Weekly Weigh-in

Yep, it's FRIDAY!!!  For many people, that simply means the end of the work week and the beginning of their weekend.  For me, it's weigh-in day!  :)  Time to face the scale and see what it has to say about my progress for the week.  But, before I reveal the results, let me tell you a little about my week.

This was the last week I had completely free from responsibilities other than the normal everyday stuff of being the mom of two amazing boys.  Next week, I'll have the little boy I've babysat for the last year and a half (since he was 3 months old) while his mom goes back to work (she's a school teacher) and his new babysitter is on vacation (I will be the back-up babysitter this year so that I can focus more on homeschooling my oldest).  The week after that, we begin our first week of homeschooling for the new school year.  So, summer is officially over!  LOL!  But, we made the best of it!  :)

Monday I had lunch with a long-time friend at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  I ordered my regular meal (steak fajita quesadilla with the white cheese dip appetizer)...but ended up bringing most of the cheese dip home and half my quesadilla!  Monday night, I had a meeting at church for new middle school leaders and we were served sub sandwiches, chips, and a double-decker cookie cake for dinner (yep, had the cookie cake)!  Tuesday, the boys and I headed to the pool and had a relaxing day with friends.  I had some of the left over sub sandwich for lunch..and then we had Taco Tuesday at home for dinner!  Wednesday we had fun with friends at the park (i.e. the boys ran and played and I sat and chatted with my mommy friends) and then grabbed some lunch at Target while we got a birthday present for a party we will attend tomorrow (ya know Target has Pizza Hut pizza, right?).  Then we had Wednesday Night Dinner at our church...and since I'm not a fish eater (the main meal was crab stuffed sole), I opted for the alternative meal...cheeseburger and fries (and for some reason, they made mine a double!).  Thursday we had a MOPS playdate & ice cream social...but I had no desire to eat the ice cream...even when my 1-year-old was done after eating only half of his...so I gave the rest to my 9-year-old (who was happy to oblige!).  :)  We came home after that and had some leftover pizza that my hubby had brought home from a youth event after church the night before (I'd come home right after church to put the baby to bed).  Thursday night was my night out with a couple of friends before we attended a group meeting at church, and I had Chicken Teriyaki at the Sushi Thai restaurant where we went.  So...that will give you an idea of what my diet has been like this week before I weighed in this morning.  ;)  As far as exercise...I got in 30 minutes on the elliptical ONE morning this week (I think Wednesday) when I woke up early on my own.  THAT IS IT!!!!

Why did I tell you all that?  Well...you see, in spite of all of that, I still lost a pound this week!  I am now at 19 pounds total...and I have NOT done ANY dieting and VERY LITTLE exercise!  Yes, I know I could have lost so much more if I had actually made better choices in my eating and put in a few more days at the gym...but the great thing about Plexus is that I don't HAVE to do that or feel the least bit deprived while losing weight!  I'm certainly eating less than I was before taking Plexus (like bringing home part of my lunch) and some things have lost their appeal (like the ice cream at the social) - and that IS making a difference.  But, I'm not struggling to do it...it's happening naturally!  I'm not beating myself up over every bite I put in my mouth.  I'm not counting calories or killing myself at the gym.  And yet, I'm still losing weight at a healthy rate (roughly 1-2 pounds per week).  And even though it's been a few months, I'm STILL amazed at what Plexus is doing for me!  :)

If you would like to know more about Plexus, you can email me at karaj.plexus@gmail.com or check out my website: www.karaj.myplexusproducts.com.  If you'd like to know how you can earn money while you lose weight, I'd love to help you with that!  Just email me for more information!  :)  I also have a Facebook Page that you can check out if you are on Facebook - I post information, testimonials, and links to my weekly weigh-in blogs there...and sometimes I offer deals and/or contests!  :)  

