Friday, July 30, 2010

Day 18 - Measurement Day

I was somewhat dreading this morning. I knew it was measurement day and I was deathly afraid that the whole world (or the 2 people that read this blog) would be shaking their heads in disapproval as they read about my weight gain over the last 10 days.
Thankfully..that's not the case !
I dropped 1.8 pounds over the last 10 days as well as a couple of inches as well. So I'm now down to 204.6 and with the goal of getting to 200 by the end of the 30 days. Seems plausible.

This weekend will be a challenge however as I'll be vacationing in Quebec City with the family. I will be bringing my Isagenix supplies with me although the magic bullet will be staying at home.
I may not be able to blog about the trip over the next few days, but I will keep notes and provide a full update on Monday night.

Also..I'm making an appointment with a trainer from my gym for a body composition analysis. I wish I had done this on day 1, but better late than never I suppose.

Tip of the Day: Carry snacks in your backpack and your car so you're not tempted by fast-food when hungry. I've been taking a bottle of water everywhere along with organic apples and that's really helped keep me on track on days I've been hungry and tempted.

Day 17: Cleanse today

Today was my 2nd cleanse day. It wasn't too bad, although I did feel sluggish at times, especially as I tried to motivate myself to go to the gym.
However we had plans with good friends of ours at 7:30, so I did eat at that point, although I stuck to sashimi (fish) and some very light veggies but didn't have any rices.
I did manage to go to the gym today and have a good workout with the weights. I also signed up for a body composition analysis (I wish I had done this on day 1) to get a sense of my body fat etc..

Here's the recap
8:15am : IsaSnack
8:30am : Cleanse for Life
12noon : Cleanse for Life
4pm : Cleanse for Life
5pm : Gym
8pm : Sashimi
10pm: Vodka on the rocks

Tip of the day : Don't be afraid to bring an isagenix poweder along with you to work. Either bring the container or fill a small baggie. No need for embarrassment. In fact, some of these $10 lunches are more detrimental to your health and wallet.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Day 16 : Does Isagenix fit into a social life ?

As mentioned yesterday, today was a social day. So I could only do the morning shake since I had lunch and dinner plans. I did make a conscious effort to eat healthy for both meals and this comes down to make good choices and even asking the waiter for healthy substituted (whole wheat instead of white bread for example).
Here's the recap

7:30am : Shake
9:30am : Ionic Supreme
noon : salmon with mixed vegetables
3pm : pistachios
7pm : chicken club sandwich with house salad (very little vinaigrette)

At 7pm..I started the cleanse. I had a Cleanse-for-Life drink at 9pm to get me started and I'll have 3 tomorrow, with the 'fast' breaking at 8pm.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Day 15 : Reflections at the halfway point

As I approach the halfway mark, a few reflections to summarize the first 15 days
1) The shakes and drinks don't taste that bad. In fact, nothing in the program is really a 'chore' to consume.
2) Each day requires planning with a strong dose of realism.
3) Losing weight will happen in the first week and each pound lost is another reason to stick with it.
4) Plateauing will happen in week 2. I'm not the only one to encounter this phenomenon. My explantion is that I dedicated my schedule in week 1 to Isagenix and shifted a couple of things to make sticking to the diet easier. In week two, I've been averaging about 1.5 social engagements per day and it's been hard to stick to the 2-shake, 1 meal type of day.
5) Portion control is critical to success. It requires self-control, but most successful people (regardless of endeavour) acheive their goal through dedication and self-control.
6) I'm not quite sure if the Isaflush or the Natural Accelerator actually have an impact.
7) The gym activity is critical to success. I'd recommend 30 minutes daily.
8) It's much easier to stick with the program if there's someone supporting you. A form of support is 'betting' that you can't acheive your goal and rewarding you if it does happen. My wife has promised me a mini-shopping spree when I get down to 200 pounds by the end of August.
9) It's awesome when old clothes start to fit again.
10) It's even more awesome when people look at you and say "You've lost weight, haven't you ?"

