Keto OS

Well, I'm at it again. As usual, it's been quite awhile since my last post. Not a lot has changed from a weight perspective. I haven't been the greatest with exercise or sticking with a Keto diet the last few months. Thankfully I have been maintaining at the weight I've been at this year, but I haven't been able to get over the hurdle. My plan has been to kick into Keto full time again and with the help of the new keto supplement by Pruvit called Keto OS I am hoping to maybe be able to stick to it thoroughly this time. Now that summer is over, my schedule has gone back to normal with not many events that will cause problems with keeping a regular schedule and eating pattern. So, with the help of Keto OS and some meal plans based off of MariaMindandBody's blog/books I plan to go full time Keto this week.

While my current review of Keto OS is so-so, I plan to give a more thorough review based on my experience once I've done a week or two of being fully mindful of my eating. From a taste perspective, it's not bad. It's got an orange creamsicle flavor, but it's a little sweeter than I would prefer, and I usually like things sweet. As of right now, I can say that I don't feel hungry and honestly, if it weren't for the psychological element of noon being lunch time "therefore, I must eat", I could probably go til 3 or 4 without "needing to eat". I've also noticed a couple of my workouts where I took it shortly before, I seemed to have more energy and drive to push longer on my jog portions. I'm excited to see if I notice anything when I'm following the macro-nutrient elements of Keto along with using Keto OS.

Pruvit has currently only released this product by invite only, but each person that ordered was given 5 invites to share with others. This time period prior to it being released to the public gets people in on a VIP status. I'm not sure what it will look like once they go live on Sept 6th, but if anyone wants to get in with VIP status, please message me asap and I will send you an invite if you do want to try it. It does look like it will be turning into a network marketing company. I do not plan to use it in that, but I figure getting in on the ground floor never hurts if I do end up using the product long term.

The starter kit gets you a tub with 30 servings and 45 packets. It's recommended to take 1-3 servings a day. I've pretty much done 1-2 depending on how "good" I've been. It's not cheap, so I'm thinking I will be doing 1 a day once I go into ketosis from my normal eating, so that this is just kicking it up a notch.

Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted:-)

Life in the Slow Lane

So it's been 6 weeks since I started the PiYo Challenge and a little longer since I decided to honestly pursue being a Beachbody Coach. I am loving PiYo, but as usual I hit my 5 week slump and must confess to not being active at all this week, however, I only missed about 3 days the month of July that I didn't get any form of exercise in. I think about 4 days that were supposed to be PiYo, I went for a walk instead. I'll be honest, I have not lost any weight, but my body is changing shape a little. As I've said in numerous other posts, my body seems to be stuck and does not want to lose the extra weight. I refuse to give up, but instead of worrying about the scale, I'm just going to get healthy one day at a time.

I am determined to stop letting my weight rule my life. I have amazing friends that love me for who I am on the inside. While I can't seem to find a Christian guy to ask me out in person, I profile well online and seem to be decently popular, unfortunately I desire to date Christian men, so rarely (Insert "NEVER" here) go on actual dates. I also have a family that loves me as I am. I am well liked and respected at work. Why I seem to think that I am not worthy of people, experiences or a happy and successful life because I am carrying some additional weight that may not be up to Hollywood standards, I do not know. I do know that I am done letting low self esteem control my confidence in myself. My faith and financial status may control some elements of life and I am ok with that. I will live within my means, or find a way to be able to afford a vacation or two in my life. As for my faith and it controlling certain elements, I know some people see that as a boring or stunted life, but I see it as a living a life pleasing to God. While I am a sinner like every person on earth, there will be sins I will not have to live with the consequences of such as STDs and being a single mom. I can also be assured that the man I marry is marrying me for me and not sex. While I know keeping a relationship pure before God is not easy and in some ways can complicate things (especially if only one has the convictions), there is also a freeing element where you take that off the table and just get to know each other. 

That little tangent has come about b/c of being a Beachbody Coach and joining the PiYo Challenge. Seeing the encouraging posts each day in our challenge group; taking the time to learn about the company; investing in myself to reading and listening to the National Wake Up call through Beachbody, things have started to sink in. So, while my body is not showing the drastic before and after results yet (it will, I have 3 weeks left in PiYo...I'm starting week 6 over; then I'm moving on to another BB challenge), I am getting healthy inside which will eventually begin to show on the outside. So, if you stick around long enough, you will see me succeed whether it's weight, size or business...I will be a success no matter how long it takes. 

