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The Isa-People

This blog entry has been moved to my facebook notes.  To read it, write to me and I'll send it to you.

Making it Work

Is it ironic that my worst day of eating this month happened at night after an Isagenix conference?  Ha.  I sort of planned for it, though, because I knew there was no way I'd be going to San Diego without stopping by the Old Town Mexican Cafe. Homemade tortillas!!! Delicious.

Once I reach my goal, I'll probably need to do one shake a day (even though two makes me happier), but for now, if I want to eat dinner out, my day should ideally look like this:
Shake for breakfast, healthy snack, shake for lunch, healthy snack, regular dinner.
Not bad.

Exercise

The program says to work out 20 minutes every day.  (But I've been averaging every other day)  I realized on Wednesday that doing cardio while on this program gives exponentially greater benefits than when not on the program.  I did a dance/aerobics class that morning and at 10pm I was still feeling the rush.  I need to look up the science of how exercise plays into the cleanse, but let me tell you, the days when you do it as recommended REALLY PAY OFF!!!  I felt amazing. 

So I'm thinking there's something to do with being "clean" and burning fat from a clean state.  Maybe burning fat when you eat poorly causes a release of toxins that prevent the great feeling from being fully realized.  Who knows- all I know is, without Isagenix I can exercise and feel pretty good;  with Isagenix that same exercise makes me feel AMAZING, and energizes me for hours and hours.

Back on the wagon :)

Yesterday started out really well, got up, had a shake, made it to the gym.  Leaving the gym I remembered how great it feels to workout, even on days when you really don't feel like doing much.  Just a little cardio and a few weights can make the whole day better.  After church last night, I went and drove around neighborhoods, scouting for my new location.  I'm most comfortable on the west side, but Glendale is SO CLOSE to my job;  we'll see what will happen.  I had to grab fast food while driving, though, and it made me sad- there are NO healthy options out there (El Pollo Loco is ok, but has lots of sodium).  So I ate poorly, but kept it small.

Today was also a good gym day. I just feel thinner when I'm in the groove of jogging or taking group classes.  Today was the first really great food day I've had since before the cleanse days- totally organic, small, healthy, balanced meals. 2 shakes.  I feel good.  I want to go work out again! 

Day 11 slump

Well, yesterday was a very full day and I was happy to be on food again. My body did the thing where I was craving a shake in the afternoon instead of food, I think that's so funny.

I had to eat out for lunch both yesterday and today, so I don't know if my calories were on par for shake days.  Yesterday was a little easier- we found a cool restaurant in Yorba Linda called "Fitness Grill," where the ingredients are healthy and organic.  But I wasn't counting calories at all

Posting my pics yesterday received a bigger reaction than I was expecting, but I'm the kind of person who eases off when praised, instead of becoming motivated and working harder. Today I had a splurge lunch, a giant burrito that I'm POSITIVE isn't allowed- I'm thinking there are going to be repercussions for this, especially since I didn't get any gym time in today OR yesterday. I HAVE to get back to daily exercise tomorrow, or else all this will be for nothing.  I really want to reach my goal and I'm starting to trust that this program will do it for me, but I really need to step up and keep doing my part now.

I haven't had enough sleep because my schedule has gotten a little busier, maybe 10 hours total in the past two nights, so I'm hoping I don't get sick (specifically, I hope I don't catch the sinus cold my friend exposed me to today!)  Living in Irvine is great as long as you don't have anything to do;  the commute to LA screws up my schedule.

Tomorrow, I will have to decide to re-commit to sticking to the system (and maybe start looking for a place in LA)

8th Day Check-in - My jeans fit! 6.5 pounds lost!

Well I have lost 6.5 pounds using Isagenix so far (in 8 days!), a combination of fat and junk in my intestines (see last night's update if you really want to know).  But the goal of getting my jeans to fit has been exceeded- look, I even have room!!

Hooray!

Luckily I'm back on shakes.  I'm not planning to do the rest of the 9-day  schedule because I like the 30-day system schedule much better and because I need to stay on top of my blood sugar and last night was a push.  I plan to keep doing 2-shake days and a cleanse every 7th day (the 30-day system) until I meet my 19% body fat goal, then figure out a maintenance plan (I'm not planning to give up the shakes ever, because I like how they make me feel and they are very good on the blood sugar.)

I'm happy.  Now I get to have a shake.

