Have you seen my motivation? I'm 9 days the end of my first challenge, as in I should be on day 9 of my second 90 day challenge, but I am having a little trouble getting motivated.
I stopped finding time for jogging about 2 months ago, and then about a month ago you may remember I had an appendectomy. I went out yesterday and I wasn't totally disappointed in my stats but my incision did hurt when I ran. I'm glad I didn't completely lose all that I worked for, but I did lose a month before my surgery that I could have been up to a longer interval time and even a farther run.
I am now 116 lb so I surpassed my goal, which is great! But I don't want to lose much more weight because I want to be curvy and fit. I am definitely curvy but I want a flat stomach and less of these jiggly Oprah arms. My second 90 challenge was to take care of just that but I am so weak in the first place that I feel like a sit up doesn't do anything because I can't do it properly lol. I haven't put in any real effort so I can't complain really.
I'm 200% happy with my weight loss, I just want to be 200% happy with my body but something tells me I need to work on some other issues first. I have never been one to have much self confidence. I can fake it, and even now I almost have it since I am at a record low weight that I haven't seen since before I was a teenager. But I'm not quite convinced of it.
I am not officially starting my 2nd challenge until I find this motivation because I'm not even working out. I'm still taking the shakes because they do provide me with energy I never had before but apparently energy doesn't = motivation anymore. If you know where to find my motivation, please leave a comment lol.
PS. I have fallen in love all over again with the shakes since I started using the recipes and making smoothies with them! I am excited everyday to make a decision about what kind of shake to make!
I can't find my tape measure so I'll give you my latest known stats.
For my starting stats I used measurements I had taken in May when I was going to start a diet but never did... But I started the Body By Vi Challenge on July 14 and weighed the same, was doing no exercise, so I assume the measurements to be the same. My profile picture is from August 30th.
Height: 5'0ish (?)
Starting / July 17,2011: / Aug 30, 2011 / Sept 13,2011 / Current
weight: 137 lb 130 lb 124 lb 122 lb 116 lb
Waist: 35.75" 35" 34" 33"
Bum # 37.5" 36" 35.75"
Thighs 22" 21.5 21" 20.5"
Arms 12" 12" # 11.5"
Feel free to leave comments, ask for tips, offer tips, offer encouragement...
Until next time...
Bri
www.brihill.bodybyvi.com
www.facebook.com/ViShakeViLife
Friday, October 21, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Long time no post :)
Well here we are, I'm about 6 days away from the end of my first Body by Vi 90 day challenge. I hit my goal weight weeks ago. I wanted to be 120-125lb by the end of my challenge but I hit 118 officially, and this morning when I weighed myself I was 114! I am not sure it will stay that low, as I have not been that low since before I developed boobs lol. However I am excited to see my scale so low. Before you gasp and think there is no possible way someone should weigh 118lb and still be losing weight, I am 5'1 at best, I don't even think I'm that tall. My license says I am but I was never measured for it! Anyhow, I am happy with 118lb but would like to flatten my tummy, work off these Oprah arms and I've added thighs to the list too. I just want less jiggle overall. I'm not being picky and wanting to be disgustingly skinny or anything either. I just don't want to jiggle when I walk, run or dance. So it's time to hit the weights. My next 90 day challenge is to tighten and tone. I am hoping that when I weigh in next Friday I am about 115lb. After that I'm going to be less concerned with what my scale says and focus more on visual progress. I haven't taken a lot of pictures, at least not great ones, during this challenge. I may post a couple when I'm done but I am a little mad that I didn't take a good before picture so I could really see my progress. I do have one of me from last year, I weighed the same as the beginning of my challenge, and it really shows in my face how much weight I lost but it would have been neat for me to really see how much I slimmed down over all. Those who see me on a regular basis can see a noticeable amount of weight loss which is nice. I wish I could see it when I look in the mirror because I still have this doubt even though I'm seeing the numbers on the scale! I did take measurements here and there. My arms and thighs didn't get that much smaller according to the measuring tape but my jeans and sweaters definitely tell me otherwise.. so I'm not sure what the story is with that one! I seriously need to buy new pants because it's not even flattering anymore how my jeans sag in the bum lol. But I'm going to wait and see what changes this next challenge brings to the table before I spend any money on clothing. Hopefully I will be happier when I tone up because at least then I will have a body I know I've never had before, and that is something I can be proud of, right?