I'm back with a new plan

I cannot believe how long it's been since I've posted on here. I've tried a few more diets, but none have worked and frankly I've fallen off the work out wagon and am not nearly as active as I was a year ago. All that is about to change. I have joined Beachbody and become a coach. July 14th I will be starting the new PiYo Power Challenge that is 8 weeks long, but along the way am hoping to also turn this into a productive business. I'm really excited about this both from the accountability aspect and it seems like it could be very doable with not a lot of effort once you've been going for a few weeks and as long as you let people know that you are a coach. The cool thing is there are so many work out options that just about anyone is open to at least one of the products. If you're not familiar with Beachbody, you've probably seen infomercials for P90X, Insanity, LesMills Combat, TurboFire, Slim in 6, RevAbs, HipHopAbs, 21 Day Fix... These are all part of the Beachbody corporation. They also sell Shakeology which is an amazing protein shake that is more than just a meal replacement. It also has the nutrients of a high quality multivitamin, so you don't have to worry remembering to take another vitamin. I have to mention one more section of Beachbody, their  Ultimate Reset program which is a great way to start out when you are trying to get healthy. It's a 3 week detox program that you can do whenever, but can be used to jumpstart a new fitness and nutrition plan.


So, I am currently trying to follow the Ketogenic diet (I'll post more on my diet another day) and plan to get in more exercise of the next couple weeks before then going full time into the PiYo Challenge. I've only ever done the intense PiYo type workouts and have not always been a fan of those programs, but I'm determined to complete this program and do the full 8 weeks. In the past, I've only really mentioned it to my close friends and family(and my anonymous readers on this blog), but this time, I'm announcing it on my personal FB page and just telling people about it, so that I have the accountability of never knowing if or when someone may ask if I'm still doing that program.  If I can become a product of the Beachbody system, it will be that much easier to talk about it to people. I actually own several of the Beachbody programs, but have never completed the entire 45,60 or 90 day plans. I still use them (LesMills is my favorite), but not consistently. So, my plan is to start posting again every week at least. I will put up some form of before photo when I start the official PiYo plan on July 14th. If anyone is curious or wants to join me, you can click on any of the links in this post and get to my websites and find the challenge or the shakes. I would love to hear your experiences with any of these workouts and if you'd had success. I still don't know all the commissions and bonuses of being a coach, but I do know it's a good program and if you buy a challenge pack you can become a coach for free and test it out for a month. I probably went a little overboard on the links, but I'm in the excited phase of starting a new business and proud of it:-)

Shred Week 6: Explode

Sorry I've been MIA. Haven't been on the laptop much at home and just haven't made the time to update my final week. It was defininitely not an "explosive" week as far as weight loss is concerned. I did follow the plan, but this week seemed to throw a lot of curves that kept me from following it completely. Thankfully was able to pretty much keep the weight in check, it just wasn't a week of losing. This chapter made it sound like it was going to be a grand change in the days eating plans, but really there was not much of a difference. Maybe a few additions, but overall it just felt the same as most of the other weeks. Honestly I think the only weeks that actually felt different were weeks 3 and 5 and those were my best weeks on this diet.

I have decided not to continue this plan going forward, but I have not completely ruled it out forever. Right now my next plan is to follow Lyn-Genet Recitas's book The Plan.. This is not meant to be a "diet" but is really about figuring out what foods react negatively to your body chemistry and cause you to gain weight. I truly believe this theory has validity. I have already figured out on my own a few foods that tend to cause my weight to blow up with just a small amount, as well as foods that according to common nutritionist that say eating them will cause me to gain and I will still see a loss on the scale the next day. So for me I think this will  be eye opening. If the book is true to what it says, once you figure out your reactive foods, you can avoid them for a few months and test them again and they will either be less reactive or not at all. So, it is not causing you to have to completely give up those favorite foods, but just to give them up for awhile.

It is a very specific plan that does not allow much if any deviation from it, but the main plan is only 20 days so I'm ok with it. It does take more than 20 days b/c you are truly only "testing" for 8-12 of those days and you only test 1 food on those days, so there will be many more days of testing. Each day that adds a new "friendly food," as Lyn calls them, into your repertoire just makes the rest of your life that much easier because you now know more foods your body digests easily and quickly.

So, I thought I would do a comparison of my first day to the final day to see the full effects.

January 3, 2013                                                              February 18, 2013

Bust: 36 1/2                                                                    Bust: 36 1/4 in       = -1/4 in
Ribs: 30 1/2 in                                                                Ribs: 29 3/4 in       = -3/4 in
Abdomen: 32 in                                                              Abdomen: 29 in    = -3 in
Hips: 41 in                                                                      Hips: 40 in             = - 1 in
Thighs: 27 in                                                                  Thighs: 26 1/2 in    = - 1/2 in
Calves 17 in                                                                    Calves 16 1/4 in    = -3/4 in
Arms: 13 1/4 in                                                               Arms: 13 in           = -1/4 in
Weight 170.8                                                                  Weight 165.8         = - 5 lbs

So a total of 6 1/2 inches and 5 lbs lost. Definitely not a bad run. If I can keep up an average of 1 lb a week in weight loss the rest of the year/ until I reach my goal. I would still be at my goal by the end of the year. If The Plan works out well for me and I am in fact able to pin point the foods that cause me weight gain/ do not allow me to lose, maintaining that average will not be hard.