(Click the pic if it is hidden)

Signals (Cleanse day 2)

It's 6am but I was awakened by a dream that I was cleaning up after a party, throwing all sorts of junk food away (and people were mad at me for not saving it), and then I found a small custard pie in the fridge and ate half of it, and even uncovered the address of where I was supposed to ship the pie tin back to, only to remember I was on a "cleanse" day and wasn't supposed to be eating.  The guilt woke me up. :)   (weird.  I NEVER dream, so when I remember one I'm always a little weirded out)


9:30am UPDATE: I fell back asleep, woke up, weighed myself (not gonna share, you're going to have to wait till tomorrow!) and renewed my commitment to this program.  I'm not terribly hungry, but I'm starting to feel dehydrated.  Today I'm going to try and up the water intake.

This morning, I decided to pour the 1 oz. of Ionix Supreme directly into the 4 oz. of Cleanse for Life (over ice) and even threw in some "Want More Energy" lemon-lime electrolytes.  The taste completely confused my mouth with so much going on, I ended up not tasting anything at all (which is good, because I'm starting to taste a LOT of mango in the Cleanse for Life drink, and mango is NOT my favorite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jPid1wv2KE#t=1m48s).  Chased with water, gotta start my day.  No plans to sit around, though.  My big test today will be going to the movies with my friend this evening, gotta make it through popcorn smells...

12:48pm UPDATE: Blogging about the cleanse day is a little boring.  I'm less tired than yesterday, today feels much more normal, but I've just been doing stuff at home all morning.  I guess it might be true that the second day is easier, we'll see this afternoon.

8:30pm ADDITION:  I have had no reason to talk about anything gross yet in this blog, but I will say that at the end of the second cleanse day, I "moved" a huge amount of stuff from my intestines that I have no idea where it came from since I've been regular this whole time and haven't eaten in 48 hours.

10:45pm UPDATE: I ran errands, drove, ate isa-chocolate, visited friends, took care of work stuff, and made it through my second cleanse day.  Got hungry around 8:30pm, but that's to be expected- it's been 48 hours since my last real meal.  I had an orange when I got home, followed by the Isacleanse.  I accidentally skipped one serving of Isacleanse while I was out, so maybe that's why I felt hunger.  Anyway, I'm not too worried about it, after doing more research I've become a much bigger fan of the traditional 30-day cleanse system where you don't have to do two days in a row of this liquid diet business.  It makes much more sense and I bet it's healthier that way anyway.  Can't wait to wake up and have a frozen shake.

Midnight UPDATE: Started experiencing low blood sugar symptoms, so I ate some cucumber, a banana, and organic chicken.  The fast was over for me around 9 anyway, since more than 48 hours of no food puts you at risk for muscle loss.

Some insight about Ritalin and Hypoglycemia

There's a government published study about how the brain needs less glucose to function properly when given ritalin.   Fascinating.

Guess this could be a reason why I needed Ritalin to get through the day before I started regulating my blood sugar with Isagenix.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18414677

Good Morning Cleanse Day

I'm nervous about today.  All I get to eat besides the two liquid foods they sent me is the fancy healthy chocolate (IsaDelights) and the little snacks.  I have never cleansed using a good product before (the vitamins in my most nutritional cleanse juice left something to be desired), so I'm at least a little hopeful that this will feel ok.  But it's still scary, especially with my newest hypothesis that I have some sort of reactive hypoglycemia.

Oh, yesterday was a 2-shake and organic, balanced food day, and I went to my first krav maga class before lunch and had plenty of energy, focus, and strength to do the whole class.  That's great!  And I even had 2 long drives, and NO ADD issues.

I don't know if I should exercise at all today.  Maybe I'll just get some sun and take it easy for now.


10:30am UPDATE:  I had the Isacleanse (tastes fine) and Ionix Supreme around 8:45am.  Just now, I felt hungry so I had an IsaDelight chocolate.  Chocolate for breakfast!  I'm fine again.

12:00pm UPDATE: Around 11:30am, I got hungry again, so I (reluctantly) had one of the chewy Isagenix wafer "Snacks."  They taste like chocolate, but I don't like the texture, it reminds me of a chewable vitamin. It's been half an hour and I don't feel hungry, though, so I guess I'm going to have to give in and have the darn things throughout my day like Isagenix suggests.
I

1:00pm UPDATE: I just had a second glass of Cleanse for Life sprinkled with the "Want More Engery" electrolytes, and a "Natural Accelerator" capsule.  I feel fine, not hungry, but a little tired from housecleaning.  The fumes from the cleaners really affected me today, and I'm usually not sensitive to that kind of stuff at all.  I'm happy to be sitting right now.

