Exercise - Part 2

No, it's not Friday yet.  Not quite time for another weigh-in update...but I do have some news to report and I just couldn't wait!  ;)  After my post on Friday about exercise, I got a little convicted.  And so...when my hubby asked if I was going to work out on Saturday, I told him I would.  Then I got up on Saturday and well...everyone else was taking it easy (it was our first lazy Saturday in weeks!), so I thought I would too.  Then my hubby made the fateful mistake of saying, "I thought you were going to workout."  Yeah...you guessed it, I didn't take it so well.  He didn't mean to, but he hit a hot button for me.

BUT...I did get up, get dressed, and headed out to the gym.  I was armed with my pink drink (I had been finishing my coffee when hubby made his statement), my book, and my phone with my tunes (and earphones).  I got on the elliptical and I worked out for 30 minutes, but I wasn't ready to stop reading, so I decided to get on the treadmill and walk for awhile...never looking at the timer.  Before I knew it, I'd finished my book and when I looked at the timer, I realized I'd been walking for over an hour!  An hour and ten minutes to be exact!  And I wasn't exactly strolling along on the treadmill, either!  I mean, I wasn't running or anything, but I was at 2.5-2.8 for my speed level.  I couldn't believe I'd been on the treadmill for over an hour...especially after spending about half that amount of time on the elliptical!  I will tell you, I have noticed on the times I have gone to workout while drinking my pink drink, I get more of a workout.  Partly because I have unlimited time, but also partly because I didn't get tired as quickly!  And with my book to keep my mind occupied, I was good to go!

I also had a non-scale victory this morning!  I'm helping with Vacation Bible School this morning, so I was up and getting dressed this morning when I realized that my shorts were loose.  So, I grabbed a belt...one that wouldn't fit me just a few weeks ago.  But today, I was able to get it buckled...and comfortably so!  YAY!  Gotta say, I was pretty happy about that!  :)

Since I'm helping out with VBS this week, I probably won't get much "official" exercise in this week.  I may be a little more active than usual, but not sure how often or if I'll even make it to the gym this week, but I do want to go more often and make it a habit.  But, I'm thankful that I don't HAVE to work out to lose weight with my Plexus!  :)  Perhaps now that it's no longer a "have to" I can some day turn it into a "want to"...maybe!  ;)

By the way, in case you are wondering, yes, I did apologize to my hubby after my workout for my bad attitude earlier that day.  ;)

OH...and another non-scale victory I had today...my "job" at VBS is to pick up doughnut holes from Dunkin Donuts every morning on my way in and then to be in the resource room to help the other workers in case they need anything (which is also where said doughnut holes and other snacks are kept).  After the mad rush of the first morning was over and everyone was in their classes, I checked the box of doughnut holes to see if they were gone.  There were TWO left.  Now, the old me would have totally snatched those two up and scarfed them down in no time flat (and probably would have snatched a few before they even made them into the resource room in the first place).  But as I looked as those two lonely little Munchkins in the box, I had absolutely NO DESIRE to eat them...and simply walked away without the least little tinge of deprivation.  What a great feeling!!!  :)

Looking forward to the scale on Friday...SERIOUSLY!  I actually look forward to my weigh-in days now! Hope you are having a fabulous week!  :)

Exercise and My Weekly Weigh-In

I cannot, for the life of me, get excited about going to the gym.  Once I'm there, and get into it, I can usually keep going.  It's the getting there that is so hard!  I am sooo not a morning person, and yet the best time to fit exercise in my day is early in the morning before my hubby leaves for work.  Last January, when my hubby got a bonus from work, I talked him into letting me get a year-long membership to the fitness centers offered by our county parks & recreation.  I promised that I would workout three mornings a week...and I did really well at first, but lately, not so much!  ;)

Why do I tell you this?  Well, because on every single other weight loss program I've ever been successful on, exercise was pivotal in my success.  If I got my workouts in,  I lost weight that week.  If I didn't, well...let's just say the scale was NOT my friend!  Yes, what I ate also played a part in how I did each week, too...but it seemed exercise was the key!  But, that has NOT been my experience on Plexus!  I am just flat out amazed at how well it works!