I also want to point out for those of you who do not know me well, or at all, that I had my appendix out about 3 weeks ago and still managed to succeed on the challenge! How cool is that? Anything is possible! I have not worked out in a good 4-5 weeks because even before I got sick I was being lazy! I really want to get back to running though because I didn't make it to my 4 mile goal and I want to reach 5k someday. I'm still pretty lazy and have horrible endurance. But it feels really good when you finish a good jog, it's like someone pumped you up with happy pills. I don't know if anybody really enjoys running, I know I didn't reach a point where I actually liked the activity but I like the natural high you feel afterwards so I want to someday feel that great feeling of accomplishment after finishing a 5k run!
The challenge isn't just about the shakes for me, it's more than that. Like there is a community out there that I'm not just competing against but working with. There's the encouragement, the tips and motivation. The shakes aren't a miracle either. They aren't going to magically make you skinny, but I'll tell you they made it EASY to lose weight. Drinking 2/day probably cut out a good 500 calories for me compared to what I was eating before. Not only that but drinking one for breakfast probably boosted my metabolism by 1000% and not to mention all the sugar and carbs it cut out of my diet. Those things alone are enough to lose weight at some speed whether my running sped it up a lot or not, I will never know. Either way the shakes are healthy and so is exercise so I will continue to do both. Drinking the shakes is a lot easier than running though lol.
Anyhow, I've blabbered on for long enough. I just wanted to post my progress. I'm hoping to find more to blog about so I can post at least once/week. Until next time!
Monday, August 22, 2011
~A Day in the Life~
So I've had a few people in my life comment that they didn't think they could do it. Do what? Lose weight? Drink a shake for breakfast everyday? I went into my 90 day challenge knowing this was going to change my life with minimal changes to the way I lead my life! If you can pour a bowl of cereal in the morning, you can make a shake! If you can pack a lunch for work, you can make a shake! If you can make a piece of toast... well, you get the idea!
**I would like to point out that when and if I use the term "diet" I don't mean a diet in the way many of us think of dieting -by starving ourselves. The way we eat is considered our "diet" so when I say it, I mean HEALTHY EATING not starving!
BREAKFAST:
Every morning I wake up with my 2 kids and I make them their breakfast then I make my shake. I like to use my blender and add some fruit to it but if it's that day when I don't have any fresh fruit around the shake is just as good on its own. Literally all I do is pour 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk and add 2 scoops of my Vi-Shake. Shake it up and drink it down! It tastes nothing like any of the shakes I've tried before. I've tried the slim fast and couldn't stomach it to even attempt losing weight with it. I've tried a store bought protein shake and it tasted like it was made with sidewalk chalk. People describe Vi-Shakes as "The shake mix that tastes like cake mix" for a reason!
Now some mornings I have oatmeal instead because a friend of mine showed me this simple recipe that you prepare the night before and leave in the fridge (no cooking necessary). 1/4 oatmeal, scoop of Vi-Shake, and a splash of Almond milk, mix until it has cookie dough texture. And guess what... It kind of tastes like oatmeal cookie dough. I add peanut butter, strawberries or blueberries and it tastes delicious and is very filling.
LUNCH:
In the beginning I was strict about using the Vi-shake for 2 meals and having one healthy cooked meal. So if at lunch time I was at home and "felt like cooking" I would make an omlette with a tonne of veggies. You would be surprised how you can come up with a new idea for omlettes and never really get sick of them! Use whatever veggies you have in the fridge. When you go grocery shopping be sure to stock up on a variety of veggies. My favorites are brocoli, cauliflower, asparagus, mushrooms and frozen spinach. If I was "lazy" I made a shake :)
SUPPER:
If I had 2 shakes already for the day I would join my family for supper but be sure that 1/2 my plate is filled with veggies and I eat those first so that when I get to the starch I don't go nuts on it. I have cut out potatos pretty much all together because I'm not a big fan of them in the first place. Rice must be brown rice and Pasta must be whole wheat! Then a serving of protein. I'm not huge on making sure it's a fat free chicken breast or anything like that I just make sure I'm watching my serving size. You have to allow yourself variety so it's time to get real about what a portion size looks like. You can google it and find many resources but one I find easy to follow is by using the palm of your hand.