2:45pm UPDATE: Still not hungry, still tired.  I'm going to have another IsaDelight and go on a walk, just to get the oxygen moving (which is another great natural cleanse). 

5:15pm UPDATE: Running errands and doing normal things made me feel way less tired.  I think resting at home for the cleanse day was a bad plan; doing things I enjoy and/or need to get done is a way better way to spend a cleanse day, it made me feel normal and way less sorry for myself.  Had another Isagenix snack while I was out (because smelling the food court made me want to eat something), and I'm still drinking lots of water.  It's weird how those snacks actually help.  I have to have the Isacleanse drink again now with another Natural Accelerator capsule. 

7:15pm UPDATE:  Maybe I'm a masochist or maybe I'm really ok with the cleanse day, but at 6pm I had another Isadelight (and lots of water) and went and took a bootcamp class at Custom Bodies Fitness.  I'm a little sore from Krav Maga yesterday, so I'd say I was able to do about 90% of the class, but I felt and still feel fine.  If you would have told me yesterday that I'd be feeling like this I would have laughed at you.

10pm UPDATE: Had the last cleanse drink at 9pm, not entirely sure what tomorrow is going to be like since I have to do it all over again.  I added a page to my website with the cleanse schedule I used, it worked really well for me;  you can see it at www.marcybrooks.com/cleanse

Progress- I've Lost 3 Pounds of Pure Fat So Far

After five days of shakes and food and no isacleanse days yet, here are my stats:
I just weighed in at 152.6 lbs and 23.3% body fat.

That means that my lean body mass started at 118.4 lbs (76% of 155.8 lbs), and now my lean body mass is at 118.6 lbs (77.7% of 152.6 lbs), so basically by cleansing through the Isagenix food, I have lost 3 pounds of fat so far and maintained my muscle, skeletal, and organ mass and body water.

That's pretty exciting, since I had hit a very long weight loss plateau after New York. And I haven't been hungry at all during the day (well except for the days that I waited five hours to eat lunch.  My fault.)

From what I've read, the actual cleanse days (read: drinking the Isacleanse juice and not eating) will release a lot of weight from fat as well because of the availability they give the liver to get rid of toxic fat.  Sort of looking forward to those results.  I start the traditional nine-day schedule tomorrow, which contains 2 days in a row of cleanse.  I'm starting to think I should have done the thirty-day plan so I wouldn't have to do two days in a row.  It was cheaper to do the 30-day system, anyway, but I'm stubborn.

Oh, I made a web page that contains some links to good Isagenix information without having to navigate through their web siteS (yes plural.  They have many sites that are all linked, so I thought I'd make it easier to get to the good stuff).  Visit www.marcybrooks.com/isagenixto see what I've compiled.

Nutrition and Mental Health

I just read an article http://www.pureprescriptions.com/expert_opinion/ritalin_add.asp
 that supports my hypothesis that my groggy, unfocused state of being without ritalin or Isagenix may actually be related to a blood-sugar imbalance and it randomly also said some stuff about toxins and their affect on mental health.

"Any nutrient deficiency can potentially result in brain dysfunction." "Ingredients not found in nature are difficult for our bodies to process and will eventually lead to adverse symptoms in the short term and irreversible disease in the long term. On that note, there are more than five thousand additives and preservatives in the food supply in the United States. These additives include monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame (Equal, NutriSweet), sulfites, calcium silicate (anti-caking agent), BHT, BHA, hydrogenated vegetable oils, nitrates, propylene glycol, hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), flavorings, emulsifiers, thickeners, vegetable gums, artificial coloring and dyes, and artificial flavorings. A recent estimation found that each person in the U.S. is consuming over ten pounds of food additives a year. Synthetic colors and flavors are probably the most common causes of adverse reactions, as they affect almost every system in the body. Incidentally, they are completely void of any nutritional value."

The shakes are good because they don't contain any of that stuff and they keep my blood sugar steady for hours after eating.  My only problems now are occurring before and after the lunches I've been eating - when I wait too long (five hours) or eat unbalanced, non-organic lunches (like I did yesterday)  I start experiencing symptoms again.

I wish I could just have four shakes and call it a day; it would save me a lot of work.

Shake Days

Still loving the shakes and starting to get used to the ginger liquid.  I have a system- drink half the shake, pour the Ionix Supreme on ice and take the shot, chase it quickly with a cold glass of water, then go back to the shake to get rid of any remnants of ginger flavor.

