Day 16

347.2 Day 16 - Well Day 16 is history. Overall, I cheated on the program way more than I should have, with several alcoholic drinks each week and a couple of days when I went off the meal program. But in spite of all of that, I have dropped 15 pounds in 16 days, a not-too-shabby result. I will be styaing on this program for a while longer yet, but public commitments ahead of time don't seem appropriate since I only give myself about a 90% grade on the first 16 days. I will continue to post from time to time, but less regularly than I have been posting so far.

Day 15

350.4 Day 15 - Once again, the end of cleansing day 2 brought some serious hunger. This time I gave in to it and ate a meal at dinner time. My weakness was at least in part due to having some leftover pasta from Sunday in the refridgerator.  Pasta and bread are my big carb-weaknesses, much more so than candy or baked goods. I have to start downsizing recipes when I do meals.

Day 14

351.6 Day 14 - Day 2 of this week's cleansing routine. I have to try something a little different. I have never quite lost my carb-cravings, and sometimes it is like going through withdrawal. Yesterday was a tougher day than it shld have been, ate about 15 IsaSnacks last night before i killed the hunger/boredom carving.  I am thinking I have to start exercising a little bit to burn off the excess carbs on a daily basis and create that happy "zero carb" feeling. But lazy habits die hard.

Day 13

352.8 Day 13 - Starting another cleansing day.  Made the mistake of indulging my cravings over the weekend and made some pasta.  It showed up this morning on the scales. Why is this so hard for me this time to just stick with the program 100%?

Day 11

351.2 - Day 11 - Weekends seem to be a bit harder to stay 100% on program. But as I explain to friends, this is not a diet but a series of choices. So I had a couple of drinks, I don't restart again tomorrow. I just keep on going. My body will spend a little time dealing with latest toxins (inTOXicants) and then go back to cleansing. One is better than two, and not as good as zero. I did stick with straight alcohol (and water), rather than mixing with juice, Coke, or beer. It seems like it is a better choice to me, but WTHDIK ? Isagenix is not like Atkins, where variances defeat the whole program. Someone asked me how long I can stay on this program. Truthfully, I can stay on it indefinitely, since it's not a DIEt. In the interest of full discolosure, Friday night I had a HUGE burrito from Chipotle for my meal of the day. Probably not as bad as it sounds, since Chipotle has a rep as using "healthier" ingredients. Tonight I plan to go our to dinner at Bonefish Grill.

Day Nine

352.2 Day Nine - Yesterday was apretty normal day. Stayed pretty much on plan, had a HUGE salad and a Frozen meal. I am always torn about eating those, but they are a good and economical way to reinforce portion control with some pretty decent food. I prefer the "steamable" ones that have the sauce under the food. They seem to cook up better and have less junk in them. But I will get to the grocery today to get some real proteins I can cook myself for the weekend. I love grilling.

Day 8

353.2 Day 8 - Got a bit hungry last night, but soime extra IsaSnacks helped me through. Also, I was out for happy hour, and am surprised at how quickly smoky bars are becoming such an irritnat. This morning I feel as though I had been smoking yesterday, even though it was only a couple of hours of second-hand smoke. I had one Vodka on the rocks. Not really consistent with a cleansing day, but it is what it is. I figured that vodka was was better than a mixed drink or beer or cheap wine. It's just part of making this program my own for a lifetime.

Day 7

353.6 - Day 7 -Yesterday went by pretty smoothly and as planned. Not much to comment on or report. Today is another cleansing day, then I have five days of "shakes and a meal".

Day 6

356.4 Day 6 Another Cleansing Day !! No more almonds in the house, so that will hopefully be one less thing. Also, I had a shake about 10pm last night, so I hope that makes the end of the second day a bit easier and delays that "hungry feeling" into the following day. I am certainly not hungry this morning, just thirsty. Maybe I am overthinking this ?

Day 5

358.0 One of the hard things about doing a blog like this is that every "failure" or variance off the program becomes public, if I am an honest blogger. Saturday was a very difficult day for me. I started out by saying "today my meal will be breakfast". I had a couple of containers of yogurt. That led to lunch and then dinner. All of a sudden I was back to three meals instead of two shakes and a meal.  Even worse, the meals were closer to "easy" than healthy. Ah well, nothing to do but reset and keep on keeping on. Perhaps the lesson to be learned is to stick with shakes until dinner time. I suspect the nutritional content of my "cheating meals" was to blame, as for me eating carbs increases the desire to eat more carbs. Think of carbs as heroin, and you will understand what my body-type goes thru. But tomorrow and Wednesday will be cleanse days, so I hopefully will be able to shake this off.

Day Three

355.8 My body finally hit "water release mode". It seems counterintuitive, but to get your body to release excess water you have to drink MORE water. Once it realizes there is an abundance of water available to it, it will just release it instead of hoarding it. No real hunger today, but the cigarette smoke in bars is really making me crazy. I can't even stand the smell of my clothes when I get home. It's a good thing, but probably means I will have to find some new non-smoking friends eventually.

First Two Day Cleanse Complete

356.8 Day 2 - I forgot how fast the energy comes back during a cleanse. I am not exactly bouncing around yet, but I have gotten a definite and obvious energy boost. Yesterday I only napped for about 30 minutes versus my usual 2-4 hours. Likewise, getting up this morning was much easier than it has been lately.And I am notably less stiff and that "feeling very old" feeling has gone away for now.

I got a serious case of the munchies last night, so I ended my cleanse period a bit early. I ate some almonds and a hardboiled egg about midnight, and then I felt really full. Today is back to the regular program of two shakes and a meal.

Pretty easy

359.1 Day One. Yesterday was a pretty easy day. I drank the juice, ate the snacks, probably ate a few too many salty almonds. It was just too easy to grab a handful. I drank a bunch of water, but probably not what I should be drinking (1/2 ounce per pound of body weight). Today I will be doing my second cleanse day. My focus is on drinking enough water (or at least tracking it better) and staying away from the Wasabi/Soy almonds. I am feeling slightly more energy, so that is a good thing.

Starting Day Zero

362.0 Starting off with a cleanse day. The biggest thing for me is going to be getting back to drinking enough water. During the last two years of this weight gain, I have been barely drinking water, with none on some days and only a few glasses on others. Everything was juice, ice tea, and even a bit of sodapop lately.

Getting Started on My Isagenix Cleanse

Starting the Isagenix program for the second time this coming Monday. The first time was a couple of years back, and it worked well for me in every way. But I won't clog this weblog up with prior events and opinions. other than to say that the last time I lost 4% of my weight in the first 9 days and 9% of my body weight in the first 30 days, without drugs, stimulants, colon cleanses, or any thing severe and dangerous.

This blog is going to document the first 16 days of the cleanse (2 weeks + 2 days), which I know from experience is a good amount of time to let it work it's magic. I am going to do the basic program, but knowing what I know this time I will probably cleanse two days every week instead of skipping some weeks as they suggest. That will not affect this 16 day period, but will affect future results. The big decision is "what two days will I cleanse?". I am thinking I will pick Tuesdays and Wednesdays, just because I have a friend who has Mondays off from work, so would like the flexibility to go out for dinner or cocktails as it comes up.