Christmas Celebrations Continues

My family spend most of Christmas day driving down to my brothers house.   It was quite a beautiful drive, as all the trees looked like ice sculptures.

On the 26th, we had the family gathering and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner together.  I followed the Isagenix program most of the day, but after the dinner the program went out the went and I enjoyed every imaginable Christmas treat in sight.

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to take a moment to say Merry Christmas to anyone who is reading this.   It is a time to celebrate the gift of life we have all been given with family and friends.   I am grateful I get to celebrate this Christmas with my dear wife Renee and my children Jeremy and Naomi.   We will be visiting with other family members in the coming days, and will hopefully make a lot of new happy memories.

I will try to stay on the Isagenix shake day system as close as possible, but I am sure there will be much merriment and rejoicing!    Without celebration, thankfulness and giving there isn't much point to life is there?   I can start the system again in the new year.  One thing that I have learned is that the bodies God has given to us are a miracle, and feeding the body the proper nutrition allows the miracle to flourish.  

Blessing to you over this Christmas season.

Christmas Dinner number 1

We had a few friends over for a pre-Christmas dinner last night.  It was a lot of fun! 

The food is ready to be eaten!

Apple Pie for Desert

Feeling Great (Days 22 and 23).

I have been following the Isagenix system for 24 days now and I am feeling fantastic.  I can't believe how quickly I have dropped the weight, and the changes I have experienced are amazing.   I hit a new low of 157 pounds yesterday morning (total of 11).   It is right before Christmas and I am still on the way down!   I find that I don't even crave the Christmas treats anymore, especially the ones full of sugar.  I still have a weakness for salty treats, so I will just take care when I am around them.

The thing I like most about the Isagenix system is its simplicity.  I don't have time to spend 20-30 minutes a day to come up with ideas for healthy breakfast and lunches.  Making a shake takes 1 minute.  I have a canister of shake powder at work, and a blender bottle for mixing.  It couldn't be simpler. I still enjoy regular evening meals with my family.  I still enjoy breakfast with my family.   My son likes to have a shake for breakfast along with his toast.   We usually add half of a shake serving along with frozen or fresh fruits and he loves it.  He says it is better than a smoothie which would cost about $5 anywhere else and is much less healthy.  So it is simpler, more economical and healthy.

I like the control it gives to me.  I could still choose to eat whatever I want, and if I go too far of the rails, I know the Isagenix system is waiting for me when I want to get back on track.  It also doesn't take long to get back on track, a cleanse day and few shake days is all that is required to get back to where I was after a few days of excess.  It won't take long to get to my weight lost goals which I have never been able to reach.  In fact, I expect to have reached my ideal weight sometime in January, and then I will look at the performance systems. 

Isagenix and Anxiety

Being on the Isagenix program for 21 days now, I just realized something unexpected has occurred.   I used to always get anxious about driving on the 416/417 to work and would often avoid it due to the anxiety (and thus take longer to get to work).   In the past few weeks this anxiety seems to have disappeared.  I don't know if it is due to having better mental clarify, or getting rid of toxins, or some weird mental state that makes me think Isagenix is solving all my problems, but it definitely seems to be so much better in the past two weeks.   We have had a number of snow storms in the past few weeks, so usually this would be the time of the year when I would get more anxious about driving.  However, the opposite has happened.   I can't explain it other than giving my body the proper nutrition and cleansing out toxins has developed a better state of homeostasis.   Perhaps it is because the bodies that God has given to us are a miracle, and feeding them the right nutrition makes a miracle happen.  Life itself is a miracle.

Another observation is that I used to feel ashamed about the above anxiety and would try to hide it.  Now I am writing about it in a blog and sharing it with anyone who wants to read about it.  Perhaps part of the issue was the fear of rejection or the reactions I projected onto other people.  I guess I no longer need to keep it a secret, and because the root of anxiety is fear it has no hold over me anymore.  That might be a better psychological explanation, but perhaps the mental clarity that I have experienced through Isagenix has helped lead me toward this epiphany.  In any case, I am thankful that there appears to be a healing going on in that part of my life.