So on the 30-day Isagenix program, you basically do what I've been doing (2 shakes a day, 2 oz. Ionix Supreme, and a big lunch) six days a week then on the seventh day you drink "Cleanse for Life" and eat Isadelights (dark chocolate infused with amino acids).

The premise of all of this is that most toxins we are exposed to (in food or the environment) are fat-soluble and it's the liver's job to change them into water-soluble substances that can be eliminated easily.  Apparently the crazy amount of pesticides and chemicals and other crap in our modern food and environment can cause the liver to be overloaded, and not all the toxins can be converted to leave the body with water. Which I think is why they say to drink plenty of water when trying to lose weight.  Anyway, those toxins end up getting sent to fat cells (because they are fat-soluble I'm guessing), and those fat tissues are programmed to be very stubborn in order to protect our organs from toxicity.  A small amount of the stored toxins are constantly cycled out of storage, through the body, and sent to the liver in hopes that it will handle them. If it cannot, they are sent back to "storage." And so these poisons are continually present and circulating in the body (which can't be good for the immune system, especially during times when it's got bigger fish to fry).  Basically, by the time most Americans reach "middle-aged," the liver turns into a fat-storing organ, and becomes enlarged and deposited with fatty tissues.  The general solution for a "fatty liver" is cleansing to improve function;  with improved function comes reversal of fat-storage and release of body fat.  

Have you ever seen that British show, "You Are What you Eat?"  That's what I think of when I think of all this.


Anyway, I hear time and time again by my friends who do all those starvation cleanses (Master Cleanse, anyone?) that it is a great way to kick-start their diets, and I guess it's because it prepares your body to go into non-fat-storage mode.


I think what Isagenix does right is that it doesn't just have you "cleansing" the liver, but it provides healthy, complete, nutrition that is easy on the organs at the same time.  This is something I don't see on the other cleanses;  they look dangerous, because you're not feeding your body anything at all (cayenne pepper and lemon juice don't count as food, guys).  Even on the full-on "cleanse days," you are still feeding your body a zillion nutrients.

So, since I only have 14 days of product (and since I went to a wedding yesterday and ate unmeasured portions of fried chicken, prime rib, boysenberry punch, and wedding cake), I think I'll count the "shake days" that I've already done as a warm-up to the program, then on day 6 (tomorrow) I'll follow the actual plan for the Isagenix 9-day cleanse http://www.cleanserevolution.com/isagenix-9-day-program-schedule.html

I can see why someone would want to do the 30-day program instead of the 9-day, though, because on the 9-day program, there are 2 cleanse days in a row, and that sounds rather difficult.  And on the 30-day thing, people seem to lose weight a little slower and more steadily and create longer-lasting good habits.

Third day on Isagenix

 The shakes are still wonderful..  Breakfast shake was great and filling got me through my morning errands AND Pilates.

This afternoon, I found myself craving the dinner shake.  I wasn't hungry yet, but my body really wants the shake now.  I have a feeling I'm spoiling myself with nutrients.  Plus it tastes better than a Wendy's Frosty and leaves me way more satisfied than a meal of the same caloric value.

Today I ate a much better lunch than yesterday - organic, whole grain, etc. and didn't have any ADD problems driving from Irvine to Temple City and back again this afternoon (even in Friday traffic!).  I'm definitely leaning toward the conclusion that my symptoms are directly related to nutrition.  It's amazing how this program has gotten rid of the attention problems as well as the constant hunger.  I'm rarely hungry at all, and I don't seek snacks as a distraction.

I'm impressed by this so far, much more than I thought I'd be.  I haven't been monitoring my weight or anything yet but even if I didn't lose a pound, I feel a million times better than I ever have; I'm a believer in the nutrition in these Isalean shakes.

I even made some good progress on some of the projects I'm working on, washed my car, went to the gym, and got stuff done in general.  All without Ritalin!  It's a good day in my world.  This stuff rocks.

I just re-read this blog entry.  I sound like a freaking advertisement.  No wonder I thought Isagenix was a cult before- I literally "drank the water" and now I don't want to go back.  Maybe I should sell this stuff.

Second Day Recap- PROGRESS!

So yesterday morning after the shake, I noticed that my focus was way better than the previous day.  The two big signs were
1. At the gym I was able to stay on the treadmill for a lot longer than before without that urgent "bored" feeling I get without Ritalin
After the gym I ate an organic orange and then:
2. I drove from Irvine to Culver City and had no attention problems on the way there.  I was focused the whole way and felt fine.

