End of my 10 Week Plan v2.0

Tonight ends my 10 Week Plan v2.0. The last time I did this was almost 2 years ago & had great success, so I wanted to try it again. I had killed my metabolism the years I was sick because doctors kept telling me to eat less & less (only 800-900 calories a day) so losing weight has been hard the past 3 years since I've been healthy. But I'm happy to report my results!

 

• - Starting wt: 142.4 - Ending wt: 132.8
• - Macros: 30C, 35 P, 35 F.
• - ~ 1350 cals / day. 1 cheat meal per week.
• - Exercise: 5-6xs week, approx 240 mins / wk.
• - HIIT 1/2 the time, strength, yoga & pilates.
• - *NO processed carbohydrates besides cheat meal!* (This was a main focus from the first one & this one in regards to difference in my eating, & both trials have proved true for me. I rarely eat any processed carbohydrates anyway, and with calories and macros remaining same, even a very small about of processed carbs hinders weight loss.)
• - Good carbs focused on: Leafy greens, fruit in the morning. 1 slice of high fiber minimal processed bread or tortilla a day. Bananas & dried apricots for potassium. Greek yogurt.
• - Good fats focused on: Avocados! Nuts & nut butters. Kefir. Cheese 3oz/ day limit.
• - Minimum alcohol. 1 - 2 glasses of wine per week max (minus Valentine’s wine tasting day). 3 martini-type drinks total during 10 week period.
• Size 4 to comfy size 2! :) And a happy camper! 

Me at the end of my 10 Week Plan v2.0 Spring 2016

Exciting Week with Influenster, dōTERRA & the Arts

The #BiteBeauty Influenster VoxBox

Great week! Wrapping up a couple Influenster VoxBoxes, & very exciting things in the land of hard work.

I got my badge for dōTERRA so I'm super official now haha. I've really enjoyed the past couple months learning more about essential oils and the level of quality that is Certified Pure Theraputic Grade dōTERRA has & why it's important. I get to help others even more on their journey to health & happiness by guiding them to healthy natural alternatives for themselves, their family  and their homes.

I've also accepted a position at the beautiful Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture that I'll be starting in a couple weeks. My happiness is found in my original & pure passions for arts & entertainment, and I'm extremely excited to join a lovely San Francisco location that continues to cultivate artistic events in my home town. 

Fitness and Nutrition Factoids of the Week

• You will get an additional 15 minutes of exercise each day, on average, if you take public transit to work. 

• Air pollution can affect nutrients in your food. Protein levels dropped by 7% in high carbon dioxide areas. High levels also decrease the amounts of zinc and iron in foods like soybeans, rice, and wheat, and these carbon dioxide levels will continue to rise based on - yep - global warming. It's a real thing, not like the Easter bunny.

• For a better focused workout, meditate for 2 - 5 minutes prior to exercise to clear out thoughts that could cripple your efforts.

• There are approximately 1 million bubbles that form in a flute of champagne. 

• Jump as high as you can 20 times a day to increase bone density in your hips.

• Watching intense drama videos can increase cortisol (the stress hormone) levels in some people, which can affect mood negatively. 

• Stress from a poor work environment can also increase cortisol, which can make you crave junk food and trigger hormones that increase fat deposits. 

• Only 36% of Americans consider themselves overweight, when actually 69% are. Get your body fat percentage (not BMI) checked regularly if you're not sure.

• An adult woman needs about 50 grams of protein per day. Protein helps you feel full and protects your muscle mass - which is what you WANT for a healthy metabolism.

10 Makeup and Skin Product Reviews With Ratings

Review box is getting full - time to make space with 10 different skincare & makeup reviews! 

Products, samples, and testers came from Sephora, Birchbox, and Target mostly. Everything from Eyes Lips Face to Ole Henrikson.

 

Here are the 10 reviews, rated from 3 being low to 8 being high:

Belif - the true cream moisturizing bomb - 6

A new line out at Sephora from Korea - most of the line seems like a knock-off from philosophy, from the name of the brand, name of the products, and package design. I did like the smooth consistency. If you like philosophy, you may enjoy this brand.

Lara & Co. - Lip Lube - 4

Kind of a weird bright yet pastel color from a Birchbox, ironically the second color I've gotten from Birchbox from this brand in a very similar color. I'll just say this helped my decision in debating whether or not to pause my subscription.

philosophy - no reason to hide -5

Maybe I'm one of the few people that just doesn't get philosophy. I actually liked the knock-off brand more than this sample. 

