Isagenix 30 Day Program- Week 2 Update

So I decided that writing every day is going to get a bit boring and redundant. I’m going to try to write every few days or at least once a week to update on my progress.

The new routine I have going is working pretty well. If you just joined me, I wrote about my new routine in my day 4 post. Since I’m trying to get pregnant, I’ve also decided not to cleanse and not to take the Ionix and accelerator pills.  Cleansing I shouldn’t do for obvious reasons. The Ionix has some pretty exotic herbs in them and I’ve read some articles about why pregnant women shouldn’t take ginseng. The accelerator pills seem to contain some pretty normal stuff however, in the event that I do get pregnant, I wouldn’t want the pills (natural thermogenic) working against my body.

So basically, I’m using the shakes for the nutritional aspect. Plus they’re low calorie, filling, and taste pretty good. I’m also eating my sensible meals in smaller and more frequent portions to cut back on the entire reason for doing this program. I just eat waaaay too much at the worst time of the day, nighttime. So far I’ve been able to cut back on the amount that I eat at night and I’m not starving.

A few cool things I’ve tried. My cousin suggested putting some of the citrus flavored “Want More Energy” powder in the vanilla shake. You’ll have yourself what tastes like an orange sherbert smoothie, Yum! Another way to prepare the vanilla is with some frozen blueberries. Also very good.  For my next batch of products (autoship), I’ve decided to try the soup.  Although the shakes are good, I love variety and more importantly, I love soup.  Will update on how the soup is.

I haven’t done any weighing or measuring since day 1 and I don’t intend to until day 18. Stay tuned.

Isagenix 30 Day Program: Day 4

With day 3 being such a tough day, I came the a hard realization. Although, I was able to stave off hunger by drinking more water or eating a bit of grapes or bell peppers, I still felt hungry pretty much the entire day. My body is not used to the meals being so spaced out as well as just the one shake at night so I’ve decided to modify my routine a bit.

This is what I did on Day 4 and it worked!

Breakfast 9am: Isalean shake #1, 1 accelerator pill, 1 oz Ionix

Lunch 1 12pm: A sensible 300 calorie meal. See more detail about this below.

Lunch 2 3pm: A sensible 300 calorie meal. See more detail about this below. 1 accelerator pill

Snack 530pm: Isalean shake #2

Dinner 730pm: A sensible 200 calorie meal

Rough calorie count- 1262

My sensible meals are now plant-based. The main focus of those meals is the vegetables while the meat and the starch are now the side dishes. On day 4 I did this great soba salad dish which really held me throughout the day. I put a small handful (about 1 cup cooked) of soba in a small bowl and add 1 tsp of some store bought soba dressing. I added some dry nori (seaweed) and a few sesame seeds. I had some left over rotisserie chicken so I took a few breast pieces and put that on top. At this point the bowl barely has anything in it. Then I fill the rest of the bowl to the top with mixed vegetables, red & yellow bell peppers, green beans, zucchini, mushrooms, carrots. This meal along with 20 oz of water will hold me for about 3 hours until the next meal. I usually do a repeat of this for lunch 2 just to make things easier. I normally cook enough veggies and soba for two meals anyways.

In terms of the 200 calorie meal after the shake. I usually work out in the evening so there is no way I can only survive on the one shake. It worked better to have the shake at least 1 hour before my workout. I found that when I got home after the gym, instead of being totally famished and sucking down a big meal, I was just barely hungry. I was able to eat a smaller meal and still feel satisfied and I didn’t go over my BMR of 1300 calories. This approach still uses isagenix for the nutritional shakes but also integrates the smaller meals more often to keep the metabolism going.

I’ve decided not to cleanse yet because I’m trying to get pregnant. I’m going to wait until after my window to decide whether or not to cleanse.

Isagenix 30 Day Program: Day 3

Day 3, tough day. This week I had a client fly in from the East Coast so I was in meetings for most of the week. Not to mention lunch meetings in the office cafe and then a dinner to finish out his visit here. Day 3 was the day that had the most client-entertaining activity which is why I think it was so tough.

So what was different about day 3?

1. I think I was a bit stressed worrying about the meetings and making sure the client was getting the most from what we had set up for him. Even though we had adequate breaks in between, when you’re not doing your normal routine it’s hard to feel at ease.