Getting rid of the toxins (Days 19, 20 and 21)

The past few days have been pretty good in terms of the Isagenix program and I have stuck to it fairly closely with the exception of a few impulses.    I have found that after a cleanse day I feel like I am so glad to get back to eating food that I could easily binge.   I have found a strategy to combat this is to have one of the isaSnacks or isaDelights or even a few almonds.   If I feel really hungry I can also have half an isalean bar, or sometimes I will even have half a shake which usually helps curb any cravings.     However, the other night I found some chips lying around and I thought having one wouldn't hurt, but then I had another, and soon the bag was empty.  The good news is that the bag was almost empty to begin with so little damage was done.  Chips are a weakness of mine, so I try to never buy them because they won't last long.

I continue to notice amazing changes around my waistline!   For the first time ever I can see my abs.  At first I thought there were just some skin folds, but they are there.  I also have been sleeping very deeply and wake up feeling more refreshed than I am used to feeling.

My wife got through her first cleanse day, and this evening she is feeling a little unwell.  It seems to be a similar pattern to what I experienced after my first cleanse (See day 5 for mention of the cold I got shortly after my first cleanse days).   From what I have read, this is normal as it is part of the bodies response to getting rid of the toxins after the initial cleanse.   It seems that if you can get through the first 5 days, the rest of it becomes so much better.   It is like stepping out from a fog into a clear wide open world.

New Day, New Company, Another Potluck!

Today was an interesting day at work as the company I work for was bought by another company.  I think it will be a good thing.  There was a big meeting in the morning (which is when I would normally go to the gym).  I had a shake before I went to work and it was a good thing otherwise I would have been temped by an array of muffins and juices.    I had planned a shake in the morning because it was also the day of our Christmas potluck at work.   With all the happenings at work, it made for interesting discussion!  I ate way to much at lunch as expected because there were too many temptations and everything was great.   The desserts were incredible.  Anyway, that is all part of the celebration, so the potluck was great.  I should have taken a picture of the potluck items so I could post it here, but I wasn't thinking.   Next time.  I still managed to make it to the gym in the evening.

My wife has started the 30-day program, but she is finding it much more difficult in terms of being hungry.  My Isagenix coach assures me we should be able to find something that works.  For example, in addition to a shake, a snack could include something healthy like a chicken salad with balsamic vinegar in place of an Isadelight or isaSnacks.  Something nutritious and healthy to compliment the shakes but take away the hunger is ideal.  It is a learning process, and really the best program is the one that works for you.

I guess I should post a link with more information about Isagenix.  This is a good starting point.

http://johngray6.isagenix.com/ca/en/isavideos_whyisagenix.html

 When I signed up, I got my own website that I can use to share information about Isagenix.   A google search would also work.  If anyone is reading this, you probably have already done a google search.

Christmas Carols and Swiss Chalet (Days 15, 16 and 17)

It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay true to the 30 day plan.   Over the weekend there were a number of Christmas related events that I attended.  Most notably is that my family hosted a Christmas carol sing-along for our friends and family.   It was a lot of fun to play and sing the carols and share in lots of Christmas goodies and snacks.  I mostly stuck to veggies and dip, but I did try the occasional cookie or other goodie!  It was a lot of fun and as the last week before Christmas approaches, I am hoping to get in one more good week of sticking to the plan.  I am planning another cleanse day this coming Wednesday. 

I will still make use of the shakes and follow the plan as close as possible.  I plan to have a shake at least once a day during the Christmas and new-years week.  I remember in past years that I would often end up eating cookies, or chips or chocolates for breakfast but then I would feel lethargic, foggy and tired afterward.   This year I will replace that with a shake, and will still enjoy the occasional treat.  That way I should feel much better.