Clinique - Smart Custom Repair Eye Treatment -8

My favorite trial in this bunch! Clinique is so simple, so mainstream, I'd almost say basic, but there is nothing basic about this product. My skin felt fresh and smooth. Thumbsup. I'd like to get a deluxe sample next. 

e.l.f. Tone Adjusting Primer - 7

If you'd like a inexpensive (usually about $5) primer that you can wear any day, get this one. Sometimes we don't want to use our expensive $25 - $40 primers if we're having a laid back day around the house or running errands. Get this tone adjusting primer (available in 4 different colors) and don't feel bad about looking fabulous every day of the week.

Ole Henrikson - Truth Serum - 6

I used this in my gym bag for after I shower. I don't have anything negative to say about it, but I didn't notice any positive changes on my face. It did absorb fairly quickly for me to put the rest of my products on immediately after. 

e.l.f. Lip Plump & Primer - 3

It smelled & tasted like cinnamon... Everything else wasn't great. Did not notice any pluming, and the primer didn't work at all. Normally I rave about their non-makeup products but this one fell short. 

Benefit - it's potent Eye Cream - 7

Granted this sample only contained two applications, so I can't speak much for its claim of "brightening to fade dark circles", but I did like it as an eye cream. Very gentle and moisturizing which is needed for eye products. Second favorite in this list of ten.

Ole Henrikson - Pure Truth Melting Cleanser - 6

I used this 3-in-1 cleansing gel about five or six times last week, both a few times using just my hands and a few times with my Clarisonic Mia

Jouer - matte moisture tint sunscreen SPF 15 - 7

Got this little guy from a Birchbox. Went on smooth, neutral color that blended well, not too think. I would have rated it higher if the SPF was higher - a 15 doesn't really do a whole lot in regards to protection.

In Perspective

A dear friend of mine went missing this week. Safe to say the reason why I didn't keep up with the blog posts the past few days, & couldn't really do much of anything else besides freak out & try to think what I / we could do to find her. After missing for seven days, she was found alive, thank the Lord.

During the day my mind was consumed with worry, and at night the anxiety and sleeplessness on another level. A lot of us go to bed with worries, with anxiety, with sleepless nights. Many of my nights have been, and particularly more so lately, consisted of a deep embedded fear that I try each day to overcome. Recently my fears have been questioning myself, my abilities, wondering what people are going to think or do, and of course - the fear of failure. Almost losing a friend while trying to look for her makes all those fears petty and ridiculous in perspective. All you care about is finding her by any means necessary. Who cares who you talk to, what you post, what people will see or think - if any of it at all would mean finding her you do it. Not even without a second guess, but by the need & desire to do anything at all you possibly can.

Those of us that have fears that stop us from progressing forward need to think what we're taking away not just from ourselves, but from the people we love and care about, any anyone else we would love to help out in this journey on our world. The end result - the chance to help someone, to bring happiness, to save from pain and despair, to do whatever it is that's supposed to be our gift for being on this planet - we need to do. Maybe your point didn't get across, or someone took it the wrong way, or doesn't like you, or you misunderstood, but so many other people and things are probably going to benefit from your positive efforts and good intentions that you would be doing a huge disservice to entertain the idea of NOT doing something that you think would help.

Just go for it. Try. What's the worst that can happen? You'll have to try again. The more you try, the more you'll succeed, the happier you'll be, and you'll leave the world in a better place.

"The world is not served by playing small."

<3,

Samantha Marie

 

Day 1: InTune

As some of you may have heard by now, we are back, bigger & better than ever! This of course didn't come without some long radio silence & sleepless nights. 

Our new website www.samtalia.com for Natural Beauty & Body was scheduled to launch February 11th, and on the afternoon of the 10th, we still weren't completed. Thoughts all over the place, still trying to figure out technical stuff with a deadline approaching. Fortunately my monthly shipment of doTERRA just came in the other day, and I had just ordered & received this new essential oil blend called InTune - especially made to focus! Why not give it a try? I had ordered it originally for studying. Put a little on the bottoms of my feet & behind my neck.

Did it work?

Well, I beat the midnight deadline, didn't I? ;)

The Silence was for a Reason

Hello all!

As you may have noticed, it's been pretty quiet around here the last few months. It's without vain though, and the website that this blog was made to become is finally ready to be unveiled!

On this Thursday, February 11th 2016 I invite you all to come check out Natural Beauty and Body by SamTalia. This website will incorporate all the things we have talked about over the past couple of years: fitness, beauty, nutrition, health and happiness, and also introduce new resources and products available online - if you're not lucky enough to come check them out personally here in Northern California.

Thank you EVERYONE for all your support over the past couple of years! I'm very excited to take this next step with you all and everyone else that becomes a part of SamTalia, and wherever else it may evolve to from there.