2. Since we had dinner going on that evening, I had to do shakes back to back. I did one for breakfast and one for lunch. I do not recommend doing that. After my lunch shake I was still hungry and felt a bit strange. I had a small salad and felt much better.

3. Super early dinner, 6pm. For dinner we had Chinese. It was really good Chinese too and since I grew up on the stuff, it was very hard to hold back. I think I did ok though. They had a low-calorie section (go figure!) and we ordered a chicken and veggie dish from there which was great. I mostly ate from that dish but I did have a little taste of the other stuff, chow fun, snow pea leaves, soup. By the time I got home I was pretty full but did feel hungry a few hours later. I staved off my hunger w/ a few grapes and lots of water.

Speaking of water. Before starting Isagenix, I’ve was struggling with getting into the habit of drinking more water. I just wasn’t thirsty. I dont drink sodas or ice teas I usually just drink water but that’s only with meals. I’ve not quite gotten into the habit of the whole 64oz a day thing. But now that I have to drink a lot of water, I’m able to finish a 20oz bottle before lunch. Yay water!

The client flies back tomorrow morning so I’m back to my normal routine tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

Isagenix 30 Day Program: Day 2

Day 2 went slightly better than day 1.  I did the same routine, shake for breakfast and dinner.  Again, I had a lunch meeting which forced me to eat in the office cafe.  They had a nice looking baked chicken with basmati rice and yellow squash.  I made sure to peel all of the skin off of the chicken and was careful about the amount of rice I had.  I did finish all of the squash which was only about 8 or so slices.  I also took 1 oz of the Ionix and 1 accelerator pill.  I think I got busy with meetings and forgot to take the second pill.

Between my breakfast shake, lunch, and lots of water, I wasn’t very hungry through the day.  I had to teach kickboxing that evening so I knew I needed a little something on the drive to the gym.  I had about 15 red grapes and that held me all the way through my intense workout.  By the time I got home, I was barely even hungry.  I had my dinner shake and more water and felt just fine.

Since I stayed up pretty late playing video games, I was hungry by the time I went to bed.  I had two slices of bell pepper and more water and felt better.  I could definitely feel the difference between day 1 and day 2.  I didnt feel as hungry today.

Isagenix 30-Day Program: Day 1

Day 1

Monday July 14 marked my very first day starting the Isagenix 30-day program. I started the day with weight and measurements. I followed the chart that comes with the welcome pack and went down the list doing the measurements (waist, bust, abdomen, arms, legs, etc). I’ll post those at a later time when I have some before and after results to compare with. Monday morning, I weighed in at 134 lbs. Here’s the breakdown of the first day. If you want the super condensed Cliff Notes version, scroll all the way to the bottom to the Overall summary.

Morning:

Breakfast: Isalean Shake

Prep: They recommend blending the shake with water and ice in a blender. I recently purchased the Magic Bullet because it’s small and has individual cups that both my husband and I could use without having to wash a large vessel often. The Magic Bullet makes a very nice shake with a few ice cubes and about 6 oz of water (recipe calls for 8 oz of water total with 2 scoops of isalean shake powder). I decided to start with the chocolate isalean shake.

Taste: The shake tasted surprisingly good. I read other blog posts that described the vanilla as being vile while the chocolate was slightly better. I haven’t tried the vanilla but the chocolate shake was pretty good. It was thick, smooth, creamy, and even slightly rich. The only difference between the Isalean shake and a regular shake is that it’s not as sweet. It’s the type of thing that you notice right away however, after you’ve had a few sips, your palate gets used to it and it’s very pleasant.

Breakfast: Natural Accelerator Pill

This is the natural thermogenic pill that they recommend you take twice a day to increase fat burning. It contains things like apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper fruit, cinnamon, green tea extract, and some other various types of tree bark. I’ve taken thermogenics before, the hard core stuff from GNC, and they made me very jittery so I decided just to start with one yesterday. I didnt feel jittery at all. Actually, I didnt really feel anything so I’ve decided to increase to two going forward.

Ionix

So I completely forgot to take the Ionix. By the time I remembered, it was the end of the day so I decided to just skip it and take it on day 2.

