Week 6 - The Pink Drink - Freedom to Eat. ..or to Not Eat

While I am really happy that I am down 6.5 pounds and have lost really close to 16 inches as well as a pants size (from 18/20 to 14/16) and bra size (sometimes there is just too TMI, even for me - lol!) I want to focus for a minute on something I just realized last night that Plexus has given me. ..the Freedom to Eat. ..or to Not Eat!   I need to share with you what might be a "no biggie" to you, but is HUGE for me!!

So at my daughter's theater there is a snack bar stocked with some fabulous junk food and while there are sometimes apples and pretzels and nature valley granola bars, most of the time delicious potato chips, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate candy and sugary candy have been calling my name and inviting me to devour them for 2 years.  And I am not one to say no and so I devoured.  And devoured some more.

 The kids have accounts with "credit" on them (i.e., money parents deposit so kids don't have to carry cash around with them) so they can get snacks and drinks when they are in shows or at rehearsals.  I like to pretend that my daughter goes through a ton of her credit and that she generously shares with her friends, but really I am probably to blame for the rapid rate that her snack credit disappears.  I help staff the snack bar during my daughter's rehearsals so I probably have eaten a college credit or two worth of junk food over the past two years.  If you could witness the mental gymnastics that have always gone through my head over whether or not to buy another candy bar or bag of chips you would be EXHAUSTED  - I can get pretty creative justifying why I should have that bag of cheezeits (cheese fills you up, right?) or that a Reese's peanut butter cup was healthy for you because of the protein from the peanut butter and a better option then the empty calories of a Hershey's bar.

Well, the week before every show opens there is a full week of late night rehearsals called "tech week" where they get everything ready in tip top condition to open (costumes, make up, hair, lighting, sound, props, etc) and for the past 2 years I have accepted that tons of junk food, late night fast food stops and iced coffees get me through this week.

PLEXUS IS MAGIC BABY!!!!  Seriously.  I started Plexus just before rehearsal for this latest show started and while I have bought a bag of pretzels or Sunchips here and there over the past 5 weeks, I have easily stayed away from the true crap food 99% of the time!  And really without much self talk or mental gymnastics!!! I just am not craving it or interested in it MOST of the time.  Does that mean I don't want it EVER?  NO, that is not what I am saying at all.  I got a small bag of Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies the other night because I wanted some.  I ate most of the small package and gave the rest to one of the kids.  But I made a conscious choice to have it and didn't feel bad afterwards and the rest of the time I haven't bought any crap food and I am just AMAZED!!!  Such a fabulous freedom to just eat when you are hungry and not eat when you aren't!!!  Freedom to easily (most of the time!) make good food choices because that is what you crave. . .and when you do want a decadent treat, have it and enjoy it because you WANT it!!!  When you stop gorging on the "treats" throughout the day, all of a sudden they are no longer the norm and  "treats" are just that!   

Last night Chipotle generously donated food for 200 theater kids for dinner during tech week as lots of the kids are there from 4pm - 10pm (or later) each night. . .next to chocolate and sushi and steak, Mexican is one of my all time favorite food.  Like most people, I think the chips and salsa & guac are lots of the reason that I love Mexican food so much!  Normally when I have Mexican food, I probably eat more chips then actual food. ..about an hour or so after dinner, when I was on the phone talking to another one of my friends wanting to try Plexus I realized that I literally had no more then 5-10 chips with my dinner.  That was completely unintentionally done and I wasn't even aware of it - I was just sharing with my friend all the awesome changes I have been able to make with the help of my pink drink and that just popped into my head!!!!

I think the Food Freedom is right now what I am loving most about Plexus. ..if you have never had a probably saying no to food or always have had willpower to watch what you eat, you might not "get" what I am so excited about and why Plexus is my "magic potion".  But that is okay, there are enough of you who will get it and if you have ever struggled with the mental gymnastics of whether you should or shouldn't eat something and how guilty you feel after for eating something "naughty" then you probably get what I am saying and understand why its so HUGE for me! Freedom to eat or not eat is just HUGE for me. . .now, if they only had a magic potion for doing laundry, that would be just awesome!!!

Pink Drink - Days 14-24

So, what has changed for me in the last 3 weeks since starting Plexus Slim and the Accelerator?  While I haven't won the lottery and I am still short and fat and not tall and thin, I still think there have been lots of wonderful changes that absolutely led me to purchasing another month's worth of Plexus products.

One of the things I noticed just today is that I wake up more energized and ready to go.  I rarely have pressed snooze in the last 3 weeks and I feel like my sleep is better.  Not that I ever noticed a problem in my sleep, but I always pressed snooze a bazillion times and I haven't felt the need to lately.