Then at lunch, things changed.  I ate stir fry at this awesome restaurant near the Culver Studios called RoyalT, where the waitresses dress up as french maids and the restaurant doubles as an art gallery.  It was great.  But I'm sure I ate more than I was supposed to, and the food was not necessarily organic, or even healthy.   Followed by a small fro-yo. Left lunch and got yelled at by another driver for texting behind the wheel.  The entire drive home after that was AWFUL.  I was on the internet, looking in the mirror, on the phone, screwing with my radio.  I had to keep telling myself to STOP.  This is what I remember the old days being like.  I'm very lucky to be alive every time I drive like that.

But then later, another shake for dinner, and I made it through a 2.5 hour musical with no problems (except once when the show got slow, of course, but that's everyone).  I have to explain that doing ANYTHING for 2.5 hours without ritalin feels like Chinese Water Torture to me.  I simply do not stay, I get really angry and try to escape.  Never even crossed my mind last night.

So that's progress.  'm starting to see a big correlation between what I eat and how ADD I am.  Weird...

Bad First Night

I tried to go to bed three hours early last night (to be up in time for the audition- which ended up being canceled by email around 11pm anyway) and caused myself a small emotional breakdown after two hours of not being able to sleep.  I'm going to credit the breakdown to the bedtime change, the withdrawals,  a very out-of-whack menstrual cycle, and the hopelessness I'm feeling about life without Ritalin.  My day yesterday was not only a waste, it was detrimental to positive things that are happening in my life, because all I did was delay things that needed to be done and ruin projects (I lost three auditions because of my inability to focus on details). 

I finally got to sleep around midnight, woke up at 5am then again at 7, figured I wouldn't be able to sleep any longer and finally got out of be around 7:45am.  That is way less sleep than I usually get (I need 10 hours of sleep without Ritalin if I'm not going to be a cranky mess) and I'm thinking the Isagenix has something to do with the sudden change in sleep-ability.  Don't know if it's a good thing or not.  There aren't any stimulants in the stuff, so I don't know why it happened.  I'm going to start keeping track of sleep patterns on this, I'll probably start wearing the bodybugg to bed at night to see how much uninterrupted sleep I'm actually getting.

I had a shake for breakfast plus Ionix Supreme, it was good (I'm back to chocolate plus vanilla, it's the winning combination).  Going to a restaurant for lunch today, we'll see how that works out.  I'm going to go see if I have enough energy for the gym in a little bit.

I'm thinking of cleansing something new today- my car!  I love those coin-op car washes with the white foamy soap that comes out of the long-handled brush.  It's fun.  Maybe tomorrow I'll "cleanse" my room.

End of First Day

Well, I made it, and even went to the gym and even had some energy (which I wasn't expecting due to the stimulant withdrawals).  I'm still really struggling with focus, but the energy is promising.


Had a great organic lunch and a frozen vanilla milkshake with Ionix Supreme for dinner.  Vanilla wasn't as good on its own as it was with the chocolate, but I think I diluted it too much this time. A couple hours after dinner, I wanted to eat again, so I'm eating some Omega-3 chunky natural peanut butter  to try to up my fat intake a little, since lunch was mostly carbs and protein.  That makes my calorie intake a little higher than what they recommended for meals on the cleanse (they recommend 400-600 for lunch, I'm probably at 640 now).  But hey, it's day one.  Maybe I'll go for a walk before bed.

Tomorrow is a long day - audition in LA first thing in the morning, and I'll have to stay up late because we're going to see "In the Heights" in the OC at night.  Hope I make it through.

First Meal

I just went to the kitchen to start my first meal on the program.  I'm not going to lie, I was scared.  2 scoops of powder doesn't seem like a meal to me, no matter how "nutritionally complete" it is.  I put a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of vanilla into the Magic Bullet blender with ice and water, and got really sad.  "I'm going to be hungry so soon," I thought, and decided that the weight loss was worth the discomfort.  (I'm a breakfast person.  I eat real meals when I wake up every day and then I eat fruit and then I eat again two hours later.  This is a terrifying experience)

The shake tastes good. I am very thankful for that, because there will be two a day for awhile.  It actually tastes really good, and I'm picky.  (The only protein powder I'll use is super expensive because I refuse to take chalky tasting drinks).

Um, about halfway through the shake, though, something amazing happened.  I FELT FULL.  This is sort of crazy, first of all, because I could down 2 grande frappucinos with whipped cream on my way to breakfast any day, and I've had half a glass of this stuff and I don't want to eat anymore.  It's bizarre.
 
