Sugar & Carbs, I’m breaking up with you….

I had been on this weight loss/fitness/clean eating journey for almost 3 years now, October 14th is my fit-iversary.  But just the last few month I've realized that something was holding me back.  Something was derailing my diet, causing me to have less stamina during my workouts, and even affecting my mood at home.  What was it?

A sugar and carb addiction.

Sounds like a good thing, right?  I’ve been an admitted “chocoholic”  and "bread-obsessed" for years, but my addiction hadn’t been just limited to chocolate and bread. Oh no, everything from candy, soda, cinnamon rolls, muffins and of course pizza were part of my addiction.  But learning how to stop eating sugar and carbs would not be so simple.

And why did I care?

I was happily eating my way through life.  Living from meal to meal.  I would try to control my calories, but then the craving would start up and I was helpless, my eating was out of control.  I could work out all day long, but there came a point when I just wasn’t losing weight, it was about 2 years ago actually. I dropped my initial 85 lbs within the first 14 months and then nothing, no matter what I did. And it was this August when I realized that I had to break my sugar and carb addiction.

Sugar & Carbs, I’m breaking up with you….its not personal....shit what am I saying, it is personal!

So this morning I've decided to go completely cold turkey, thankfully I have my ketones to help my headaches and mood swings stay at bay.

I know if I can make it at least 7 days, no matter what, with no desserts, no candy, no sugar, no carbs, other than was what regularly found in my keto approved meals. I'm not going to scrutinize every label for sneaky sugars, but I'm going to avoid every obvious instance of sugar and carb in my diet, no matter how hard.

Did you know that sugar is addictive: When you eat sugar, your brain gets a massive dopamine surge, similar to the rush you get when you take addictive drugs.

I had a big Dr Pepper and some fries last night and that was it. Now I'm all done. I will update as the weeks go one. Wish me luck!

Meeting #2 with the Nutritionalist...

Since the last time I met with my nutritionalist, I've found out that I have Hashimoto Disease. And because I am who I am, I began instantly researching the shit out of it. I kept reading about people going gluten free and eliminating eggs from their diets. So that's what I had planned on doing but of course wanted to hear the nutritionalists point before I went too hard core.

She was very helpful and gave me loads of info. Based on my symptoms and where my bloat is (top of the belly, not below) she doesn't believe its a gluten issue at all. She said "gluten free" is such a fad that EVERYONE is quick to jump on it but gluten isn't always the issue. She said really the only people who really should go gluten free are people with Celiac Disease.

We already know that lactose is a huge trigger for me, so I limit any dairy. I drink Almond Milk in my shakes instead of regular or lactose free because its less calories and just as good. I rarely eat cheese and I'm not a yogurt fan. I get my calcium by eating other whole foods, shakeology and a women's multi-vitamin.

Because she believes my stomach issues are IBS related she's having me increase my fiber by taking a fiber supplement for now. I'm also going to start adding a probiotics vitamin too because my system tends to just flush everything out that I eat.

She also gave me a FODMAP (see below an example)...

That she wants me to experiment around with and see if we can figure out what exactly my triggers are. The big triggers on it are: lactose, fructose, fructans, galactans, and polyols. I'm not suppose to cut all of them out but to start food journaling what I eat and how I feel afterwards and the next day. 

Its a process but I'm all about healing my gut and getting to the bottom issue. I love that my nutritionalist is all about teaching me and not just saying "don't eat this or that". She actually listens, which is what I need. She's also excited that I'm going to see an endocrinologist because they will run more tests and see if anything else pops up that my regular dr hasn't caught. 

2017 will be my year...I just know it!

Shakeology VS Plexus ... just because its pink doesn't make it better!

Yes PINK is the coolest color in the world in my opinion. And the whole thought of consuming a pink drink totally tickles me....PINK!

But is it really healthy for you?! How does it compare to Shakeology?! Well, since I've had a few messages from people asking me since I posted Isagenix VS Shakeology, let me break it down for ya.

Also before I continue, if you are going to argue that my comparison is "laughable" and "false" please back it up with facts. Because facts is all I'm stating. The cold honest sometimes harsh truth is what my blog is about. 