This morning, I got on the scale and discovered another 2 pounds gone!  That makes a total of 12.2 pounds in the last seven weeks - an average of 1.74 pounds per week!  In those seven weeks, I think I've met my goal of exercising three days per week all of ONCE!  I've gotten in a day or two on some other weeks, but only once did I hit all 3 days...and this past week, I have yet to find my way to the gym!  And yet, because I have more energy, I'm probably more active in my everyday life than I was before I started taking Plexus...so, I may be getting in more exercise than I realize!  ;)

For weight loss to truly be successful, you need to find something you can do consistently and that you can stick with.  I cannot avoid carbs and sweets forever...I still enjoy them from time to time.  I cannot make myself exercise every day...no matter how hard I try, there's always a reason (read: excuse) why I can't (usually followed by a promise to do it later that rarely gets fulfilled).  But, I can take my accelerator every morning with breakfast and I can enjoy my Plexus Slim drink every morning after I finish my coffee.  And...I can make the choices I've known all along are the right choices to make because my body no longer fights me on those choices and I no longer feel deprived!  I stay motivated because (A) it's easy to do, and (B) I keep losing weight!  I actually look forward to stepping on the scale for the first time in my entire life!

I'm so thankful for the friend who introduced me to Plexus!  If you would like for me to do you the same favor, just let me know!  You won't be sorry!  And while I'm very vocal about Plexus and what it's doing for me (I can't help myself!), if you want to try it on the "down-low"...your secret is safe with me!  :)

Just Keep Going!

Yes, I weighed in on Friday.  Was it what I wanted to see?  No, not really.  I lost half a pound.  Not the best loss I've ever seen on the scale, but at least the scale is moving in the right direction!  And, if you have been following my blog, you'll remember that about this time last month, I GAINED a pound...so to LOSE even half a pound around this time of the month (especially considering how bloated I feel...ladies, I KNOW you understand!), really is bigger than it seems!  :)

And as the picture above says, let's be honest here!  I did NOT gain this weight overnight and, consequently, I'm not going to lose it that fast, either!  And if I'm really honest with myself, I don't really want to, either.  I've done more than my fair share of fad diets and have lost weight really quickly only to see it come back on just as fast.  If I really want this weight loss to last, I need to take it off in the same manner it came on...little by little!  :)

One of the times when I was doing Weight Watchers, a leader once told the group that a healthy weight loss is anywhere between a half a pound and two pounds, with the average being 1-2 pounds per week.  In the last 6 weeks, I've lost 10.2 pounds.  While that may not be Biggest Loser type results, it IS real-world results and I'm thankful for it.

If you have been following my blog, you know I can never say enough good things about Plexus!  Others have started noticing a difference as well, and have started asking me about this new-found "miracle."  But, Plexus isn't magic.  Yes, it makes losing weight easier - but it doesn't make it magically disappear.  In order for it to really work for me, I had to make some choices.  Plexus helped me feel full on less food, but I have to make the choice to stop eating when I'm full.  Plexus has removed the intense cravings for carbs, sweets, and soda...but I have to choose to eat/drink them in moderation.  Plexus gives me more energy, but it is my choice how I use that energy.  It is true, I haven't followed a diet plan and I haven't even exercised that much since starting Plexus and my results have been at least equal to, if not better, than the times I was following a strict diet plan and trying to exercise.  But, I am making choices to eat healthier, which is so much easier without the cravings.  And the more I choose to eat healthy, the more I actually WANT to eat healthy.  And I know that if I were more consistent in my exercise, I would probably have even better results.  But, I am thankful for the results I am getting and, even more importantly, I'm thankful for the way I feel!  I love having the energy to do things with my boys and that food no longer controls my life!

If you have struggled to lose weight like I have, perhaps you would like to give Plexus a try and see how it will work for you.  You don't have to commit to a whole month.  There are 3-day and 7-day trial kits you can order from my website to see how you like it.  If you find that it's something that will work for you and you would like to use it regularly, there are several options for how to order.  You can place an order each month and pay the full retail price, you can sign up as a preferred customer and get it at a discount, or you can sign up to become an Ambassador (like I did) and get it at wholesale!  If you are interested, let me know and I'll be happy to help you decide what's best for you without any pressure to do anything you don't want to do!  :)

A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words!

It's true...the picture above says it all!!!  When I took the picture on the left, I had joined a weight-loss group on Facebook & everyone was posting their "Before" picture, so I figured I'd do the same.  Good thing, too - or I wouldn't have a "before" picture!  ;)  Between the time that picture was taken and when I actually started on Plexus (19 days later), I had GAINED five pounds - so while this is close, it's not an exact representation of how I looked the day I started Plexus.  ;)  So much for the weight-loss support group on Facebook, huh?

