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.