You go to any ambassador's site, and someone or their mother has lost 30, 40, or even 100 pounds with Plexus! The worst is Facebook! Half of FB is stuffed with Plexus rainbows! I support these women cause I know how it is to run your own business but lord knows I vomit a little when I see their posts about it.

I recently was messaged by a friend of mine who sells Plexus after posting about being finally diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease. Who claimed Plexus could "cure" my hastimoto's. She was telling me to drink the magic pink drink, along with the P96 Protein Shake along with other shit they offer. 

First off, if this person really knew much about Hashimoto disease, they would have known that soy is NOT okay for most Hashimoto people to consume ... P96 contains soy. It also contains dairy which I can't tolerate due to lactose intolerant. 

Plexus Slim is gluten-free and Vegan and Vegetarian friendly. Oh, well at least there’s that.

I'm not buying the snake oil.

Plexus has NO nutritional value so it can’t actually be compared to Shakeology because Shakeology is NOT a diet drink. Shakeology is hands-down the healthiest meal of the day - a daily dose of dense, superfood nutrition.

Plexus Label  VS Shakeology Label

This company relies on the uninformed consumer to make their money off of. The makers of this product do not do enough of their own research and will grab at whatever buzzword they can feed you to get your money. 

They removed the appetite suppressant Hoodia when it became controversial for it’s lack of scientific evidence to back up its claims. They also removed DMAA from their accelerator formula after comparisons to the side effects of ephedra eventually led to a government ban on the substance. 

Plexus Slim's main ingredient is Chromium. What is chromium? It is metal. Its that simple. Chromium exposure is safe for some adults up to about six months. Extended Chromium exposure is directly linked to dizziness, headaches, liver damage, kidney damage, and is NOT safe to be consumed when pregnant or breastfeeding! 

WAIT! WHAT?! So you want me to put something into my body that contains a metal and I should stop consuming it after 6 months because it can lead to other issues?! Um, no thank you.

Here's another weird thing about Plexus. Previously, you could buy Plexus Slim off Amazon.com, but after unbelievably bad reviews and the presence of the banned chemical dimethylamylamine, Amazon completely removed the product off their site! You cannot buy it on Amazon anymore. 

I brought this up to my "friend" and she twisted is by saying its just like any other MLM business and its illegal to sell those products on sites like Amazon. Funny, cause Beachbody isn't BANNED from Amazon...I checked the banned list, nope only Plexus. 

Check it out for yourself: Plexus Amazon Banned List

Now this was the weirdest thing.

When I went to the official plexus website looking for their company info/their story, like any normal person I expected the first thing to be about their company and products that make a difference in obese people.

Guess what?

The first line on their "our story" page completely gives away the primary focus of the company = money making scheme!

Here's an actual pic straight from their "our story" page…

Here's an actual pic straight from Beachbody's "out story" page...

Now, the cost...

Most people report needing 2 doses of Plexus Slim in a day. Even more people report they take the other Plexus supplements like “Accelerator” and it costs them around $150 a month by the time they get all the add-ons they recommend for “Optimal Results”.

WHY do people want to waste their money on a very expensive product that provides them NO nutritional value, suppresses their appetite which in turn can seriously affect their metabolism, provides possibly unsafe levels of ingredients, etc?! 

Eat real food. Eat the right amounts of real food in the correct portions. 

Here’s the thing: Shakeology is not an appetite suppressant. It’s also not necessarily a meal replacement shake (not on its own, anyway). 

If we’re speaking in terms of caloric needs, you have to mix other things in with the powder in order for the calorie levels to get high enough for it to serve as a meal replacement. It is not a diet drink. 

It’s meant to serve as a boost of protein, vitamins, and minerals because a lot of people don’t get what they need from the foods they eat. It will not target your fat cells over your muscle cells. What it will do is make you feel a million times better. You will have more energy. You will see reduced sugar cravings. You will become more regular because of the probiotics. Your hair and nails will become healthier (hooray biotin!). 

And, you can pair it with a workout and nutrition program that has already accounted for it to make a genuine lifestyle change.

