Being Thankful... losing 26lbs and feeling healthy!

It's day 39, the day before Thanksgiving, and I am extremely thankful that I found Isagenix. I really need to call the nurse and receptionist at my OB/GYN (Clark, Clemments in Albany) to thank them for telling me about it and referring me to Dr. J.!

I had heard that a mentor of mine in FL was in bad health and I got his address and put it aside to write him a note to thank him for all his help and friendship. Unfortunately I did not send the note in time, I found out he had passed away. I was able to write a note to his family in his online guestbook but I still regret that I didn't reach out to him sooner.

I am thankful for my children, husband, mother, mother-in-law, sister, brothers and all extended family (in-laws), cousins, aunts, uncles and friends.

I feel very optimistic about 2010 knowing that my health is getting better everyday.

1 Month Isagenix Progress - 23 lbs gone!

My daughter took this photo of me tonight - now 23lbs less after 30 days using Isagenix. I don't know if the photo shows the difference but the scale and measuring tape show it and I have not been able to fit into these pants for three years. 

How Does Isagenix Work Anyway?
The high level of nutrients in Isagenix products bridge the gap between the low level of real nourishment in regular food and the high level necessary to attain optimum health.


A lot of the food we are eating really has little value in terms of nutrition. Even the produce has been stripped over the years of key minerals that were present decades ago.
If a body isn't receiving the nutrients it needs, it will attempt to get more nutrients by triggering food cravings and hunger pangs. This can lead to overeating, which in turn contributes to obesity and poor health.

The Cleanse is designed to rid the body of toxins (which are accumulating in our fat)  -- once this is accomplished we are able to lose weight more easily!  I am not a scientist but it seems to make sense and the program is working for me and thousands of others!

30-Days - Down 23lbs and 24-1/4 inches but will I keep it off?

I feel great and am excited to continue to my goal of losing 100lbs.

A BIG question that people have, and that I had, is: Will I keep the weight off?

No matter how you lose weight (calorie reduction, exercise regime) you will need to keep doing whatever that is to maintain the weight loss.  First I had to reflect on why I gained weight back on past diets...

• NutriSystem (1990, lost 60lbs) - eating 100% of their food - it didn't taste that good and wasn't that nutritionally healty, just low in calories, went back to eating regular food and gained weight
• Atkins (1995, lost 30lbs) - couldn't give up bread and carbs forever!
• Weight Watchers (2007, lost 40lbs) - works for a lot of people but for me, all the sugar free foods and snacks were laden with fake sugar substitutes which are really unhealthy and actually kept me craving sugar products so I had no will power against cake, cookies, etc.  I later realized I was a sugar addict and gave up sugar and sugar substitutes entirely in Aug 2008 - no more cravings and willpower is a breeze
• Later tried the WW method but even though I had given up sugar, the weight was stubborn and would not budge (now I know why)

Why do I expect that the Isagenix weight loss will be sustainable?

1. I can see that great nutrition will help my body lose weight naturally so instead of just consuming food to fill up I am thinking about the nutritional content and gylcemic index
2. Following #1, feeling healthy (like I do now) encourges healthy eating - feeling fat and sluggish just made me want to eat more unhealthy food
3. I saw the effects of cleasing to release toxins and how that makes everything else work like it's supposed to (fat burns, joints feel better), the body will heal itself
4. I am learning that the right types of foods and snacks eaten at regular intervals (and it doesn't take much) will keep me satisfied with no hunger pangs
5. I can still eat foods I like (pizza, hamburgers, pancakes) BUT, in moderation... instead of four-five pieces of pizza, two pieces with a salad
6. Stress has caused overeating (especially at night), these products help decrease stress (the whole cortisol thing - not an expert at explaining how it works but it does)
7. Isagenix is not a "diet" (see previous blog entry), it is more like a body fortification system that, in turn, allows the body to do its job of burning fat and building lean muscle tissue 

There is no "diet" or eating plan that is going to let you eat fast food, junk food, cakes and cookies and still lose weight. Even if you eat horribly and mange to maintain weight by exercising your body won't be healty inside, leaving you suseptible to sickness and disease.

