Action Time – Lose This Flab Once and For All!

I find it so exciting to be able to “pushbutton” publish to the entire world, or at least the world that finds this little blog space!

So thanks for coming – I’ll be sharing with you an exciting new journey in permanent weight loss that ‘officially’ kicks off today September 23rd!

And I’m inviting you to join me in making the commitment to yourself to lose your flab once and for all!

Every couple of weeks I’ll post a progress report letting you know how it’s going. I’ll be sharing what’s working and what isn’t -  if anything happens to not work out.

Please feel free to share with me your progress as well, or things you’re having trouble with and we’ll work through it!

Here’s a bit of my weight loss history so that you have some idea where I’m coming from:

I’ve been overweight since my late twenties, except for the occasional yo-yo down to around 140 or so…then back up to between 155 and 165.

Between 165 to 170 is borderline obese, (with obese defined as 30 pounds or more overweight).

Right now, I’m flabby and between 20 and 30 pounds too heavy for my height (5’2″).

I’m 49 years old, and it’s time to make a real change for the better! What I really can’t stand anymore is the flab hanging down from my upper arms, and the flab on my thighs and middle.

Maybe you know where I’m coming from?!!

Bottom line – I’m not happy with the way I look and it’s sort of like quitting smoking. You’re either ready, or you’re not! I think I’m finally ready…

Hopefully you are, too?

Cellulite, the curse of middle aged menopausal women -:)

When I was in Weight Watchers (about 3 years ago now), we learned that if you’re not ready to make a few important changes when it comes to your lifestyle then you’ll either stay the same weight or gain more as you get older.

That’s definitely been my experience.

I lost twelve pounds over the past few months, but it’s still not where I need to be. I’ll post my numbers tomorrow, and some measurements. I know I’ve been creeping back up there…ugh!

I’ve been taking some Shaklee weight loss products since November of 2007. Shaklee corporation has a program for people wanting to lose called ‘Cinch’,  which is a diet, but it’s also a lifestyle change.

One part of the Cinch program is to take two Shaklee shakes per day.  I was good for awhile and lost weight gradually when I was doing the lunchtime shake. But I gradually got away from the one at lunch and that’s when I stalled out, and then gradually starting gaining again.

When I started the Cinch program I was pushing 170. The ideal weight for someone my height and bone structure is between 130 and 135.

Shaklee products are high integrity products and also on the expensive side – but the research that goes into them is solid, plus they’ve been around for fifty years. The company has designed a solid proven weight loss program that is backed up by credible research and testing.

Seven years ago or so, they had a program called “I Love Dieting.” The first week was a total raw vegetable diet along with their shakes. You drank tons of water and gradually re-introduced the foods you actually like to eat.

I remember doing a little ‘happy dance’ when I was finally allowed to have a 4 oz. piece of chicken!

I guess the title of the program was somehow supposed to convince you that you actually loved what you were doing. But in my case, it was anything but!

I ended up hating it, and yes I got down to 140, but it wasn’t long before I was twenty pounds heavier and climbing.

Anyway, getting back to the new and improved Shaklee program – the problem I began to have was a lack of motivation and interest as far as consuming two Shaklee shakes a day in order to lose the weight.

At lunchtime, I wanted something solid to eat.

This isn’t a kick against the Shaklee program…not at all! The shakes are designed to make you lose weight, definitely…and they did work, as long as I did!

The shakes contain an important protein (Lucein) that most other “diet” shakes do not contain, and they’re designed to help your body retain muscle mass while losing the flab.

See, this is one of the big problems people have when losing weight – they not only lose the flab, they lose muscle mass as well…(not a good thing).

When I first started this program, I was getting hungry at different times of the day. Not ravenous, but just that nagging hunger that won’t go away until you do something about it.

Plus I had a constant headache for the first couple of weeks weaning off caffeine…(this is normal for alot of people).

But even after a couple of weeks I found myself hungry a couple of hours after taking the lunch shake.

On this program, when you started getting hunger pangs after “lunch” your could have a Shaklee Cinch bar with tea or water to hold you over until dinner.

You could also have a healthy snack like an apple.

Then dinnertime, you’d have your main portioned meal. The way this program works is you’re looking to maintain the correct percentage balance between carbs, fats and proteins throughout the day.

Actually, your main meal didn’t have to be in the evening – you could have it at lunchtime, too.

So I’m still taking the Shaklee shake in the morning, but haven’t been motivated to take the one at noon, which you really need in order to lose weight on this program and not just maintain.

Personally, I like their vanilla shake product the best, because I add in fruit, soy milk (or regular milk) and ice cubes in order to make a delicious fruit smoothie.

You can put in any kind of fruit – later on I’ll post some tasty smoothie recipes for you to try out and eventually do some in-home video demonstrations!

Sorry for the rambling start – just wanted to give you an idea of where I’m coming from.

Since I’m not motivated so much with the Shaklee program now, (it worked for awhile…it wasn’t the program, it was me!) I’ve been doing some research and my plan is to integrate a new program I’ve recently found out about and write my thoughts and results here.

I’m still going to take the Shaklee vanilla shake everyday in the morning, because it’s a great way to start the day right plus it tastes great with the fruit combo and soy milk.

I won’t mention the name of this new program to you yet. I’ve decided to wait until a little later on to reveal it.

So this blog is serving as my online diary to sort of chronicle my progress, and see if this new program has merit.

That information should help you out, too.

To be fair to this new product, I am dedicating a focused effort to it to see if it’s the real deal. So we’ll see.

I guess the only advice I would have, from one person trying to lose weight to another is to do your research and try to find honest product reviews and stick with a program once you find one and give it a fair shot.

That’s the best way to be fair to yourself, yes?

I saw one product review the other day – there was a picture of two guys…(you know, the before and after pictures?)…well, if you looked (not even that closely!) you could see that it wasn’t even the same guy in the after shot!

Anyway back to giving advice – the only other advice is if you find a diet program and it doesn’t inspire you to take action or seems too hard and not appealing? Well, don’t waste your money, because you probably won’t stick with it.

And if you aren’t ready, I don’t believe any amount of diet pills or diet programs and such will help you. You have to be ready and maybe even a little fed up, like I am.

I am excited about this one I’ve found – there are some aspects to it that make it stand out from the rest. For one thing, it looks straightforward and simple to do.

So, I’ll keep you posted on my progress – to anyone out there that might actually read this!

Word of encouragement – don’t ever give up on yourself. You can lose your flab once and for all…I’m going to do it and you can too!

So please join me and let’s make the best of ourselves!

Elise