For the last 5 weeks, I have steadily been losing weight...roughly 1-2 pounds a week, which is what is said to be best for a healthy weight-loss.  All in all, I've lost just shy of 10 pounds (9.8, to be exact).  However, never before has 10 pounds looked so good off of me!  I was actually surprised when I put today's picture up next to the picture I took on April 1st...seriously seeing a difference!

With something that is this simple to use and produces this kind of results, it's easy to see why I love it!  When I think back to a couple months ago when my friend Jami was trying to convince me to try it, and how skeptical I was of it - I only wish I'd tried it sooner!  Now, I can't imagine a day without my "pink drink" - Plexus Slim!  I have more energy than I've ever had before...and eating less just comes naturally to me now! That's something I NEVER thought I'd be able to say!  I had come to the point where it was beginning to feel like I would never lose weight because they were all too hard for me to stick with.  Something had to be counted, something had to be cut out or seriously reduced, and always there was measuring & keeping a food journal of some sort involved...as a friend of mine says, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"  LOL!

So, here I am...after years of trying every diet known to man (some of them multiple times...as if something was going to change), finally finding something that REALLY works for me!  Is it any wonder I love telling you about it?

But, not only do I have an opportunity to lose weight and get healthy, but I also have the opportunity to earn money by helping OTHERS lose unwanted poundage!  ;)  When I signed up five weeks ago to sell Plexus, I'm not gonna lie to you...I seriously ONLY did it so I could get a discount on my own product.  But, as others have seen me lose weight, they have also become interested in this product.  Some are buying from me...and one just converted from a customer to a team member!  It happened when she met a friend for coffee...and that friend said, "You look GREAT!  What are you doing?"  After raving about how she felt on Plexus, the friend was convinced and my friend/customer asked me about selling it herself...and now she's my very first team member!  :)

YOU could do this, too!  All it takes is posting pictures, testimonials, comments on Facebook and sharing with others what Plexus is doing for you!  If you are interested in learning more about either purchasing or selling Plexus, please contact me on Facebook or check out my website. :)

Until next week...

Time for another weigh-in!

There used to be a time when I absolutely HATED the scale.  I dreaded stepping on it each week, never quite sure what it would reveal.  I always judged my progress, and even myself, solely on what that scale revealed!  But now, I'm excited to see what it has to say...partly because I know it doesn't tell me the whole story...even a gain on the scale (as I saw a couple of weeks ago) doesn't mean what I'm doing isn't working (especially, if you'll remember, I lost 4 inches from my waist that week & 2.8 pounds off the scale the following week)!  So, I try to take what my scale tells me with a grain of salt, so to speak.  ;)

That being said, I was seriously expecting a BIG weight loss on the scale yesterday.  I had dreams of dropping 5, or even 10 pounds (not very realistic, but that didn't stop me from dreaming)!  After all, I had worked out three times on the elliptical...30 minutes at a whack, using the arm things that go back & forth the whole time, even!  That should account for something, right?  ;)  After all, it's the first time in 4 weeks that I've actually exercised at all.  So, when I stepped on the scale Friday morning and saw the result, I'm not gonna lie...I was slightly disappointed.  One pound...that's what I saw.  One little ole' pound.  Humph!

But then...I got to thinking - muscle weighs more than fat. If I was exercising, I was probably building some muscle, even as I lost some fat.  And besides, we know that ole scale can be fickle from time to time.  So, I pulled myself right on out of that pity party and began to celebrate that pound.  After all...it was a pound in the RIGHT direction...DOWN!!!!  ;)

I think anyone in any kind of weight loss program can get into that mindset...getting frustrated because the loss wasn't what we wanted or thought it should be.  It's too easy to get frustrated because the scale doesn't properly reflect the hard work we know we've put in.  But, the scale is just a single measurement tool.  There's so many other things we can use to measure our success!  Sure, there's also the measuring tape...and I probably should have pulled that puppy out - but I didn't.  Instead, I focused on not only the one pound LOSS...but also on the other successes I see happening!  There are probably 6-8 Diet Cokes sitting in my refrigerator - cold and waiting to be enjoyed...and have been for the last several weeks!  But, instead of reaching for one of those when I'm thirsty, I actually PREFER to drink water.  In case I've failed to mention this before, let me just tell you how HUGE that is...water has NEVER been my first drink choice.  If I'd had too much soda, I'd opt for iced tea...or lemonade...ANYTHING other than water!  But now - more often than not, I'd rather have water than anything else!  I do believe the Plexus actually causes me to CRAVE water!  I'll be flat honest with you...that's one craving I NEVER thought I'd have!  LOL!  ;)

Some other measures of success include choosing to eat less, making wise choices in the foods I do eat, and desiring to exercise more!  I was telling a friend just yesterday that one of the things about Plexus that I think helps me most is that it gives me the opportunity to make more wise choices.  Could I choose to eat unhealthy while taking Plexus?  Sure!  Plexus doesn't wrestle me to the ground and make me eat more healthy or eat less.  It just helps me not feel deprived when I make those choices!  I can literally look at a cupcake and pause long enough to actually think, "Do I really want that?"  More often than not, the answer is now no.  Could I still eat it?  Sure...but why do that?  Why eat something unhealthy that I don't really want to eat in the first place?

