January 2023 ~ KellyOlexa.com

Month: January 2023

Fitness, Personal Blog
The Best Toning Workouts For Women, and ALL Can Be Done At HOME!
- January 11, 2023
- 0 comments
Toning Workouts For Women That Work!

How to Get Toned and Buff at Home

If you are looking for toning workouts for women, I’ve got you covered. I’ve been working out both at home and at the gym for over 20 years and have LOTS of great recommendations for toning workouts for women. In today’s blog, I’ll be focusing on a lot of new toning workouts for women that I’ve discovered in the past 2 years while I’ve changed my focus in training from being more of a “gym rat” to someone more interested in what I’d call getting lean and toned. So, you’ll discover a nice variety of cool toning workouts for women that all can be done at home, whenever you want! Bonus. I think a lot of us started working out more from home during lockdown and liking that flexibility. I plan to start getting out and taking more boutique classes in the near future, but for now, I LOVE variety of tonight workouts for women available online. Tune in below to learn more and see what you might like to try. I’m really enjoying all of these below and I’m excited to see how they will shape my body this year now that I’m really getting back to working out regularly again! Let’s do this!

We Must Always Include Cathe Friedrich.

I have been working out to Cathe Friedrich for probably 20 years if I count correctly. She is hardcore. If you go to her site, cathe.com you will find a ton of goodness from workouts to equipment and she has a streaming plan for less than $30 a month. This woman has EVERY kind of workout you can imagine from cardio to weights and they are all intermediate to advanced. The diversity in her workouts is spectacular. I mean I’m still doing her dvds (yes I’m old school) 20 years later and not bored WHATSOEVER. The music is great and her sense of humor is fantastic. I remember meeting her in person years ago and about died. She’s so sweet. I cannot recommend her workouts enough and the great thing is they are easy to customize– for example, I’m just starting to train again after a long time being off the wagon, and I can easily go DOWN in my weights for her workouts and still get my a&& kicked! LOL Same thing for going UP in weights! You will LOVE her workouts.

Don't JUDGE a Workout By...Anything! Try IT!

Ok so If you are like I was- you are looking at the above video and going OH HELL NO. But let me tell you…..I was the same way, in fact, I made fun of Tracy Anderson workouts for YEARS because I thought no workout could be challenging unless it was heavy weighted. BOY WAS I WRONG. During my Reverse Diet period, I was told to scale my weight training and cardio back and do “lighter workouts” and I chose to pursue barre and “easier workouts” – for some reason I felt pulled to Tracy Anderson. OMG!!! It kicked my ass!! I mean I did the BEGINNER WORKOUT you guys and I was sweating and dying. I now only do intermediate and it’s slaying me. The music is fantastic and — while some of the arm moves at first will make you THINK you are not really “working out”– after a while if you focus, you’ll get it, it adds up. And her lower body stuff is NO JOKE. I dare you to take advantage of her 2 week free trial offers — what do you have to lose? That’s how I got started and got hooked! I LOVE IT! (You’ll want some ankle weights for her workouts, I love these ones — CLICK HERE to buy on Amazon.)

Yoga Does a Body Good.

I have been a yoga addict for a long long time but have often times put my practice to the side because I felt it wasn’t my “real workout” and I felt I didn’t have time to do BOTH yoga and my “other” workout. Well this year I made the commitment to myself to find room for both– why? Because yoga is sooo good for my body and my mind and it’s also so much more about self-care. It’s like chicken soup for the soul. It helps me zen out and I need that in my life, in addition to how much it helps tone up my arms, my back my core my buns my legs, my whole BODY!! If you haven’t tried yoga yet, make this your year!! My favorite portal for yoga classes (gosh there are sooooo many options online it’s hard to recommend just one) is Udaya. I discovered them via Travis Eliot after doing his Ultimate Yogi program which is the BOMB (it’s included in the Udaya Membership. You can stream Udaya and then mirror it to your TV– there are like zillions of classes it’s crazy– all kinds of levels and practices — I’m obsessed. I also JUST signed up for this new thing called THE CLASS and I have to say, I am super impressed- check it out. DOESN’T THIS LOOK TOTALLY ZEN AND way cool? They also offer a 14 day trial to check it out. Go for it!