Don't bother using a small plate. You'll just be hungry and go for seconds adding a second helping of starches and protein when unless you're working out, is going to hurt your diet. Use a regular size plate and fill it half to 3/4 full of a variety of veggies, include a salad if you like. Then be strict about your starch and protein servings. I like to eat my veggies first, that way I have the starch to look forward to and when I'm finished I'm actually full so I don't go back for more, because I would never go back for more veggies haha. Many of you may not be like this but I can guarantee I'm not the only starch lover out there!
SNACKS - I have 2-3 snacks/day and I choose 2-3 of each of these/snack depending on my hunger and activity level for the day. It's better to feel satisfied on healthy snacks than it is to allow yourself to get hungry and want to binge on sugary treats.
YOGURT -(I don't bother with that crap that has no fat but I do try to go for no sugar or aspertame) Greek yogurt is supposed to be extremely good for you, and a substitute for sour cream but I didn't personally like it. I hear it takes getting used to. I didn't try subbing it for sour cream but it does have that texture! I also have bought that dessert yogurt (with flavours like lemon pie and rasperry crumble) for when I have a desert like craving but this contains aspertame so I don't have them often, they are only 30 calories which is a bonus. I like to also buy the cups because it's all about portion for me and it has to be EASY! My favorite is Astro yogurt, it's sweetened with honey and they are 100 calorie cups.
CHEESE -REAL cheese (and I stick to only one slice)
PIECE OF FRUIT- Apples and Bananas are my go to but I do have berries etc on hand because my kids love them so I do reach for those once in a while. It's all personal taste here and what's in season.
ANTS ON A LOG - One of my kids' favorites! Celery sticks covered in real peanut butter with a few raisins on top. It satisfies that "crunch" and the raisins add some "sweet" to it.
If I have the urge for something sweet and cannot curb my craving, I have thinsations on hand because again the portion control has to be made simple and easy for me. Thinsations are 100 calorie packs and you can get a variety of snacks like oreos or chocolate pretzels. Just don't go crazy on them, I keep them out of sight/out of mind because the biggest thing I am trying to avoid is sugar! I'm not really calorie counting but the portion control is good and then when I go work out I know how long it takes me to work off 100 calories.
Now that I am working out/running more I often have 1 shake as a meal replacement and 2 healthy home cooked meals, and use one shake for my work out recovery! It's important if you've worked out that you give your body something to recover!
My work out routine:
In the beginning I was a lazy POS. So I HAD to implement some sort of activity. For a long time I wished that I enjoyed running, I envied people that could just "go for a run" and people that ran 5K's and half marathons. So I decided this was going to be my activity. It's summer so I can do it outside and don't have to get a gym membership. I live by a school so I can ran around the football feild at first, as boring as it was, because I didn't want people to see me run haha. I downloaded a couple of applications for my smart phone. One being RunKeeper and the other RecordBeater. I like RunKeeper because it tells me my stats every 5 minutes; How far I've gone and my average pace. You can also look at your phone for your current pace etc. You can input your own workout "coach" so if you want to make your own intervals you can, I used this app at the same time as C25K (couch to 5K) because this app has you increase your intervals every week and claims to get you to 5K in about 12 weeks. At first I couldn't run for 30 second intervals without hating my life and wondering if it had been 30 seconds yet. By the time I had been doing intervals for 10 minutes I was ready to quit. The intervals started off as 1 minute running and 1.5 minutes walking but I was lucky to make it to a minute while running so I just did my best for a while until I decided it was time to push myself to actually finish the minute and the 20 minute work out. The great thing about these apps for your phone is that they tell you when to run and when to walk and you can still play your music at the same time. Recordbeater even has a neat little option to choose songs according to your pace or choose songs according to beats/minute so you can keep your pace up.
So despite my being a lazy POS I managed to lose 7lb the first 2 days on the challenge. By end of the week I had lost 9lb and end of week 2 I was 12lb down. Now I am still fluctuating around 11-14lb but I'm assuming my body is losing fat then gaining muscle and playing mind tricks on me because my pants are getting quite loose. I didn't measure myself before I lost that first 7lb because I wasn't expecting such a fast start and thought I had a few days to measure and get some before pictures taken. So my stats are only accurate from after the first 7lb. The last time I measured I was down 3 inches in the belly and I'm definately down more now because I wore my favorite jean capris yesterday and they were falling down.
