25 lbs? Are you there?

Well, it's been another month. A slow month. I'd like to refer to it as a maintenance month. Makes me feel better.

I had so hoped to lose a steady 10 lbs per month  on this journey. The goal seems so far away as it is and the desire to reach it as fast as possible is strong. But there is also an underlying goal to make it stick this time. No more rebounds, you know?

So I try to remain positive and keep the focus. That ticker tape at the top has been inching along .2lbs at a time.  When entering today's weight I saw that I'm only .2 lbs shy of a personal goal I had going to hit 25lbs total weight loss. Almost there.

I know I can do it. There are certain things I resist doing that if only I could make myself do, then success will be easier. I have all the head knowledge to lose weight. I know about food intake and energy output and the correlation between the two. I understand about healthy foods and foods that are not healthy. About the dangers of junk food and eating for the sake of eating. I admit to being an emotional eater.

Now comes the time to start dealing with these things. One thing I have really resisted is the dreaded food journal. Too me, it always seems to put the focus on food. And makes me acutely aware of food and makes me want to cram it into my mouth. Or seek out things I know are bad for me. However, I need to get over these thoughts and just focus on living and eating naturally. So I did it. I wrote down my food journal for the day. Including where I was on the hunger scale (though I still have to really work on that one and figure out exactly what my hunger cues are). And any emotions behind what I ate.

So the first step is taken. I am reminded that it takes baby steps to move in this losing weight business. And to focus on the positives.

Not sure what to think

Something interesting happened this week and I'm not sure how to react or respond. One of the things I love about Isagenix is the support I get through a private facebook group. I even find myself giving encouragement to other "cleansers" and that helps to encourage me as well.

Recently a man named "T" joined the group (in the interest of not raising waves I will not give his real name). He claims to be a naturopathic doctor or at least a very knowledgeable person in the area of holistic medicine. Well that excited me. I love to pick the brains of people who have spent years researching health issues and natural medicines. He had his own private facebook group that talked about natural medicines and healing and so several of us from the Isagenix group joined his group.

Lots of great information there and I was really happy to be part of a knowledgeable crowd of people. One thing that T posted on the Isagenix group, was that he had lost 7.7 lbs in his first 3 days of his 30 day cleanse. I commented "why is it always the men that lose weight so easily?" and was given a response that men have more lean muscle mass and that tends to help them lose the weight easier. My husband has proven that to me. He can go a day without eating and lose weight. I go a day without eating and my body thinks it's in starvation mode and anything I do eat the next day gets immediately stored as fat and I gain weight.

Well, a few days later T announces on his private board that he has quit Isagenix because it almost put him in a hypoglycemic coma - his blood sugars went way too low. So I posted "did you follow the program properly and eat all your snacks in a timely manner?" Valid question. He had already admitted to us on our group that he had forgotten to have his evening shake and it was after 8pm and he didn't feel hungry so wanted to skip it. So by his own words, he was admitting to not following the program properly. Well, on his private board he took insult to my question.

Now I don't know this man. I will never meet him in person. He is just a name on a facebook page. So why do I feel so intimidated by his comment? Why do I feel that I have done something wrong? I really need to get over this! I know one reason is because I get defensive. I want to defend all my fellow cleansers who are also there, saying how wonderful the program is and sorry his body reacted wrong to it. He claims to have over 2000 followers. Well, if 2000 people believe him that Isagenix is terrible for you and will put you into a hypoglycemic coma.....and it denies even one person a chance to make a change in their life that may be their only hope (as I feel it is with me), then I guess it puts me in a fighting mood!

I'm on my 3rd month now of cleansing. Just finishing up  back to back deep cleanse days. I have no headache. I don't feel dizzy. My tummy did rumble a while ago and so I ate an IsaDelight and drank more water. This morning I weighed in and had lost 2 more lbs. I hope to lose another 2 by tomorrow's weigh in. I will have reached my personal goal I set at the beginning of this week to be down 20lbs from when I started.  Yesterday I thanked Chanci for introducing me to this program. I firmly believe it is the answer to my prayers and will be the catalyst for returning me to the healthy body God intended for me to have.

And I won't let the naysayers like T rain on my parade.

Over that plateau

Finally broke that plateau and lost another pound or two. Officially down 16.4 lbs. I was trying to get past 15 lbs lost. Each step is such an accomplishment. When I see that number on the scale I want to do a little jig for joy.

I haven't been nearly as consistent with the "program" this week. Breakfast is easy. I love having a shake for breakfast. Prior to this, one of my favorite breakfasts was Carnation Instant Breakfast - chocolate flavored, of course. There were two days at least that I didn't get my lunch until well after 3pm. Not so good. I had various projects I was working on that kept me busy so not eating wasn't an issue. Until my stomach started to rumble and complain loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

I tried one more effort with the cleanse for life on Tuesday. I tried mixing one scoop in my  hot ionix drink. Made my hot apple cider taste more fruity, but it was palatable. Until I thought of mixing up another batch...then I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

However, good news is my next order just came in. It includes the Mars Venus cleanse drink - which is a daily cleanse drink. Promises to be lemon flavored but we shall see. I wonder how it would taste mixed in the morning shake? I also got the protein powder. I'm going to try to up my protein intake and see if that helps burn more fat. Supposedly that is what I'm told can happen. And I got the liquid cleanse for life to try. Just one bottle. If I make it through the bottle I'll order more.

Had an issue with my guts and am still unsure what is causing it. I did stop taking the Flush capsules as I didn't feel I needed any extra help. But then I was reading some of the ingredients in the flush and after 3 weeks of "issues" I thought I better try the flush again. Took one in the morning and at night for two days now and I think I'm better. So will continue that regime for this next week to see.

Next goal 20lbs total loss. Would love to report back next week with the good news......

Still Here!

No I have not fallen off the Isagenix wagon, nor quit the program. I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon though! Life just got busy. Tax season you know. I'm such a procrastinator that I've been spending the last month getting my books in order so that I can do a marathon tax day and get that yucky business taken care of. And phew, it is done!

So now I can get back to my LIFE! First of all, after finishing my first 30 day cleanse I was down a whopping 12 lbs. My first day after the cleanse I indulged in a few things. Like a cup of coffee! We get beans from Peet's coffee in our mail every two weeks. I had to cut our order in half since I wasn't drinking coffee any more. But they arrive within a week of roasting so are fresh and delicious when we grind them ourselves and make the coffee in a French press. Best way to make coffee. Anyway, I really, really enjoyed that cup!

I also had a taste of McD french fries and their new Chicken bites (almost like KFC's popcorn chicken). And you know what? It really didn't taste that great. I only ate about 10 fries and 5 little pieces of chicken. Probably equivalent of two McNuggets but better quality chicken. It is interesting that foods that I used to love just didn't quite do it.

Anyway, back on the program for the next 30 days. I think I'm on day 25 or so now. And so far only lost another 3 lbs. Okay 3.2 to be exact. So not as good as the first round. One of my biggest problems has been the cleanse drink. I developed a total intolerance for it. Taste/stomach wise. No matter how I tried I could not get this stuff down. On a deep cleanse day I was maybe able to get 3 out of the 4 cleanse drinks done. The one I did this week I only managed 2. I tried diluting it more. I tried making it stronger. I even went so far as to try to put the powder into little gel caps and swallow them so that I didn't taste them. That was a big mistake. It took 12 gel caps to make one dose and took my 1/2 hour to get them down. And by then I was ready to throw it all up again. (I didn't though). But then I felt queasy all day. Only thing that seemed to help was to nibble on an IsaDelight (I love my chocolate!). Based on my weight loss I am convinced that the deep cleanse days are the key to the faster weight loss. Slow and steady is okay, but faster is better in my books!

So my next order I am going to try the liquid cleanse instead of the powder. And Chanci suggested I try the Mars Venus Cleanse, which is a daily cleanse drink that sounds like it tastes like lemonade. As long as it doesn't have that berry taste I'll be okay. I think one of the greatest things about this program is the instant support I get. I can email or message Chanci and she responds usually within the hour. Pretty good considering she lives on the other side of the world. And there is enough info on the website that I can usually find the answer to my question myself.

And I really need to get some pictures up so I can see the change in me. It is hard when you live with yourself everyday to notice any difference. I do feel pants are a bit looser. My butt is getting smaller I think. And I need to up the exercise. I'm planning on getting some ankle and wrist weights or other resistance things to use when doing the water aerobics. And I still need to move the exercise bike into my room to use as well.

Finally I'm making this promise to myself to blog daily. It really helps to keep me focused. Tune in.

DAY 30!!

And the final weight is......<drumroll>.....12 lbs!!

Unfortunately I can't tell you how many inches I lost as I have misplaced the paper that had my initial measurements on and I haven't been able to locate it. But I do have the new numbers recorded and so will start my next 30 days with those numbers to see where I will be at the end of them!

Because I'm definitely continuing. This was worth it. It was tough. I know the things I need to improve on. It was like that first 30 days was a trial run for me to see if this was a program I could stick with. And Isagenix has won out. I can do this again. And again. Until I reach my goal.