Afternoon

Lunch: Sensible Meal

Around noon, I had a small chicken breast wrap and a small salad. The wrap had chicken breast, lettuce, carrots, celery, a dab of ranch dressing in a flour tortilla. The salad had mixed greens, romaine, broccolli, chopped hard boiled egg, kidney beans and a very small dab of light ranch dressing. That was the best I could do considering I was forced to eat in the office cafe because of a lunch meeting. Although I didn’t do the calorie breakdown, I’m thinking that the lunch meal was within the allowed 400-600 calorie meal limit.

About two hours after lunch, I started to get really hungry. I knew that I was going to the gym after work and decided that I really need to eat a little something to be able to survive the rest of the day. I had a feeling this would be the case so I had brought some baby carrots, sliced bell peppers, and red grapes to work with me. I had about 4 baby carrots and 4 slices of bell pepper. That held me over for about 2 hours but at around 4pm I was hungry again so I had about 7 red grapes.

Evening

Workout:

I got to the gym around 6pm and did 20 min on the eliptical followed by a solid hour of 24 Lift. 24 Lift is an awesome group exercise weight lifting class. You work your entire body in an hour so it’s a great use of time. I felt fine during my workout. I only barely started to get hungry toward the tail end of the workout.

Dinner: Isalean Shake

I repeated the process from breakfast. Isalean chocolate shake in the Magic Bullet for dinner. It was satisfying but by that time, I was super hungry and was tempted to eat something. I fought the urge for awhile.

A few hours after dinner I started to feel very hungry so I had two slices of bell pepper, a few cherry tomatoes, and lots of water. I felt much better after that and was able to stick it out by also not watching TV. They always show the really good food commercials at night. Instead, I played a really intense and involved video game. It really helped keep my mind off of being hungry.

Overall

* I like the shakes. I was hungry on day 1 but nothing unbearable.

* I staved off hunger by playing video games, drinking tons of water throughout the day, and munching on some raw bell pepper slices, baby carrots, grapes, and cherry tomatoes.

* I’ve read that it does get better in terms of the hunger. I think my body will adjust to the shakes and the lower calories and I probably wont be as hungry in the upcoming days.

* My husband asked why I didn’t eat the Isagenix snacks in between meals when I got hungry. For one, I was in a rush out the day and I forgot to pack some. Two, in the back of my mind I was thinking that I was saving them for cleanse days. Three, I wanted a bit of variety with all of the shakes I’d be ingesting and figured raw veggies would be a good alternative.

More to come on day 2. I’d love to hear comments from folks who have done this program before or are thinking about doing it. Thanks for reading!

Isagenix 30-day program goods arrived.

Happy Friday! I had received a shipping confirmation email from Isagenix w/ a UPS tracking number on Monday. I tracked the package and the UPS website said it would be arriving on Thursday (last night). Sure enough, it did. I eagerly ripped the box open to find everything that was listed in the product catalog.

I was really curious about the Isagenix snacks. These are the small wafers that you are supposed to take during cleanse days. You can take up to 6 a day, as needed, during your cleanse days to keep your blood sugar up. I had read other blog posts that say that they are horrible and taste like something you’d give a horse. Some posts said that the vanilla ones were gross while the chocolate ones were bearable. I decided to give in to my curiosity and try one. I received one jar of chocolate flavored snacks with my package. When I took one out of the jar, they did look like horse pills but they smelled delicious. I took a small bite and they were surprisingly tasty. Husband took a bite and thought they were tasty as well. The texture is a bit powdery, kinda like dry brownie mix compressed into a tablet the size of a quarter. The important thing is that they taste pretty good and I can see how they’d satisfy a sweet tooth craving. I feel a bit better about cleanse days now that I know I can nosh on these brownie pills.