As for my work out routine, I'm a little over a month into my challenge and I can now run 2 minute intervals on a regular basis. I am using RecordBeater for my app now because I can change my intervals rather than follow the C25K program (and RunKeeper hasn't been working for me lately, but I liked that it posted to my FB for me so my friends could see my progress). I have gone to the gym 3 times this past week, I'm still not sure if I'll buy a membership because I have done it before where I sign up then never go. So we'll see how this goes at the gym, for now it's nice to have a little change from running outside. The eliptical and bike provide a little different work out too. My workouts at the gym have consisted of treadmill, eliptical, bike and a little dabbling on the weights. I also go into the studio when there are no classes on to do some stretching and I started working on my abs. I'm still a little self conscious on the weight machines even though I had a personal trainer run me through them but in the end this is about ME not what other people are thinking. Who cares if I can only lift 20lb right? Yesterday I ran 4.5 minutes straight on the treadmill so I was pretty proud of myself. Next time I go for a run I'm going to try running 3 minute intervals and I'm pushing for 4 miles right now. My last good run that I tracked was 3.7 miles in 45 minutes doing 1.75 minute intervals with equal breaks. That run was amazing, I didn't even realize 45 minutes had gone by. I as just taking it one interval at a time.
You can do as little as 20 minute work outs 3 times/week like I did in the beginning. You can start with walking if you need to. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that Vi-shakes are a miracle and are the only thing you need. You do need to start getting active at some point as you would need to do with any diet to maintain your weight or keep losing weight. Keep your goals simple in the beginning and as you reach those goals, think of how good that made you feel, how good it felt to break that first mile and keep pushing for your next goal. Heck, yesterday I broke a REAL sweat a the gym for the first time, where a drop of sweat actually ran down my arm, and as gross as you might find that, it was kind of a victory for me! So from now on when I go to the gym I am not stepping off that treadmill until I sweat!
Anyway I've blabbered on for long enough. I just wanted to show you that my daily life has not really been interrupted and it doesn't take a lot of effort to join the Body by Vi challenge. Hope to see you on my team! Don't forget I'm looking for people to compete for the best body transformation in a 90 day challenge with cash prizes!
**I would like to point out that when and if I use the term "diet" I don't mean a diet in the way many of us think of dieting -by starving ourselves. The way we eat is considered our "diet" so when I say it, I mean HEALTHY EATING not starving!
BREAKFAST:
Every morning I wake up with my 2 kids and I make them their breakfast then I make my shake. I like to use my blender and add some fruit to it but if it's that day when I don't have any fresh fruit around the shake is just as good on its own. Literally all I do is pour 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk and add 2 scoops of my Vi-Shake. Shake it up and drink it down! It tastes nothing like any of the shakes I've tried before. I've tried the slim fast and couldn't stomach it to even attempt losing weight with it. I've tried a store bought protein shake and it tasted like it was made with sidewalk chalk. People describe Vi-Shakes as "The shake mix that tastes like cake mix" for a reason!
Now some mornings I have oatmeal instead because a friend of mine showed me this simple recipe that you prepare the night before and leave in the fridge (no cooking necessary). 1/4 oatmeal, scoop of Vi-Shake, and a splash of Almond milk, mix until it has cookie dough texture. And guess what... It kind of tastes like oatmeal cookie dough. I add peanut butter, strawberries or blueberries and it tastes delicious and is very filling.
LUNCH:
In the beginning I was strict about using the Vi-shake for 2 meals and having one healthy cooked meal. So if at lunch time I was at home and "felt like cooking" I would make an omlette with a tonne of veggies. You would be surprised how you can come up with a new idea for omlettes and never really get sick of them! Use whatever veggies you have in the fridge. When you go grocery shopping be sure to stock up on a variety of veggies. My favorites are brocoli, cauliflower, asparagus, mushrooms and frozen spinach. If I was "lazy" I made a shake :)
SUPPER:
If I had 2 shakes already for the day I would join my family for supper but be sure that 1/2 my plate is filled with veggies and I eat those first so that when I get to the starch I don't go nuts on it. I have cut out potatos pretty much all together because I'm not a big fan of them in the first place. Rice must be brown rice and Pasta must be whole wheat! Then a serving of protein. I'm not huge on making sure it's a fat free chicken breast or anything like that I just make sure I'm watching my serving size. You have to allow yourself variety so it's time to get real about what a portion size looks like. You can google it and find many resources but one I find easy to follow is by using the palm of your hand.