The problem is, it was too late to change my mind and only have half a shake, because there are live enzymes in the shake that get activated by water, so once it is made, you can't save it for later (they say to drink it within 10 minutes.)

So I took a little break and went to get the Ionix Supreme (that vitamin and mineral blend that I'm really excited about).  Because my powder version hasn't come in the mail yet, I'm borrowing the liquid version from Duke.  It's this brown liquid with a light syrupy consistency and a very strong scent of ginger.  I'm scared again.  I considered doing the thing where you hold your nose as you drink it.

The bottle says "tastes best poured over ice," and I only have to take a one ounce shot, so I pretend it's medicine and pour some out, using the kitchen scale to get the right amount.

It wasn't as bad as all that. It does taste too much like ginger for me to really enjoy, but it's only one ounce and it's not awful at all, just not delicious either. (I'm the girl who buys the gummy bear vitamins, remember?  I like things that taste GREAT).  And the label on this stuff is really impressive- I've spent hours comparing liquid vitamins and this has really good numbers and really good ingredients.  So I'll deal with it.  Maybe the powder will be better.

Back to the shake.  I had to finish it.  It's really good.  I'm totally surprised.  And I finished it about 25 minutes ago but my body feels that fullness that you get when you stuff yourself with restaurant breakfasts. I am stuffed.  No wonder people can do this as a meal replacement.  Thank God for being full.  My fear has diminished significantly.

Now I get to plan an awesome lunch, and somehow work up an appetite by then.  Amazing.

Starting Stats

It's 10am and I just woke up.Yesterday I didn't take the ritalin at all (and purposefully didn't drive) so I could start trying to get used to life without it.  Life without it sucks.   I was in bed all day with the intention of getting a computer project worked on.  I opened the program at 8am and did not type my first word until 6pm.  I got side-tracked with facebook, blogging, getting up (frequently) to eat snacks, browsing, and creating big new projects for myself that really don't need to be created right now.  It was chaos.  Lethargic chaos, because I literally did 12 hours in bed with my laptop, save a few hundred strolls to the kitchen.  I was hungry all day long, but I knew I had had plenty of calories by mid afternoon- it felt like I was eating and none of the food that had already been ingested mattered.  I'm remembering that THIS is pretty much me without ritalin- hungry ALL THE TIME, my mind running in circles, and my body not wanting to move.

I don't know if I actually have ADD.  When my doctor suggested it as a possibility, he also suggested a handful of other possibilities, but we tried ritalin first and the stimulant gave me such a nice kick that I think it "masked" what might really be going on, which I have a feeling is more physiological (hormones or blood sugar issues maybe- my last blood test had dangerously low blood sugar numbers) than mental.  But I was LOSING WEIGHT, so I wasn't about to stop the miracle drug and try to find another solution.  ADD it was!

It's about 10am now and I just woke up.  I knew I'd probably sleep more the first day off of it, but I didn't know I'd wake up so groggy.  I feel awful; thank God I don't have anything really big planned for today, it might have to be another one of those days.

So, I'm ritalin-free, and today I start my 14-day cleanse.  2 shakes and a giant lunch (or a few small meals, haven't decided yet).

I had a picture taken last night in my Guess jeans that I bought at the end of last summer, at my thinnest point.  I was happy that I could even get them on after New York, I stopped being able to pull them on at all sometime around October of last year.  They're on in the pic, but I can't move around too much in them yet.  My hope is that they might actually fit properly after all of this.  Clearly, I wasn't in the best mood for this photo

I might be posting multiple times a day in this blog at least while I get started with the meal plan.  Day One, here I come...

Weighing my options

OK, this entry is only going to be about Isagenix, because I've done nothing but research the crap out of this stuff this morning.  I found a website that says the 30-day system is one day a week of "cleanse" (drink Cleanse for Life liquid all day) and 6 days a week of two shakes per day and a giant lunch.   I've spent all morning with spreadsheets comparing the different ways to purchase products that will work for the system without having to buy their pre-packaged system;  I really don't want to pay for the "snacks" (they look like tums) or the "isaflush," which is just a magnesium supplement to deliver water to the large intestine.  But even without buying those elements, the 30-day pack is by far (like $40 cheaper best case scenario) the cheapest way to buy the shakes and cleanse because the company discounts it so much.