One other thing to note is that last night after my family went swimming, I took my family to Swiss Chalet  (it is my families favorite restaurant).  I had two shakes during the day and had followed the plan pretty closely. Swiss Chalet is fairly healthy anyway (I had a festive special) so I counted this as the 400-600 balanced meal.  It might have been a little more than 600 calories.   I also indulged in a single Lindt chocolate for dessert (it comes with 5).   I noticed that 1 hour later at home I had to lie down because fatigue hit me like a tonne of bricks.   I think that is because Isagenix is such a low glycemic balance of nutrition, I had a spike in blood sugar because of the chocolate, and got hit will the wall of fatigue (as an insulin response).   I think because I have gotten used to feeling so energetic, this had more of an impact on me than I have experienced before.  I think I just got used to having low energy levels most of my life.   I had to have a nap for about 30 minutes, and then I was back to normal.   

The cold I had last week is gone now, and I feel great and have a so much more energy these days.  I have been sleeping much better than usual, and I fall asleep quickly.   So what I read about Isagenix, and what I have experienced by following the program appears to be working for me. 

Measurements (Day 13 and 14)

The past two days were shake days.  I didn't follow the shake day schedule as close as on previous shake days.   For example, I ended up going out for lunch with a friend from work yesterday, and then my work had a family movie night event that included snacks.   So my "healthy 400-600 hundred low glycemic meal" became a bag of buttered popcorn and ice tea.  Not exactly close to the program, but I am not worried about it.  I have already lost more than I thought possible in the past two weeks.

Today I went to the gym in the morning as usual, and had my measurements taken.   I didn't post my original measurements, so here is a comparison.

	Start Date (November 30th)	Today (December 13th)
Weight	168 pounds	160 pounds
Shoulders	42 inches	42 inches
Upper arms	12 inches	12 inches
Chest	37 inches	37 inches
Waist	31.5 inches	30.5 inches
Hips	39.5 inches	38.5 inches
Thighs	22 inches	22 inches
Calves	15 inches	15 inches

If you read my post yesterday, you will probably notice I gained a pound from yesterday, probably due to the healthy popcorn and buffet lunch I had yesterday.   That was expected.   The great news is that I lost an inch in the areas I am trying to lose inches, and I didn't lose in the other areas (which might have indicated muscle loss).  I thought my clothes were starting to feel loose.

Losing weight quickly (Day 12)

I checked my weight this morning, and I have broken through the 160 pound barrier.   Now I am at 159.   That is the lowest since I was in my early 20s!   I do feel much lighter on my feet, and it seems there is a "spring" in my step.   I can't believe how quick it has come off.  One thing I have noticed is that I probably had more weight to lose than I thought.   I had always thought I would be "skinny" at 160.  I am not skinny, and there is still some more weight to lose.   According to my Body Mass Index (BMI),  I hit the "normal" weight range at 163.    A normal BMI is between 20 - 25.   At 163 I hit a BMI of 25 (I am 5 foot 8).    Perhaps I should be aiming for a BMI around 22.5, which would be 148.  I still have another 18 days to go, so perhaps I will get there by the end.   However, with Christmas cakes, cookies and treats all around me these days, I think it will be difficult (even with Isagenix).  Stay tuned, the Journey continues.

Another Cleanse Day (Day 11)

Today is day 11, and it is also a cleanse day.   I must admit I wasn't really looking forward to it because I remembered missing solid food on those days last week.  Good thing I am only doing it once a week now until the 30 days are up!  

The most difficult part is sitting down to dinner with my family and eating an isa-delight when they are eating chicken breasts, mashed potatoes and cauliflower.   The isaDelight is a healthy chocolate square snack that is allowed during a cleanse day.   They are a tasty snack, but I would trade it in for a chicken breast!

