Pink Drink - Days 2 and 3

So far, so good...while I have no complaints (a few struggles which I will share in a minute and should be able to be overcome easily), I have lots of positives.

Someone asked me if I am not as hungry while taking Plexus Slim/Accelerator.  I would definitely say that is accurate for my husband - by 1:30pm yesterday I had to argue with him that a banana and 3 clementines does not qualify for breakfast and lunch and I gave him the old saying that if you don't eat enough your body will go into starvation, store fat, you won't lose weight, blah. . .blah...blah. I think he agreed to eat one more clementine, but that was as far as he went - he just kept telling me that he wasn't hungry and didn't want to eat.  I gave up arguing.  He finally did have a snack around 4:30ish and had a decent size dinner - but not nearly as much as he would eat not being on Plexus Slim.

As for me, I definitely still get hungry - but less food satisfies me then last week.  And I am NOT CRAVING JUNK FOOD at all.  That is what is amazing to me!  And that whole mental gymnastics of "should I eat that piece of chocolate or not" that I have back and forth a bazillion times has been pretty non-existent since I started on Saturday.

I already shared with you in my previous post that I bypassed ice-cream at the Sugar Bowl restaurant when everyone else had some on Saturday night.  My 2nd realization that something is different was on Sunday while teaching my 2nd graders at religious school.  I often use little pieces of candy as bribes/rewards - sometimes you just need that on Sunday mornings and this past Sunday was one of those days. . .so whenever a kid got 2 Hebrew letters correct in a row they got a piece of candy thrown at them.  Now, secretly I get excited for this part of the day because I always partake in snagging a piece of candy or two (or 3? or 4?) - they are in a huge bag in front of me, how can I not have one?  Well, on Sunday I HAD NO CANDY.  Seriously,, none.  Didn't want one and didn't crave one and didn't have any mental struggle - just didn't want one and I didn't have one.  Sadly, I was more worried something was wrong with me then being happy the Plexus must be working!

On Sunday night, I was out dropping my daughter off at a friend's house and my husband asked if I wanted to get something at Frozen Rita's (really yummy frozen custards and frozen ice) and I thought about it and said "nope".  I ended up getting him a small frozen custard and nothing for me - both of those things are huge in that he never gets a small and I never get nothing at a dessert place.

So, all in all - something is working and I'm not complaining!!

Now, my struggles are these:
1) The plan says you need to drink 1/2 your body weight in water, up to 100 ounces. . .that is a lot of friggen water I need to drink.  I didn't get there on Saturday at all.  On Sunday, I probably had 64 ounces but not the 20 more or so I needed.  Again, I was close on Monday - but probably should have had an additional 20 ounces.  This is hard for me, especially because unlike weight watchers other beverages don't count as your liquid - its water, water, and only water. 

2) You can't, or shouldn't, have artificial sweeteners while being on the program.  Well - that throws out my iced teas at Starbucks because they don't have any Stevia or Truvia - only the pink, blue and yellow packets. . .but on the flip side, I guess I can't afford to drink anything else then water considering I can't even get those total ounces in. While perusing facebook and online, I did see that Skinny Girl has a new naturally flavored water enhancers out that might make my water drinking a little easier (the vast majority that are sold are all artificially sweetened and I don't want to go that route) - so I will be on the hunt for those as well as try a bottle of stevia that I hear can be helpful in drinking the water.

So, all in all, many more positives then negative - really no negatives, just some struggles that I am confident will be overcome.

But after day 3, I am saying I am happy with what the pink drink is doing!!

Pink Drink - Day 1

What in the world is the pink drink and why am I drinking it???

The Pink Drink is Plexus Slim from the company Plexus Worldwide (actually located in Scottsdale, AZ!) and basically it is a pink powder that you mix with water (12-20 ounces) and drink first thing in the morning.  The website says  Plexus Slim is the most-natural way to lose weight and inches by burning fat, not muscle. Slim also helps keep blood sugar, cholesterol and lipids at healthy levels. In addition, it helps reduce binge eating and increases your willpower over food.

I also take their Accelerator tablet with breakfast and lunch which when paired with the Slim Plexus drink helps boost energy and metabolism.