I did start the Ageless Essentials that I got with my new autoship order, yesterday so that will put me a bit off at the end of the month, but as long as the shipping is as good as it has been, then it should be no problem. I cheaped out when I did my first order as I have vitamins from another company I never ever take. But by following the routine of Isagenix for the last 30 days I think I have finally developed the habit of taking my "pills" at the right time. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. Hopefully that is true.

Anyway, the vitamins really do seem to give me more energy. At least I think so. It is probably too early to really tell.

Well, it's time for my evening shake. Today was a good day. We had our monthly birthday potluck at water aerobics today and I brought a spinach salad with almonds, cranberries, onions, and shredded carrots. I made up my own dressing with olive oil, red wine vinegar, strawberry/applesauce, garlic and pepper. Oh and a bit of coconut sugar in it too. The jar I used has recipes for various homemade dressings (Pampered Chef item) and though I made up my own, I was looking at the proportions for the oil and vinegar and saw that most of them had over 1/2 cup of oil! I used maybe two Tablespoons in a total 1/2 cup of dressing. Oh and the strawberry/applesauce was organic. Though just cause it says organic on the bottle, how much should we believe that?

I ate mostly salads, one piece of chicken, some fruits, and a bit of pasta and rice (couscous really I think), and a slice of Herta's bread. My one indulgence.

Brought home deserts for the family and only had a small piece of Casava (tapioca and coconut cake) later for my afternoon snack.

Day 29: 2nd Deep Cleanse day

The secret to cleansing days is to keep yourself busy and thus distracted from eating. I spent today working on inventory bills and invoices for our dive shop. An accounting nightmare I had been putting off for several months. But it's getting close to tax time so I need to get these things done or I'll really be screaming on April 15th.

To be honest the next three weeks will be my most stressful time as I do the taxes for our two companies. I'm hoping the Isagenix will keep me focused and calm and I will have the energy and brain power to handle what needs to be done.

As far as today though, I did okay. I had two Milk Chocolate Isa Delights for snacks. Had a good work out at water aerobics. Drank my cleanse drinks, though I was late drinking my third one (almost 7pm) and I was tired and ready for bed by 9pm so didn't want to drink the last one and just went to bed. Since it was Day 2 of a 2 day deep cleanse I don't think missing one dose will make or break the deal.

Drum roll please for tomorrow's weigh in...........(tune in tomorrow).

Day 28: Cleanse Day #4

Okay, final cleanse day of the 30 day program. I've pretty much followed the days to the T as far as shake days and cleanse days. However, I've read that doing 2 cleanse days in a row will obtain better overall results and a deeper cleanse. As Chanci puts it , the 1st cleanse day goes 20% deep. The second cleanse day takes it the other 80% deeper. So I'm going to try it. Tomorrow I'm going to do a second cleanse day. Thankfully my autoship order arrived so I have the new Cleanse to use, as I used up the last of mine today.

I'm afraid I've finally found one issue that will need resolving. It's the cleanse drink. I liked it at first but on my 3rd cleanse day last week I found myself a little nauseated after drinking my last one of the day. I don't know if it's just a memory or what but every drink I had today I found myself having to hold back my gag reflex. My last one I shot back with my nose plugged, like I was taking nasty medicine. I'm hoping tomorrow will not be as bad. Maybe I should try mixing it with ice in a blender and making a slushy out of it. I might try that for my morning cleanse.

Best of all, in my new shipment I got the Milk Chocolate Isa Delights. I'm in heaven! Oh my. It was just so delightful to eat one. And I read that you should have one 20 minutes before an Isa Snack or 2 hours after on the cleanse day to get the most out of the benefits of the Delights. And my hubby brought my box into my office just in time for me to do that. I did find it easier to make it through today.

I mentioned to my hubby how if I were more diligent and perhaps exercised more I would have better results, but he is impressed enough to encourage me and told me he has seen big changes in my way of eating. We joked about when I cheated and ate two pieces of pizza. I said, "at least it was only 2 pieces. Before this I would have eaten 4 slices!" and Les replied with "and a bowl of ice cream too". And I had to laugh and admit he was right.

I have my evening Ionix tea waiting to drink. At least that is still very agreeable to me!

Day 23 thru 27

Confession time. I haven't been blogging daily! I have been starting to get behind for the past week and even the last few posts I posted two days in a row, changing the dates so they would match the actual days. Secret is out.

But when you procrastinate too much it is harder to recreate your daily existence. So instead this is how it has been going the past few days.

I've found myself a little more moody and draggy. Not as energetic as others claim to be on this program. Now admittedly I didn't purchase the vitamin supplements - Ageless Essentials - to start this cleanse. They are on my next order (which hopefully will arrive this week!). I have been taking a homeopathic thyroid supplement that has tons of B vitamins in it. I had hoped that would help give me energy.

Food wise, I think I've done pretty good. Except for the cookies. Okay. On Friday I made cookies for the kids. I used whole wheat flour, organic grain sweetened chocolate chips, cut the sugar down, and added oatmeal and bran. And I didn't eat nearly as many as I would  have in my pre-cleanse days. (meaning before starting this cleanse program). But I probably ate more than I should have anyway. Don't ask me how many. Over the past three days I know I ate at least three per day. And not all at once. All days I ate one cookie as part of my lunch meal. And on other days I know I ate one cookie as my snack.

Mostly I really try to make my entire days calorie consumption (excluding shakes and IsaSnacks) within that 400-600 range. I'm not being super fanatical, writing it all down and adding up the calories, but am estimating - reading labels, etc. I know that I run the risk of exceeding the calorie count by doing this. But I also know myself. I've already seen a little of it come out in this week's procrastination on blogging. I have a tendency to *quit* when too much pressure is put on me to be perfect. Writing down every bit of food that enters my mouth; calorie count; portion size; these are all going to drive me absolutely nuts and make me throw up my hands in despair. I will not ALLOW that to happen.

So I do things my way. Follow the system as much as I can. Exercise when I can (still working on that when there is no water aerobics). And be AWARE. I think that is the key. To be conscious and aware of foods and what is good for me. To research new healthy recipes and try to change what I buy from the grocery store. More home-made and less processed foods. Growing our own food (wish that part didn't take quite so long). Looking for healthier snack options for the kids. Drinking more water.

I've decided to make it a commitment to stick to the Isagenix program as long as I can. If I only lose 10 lbs a month on this program it will be worth it. I've proven over and over again that nothing else works for me. I will be 50 years old in less than 2 years. I want to enter the second half of my life as healthy as I can be.

So 30 days at a time. Over and over again until I reach the me I was meant to be.

Day 22

Officially down 10lbs now!~ Still not as fast as I'd like but honestly? 10 lbs in three weeks is awesome. Les asked me if I could do this for 10 months in a row. I replied,"If I could lose 10lbs every month for 10 months then it is worth the sacrifice."

It is a sacrifice in many ways. So many of the things I did prior to this program, that I thought were okay to do, I realize were making me stuck in my weight. Iced mochas two to three times a week, fast food at least twice a week, pizza every two weeks, ice cream - sometimes daily if we bought a bucket. Treating myself to mocha milkshakes when stressed or depressed. Grabbing a chocolate bar to eat because, after all I hadn't had anything to eat all day. Skipping meals and thinking that by not eating I was doing my body good. All of that is destructive behavior that was not helping my cause.

I can't quite go in the direction that I see some go - total vegetarian for example. I love my meat too much. And so many of the "diet" foods are just unpalatable to me. I was browsing a website today that promised recipes that will help you detox and lose weight. Every recipe was full of ingredients I would never eat. And some things I have never even heard of!

To be successful in maintaining weight loss once I am down to the weight I would like, I know I will have to continue to make changes. But at least Isagenix is giving me some tools to help me.

Day 21: Cleanse #3

Is it getting easier? I ask myself this. In some ways, yes. In some ways, no. I still struggle with the desire to eat foods on the cleanse days. And I'm not feeling that energy that others claim to feel. I wonder how much of it is psychological and how much of it is real? I miss coffee. I miss the taste, the warmth, the caffeine buzz. 

I had a slight headache all day and tried to counteract it by adding Want More Energy to my water bottle in the afternoon. I never finished that water bottle. I was sipping it all day (32 oz water bottle) and the bottom 1/3 of the bottle just started to taste gross. It was upsetting my stomach. So I switched to regular water. 

I did make it through the day without cheating. Only thing I ate was a few IsaSnacks and 4-5 almonds throughout the day. Drank lots of water. My head felt like it had pressure in it all day. Not enough to really mess me up but just enough to irritate me. 

My hubby was nice enough to inform me that he was fasting for the day to support me. How sweet! But then he did eat dinner later with the kids. 

I'm now officially 3 weeks through the 30 day program. It is definitely a life changing program . And a choice. Everyday I need to make sure to make the right choices to be successful.

Day 20

Another day done. Seemed like a long day too.

