Raise your hand if you feel like a mess this week...
It's OK, I do too! After a week like the holidays or a vacation (or both at the same time...OMG) you probably feel like your body and by extension your beauty are turning against you.
An excess of unhealthy food, drinking, lack of sleep, stress, different water (if you're traveling) all of these can cause your skin, hair and waistline to FREAK OUT.
So to help you out I have compiled a list of what to do in the weeks after the holidays, or any time that you have been on vacation and out of the swing of things for that matter. . .
OK so first things first.
If you are applying these tips post holiday season it is probably easiest to wait until after the New Year for obvious reasons. But seriously once that is over, quit the boozin' for a bit. I am not a huge drinker, so when I do go through periods when I am drinking more often I FEEL IT and more importantly I SEE IT.
First of all, just because alcohol doesn't taste like food, doesn't mean it has no calories. So it is not going to help if you are trying to work off that 3 lb. slab of cheesecake you ate. Secondly, it is really not great for your skin.
I am not a dermatologist, or a skin expert of any kind honestly, but I know from anecdotal evidence on my own face that drinking makes your skin look...not so good.
And generally speaking booze just aren't good for your health, and as we all know healthy = more beautiful. So you do the math.
To get your body back to normal you really need to get your nutrition in check. Get some veggies and fruits back in there. The jam in the cookies you've been eating totally doesn't count.
An easy way to get some of these back in your diet is with some of those fresh juice drinks that are so popular these days.
I love me a Green Machine, but these aren't low in calories. If you are a skinny minny to begin with, these are PERFECT.
For the rest of us, taking in an extra 200 calories a day is not an option right now. My solution is this...
I got this idea from the YouTuber
Nikki Phillipi, She uses a combination of emergen-C, which is a fizzy drink mix full of vitamins, and wheat grass powder. I adapted mine to do it with Greens+ Powder to get some other other goodness in there too.
This is a quick easy way to get vitamins and greens, and it's only 50 calories per serving! She also claims this helps clear her skin...So thats a big plus too!
Speaking of your skin, it might be giving you some trouble right about now.
If your skin is acne prone, you might feel like a pimple farmer before the autumn harvest.
The best way to deal with this is not by scrubbing your skin to death or using harsh exfoliants. Your skin is fragile, it's been through a lot this week, so be gentle. But you want to keep it extra super clean, to keep the bacteria, and by extension the acne at bay.
The bacteria is like the fertilizer on your pimple farm...OK this metaphor is just too realistic, it's grossing me out.
Before bed I like to use my regular face wash and just cleanse my face twice. I start with a gentle wash cloth and warm water, rinse and then cleanse with my Clarisonic. I also do this when I am PMSing to keep the hormonal acne away, and it helps A LOT.
Then once or twice during the week, I will do a very simple clay mask.
This mask has a lot of crazy claims on the label, and honestly for me the "Ancient Beauty Secret blah blah blah" was a bit of a turn off. I've never seen an ancient Aztec person, their skin could have looked terrible! How is that a selling point?
BUT don't let it deter you! Turns out, it's just a jar of clay powder which you can mix with anything you want, really. They suggest apple cider vinegar, which I am a big fan of for many purposes so thats what I use.
It's not a miracle worker, but it helps your skin feel nice and clean and soft. And it also gives you that classic, green face mask look like in a movie when girls are giving each other makeovers, so that's always fun!
Then there's your hair. After being styled and fried, and re-styled and re-fried it may not be looking so hot either. You could use a hair mask, but you are broke remember? You just spent all your money on either Christmas Gifts, or an elaborate trip or both.
You could use my
Maple Coconut DIY Hair Mask, but if you don't have those ingredients laying around, even that costs a few bucks. So now what?
They Overcharge for this stuff online, I suggest going to Target!
The famous Aussie 3 Minute Miracle! I don't think this is the best mask on earth, nor do I think it will actually work a miracle. But it does deep condition, and leave your hair feeling pretty darn soft and nice. In a pinch, this stuff is the truth. Oh and it costs under $5.00 . . .yeah exactly.
And now we get into the hard part...
You over ate.
Your jeans don't fit.
You had a pretty hardcore muffin top in that picture your aunt took.
You are flipping out about it.
Stop crying, it's not the end of the world, you can fix it and everything will be fine!
This is not a fitness blog, and I am not going to tell you how to get in shape for the new year and change your life, or tell you that you even need to do that.
What I will do is tell you how I get rid of the bloating from all the salt I ate and give you an idea of what I do to get back to feeling normal.
Like I said earlier, ditch the drinking for a while. Thats a big one.
As for the bloating. . .
Dandelion root tea. Again I am no expert, but someone suggested I try this for bloating, and for me it works like a charm. It will make you pee a lot though, so maybe not before a long car ride, but it seems to me that it's pretty effective. And you don't have to take any weird pills and worry that they're bad for you.
It tastes OK too. Sorta nutty and plain. It's good in the way that plain oatmeal is kinda good.
Having been off track for a while, I always feel the need to keep a close eye on everything I am doing, just to be sure that I am not being lazy with my exercise, or eating more than normal.
The myfitnesspal app is great for this. You can basically just keep track of everything you eat and all the working out you do. It will even calculate how many calories you need to be whatever weight you want to be, if that's what you're looking for.
And last but not least...get outdoors for a little while! Seriously, I know it's cold out but go for a walk! Bundle up a little and once you get going for a few minutes you will be fine.
If these little old ladies can do it so can you!
You will get some exercise (Myfitnesspal calculates how much you burn on a walk just FYI), you will get some fresh air, and you will feel better if you get out for a little while.
I swear by this, call me crazy, but I feel healthier, happier and subsequently more beautiful after a nice walk outside.
So I hope this helps you get back to feeling normal. It works for me!
And I hope you all have a safe and happy new year!
<3<3