Why am I jumping on the pink drink bandwagon?  Because I need to.  I need help and more then just good old willpower and motivation to eat healthy and lose weight.  Over the last 4-5 months I have seen a number of friends rave about their experiences with Plexus Slim and so many people say it made losing weight easier then ever.

No diet plan to follow other then eating healthy and exercising - so no reason this can't be combined with any other healthy eating plan be it weight watchers, paleo, atkins, south beach, my fitness pal, etc, etc, etc. . .in my eyes this is the boost that some of us need to help us be successful. Or at least that is my hope for me if I fall in love with it as my friends have.

So, Day 1. . .

Was nervous to try the drink, but totally fine and kind of tasty.  A cherry type taste. I drank it in a 16 ounce bottle of water around 9 in the morning and then around 10 I had a zone bar and cup of fruit with the Accelerator.

I had lunch around 12:30 from Chipotle - a bowl with chicken, brown rice, veggies, black beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, a little sour cream and NO CHIPS.  My friend had them, but I didn't care or miss them too much.  That filled me till around 3 and I had a bag of French Onion Sunchips and water for a snack.  I wasn't hungry until a quick dinner before going to a movie where I had some chicken & beef teriyaki (normally I eat all the rice, but just a few spoonfuls tonight), a few california roll pieces, 1/2 of a shrimp tempura and water.  I was full!!

Now going to a movie to me is a sin without having popcorn - its almost like I go to a movie to justify movie popcorn.  When we got to the theatre the smell of the popcorn is like a drug that makes me purchase it - hungry or not.  But truthfully - I wasn't hungry and didn't really want the popcorn. ..well, I did feel a bit sad when I was looking at everyone else around me loving on their popcorn, but I was okay in not getting any because I truly wasn't hungry.

Later in the evening a bunch of people went to an ice cream shop where I always get 2 scoops of ice cream with hot fudge, whip cream, peanuts, cherry - all the good stuff!!!   Despite most people around me getting ice cream, I didn't. . .I ordered a dinner salad with ranch dressing and vinegar on the side and ate about 1/2 of it. ..I so didn't care that I didn't get ice cream. . I didn't want it.

My only debate is whether I stay on Weight Watchers and track my food there or go the My Fitness Plan, which there is no cost to. There is really something psychologically problematic to me to have to add calories for fruits and veggies when they are "free" on Weight Watchers. ..so struggling with that for the moment because I do need to track.

If I did go to MFP, today's calories that I consumed were 1297 and because I said I was sedentary and didn't exercise, they put me at a goal of 1250 a day - so according to MFP, I already blew that and I hate seeing that and it kinda makes me feel depressed, even though I felt better about my eating then I have in months. . .but interestingly on the WW food tracker I ate 26 points - exactly my target.

So, I will play around with the trackers and see which works best for me, but in the mean time. . .Pink Drink Day 1 was pretty good!!!

Trying to get Rid of a Toxic Friend. . .

Dear Fat:

We have known each other a really long time.  Almost 45 years. To say that you have stuck with me through thick and thin is really not an exaggeration.  But, I am over it.  For realsies this time.

Over the years we have had some short breakups where I was able to get rid of you for a while - but I always allowed you to find your way back without me really knowing.  Remember when I preferred Nutrisystem to you a few times?  What about Diet Center? That was a really long time ago - probably in high school. How about my all time favorite phen-fen? You were really gone in a flash when I met my friends phen & fen and it was never so easy to lose you and I never thought about you once! But unfortunately when the FDA got involved and took my friends phen & fen away, you came running back to me  .I was never truly happy with Atkins and I know you were laughing in the sidelines while I tried my hardest to stay away from those big bad carbs - but after 48 hours you and I found our way back to each other again. When I met herbalife I thought I was in love, but the headaches and stomach aches and missing of chewing food got the best of me after a while,  and you came running back, as you always do. The thing that was able to put a wedge in between us the most and for the longest time was Weight Watchers.  Weight Watchers was pretty good at keeping you away and helping me to finally be on my way to getting rid of you and hopefully saying goodbye forever. . .but then, I got derailed and instead of staying on track and looking to Weight Watchers for help, you found a crack and slithered your way back in.

I know you well enough by now. You think by growing on me you are making me feel warm & mushy.  I see what you do - you try your hardest to stay and push my healthy Weight Watchers friend away so you can have me to yourself.