I'm not sure how good it is for me to have my evening shakes so late on my class days. I wonder if that messes up the program? It was after 9pm when I was able to get my shake. I need to do better than that.

Tomorrow is my cleanse day and I hope and pray that it will do the job it is supposed to do and I will see some better progress than last week. I think I did pretty good this week. Really trying to be careful about what I eat.

Today for lunch I had a greek yogurt. Not my favorite. A little too thick and heavy for my liking. But edible. Had a slice of homemade whole wheat bread with added bran. And some organic corn chips, chili and lime flavored. I had planned on having a spinach salad as well, but then I was too full and forgot about it.

I'm still working on planning better meals with complete proteins, fruits and vegetables. It's all work in progress.

Day 19

Sunday again. What is it about Sundays? I always seem to have some kind of emergency to deal with. Today it was puppy proofing the carport so that our new puppy couldn't escape. Most of the back yard has a large cement wall around it, effectively making a great fence. However the front of the carport has a metal barred security gate and the puppy can slip through the bars!

I found a black wire cage that opens up into a long fence that just fit across the carport area. Except on either end was a gap just big enough for little rascal to slip through. So I found some chicken wire and strapped that to the openings. He still made it through! Finally I found a board to prop between the gate and the wire cage/chicken wire set up that sealed the escape route.

After all that I decided to treat myself to a cup of coffee. And you know what? It didn't taste as great as it usually does. Hmmm......

Rest of the day I stayed on track with my food. Spent the afternoon baking bread, got a roast in the crockpot for dinner and made another flip book scrapbook out of the other 1/2 of my kit. Then around 4:30 I finally headed out do some grocery shopping. I decided to head to the mall Payless as they have an extensive organic food section. Of course, I ended up spending more than I wanted to as organic food is so much costlier. Shouldn't be, but it is.

I stocked up on lots of good salad ingredients. Except cucumbers. There seems to be a shortage of cucumbers again! I really need to get Les to grow us our own. So far we have green beans, green onions, tomatoes and eggplant growing in our little garden. And Les came home with a papaya tree. Maybe in about 6 months we can have fresh papaya!

Found pure peppermint oil to add to my vanilla shakes so that I can indulge in a Shamrock shake. Just in time for St. Patrick's day next week. Had that for my evening shake but I put a bit too much peppermint in it! Next time I need to just put a drop or two.

Not as much water consumed again today as I should. I misplaced my water bottle half way through the day. I had left it in my son's room when I went in and started cleaning up all his dishes he is NOT supposed to have in there!

Used my new walking shoes when out shopping and my feet were so sore when I came home. Once I sat down I did not want to hobble anywhere else.

One more week almost done.

Day 18

Today was a messed up day. I barely followed the plan as it is written. But aside from that I did have some small victories.

I started out okay, making sure to drink my ionix and my morning chocolate shake, took my vitamins and my accelerator pill. Packed up some IsaSnacks and some stray almonds I found in the bottom of the fridge tray, and my afternoon accelerator pill. Filled my water bottle and headed to work.

Saturday mornings I teach a 3 hour driving school class. I also have to coordinate the driving lessons, deal with phone calls, walk in customers (replacement certificates mostly) and various other sundry things. So the morning goes by swiftly and next thing I know it is 12 o'clock.

I had a potato in the fridge, so popped that in the microwave to eat for lunch. I also had packed up a slice of my rhubarb/strawberry oatmeal square. So I had a baked potato with 1 T of butter and the oatmeal square for my lunch. Hardly a full 400-600 calorie meal.

At 1pm I headed off to a friend's house for a day of scrapbooking. We made a cute little flip book scrapbook out of 1/2 a Stampin UP scrapbook kit. Very cute. I forgot to bring in my bottle of water (but did take my accelerator pill and munched on an IsaSnack on my way to her house). Next thing I knew it was 6pm! Time goes by fast when you are scrappin' and having good conversations!

I then had to stop by another friend's house to pick up a new puppy for Eric and Cassie. Cute bundle of fur who had his first car ride with me. Sat on my lap and hugged me most of the ride home, until I finally convinced him to sit on the seat next to me.

At home I whipped up a batch of homemade macaroni and cheese. And proceeded to have a bowl myself. Skipped my evening shake as by this time it was 8pm and I was done for the day.

So that is why I call it a messed up day. I did keep my calorie intake down to 600 I'm sure but missed that evening shake as I really just didn't need it.

I try not to worry about being a stickler for the rules. For the most part I'm following this pretty much 98%. That 2% deviation isn't going to make or break this program. It really is all about changing my thinking and my mindset and making healthier choices.

I have not drank a soda for over two weeks, diet or not. I have not eaten a chocolate bar, nor had ice cream. I have not eaten a bag of chips (though I have had a few handfuls here and there of chip like items - cheetos one day, tortilla chips another). No cakes or cookies. Only my healthy oatmeal bars. So I think I'm doing pretty good.

Day 17

Well, it's 9 pm and I'm sitting here by myself drinking my dinner shake. But it's better than the alternative that I almost succumbed to. My family decided to go out for dinner. We were out at a Music Festival for my oldest daughter and by the time it was over it was 8:30 and everyone was hungry. I opted to stay home and drink my shake rather than go off my cleanse program. Sacrifice I know. But I made a commitment and I want to see it through.

So today was fun. Rather lazy day. I love taking Fridays off. Did my water aerobics and then home where I did some light housekeeping - dishes, laundry, bit of floor sweeping. I wanted to do some baking so spent some time researching healthy snack foods. It was almost 4pm before I finally settled on making rhubarb/strawberry oatmeal bars. I used whole wheat flour and  coconut sugar in place of the white sugar. I had been saving the rhubarb for a pie but don't really like whole wheat flour crust so opted for this healthy alternative. I am having a small piece with my evening shake. I only had one 1/4 apple for snacks today so figure I'm okay as far as calorie intake.

My kids are one of the reason I am doing this. So thought I would share a funny story from today.

My oldest son had set up the internet in his room by stringing a wire from the router across a bookshelf, across the roof and up the stairwell into his room. He used a can of baby corn to hold the wire in place on top of the book shelf. Cassie was looking at the can of  baby corn and asked why it was there, so I explained.
She then said, "Why baby corn?"
Eric replied, "Child labor."

Day 16

Well, if I can make it through the next 2 hours before bed without snacking then I've had a great day. Except for my water consumption. Again, it was the stupid water bottle issue! I forgot mine at home and we had no bottled water at the office and all I could find was a small 10 oz bottle. I filled it once over at our dive shop and again later in the day. I probably drank about 50 oz total, far cry from the 100+ I'm supposed to drink!

Went shopping with the girls this morning and got Cassie two cute outfits and a pair of pants and two shirts for Stephanie. Plus shoes for both her and me. I bought myself some "rockers" - sneakers designed to keep you off balance so you are forced to walk with correct posture. I'm planning on doing some walking around Paseo this weekend with the kids. Les has done it twice so far and says it is quite pleasant.

Went to Subway for lunch and if I can believe the posted calorie count then my 6 inch turkey sub on whole wheat bread with only vinegar for the condiment should have been under 300 calories. I hope so. I didn't have a drink and opted to just drink my water.

Got some recipes for snacks from Chanci so tomorrow its off to the health food store to see if I can find spelt flour, organic maple syrup, and some other more wholesome ingredients for baking. I want to make my own bran muffins to give myself some more fiber.

I shared with one of my water aerobic buddies, a fellow Canadian from Alberta, about Isagenix and know that she will be watching how I do on this. And encouraging me. Maybe she'll want to join in too.

Tomorrow is my day off, but of course that doesn't really mean I have the day off. I need to pay some bills and drive Stephanie to various events, including a music competition for her glee club. That was what the Kmart trip was about today. Making sure she had an appropriate outfit to wear. I'm going to be out from 4pm until who knows when so have to stock up on almonds and celery and Isa Snacks I guess. I won't be getting my dinner shake until late again.

It is getting easier.

Day 15

Though today is not an official measuring day for the program, I did step on the scales. I was down another 1.8 lbs! Not as significant as the first week of the program but the good news is I didn't gain back the weight and I lost a little bit more. Slow and steady as the turtle says. And I knew I hadn't stuck to the program as well this second week. Blame hormones and womanly issues.

Today I tried something a little different when it came to lunch. When I came back from my water aerobics and checking the mail it was 10:30. time for my morning snack. I just couldn't face another IsaSnack this morning and I was out of almonds, celery and cucumber. So I decided to have an early lunch. Or actually what I did was split my lunch up. I ate a sandwich with Orrowheat bread, lettuce, pepper jack cheese and turkey. Later at 12:30 when it was my normal lunch time I had a baked potato (with butter, but not a lot). Oh and I did eat a small local banana. The instructions for the program say to eat fruits that are low glycemic and that it is best to eat locally grown fruits. There is also a warning that tropical fruits tend to be high in sugars. But what if your locally grown fruit is all tropical?? Obviously this program was not written with those of us on Guam in mind! The little banana I ate is half the size of the Chiquita bananas you get in grocery stores. And three times as delicious!