Don't bother using a small plate. You'll just be hungry and go for seconds adding a second helping of starches and protein when unless you're working out, is going to hurt your diet. Use a regular size plate and fill it half to 3/4 full of a variety of veggies, include a salad if you like. Then be strict about your starch and protein servings. I like to eat my veggies first, that way I have the starch to look forward to and when I'm finished I'm actually full so I don't go back for more, because I would never go back for more veggies haha. Many of you may not be like this but I can guarantee I'm not the only starch lover out there!
SNACKS - I have 2-3 snacks/day and I choose 2-3 of each of these/snack depending on my hunger and activity level for the day. It's better to feel satisfied on healthy snacks than it is to allow yourself to get hungry and want to binge on sugary treats.
YOGURT -(I don't bother with that crap that has no fat but I do try to go for no sugar or aspertame) Greek yogurt is supposed to be extremely good for you, and a substitute for sour cream but I didn't personally like it. I hear it takes getting used to. I didn't try subbing it for sour cream but it does have that texture! I also have bought that dessert yogurt (with flavours like lemon pie and rasperry crumble) for when I have a desert like craving but this contains aspertame so I don't have them often, they are only 30 calories which is a bonus. I like to also buy the cups because it's all about portion for me and it has to be EASY! My favorite is Astro yogurt, it's sweetened with honey and they are 100 calorie cups.
CHEESE -REAL cheese (and I stick to only one slice)
PIECE OF FRUIT- Apples and Bananas are my go to but I do have berries etc on hand because my kids love them so I do reach for those once in a while. It's all personal taste here and what's in season.
ANTS ON A LOG - One of my kids' favorites! Celery sticks covered in real peanut butter with a few raisins on top. It satisfies that "crunch" and the raisins add some "sweet" to it.
If I have the urge for something sweet and cannot curb my craving, I have thinsations on hand because again the portion control has to be made simple and easy for me. Thinsations are 100 calorie packs and you can get a variety of snacks like oreos or chocolate pretzels. Just don't go crazy on them, I keep them out of sight/out of mind because the biggest thing I am trying to avoid is sugar! I'm not really calorie counting but the portion control is good and then when I go work out I know how long it takes me to work off 100 calories.
Now that I am working out/running more I often have 1 shake as a meal replacement and 2 healthy home cooked meals, and use one shake for my work out recovery! It's important if you've worked out that you give your body something to recover!
My work out routine:
In the beginning I was a lazy POS. So I HAD to implement some sort of activity. For a long time I wished that I enjoyed running, I envied people that could just "go for a run" and people that ran 5K's and half marathons. So I decided this was going to be my activity. It's summer so I can do it outside and don't have to get a gym membership. I live by a school so I can ran around the football feild at first, as boring as it was, because I didn't want people to see me run haha. I downloaded a couple of applications for my smart phone. One being RunKeeper and the other RecordBeater. I like RunKeeper because it tells me my stats every 5 minutes; How far I've gone and my average pace. You can also look at your phone for your current pace etc. You can input your own workout "coach" so if you want to make your own intervals you can, I used this app at the same time as C25K (couch to 5K) because this app has you increase your intervals every week and claims to get you to 5K in about 12 weeks. At first I couldn't run for 30 second intervals without hating my life and wondering if it had been 30 seconds yet. By the time I had been doing intervals for 10 minutes I was ready to quit. The intervals started off as 1 minute running and 1.5 minutes walking but I was lucky to make it to a minute while running so I just did my best for a while until I decided it was time to push myself to actually finish the minute and the 20 minute work out. The great thing about these apps for your phone is that they tell you when to run and when to walk and you can still play your music at the same time. Recordbeater even has a neat little option to choose songs according to your pace or choose songs according to beats/minute so you can keep your pace up.
So despite my being a lazy POS I managed to lose 7lb the first 2 days on the challenge. By end of the week I had lost 9lb and end of week 2 I was 12lb down. Now I am still fluctuating around 11-14lb but I'm assuming my body is losing fat then gaining muscle and playing mind tricks on me because my pants are getting quite loose. I didn't measure myself before I lost that first 7lb because I wasn't expecting such a fast start and thought I had a few days to measure and get some before pictures taken. So my stats are only accurate from after the first 7lb. The last time I measured I was down 3 inches in the belly and I'm definately down more now because I wore my favorite jean capris yesterday and they were falling down.