Welcome back to the original Natural Beauty and Body blog! <3

~ Samantha Marie

www.samtalia.com

On The Blog: My Itty Bitty Summer

I'm not sure what I had expected this summer to be, if I even expected anything at all. I had hoped to fulfill my New Years Resolution of getting a passport & using it, and I kind of almost did that...

First on the agenda was visiting my dear friend Lisa at what is almost like a second home to me now, Las Vegas. Originally planned as a quick day &1/2 trip to see Calvin Harris with her shifted themes rather quickly. Friends gathered to get a couple rooms at Mandalay Bay, and then Lisa ended up being out of town. We all still had fun of course, and I hope to see her soon.

Met up with an old friend that I haven't hung out with in years, thinking we'd grab some food after work and catch up a bit, maybe grabbing a drink or two before going home. Six hours and random Grand Mariner bottle service later, we quickly remembered how much fun we used to have together, and definitely plan to hang out more!

What's that? It's PRIDE in San Francisco! 

Last weekend of June every year the city turns into an uber happy partying rainbow where everyone comes out to play! 

I did it! New Years Resolution fulfilled! Well, part of it. A month prior I had to public transit a couple hours to get a certified copy of my birth certificate to get my passport for the first time. Now all I have to do is use it! Icing on the cake is that I am happy with my picture, thank god.

Then came Forth of July! SUPER happy I got to spend it with a few of my favorite home girls, all of which who make it very tempting to move to Sacramento. Yes, all three of them live in Sacramento! I don't know if that is a blessing or a curse, but I love them all! BBQ Pool Party in effect, with fireworks being set off for over two solid hours. Seriously awesome.

Here is a really cure picture of one of my longtime friends, Renee. We've been friends since 11 years old, entering sixth grade together. We are highly responsible for the nicknames both of us answer to til this day. Isn't she cute?!?

July also brings something I wait all year for: The Gilroy Garlic Festival! I super geek out on all the art, and food (and of course, the wine tent). It's a tradition of my friend Carlos and I to go every year now together since 2007. We also share in the joy of wine, like this 2004 Paul Hobbs LaGarto merlot. 

As I mentioned, I *almost* fulfilled my New Years Resolution, since I had to delay going out of the country until mid-September. I did want to take a few days away before starting Fall Semester to have a little me time and to visit my mom in Oregon. Where do I go for me time? Las Vegas of course! Solo trip this time for a day, 90% vacation courtesy of MyVegas slots. My Basis Peak fitness tracker shows how much Sin City can help you exceed your daily step goals and the calories you burn from them.

My cute mama & I hiking around Crater Lake.

Wine Tasting at Red Lily Winery

Scary Southern Oregon fires!

And now it is time for me to get back to school! Two of my textbooks have arrived. My summer was short and sweet, and even though it wasn't full of big events, I made a lot of nice memories with friends and family, and grew a whole lot in my heart and soul!
:)

What It Means to be a San Francisco City Girl This Week

THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES! YAYYYYY!!!!!

I have home town love for my teams, win lose or die. But it sure is fabulous when we win!
Being a city girl this week also comes with the usual school (midterms!), work (interviews for a promotion!) and getting a Halloween costume (I don't have time to shop!.) I did however manage to do okay in all three departments, and - despite being at work during Game 7 - managed to watch the last three minutes with a crowd of fellow gym-goers as we caught the last out.

I got off work at 9:30pm, and when I walked outside ten minutes later, it was like New Years Day. Horns honking, fireworks going off, random loud explosions, and of course - bus schedules disrupted. My friend had called me about 9pm to meet her downtown with the celebration in the streets. This of course sounded like fun, but the reality was I knew the "celebration" was going to get out of hand, and I was all the way across town with buses that weren't coming for awhile.

Home was my destination, with a full backpack of school books, a change of regular clothes, some interview clothes, and my empty lunch box that I cram 3 meals into every day. I tried on my Halloween costume for the first time, and realized I needed some white stockings to complete my Dorothy outfit. By the time this was done, I needed to finish unpacking and repack my lunch for work the next morning. My 20 minute Pilates DVD I've been trying to do at night would have to wait another day. It was time to decompress, so that I could be refreshed to get up and do it all over again.

Congrats Giants! Got another interview tomorrow. Happy Halloween everyone!

~ Samantha Marie

Your Personal San Francisco Tour Guide

Before I was sick for a few years, I wore many many hats (although I have begun to wear many more hats again.) My 5th job was probably the unofficial tour guide for a good majority of the electronic music producers that came through San Francisco around 10 years ago. I love this city. Even though I've lived here my whole life, I'm still excited going around doing "touristy" things, like Pier 39, Twin Peaks, the Cliffhouse, etc. Today, I got to show a couple more people around this awesome amazing place, so I figured I'd share a few touristy-photos from a local's perspective. :)

Lombard Street

Pier 39 - Where Normally There are Many More Sea Lions

Sushi Boat Sailing by

Tuna Tartare at Union Square

Geary Street

Japantown

Peace Plaza - Est. 2001

Gotta Love San Francisco Personality (Can you see the monkeys?)