For dinner I made chili for the family with lots of good beans. Served it with shredded cheese and tortilla chips. Eric doesn't like Chili so I made him a plate of nachos with the cheese and chips. Cassie enjoyed dipping the chips in her chili. I made myself a tiny plate of chips (10?) with 1/4 cup of chili and sprinkle of cheese to eat. No other snacks were eaten today and I am sure my lunch was well under the 600 calories so I feel I kept my calorie intake within the acceptable range even if I "cheated" a little.

Still not drinking coffee but once I make it through this 30 days I'm having myself a big cup!

Day 14: Cleanse day #2

Today was a good day. I thought it was going to be hard as this week seems to have been more of a struggle than the first one. Too many temptations. Anyway, today I just vowed I was going to stick to the plan. Part of the plan was to keep busy. When I keep my mind and hands occupied it is easier not to think about food.

So, first I was surprised to discover my monthly "flow" had subsided enough that I could go to water aerobics and get some exercise. It's weird how it does that on the 3rd or 4th day. Seems to have stopped and then after I exercised I needed to use a pad again. So next two days are my light days. Pretty normal for me, though I did feel like yesterday I bled heavier than normal. Can't tell if it's the cleanse diet or my age. Though I have vowed not to go through the "M" word, or at least make it through symptom free. And I don't expect to get there for at least another 5 years. Hmmmm.....maybe Isagenix is the answer to my prayer on that subject. Will have to keep that thought in mind as I progress on this journey.

I spent most of today finally, FINALLY, cleaning out my "IN-box" that was stuffed full of receipts that needed to be entered and filed away. I can safely say it is completely empty and filed. And now my next job is cleaning up the files themselves! Time to pull out all the 2011 receipts for tax time. And make room for the 2012 ones. Bookkeeping is so time consuming. And today was only for the driving school! I still have to do the same for our dive shop.

By focusing on a task it kept me going much better. I also mixed up the Energy Drink included in my kit in one of my 32oz water bottles and drank that over the afternoon. I think it helped give me the focus and energy to make it through the day without feeling sick, or craving food.

It is now bedtime and I just enjoyed my 2nd Isa Delight for the day. My husband is asking me if I'm treating myself or what? I said, "It's allowed. Has these mood stabilizers or something in it. "
" 'bout time science came up with something worthwhile" was his response!
And I agree.

Day 13

Another class day which means another long day. Up early to take daughter to work, and then home to make coffee for hubby and have my morning shake meal. Still enjoying drinking chocolate shakes everyday. I'm so glad they taste so great!

I wanted to prepare myself for a long day at work so gathered together salad ingredients, my chicken from the night before, my IsaSnacks and afternoon accelerator pill and packed it all up to take to work. I made Cassie a cracker/cheese/ham/pickle plate for her "breakfast" and had a few crackers and cheese for my morning snack, even though those items are NOT on the acceptable snack list. I only ate 3 crackers and cheese though. Considering in the past I would have easily eaten 10, I'm doing good.

I wasn't into being at work today. Mostly I wanted to nap. Again, I didn't get my morning exercise in so I'm sure that was part of it. I did find some herbal tea (caffeine free, organic) in my tea bag stash so sipped on that in the afternoon to keep my mind off the desire to run next door to the coffee shop and order myself a White Chocolate Mocha Frappe. Sigh. I miss my mocha frappes.

I indulged in an IsaDelight to try to help improve my mood. I feel fat and hopeless today like all that I do won't make a difference. In the doldrums I guess.

I did have a good class, so bills can be paid this week. Was home shortly after 9pm and thankfully family was all done eating dinner so I didn't have to watch them eat.

Tomorrow is another cleanse day, or "fast" day as I like to call them. Only liquids all day, no shakes. I need to keep myself distracted and busy. I did it last week. I know I can do it again.

Oh, had brown rice (1/2 cup), chicken and salad for lunch. I made way too much salad, so Cassie shared it with me. She didn't even complain that I only used Apple cider vinegar as the dressing.

Was a little short on my water consumption. But not by much.

I think I'm sleeping a little better than pre-Isagenix days. Hard to tell, but I don't think I wake up at night as much as I used to. I'm a very light sleeper so on average wake up 5-6 times a night. I only remember waking up maybe 3 times a night lately. So that's a good thing.

Almost two weeks have gone by now. Somehow I don't feel like I have lost as much weight this past week as I did in the first week. We shall see in two more days. I know according to the "plan" my next measuring day isn't until the very last day. But I plan on stepping on those scales Wednesday morning for an update and to help keep myself on track.

Day 12

Lazy Sunday. With the arrival of my monthly friend, I'm not inclined to do much today. Ideally I want to lay around and watch soap operas, eat chocolate and feel sorry for myself. So Isagenix hasn't really improved all things womanly.

I did get up early and drive my daughter to work. Got home in time to get a phone call from her telling us that someone broke into our compressor room at the dive shop. So I had to head back over there to do damage control. Turns out someone pried off one lock off the mini door that covers the outtake fan and then attempted to get into the locked door for the main room. But were unsuccessful. I took pictures of the damage and waited for John, our manager to show up. After a while I realized I didn't need to be there anymore so came home in time to fix coffee for my husband and send him off to do his weddings for the day.

Perturbed at people in general I did laze around and watch soap operas. But no chocolate. Just my morning chocolate breakfast shake. For lunch I made myself an egg sandwich on Orrowheat & flax bread. Ate an apple to go with it. Since I had wasted away most of the morning I thought I had better try to be semi-productive so I proceeded to tackle some of our moving boxes that were still in the middle of the kitchen/living room.

I sorted and emptied three boxes and one plastic tote bin. Then swept the living room floor. And then got the kids to bring down the vacuum and proceeded to vacuum the living room, kitchen, hallway and the stairs. I now have an actual living room/dinning room and kitchen you can walk around! There are still about 4 boxes at the base of the stairs and 20+ under the stairs that I still have to deal with. But one step at a time.

For dinner I made baked barbecue chicken, baked potatoes and broccoli. I put aside a piece of chicken for Monday's lunch. Then retired to my bedroom to drink my evening shake and relax.

I find it hard to get any formal exercise on days like this. I did move a lot and feel like all the housework I did counts as exercise but I also know that it would be better if I did an actual workout routine. This is something I need to work on.

Water consumption for the day was good. The urge to snack on things was not. I need to work on the snack issues more. Find something I can eat that is appealing and low calorie. And I need to figure out better lunch meals as well. Guess that's my project for the upcoming week.

Day 11

Wish I could say today was a great day. But it had its challenges. First of all, when I got to work in the morning, I had to go pee (surprise, surprise) and discovered my monthly friend had arrived. I was totally unprepared for that so had to call for emergency supplies. So why was I so unprepared? Usually, the night/day before I am very achy. My body aches all over. My legs especially and when I have that deep leg pain I know that my time of the month is due any moment. I didn't have that! Another benefit of the cleanse program??

Again, I wasn't ready for lunch. There were no leftovers from my healthy dinner I had made the night before so wasn't able to pack myself a lunch. By the time I got home from work it was almost 2pm again and I was so hungry I ate food I shouldn't eat. I did have 1/2 a piece of cold chicken breast from the night before and a slice of the whole wheat/flax bread and some carrot sticks. But then I had a few onion rings. That wasn't so healthy. I was really craving salty things. I did manage to drink almost three full 32 oz bottles of water though! So I am getting better with drinking more water.

Went out at night to the University to see another play. First hour was "Noh Way"a play written by one of my water aerobics buddies. Second hour was the local version of the "Vagina Monologues". Very moving pieces and what was more disturbing was that these were real stories of abuse to women on our island. Now I understand more why there is such a high rate of suicide, especially among the young teenage Micronesian girls. Being raped repeatedly by your mother's boyfriend with no one willing to listen or to stand up for you. How incredibly sad. I cried.

While waiting for the play to start I overheard a conversation between 4 women.
"So let me get this.....you replace two meals a day with shakes?"
"Yes, and you get to eat one meal a day"'
"What meal? and What do you eat?"
"Lunch - healthy 400-600 calories"
"What is in the shakes?"
And they walked off. I was tempted to go after them and say "Hey, you are talking about Isagneix, right? I've been on it for 10 days and lost almost 7 lbs!" but all I did was smile to myself.

Came home to find the family had gone snack shopping. There was a bag of cheetos on the table. I helped myself to a small handful. It was that salt craving again. I really have very bad willpower......And then I went to bed and forgot to take my IsaFlush. Sigh.

Keep moving forward they say. Tomorrow will be better.

Day 10

Total honesty, right? That's what I agreed to share here. Maybe not out loud but in my head. So I confess. I did eat a piece of pepperoni pizza last night. And boy did it taste good. I made sure to thoroughly enjoy and savour every bite.