Here's the recap of the day.
9am : Ionic Supreme
11am : Shake
1pm : coffee w/ non-fat milk
2:30pm : apple
4pm : green tea and 4 multi-grain crackers
6pm : 2 small slices of pizza
9pm : shake

Workout : None today.

I need to do a cleanse day soon but I have to meetings tomorrow so tomorrow won't be a good day. Thursday's also bad because of another dinner.
So my plan is to do a 24-hour clean between 7pm Wed and 7pm Thurs. Hopefully it will be as effective as a normal day cleanse. We'll see.
I'll then do my weigh-in an measurements on Thurs evening before my dinner.

Days 12-14 You get out what you put in

The old adage that "You get out what you put in" applies to many situations. Food for example. The more unhealthy calories you stuff yourself with, the larger the negative impact to your health. Conversely, the more effort you put in, the more positive results you get.

I apologize that the last 3 days are being summarized in one entry. In general, none of the days were stellar. Mainly because life got in the way. On Sat, I had a big family party to attend. On Sunday, we had brunch plans and hosted a small dinner. Today, I went to the Blue Jays game with a group of friends.

I don't believe a diet should constrict lifestyle. Now if my goal was to lose as much as weight as possible in the 30 days, then it's incumbent upon myself to adhere to the diet strictly. However my goal was to validate whether this 30 day diet will teach me proper eating habits as well as help me lose weight and get me in the right direction health-wise.

I'm pleased to report that on all 3 days, major crises were averted. I was responsible at the family dinner, ensuring I exercised portion control and selected wisely. I did have a small dessert but didn't go back for seconds. On Sunday, I had a smoked salmon omelet for brunch. And for dinner we made chicken breast with a wine sauce, baked eggplant and couscous. Tonight, I avoided the beer, opting for a single vodka and club soda. I had couple of nacho chips and peanuts, but did my best to avoid the usually fatty temptations.

For exercise, I had a good 20 minute elliptical session on Saturday. On Sunday, I walked about 4km. Today, I walked again about 3-4Km. I'm finding reasons to go for walks.
My plan tomorrow morning is to go for a walk quickly after my morning shake and shower. The idea is that getting outside early makes the morning feel more productive.

I'm not going to do a food recap for all 3 days since I can't remember what I ate on Sat or Sunday. However, in general, I'm definitely making better choices with portions, vegetables and fruits over simple carbs and fats and consuming lots of water.

I do plan on being more stringent during the last 16 of the challenge however as my goal is 200 pounds and I need to put in the effort to get there.

Tip of the day : Cut back on the the sodium. A friend of mine cautioned me about the pistachios saying the sodium could have detrimental effects to the weight loss. I can't argue with him. Since I bought the package of pistachios, my weight has flatlined despite good efforts. The answer is simple..cut out the pistachios and rev up the metabolism again.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Day 11 - Back on the horse

I made a conscious effort to get back to following the program after a few haphazard days. As we had plans for the evening, I decided to do my shakes for breakfast and lunch. I had to make a trip to Costco for frozen berries (1.8kg for $10) and consciously did not pick up any fun snacks. However I did pick up salt & pepper pistachios. I've come across a few articles on the health benefits of pistachio's lately (here's one : http://holistic-nutrition.suite101.com/article.cfm/health_benefits_of_pistachios ) and I'm a fan of salt and pepper so I decided to put a bag in my cart and push it, push it real good. (If only one person gets this joke, it will have been worth it).

Didn't get a chance to go to the gym, however I did walk for at least an hour today while doing grocery shopping and then going to Mel Lastman square for Cultura (summer series with vendors, performers and an open-air movie with money going to chartiy).