This cleanse day actually went much better than expected and I even went to the gym in the morning and did a run/walk high-incline on the treadmill today.   I was never really hungry, and my energy levels stayed consistent throughout the day.   I think the recommended IsaDelights should be changed to a requirement because I think it would have been so much more difficult without them.

My weight is now at 160, so I have lost 8 pounds in 11 days, and that is after a weekend that was full of Christmas parties!  

Back to regular Shake Day(Day 10)

Today I checked my weight in the morning to see the damage from the weekend parties.   Over the past three days I attended 2 potlucks and 2 buffets, so I expected that I wouldn't continue to lose weight over the weekend.    I kept to the Isagenix shake program as close as possible when not attending the above events.   To my surprise I had only gained 1 pound.  So now I am at 162, still 6 pounds down from day 1 and I still had a great time over the weekend.   So I will happily take the 1 pound in exchange for the fun I had over the weekend!

I went to the gym this morning, and substituted half of an IsaLean protein bar in place of the isaSnack wafers after I was finished.  I figure a few more grams of protein can't hurt after being at the gym.   One note of concern is that I seemed to be a bit weaker than usual today.  I had trouble lifting my third set of incline chest presses, and I actually had to drop the weight and get help from the trainer.  I hope that it isn't a sign I am losing muscle.   Everything else went fine, and I did go up in weight is some things, so maybe it was just a shoulder issue today.   I had a cold over the weekend, so that might explain the weakness as well.  I will keep a check on this and report back.    I am not expecting to gain muscle as the 30-day cleanse is a reduced calorie plan, but I don't want to lose what I have.

Christmas Parties Galore!

This weekend was super busy with a number of events and Christmas parties and was the reason I was going to wait until January to start the 30 day cleanse.  However, my coach had suggested I go ahead with it anyway because I would feel much better and wouldn't need to worry about gaining the average 7-10 pounds gained by most north Americans over the holidays.    So I continued to follow the "shake day" planner as best I could this weekend.   I took a picture of it on my phone which I have posted on the left.

On Saturday I only had 1 shake in the morning and didn't eat any of the suggested snacks.   They were "substituted" with various "snacks" from the events I was attending.  :)  

 I had the privilege to attend a memorial service for a member from my church, and I wasn't going to bring a shake for such an event.   There was a light lunch afterwords, so I probably came pretty close to the recommended meal size anyway.  

It also happened that Saturday was the day of my churches annual Christmas party.  It is always a lot of fun, and a lot of food.  It was a potluck, so I had a lot of fun trying out the various specialties from my fellow church members.   If I can't celebrate Christmas with friends and family and not feel guilty while following a program, then there would be no point in continuing on such a program.  I did not feel guilty.   I may not have followed the program exactly, but I did my best.    I feel like I have more control with the Isagenix program because each day is a new day, and I can follow the plan more closely on more mundane and regular days.

On Sunday, there was a children's Christmas party that we planned to attend with our Children.  I did a little better this day as I had two shakes (one for breakfast, one for lunch), and then had various potluck items at the children's party.  I think I had more green things on my plate, so I hope it was somewhat balanced.

Work Party and Isagenix (Day 7)

Today is an Isagenix shake day.   It is also the day of my work's Christmas party.   It is also a Friday.   The reason this is important is because on Isagenix shake days, the plan calls for two shakes and 1 400-600 "healthy meal".   On Fridays I go out to breakfast with my wife, and this particular Friday is also the Christmas party for my work place.  

Me and Renee at the Christmas Party

I didn't want to cancel the date with my wife, so I decided to only do 1 shake at lunch today.   For breakfast, I changed my usual healthy (NOT!) bacon, eggs, toast, home fries with a berry yogurt parfait at Broadway's (which is a great breakfast place in Ottawa).   I had the shake at lunch, and then I enjoyed the work party!   There was surprisingly little unhealthy choices at my work party, but I am sure I probably went a little over 600 calories!

  However, I am not going to worry about following the guide exactly.   I will be following the plan more closely most days.    I need to live my life and part of that involves enjoying time with family and friends.