But then right back on track today. Or at least I tried. My problem is with following a set schedule. I'm pretty good about the mornings. I'm usually up by 7am anyway, so I get up, drink a cup of water, turn on the hot water dispenser to brew my water for my Ionix tea, then prepare my hubby's coffee. As that perks I then make my morning shake. I've pretty much stuck to drinking one scoop vanilla, one scoop chocolate. Then I bring my tea and shake upstairs to drink with my hubby as he has his coffee. He asks if I will ever drink coffee again. I say yes, but not until I make it through these first 30 days. I sip my tea, which is really hot Ionix drink and tastes  like hot apple cider.

Exercise was great, deep end water aerobics this time. Small class but I got to chat with a friend I haven't seen in a while. Lots of laughter. Then home where I changed, grabbed more water and a Isa Snack then off to a homeschool ACB practice where I was meeting with another mom to discuss our upcoming used book sale. Got those details worked out and then, when we were done I headed out to do some shopping. Our cupboards were bare and the cats were hungry. $282 later.....Yikes. Everything is so expensive. Gas is going to be over $5/gallon by Monday.

By the time I got home with the groceries it was 1:30 and I was ravenous. I really didn't have a plan for lunch and this was not good. I ended up eating ANOTHER piece of pizza. I did choose the smallest one, okay? And then I ate two brown rice cakes with peanut butter and banana slices on top. I ate the rest of the banana too. Drank water. Took my Accelerator pill (cause by now it's 2pm). and then I have about a half hour of rest before I'm back out on the road again. This time taking my oldest daughter, Stephanie to her glee club practice. I forgot to refill my water bottle so I ran out of water on the way. Dropped her off then headed to visit my friend who had a Stampin' Up display at one of the hotels. Visited with her and helped her pack up her display. Then headed back to get Stephanie. I had a few IsaSnacks in my purse so munched on one of them somewhere during the afternoon.

Home by 6pm. Munched on some almonds (3) as I made my dinner shake. And then rested for about another hour before I made dinner for the family - brown rice, stir fry veggies and beef.  I hope I made enough for leftovers for me for lunch tomorrow. I know one of my problems tomorrow will be getting lunch before 2pm again. So I need to work on having a lunch plan the night before, something we really have gotten out of the habit of doing. And by having a plan of what I am going to eat it helps stop me from going for the convenient food. Which may not be so good for me.

And I didn't drink nearly enough water today. I left my big water bottle at my office and I didn't want to stop and get it. So I was using a smaller water bottle which I drank faster, and then didn't have a way to refill it when I needed to. Trying to catch up tonight but don't want to be awake all night peeing either!

Tomorrow is another day. And I'm officially 1/3 through the plan. I think the next 2/3 will be even better.

Day 9

Busy day. But busy is good. It means less time to think about food or eating. Usual shake in the morning and water aerobics again. This one went by so fast cause I was chatting with the ladies more. Makes exercise time go by faster but sometimes I think I get a better workout when I'm not gabbing so much. That's okay, I got another workout later.

At home I made sure the kids had food for lunch, then picked up Stephanie to take her to work. We met Les there and Les and I headed off to buy lunch for the three of us from Jamaican Grill. I'm trying to find places that serve good salads and lean meats. I had the Montego Bay Chef salad again with Jerk Chicken. I was so hungry when I ate it, but I took my time and savored every bite.

It was the first of the month so that meant Invoice day for our dive shop. We sell compressed air for scuba tanks and bill the dive companies by the month for their air. So I have to tally up the invoices and send out the bills. I use an Excel spreadsheet so it is easy and fast. Basically fill in the template and let the spreadsheet create your numbers. I still have to enter it again in Quickbooks for accounting. Though I tend to put off doing my accounting work for both businesses, I actually find it the most enjoyable part. Tedious at times, but something about numbers all lining up appeals to me.

At 3pm I had to lock up to take my oldest daughter Stephanie to an ACB meet (Academic Challenge Bowl). I score keep at these meets to help out. Today the homeschool team only had 3 players so it was tough. Three games, three losses. But what I love about them is the kids don't care about the scores. What is more interesting is the questions and knowing answers. One particular question involved identify structures from pictures and Stephanie and one of her team mates knew the obscure reference due to a video game they play. The opposing team, a private all girl's Catholic school, did not get it. Further proof that playing video games can be educational.

We cut it close though, because Stephanie had to be at GATE theater for a play practice by 6 and we didn't get out of St. John's until 5:45. I got her to practice about 10 minutes late. And we both had to run in the rain to the car. (I power walked). Just as we got out of the meet a mini tropical storm hit, (or so it seemed). But there was also an awesome double rainbow. Anyway, the downpour soaked us both in the time it took to get to the car. Didn't help that we had to park two blocks away from the school.

Dropped my daughter at the theater where she is practicing for her role as Anybodys in West Side Story. Very exciting stuff. Then came home to discover my husband and other daughter, Cassie, drinking Shamrock Shakes from McDs! The traitors! I confess to having one sip of Cassie's. And have now vowed to discover a recipe to turn my vanilla IsaLean shake into a shamrock shake, minus the green dye. It's the flavor I want more than the color. So I'm waiting to find out if its okay to use peppermint extract for flavor.

I did have plans to go out again tonight but changed that to Saturday instead. The ultimate test is coming up soon though as I just ordered pizza for dinner for the gang.

Day 8: Measurement Day

Okay, I was a little nervous when I woke up this morning, knowing this was the big day where I would weigh myself and take my measurements so that I could see if this was working or not. I had a bit of difficulty with the measurements. It is hard to measure yourself. But I'm not comfortable asking for help right now. Maybe later. So I struggled through. The biggest difference was in my butt. I think about 2 inch loss there. Other wise it was either the same or off by 1/2 inch in various places. Hard to know for sure if I was measuring correctly. Was I getting the tape in the exact same spot as the first time? I used a mirror to help me. I'm wondering if there is an easier way for accuracy.

Next was the scale. I actually weighed myself, was so surprised that I did it several times in a row to see if the number was any different. Standing on various parts of the scale to make sure it wasn't a fluke. But it was real. I lost 6.8lbs! In 7 days. I like that. This is doable for me.

So I continue. Had my breakfast shake, went to work out at water aerobics, made my bank deposit and came home. Went and got water (lugging 5 gallon bottles of water counts as more exercise, right?). Then headed to work where I basically watched various TV shows on Hulu while entering receipts and bills in my computer. I did go to the mall to get lunch and pay the phone bills. Bought myself Mongolian BBQ - you pick 5 fresh veggies and one meat, add your own spices and condiments to it and they barbecue it up on a big flat grill. One of my favorite healthy fast food choices. I got chicken, carrots, celery, onions, cabbage, and pineapple for mine, with a small dash of sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and ginger water, and hot peppers. They of course serve it with rice, but I only ate one scoop (1/2 cup) . So a good lunch.

Dinner, I drank my 1/2 chocolate/1/2 vanilla shake while making porkchops, mashed potatoes and fresh veggy tray for the family. I ate a few pieces of celery for my evening snack.

So begins week 2!

Day 7: Cleanse Day

Well, I'm not sure what I expected from this day. I'm hungry. But I made it through. That breakfast shake is going to taste soo good tomorrow!

Couple of things I noticed today. At water aerobics I was lapping the old ladies. I just felt so good in the water and just moved. At the end of the day, while standing for 45 minutes grading student's tests, I realized I wasn't shifting from leg to leg like I usually do. I was able to stand still and test without having to redistribute my weight from leg to leg because they hurt. Which means they didn't hurt! I have had major issues on class nights with just being in such agony when I came home because my feet and legs ached so much. I even invested in an extra large bottle of Valerian to help me with this problem. But I actually felt fine. I wonder if this cleanse will actually help with my leg pain issues. Hmmm....will have to keep an eye on this and see.

Les told me my new hobby is peeing. I feel like it is. Instead of fighting it, I have just succumbed to the fact that I'll have to pee every hour, or sometimes twice in an hour. And keep on drinking that water! It is getting easier. One thing that helps with my bathroom trips is buying Stephen King's book, "Under The Dome", Nice thick novel that will keep my interest for a while. I'm half way through it. And it makes trips to my library...er...bathroom more enjoyable.

Now I really should head to bed and quit thinking about food. Note to self: Do not look at recipe sites on fast days. Stay away from Pinterest.

Oh, one final thing. Hubby and at least two kids have sniffles and flu like symptoms. I'm feeling just fine. Keep those toxic bugs out of me, Isagenix!

Day 6

I think this is all starting to get much easier for me. I planned my day and my meals out in advance. Had cooked chicken and brown rice for dinner the night before, so packed away a plate to bring to work for my lunch. Mixed up a salad in the morning with red wine vinegar on it for dressing (no fats) and also made up some finadene sauce for my rice. Finadene sauce is the only thing that makes me like rice. It consists of soy sauce, lemon juice, chopped onions and chopped hot red peppers. We grow the "boonie" peppers to use for this, but I couldn't find our plant so I added a few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce to the mix. Put it all in a jar and use on rice as a condiment. Yum.