Here's the recap
9am : Ionix Supreme, Shake (1.5 scoop)
11am : pistachios (about 30 shelled)
noon : raw broccoli and a little hummus
2pm : shake
4pm : pistachios (about 20 shelled)
7pm : Malaysian 'sandwich' with beef, beans and other vegetables. I wouldn't call it healthy, but I could have done worse. Fried plantain (not deep fried) without additional sugars etc.
10:30pm : 3 bites of my wife's KFC burger (we went to see Inception and she was hungry)

Workout : Walking for about an hour

Tip of the day : Parkinson's law states that "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". If you give me a week to finish a job, I'll take a week to finish the job. If you give me an hour..I'll finish it an hour. Applying it to our situation and eating, I find that if I decide to eat something in a big bowl, I'll usually fill the big bowl and eat what's in it. If I fill a small bowl, I'll fill that and eat it. Both will fill be adequately..but a big bowl is a license to stuff myself. So the lesson is to use small bowls to help limit portion size.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Day 11 - Pangs of guilt

After peaking around day 8 or 9, the last 48 hours haven't been stellar. Again, everything's relative so compared to my eating and exercise habits from a month ago, it's a vast improvement. However I haven't been following the program to a tee and I feel a little guilty.

I knew that my wife and I had dinner plans tonight, so I went easy on breakfast and lunch to save calories for dinner. I also decided to go to the gym at 11am today since I wouldn't be able to do a workout in the evening. For lunch, I got a salad from Salad House again which was filling. For dinner, we went for sushi and I got the Sashimi Silver special...18 pieces of sashimi which definitely filled me up. As I was eating the 12th piece and onward..I did think about the diet and having to post my gluttony tonight. But then the next piece of salmon sashimi was too good and I couldn't say no to the remaining pieces. Oh well. At least the food I ate was healthy, but I'm do feel a bit heavy and a little guilty I didn't have my two shakes.

Here's the recap
9am : Ionix Supreme
11am : Gym
12noon : shake with mango/blueberries
2pm : spinach salad with avocado, eggs, tomatoes, cucumber, blue cheese, raspberry vinagrette
6pm : green tea at Tim Hortons
8:30pm : 18 pieces of sashimi, miso soup, scoop of green tea ice cream,

Workout : 20 minute of high-intensity intervals that had me sweating buckets. Then pull ups, dips and deadlifts. Short workout that left me feeling pumped.

Tip of the Day : Don't go to the scale too many times daily. If anything measure yourself once a day in the morning or better yet once every 3 days. That way you don't get too upset if you gain a pound in 24 hours due to water (or poutine) retention.

13 Healthy Snacks

I love snacks. I could eat snacks all day. And truth be told, I've done this more than once in my life which is probably why I'm in my current predicament of wanting to lose weight.

I receive a daily newsletter from a fitness expert. Here's his webpage.
http://www.truthaboutabs.com/meal-ideas-fitness-over-40.html

In his post today, he had 13 fat-burning and tasty snacks and some of them look very satisfying. I'm going grocery shopping today, so I'll pick up a few of the ones he recommends. I especially like the last one on the list : Cottage cheese with cinnamon, apple slices, and walnuts.

Here's the full list :

• Apple or other fruit with almond butter
• Hummus with carrot sticks or sliced red/yellow/orange peppers
• Guacamole with carrot sticks or sliced red/yellow/orange peppers
• Ricotta cheese (grass-fed if possible) mixed with cocoa powder, stevia, and vanilla extract (delicious high protein, low carb snack!)
• Cottage cheese mixed with yogurt, berries, and walnuts or pecans
• A couple hard boiled eggs with carrot and celery sticks and hummus (roasted red pepper hummus is my favorite)
• Celery sticks with organic peanut butter or almond butter (a classic quick snack)
• My famous healthy chocolate FUDGE recipe
• Avocado slices wrapped in deli turkey breast (one of my favorite quick snacks)
• A piece of sprouted grain toast (sprouted grain preferred nutritionally over "whole grain") with nut butter and berries
• Fresh sliced pineapple with a handful of macadamia nuts
• a bowl of blueberries mixed with raw almonds
• my quick and healthy fat-burning chocolate pudding recipe
• Cottage cheese with cinnamon, apple slices, and walnuts (mmm, mmm good)

Day 10 - Another cheat day

Today was a busy social day which kept me out of the house from 8am to 10pm, so the diet definitely slipped. I didn't get a chance to do an intense exercise either, however i'm sure I walked at least an hour around downtown Toronto today.