Isagenix + Math equals (Day 6)

Day 6

I checked my weight early in the morning on Day 6 (Thursday), and found I was down to 161 now.   So in 6 days (Actually 5 full days and a bit) I have lost 7 pounds!   I didn't even think I had much more than 7 pounds to lose.   I still have the spare tire around the waist, but it is getting smaller.    I know that 7 pounds is 25,600 calories, and I know in 6 days I would typically consume about 15,000 calories.   On Isagenix I probably consumed around 7000 - 8000 calories over those 6 days, so the math isn't adding up.   With a deficit of 7000 - 8000 calories, I should have lost 2 pounds, not 7.   So there appears to be more to Isagenix than just a calorie deficit.

This was a shake day, and I have no trouble with being hungry or craving food.   I think I am starting to crave the Isagenix shakes!  

Day 5 - Shake day again!

Day 5:  (December 4th)

Finally it is shake day again.   I am so looking forward to eating food again.   I decided to have my 400-600 calorie meal at lunch today at work because there was an important 7 hour meeting taking place at work.  It would have been difficult to leave the meeting and get my shake powder together.  Instead, I just made some careful choices at lunch.

After the meeting, I was pretty tired.  I have not slept well at all over the past few nights.   I don't know if that is due to Isagenix, or the excitement of this program, or just worry about life in general.   I also tried the Isagenix sleep spray, but didn't notice any difference, and still did not sleep.   I also think I am coming down with a cold.   I started to feel very tired by the end of the day.

I am a cadet leader (which is similar to boy scouts so I lead a group of young boys on Wednesday nights), and I found myself getting more tired as the night wore on.   I had the tell-tale signs of the tickle in my throat, so I am pretty sure it is a cold.   I am not sure if I should modify the Isagenix program when you get sick.  I will have to check with my coach about that.

Day 4

Day 4: (December 3rd)

My energy levels are higher than expected today!  I stayed up later than I should have last night, so I had expected to be wiped with the cleanse and lack of sleep.   I was feeling a bit envious of my family this morning as they were all making Isalean shakes with berries and fruit and bananas, and I can't wait until tomorrow when I can have one (without the bananas for this month of course).   I would be lying if I said I didn't miss eating food today, but it isn't really hunger.  Maybe it is the taste or the texture I am missing.  The good news is that tomorrow I will be back on shakes and real food again for another week and then I will only have a cleanse day once a week.  

I went to the gym this morning, and did a high incline with fast walking pace for 25 minutes.  That was recommended to me by the trainer at the gym as a way to burn fat without losing muscle.  During the walk I had an energenix which made a delicious lemonade like drink.   I felt fine the entire time, and didn't really feel wiped.

Given that Christmas is on its way, I am sure I will be eating more than enough food to make up for anything I am missing now.   I am hoping that once it is over, I can add in a cleanse day here and there and I will be back to where I was.  I won't have to worry about spending the entire winter trying to lose the Christmas weight.  For me it would usually be April/May by the time I was back to my pre-Christmas weight.   

Isagenix Day 3

Day 3: (December 2nd)

This is the first 'cleanse day'.  It is different than shake days which make up the majority of the days in the 30-day program.   I started by taking a 'deep cleansing' serving of 'Cleanse for Life' which means I have to take two scoops of it instead of 1 scoop of it.  It actually has a pleasant taste to it, and is like drinking fruit juice.     I found there are a lot of directions for the cleanse day, so I took a picture of the included 'cleanse day planner' on my phone so I can remember what I am supposed to take and when I am supposed to take it.  Since I work during the day (like most of the world), and I take my lunch to work, I needed to make my first Isagenix lunch.    So I took a look at the cleanse planner, and put together a 'lunch' that would get me through the day.   I found I needed to pack the Ionix Supreme, Cleanse for Life, Natural Accelerator, 4 Isagenix Snacks! and 4 Isadelight snacks (yummy chocolate squares).  These all easily fit into my lunch box and I found it was much quicker to do this than put together my usual lunch.  