As for my work out routine, I'm a little over a month into my challenge and I can now run 2 minute intervals on a regular basis. I am using RecordBeater for my app now because I can change my intervals rather than follow the C25K program (and RunKeeper hasn't been working for me lately, but I liked that it posted to my FB for me so my friends could see my progress). I have gone to the gym 3 times this past week, I'm still not sure if I'll buy a membership because I have done it before where I sign up then never go. So we'll see how this goes at the gym, for now it's nice to have a little change from running outside. The eliptical and bike provide a little different work out too. My workouts at the gym have consisted of treadmill, eliptical, bike and a little dabbling on the weights. I also go into the studio when there are no classes on to do some stretching and I started working on my abs. I'm still a little self conscious on the weight machines even though I had a personal trainer run me through them but in the end this is about ME not what other people are thinking. Who cares if I can only lift 20lb right? Yesterday I ran 4.5 minutes straight on the treadmill so I was pretty proud of myself. Next time I go for a run I'm going to try running 3 minute intervals and I'm pushing for 4 miles right now. My last good run that I tracked was 3.7 miles in 45 minutes doing 1.75 minute intervals with equal breaks. That run was amazing, I didn't even realize 45 minutes had gone by. I as just taking it one interval at a time.
You can do as little as 20 minute work outs 3 times/week like I did in the beginning. You can start with walking if you need to. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that Vi-shakes are a miracle and are the only thing you need. You do need to start getting active at some point as you would need to do with any diet to maintain your weight or keep losing weight. Keep your goals simple in the beginning and as you reach those goals, think of how good that made you feel, how good it felt to break that first mile and keep pushing for your next goal. Heck, yesterday I broke a REAL sweat a the gym for the first time, where a drop of sweat actually ran down my arm, and as gross as you might find that, it was kind of a victory for me! So from now on when I go to the gym I am not stepping off that treadmill until I sweat!
Anyway I've blabbered on for long enough. I just wanted to show you that my daily life has not really been interrupted and it doesn't take a lot of effort to join the Body by Vi challenge. Hope to see you on my team! Don't forget I'm looking for people to compete for the best body transformation in a 90 day challenge with cash prizes!
~My Life Before ViSalus~
A little over 4 weeks ago, I was contacted by a friend about this product. At first I wasn't interested. But once I actually took a minute out of my time to check out the website and listen to what she had to say, not only was I interested in the product I was interested in distributing it! But we're not going to talk about distributing today. We're going to talk about my life before ViSalus and the first 30 days of my 90 Day Challenge :)
Before ViSalus I was tired, I was cranky, I was struggling to find energy to do anything but the bare minimum that life expected of me. I have 2 Children, a 4 year old and a 15 month old, both boys. Can you relate at all to this? The energy two small boys can have is unbelievable! I couldn't keep up. Not to mention temper tantrums, potty training and bed time fights. I felt like I was drowning. I didn't have energy to lose weight. I work part time and go to university while my boutique, Baby Mine, sits on the back burner.
Day after day I drag myself out of bed when one of the kids wakes up. I make them cereal, eggs or toast. And for myself? I am so sick of breakfast food I eat nothing and pour myself a cup of coffee flavoured with nasty creamer or I eat some sugary not-for-breakfast cereal. An hour later I'm crashing, I'm tired, I'm hungry. I go to the kitchen to find something to eat, it's probably going to be something full of carbs and sugar because my body wants energy and it wants it now and that's what it craves. Lunch time comes around and I'm still tired so I throw together Kraft Dinner with mixed veggies and call it healthy. If my son wants snacks I hand him an apple or a banana and hey he even likes fruit. I know in my mind what is healthy and I ensure my children are offered plenty of fruits and veggies but I wasn't taking any initiative to taking care of my own health. I would get home from class right at lunch time, which normally is a BAD thing because I'm starving and I eat everything in sight while I prepare lunch. By the time lunch is made I'm not even hungry but I eat anyway because who can resist that processed food your body has become addicted to.
