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So in preperation for the Summit, alot of coaches have upped their game physically and nutritionally. Which means for alot of bitchy coaches. Or that may be just me.

Physically: I've started doing doubles 2-3 times a week. What does this mean? I do a cardio sweat session on an empty stomach right when I wake up (the only thing I have in my tummy are BCAAS-Branch Chain Amino Acids to help your muscles along thier merry way). Kill me. It's the worst. But I know when it comes to crunch time for any event (i.e. photoshoots, competitions, SUMMIT) this is what I gotta do. My body responds well to it. My mind and belly give me the finger. In the afternoon-I do weights and a little jumprope speed session (10 min jumprope, followed by weights). I mix it up-whether it's shoulders one day, to legs and butt the next, or bi's and tri's another day. I just make sure I hit each muscle group HARD in the PM. I do take a rest day. But I usually do a great stretch session on rest days. And I do abs twice a week somewhere in there. I sometimes mix up different workout programs from Beachbody as well-since I have all the programs. (Another perk of being a coach-25% off of everything, makes it all VERY affordable!)

Nutritionally: This is my WEAKEST area. I am a snacker. Throw me some chips and hummus. Some pasta. Salsa. Maybe a rice crispy treat. I KNOW. But normally I follow the 80/20 rule even when not in prep for anything. 80% of the time I will eat clean and perfect, 20% of the time I eat whatevertheheck I want. It keeps my sanity intact. Now is a TOTALLY different story. I'm eating, but very very very limited choices. I still eat 5-6 small meals a day. But it consists of the following: Shakeology in the AM-1 hour later a protein shake. Lunch=Wildcaught salmon and asparagus. Snack-protein shake. Dinner=Wildcaught salmon and asparagus. PM Snack if I'm going carb crazy-plain oatmeal (steel cut). PM protein Shake. No alcohol. Then I go to BED. REPEAT. OVER AND OVER. NO VARIATIONS. Fish and asparagus sounds yum right? Well after eating it all day every day it's like the devil in fillet form. But salmon is high in omega 3's which will make your skin glow like a baby's butt and also help with fat loss. Asparagus is a natural diuretic-which means it will help shed any water weight, the natural way. And it makes your pee smell delish.

And OMG the amount of water I am drinking???!!!! I feel like I am preg again with all the pee trips I'm making. But it's all good. It's good to do this to your body every now and then, like a healthy detox. Except it's super long. As a fitness model/fitness coach-you have to be ready for anything 2 weeks out. And 2 weeks is how long I have to do these shananigans.

Results-I have already dropped 4lbs (water weight I'm sure) but it's all fine and dandy because I feel like my muscles are showing more and I just feel better overall. Sleep is like supah fly, and I feel GREAT in the mornings. Until I realize I can't have my Shakeology until I sweat like a sinner in church for 30 minutes minimum.

In other news: The Sephora angels showed up today as well as the angels from Victoria Secret. Some cute dresses and travel makeup/shampoo/conditioner and perfume were delivered. It makes my day special when this happens.

Superspecial un-carby hugs-Demi
www.demibean.com

My Keratin hair experience

BEFORE,aka my jungle forest. :(
AFTER, hair HEAVEN. :)

So...recently I've had some sort of "midlife hair crisis." IF that even exists. I'm very impatient when I get these urges to do something different, so if I can't have it done to my hair like, 5 minutes ago, then I'll probably attempt it myself, whatever the consequences may be. Needless to say, I cause my personal hairdresser constant stress.

It started about 3 and a half weeks ago when I heard alot of internet raves about this Phyto hair relaxing system. I heard and saw great results, and that it was very gentle. I thought, "hey I live in crazy humid SC, why not?" Now hair relaxers scare me to do death. I had all my hair practically fall out hence why a sported a pixie cut for a short time. But everyone thought and said this would work. Besides it was from the beauty gods of Sephora themselves. They never go wrong.

I was WRONG and they were WRONG. After 1 MINUTE, YES 1 MINUTE, of being applied I saw the dreaded fried ends in one part of my head. I immediately washed it all out. Thank GOD I didn't do too much damage at all to my hair. It still had all it's integrity and I could do whatever with it, it just became really dry and frizzy. Nothing styling products or a flat iron couldn't fix.

THEN 3 weeks later I hear about this amazing salon treatment called the Keratin Complex smoothing treatment by Coppola from my hairdresser. She said it would be perfect for my hair, even after a semi-relaxer. She said all your hair is protein anyway, and this pretty much restores your damaged hair to it's glory days. It even takes away 90% of the frizz and smoothes it out greatly. It's very similar, but much BETTER than the Brazilian Blowout. You can even still wear your hair curly, but with no frizz (!!!), and if you decide that you want it straight, it cuts down blowdry and flat iron time from the average time being 40 min-1 hour, to about 10 minutes or less (!!!). I'm SOLD. But then she told me the price. $350!! ARRGH. I can't justify treating my hair to that steep of a treatment price. Super sads at this point.

So, I go back to the greatest resource in the world (the internet of course), and see if I could get it myself. I know all the hairdressers in the world are crapping their pants right now. But I found it, for ALOT cheaper. $160 bucks at folica.com. SWEET. Now I go into super learning mode. 1) You must have alot of time, like 4 hours time. 2) You MUST have a quality flat iron that heats to 450 degrees or else it will not work (already had that, score!). 3) You must preshampoo your hair with this special keratin clarifying shampoo, and you must use their regular keratin shampoo/condition for after the process. Minimal costs, but still cheaper than the salon. I scoured youtube and other salon sites, and found the actual videos that they use to train stylists on this method of hair smoothing. I did my homework! I read and watched a ton of stuff so I was fully prepared. I did the process yesterday, and the only downside is I can't sweat or get my hair wet for 3 days. So I plan to do light yoga to fight workout withdrawals! :)

The process involves you shampooing your hair 3 times with the clarifying shampoo. (no conditioner is used after this). Dry hair completely with blow dryer on medium setting until it resembles a jungle forest. Then section hair off and start at nape of neck, and start applying the smoothing solution, and combing it through with a fine tooth comb. Cover your head with a hair cap and let set for 20-30 minutes, and then dry again with blowdryer. Once completely dry (again), section off (again) and start flat ironing your hair, and go through each section 5-7 times, root to tip. This is the time consuming part, patience is KEY. Take your time. And it also burns the shiot out of your eyeballs (fumes I guess). Great hair is SO worth it though.

So now my hair is super smooth and straight, but I am in that 72 hour waiting period until I can wash it again. That's when I hear that basically rockets and super sparkles of hair awesomeness shoot out from the heavens. If it gets any better than it is now, I think I will pee my pants. So I am super EXCITED and happy with my results!

What's great about infusing Keratin into your hair, is that it makes your hair HEALTHIER. It is not a hair relaxer, and it wears off your whole head at the same time, so you don't do root touch ups. It wears off on average, 3-5 months. But then you just apply again, whole head, and your hair actually gets HEALTHIER. They say to think of your hair follicle as a strand with many holes. Those holes cause dryness, split ends, damage, etc. Keratin basically goes in there and fills in those holes and makes the hair shafts smooth as butta. The results are cumulative, the more you use it (and you can use it every 4-6 weeks if you want. My 8oz bottle costs me $160 bucks, but I still have half left, so hence another treatment in the future, yay!) the healthier and better your hair gets. Doesn't matter how damaged, colored, fried your hair is, keratin makes it all better. :) 2 thumbs up!!

I'm sure you can tell the before and the after pic from above! LOL

xoxo-Demi Bean