My friend stopped by in the afternoon with some treats from a local coffee shop. She shared an oatmeal craisin cookie with me. It just happened to be my snack time (2pm). I also had 1/4 of her birthday cupcake. As I ate it I told her about "joy" foods. Chanci shared on a recorded conference call about "fuel" food, "joy" food, and "storm" food. There was one other category but I forget what it was. Joy food is food you just love and you want to eat it and savor it. If it no longer gives you joy when eating then stop! This is a concept I can really grasp hold of.

I drank plenty of water because it was such a hot day. Unfortunately I didn't get to drink my evening shake until 9pm when I got home from work. Kids had made spaghetti for dinner and the smell was so enticing! But I resisted even taking a nibble of spaghetti, made my shake and retired to my bedroom to get me out of the kitchen and away from temptation.

The only thing I didn't do yesterday was exercise. I did do a bit of walking, just in paying some bills and doing banking. Parking far from the entrance to the bank. Thankfully the next four days of exercise will be easier with my water aerobics class every morning.

Day 3 without coffee. It is getting easier.

Tomorrow will be my first cleanse day. Should be interesting. I have a lot of work to do at the office so hopefully that will keep me distracted from wanting to eat real food.

Day 5

Today didn't start out so good. We had a maggot emergency. Living in the tropics, this is something we have had to deal with on more than one occasion. Kids had not taken out the garbage for the last two days and dishes hadn't been washed. Result was maggots crawling all over our kitchen and living room floor, first thing this morning.

I wonder, does sweeping and mopping floors while bending down and picking up the stray maggots with a paper towel, for 30 minutes count as my exercise for the day? I sure sweated a lot doing it. The sweat was dripping down my legs and tickling my ankles and made me think maggots were crawling on me! Not fun.

I wasn't planning on going to church (we actually haven't gone for the past two months) but Les came home from his first wedding and had enough of a break that he decided he wanted to go. So I joined him, but he had to leave before it was over to do his next wedding. It was nice to see some old friends, but the sermon, oh my. so disjointed. One of the associate pastors speaking. Oh well.

I'm not really liking the vanilla shakes so this morning I decided to try mixing one scoop of vanilla with one scoop of chocolate. That was quite satisfying. So I did the same for my dinner shake, only added a sprinkle of cinnamon to it as well. Nice. For lunch I had a few slices of cantaloupe and a sandwich made with Oroweat Sandwich thins - 100% whole wheat, flax and fiber (no high fructose corn syrup), 100 calories per sandwich. I had cucumber, tomato, turkey and cheddar cheese and just a little bit of butter so it wasn't dry. Quite tasty. I know I'm supposed to be counting the calories, so I try, but am not being too fanatical. I've dieted enough over the years to have a good estimate of how many calories certain foods are. So I'm sure I was within the acceptable range. I did however feel hungry again by 3pm so boiled myself an egg to eat.

And what if I can't remember if I took my extra accelerator pill then? Hmmm.....the perils of old age. You get forgetful easily.

I have chicken and brown rice cooking for dinner for the family. I plan on putting aside a lunch plate for myself for tomorrow. One more day down and one more to go until my first cleanse day.

Day 4

Today was a total caffeine free day! And no headache. Wow. I honestly didn't think it was possible.

I did end up having to have a nap in the afternoon though.

It was hard to follow the plan exactly today. First of all, it was Saturday. A work day. I had to be at work by 8:30am, class started at 9. I dealt with all the driving lessons, class instruction, testing, phone calls, and other work related issues until 1pm when I finally was able to lock up and go home. Except I couldn't just go home I had to go to the mall to get lunch for my working daughter. I had my shake for breakfast around 8am. Had munched on a 1/4 apple and a handful of mini rice cakes sometime during the morning and by now I was hungry and wanted my lunch shake. But first I had to go to the food court. Note to self: Never go to the food court when you are hungry~!

It took forever to get Stephanie's sandwich from Charlies. And then I decided to pick up some food for Cassie too, since she was at the dive shop with her big sister. So I picked up a 2 choice chinese plate for her - rice, noodles and orange chicken. The smell of the food in the car was so tempting! And then, when I went to get into my car, my pants ripped! My favorite pair too! Big hole in the seat of the pants. I delivered the lunches to the girls and confess to sampling a few bites of noodles and orange chicken from Cassie's plate. Then I hustled myself home to have my lunch shake. It was now 2pm. Definitely off schedule here!

Had a vanilla shake with more of the orange energy mix in it. Hoping it would give me some energy. But then I sat down to read emails on my bed and fell asleep. Woke up about an hour later and realized it was time to get ready to go out for dinner. Tonight was mom's night out with fellow homeschooling moms. I had planned my meals so that I could eat dinner.

The dinner was excellent (barbecued chicken, red rice, and salad). I drank about 5 glasses of water with dinner. Of course we were there for almost 4 hours, good company, good fellowship, and lots of laughter.

Home around 10pm where kids were demanding that I feed them! HUH? I made them each a sandwich and then declared my duties done and went to my room to visit with my hubby and relax.

So Day 4 was done. I do think I ate more than I should have for the day and definitely can see how sticking to a schedule is better to keep yourself on track. But am proud of myself for avoiding that coffee! One baby step at a time they say.

Day 3

Three days down, 27 to go!

Today I changed things up a bit and did my two shakes for breakfast and lunch and then ate dinner with my family (chicken, potatoes and Caesar salad). I did find it much harder to do this. I felt very hungry by 5pm and we typically don't eat dinner until after 6, closer to 7. So I did find myself reaching for snacks more. I ate one of the IsaSnacks while doing my grocery shopping around 4pm. I called these "candies" in one of my other posts and now I know why Chanci says they are not candy! A little chalky, round "horse pill" looking thing. Easy to nibble on though and has a chocolaty/spicy flavor to it. Not inedible. But not something you want to eat more than one or two at a time! I just have to trust what they say about these snacks, that they are nutritiously sound and good for me. That is my mantra as I eat them. This is good for me. This is good for me.

However there are candies! Chocolates to be exact. Isa Delights.I love the Isa Delights. I was given a free box of dark chocolate ones with my kit and I will definitely add these to my next autoship order. As are most women, I'm a chocolate-holic. So "dieting" and depriving myself of chocolate is very stressful. Thanks to Isa Delights I don't have to deprive myself. I allow myself one of these a day and I eat them slowly to savor them and thoroughly enjoy their chocolaty goodness.

I did cheat and step on the scales today. And was pleasantly surprised to see that I have dropped 3 lbs. However, I'm not silly enough to start rejoicing just yet. Two weeks prior to starting this program I had weighed myself and was 2 lbs lighter than I was on the day I started this program. So based on that I have lost the two lbs I had gained in two weeks and lost only one more. I know that my weight can fluctuate a pound or two in any given day. I have learned it is best to weigh yourself the same time each time. Often night time weight is heavier than first thing in the morning. Some diet books recommend you only weigh at night to get your true weight. I tend to like the morning time weight better!

Tomorrow will be another test for me. I have an evening dinner out with friends. So again, will be doing shakes for breakfast and lunch. And since I'm working until 1pm I won't be able to eat lunch until then. Which hopefully will make me not quite as hungry at 6pm when I go out for dinner.

Day 2

First to share a few things I learned yesterday.

#1. It is hard to drink as much water as I should. I estimate I drank about 64 oz of water, maybe a little less. Here is what is written in a recommended PDF file:

How Much Water Is Enough?
So, are you drinking enough water? A non-active person requires half their
body weight in ounces per day. For example, if you weigh 160 lbs, you would need to drink 80 ounces of water per day. For every 25 pounds you exceed your ideal weight, add an extra 8 ounces of water. An active person needs 2/3 of their body weight in ounces per day. So if you weigh 160 lbs, you would now need 106 ounces of water/ day. 

Now without giving away my actual weight (I'm still nervous about sharing too many details) I should be drinking much more than 64 oz. However, drinking what I did yesterday resulted in way more bathroom trips than I was comfortable with. That is my issue. I'm sure I'll eventually deal with it, but right now, I'm not liking that side effect.

#2 This is a big tip that I came up with . If I eat my main meal midday then that means I don't have dinner with my family. I've decided to try this as much as possible to follow the schedule, but some nights I do want to have dinner with my family. So I'll switch out my shake meals on those days. In the meantime for the nights I don't eat with my family, the easiest way to resist temptation and to not feel deprived of the food they are eating is for me to cook something for them that I don't like. So last night I made them a tuna fish casserole. I hate tuna. Made it much easier for me to resist that temptation.

#3 Coffee. This is a big one for me. I know ideally to really follow this schedule and cleanse my body of toxins that prevent me from losing weight, I need to get rid of the caffeine. However, coffee for me is much more than just a caffeine hit. It is part of life. It is what I do in the morning to spend time with my husband. A ritual. Getting up and making coffee and sitting in the morning drinking coffee with Les before we start our day has been something we have done for years. Afternoons we often take a break and reconnect again over coffee. I love to go out with friends and meet in a coffee shop to visit and catch up on life. So how do I give this up??