DAY ONE OF VISALUS: A shake for breakfast, 2 scoops mixed with 8oz of unsweetened almond milk and 4 oz of coffee. I had energy and I wasn't as tired as I normally was. Then I'm actually motivated to eat a healthy snack instead of a handfull of cookies. It was like an instant change. Sure maybe it was state of mind, but it took that first step of deciding to be healthier and start these shakes that put me in the right mind set to actually eat right. So I grab a piece of fruit and a slice of real cheese and head out the door to university.
I get home at lunch time and I'm not starving so I actually can THINK about what I'm going to make for lunch and not snack while I make it. So I make an omlette with one egg and some egg whites, add some broccoli, spinach, a slice of cheese and sprinkle of cayenne pepper. YUM.
Snack time is a yogurt, a banana and another slice of cheese (hey I could probably lose even more weight if I could give up cheese, but for now I'm satisfied with my weightloss and my cheese lol).
Supper time is another Shake minus the coffee.
Evening snack I'm craving a little chocolate so I decide if I'm going to do this I need to be able to manage my cravings rather than try to ignore them. SO I bought some chocolate covered pretzels in the 100 calorie packs and share it with my 4 yr old because he's a little mooch :p
The rest of my Days look similiar to this. I switch up my days depending on how I feel. I always have a shake for breakfast, sometimes I only add coffee, sometimes I add fresh fruit like a banana and strawberries. My 2nd shake of the day switches between lunch and supper depending on whether I feel like cooking at lunch time or not.
I didn't take measurements before I started because I didn't know I would lose weight instantly. But 2 days in I was already down from 137 to 130. (I'm a whopping 5' tall and weighed 118lb before my first baby). So I measured myself then and there. I wish I had taken more picures. I've got a couple pictures, you will see the difference even though I haven't been taking weekly pictures, once I have a current picture up to compare to my pictures I have of me with my kids. Which is another thing, my pictures with my kids are limited because I am always the one behind the camera since I hated the way I looked. I'm 4 weeks in and I'm down 12lb which was all in the first 2 weeks, and I need to stop looking at the scale because I KNOW I am losing weight regardless of what the scale says. My pants are damn near falling off and I have lost at least 5 inches. I can really see the weightloss in my face as well.
If you're wondering what I do for exercise in addition to the shakes, I started out running the same week I started the shakes. I got an application for my android phone to help me run. It's a 20 minute work out that tells you when to run and when to walk. I couldn't even finish the 20 minutes in the beginning, and I couldnt run for 30 second intervals. I stopped long before the 1 minute interval that the program expected me to be doing off the bat and I often quit 10 minutes into it. SAD but true. Eventually I figured out that if I ran in the evening when it was cooler I could usually force myself to do 20 minutes even if I still couldn't finish the 1 minute intervals. Last friday I hit an all around record. I ran 1 minute 45 second intervals, went for a total of 45 minutes, 3.7 miles and broke a few time records within my intervals. I LOVE these applications that tell me just how far I went and how fast etc. I like seeing my progress and gives me something to work towards. I try to run every other day, but sometimes I go 2 days in between but I push for 3 times/week even if that happens. There was 1 week in there that I didn't run for 7 days and I went to the fair and boy did I feel like CRAP after all those mini donuts! But.. everyone needs a cheat day, I just wish I would have been running that week to make up for it. Oh well I have almost 60 days left of my challenge and my lesson has been learned!
ViSalus shakes are full of nutrition and contain hormone-free soy protein. It's diabetic and thyroid friendly and even Kosher! My energy levels are so much better, I don't even need my mid afternoon nap anymore!
If you have any questions I am here to answer them for you!
Good luck with your health and weight loss goals!
~Bri~
Before ViSalus I was tired, I was cranky, I was struggling to find energy to do anything but the bare minimum that life expected of me. I have 2 Children, a 4 year old and a 15 month old, both boys. Can you relate at all to this? The energy two small boys can have is unbelievable! I couldn't keep up. Not to mention temper tantrums, potty training and bed time fights. I felt like I was drowning. I didn't have energy to lose weight. I work part time and go to university while my boutique, Baby Mine, sits on the back burner.