Well, I am finally on to you and your game.  I felt so much better 18 months ago after losing close to 40 pounds and lots of inches with my friends Weight Watchers and Exercise. I am not sure how in the world you managed to creep back on me - but you did.  The difference this time is that I remember how I felt when I lost all that weight - lighter, more energetic, craving healthy food and exercise and wanting to shop!  I am really not digging how you are making me feel right now - draggy, lazy, unmotivated and pretty crappy after I eat your favorite foods and don't even think about taking me to a store right now, unless it is to shop for someone else!

So, yes - you might have been noticing a difference this week my old friend Fat.  I haven't been eating as many of the foods as you are trying to send my way - instead I am engaging in some good old mental gymnastics and eating healthier and allowing my true friend, Weight Watchers, to help me.  Yes, I put my big girl panties on and with my head hung low and a bit embarrassed I asked if Weight Watchers would be my friend again (granted with check in hand they really don't ever say no, no matter how many times you kick them to the curb).

I'm not sure why I find it so hard to lose you and make you stay away.  . .its not you personally, but its how you make me feel when you insist on sticking to me and growing.  Yes, for those 5 seconds I soooooooooo love some of that naughty food you waive under my nose or in front of my face so often and sometimes saying no to a warm chocolate cookie seems unfathomable.  But the problem with you around is that there are usually more cookies to come after that one and I have simply had enough.

Interestingly enough the last time I joined Weight Watchers in fall of  2011,  I was 178.8 pounds (gross - I know) and at my lowest on WW the following summer I hovered around 140. . .well, last Saturday when I went crawling back to WW I was the same weight.  The sad thing is that I worked so hard to lose you Fat and somehow you so easily found your way back.

I am not even going to say if you really loved me, you would stay away because I know that you are not able to on your own - I have to be the strong one.  And I know people say you shouldn't break up over the phone or break up in a letter, but I don't know how else to make you understand that this is not a healthy friendship. 

I know that nothing tastes as good as feeling and looking good and because I can still feel how good I felt when I lost my weight I am breaking up with you.  I know it won't be overnight and you won't disappear tomorrow, but little by little and one day at a time you need to accept that this is really a good bye.  .and remember, its not you, it is how I feel when you are with me. 

So as I begin to lose you, little by little, Fat, please do not find your way back to me.  If you feel the need to be somewhere - go find a skinny minny person to hang on. . ..

And to my friends that I eat with or see often - if you see Fat trying to taunt me and trick his way back into my life, please feel free to send him away in whatever method you deem appropriate. . ..

Sometimes a picture is all it takes. ..

People can argue with me til they are blue in the face, but I truly think there are "skinny minded" and "fat minded" people. . .basically, what I mean is that I think for some people the "food stuff" and "exercise stuff" just comes easier and more naturally than others.  I think they are born that way.  And maybe being born with a great metabolism doesn't hurt either. 

Then there are the "fat minded" people, which are not necessarily people who are fat, but people who struggle every day with food and exercise and they have to work really hard at winning the war on food and exercise.

Throughout my journey I have met a number of "fat minded" people who have found their way and are winning the war on food and exercise.  But by their FB and blog posts, I know it hasn't come easy to them and they have lots of blood sweat and tears to know only get where they are, but to stay where they are can almost be harder.  I find these people amazingly inspiring to me each and every day and I will tag those of you that I can via FB.

I am a "fat-minded" person.  Except for the brief period of time in my life when I was on the best drug on the planet phen-fen, I do mental gymnastics with food every day.  Whether I am being on and perfect with Weight Watchers or eating yours, mine and the neighbor's share of points - I ponder about each and every morsel of food that I eat.  Sometimes I don't think and eat and ponder about my bad choice after and sometimes I plan and think and have a fabulous healthy day of eating.  Regardless, lots and lots of time is spent thinking about food.  Either being in control of my choices and thinking about it before, or feeling guilty about it and thinking about it after.