Putting Things In Perspective

As I shared with you in my last post, we've had LOTS of junk food in our house the last couple of months...not to mention, Blue Bell ice cream was on sale TWICE (and was even BOGO last week!)...and if you have ever eaten Blue Bell ice cream, you totally understand what that means!  Oh yeah...I bought it and I enjoyed it!  :)  If you haven't tried Blue Bell, just think HOMEMADE ice cream...that's exactly what it tastes like!  It is by far the BEST store bought ice cream I have ever put in my mouth (second only to my grandfather's homemade peach ice cream, which I can't get anymore)!  But, we only buy it when it's on sale because it's six-something a half-gallon and that's not quite budget-friendly!  So, usually store-bought ice cream isn't a big temptation for me...but Blue Bell totally is!

Having said that...I HAVE been eating less junk this week and listening to my body's cues a little more...and it shows!  I lost 1.6 pounds this week...so I am now at 18.2 pounds of total weight loss!  Looking forward to that 20 lb. weight loss!  :)  I have not, however, gotten much exercise this week.  I did spend about 45 minutes playing Wii Sports on Monday...but then I was dealing with some monthly physical issues (trying not to be too TMI) this week and didn't feel up to doing much more than was necessary to get through the day. So, exercise did NOT happen after that.

I'll be honest with you...I was totally starting to get down on myself when the scale wasn't moving like it had been...or really, at all like I wanted it too!  But once I took a hard look at what I was doing and realized that part of that was related to how I was eating and what I was doing (or more accurately, NOT doing...namely, exercise!), then it started to make sense.  I have said before that you don't HAVE to follow a diet plan or exercise to lose weight with Plexus...and that is still true.  But, you DO have to be smart about what you eat and listen to your body, not just stuff whatever tastes good in your mouth and keep stuffing it past the point of full just because it does taste good.  Plexus is NOT a magic pill.  It will NOT cause you to lose weight regardless of what you do.  But, it WILL help you...if you are willing to do your part!  It takes away the cravings for unhealthy foods.  It helps you to feel full on less food.  But, you have to listen to what your body says in order to lose the weight.  Weight loss is both biological (as in eating correctly) and behavioral (as in making wise choices).  Plexus does help with both...but it doesn't do all the work for you.  You have to be willing to do your part...and that's the very important lesson I learned over the last few weeks.  Now...having said all that, I do want to add that if I had not been taking Plexus, rather than having maintained my weight, I totally would have gained some, if not all, of the weight I have lost so far.  So, I would say that is still very much a victory!  :)

By the way, I asked a friend who is also doing Plexus and who had previously done another product that is geared toward weight loss (Advocare) what the differences are between the two since I have friends and family who are doing the Advocare.  She told me that first of all, Plexus is a LOT less expensive and has been FAR more effective for her.  She told me that Advocare was geared more toward athletes, so unless you were willing to work out for hours each day, you wouldn't see much change.  She told me that other than when she did the cleanse with Advocare, she never lost anything on their products (and she used the products for quite some time).  She has lost 20 pounds so far on Plexus (since May) without dieting or exercise!  I think that says a lot for our products and am very glad to know her personal comparison!

For those of you who think Plexus is too expensive, it really boils down to just a little over $3/day.  That's about how much I used to spend on one soda at a restaurant or one coffee at a local coffee shop!  Since I now pretty much only want to drink water after my morning coffee (that I have at home), I have saved that much and more!  And, if you sign up to become an Ambassador, you will get your products at wholesale and can actually EARN money while losing weight!  You only need to find 5 friends to join you on the journey and order through you, and then your product is basically FREE every month because your commission will cover the cost of your product (and then some)!  :)  If you want to learn more and don't already have a Plexus Ambassador, contact me via email at karaj.plexus@gmail.com for more information and with any questions you may have.  :)  I would love to tell you more about how Plexus can work for you...and even how to earn an extra income while losing weight!  :)  If you just want to go ahead and order or check it out yourself, you can visit my website at www.karaj.myplexusproducts.com.  :)

Talk to you next week!  :)
Kara