Ten Facts About San Francisco, From Someone That's Lived Here for Three Decades

1) We wear raincoats in July and tank tops in September, and will complain when it's below 50 or above 90.

2) That thing that looks like a lighthouse? It's supposed to be a fire hose.

3) No one who lives here actually rides the cable cars.

4) It may only be 7x7 miles, but our micro-climate will have you changing clothes from the Wharf to the Mission to Sunset.

5) Hot dogs off the street at 3am are the most delicious things ever.
5b) So is the crepe truck.

6) There's a holiday pretty much every weekend, and we will figure out a parade/ street fair/ costume for it.

7) The best Italian food is not at The Stinking Rose.

8) Although Muni runs all night, each of us pray that Bart will run 24 hours.

9)We have mastered the art of parallel parking on the left side.

10) We are 100% content being broke living in the best city in the world.

Welcome to My First Official Blog Post!

Let me start by introducing myself.

I was born & raised the first 25 years of my life in South San Francisco. Yes, South San Francisco is not in San Francisco, it is south of it. I used to say I do everything in San Francisco except sleep, but now I am official resident of one of the most fabulous cities in the world.

I started dancing when I was 3 and trained heavily in tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical (my fav!), hip hop, Afro-hatian, modern and character dance all through my grown up years. By the time I was in high school I was choreographing my own competitions - some even against my teachers - and teaching for my peers. My life and world revolved around music & dance to the extent that I could never see my reality outside of it. The happiest moments of my life have been seeing a production come together, and having this vision you saw in your head & hoped you could make it real actually become real. It's definitely still at the core of my heart to this day, but life has a way of turning your world upside down, doesn't it?

Fast forward a few years into my 20's and doctors started putting me on pills for anything that was wrong with me. (That's what they were supposed to do, right?) I had struggled with depression since I was in junior high, but I developed an anxiety disorder that felt like it came out of nowhere, and things went pretty downhill after that. Within a few years I was having some major heart issues and was in the ER about a dozen times. I couldn't work, I couldn't dance, I couldn't do anything and I really felt like I lost everything I had in life at that point. I was getting worse & doctors wanted to put me on more pills & I just wanted it all to stop. I really believed in nutrition and I wanted to try & fix myself naturally. I had studied a bit previously, but by no means was I an expert. Around this time I also lost my home, as being a freelance makeup artist was not enough to make ends meet forever. I'm not sure how I mentally got through all that, but I think that's something I'm learning about myself in time. Something had to change, and in 2012 I began the year-long process of getting myself off prescription medication, and getting myself healthy enough to get out of bed & be active.

From being a hardcore ballerina, I wanted to jump right in to being active once my heart was officially okay to do so in January of 2013. By that I mean I overcame tachycardia (where your heart rate is never below 100bpm) and lowered my blood pressure from 150/100 to 117/78. What did I decide to do? The Insanity home workouts, of course! Well that was obviously not a good idea for someone who's arms would hurt from moving a laptop, but hey, we learn. After a couple of weeks learning how to pace myself, I was getting good progress. I was also consistently tracking my food & nutrients in MyFitnessPal - which I encourage everyone & their mama to use. Food is medicine - that is the truth. I was eating so amazingly right for my body that I felt - and still continue to feel - better than I ever had in my whole life. I have more energy than I did when I was a teenager or in my 20's, and get this - I'm HAPPY! No, I don't have everything in the world or a lot of "things", but I feel actual pure happiness. That is something I never had before. I tried, I wanted it, I faked it a lot, but between good food & vitamins, I now have it.

In a matter of months I decided to finish getting my Personal Fitness Trainer Certification, because I wanted to help people not have to go through the things I went through. I want people to have the right tools & education to help themselves and not feel like a pharmaceutical is the only answer. I want people to be healthy and happy! Of course, I am continuing to further my education in nutrition and looking forward to being all nerdy excited about food. 

So here we are - Natural Beauty and Body! Feel good, look great, eat wonderful, exercise awesome, better yourself and your world around you.

This journey is going to be filled with easy healthy recipes, fitness tips, home and gym workouts, nutrition information, beauty info and tutorials, natural remedies and mindful things to be aware of for our planet. We're also going to have fun and feel amazing!

Thank you anyone who took the time to read my first post. I look forward to taking our exciting journey together. :)

Sincerely,

Samantha Marie