Ok, so I really like to open things up and play around w/ them before I acutally use them. I decided to check out the Ionix Supreme juice as well. I opened up the large bottle and took a whiff. Yikes! It smells really strange. I can definitely make out the ginseng and the ginger. It sorta smells like the Asian-inspiried sauces that I concoct when I marinate meat. I almost thought I smelled soy sauce in there but alas, I think it’ s just the dark brown color that deceived my nose. I poured out 1 ounce on the rocks and decided to go for broke. Bottoms up! Wow! I can’t really describe the taste. It’s definitely pungent, a bit sweet, and syrupy. I can only describe it as something tasting like the Chinese medicines that I’ve tried as a kid. I immediately followed with several ounces of water. I had decided to try to Ionix because I was getting ready to teach a kickboxing class in about an hour. I wish I had taken it a bit earlier because I did notice a large boost of energy during my class but it wasn’t until the tail end of class. If that was any indication of what the Ionix does on a regular basis, I’m sold!

Today is Friday and I haven’t officially started the program yet although, I just took an shot of the Ionix for extra energy before I go to the gym today. We’ll see how it works, I’ll report on that later. I’ve decided to start the program on Monday so that I can time my first cleanse day for Sunday. Sunday is my exercise rest day and I’m usually cleaning house or running errands. I usually eat the lightest on Sundays anyway because I’m busy with other things. The welcome pack came with a calendar that suggests you do 6 shake days (two shakes a day, 1 sensible meal) then cleanse on the 7th (cleanse liquid 4x a day, isagenix snacks 6 a day). The two shake days before the cleanse serve as the pre-cleanse days.

Oh yeah, I’m also planning to go pick up one of those Magic Bullet blenders. They have them at BBB or LNT. I don’t have patience to wait for the Isablender to come in. More to come on Monday.

Isagenix- Awaiting the goods.

Hi Everyone! Thanks for reading my first ever blog post on this shiny brand-spankin’ new blog o’ mine. Let me just start by saying that I’ve never liked the idea of blogging. I’ve worked in the web industry for the last 7 years and have been encouraged to blog many a time by colleagues and friends but I’ve never had anything good to blog about until now. So after 7 years and being adamant against blogging, what on Earth is going to get me to start blogging now?? Judging by the title of this blog you’ve probably guessed by now that I’m going to start the Isagenix nutritional cleanse program. I started this blog to document the process/experience mostly for myself (memory isnt so good these days) but also to share with anyone else who might give a care.   I also want to point out that yes, I did sign up to be an Isagenix consultant, notice the links point to my Isagenix site however, this blog is in no way, shape, or form a way of promoting my Isagenix site to make money.  I signed up for the consultant membership so that I can get the products at wholesale cost.  The links are for reference so that you can refer to the products as they are mentioned in this blog.  Now that all of that is out of the way, let’s set some context.

About Me:

I’m a 30-year old, Asian-American, female. I’m married, trying for children, and my husband is also going to start Isagenix with me. I’ll probably post his progress on this blog as well. I work for a well-known, well-admired, software company and I’m also a cardio kickboxing instructor part-time for a well-known fitness chain. I’m 5′2, 130 lbs with a thick muscular/athletic build. Right now, spending QT with my husband and my 2 canine companions is my favorite past-time closely followed by Wii RPG video games.

Why Isagenix?

1. I aint gonna lie! I want to be leaner and healthier! Who doesnt? I’m only 5′2 with disproportionately short legs so being a bit thick and muscular does nothing for me in my attempts to look taller. Obviously, I work in the fitness industry so I have always been concerned about health.

2. I’ve been cursed with a huge appetite so it’s next to impossible to do calorie restriction. My Dad’s mantra is “I live to eat, I dont eat to live” and boy can he put the food away. My Dad also has the typical Asian male body type, size 30 waist and slim. He hasnt gained a pound in years. In fact, he’s losing weight!! Lucky ass!!

3. I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease where your immune system attacks your thyroid. Eventually, my thyroid may be fully out of commission which may eventually lead to a whole host of other problems, weight gain being at the forefront.

4. As I get older, even though I’m pretty active (cardio kickboxing 3x a week and weight-lifting once a week), I still seem to be gaining weight very slowly. This goes back to #2 in that it’s next to impossible for me to restrict my calories and still not feel like I’m starving.

5. For the same reason most people try this. Because they’ve known someone who’s had great success. I have several family members who I trust deeply, have great success with this program. Genetically, we have similar body types and similar medical history (ie. thyroid conditions) so I figure hey, it’s worth a try.

I signed up for the wholesale membership and started with the 30-day program. My shipment should come in this Thursday. We’ll see what happens.