To help you understand this a little more, I'm going to reveal something about myself that I have previously always tried to hide (sometimes more successfully than others)...I am a BIG eater!  I really, really LIKE to eat...and eat large quantities of it, if it tastes good!  And when I don't eat as much as I'd like of something, I feel deprived...which, unfortunately, often ends in a private binge eating session later.  This, I think, is primarily why most diets fail for me.  Sure...I can play the game for awhile - count those calories, points, fat grams, or what have you!  I'll be very militant about it...for awhile.  But then, it's not fun anymore, the weight loss starts to slow down, and I start feeling deprived.  At that point, it's just not worth it to me anymore, and I give up.  There's not a lot of gray area for me when I'm dieting...I'm either doing it to the letter - or I'm not doing it at all.  The only in between for me is when I'm pretending that I'm doing it (lying to both myself and others) when I'm really not.

That's where I feel Plexus helps me most.  There is nothing I can't have...and there's no limit on how much.  I don't have to count anything and I don't have to write down what I ate.  I just don't have time for that in my life.  With Plexus, I simply take my two accelerator pills in the morning with breakfast and then drink my pink drink (Plexus Slim) when I finish my coffee, sometime mid-morning.  That's all there is to it!  It helps me pay attention to what my body needs and wants.  It keeps me from being so hungry all the time that I just want to fill the hole with whatever tastes good.  It takes away my cravings for carbs, sweets, and soda!  And since I don't have to fear being hungry later or feeling deprived, it gives me the freedom when my husband asks me how many hot dogs or grilled cheese sandwiches I want to say, "I just want one, thanks!"  And that, my friends, is a HUGE success in my book!!!

I have always heard it said that if you wanted to be thin, you should eat like a naturally thin person.  For the life of me, I could never understand what that meant.  When I've observed naturally thin people, I noticed that they didn't eat salads at every meal, they didn't write down everything they ate, they didn't drink protein drinks instead of eating a meal, and they didn't count calories or points.  And yet, that's what most every weight loss program boils down to - one or more of those strategies.  What I noticed instead was that they would eat whatever it was they wanted to eat (and nothing else)...and they stopped eating when they were full.  Plexus has helped me do just that.  If I want pizza or cake or whatever, I can have it...and I can have as much as I want.  But with Plexus, my desire for it is less and the amount it takes to make me feel full is FAR less!

Getting back to what the scale has to say...even though this week was a single pound, over the last 4 weeks, I've lost a total of 8.8 pounds - that's better than a 2 pound per week average!  Everything I've read says that a healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week.  So, I'm in that general ball park...and that makes me feel good!  :)

If you are interested in how Plexus could help you, please visit my website at www.karaj.myplexusproducts.com or contact me via my Facebook page.  There are also testimonials on both my website and Facebook page of how Plexus has helped others.  :)  You can order a 3-day or 7-day supply of Plexus Slim (with or without the accelerator) from my website if you want to see first hand how it works for you.  There's a discount on the 30-day supply if you sign up as a preferred customer and always a 60-day money-back guarantee!  Or, if you would like to get it at wholesale, you can sign up to sell it - just contact me for more details!  :)

Weekly Weigh-In...a tad late

I did, in fact, weigh in on Friday...just didn't get a chance to blog about it until now!  It's been a bit of a crazy week - and the weekend followed suit!  ;)  But now, the house is quiet and I know if I don't blog about it now...well, it could be NEXT Friday before I get a chance to sit down and blog about it. ;)

If you read my blog last week, you know that I had a one pound gain...but lost 4 inches in my waist.  Well...this week, I lost another 2.8 pounds when I stepped on the scale Friday morning.  That means, I've lost a total of 7.8 pounds in the last 3 weeks (with one of those pounds being lost twice!  LOL!)!  That in itself is pretty impressive to me...that's better than an average of 2 pounds per week!!!  But what's even MORE impressive to me is that, other than taking my Plexus Accelerator pills with breakfast and drinking my Plexus "pink drink" mid-morning, I haven't really DONE anything to lose the weight.  I have not followed an eating plan or even really watched what I ate.  The ONLY exercise I have done (aside from keeping up with 3 active boys...two of my own and one that I babysit) is ride my bike ONCE about a week or so ago around my neighborhood and to the grocery store (which is in my neighborhood).