Even though it's cheaper,  I don't want to buy 30 days right now because I'm sort of broke and I'm expecting a check in a couple of weeks, so I think I will start with the 2 week Healthy Lifestyle Pak for my trial run.  It comes with 2 weeks of shakes, 1 month of Ionix supreme (yay!), and the Cleanse for Life liquid that should last for 2 weeks of cleanse days.  I'm paying $150 for 15 days of cleanse and 30 days of vitamins and minerals.  That's pretty much what I spend on food for two weeks (not counting protein powder or vitamins), but I'll still need to buy  lunch for the two weeks, which shouldn't be that expensive since I'm mostly planning to eat Trader Joe's organic wheat pastas, sauces, salads/veggies, and free range chicken.  And I already have most of that stuff in my kitchen anyway.

So, the way it's turning out, if I lose 10 pounds in two weeks I will spend a negligible amount of money more than what I already spend on food and I will be getting way more nutrients than my normal eating provides.  I guess it's not so bad.  I'm starting to feel motivated.

Intro- What's the point?

"Try Isagenix."  Ugh.
Since returning from NYC, I have been literally surrounded by people who regularly use or sell this  'cleanse' and weight loss product. I do not sell this product, I do not use this product, I do not believe in starving, and I think my body looks pretty darn good, especially compared to where it was a couple of years ago when my emotional life had hit an all-time low and I hit my highest weight and body fat percentage to date.


That said, I will try to explain why I am about to invest time and money into trying it for myself.

#1- I almost didn't recognize the lady I live with when I got back from New York- she lost 23 pounds since June.  I bought her a sweater for Christmas from the plus-size store, and she is wearing a size 8 now and she has enough energy to do a thorough gym routine 4 times a week, even on "cleanse" (read: fasting with high quality vitamins) days.

#2- People who truly care about me are asking me to try it and think that it will make me healthier.  When I do the research, it does seem like more complete nutrition than what I find in the vitamin aisle at Henry's.  And I don't have to swallow pills to do it.

#3-  When I look at all of my long term goals, more than half of them could be benefit from my losing those last 15 pounds and getting to the my goal "healthy" body fat percentage (which I consider to be 19%).  This has been my goal for quite some time, and I can't imagine getting there while resting on this plateau that I've hit since coming back from NYC.

#4- I've been praying for a supplement to my income and more time, space, and freedom;  I'd be a fool to thumb my nose at the opportunity without giving it a fair examination, and I guess that means trying it myself for a while.

#5- I have specific health goals that I need to accomplish and I'm willing to see if this will work- kicking the ritalin habit is at the top of my list, curing my stress-related intestinal troubles, and having enough energy to get through 12-14 hours of being awake (which is a HUGE challenge for me, even with the ritalin these days) are also up there.  Maybe getting rid of some toxicity will help with that.

So I'm going to fork over the wholesale cost of a 30-day cleanse program, and maybe I'll even get a little spiritual cleansing as well. 

Below is a timeline, if you care to know how I got here today (which is nowhere, yet, really) follwed by a list of my concerns with this program.

SPRING AND SUMMER 2009
I was put on Ritalin, which is intended to help with ADD while driving (I used to crash a lot) but had the awesome side effect of energy booster and appetite suppressant.  This miracle drug helped me focus on what was important and took the hunger away, so I ate well and exercised regularly and lost about 25 pounds in six months. I was focused on healing and getting my life back.

WINTER 2009
The beginning of the end of my dance teaching job.  My program was cut down to 4 dance classes instead of five, meaning I was making only 80% of my regular salary.  On top of that, I was trying to pick up the financial pieces of the mess I had gotten myself into.  I was living very cheaply in a room in somebody's house (God bless Penny Egan) and I was grateful, but miserable, because I'm way too independent to have someone constantly in my business.  I started thinking about MLMs to possibly supplement my income.  My friend from work had me try Monavie, but it was freaking expensive and I didn't feel any better using it.  I looked into makeup, like Avon or Mary Kay, but I couldn't get over the fact that I'd rather wear MAC anyday than even the best of their cosmetics.  Considered Bodywise, which my dad has distributed for years and years, but I hate taking pills and Bodywise says you need to take 6 vitamins a day (3 in the a.m. and 3 p.m.) to be healthy, and they are GIANT PILLS.

I gave up looking and figured I was just being desperate and probably needed to focus my energy on conventional work.

SPRING 2010
The stress of my job (longgg story) and the general feeling of being imprisoned by my finances, legal issues, and living situation started taking its toll, I stopped taking the Ritalin regularly, stopped eating well, and I gained back twelve pounds over the 10-month school year.

