LEAST 2200 calories. WAIT WHAT??????

Ok so someone tell me how its possible to lose weight eating that much, but also eating 1200 calories? Why are my friends eating 12-1500 calories and losing????? I am so confused with this whole weight loss thing right now LMAO!!!

I am continuing to plug along with it, and I will update my blog with details with how I do, because I know I have a lot of friends interested in this device. ;) So for now Im wishing MYSELF good luck!!! And saying "welcome back to Noelle's obnoxious weight loss blogs" I do hope this will be the last time I have to blog about this, cause I will be successful this time!!!!

Bodybugg link if you are interested: http://bodybugg.extole.com/a/clk/pDXx

Houses houses houses

So this whole house shopping thing has been SO stressful! We are pretty low on our budget, because we dont want to be paying TONS Of money every month for a mortgage, and having to cut back on things etc... so its been HARD! I know that if we could spend another 20-30K it would be easier because there are better houses in that price range.
Everyone keeps telling me that I will know when I find my house, but I really think I wont find "my house" because of our price range LMAO! That being said... I think we found something pretty darn close.

This is a 4 bedroom with a basement, nice and roomy, and in great shape. It is a foreclosure and Im SHOCKED the condition its in, cause the other foreclosures I looked at were HORRIBLE!!! The only thing that is in my mind on this one is the backyard needs work. Its not fenced in, and you can see where water runs down the yard when it rains... so it was kind of muddy when we looked. Jon says we can put in some drainage and that will fix the problem, but it wont happen right away obviously. The yard does go back quite a bit too, but its wooded, so we would need to clear it out etc. HOWEVER there is a nice side yard, and a hill on the front yard... and its RIGHT smack dab at the end of a cul de sac, so the kids can play in the road on their bikes etc. And get this... its RIGHT Across the street from the pool!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! So anyways... we are going to put an offer on it, and see how that goes!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Time to move on...

Sooooo as the true diet whore that I am... I think it might be time to move on. Im wasting money every day by starting my day out well, eating my medifast foods, but then by midafternoon Im in the pantry eating crackers. (No my tankini didnt help) I will say I do have horrible PMS so it can probably be blamed for the past couple days, but I think either way that Ive hit the end of my medifast journey, because if you arent going to do it 100%, then you are throwing money down the toilet.
SO Ill either see if any of the peeps I know want to buy stuff off me, or Ill ebay it.

On to my NEXT idea. A friend here is doing the 17 day diet. What is that you say? Its a book that you have to buy (of course, similar to southbeach etc) where there are cycles of eating styles. It encourages clean, whole food eating. Cutting out processed stuff etc... but each cycle is different to help "throw off" your metabolism and keep it pumping. I havent read the book yet but here is some info I found online:

The 17 day diet consist of 4 cycles, each lasting 17 days with the exception of the last cycle. (which is supposed to be your NEW way of eating forever) The point of the diet is to confuse your metabolism so that it keeps actively working.

Cycle 1: Promote rapid weight loss by improving digestive health (basically low carb)
Cycle 2: Reset metabolism through increasing and decreasing calorie consumption to increase fat-burning and prevent plateaus
Cycle 3: Develop good eating habits by reintroducing additional foods
Cycle 4: Maintenance of weight loss by eating healthy during the week and allowing for consumption of one's favorite foods on the weekend.

The good part about the program is that there is no real calorie counting. The program encourages to stay within the normal range of 1200 to 1400 calories, but there are no calorie or portion size numbers to be concerned with.

Exercise is encouraged with the program of at least 17 minutes a day.

The book states people lose between 10 and 15 pounds within the first 17 days (Cycle 1). Also, you can go back to Cycle 1 at any time if you have more weight to lose.

So once I read the book and get started on it Ill of course be blogging away about it. ;)

Cheat cheat cheat...

Week 5 was a bit CHEATY here in my house. *sigh* I went all that time without cheating, cause I knew it would mess up my diet, but then I DID cheat, and it didnt mess it up and I still lost... so now part of my brain is thinking "HEY I can eat a few crackers, and Ill be ok..." Or other various things that it decides I want a bite of. I think once you open the "cheat door" it stays open.
I still am debating how far I want to go on this plan. Obviously with buying a house, we need our money elsewhere, but on the other hand... I REALLY want to keep losing FAST so I can wear my smaller summer clothes in a couple months. Im figuring if I lose 10 lbs in April and 10 lbs in May Ill be fitting in quite a bit of it... Then I can start working out, and transitioning onto another more "real" plan. On the other hand... I cant be paying for this food, and then cheating. It doesnt make any sense!

So needless to say... NO CLUE!!!

I dug out much smaller tankini top that I wore about 6 or 7 years ago (yikes, that was a long time ago) and hung it up on the outside of my pantry... so if you come over and think Im odd, there is a reason its there lol! When I stumble to the pantry to munch on some crackers I will see it there and say WAIT A MINUTE!!!! Crackers wont help you fit in that... and hopefully then I will turn around and get a glass of water instead. LMAO!!!!

Sigh!