Isagenix Week One

WEEK ONE

Do I really want to be healthy?

             I looked at that first IsaLean Creamy French Vanilla Shake with dread. I suppose the memories, and the after taste, of Slim Fast, Evolve, Boost, MetRX and other failed eating plans was still too fresh. Imagine my surprise when upon that first sip I discovered that the Isagenix shake actually tasted like vanilla and really had the consistency of a shake. Another positive, it didn’t have an after taste that I would later try to scrape from my tongue with the letter opener on my desk at work. I actually enjoyed the shake! I likewise enjoyed the shake that followed at lunch and the two shakes a day since then.  

             At the outset I was also concerned with keeping my already low blood sugar regulated. I normally graze all day, although I recently discovered that my snacking options had almost no nutritional value. Nonetheless, I worried that one little vanilla shake would never hold me until lunch.  Again, I was surprised to find that I made it to lunch without once digging through the drawers in my desk for a lost or forgotten half eaten, stale pack of crackers. I have looked forward to my breakfast and lunch shakes each day. At $3 a piece as my waistline has decreased my budget has fattened up on the lunch savings alone!

             Dinner has ranged between 400 to 600 calories. My coach sent me several links to some great recipes. Many of those are Crockpot recipes so I toss the ingredients in on my way to work and by 5:00 PM am ready to eat.

             If I failed in any way during week one it was in the supplement arena. I was overwhelmed with the sheer number of bottles I pulled from my Isagenix box. Not helping the situation- they all have similar names. Isagenix included a card that explained what you should take and when. My problem was the card also contains suggestions for other supplements (sold separately) that you could include. They were clearly marked with asterisks and other codes but for me, a woman with ZERO attention span, it made following along tough. So I made my own handwritten list and by day four had it down.

             Today is my “cleanse” day. No shakes, no meals, just different Isagenix products mixed with water. I put this day off as long as I could out of fear for my blood sugar and of course my general love of stuffing food into my mouth. I procrastinated until Friday had to be my cleanse day. More poor planning, I thought, because Friday at 5:30 AM is also one of my Tuscaloosa Adventure Bootcamp sessions. I’m happy to report that I survived…a fitness test no less and not once felt light headed. Perhaps I’m still running on all those shakes. J

             So here I am, one week in, 3 pounds lighter and with a noticeable increase in my energy levels. If this is week one I’m excited to see what week four will hold and, yes, I guess I really do want to be healthy. I’ll keep you posted!

40

40

          At the ripe old age of 28 a doctor informed me that my current stress levels were quickly making my 30^th birthday a pipe dream. He suggested exercise. So I drafted a will (just in case), joined a gym and started exercising. I loved it!

I made it to 30 and to top that milestone won a national beauty pageant to boot. For the next 365 days I traveled the world and had the time of my life. I went through so many different airports that I started keeping a journal of the best places to eat. FYI Chicago has the best meatloaf! And being a polite southerner, I never passed a cocktail party buffet without becoming personally acquainted. Unfortunately, exercise began a slow descent down my ladder of priorities. To compensate I learned the tricks of the trade. Spanx became my new best friend. If I had one too many appetizers at the Victor Awards I would just slap on an extra pair. Ever in denial, after a while I convinced myself that the lack of circulation to my lower extremities gave my face a nice girlish flush.

After my pageant days were behind me I found a new gym and attended regularly. However, much like church, attendance alone does not success guarantee. If your heart isn’t in it you are simply wasting space. I rarely left the gym having generated enough sweat to trigger my super strength deodorant much less my metabolism. Then on April 27, 2011, an EF4 tornado destroyed my gym and I gave myself permission to sit on my bum and wait for the construction of its replacement. By the time the grand opening invitations were mailed, over a year, and a good ten pounds later, I was firmly embedded into what I declared to be the most comfortable couch in America where in November 2013, I greeted 40.

 Over the Christmas holiday a friend suggested that I try Adventure Boot Camp. The class runs on a 4 week cycle and meets at the Mary Ann Phelps Center in Tuscaloosa. Up until that point I defined adventure as shifting from my sofa to the big chair and ottoman on a commercial break but I could no longer ignore the fact that none of my clothes were fitting. Among those straining at their threads were the suits I have to wear for court on a daily basis. Suits are not cheap to replace and in my opinion are frumpy by nature. I prefer to devote my hard earned dollars to great shoes and so I decided to give boot camp a shot.

Although the camp is made up of women at all different fitness levels it is designed to allow you to work at your own pace. Every workout is different which, having the attention span of a gnat, I love. The constant change also keeps the muscles from learning where you are headed and cheating-which they will do if given the opportunity.

I’m now on my second cycle and excited at the progress I have made. Saturday I played in an alumni basketball game at my old high school (Seniors v Senior Citizens) and actually made it to the end of the game without emergency intervention. Today when I zipped the pants of my suit I could swear I heard a sigh of relief from the zipper. I can feel and see that my body is changing. However, I’m still having issues with my energy levels. It could be my age but I think the more likely culprit is my horrible eating habits. So I’ve decided to start a 30 day nutritional cleanse program with Isagenix. Don’t get grossed out…it’s not one of THOSE cleanses. I’ll keep you posted!