Overall, I am a bazillion times healthier now than I was a year ago.  Even my naughtiest eating moments are far better than what I ate on a regular basis a year ago - let alone what I ate when I was naughty back then.  And I have won many food and exercise battles over the last year, but like my other inspiring friends I have not won the war quite yet.  Currently I am in the middle of a tough battle and the food seems to keep winning more than I would like it too.  I am on and then I am off.  On Friday night I even talked myself into believing that eating McDonald's at 9pm at night for dinner was a good choice because it doesn't agree with me and would go right through me - like my own special cleanse (I am firmly convinced it is the reason for my one pound weight loss at WW).  I had a mostly decent food eating weekend. ..except for the not so good moments.. .but overall, for a person being on maintenance it probably balanced out - but that is not me as  I am a long long way from maintenance.

Last night we went to dinner to Benihana's with cousins to celebrate my upcoming birthday and our cousin's birthday in December.  It was a most delicious dinner and worth every point that was consumed (how can I not have their most delicious fried rice made with tons of garlic butter???) and a great evening spent with relatives.  I was looking forward to having a picture taken to capture the evening!

When I saw the picture I gasped. . .my fat that I have been so successful at losing apparently missed me so much that some of it decided to plant itself right on my face.  The first place it goes whenever it comes to visit.  Ughhh. . .

I immediately pulled up a picture I know I took just a few months ago with a much smaller face.  I kept saying "omg, omg, omg, how did I let this happen"?

My ever fabulous daughter said, "uh yeah, you need to get back to being better with your points, but look at this. . .".  She was quiet and studying my phone for a while and then handed me my phone again and said " But at least you aren't like this picture again, so you are still a lot smaller today, just not as small as the one you just showed me with that really bad haircut."  

I love the honesty of a 10 year old daughter. . .honest enough to acknowledge my face is pudgier today then a few months ago, but kind and loving enough to remember and point out to me I am not as large as when I first started my weight loss journey a year ago.

Its amazing that this morning how I woke up empowered by the words of a 10 year old and the picture collage she made for me. . .

And just in case you were wondering, yesterday it might have been kicking my tush, but  today I am absolutely winning the battle with food. . .

I will win this war. ..its just a little harder (or a lot harder) and taking a little longer (okay, a lot longer) than I first thought.  ..

I am Cheating on My Diet and It Needs to Stop. ..

Ok, I'll admit it. Halloween did me in.  I had every intention of sticking with my healthy eating and exercise program, but it all went to sh#t over Halloween. More than likely, I probably consumed upwards of 3,000 calories. DAILY. But who really knows. . .I lost track.  From October 31st thru TODAY.  But instead of turning ten bad days into a month-long diet detour, I am once again picking myself up & getting back on the diet bandwagon. Or the healthy eating and exercise train.

I know.  Its never too late and thank god tomorrow is a new day and specifically WEIGHT WATCHERS WEIGH IN DAY.   I have every intention of being fabulously appalled when I step on the scale - its just what I need. 

I have used Allie's theater schedule as an excuse as well, for far too long actually, to my crappy eating.  If theater is going to be her world for now, with soccer, guitar, Hebrew school and homework thrown in then I have to just go against my grain and start planning better for better food choices.

A dinner of popchips and diet coke at the theater is not cutting it because then I am ravenous when I get home and am eating everything quick, easy and junky.  

Next week I know going in that I am leaving the house at 5 something and not returning until 9 or 10 something EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT because its Tech Week for Seussical Jr.. . .so yes, I will pack a little lunch box of healthy food choices - or know what food choices are at Scottsdale Fashion and figure out the points before my day starts. . . I really have no other options.

I need to start my week off right with a good workout. Hit the gym. I need to get back to my Couch to 5K program. . .Rich is returning back home and Allie will no longer be sleeping in my bed and my cold is virtually gone. . .NO EXCUSES.  Working out has to be a priority and getting my body moving because I have to get rid of those extra calories I have consumed.   I need to make sure I am back to drinking lots of water - 32 ounces of ice tea a day is probably not a valid substitute.  I need to get back to journaling/tracking/blogging - write down what I eat, how much I exercise and how I am feeling. The things that worked for me when I started this last November.

Most of all, I realized my success in the beginning was because certainly helped by the fact that I started with a friend and life got in the way and we no longer go to WW meetings together.  On a daily basis for months, we talked about points and food choices.  It was in the forefront of everything I did.  I totally need to recruit a partner, or partners, in crime to help me get back on track and make it through the holiday season without packing on the pounds. 

It is my 44th birthday on November 21st, what better gift to give myself this year than the gift of being able to get back on track to doing what I need to do to wear that friggen TANK TOP ONCE AND FOR ALL?