So here's my plan to keep it off and it does include Isagenix (I don't see how I would want to give up putting these nutrients into my body):

- Isagenix shake for breakfast (works perfectly with my busy schedule, the best thing I can do for myself in less than 2 minutes)
- Cleanse for Life - as the name suggests, cleansing is going to be part of my life forever (two days per month is what most people do on maintence)

The above products (enough for one shake a day and two full cleanse days per month) is $106 or $3.50 per day - about what I would spend on a latte at Starbucks of Dunkin'. I expect I will be taking several other of the products as well (in place of the vitamin supplements I was taking).

ANYTHING you do to lose weight must be maintained to keep it off.  After many attempts at keeping weight off I am happy I found something that I believe I can continue successfully. So I'll look back at this blog entry for inspiration once I get to my goal weight.

Day 26 - down 21 pounds and 21 inches but this is NOT A DIET!

As I learn more about these great products I am starting to "get it."  To call these weight loss products is like saying an iPhone is just for making a phone call -- they are the best nutritional products available with many proprietary ingredients that can't be duplicated.

How do we know they are not strictly weight loss products?  Because many of the people using the products are athletes - competitive body builders, marathon runners, etc.  I've met some of them personally!  When they take the products they build lean muscle and lower their body fat but don't necessarily lose weight (some gain weight when they add lean muscle).  Dr J and Dale L'Ecuyer, a local mom who is a nutrition guru and has been using the products for 20 months, know a lot about this and have both coached many athletes. Dale's son is the body builder shown in this photo and he uses Isagenix! The company has special Athletes Paks of products which are the same products I take except for IsaPro. 

When our bodies have the proper nutrition (many important minerals are not in the soil of the fruits and vegetables we eat, this includes organics) it works like it should and heals itself.

Isagenix in People Magazine

No, this isn't my "after" photo (but maybe another 80 lbs and a blond dye job?).  This is Nancy O'Dell (from Dancing with the Stars). She was quoted in People Magazine saying she lost weight fast with Isagenix.  Click here for a link to the web page. This stuff is great and I predict you'll be hearing more about it, and not just from me!

I have a cleanse day tomorrow so I'll weigh myself again on Thursday morning. I am so psyched to be wearing my skinny jeans (which do not look skinny to most people - still a "plus" size) but they are skinny to me. After a while these will get too big and one day in 2010 I will be able to shop in the "regular" misses department.

21 days/3 Weeks - 20lbs lost!

Any changes you make in your eating to move to a healthier place are going to take some sacrifice but I can say my body doesn't feel deprived because it isn't being deprived of nutrition. Any cravings for junk food someone would have I think would be emotional - I am so motivated to lose this weight that I am not having this problem. Check out this 2 minute video, Channel 10 in South Florida had a segment on Isagenix

yesterday's menu:

• 1oz IonicSupreme (has the taste of blackstrap molasses, one of the ingredients, I just down it like medicine)
• Vanilla shake for breakfast (love it, especially how quick and easy it is to put something so nutritious in my body)
• Fresh cut pineapple and green grapes
• IsaSnack (chocolate fiber wafer)
• Tuna fish sandwich with mayo on seedless rye, a handful of potatoe chips (haven't had any in three weeks and felt like having some, just didn't eat from the bag, put some on my plate)
• IsaSnack (chocolate fiber wafer)
• Chocolate shake with 2" piece of frozen banana added - I still used the two scoops of shake mix but made it in my big blender (instead of the small IsaBlender) buy using mostly ice. So it became a huge frozen shake that I ate with a spoon. My daughter tried it and loved the taste. The shakes have to be eaten in 10 minutes because they contain live enzymes so this was a bit of a challenge due to the thickness
• IsaDelight - dark chocolate square

Of course, water all day long. I've mostly been eating my meals at dinner time with my family but sometimes I eat it at lunch.  The most important thing if you eat your main meal at night is not to eat too late because there is no time for your body to work it off.  We eat dinner at 5-5:30 so it's worked for me.