During the day I followed my daily routine, which includes going to the gym in the morning.  I was advised to try an 'e+ shot' (which is a small  isagenix energy drink) 30 minutes before my workout.  Today was a weight day workout, and I expected I might be weaker than usual, but I never felt tired and ended with lots of energy.   My work day went fine, and I expected to get hungry at some point, but I didn't.  In fact, it seemed to me I was consuming something every few minutes.   I have a desk job, so it isn't a problem to nibble something throughout the day.   I find the schedule calls for much more water than I am used to drinking.   I guess I haven't been following the 8-12 glasses of water a day rule that everyone says you should follow.

One other thing to report is that I checked my weight at the gym this morning, and I had to step on the scale twice because I thought it was broken.  It said I was down to 163, which is 4 pounds less than I was before I started.

Isagenix Day 2

Day 2 (December 1st):  

Tried the chocolate shake for the first time.  It was great, and I found it much richer than the vanilla.  The Isa blender is really a lot of fun to use and is so easy to clean up.  It comes with 3 special cups, and a cross-blade and straight blade.  The neet thing about it is that you screw the blade onto the cup (after you have added the water, shake power and any extras), and then blend by pushing down.  My children thought it was "cool", and it reminded me of the game which I think was called boggle (you push the container holding the dice down, and then the dice pop up).  

For lunch I was on the fence, because in Isagenix have the option of a nutricious meal or another shake.   My wife was making grilled cheese, and they looked so good that I had to try a quarter sandwich.  Then I had to try another.  Then I thought it probably didn't qualify as a nutricious meal, so I decided  I'd better stick with the shake for lunch otherwise I might not be able to count it as a nutricious meal.

To redeemer myself, I decided to make a healthy dinner.  For an appetizer had some home made flax seed crackers with hummus which are wheat-free and super easy to make.   Maybe I will post the recipe for them sometime if anyone is interested.  For the main course I made salmon, mashed potatious and vegetable mix (green and yellow beans with carrots).  I think it was enjoyed by my family, there wasn't any complaints from my two children although their plates weren't completely empty.  I will take that as a compliment.

My first blog post, Isagenix day 1

I thought I would start this blog to document my Isagenix 30-day cleanse experience.   As I write this first post, I am actually finishing day 4.  It took me that long to find the time to setup this blog site.   However, I have document my experience thus far, and it is included below:

Day 1 (November 30th):  

I opened the ionix supreme in the morning, and mixed it up.  It is a brown powder that has an earthy smell to it.   I was pleasantly surprised to find it had a nice berry flavour to it.   My First shake was super awesome and delicious, but I had made a faux-pas:  I added peanut butter and banana which is one of the recipes that comes with the blender.  I had reported how great the shake was to my Isagenix coach, (Virginia), and she let me know that since I am on the 30 day cleanse, I am supposed to make the shakes plain.   The extras can be added after the cleanse is completed when in 'maintenance mode'.  I will write about that when I get there.   The shakes are also great for children and they are full of nutrients and are a complete and nutricous meal in their own rite.   You can have fun with adding frozen fruit and other things.   

For Lunch I had some chili and pea soup (we were out at a church event).  The plan recommmends a nutritious 400-600 calorie meal, and gives guidelines.  I think the pea soup and chili were pretty nutritious   I actually ran into my coach at the event and noticed she picked the Chili as well, so it couldn't be that bad right?  

For Dinner I had a plain shake, which was still great, but a bit of a let down after trying it with banana and peanut butter in the morning.    For snacks I tried the isa delights which are square pieces of chocholate.  The pack I order was dark chocolate, it was delicious.   I also tried an IsaSnack.  They are in a big pill bottle and look like large round pills but have a pleasant chocholate wafer taste.