FORM by Sami Clarke

I chose the photo above because I wanted to show a woman doing moves using fitness bands. Sami Clarke, who I randomly discovered on YouTube, is one of my new obsessions. And she uses a good amount of bands in her typically 30-40 minute workouts on her FORM app. Color me obsessed. One, I like her YouTube videos because, she shares great recipes and meal prep ideas and is not a “I just eat 4 pieces of lettuce and some water” type of fitness people- you know the type. She gives good fitness and health advice and seems accessible as a human. Her app is affordable and the workouts are deceptively TOUGH. What I mean by deceptively is again, you’ll be surprised by how hard you work your muscles with say a set of 10lb weights or some bands, I’m not messing around. She is legit. I encourage you to join and subscribe to her YouTube channel.
I hope that these new recommendations are enticing enough for you to dip your toe in the water and try something maybe outside of your comfort zone. With the exception of Cathe, all of these workouts are new to me and I now love them! Go for it. See below for product recommendations that will make your home workout experience complete. Let’s do this thing!

The Best Fitness Equipment and Apparel For Working Out At Home

Here are some of my top recommendations to get you started for working out at home– you don’t need a lot to do these workouts. I recommended these ankle weights by Bala above but I’m linking them here again. If you want to start off with a LIGHT set of dumbbells here is one with 2, 3 and 5LBS. CLICK HERE. To level up and get 10/15/20, CLICK HERE. For a nice yoga mat, CLICK HERE. Yoga blocks can be hugely helpful as well. These fitness bands are under $20– click here to order. CUTE Workout top that is crazy cheap and bottoms too- trust me the are not too good to be true, I’ve ordered many! Did I miss anything?

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

If you liked this post, you’ll probably want to check out this blog post: How to Lose Weight Working Out From Home. CLICK HERE. Interview with Cathe Friedrich! (Podcast) CLICK HERE. Also: Why I’m Using a Waist Trainer During My Workouts CLICK HERE. And a Killer Sandbag Workout You Can Do At Home: CLICK HERE.

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER

Note: this blog contains affiliate links that allow you to find the items mentioned in this post and support this channel at no cost to you. While this channel may earn minimal sums when a viewer uses the links provided, the view is in NO WAY obligated to use these links. Thank you for your support.

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BEAUTY, Personal Blog
How to Deal With Hormonal Acne: My Top 10 Tips For Better Looking Skin.
- January 5, 2023
- 0 comments
How to Deal With Hormonal Acne

Are you struggling with hormonal acne? Want to find out how to deal with hormonal acne without wasting time and money? I’ve got you. I’ve dealt with acne and skin issues my whole adult life. I have recently discovered new techniques and products that helped me figure out how to deal with hormonal acne in an effective way. The approaches will likely vary for each person and you have to test things out, but it’s worth it. When you have hormonal acne as an adult, it can cause massive stress and anxiety– ain’t nobody got time for that. Read on to learn more about how to deal with hormonal acne and let me know what worked for you!

My Top 10 Tips to Help Treat Hormonal Acne

As I mentioned above, I have dealt with acne most of my adult life. I started getting bad breakouts in college and went on accutane several times and then I was put on the Pill and it’s likely that that was keeping my hormones altered for a while. (HINT: do NOT use the PILL or Accutane for acne!!! They are dangerous drugs and set you up for disaster later!! Trust me– same goes for Spironolactone: do not believe the hype from a lot of dermatologists that it’s a “miracle drug”– it’s a testosterone blocker that will block your testosterone sure but that’s going to jack your hormones and again, set you up for. a world of problems and health issues later!!) Later in my life, around the time I was going through my divorce, I came down with another skin problem that continues to plague me to this day. I broke out in bumps– not exactly pimples but more like mosquito bite size bumps that are hard and painful – all over my neck, then chest back and upper arms and often, on my face. For YEARS and YEARS I went to doctors and dermatologists and no one could figure out what this situation was. It was because of this ongoing skin bump situation that I have learned so much about adult acne and other skin conditions. As you’ll learn in the video below, my skin bump condition turned out to be more of an inflammatory response to — my body reacting to CORN. Corn! I can’t eat corn or products with corn in it or I break out in bumps– and I’ve recently learned that BANANAS cause the same reaction. Yes my friends, FOOD can medicine, but the REMOVAL OF FOOD can also be medicine. I’ll talk about that more down below.

What I’ve learned are some of the best practices to dealing with hormonal acne or skin conditions like mine are listed below. I promise you each one is more impactful than you think, so don’t underestimate the effect it can have!! Trust me, I’ve been down this road a while.