Day after day I drag myself out of bed when one of the kids wakes up. I make them cereal, eggs or toast. And for myself? I am so sick of breakfast food I eat nothing and pour myself a cup of coffee flavoured with nasty creamer or I eat some sugary not-for-breakfast cereal. An hour later I'm crashing, I'm tired, I'm hungry. I go to the kitchen to find something to eat, it's probably going to be something full of carbs and sugar because my body wants energy and it wants it now and that's what it craves. Lunch time comes around and I'm still tired so I throw together Kraft Dinner with mixed veggies and call it healthy. If my son wants snacks I hand him an apple or a banana and hey he even likes fruit. I know in my mind what is healthy and I ensure my children are offered plenty of fruits and veggies but I wasn't taking any initiative to taking care of my own health. I would get home from class right at lunch time, which normally is a BAD thing because I'm starving and I eat everything in sight while I prepare lunch. By the time lunch is made I'm not even hungry but I eat anyway because who can resist that processed food your body has become addicted to.
DAY ONE OF VISALUS: A shake for breakfast, 2 scoops mixed with 8oz of unsweetened almond milk and 4 oz of coffee. I had energy and I wasn't as tired as I normally was. Then I'm actually motivated to eat a healthy snack instead of a handfull of cookies. It was like an instant change. Sure maybe it was state of mind, but it took that first step of deciding to be healthier and start these shakes that put me in the right mind set to actually eat right. So I grab a piece of fruit and a slice of real cheese and head out the door to university.
I get home at lunch time and I'm not starving so I actually can THINK about what I'm going to make for lunch and not snack while I make it. So I make an omlette with one egg and some egg whites, add some broccoli, spinach, a slice of cheese and sprinkle of cayenne pepper. YUM.
Snack time is a yogurt, a banana and another slice of cheese (hey I could probably lose even more weight if I could give up cheese, but for now I'm satisfied with my weightloss and my cheese lol).
Supper time is another Shake minus the coffee.
Evening snack I'm craving a little chocolate so I decide if I'm going to do this I need to be able to manage my cravings rather than try to ignore them. SO I bought some chocolate covered pretzels in the 100 calorie packs and share it with my 4 yr old because he's a little mooch :p
The rest of my Days look similiar to this. I switch up my days depending on how I feel. I always have a shake for breakfast, sometimes I only add coffee, sometimes I add fresh fruit like a banana and strawberries. My 2nd shake of the day switches between lunch and supper depending on whether I feel like cooking at lunch time or not.
I didn't take measurements before I started because I didn't know I would lose weight instantly. But 2 days in I was already down from 137 to 130. (I'm a whopping 5' tall and weighed 118lb before my first baby). So I measured myself then and there. I wish I had taken more picures. I've got a couple pictures, you will see the difference even though I haven't been taking weekly pictures, once I have a current picture up to compare to my pictures I have of me with my kids. Which is another thing, my pictures with my kids are limited because I am always the one behind the camera since I hated the way I looked. I'm 4 weeks in and I'm down 12lb which was all in the first 2 weeks, and I need to stop looking at the scale because I KNOW I am losing weight regardless of what the scale says. My pants are damn near falling off and I have lost at least 5 inches. I can really see the weightloss in my face as well.
If you're wondering what I do for exercise in addition to the shakes, I started out running the same week I started the shakes. I got an application for my android phone to help me run. It's a 20 minute work out that tells you when to run and when to walk. I couldn't even finish the 20 minutes in the beginning, and I couldnt run for 30 second intervals. I stopped long before the 1 minute interval that the program expected me to be doing off the bat and I often quit 10 minutes into it. SAD but true. Eventually I figured out that if I ran in the evening when it was cooler I could usually force myself to do 20 minutes even if I still couldn't finish the 1 minute intervals. Last friday I hit an all around record. I ran 1 minute 45 second intervals, went for a total of 45 minutes, 3.7 miles and broke a few time records within my intervals. I LOVE these applications that tell me just how far I went and how fast etc. I like seeing my progress and gives me something to work towards. I try to run every other day, but sometimes I go 2 days in between but I push for 3 times/week even if that happens. There was 1 week in there that I didn't run for 7 days and I went to the fair and boy did I feel like CRAP after all those mini donuts! But.. everyone needs a cheat day, I just wish I would have been running that week to make up for it. Oh well I have almost 60 days left of my challenge and my lesson has been learned!
ViSalus shakes are full of nutrition and contain hormone-free soy protein. It's diabetic and thyroid friendly and even Kosher! My energy levels are so much better, I don't even need my mid afternoon nap anymore!
If you have any questions I am here to answer them for you!
Good luck with your health and weight loss goals!
~Bri~
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