I have been trying for the past two weeks to cut back. I quit having my afternoon coffee and have only been drinking coffee in the mornings (usually two cups). With the first day of the cleanse I confess to drinking one cup of coffee. Only one cup.

Today, day 2, I poured 2/3 of a cup of coffee in my mug, and then promptly forgot it on the counter when I headed out the door to my water aerobics class. By the time I got back my sweet hubby had dumped my coffee down the drain. He's trying to be helpful. But by 12:30 my entire head felt like it was in a vice grip. I just couldn't stand it anymore, so when hubby made coffee for his afternoon cup, I had one too. The headache quickly subsided. Now I know that what I'm feeling is caffeine withdrawals. And I know I need to work through this. But I also know myself and I think this is the key to success for me. If I cannot think, move or even breathe because of pain in my head, I'm going to look at this program and put all the blame on the program. Which, of course, would be wrong and ultimately self-destructive.

So I will try not to drink coffee. I will try to work through the pain. I will try.

Day 2 is almost over. Time to head home and make dinner for  the family. I had lunch early because my water aerobic class had their monthly birthday potluck this morning. I ate salad, roast chicken, fruit, and only one slice of Gerta's wonderful bread. Considering I usually eat two slices and take home two more to eat during the day, this was a HUGE sacrifice for me. Gerta is from Germany and makes the best homemade German bread. Her pretzels are even more amazing. Thankfully it was the bread she brought today. Oh and I had carrot pate. Talk about a wonderful low calorie food! Grated carrot mixed with lemon juice and sunflower seeds and eaten on a leaf of romaine lettuce. And one tiny piece of Miss Amy's fudge brownies. Just a tiny piece. Again, usually I eat 2-3 pieces of this delicacy! So I survived my first potluck on the cleanse. Considering Guam is the place where fiestas abound (fiesta = FOOD) it is something to be concerned about.

Tonight I have a ladies night out to watch an interesting play at the university. No food involved. I'll bring my water and an Isa-Delight to slowly savor.

Day 1

Official start of my 30 day Isagenix cleanse.

Morning started out with me climbing out of bed at 6:50am to take my 17 year old daughter to work. She opens our dive shop 5 days a week and it's usually a toss up on who drives her there. Guess I lost the toss this morning.

Got back shortly after 7 and went online to find the scheduled plan on what I am supposed to eat and when. Found it, memorized the details and then went downstairs to the kitchen to dig through my box and find the various items I needed. Chocolate shake mix, check. Ionix drink, check. Accelerator pills, check. Mixed up the shake in my blender with three ice cubes and probably a bit more water than I needed.

I have to say that the chocolate shakes are oh so yummy and get two thumbs up from me. That is a big plus so far. If I'm going to have to live off shakes for the next month (well not entirely, but you get my drift) then I had better enjoy them!

I then headed out to water aerobics, my preferred form of exercise. WA is offered 4 days a week, Tuesday thru Friday from 8:30-9:30am at our local pool. Which is 5 minutes from my house now, instead of 45 minutes from our old house. I love the group of ladies, ranging in ages from 35 to 85! We even occasionally get some young 20 year olds. Oh and a few men too. Today's exercises concentrated on our abdomens. I confess I must have drank my chocolate shake a little too fast as I kept burping up chocolate while doing tummy crunches!

Back at home I washed last night's dishes, swept the floor, chatted with Cassie, my 9yo, and consulted the menu plan for the rest of the day. Cut up some celery and cucumber to take to work with me for snacks and then headed to the office to open at 11am.

I had some banking errands to run around noon and so stopped by Froots and picked up a spinach tortilla wrap with chicken and veggies. I'm slowly munching on that for my noonday meal.

I suspect evenings is where I'm going to run into problems. Having a shake while having to cook a meal for my family and not eat it with them will be hard. I may have to switch out my one meal a day a few days a week so that I can eat with my family. And for those days that I have other engagements.

But so far so good.

It's Here!

It's here! My box of Isagenix products with my first 30-day cleanse inside.

My first order of business was to open every container (except the orange energy drink tubes) and make sure all the products pass the "sniff" test. If it doesn't smell good, this body of mine does not want to eat it!

Thankfully all products passed the sniff test. So we are good to go. Official start date is tomorrow, February 22nd.

I debated joining the Isabody challenge, but for now have decided not to do so. I tend to cave in to pressure and after reading the guidelines and rules of the challenge, decided it is not for me. Not at this time anyway. Though I do intend to do my own form of the challenge. My challenge is to make it through the next 30 days and to do so successfully, with measurable results. Speaking of measuring, good thing I found that measuring tape the other day. I need to get that out and take my measurements.

Note the ticker at the top of this blog? It shows my goal weight loss of 110lbs. I'm not going to say what I actually weigh right now. But let's just say that if I do lose 110lbs it may not be the end of my weight loss journey. Ideally for my height I could lose even more. But I will be happy making it to that particular goal.

I do have some challenges ahead of me. Like the mom's night out dinner on Saturday night. I plan on switching out the one meal a day on that day and eating it in the evening instead of as the noon day meal. Since I already committed to this night out and have been looking forward to going I want to be able to have my meal and enjoy it. I did look at the online menu for the restaurant and have already picked out what I think will be the lowest calorie meal they offer. Now see if I can resist the dessert temptation! They have awesome desserts there. Chocolate Wasabi Cheesecake!! I know, sounds strange, but honestly that little bit of wasabi in there just gives it that kick that makes it so good!

So here's to a new me. Starting tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Hunger Pangs

I've been thinking a lot about how you know when you are hungry and how does your body tell you it is time to fuel it? For me hunger pangs can be mild or severe.

I remember when I was a teenager, 15 to be exact, I went through a time when I didn't eat properly at all. I was in love for one. I had just met my future husband (though didn't know he was "the one" at the time) and he attended the senior high school and I was only in junior high. Every lunch hour I would walk over to the high school to meet with him and then walk back to my school. Took my entire lunch hour to do so, and often I was late for my afternoon classes. Eating lunch was just out of the question. I had no time! I also didn't eat breakfast back in those days. I preferred to sleep, rather than get up in time to eat before school, so would always miss breakfast. I ended up getting these severe pains in my stomach that caused me to throw up. I'm sure my parents must have thought I was bulimic or something. I was also at my thinnest during this time. No wonder! Only eating one meal a day, and doing all that walking, definitely did something for my weight. I was in such agony though that eventually the doctors were getting ready to treat me for stomach ulcers. About a week before I was to go in for an x-ray of my stomach I decided to force myself to eat something small every time I had the burning, acid like pain in my stomach and throat. And the pain went away! And I didn't throw up! It was then that I realized I really needed to eat to stop that pain from happening.

Over the years I used this as an excuse to eat all the time. Every time I felt that little "nudge" of discomfort I reached for food. Now 30 years later, I suffer the consequences for my actions. Because I didn't necessarily reach for the right kind of foods.

I believe my body back then was telling me that small meals, many times a day was the best thing for me. However I didn't listen to it properly.

Reading through the Isagneix program I see the recommendation to eat something at least 6 times a day. Now with the 30 day cleanse that will be shakes and supplements and small snacks, and one main meal of the day.

I do worry about that burning pain though. I hate feeling it. Yesterday, after eating my healthy lunch, I found myself feeling hunger pangs while teaching my evening class. I wasn't able to eat anything until 9pm when I got home from work. My husband had made some stir fried vegetables for dinner for the kids and there was plenty for me to eat. But I'm not a fan of cooked veggies. I love salads but slimy bok choy and cabbage and broccoli just don't do it for me. So I made myself some cheese and tomato melts on whole wheat bread. And as I ate them I so enjoyed them. Unfortunately I made 4 slices, intending to share some with my husband but I ended up eating them all! That is my downfall. I did feel satisfied after the first two, but still hungry so ate the third one and it tasted so good that I ate the fourth!

I know my first step is to learn to stop at satisfied.

Each journey starts with a step. As I progress on this journey, pray that I learn to take it one step at a time, going slowly and not trying to rush. It is when I rush things that I tend to fall flat on my face.

Eating Healthy

My healthy lunch.

Straight from Jamaican Grill, one of our favorite restaurants on Guam. Jerk Chicken Chef's salad. Full of good veggies and fruit and grilled Jamaica jerk chicken breast. 

It is hard to eat healthy when you work. I do have a kitchen at my office with fridge and microwave and little hot plate to heat up foods on. But it still means making sure I have healthy foods there for me. Sometimes it is just easier to pick up lunch from a fast food place or local restaurant. 

Salads like this can take me up to an hour to eat. In fact, I've been nibbling on this one for 45 minutes now. 

I'm still waiting on my kit to arrive. Checked the mail this morning only to realize that it's closed for President's day. So no mail today. Hopefully tomorrow there will be something? I'm really trying to get myself motivated for this. Read a few more online Isagenix testimonials. Heard about some from local friends. A chiropractic friend in the states told me they recommend the cleanses for their patients. That is encouraging. 