All in all, Plexus Slim MIGHT work for a minor few. We don't know who these 'few' people are. It might be you, yes, it might work for you. But do you really want to spend $150/month for the next 6 months to find out?

I am sure if you're sane, the answer's A BIG NO!

My Weight Loss Story

I posted earlier on my FB about being surprised about seeing someone had pined my Beachbody transformation from the Team Beachbody website. I mean, I guess it could totally happened but I was not expecting to see MY picture while browsing pinterest for some menu idea's for my challengers. Haha! I'm pretty proud of that picture so it's kind of a big deal to me. I worked my ass off (literally) to get where I am now. Its been quite the journey and I'm still going!

Whenever people learn that I've lost a large amount of weight, the first thing they want to know is HOW I did it. So I will dedicate this post to answering that question and get it out of the way now.

The short answer is: beachbody workouts & running (aka exercise) + shakeologoy & eating clean (aka diet). Sorry to disappoint, but I did not take any magic pills, magic wraps, eat magic food, or any type of surgery. I did not sit on my couch all day and stuff my face with food and lose weight! Shocking, right? I actually put in a LOT of hard work, dedication, and made lots of sacrifices to get where I am now---and it was all worth it.

Now, if I still have your attention, I'll give you some details. 

I am a binge eater, and when I was upset, I ate a LOT of food in one sitting. We ate a shit ton of fast food, cooked fattening meals at home, and in order to "relax" at night, I would eat large amounts of comfort foods. 

June 2004, I worked up the nerve to finally leave my toxic marriage. Being a single mom, running a home childcare business and trying to find the real me was hard. The first year after my divorce I put on 37 lbs. I went from 118 lbs to 145 lbs. I went and saw my dr because I was exercising daily and not seeing the scale change and I had a few other issues I was concerned with. Come to find our my thyroid was crap. I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. The dr wasn't the best and just told me to take the meds and continue working out and it'd work its self out. Well it never did but I had so much on my plate I just thought that's who I was meant to be. I did continue exercising 1 hour a day at the gym because it was my therapy time. 

September 2009 just a few days before my birthday I was at the gym on the elliptical doing my thing when I felt my left leg separate at my knee. I dropped from the treadmill in horrible pain. Usually there is no one else in the gym since its a tiny 24 hr fitness but that day there was some meathead looking guy lifting weights. He came running right over and helped me up, got me some ice and wrapped up my knee. I waited a few days and the pain was only intensifying so I went to the ER. After a few X-rays later was in a whole leg brace and on crutches and I had a referal to see a specialist. They were pretty sure I tore my menicus. I went to the specialist but all he talked about was surgery this, surgery that. And this girl was not down for that. Espically since I had been all over the interweb researching for myself. I instead went and saw my family chiropractor. He adjusted me a handful of times and started doing physically therapy with me for 6 weeks. After that he said it would just take time to heal but it would heal on its own. The only catch was it could take up to a year to fully heal. I would try to workout but each time my knee would really both me. So I pretty much gave up.

Fast forward to 2011 when I gave birth to our beautiful lil man Sebastian. I was sick all 9 months with this child. I threw up 1-2 times a day without fail. It was horrible. But I craved sooo much food at the same time. I ate horribly during my pregnancy everything salty, fried and sweet I ate. I ended up gain 80 lbs with this boy. I started the pregnancy around 140 lbs and ended up at 220 the week I had him. He actually came 2 weeks early so I can only imagine the rate I was going if I would have made it to full term that I would have topped off around 230 lbs. Thankfully with Sebastian I was able to drop the 80 lbs by the time he was 10 months old and was holding steady back at 140 lbs.

Then came baby number 4 in 2014! We found out two weeks after we found out we were moving to England, that I was pregnant with our lil Rowan. During the next 7 months, we had to plan our military move halfway across the world AND deal with a HORRIBLE custody battle with my ex. After my 5 months of morning sickness subsidded the weight started really packing on. In May alone I put on 25 pounds...no fucking joke. We had all our stuff packed up mid month, we were living in temporary military housing, trying to see all our family & close friends to say our good-byes and work out the last few kinks of our custody battle. My ex's lawyer was really good at trying to fuck us over at the last moment. And I ate my feelings to coop. I've always held my emotions in so eating them was the only way I could handle everything that was going on around me. Rowan was born August 23, 2014 (1 day before his due date) and the day I went into labor I weight in at 235 lbs ... I'm 5'1".... that's a whole lot of weight on a short person!