I am definitely hungry, but NOT AS HUNGRY.  I definitely still enjoy snacks, but I DON'T FEEL AS SNACKY AS I PREVIOUSLY did.

I am not intentionally staying away from crap food, but I find myself just not craving it nearly as often.  Does that mean I don't eat any sweets or chips?  Absolutely not, just not nearly as much or as often.  Usually a taste satisfies me and I have no need for anything more.  I find that if anything, I crave food, like real food instead of desserts.

I am down 5 pounds and 9.75 inches in 3 weeks and I am certainly not complaining at all.

Some other changes - I have not had diet coke or any other iced tea or coffee with any artificial sweeteners in it for 3 weeks and I don't find I miss it as much as I thought.  In truth, I also haven't met any friends at Starbucks lately, so not exactly sure what my drink of choice will be then, but I will figure out something. . .

My water intake has increased drastically - while I don't drink 1/2 my weight every day (how can people be THAT thirsty all the time???), I do drink an average of 70 ounces-80 ounces every day which is far far better then I was previously.

And guess what??? I earned $5 back on my purchases!!  Yep - never in my life with all the MLMs I have ever been a part of , have I had such a wonderfully easy and generous compensation structure! While I did not become an Ambassador to earn income (I became an Ambassador as the products cost less for me that way), I was thrilled and excited to see a little bit of a return on my own purchases!!

You can always check out the products and ask me any questions you want - always happy to share things that I love! 

Pink Drink - Days 4 thru 13

I am in the middle of Week 2 of Plexus Slim plus Accelerator and it is early in the game, but I think I found my happy drink. . .

There is no question that I am not as hungry/snacky while taking these products.  No ifs, ands or buts about it.  And other then 3 times over the last 13 days I have not had anything other then water and with nothing added to it.  I drink an average of 80-90 ounces of water a day - I can't quite get to 100 ounces, but that is more then 1/2 my body weight anyways - for the moment I am shooting for between 85 and 90 ounces.

Some highlights of the last week: 
1) one day I had a rather crappy day, missed lunch and when I was first able to eat, I was ravenous. . .normally I would have eaten anything and everything, but I didn't.  I made good healthy choices and didn't even have mental gymnastics about;
2)  I am eating breakfast (ranges from egg beaters, hard boiled eggs, fruit, smoothie, protein bar, yogurt or something similar with fruit, grains and protein) around 8:30-9:30am and not snacky before lunch which is around 12-1 (or if I am, a banana totally satisfies me!) where as in the past I was continually grazing;
3) I have passed on dessert because I just wasn't hungry - not because I didn't think it was "right" or "wrong" to have dessert while on a "diet"
4) the one or two times I have had frozen yogurt over the past 10 days, the cost of the yogurt (you pay by the ounce) is well under what I used to pay for it and my toppings have not been any of the candy and not because I am telling myself it is "wrong" to have, but because I just don't want it;
5) I went out for a late night snack with my daughter and some friends where everyone ordered wings or a burger or a cookie skillet and I was completely satisfied with 3 or 4 small bites of my daughter's cookie skillet towards the end of the meal - I ordered nothing but water because I wasn't hungry;
6) I haven't pressed "snooze" one time on my alarm - when I wake up, I am ready to go for the most part (that is huge from a habitual snoozer);
7) On Sunday my schedule was all messed up and I didn't have enough water or healthy snacks with me and other then slamming a piece of pizza down, I didn't really have lunch.  It was the one day I didn't drink even 1/2 of my water and I had 2 diet cokes and I was definitely more snacky that day then other days - I found that interesting and am maybe a believer in that artificial sweeteners do make you crave sugary crap.

I am still struggling with whether I should track or not track. . .the other day I felt like I was grazing all day, but at the end of the evening when I look at my fitness pal tracker I was close to 200 calories below my target. .so what did I do?  Despite not really being hungry,  I ate those calories because I keep hearing in the back of my head if I eat too few calories my body will go into starvation and I won't lose. ..so I slammed down 200 calories before bed - kinda silly and stupid in the light of day.

So, I think I am going to try to give myself permission not to track and eat when I am hungry and see how that works and only track water (because I am old and forgetful and if I don't track the water I will have no clue how much I have had for the day) with my choice of lots of fun apps to do that on!

And some of you have asked if the drink is gross? NOOOOOOOOOOOO. .its actually quite yummy! Tastes like a cherry tootsie pop to me!!!

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.  ..