Isagenix Day 9

Today was good, I still feel a bit sleep lagged, but not as bad as yesterday. I did my shakes for Breakfast and Lunch, and I've come to the conclusion that while the vanilla is fine, I love the chocolate shakes! This day was fairly unexciting, I hit the gym at lunch, it seems Owen Wilson had the same idea, go figure, and continued to snack on my healthy options! For dinner, Josh and I went to Red Lobster and I had snow crab!! It was soooooo incredible and delicious. I probably shouldn't have used do much butter, but it was really good. I'm getting better and healthy ordering I think. Just takes time, and it's a total mind switch to flip that's really hard when you're used to indulging and craving something completely different. I do feel like I'm making progress though and little steps are still steps.

Isagenix Day 8

So, today I am supposed to weigh and measure myself. As I mentioned earlier, I believe around day 4 or so, I am sadly having my lady week, which means extra weight and bloating. I am purposely skipping the weight and measure step this week purely on the principle that I refuse to let my lady week discourage me more then it normally does. Haha However, measuring or not, I DO feel great. I even feel a little bit leaner, if that's possible. I actually feel like I'm finding my waist. I'm still working on hitting the gym regularly, but overall I am feeling like my happy figure is slowly starting to reappear. I'll admit I've been a bit more snacky then last week though. I'm pretty sure it's because of Lady Week though, and I've been really good about eating my healthy snacks and not a bunch of junk food from the snack closet. Sadly, I may have eaten 2 Dark Chocolate Criss from Trader Joe's....I was craving chocolate, and at least these aren't OVERLY calorie heavy. I should really look into getting some Isa Delights, b/c they look/sound amazing and supposably help with appetite! At any rate, I'm doing well, Shake for breakfast, shake for lunch and then dinner with Josh. I got Chicken Curry with brown rice, not amazing, but I'll step it up! I've still be snacking on healthy things, and avoiding the tempting delicious sweets. I actually feel like the shakes help me not feel like I'm missing out on as much when it comes to sweets. So that's good! Yay!

Isagenix Days 6 & 7

I decided to lump these days together since they are after all the weekend! Saturday, I woke up, made my shake, and got ready for the early pool session of my SCUBA training. I definitely was energized through the pool session, but I'll admit that the smell from the breakfast cafe, less then 50 yards away, did make me crave French toast and waffles. After the pool session I was starving, so I got a multi grain muffin from the cafe with tons of fruits in it. Probably not the healthiest choice, but I was soooooooooo hungry at that point! We hit up our classroom session then Josh and I went to grab lunch. We ate at TGIFridays and I ordered the Shrimp Key West. OMG! I love this dish so much! It's just deliciously seasoned shrimp on a skewer with a side of broccoli. After lunch it was back to the pool where we finished going over all our diving skills with our gear in the pool. After that Josh took me to see John Williams in concert!!! AMAZING! I had a couple bites of a chicken caesar wrap, but wasn't feeling super hungry. Once we got home though I made my 2nds shake for the day, which was very satisfying. Then it was off to bed.

Sunday was supposed to be my first cleanse day. This means I would spend the day drinking tons of water and occasionally mixing in these various nutrients to keep my body going. However, this was also my final SCUBA day to get my certification, meaning tons of strenuous activity all day, not to mention, my fun monthly visitor which always manages to take WAY more out of me then I'd like. So I felt it was better to actually make it a shake day. Little did I know there were not any outlets available for my blender. On top of all this, the boat was rocking so very much I ended up spending all day horribly seasick. I munched on some carrots and broccoli and a piece or two of watermelon all day. The only time I felt alright was while I was SCUBA~ing. I got my certification, and was never more excited to see land! Josh was amazing too and both dropped me off and picked me up from the pier, then took me to dinner with our friends at BJs. Having regained a small amount of appetite, I ordered their Ahi Poke, which is sushi grade Tuna served with some sauce. It was perfect, a nice lite meal that finally put something in my stomach. I had to laugh a little b/c on a day when I was supposed to cleanse, but didn't, I eneded up practically fasting anyway. Hahaha Back to shakes tomorrow, I'll just worry about my first official fast next weekend. ^_^