October 2014, 6 weeks after Rowan's birth, I made a decision to lose all the weight and get back to the 120's. I've made this decision at least a thousand times before, but for some reason, this time I was very determined to stick it out to the end. I wanted to quit so many times, but I persevered and in December 2015, I weighed in at 150 pounds (85 pounds lost). 

My ultimate goal is to weigh 125 pounds, which would be a total of 110 lbs lost. From January - June I was stuck at 150-152. In June I was laid off from exercise due to a sever hip flexor strain and I ended up gaining some weight. Not a ton but July-September I was fluctating between 157-160. I started back to exercising and eating right mid August and I wasn't losing again. After getting no where with my dr on our military base I took my health into my own hands and late September I started seeing a UK specialist that helps people that battle thyroid issues and weight loss. I started seeing her September 25th and as of today October 20th I'm down 5 lbs. That's a HUGE deal for someone that has hypothyroidism.

As far as the changes I made to my diet? I did not cut out carbs, or eat just fish and broccoli. I didn't live on salads for the last few years. I cut back on my portions by weighing and measuring my food, tracked my calories and meal planned and prepped. Right now the dr I'm working with has me elimanting soy and sugar from my diet. I have already elimantated diary because my stomach doesn't agree with it. It doesn't mean that I occasional enjoy some ice cream because I do its just not monthly. HA!

At first, I ate all the usual stuff that I was eating before--I just ate less of it and counted those calories. Over many months, I began to make healthier changes (because I WANTED to, not because I felt like I HAD to). I was eating roughly 1200-1400 calories per day. Right now my dr has me on a 1200 calories per day and that's because of my thyroid condition. We will be changing it as I begin to lose more. 

As for exercise Turbofire is what helped me lost the 80 lbs after I had Sebastian so of course it was my go to after having Rowan. I did Turbofire, 21 Day Fix, Insanity Max 30, ChaLean Extreme, Cize, Country Heat, 22 Minutes Hard Corps, and Hammer & Chisel (not in that order). March 2015 I started training myself to be a runner using a treadmill hubby bought me. I'm currently back to training myself since I had to take 4 months off completely from running due to my hip flexor issues. 

And that's about it! I'm currently sitting at 151 lbs but I have a feeling I will finally be breaking this plateau real soon. ;) Currently I'm running 2.2 miles, 4 times a week and I'm doing ChaLean Extreme again because this girl loves weight training. 

Pumpkin Protein Bars

Fall is totally here in England. The leaves are changing color, its darker earlier and later in the mornings, and the temps average low 60's as a high. This means I need a few little pumpkin treats in my life!!!

This are so easy to make, they really really taste awesome. Like so awesome that you really have to ration out a serving size and then put the rest away!  If you are looking for something different for your fall rotation and snacks this is one we highly recommend.

Makes 12 servings 

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup agave 
• 4 oz applesauce 
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1.5 tsp ground ginger 
• 1 tsp baking power 
• 1 tap baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp sea salt 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 4 egg whites 
• 15 oz can raw pumpkin 
• 2 cups oat flour (I make my own by blending steel cut oats in a blender, dry)
• 2 scoops vanilla shakeology powder 
• 1/4 cup almond milk 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine all spices and stir till combined in a large mixing bowl. 
2. Add agave, applesauce, vanilla, egg whites, pumpkin, almond milk and stir till combined. 
3. Add in dry ingredients (baking powder, packing soda, oat flour, protein powder) and still till well incorporated. 
4. Take a 9×13 inch pan and spray liberally with coconut oil cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and spread too so bars are even. Bake on 350 for 30 minutes. Enjoy!! 

**If you are following the #hammerandchisel or #21dayfix meal plan this counts as 1 yellow, 1/3 purple and 1/2 red 

Feel free to share and give your feedback on what you think!