Also at this time, I developed an muscle-spasm issue with my large intestine that was pretty annoying (it still hasn't gone away) and my gastroenterologist says that it is directly related to stress and can fall under the category of IBS, even though it doesn't manifest itself like most cases of IBS.

JUNE-JULY 2010
Having space, time, and freedom in New York helped me to focus on really sticking to my pill regimen, and, in turn, I was able to consume a very low-calorie diet, follow a motivated exercise plan, and lose 7 pounds in two months.  However, the pills don't have the same effect they once did, I'm starting to develop a tolerance, and I find myself groggy and hungry much faster than ever before.  Last year, I would have been able to lose about 2 pounds a week, this year I find that one pound is about all I can get.  (I know that's not the point, I should just be happy that I'm not crashing my car or angrily walking out of long meetings; but it was something that I started to count on as a way to stay fit, so this was quite a disappointing realization.)

JULY 2010
I started hearing about how everyone back home is trying Isagenix, and I let myself get signed up for $19 (which was gifted to me by Duke, because he was already making money from this company) as a "distributor" with the promise that I can cancel any time.  I start researching the product online and the ingredients look good, but it looks prohibitively expensive and way too much like starvation.  This is one of those things that I decided to like for "other people," just not for me.

LAST WEEK
I listened to a presentation about how freaking toxic our lifestyles are (and also remembered the Food, Inc. documentary from Oprah)  and went all-organic with my grocery shopping. I discovered that Organic food tastes better than regular food.

Also last week:  I found out that the Isagenix millionaire who came to speak at the gym was the creator of Hogi-Yogi restaurants.  Um, frozen yogurt with Junior Mints was the best invention, ever, to me as a teenager, so I have to respect the guy for his brilliance.  His presentation was pretty good, and I learned that there really isn't starvation involved, and in fact the feeling of hunger really only happens when the body needs more nutrients, so I'm back on (sort of) board at this point, at least with the product.

TODAY
I was given a run-down of how exactly this business works and I asked a lot of questions. Here is a sampling of my smart-ass questions/concerns with this product.  (I wish I were more positive about this since I have no good reason to be so hostile without trying it, but here it is anyway)


Q:  Why is it spelled isagenix instead of isogenics?  It seems a little retarded.
A (I'm making this up, I didn't actually ask this out loud). Maybe it's because the best business people didn't necessarily do well in school...

Q: So can I lose ten pounds in 9 days?
A:  The average weight lost is 7 pounds for the 9-day cleanse, and 20 pounds for the 30-day, but we've had people lose more than that.


Q: How much of this stuff do I need to buy to be an associate?
A: About $100 worth every month, for your personal use or you can re-sell it; and it can be any combination of skin-care, cleanse, and nutrition products.  But you'll be replacing lots of meals, so take it out of your food budget. You wouldn't want to sell something that you didn't use anyway.
(I guess I already spend  that much at CVS and on my fancy protein powder - I love you dearly Jay Robb Whey Protein, but you don't put any vitamins in your shakes, so I'm going to have to stray for a month and try something new)

Q: Can I have a free sample?
A: No.  If I gave you a sample of one thing, you wouldn't get to feel the energy boost that you get from doing the whole system.  But you can buy a 30-day program and split it  with someone else and do it for 14 days each.

Q (sort of):  I can't afford it.
A:  It's less than $2.50 per meal, and all the meal replacement products are real food.
(Um, maybe if you're an ASTRONAUT this logic works.  In my opinion, even if you don't add all those weird chemicals, powdered food doesn't count to me as REAL food.  I watch top chef. Now THAT'S real food.)

A (part two): Also, if two people buy the product from you or your website in the first month of being with the company, they give you $150 as a start-up incentive.  (ok, that's cool.)

Q: How do I make money?
A:  The people who became distributors before you have added you underneath them to their "chain" of distributors.  Every time you OR they sign someone new up for the business (which costs a one-time fee of $19 and can be canceled any time, I was reassured), that new person is now underneath you (and the people above you) on the chain.  Once all the people underneath you have purchased a total of $900 worth of product, you get 6% of that mailed to you the next Monday.  It could happen hundreds of times each week and you'd be paid for each time, and you wouldn't even necessarily know, because you didn't HAVE to do the selling yourself and because you weren't the only one signing people up underneath you.

(This business model still gives me a headache, but the guy who showed it to me showed me HIS distributor web account and he does seem to be getting paid regularly for this).

So I haven't ordered it yet, but today is the day I decided to.  I have high expectations for this month besides the weight loss, and I'll be documenting them here if you want to follow along.