I need to fill my water bottle and get drinking more water. I know that is one of the toughest things for me to discipline myself to do. Funny thing, I can go all day without drinking any water and not even realize it, or feel thirsty. But if we are OUT of bottled water (which happened last week) on those days all I think about is water and no matter how much I drink I'm never satisfied! What is it about lack of something that causes the desire for it?? 

Of course, we have plenty of water today and I'm not at all desirous of drinking any. Silly me. Better go do it anyway! 

Here's to healthy lunches and lots of water. Drink up!

Baking Day

I have been avoiding baking anything around here for the past two weeks because I personally don't want to eat baked goods, even though I crave snacks ALL the time it seems. But that is hardly fair to my kids. So I decided to pull out my one trusty "healthy" cook book: La Leche League's Whole Foods Cookbook.

Back when I had my first son, Kevin, I was determined to bring him up on healthy foods. So his first birthday cake was made from this cookbook - the Pumpkin Spice cake. Very delicious. My resolve to keep refined sugars away from my son lasted until Easter of his second year (since he was only 3 months old at his first Easter), when Grandma gave him a chocolate bunny. Kevin ended up being the kid who grew up on Mountain Dew and Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips! So much for healthy eating. Now he tells me he eats much healthier. I can only hope so.

Back to my snack baking. I started by making Rice Krispie Treats. Hardly healthy, I know, but it was something quick and easy I could make that used up some rather stale marshmallows in my fridge. And I personally will try to stay away from them.

From the La Leche cookbook I decided to make Peanut Butter Oatmeal bars. Honey was the sugar and only 1/2 cup of butter in the recipe. Oatmeal, whole wheat flour, peanut butter and an egg and some baking soda round out the rest of the ingredients. I did top it with peanut butter, milk and 1 cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips, cooked together into a type of icing.

Adam plans on making homemade granola bars sometime today.

So we should be set for snacks for this week.

Still waiting on my box to arrive in the mail. Sometimes living on a tropical island sucks. But then again, it is February 19ths and I'm dressed in a tank top and shorts and all my windows and doors are open downstairs, letting in the cool afternoon breeze from the jungle below.

And my friend is on her way over with her twin boys to play with my two kids. And we are going to talk about Isagenix! She wants to join me on my cleanse......exciting!

Encouraged...with a side order of Yuck.

I stepped on the scales yesterday morning and was pleasantly surprised to see I have lost 3 lbs since I checked a week ago. And I haven't even started my new cleanse program yet! However, since making this decision almost 2 weeks ago, I have been more conscious about what I eat. I have been resisting snacking after dinner. It helps that we moved to a new house that has stairs and the kitchen is downstairs. Once I go upstairs for the evening I don't want to head back down again! So even though my tummy was rumbling and I really really wanted to go look for something to munch on, I just stayed in my room and drank water instead.

This weekend I plan on baking some healthy snacks for the kids. Muffins and oatmeal cookies. I need to go buy applesauce and some other more wholesome sweeteners to use in my baking. I love the two websites Chanci shared with my new support group and will be printing out some recipes to try over the next week.
Here is one of the websites:
http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/

I bought myself some chickpeas to make hummus. I need to buy some wholegrain tortillas to turn into my own tortilla chips. And I need to go look for those organic raw almonds still.

Thanks to Priscilla the rat, I was forced to make brown rice for dinner last night. It was actually very tasty. So I need to buy more of that too.

Now that I mentioned Priscilla, I guess I need to share her story. Adam, my 23 year old, wanted a pet rat. So he conned the kids to catch a baby one for him. There are plenty of rats at our beach office. Phillip, Cassie's friend, was patient enough to catch one. Adam put her in a cage and worked on taming her. He had her eating out of his hands, and willing to be held by him. I was a little freaked out. I mean, this is a wild rat, not some clean pet store rat. But after observing her bath herself in her water dish every day, I saw that she was quite a clean rat after all.

Then Adam had the brilliant idea to clean up our old birdcage and turn that into a rat cage. I had my doubts as I thought there were too many places for her to get out of. But he was determined. He even bought some mesh wire to cover up the areas she might escape from. Finally, last week, he put her in the bird cage. She stayed in it for exactly 12 hours before escaping. Kids tried to catch her but she evaded them.

Well, a week goes by and no sign of the rat. Until I started to smell a funky smell in one corner of our kitchen. I looked all over trying to find the source. Threw out our compost bucket, pulled out the stove and looked under it. Nothing.

Then I went to make rice for dinner last night. Pulled out the bag of white rice and noticed a bunch of gnats fly up, and there was a wet looking stain on the bottom of the bag. And something rather squishy inside the bag that didn't feel like rice.....I admit to not exploring further and just flinging the bag of rice outside into the jungle valley behind our house. And I don't want to tell the kids that I highly suspect Priscilla the rat met her demise in the bag of rice. After all, I had served it to them the night before! YUCK!!!

So brown rice for dinner. That bag had been unopened. And it was actually very delicious and filling. So maybe I can make the switch to brown after all!.

Snacks

As I begin to prepare myself for this journey, I'm reading through the intro pdf file that reccommends what I need to do before starting. Practical things like printing out the progress chart so that I can keep track of the foods/shakes/supplements to take and when to take them.

I've never been a routine type person. One reason I became an unschooler is because I balk at doing things the same way all the time. I like to live each day as an adventure and see what happens. However, I recognize that reality is, we do have to have routines in our lives in order to survive. I run a business that has to be opened at a certain time (though I can determine what that time is). I have appointments I must keep. So I must follow some sort of schedule.

So first thing I need to do is to develop a mindset that will allow me to follow the prescribed outline of eating and drinking and what I will eat and drink at what time. In reveiwing the daily plans I see that I'm allowed to eat/drink something several times a day. I think I counted 6 different "meals".

Today I want to talk about the snacks I'm allowed to eat. The accepted snack list is woefully small. It includes some proprietary foods from Isagenix. Little wafers and "candy" which you are only allowed to eat one at time. Granted they may not taste that lovely so maybe only eating one at a time will be all I will want! I've read some testimonials on these items. Some love them. Some choke them down and comment on strange textures. I pray I can tolerate them.

Then there are the real food snacks. Celery, hard boiled eggs, almonds, cucumbers. At least I enjoy all these foods. But. There is always a "but". Almonds are limited to 6 a day. And not all at one time either! And they are to be raw almonds. Not roasted and salted and full of awesome hickory flavor. Probably why you would only want to eat one at a time. LOL. I know my first stop on this journey will be to the health food store to look for raw almonds.

And I need to drink lots of water. Granted I have always known that water is good for you and that the average person does not drink enough water. I know I don't drink enough water in a day. Part of the reason is I really hate always having to interrupt what I am doing so that I can go to the bathroom! Drinking 8 glasses of water a day will guarantee me at least 8 trips to the bathroom per day. Maybe more. One thing I'll just have to suck up and live with. I'm sure it will make for healthier bladder and kidneys though. Which we all know need to be taken care of as we age.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the cleanse aspect of this all.

Beginnings

I'm about to embark on a new journey. Something I have never attempted before. Well, at least not this particular journey. I've tried similar ones. All have failed. What will make this one any different? I have no idea.

In a few days I will be starting a 30 day cleanse. Not a diet. A cleanse. I have to keep this in mind as I do this or my usual self destructive behavior may take over.

Background: I met Chanci 20+ years ago when I first became interested in homeschooling. Chanci's mom, Debbie, was homeschooling her 3 children, and I was interested in homeschooling my oldest, Kevin. Debbie showed me how easy it was to start, what I would need to do and most importantly of all, gave me the best advice I have ever heard in my many years of homeschooling. She said, "Colleen, you have been homeschooling your children since they were born.". What she meant was that from the moment I had my children I was teaching them (or they were teaching me!). We were learning together actually. And it didn't need to end just because schools existed. Her encouragement helped me make it through the tough times of doubt.

Fast forward to now, I friended Chanci on FB a few years ago. When I saw her post about Isagenix and how great she felt, I sent her a message asking for more info. I then heard more about the products from another friend on island and had a chance to sample them. And then Chanci contacted me again and started to encourage me to try a 30 day cleanse.

I thought about how I have been struggling to lose weight for so many years. I am at my heaviest ever. I have cut back on food, exercised more than I have ever done before. But still I struggle to walk up stairs, and my feet and legs ache every night. Some days I feel like I can't walk at all. Once I sit down at the end of the day, that's it for me! I look at my two youngest children, Cassie and Eric. 9 and 12. They are both so full of beans. I can't keep up with them. And that is not fair to them! I need to be able to move and run and jump with my kids.

So my journey begins. I hope to be able to use this as a journal to keep me on track. Over the next few days I'll be preparing myself mentally for what will come up physically once I start this cleanse. I don't imagine it is going to be pleasant to begin. But I am praying that the end results will be.

Stay tuned....