1) As stated above: when you experience chronic adult acne or any kind of rashes/bumps like I have, CONSIDER YOUR DIET. Now, let me be clear. This is not always easy but you could start with ( depending on how serious you are to get better skin ) eliminating DAIRY and/or GLUTEN. If you think you can’t do it, don’t go there. You may or may not know I went keto and stayed 100% keto for about 16 months and there are legions of great tasting foods that contain no gluten and no dairy. I never thought I could do keto and I did- give yourself more credit. You can also do what I did and take a food reactivity test, that helped me figure out the root of my problem when nothing else seemed to work. I recommend the MRT LEAP TEST by Oxford Labs. Life changing! Also, I’ve recently started using a Lumen to track and monitor how my body is utilizing carbs vs. fat. I’m really excited to see how this unfolds over time especially since I’ve added carbs back into my life and have definitely noticed that they have an effect on me and that I’ll have to watch my intake of them for the rest of my life. (See my posts on insulin resistance and going keto). The Lumen advises you on how to alter your diet if you tend to be burning carbs more often than fat, I’m digging that. I’m also going to start using a CGM again so stay tuned for more information on that. Consider picking up a Lumen for yourself this year, you are worth the investment!

2) Watch your blood sugar/glucose. Yes — more food/diet talk. As I did some more research recently on this topic (as I was discovering that my recent breakout of bumps was not “stress” but actually my body reacting to BANANAS!! Then I learned that bananas are often problematic because they are ‘histamine liberators‘ or can cause your body to release histamine which can result in a legion of side effects. To learn more about histamine intolerance CLICK HERE.) If you want to read an outstanding book on regulating your glucose , you must get The Glucose Revolution!! Great read with some awesome lifestyle tips to make it easier to eat foods you enjoy while keeping your glucose in check. The research I’ve been doing on keeping your skin clear of adult acne talks repeatedly about how high insulin, high blood sugar and a diet rich in carbs/processed food and sugar is likely to cause breakouts in many women.

3) Don’t over wash your face. The tendency to over-scrub, over-exfoliate and over-wash your face when you are broken out is natural but it’s the worst thing you can be doing. Be gentle to your skin- beating it up with too much washing and exfoliating can make your skin condition worse. Try using these gentle makeup remover wipes, over 10K 5 star reviews on Amazon can’t be wrong!

4) Clean your makeup brushes REGULARLY!! I recommend weekly. Ever since I made the switch to cream makeup (life changing, you must order some and you’ll be obsessed! Email me at kelly@kellyolexa.com to find out more information, I’ll help you choose your colors.) I’ve relied on makeup brushes to apply this fabulous cream foundation and do my contouring more than ever. And now I make sure that I religiously wash my brushes every Saturday morning– otherwise ladies you are just shoving bacteria on your skin–do you really want to add that to your already broken out face? I think not. (p.s. I use our Seint makeup brush cleaner, you can order from me)

5) HYDRATE. HYDRATE. HYDRATE. Water consumption is the key to everything and it’s also the key for supple healthy skin. I don’t think I need to explain much more here but I can tell you my skin gets super dry when I’m not drinking enough water and that can cause breakouts: when you skin gets super dry, it will produce excess oil/sebum to accommodate and then your pores will clog and zits will occur. Ugh. Drink up. You know what has helped me finally get over my ISSUES drinking enough water? Getting this 33oz Iron Flask! For real! I carry it with me everywhere and now I drink 2-3 of these a day (my neurologist told me to!) and I am now a crazy water drinking fool. They come in all sizes and colors: do yourself a favor and pick one up now.

6) Change your pillowcase to a silk/satin one and change it REGULARLY. Hopefully you wash your sheets at minimum weekly but changing your pillowcase can be a gamechanger! This is where your face rests for 8 or so hours every night– you want that pillowcase to be soft and gentle and CLEAN to avoid bacteria buildup!

7) Always remove your makeup before bed!! Seriously ladies! And take this evening skincare routine up a notch — a makeup remover wipe is NOT considered washing your face. I learned from a podcast interview that it’s ideal to first remove your makeup THEN WASH YOUR FACE and wash it 2x in a row (gently) to get off all the makeup. I’m happy to help you pick out some clean skincare for both washing and moisturizing/anti-aging– just email me to chat. kelly@kellyolexa.com

8) Add facials. I had never had a facial until last year. WHATTT?? Now that I get what facials can do for your skin, well I’m in. Facials are like personal trainers for your skin. They get out the bad stuff and add the good stuff and it’s true self-love and self-care at its best. I’m committed to doing facials 1-2x a month going forward, forever– it’s that impactful!

