As I mentioned in my introductory post, this is not my first rodeo. I've been trying to maintain or lose weight for about 15 years, ever since I gained my freshman 15. I was a cheerleader in high school, and though I wasn't the slimmest gal on the squad, I don't mind saying that I looked good in that uniform. Sure, I always had thunder thighs (I was a base and not a flyer, for those of you who know the cheerleading vernacular), but I wore that teeny skirt with pride, and rarely felt big or too squishy or jiggly. At seventeen, I could eat an entire large pizza and follow it up with See's candy and Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider for dessert, and then go out for a midnight milkshake, and not worry about my weight. This changed in college when the added stress stacked atop a more sedentary lifestyle and a bit of depression (my grandmother died, I had moved away from home, my friend got married and consequently I re-evaluated all my life choices) worked in bitter harmony to help me pack on about 10 pounds to my high school 120. I've hovered around 128-132 ever since, except for last year when the new job brought with it an additional 5 pounds. At 137, I was the heaviest I had ever been.
I have a lot to say about eating disorders, losing weight quickly, losing weight slowly, enjoying eating, enjoying cooking, finding exercise that I like, and all sorts of health- and weight-related issues. The point is that I've tried Weight Watchers, Intuitive Eating, the Cooking Light Diet, calorie tracking, macro tracking, blah blah blah... Since I'm at a weight that's still considered healthy, it's difficult to lose weight. That last 10-15 pounds hangs on like an obsessive ex-boyfriend.
My friends started Isagenix about 8 months ago, and have lost about 70 pounds between the two of them. I figured, why not give it a shot? Here's what it is:
Isagenix is a premium nutrition and meal replacement program. For weight loss, you replace two daily meals with an IsaLean shake, which is whey protein (a whopping 24 grams of protein per shake). Your third meal, or "fork meal," should be between 400-600 calories, and hopefully low glycemic. You can supplement your day with a few low-cal/low-carb snacks as needed. But generally your daily caloric intake clocks in at around 1300. In addition to the shake days, you can add in cleanse days with Isagenix's Cleanse For Life. It tastes like Crystal Light, but works to gently clean the toxins out of your body and reset your metabolism. Interspersed into all of this are Accelerator capsules meant to boost metabolism and curb hunger, IsaFlush capsules which gently clean you out, and then there's a whole array of protein bars and low-glycemic chocolates, energy shots, etc. that you can add into the mix. I'll go into detail about each of these in later posts.
The quality of the product is excellent. The shakes taste great, the accelerator and flush WORK, the energy shot gives me a boost without making me shake, and the cleanse makes me feel amazing. But more importantly, this is a plan I can follow. I can do a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a light dinner. I thrive on schedules and calendars and planning, and this allows me to do that. There are no surprises. I HIGHLY recommend Isagenix.
I started Isagenix the first week in January, and over the first 30 days I had great success in both pounds lost AND inches. I stuck to the plan, and it did what it promised. I had more energy, I felt amazing, and I went down in size. The issues began about two weeks ago, when my personal life started to get complicated, and I started a weird and completely new habit of late-night snacking. Where the heck did that come from? It was so random! Having now identified the issue, and having allowed my weight to creep back up a bit (though not to my starting weight, and while still maintaining some of the toning I had earned over the first month), I am now re-engaging with the lifestyle.
Moving forward, I am going to work on dealing with the issues behind the snacking, which stem from work and a "gentleman caller," as my sister likes to refer to him. This means having some tough conversations with some people, and taking a good, hard look at my work environment. More on this later.
I have a lot to say about eating disorders, losing weight quickly, losing weight slowly, enjoying eating, enjoying cooking, finding exercise that I like, and all sorts of health- and weight-related issues. The point is that I've tried Weight Watchers, Intuitive Eating, the Cooking Light Diet, calorie tracking, macro tracking, blah blah blah... Since I'm at a weight that's still considered healthy, it's difficult to lose weight. That last 10-15 pounds hangs on like an obsessive ex-boyfriend.
My friends started Isagenix about 8 months ago, and have lost about 70 pounds between the two of them. I figured, why not give it a shot? Here's what it is:
Isagenix is a premium nutrition and meal replacement program. For weight loss, you replace two daily meals with an IsaLean shake, which is whey protein (a whopping 24 grams of protein per shake). Your third meal, or "fork meal," should be between 400-600 calories, and hopefully low glycemic. You can supplement your day with a few low-cal/low-carb snacks as needed. But generally your daily caloric intake clocks in at around 1300. In addition to the shake days, you can add in cleanse days with Isagenix's Cleanse For Life. It tastes like Crystal Light, but works to gently clean the toxins out of your body and reset your metabolism. Interspersed into all of this are Accelerator capsules meant to boost metabolism and curb hunger, IsaFlush capsules which gently clean you out, and then there's a whole array of protein bars and low-glycemic chocolates, energy shots, etc. that you can add into the mix. I'll go into detail about each of these in later posts. The quality of the product is excellent. The shakes taste great, the accelerator and flush WORK, the energy shot gives me a boost without making me shake, and the cleanse makes me feel amazing. But more importantly, this is a plan I can follow. I can do a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a light dinner. I thrive on schedules and calendars and planning, and this allows me to do that. There are no surprises. I HIGHLY recommend Isagenix.
I started Isagenix the first week in January, and over the first 30 days I had great success in both pounds lost AND inches. I stuck to the plan, and it did what it promised. I had more energy, I felt amazing, and I went down in size. The issues began about two weeks ago, when my personal life started to get complicated, and I started a weird and completely new habit of late-night snacking. Where the heck did that come from? It was so random! Having now identified the issue, and having allowed my weight to creep back up a bit (though not to my starting weight, and while still maintaining some of the toning I had earned over the first month), I am now re-engaging with the lifestyle.
Moving forward, I am going to work on dealing with the issues behind the snacking, which stem from work and a "gentleman caller," as my sister likes to refer to him. This means having some tough conversations with some people, and taking a good, hard look at my work environment. More on this later.
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