The Best of Summer 2012

It was officially the Last day of summer on Friday :(. Summer is always special for me, my birthday, breaks from school, the great outdoors and just fun in general. Although my summer got off to a late start I really did have fun and I'm so thankful for all the amazing people I spent it with. Whether next season is a new school year for you, or just the same ol' day to day work, I hope you can view it as a possible new beginning. Write down some goals, have a positive outlook and look forward to all the great things ahead!

Here are some of my favorite moments from this Summer

Fresh summer strawberries.

 

Cute summer hairstyles (I think i should do a full post on this)

Colorful wedges

Having Simi over. p.s. isn't it amazing when someone says they'll do something and they actually do? Thank you Simi for keeping to your word and coming to visit I appreciate you.

Short shorts

Getting surprised by Javier in H&M a day before I was supposed to see him <3

Spending time outside, talking and listening to live music. I am so feeling my hair. :D

Attempting to color my hair reddish auburn. Fail but fun all the same

Scary roadtrip into the mountains when we were supposed to be going to the beach

Pre-birthday dinner

Pasta for the first time in aaaaaages! My favorite from BJ's

My birthday wedges, birthday gift from Simi :*

Delicious lettuce wraps for my birthday dinner (small meal, splurge on dessert)

Blowing out my birthday candle! Yaaay 23! check out my colossal slice of chocolate cake! 

Dancing!

My Birthday Flowers from my beloved Maribel!! I love Flowers, I Love you!

My Friends hanging out and being Gorgeous <3 <3 this photo

Grabbing brunch before work all Maxi-d out

My college family reunited

Laughing and savoring precious moments.

 To catch up on other things I got up to this summer check out these posts :)
Summer crafting
Dress up party
Simi X Sab!
Simi X Sab starring mimosas of life
Through a different lens
Tea, Kale chips and Chalk art

Cheers to the next season!
Love,
Sabirah

Even more weightloss stories - The emotional

Hello everyone, been a while I've done one of these... lets get to it

Sigh.

The diet is finally coming to an end, the last time I checked my weight I was about 5kg away from my goal weight, after this period I had friends visiting so I ate like I was going into hibernation (OK not really but it felt that way, since I hadn't had pancakes, or pasta or pizza in like forever) I also didn't exercise and as much as I tried to enjoy the food and vacation I often felt guilt creeping in. I wasn't even eating junk food...

Then my scale stopped working and I had a mini panic attack.
I need to know my weight now!
OMG what if I already got fat from all this stuff I ate?
why did I have that slice of cake on my birthday? OMG what if I become fat... again. 
The thoughts were haunting me. I took my scale to the store to get a replacement but I wasn't able to since they no longer carried that brand (sign maybe). As I was on the bus home, I had a reality check "You've lost focus Sabirah... you've lost focus" I didn't decide to lose weight so I could damage my self esteem. But slowly I had started the process

I got home and cried, because here I was 18kg (40 pounds) lighter than I was 6 months ago but attaching all these feelings of self worth to my body that I never had before. I kept having these thoughts, if I could just tone this then I'd be perfect, just a little more, almost there, people are going to be so shocked.

I lost focus.

The focus was to lose weight while maintaining a positive body image and a healthy body. Honey if your mind isn't healthy then your body isn't. Dieting and exercising are hard as is, the discipline necessary, the slow results and the cravings are a lot to deal with already let alone dealing with self esteem, body dysmorphia and a negative self-image.

So the past two weeks have been weeks of re evaluation, I need to self affirm, re-learn how to love my body, love it as I did 40pounds ago, and even more. Re learn that my existence and worth is so much more than this physical body and reducing it to that is an insult.

I'm not replacing the scale and I'm moving on to the next phase of my diet, starting to re introduce carbs. I'm also going back to the gym to continue exercising because it makes me so happy and it separates "vanity" and body image from actually feeling good about my body. I love feeling stronger.

I just wanted to share because I hardly ever see this side of the story and people only talk about the good stuff.

Here's to healing our bodies, inside out.

Love always,
Sabirah

Simi X Sab, starring Mimosas of Life!

Excuse the title, but after making fun of people that add "of life" to everything, Simi and I found ourselves beginning to add it to everything! But in this case it was justified.

It was a gorgeous summer day as it always is in California and we decided that we would dress up and go out to brunch, sip on mimosas and have relaxed conversation over small bites... in our heads we were in some type of "yuppie" wonderland. I do hope that we can continue to do this once in a while even when life and responsibilities pile up. A great way to get away.

So we headed out, taking pictures of pretty things, Simi has quite "the eye" for photography I would love for her to take it further.

Can I just say I was totally feeling my hair that day, a fluffy little cloud of softness and my wedges too :)

Simi is sooo gorgeous! :)

They had bottomless Mimosas for a set price and we were like "yes please"! We fully intended to drink our money's worth. Bad idea number 1.

Bad Idea no. 2 especially for me was since I hadn't had alcohol in ages cos of my diet this was my first drink (or two or three or...) in a while. Soon enough we were all giggles. I kept saying, "This is la dolce vita, this is how Italians eat, over good long converstations and plenty of wine. (what a mess)

Simi ordered a beef hash with a poached egg that came with a green salad and it was yummy!

I got a BLT (the salad version) and it was really fresh tasting and flavorful

Finally after many drinks and eyeing the table next to us we decided to get "chicken lollipops" yum

I wonder what number this glass was...

It was definitely a fun day out, though it got a little "wild" I promise we kept it "classy"

"Simi this is la dolce vita, how Italians do"

lol,

Mimosas of life!

I hope everyone is great!

Love always,
Sabirah

More Weightloss Stories

It's been almost 6 weeks since my last update! Time does fly! Woosh!
I stepped up my work out game big time and I love it, I've been doing a combination of high cardio exercises like TRX, Trekking and Zumba; Strength and core exercises like Yoga and pilates and a good dose of weight lifting every now and then. Apart from this past week (i should do a separate post maybe), I went hard the last couple of weeks; very minimal cheating on my diet and working out 6days a week. It's was awesome.

I am absolutely in love with Yoga and Pilates, listen if you can find a class, DVD or whatever, get it! I initially started going to the classes not thinking about them as workout classes but for relaxation but I was misinformed. Sure they are not as fast paced or high energy as Zumba but the concentration and strength required to move gracefully from pose to pose is definitely WORK. I love the way i feel long and lean after Pilates, all my muscles well stretched out and my abs nice and tight ahhh. And yoga? The feeling after is just great and seeing myself get better, more fluid and stronger class after class is amazing. So yeah those are my faves!

Got this from M's blog :D They all weigh 150 pounds (UK dress sizes)

My scale and I have a love hate relationship, while it's nice to see the numbers go down sometimes I just want physical results, one thing I've definitely learned so far is that our bodies hold weight differently (see picture above). It's the reason I will never say "OMG I want her body". I can admire but I know that my shape and tone will be unique. The focus is on being fit and healthy and honest with myself. I know that I'm never going to be an hour-glass and I'm completely fine with that. I still weigh myself about every two weeks or so but focusing on how my body feels my endurance levels and sometimes how clothes fit.

If you're on a weight loss Journey keep at it! Be kind to yourself, love where you are now and enjoy it. Compare your body only to yours- (p.s it's OK to take nudes for this purpose hehehe) and appreciate your progress no matter how slow. Be accountable and work hard. Discipline is everything.

Love always,
Sabirah