9) Use good makeup. Ladies, I referenced above how I made the change to Seint Cream makeup (I’m a consultant for the company so you can order product from me) about a year ago and have never looked back. But just like with skincare, the quality of your makeup MATTERS. Trust me. The ingredients in cheap foundation and drugstore makeup are like rolling the dice in Vegas– you are playing with fire putting that crap on your skin and hoping you’ll stay looking good. Invest in great skincare and great makeup. Check out the Seint 3D foundation and my review about it here. Again, I’m more than happy to help you get started with a color match so just email me. kelly@kellyolexa.com

10) Invest in a solid skincare routine. I never ever used any type of skincare until I tried Arbonne at a house party about 15 years ago. I still use these products (and a few others) and I strongly recommend them. I honestly just FEEL so good, my skin feels so good when I’m treating it with high quality products. Click here to peruse the Arbonne line, I’m than happy to help recommend the products I love to use and help you get started. 😉 kelly@kellyolexa.com

What NOT to do to treat Hormonal Acne.

My strong recommendations on what not to do to improve your adult acne situation: DO NOT GO ON THE PILL to solve your acne problems and DO NOT GO ON SPIRONOLACTONE to solve your acne problems. I’ll do a deep dive post on why this is sooo bad for you but it has to do with jacking up your hormones and destroying your health– trust me. Want to learn about how bad The Pill is for you? Read “Beyond the Pill” by Dr. Joleen Brighten. The side effects of spironolactone alone are reason enough to avoid it and the long-term side effects from manipulating your testosterone– trust me, you’ll regret it later. Don’t go there.

Upgrade Your Daily Skincare Routine to Treat Hormonal Acne.

Once you start realizing how much of a difference you can make in how your skin looks AND feels, you’ll realize that the time and investment is worth it. I’m really leveling up my skincare game and this year I plan to expand with some additional best practices and try out some new products and services. One thing I’m adding is Gua Sha– see the illustration above. You use a soft marble like tool– like the one below- and apply a good oil to your face first then you sweep the tool in those directions to improve lymphatic flow. I’ll do a more in-depth post on this coming up, so be sure to subscribe! I referenced above going for bi-monthly or weekly facials as a solid investment. And of course leveling up your at-home skincare and committing to a morning and evening routine-you will be amazed at how much you’ll see a difference. I’m also planning to try out some new elective cosmetic procedures like Morpheus and getting some peels done. (Will do detailed posts on all these things coming up, don’t you worry!)

My Top 10 Product Recommendations For Treating Hormonal Acne.

In closing here are some of my favorite products (some already mentioned above) for treating hormonal acne. Note, while I say ‘treat’ I hope it goes without saying that no one product is guaranteed to eradicate one’s acne issues, it’s really a lot of trial and error but- investing in good products, makeup, skincare and best practices will garner great results over the long-term.
1) Wash your face with your hair pulled back– using this soft scrunchie and headband combo. This will allow you to focus heavily on your face without the hair getting in the way.
2) When your skin gets broken out — USE AN ICE ROLLER for relief and also to decrease inflammation. Don’t pick at your skin, ICE IT!
3) As stated above– get yourself a solid skincare routine. I’ve been using Arbonne skincare for 15+ years and they have a lot of acne-focused products as well. Let’s talk and get you hooked up with some fantastic clean pure and beneficial products to beautify your skin.
4) Satin pillowcases. If you want to go nutty get an entire set of luxury silk sheets. So worth the investment.
5) Read The Skincare Bible. Enough said.
6) I have not tried these personally but lately have been seeing them pop up everywhere and women swear by them to help get rid of zits in a big way. CLICK HERE to try the Mighty Patch.
7) Do a Dead Sea Mud Mask once a week. It pulls out impurities in the skin and feels very spa at home– trust me. Don’t do it too often, you’ll over dry out the skin and cause breakouts!
8) Try a facial steamer. Sometimes it’s the simple things that often work most effectively. I love taking a steam bath at the gym, so this is like a steam bath for your face. Drink in the moisture and open up those pores!
9) Check out the latest LED Light Mask– this also comes with benefits for anti-aging not just acne– BONUS.
10) This is way cool- High Frequency Skin Therapy Machine. Read the reviews. Highly recommend. It seems strange but these new tools are actually quite impactful.
So, was this post on hormonal acne helpful? What questions do you have? Let me know what products you tried out and how it worked or didn’t work for your skin situation. I’m here to help. Stay tuned for more posts coming up on skincare, anti-aging and beauty — and if you have something specific you’d love to learn about – drop it in the comments below. I’ll be your investigative reporter! Let’s get fabulous after forty (and fifty…and beyond) ladies!! WOO-HOO!!

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER

Note: this blog contains affiliate links that allow you to find the items mentioned in this post and support this channel at no cost to you. While this channel may earn minimal sums when a viewer uses the links provided, the view is in NO WAY obligated to use these links. Thank you for your support.

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