How to Devote to a New Lifestyle

So even though summer is coming to a close, that does not mean we girls (or guys) can slack off on our fitness! Of course I am kind of guilty because I've been lenient on myself in terms of food, but I am still working out strong 6x/week! For those of you out there who are struggling to get on or continue your fitness journey, I hope you find this post helpful.

I have always been on and off on exercise and "being healthy" whatever that may mean. The meaning really depends on each individual. I used to think that being healthy was being fit and not eating out so much. Now I realized that it's really a mindset. I have to think healthy (positively) for my mind, and then eat healthy (for my body), and exercise healthy (to challenge myself but not over or under do it) for my stamina. It was really hard for me to stay on track with exercise in the past especially because of being so caught up with school, volunteering, internships, etc. When I graduated and had more time for myself, I lost access to a gym (because I moved). I'm not the type to pay for a membership, so that was out the window and I began to gain a lot of weight. It was quite depressing because I would eat horribly, live horribly, and on top of all that think horribly. That could really be a downwards spiral to hopelessness. I don't want any of you to get there, so that is why I'm writing this.

Not everyone likes to run on the treadmill. Not everyone likes to do yoga. What's important is to find what YOU would like to do. Of course you can always change it up. I used to always do treadmill and then I began to integrate weights into it. Now that I no longer have a gym, I would try those cheap yoga trials (some which are free) on Livingsocial. Then I realized that I have other options, that are completely free, and totally fun as well. I absolutely fell in love with blogilates. If you guys don't know what that is, you are MISSING OUT (in my opinion). Check out the bubbly Cassey Ho at www.blogilates.com. I became so obsessed with her and her workouts I began to live by her.

I won't advertise blogilates that much, because I understand if not everyone is into pilates, but I want to remind you that when you do find that one thing you really enjoy doing, please remember to pay attention to the other important aspects of fitness: mind and diet. I'm not telling you to cut out carbs, cut out dessert, or fats, etc. I want you to make food choices you WILL NOT regret. It can be an ice cream here and there, or a "healthy" alternative of unhealthy foods. If you are stuck on what to eat, but love cooking, I would suggest checking out Cassey's recipes at www.blogilates.com/recipe-index. I used to think I loved cooking, but now I feel even more empowered about cooking because it makes me feel good in the mind AND body (when you cook healthy food).

Alright, if you have already started your journey of fitness, but are struggling because you cannot sustain it as well as you'd like, don't give up! Don't let those numbers get to you. Success should not be measured by weight or inches. It should be measured by your happiness. Think about your achievements and think about your goals. They should help you keep going. If not, maybe you should alter your goals to be more achievable (in short-term) and slowly build up to more challenging goals.

I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have any questions!

P.S. For those who are competitive for money, there is always dietbet.com that will allow you to make bets with other people and as long as you lose 4% of your starting weight, you will get your money back (plus some extra too if others in the bet did not succeed). They also give you the option to donate to charities (so you won't feel as guilty? Haha jk, you earned it anyway!).

Very First Video

Inspired by the Meet & Greet with YouTubers yesterday at BeautyCon, I decided to get my act together and try filming for the very first time. I have to admit it was really just a quick video where I didn't care about lighting, focus, audio, etc. I just wanted to try filming all the way through for the first time and actually getting something out there. I think it was a good trial run? Anyway, I decided to do an August Favorites video. I know, I know, August is not over yet, but it's about to end! I was thinking about doing a tag video but it would be kind of hard. I think the next easiest video would be a haul video or review.

If you're interested, please check out my video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9nQRs6AlaQ

Please comment and leave feedbacks/questions :) I would GREATLY appreciate it!

Other than that, I just recently made a purchase from Whitening Lightening because of all the raved reviews about it. I was debating whether to get the dial-a-smile kit + booster pen or just get the 3-pack mix-n-match pens. I decided to give the pens another try before upgrading to the more complicated kit. It was $39 if you use ilikeweylie's code: WEYLIE39 at checkout. There are so many discount codes on YouTube for this site, so if you're ever interested in giving it a try for teeth whitening, you can just look it up!

I will keep updates on my teeth whitening progress. So far I really can't tell a difference but maybe I should start taking pictures.

Beautycon 2013 in LA, Siren Studio (Sunset Blvd)

Last night I couldn't sleep (not because of the sudden appearance of ants in my room) and when I finally went to bed I only slept 3 hours before waking up from excitement and angst. I was so pumped to get ready for Beautycon! If you don't know what it is, it's like Comic Con but Beauty Con, get it?

So anyway, the event was scheduled to start at 10AM, so I decided to get there early (like an hour and a half early) to ensure that I would get ONE of the 100 postcards Weylie (ilikeweylie) was going to pass out during her meet and greet. I parked at 8:30AM and when I started walking to the location, I was a little disappointed. There was already a line. Yes, at 8:45AM there was a line that was half a block long. I thought, good thing I'm early, until two hours later I was still in line at 10:45AM. At this point everyone was dying from the burning sun and I was so sure I'd get sunburn (which I did because I didn't bring sunscreen).

I finally got in at 11AM and was so overwhelmed by the different signs. I got my GA wristband and started wandering where the crowd was.

To summarize everything, there were a lot of small freebies: greek yogurt, popcorn, "secret" gift from bareMinerals, button pins, phone case or flip flop DIYs, lulus jewelry&clothing spin-the-wheel raffle/prize, and I'm sure there were more.

I was able to meet my YT idols: ilikeweylie, fromheadtotoe, and xteeener. They were usually spotted together. I got pictures and gave them my homemade snicker doodles and a thank you/greeting card. For Weylie, I actually made a quote journal with quotes from her Instagram.

Overall it was a great day (besides the 2hour+ wait in line and sunburn). I am so fortunate to be living in LA where I get the opportunity to meet so many YT stars. Last time I was at IDEA fitness convention and got to meet Cassey Ho from blogilates. Both that convention and this one were FREE. Must keep my eyes peeled for more free events in the future :)

And that concludes my post.