Isagenix Day 5

So today has been a bit tough. I started out the day with a shake, and was going strong until lunch. I tried to be healthy, but we ate Brazilian for a coworkers baby shower and I didn't quite realize my soft shell crabs would be so....deep fried. whoops. At least it was delicious! So I'm not proud of my lunch choice, although I haven't felt snacky since, maybe it's the guilt! Haha Just kidding. I'll have a shake for dinner tonight and maybe a hard boiled egg as a snack before bed. I feel like not having the isa plush yesterday made me not so tooty....yeah, I've been pretty tooty since starting this, but I am also having a lot more fluids then solids. I think I'll try upping my fiber a bit though, that's always been a weak part of my diet anyway. The exciting news is, I've noticed my body's energy being at a much higher level! For awhile the only way I felt I was getting any natural energy was from taking an iron pill every morning, since starting this program I have not taken a single dose of iron, so this level of energy is refreshing!!! I've done my best to get exercise daily, although I did miss a day. I'm also considering moving my "cleanse" day to Monday, as I really don't think it's a good idea to be fasting while diving O_o I'll consult Marcy about this though and see what she thinks. All in all it's going well. I'll try the isa flush again tonight to see if there really is a noticeable tooty difference.

Isagenix Day 4

I'm going to keep today brief. It's not much different then yesterday, but I do feel a little more hungry/snacky then yesterday. It could be b/c I'm about to start mistreating....idk. Overall though I ate well, snacked on my healthy snacks and even tried to choose a healthy lunch option. Josh and I hung out with Katrina and Justin for some softball throwing and batting cages after work. It was actually a really fun workout! I forgot to take my isa flush though, so we'll see how day 5 goes.

Isagenix Day 3

So I realized something today....I picked the WORST week to start this program. Hahaha Why you might ask? It's quite simple, once a month I, like most women, have a menstrual cycle. This means a whole week of fun, like bloating, water retention, cramps and oh yes, the additional 5 lbs and couple inches I put on that immediately goes away once the cycle is complete. I know what you're thinking "If it's just a temporary thing, why the big deal?" Well, this program prides itself on you being able to see the effects of your hard work and measure it ever 8 days. I started this program on Monday, took measurements of my body and weighed myself. So this coming Monday, the program asks that I do it again, however I'll be right in the middle of my cycle, and likely an extra few inches more bloated and a good 3-5 lbs heavier then normal, meaning it will be almost a mute point in measuring my progress on that day. I still will, but it was just funny to think about. On the bright side, when I weight and measure myself on day 16 I'm bound to see some improvement! Hahaha So all in all it works out, but I'm less looking forward to day 8 then I was when I started. Otherwise day 3 is going well. I Did both Shakes for breakfast and lunch since I'm out to dinner with friends tonight. I also hit up the gym for a good ab focused work out followed by cardio and a good stretch. Now I'm finishing off the work day before heading to Disneyland. I doubt I'll be eating organic, but I'll do my best to stick to lean meats or fish and stay away from the carbs as much as possible. Wish me luck!

EDIT: Also! I wanted to say I was good and steered clear of the donuts this morning, and have been keeping my appetite at bay with the yummy healthy snacks I picked up yesterday. I've also been working on not over indulging in them. It's easy for me to get caught up in thinking "This is healthy for me so I can have as much as I want!" When really, everything in moderation is better. I have actually noticed feeling full more though, which has been really nice! I'll snack a little bit, but quickly feel content and have been feeling content for longer then normal. I feel like I've built up the bad habit of snacking when I'm bored, and now I'm not feeling it as much. Like I'll have a moment of thinking "This is when I usually need a snack" and I think about it for a second and realize "I'm not hungry" and go back to working. So yay for that! Thank you Isagenix! <3