I've been meaning to get back to exercise...really I have!  After all, I have a year's membership to the park & rec fitness centers that's just going to waste.  But, the best time for me to go is at 6am while my hubby is getting ready for work and the boys are asleep...problem is, I am so NOT a morning person...so when 6am rolls around, it's all too easy to roll over and go back to sleep with promises of exercising later that never actually materialize.  And yet, I know when I do exercise, I feel so much better!  :)

So...I'm making a goal of working out at least 3-4 days this week.  :)  I actually already acquainted my body with the gym this weekend.  I went yesterday morning.  It started with a message I got from a very dear friend who is almost to the end of her weight-loss journey.  It was a very simple message..."Hey...how have you done with your exercise this week?"  It convicted me...and encouraged me, all at the same time!  So, I mustered up all of my determination and took my little happy self to the gym.  Since it was late Saturday morning, there weren't many people actually in the gym...most of them were lined up for the pool.  ;)  So, I got myself situated and climbed up on the elliptical machine.  This particular machine has poles that move back and forth to exercise your arms, as well as stationary arms for a lighter workout or to check your pulse.  Usually, I'll do the poles that work my arms for a short bit (maybe 5 minutes or so)...but the majority of the time, I'm holding on to the stationary ones.  However, this time, I grabbed those poles and pretty much used them the WHOLE 30 minutes!  I only used the stationary ones when I was turning a page of the book I was reading!  I did notice that I was sweating a lot more while I was working out than I usually did...but it really didn't dawn on me what I'd done until I was almost done!   I don't think I've ever used the arm poles for the whole time before!  :)  I was drinking my Plexus "pink drink" while working out...so I wonder if that might have had something to do with it...maybe it gave me the extra boost I needed to work a little harder!  :)

I am looking forward to see what kind of affect exercise might have on my weight loss.  Of course, that means I really do have to get up at least 3 mornings this coming week and follow through on my commitment to use that gym membership!  ;)  To be continued...  :)

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

You know, whenever I'm on a diet, I live by the scale.  If I'm down a pound or two, I'm happy.  But if I've gained even a tenth of a pound, I'm frustrated.  And sometimes, it makes me want to give up.  For the most part, I know what caused the fluctuation...a certain time of the month, too much salty food, wrong food choices, not enough exercise, etc.  The list could literally go on and on!  But, it doesn't matter the reason why...if it's not less than it was the week before, I feel frustrated...discouraged even!

I've put a lot of stock in what the scale says...and have often let it determine my mood for the day.  Lost a pound?  WOO HOO!  Time to celebrate!!!  Gained a pound?  Feel like a complete failure, beat myself up for not doing x, y, or z...sometimes, give up completely and drown my sorrows in the most fattening, sugary, junky food I can find!  Sometimes, lots of it!

SOOO...today, I step on the scale to check out my progress for my second week on Plexus.  Imagine my surprise when I notice I've gained a pound!  After all, I'd lost SIX last week!  So...I start the same ole' pattern of trying to figure out what I did "wrong" - not realizing at the moment that the only thing I really did wrong was putting all my trust in a scale to gage my efforts.  Sure, I had a couple of sodas this week, and some junk food...and yeah, that could account for the weight gain.  But, it could be attributed to other things, too.  Besides, I feel so much better in general and I'm noticing that my close are feeling a bit looser on me.

THEN I REMEMBERED...just a few days ago, I'd seen on Facebook where my friend/upline thought she had hit a plateau until she measured herself.  After seeing the results of her measurements, she went to the store to buy a new pair of pants to celebrate...and discovered that she had dropped from a size 11/12 to a size 7/8, even though she'd only dropped 3 pounds!

SO THEN I THOUGHT...hmmm, maybe I should check my own measurements!  ;)  Now, imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had lost FOUR INCHES from my waist since last Friday!!!

So, while it might not be what I wanted to see on the scale, I'm so glad I listened to my friend and got those measurements last week so I could see that there really was a measurable difference!!!  :)

Update 5/6/13:
Just as an update...got back on the scale this morning and not only had I lost that pound I gained, but another one as well!  There was a reason for the weight gain...and if you are woman, you'll know what I mean - but if you are a man, you'll think it's TMI! LOL!