Wanna be my partner in crime at Weight Watchers? 

Zumba. . .its like my chocolate of all the flavors of exercises!

What is it about Zumba that I love so much?  I actually have no rhythm and I pee in my pants when the instructors tell us to make sure our salsa moves are sexy. But its the best hour of exercise to me in that I rarely look at the clock and time flies by and I just LOVE it.  I love the music and I am always a little sad when the class is over and that is NEVER me when it comes to the end of my exercise time with any other form of exercise.

Not to  mention its a pretty good workout - I burned 413 calories today and in the world of Weight Watchers, that is 5 activity points I earned.  Or in translation, I can eat 5 more points of food if I so chose without going over my daily points.

I used to do Zumba in the spring a few times a week - it was typically my only exercise.  But due to scheduling, I rarely go to Zumba now - maybe only a few times a month.  While Zumba is my fave exercise, its at my least fave time of day - 4:30 and 5:30 pm.  Between homework, Hebrew school, chorus rehearsal, theater rehearsal and did I mention homework, its just a really yucky time for me.  Its sooooooooooooo easy to blow off because of all the other things that hit around that time of day. I found that I was not going far more then I was going to the gym and starting to feel sluggish.

I have discovered that working out early in the morning works best for me - from a scheduling aspect as well as setting a good eating tone to the day.  Somehow if I got my tush out of bed early to work out, its less tempting to eat crappy.

I tried Step class in the morning - I really don't dig it.  The dance moves are way to complicated for me and one week I managed to slip off the step and fall flat on my tush/back with my legs up to the ceiling.  Fortunately it was much more humorous than permanently painful. 

I tried Spin, but at my gym at the hours I need, they turn the lights off and play slower music and the time creeps by for me.  Its some kinda Zen Spin or something - I need fast loud music and a peppy instructor. 

 I tried the stair master, but man its different than the last time I belong to a gym, like in the 80s.  This Stair Master was scary!  It was like revolving steps and I couldn't figure out how to start them or stop them, so I skipped that machine!

The treadmill is just plain boring to me.  Its like vanilla, not  even french vanilla.  Just vanilla.

So on the days that I can't go to Zumba, I hit the gym around 6am and I do the elliptical and bike and weights.   Sometimes circuit weights and sometimes kettlebells.   I don't love them as much as Zumba - but I like them and I do them and my workout is done. And I will admit, there is something mentally stimulating/challenging about pumping iron - however light my iron my be. 

So, like any well rounded person - one cannot live on chocolate alone and I have learned to expand my exercise tastes.  But after being fortunate enough this weekend to go to two Zumba classes, I realize nothing tastes better than chocolate !!

If you workout, what is your chocolate?

Its All About the Tanktop!!

Someone on Facebook sent me a very nice message yesterday, just patting me on the back for not giving up and recommitting myself to this whole exercise/eating healthy thing.

I can't tell you how much any type of enouragement means to me. ..its like my drug that keeps me going.

Next she said to me is that regardless of weightloss, I must just feel so much better than I did before.

Guess what?  I didn't feel so bad before.  Really.  

I wasn't anymore tired or perky than I am now (ok, maybe a little more tired now because I still go to bed ridiculously late and get up super early to workout) and while admittedly staying away from greasy and fried foods has been the biggest gift to my digestive system, its not like I feel this miraculous health improvement than before.

Maybe had I felt crappy, I would have been more motivated to lose weight earlier, and to stick with it.  My doctors have always commented that I was one of the healthiest overweight people they saw.

So, what keeps me going if not the huge inside health effects that I don't necessarily feel?  Now, don't read this wrong and get all fiesty and think that I am saying healthy eating and exercising is not any more or less healthy than eating the voluminous amounts of junk food I was previously eating.  I am NOT saying that.  I clearly know that eating right and exercising is such a better choice -I am merely saying that I wasn't feeling so awful before that I feel so amazing now.  I kinda feel the same.  But I AM LOOKING DIFFERENT.

And that my friends is what keeps me going.  The smaller bra size.  The smaller pants size.  The loss of a few of my chins.  That is what allowed me to get my tush out of bed this morning and workout out at 6:15am.  That and the fact that I am not in my tanktop. . .yet.