I was planning to start The Plan on Monday, but there are some supplements she likes you to take for the 20 days and my LuckyVitamin.com order did not get delivered on Friday. So, I'll probably start mid week. Hopefully the 3 day cleanse at the beginning doesn't throw me off at work.

I know I won't be able to follow the plan exactly for the 20 days b/c I have a friend coming into town for a long weekend and I have a business trip that is going to make it hard to follow at all. However, I'm so sick of eating what are considered healthy foods and seeing the scale go up and then days when I've "cheated" and the scale will go down. Therefore, I'm going to start it and follow it 100 % for as long as I can and I'm going to try to stick to it even in the difficult times as much as possible. If I'm having good enough success and don't see a huge reaction on my days I can't follow it, I'll just assume any foods I haven't had to that point are officially "friendly" foods. If I have reactions then I'll just have to nix any/all "new" foods and test them individually going forward. It's the best I can do, since i don't want to wait until April. Life has a way of showing up even when there are no initial plans when we start a specific eating plan

Shred Week 5: Cleanse

I loved this week! I felt so good and that was even with monthly issues and insomnia, I stuck with the plan almost 100%. There were still days I only did 3 meals and 3 snacks instead of 4 meals, and one day I forgot to bring an afternoon snack so I had 2 pieces of 85% dark chocolate (which is still less calories than some of the options for the days snack).

This week we added 2 Tbs of ground flax seed or oil to lemon water. This I wasn't thrilled with, specifically when I heated the lemon water. I barely gagged that down. The rest of the week I made sure to either add the flax to my breakfast option or I drank the lemon water cold, then it was fine. I did add one thing to my lemon water most days, which if figured would only add to the health benefits. I try to do Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) at least once a day. I love it hot with lemon and a couple drops of stevia. ACV has no calories and is known for cleansing properties, so on the days I did hot lemon water, I added ACV to it for my own enjoyment. Believe me, this is an acquired taste that happened when I was little and as an adult when I started drinking it again, I think there was nostalgia involved in my liking it right away.

There was only one day that I was hungry, but that was more my fault than the days meal plan. this particular day I picked cucumbers for the morning snack and in the book you are supposed to have it with dressing to add the fat to fill up, but I don't like dressings, so I was planning to add a few almonds to the snack, only work was busy and I completely forgot to grab them. Then for lunch it was a large salad and I don't remember what else, but it was all food that fills for about 30 minutes before you start to feel hungry. Whatever my afternoon snack was, it just didn't cut it so it took to my 3rd meal for me to feel more satisfied. Even with the hunger, it wasn't a miserable hunger, it was just more noticeable and I had an extra mug of tea that afternoon.

One thing that really helped me keep this week almost 100% was actually writing down the entire weeks plan. There were a few days I had to change up what I had intended based on additional events that popped up, but then I just went to Kindle and checked to see what other options were available for that meal. I think having it on paper, allowed me to just quick check my notebook the evening before to see if I needed to prepare and then for each meal just double check to make sure I had everything. This also kept me on track. I know I went into this week determined to follow it closely, but I think being able to check off each line as I followed it was good for me. I even turned down 2 different opportunities for pizza, one of which I sat and watched other people eating and I turned down someone buying me a Carmel Macchiato(this is truly the bigger feat for more:-)

So, here are my numbers for the week and as you will see following the plan completely (at least for the cleanse week) is worth it.

February 4, 2013

Bust: 36 1/4 in
Ribs: 29 3/4 in
Abdomen: 29 in
Hips: 40 in
Thighs: 26 1/2 in
Calves 16 1/2 in
Arms: 13 in
Weight 165.3

In addition to following the plan, I did actually get all 5 days worth of exercise in. I had my 2 personal trainer days and then I did some rebounding and hula hooping one day. The other two days I remembered I had 2 Yoga Booty Ballet workouts from Beachbody. So, I did the Go Go Dance one on Saturday and then the next day was "Light and Easy" (which still has your muscles tired by the end). I'd forgotten how much I enjoy those and I felt slightly sore muscles each day after the workouts so, I'd say they are going to become somewhat regulars in my routine.

On a slightly different note, I had a guy at work come up to me and quietly say "I don't want you to think I'm a creeper or anything, but I just had to ask, have you lost some weight?" When I said I had a little bit, he responded "Well, you look like it. You look good and there is just an overall positive aura about you that different. You're carrying yourself differently and I just had to tell you. Don't think I'm being a creeper." It was so sweet, and if you knew this guy, you'd know he was sincere and is not one that would say something to be creepy. It totally made my day. I still am not seeing a lot of changes but apparently something is working even if I'm not seeing it.

Well, I'll sign off for this week. Next week with be the official last week, however I think I might mix it up and do at least 3 more weeks and see if the weeks I didn't have much success was due to my cheating or if those weeks were just not working for me.