A funny thing is happening...

A funny thing is happening... I am so in love with these products that I am becoming an ambassador, wanting everyone else to experience them and get the same benefits.  This is not unusual I found out -- everyone I met who's been using the products has had amazing results and is super enthusiastic, like me.  I still don't even know how the business side of this thing works because weight loss and better health are my goals.  I straight out told Dr J when I met him that I didn't have time to tell other people about it but I find it's just something that I am so psyched about that it's happening naturally.

My sister has been really trying to lose weight and it's been difficult so of course I told her that this is "it."  I am so excited for her to start next week and can't wait to see her experience the same results.

My husband has lots of aches and pains from several injuries and I really want him to feel his best so I offered him to try some of my shakes and Cleanse. He will go for a week with 1 shake in the morning and some of the cleanse at night and that's it, we'll see how he does.

Day 19 - Down 19 lbs and feeling great!

I had a one-day cleanse yesterday and weighed myself this morning and was excited to see the scale drop again, I've now lost 19 pounds of fat! I didn't measure but I will do that at the end of a month on the program (Fri the 13th).  I can see that my clothes are continuing to feel looser and I have a lot of energy - even on my cleanse day, my son and I walked to the post office then to the town hall to vote.

I felt a little worried at first that after the bigger losses after cleansing I would gain some back on the shake days when I am eating meals but that hasn't happend, I've continued to loose weight - yeah!

Why the photo of the hamburger?  Well, on the days when I have two Isalean shakes as meal replacements I eat a sensible meal of 400-600 calories and twice we've had hamburgers for dinner (I gave up the high calorie cheese and had a salad with it), twice had pizza, also had meatloaf for dinner and the meat/tomato sauce which I love so it's not all broiled chicken.  We eat pretty healthy already (no fast food, no prepared foods, no transfat, or high fructose corn syrup) but we do eat red meat. I am increasingly disgusted about what I read about the beef industry and reading about people dying from tainted meat but am not ready to totally give it up. I only buy the angus beef because it tastes better.  The Isagenix healthy meal planner suggests only lean protein (chicken, fish) for the best results and while we do eat chicken and usually a green vegetable at every meal I am in this for the long haul and it's not realistic to think I can give up pizza and burgers forever, I am just being more sensible about portions.

Post Halloween tales...

So Halloween and all the candy wasn't a big deal for me as I had already given up sugar over a year ago - thank goodness there is no temptation there because my two kids combined have about 175 pieces of candy. Today I let them have three pieces at different points in the day but we'll normally just do 1 piece a day. How are we going to get rid of it all?  I warned them that if they sneak candy without asking or if I find wrappers on the floor (a big pet peeve of mine) that the candy will be thrown out. I told them don't test it because I am looking for a reason to get rid of it. Tell your kids that story when they accuse you of being a mean mom. (Photo of Isagenix logo carved pumpkin is from the facebook site I joined of the founder/formulator, there are over 3,500 friends who post questions and answers, great tips).

I wasn't thinking at all of the end of DST, I mean I knew I had to move my clock back an hour but didn't realize until later today that I wasn't prepared for it in terms of my eating schedule.  I had my shake at 10am because I slept late then some fruit at 11:30. Then at 1:30 I was really hungry and couldn't understand why, then I remembered that my body thought it was actually 2:30 and I hadn't eaten lunch yet. So I got off schedule a little today and ended up only doing the shake at breakfast and had solid food at lunch and dinner. It's hard on the weekends because I sleep later and much easier on school days when I'm up at 7:15.  I'll weigh myself again on Wed. but I feel really good and don't have the achiness I usually do when I get out of bed in the morning.