Isagenix Day 2

Day two! I was surprised to no feel hungry when I woke up. I took my Ionix and Accelerator and packed my blender and a tub of Isalean for work. I was planning on having dinner with my friend Marin, since Tuesday nights are usually Buffy nights and we have a good healthy meal while we watch. Because of this, I opted to have a shake for breakfast and a shake for lunch, leaving dinner open for my one meal. Sadly, Marin got sick, so we opted out of Buffy night so she could recover. After having my lunch shake though, I ran over to Trader Joe's to buy some healthy snacks! Marcy had suggested some great ones the other day, and explained how important it is to balance out having more proteins then carbs, and good sources of it, as well as to stick to organic as much as possible. Following her directions, I picked up some lite organic string cheese, almond slices, organic no sugar added apple sauce and a bag of 6 peeled hard cooked eggs! Now, I love hard cooked eggs, and I was so delighted to find that you could buy them precooked AND peeled! Especially since Marcy suggested having a half of one as a good snack and source of protein if I get hungry between meals/shakes. All in all I felt like it was a successful snack run. I didn't want to go overboard with perishable items, so I thought this was a good place to start and see how I do, both hunger wise and speed wise. Also, since my dinner plans had fallen through, I picked up a pair of Thai shrimp wraps that were just around 400 calories. So between having a string cheese, and I'll admit, a whole hard cooked egg, I felt much better today. On my drive home I ate a plum to tide me over until I got home and could eat my shrimp wraps. It was great though, I didn't feel light headed or starving at all. It was nice. Before bead I decided to take 2 Isa Flush, so we'll see how that affects day 3. All in all I'm happy on the system and it's definitely keeping me more conscious of what I'm putting in my body. Oh! They also suggest that you drink half your body weight in ounces of water a day. I have this cool water bottle that has the ounces listed on the side as well as a counter at the top to keep track of how many bottles of water you've consumed, so it's really easy to keep track of my water intake! So all in all, it's Day 2 and I'm feeling fine.

Isagenix Day 1

So, I decided to start Isagenix today, Monday the 23rd. It is a body cleanse as well as weight loss diet and I'm both excited and skeptical. The diet/cleanse requires you replace 2 meals a day with their "Isa Lean Shake", eat one normal meal consisting of 400-600 calories along with a daily dose of the Ionix, Isa Accelerator and Isa Flush. It also comes with this bottle of "Snacks" that they call wafers.....they taste like chocolate chalk. They're not bad, just something to adjust to. So for day one, I started out with a chocolate Isa Lean Shake. It was good, and surprisingly filling. I had one of the "snacks" around 10:30 when I felt hungry, and then met a friend for lunch at Santa Maria BBQ. I ordered a chicken dish in an attempt to lean towards healthy, and even passed up the amazing looking piece of garlic bread they put on my plate. To be honest though, I ate maybe 1/4th of my meal and it was very likely not even close to the 400 calorie mark. Also, I wasn't sure how the snack thing worked, so upon feeling hungry again that afternoon an eating my third "isa snack" I called my friend Marcy to find out what the limit was on those things. She quickly clarified that the point of this diet is not to be hungry or starving. That when we get hungry, we should eat! She said she usually saves her isa snacks for the actual cleanse days and eats actual food snacks during the week. She then gave me a list of some good snack options. As always, if you can get organic, it will be much better for you too! When I got home I did sneak a couple bites of Josh's dinner before making my shake. I figured it was fine since I hadn't really consumed enough actual food and was feeling a bit light headed. I had my shake and felt good and full, then took the isa flush before bed as recommended. I started with 1 since the directions say 1-2 as needed. I may try 2 on day two to see what happens. All in all was good though, at no point was I STARVING on day one, and both the chocolate and vanilla shakes were surprisingly tasty!

New Beginnings

Hello, and welcome to my blog. I'm starting this not because I in anyway claim to be an expert on health, but because I, like a lot of people out there, am struggling to learn more about achieving good personal health. There are so many quick weight loss diets out there, or easy procedures to "let your new life begin" that require little to no real effort from you. So I thought it'd be nice to document my experiences as I try new things and learn more about what it really means to be healthy and in shape. I plan to use this blog to share both my physical and nutritional discoveries. There seem to be many schools of thought on healthy nutrition, and heaven knows there's enough options out there. I'm about to try out this nutrition system called the Isagenix 30 Day Cleanse. It's a meal replacement program that actually pumps your body full of vitamins and nutrients it's likely not getting in my normal daily diet. Should be fun! I'll admit, it's part of what has motivated me to start this blog, as it feels like a new beginning. I am not usually one to try this sort of thing, but it seems different from the normal fad diets out there, like "Atkins", and I'm not starving myself like those weird Maple Syrup and Chili Fast Cleanses either. As I mentioned before, my goal is really to learn more about my health, and I certainly struggle nutritionally. I'm hoping to use Isagenix as a tool to both focus in and simplify the daily battle of 3 healthy meals, to 1 healthy, as the other two will be taken over by the shakes. I'm hoping to eventually not need the shakes as I will have a better understanding and comfort in my daily nutrition and choices. We'll see what happens. Thanks for checking out my blog, and for joining me on my journey.

<3
Hannah