Here's the recap

7:15 - Shake with 2 scoops, Natural Accelerator
9:30am - iced green tea at Starbucks
12:30pm - brown rice sushi
2pm - iced green tea at Starbucks
6pm - apple
8pm - 3 small slices of pizza (2 healthy, 1 unhealthy) and 3 wings

Had water throughout the day, but not as much as usual.

All in all, not a great day for the diet.  But tomorrow's another day and a clean-eats day will make up for today.

Tip of the Day : A good friend of mine (and loyal reader of this blog) shared this tidbit that he picked up -> for every bad meal you eat, have 5 healthy ones. So basically permit yourself one bad meal every two days. However the one bad meal should still be reasonable otherwise you'll drown out the benefit of your 5 healthy meals.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Day 9 - Good portion control, but too many portions

In general, a pretty good day. I did have a couple of snacking pangs, but I didn't want to nullify the good results from the morning so I limited what I ate. In the evening, I did an intense 30 minute weights workout and then went for an hour-long walk with the wife.

Here's the recap :
8am - Green tea
9am : Ionic Supreme, Shake
11:30am - 4 oz chicken, brown rice w/ sausage and peppers
1pm : 2 pieces of Laughing Cow lite cheese (about 50 calories
5pm : another small bowl of brown rice, isagenix snack
7:30 : half a BBQ sausage - I couldn't resist (about 140 calories)
9:30 : shake 
10:30 : small bowl of homemade tuna and pasta

Hmm..now that I look at the recap, this was probably my largest day of caloric-intake since I started Isagenix. Also I just noticed that I didn't really have many veggies, so that's something to work on. However my portion control has greatly improved. A small bowl fills me up rather than a larger bowl or plateful.
Tomorrow we'll be meeting friends in the evening, so I'm going to pretty lightly on the calories in the morning and afternoon in anticipation of a heavier dinner.

Tip of the Day : Try to plan your the night before so you know when to have shakes, snacks and meals.

Day 9 : Photos and Measurements

I have to admit I was looking forward to today. As soon as I woke up, I ran out of the bedroom to check the scale. I was very happy to see the figures 206.4 staring back at my dreary yet hopeful eyes. My wife took my measurements with the handy measuring tape that Isagenix included in the box. I've posted my measurements on the right side of the blog.
Here are some photos form today including the scale.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Day 8 : The first cleanse day

Today was the first of 4 cleanse days I have to go through in the 30 day program. Basically, it's you're taking the Isagenix Cleanse for Life drink mix 4 times over the course of the day. This means skipping the shakes as well as the normal 400-600 calories meal. Snacks are allowed.

To be honest, it wasn't brutal. At one point was a bit hungry and I ate an organic apple which quelled the pangs. I've read that the IsaCleanse tastes terrible. I got the powder and mixed it with 4oz of water as per the instructions and it was fine. Not something I'd choose to drink for leisure..but not gag-inducing either. I drank a tonne of water today as well..at least 100oz.

Here's the recap :

9am - IsaSnack (reminds me of a chocolate tablet..they call it a wafer)
9:15am - IsaCleanse
12pm - IsaCleanse
2pm - played squash for an hour
3pm - hard-boiled egg
5pm - IsaCleanse
8pm - apple
10pm - IsaCleanse

Workout : I did play squash for an hour and I totally noticed a difference in my energy levels. Even in the 5th game, I was able to move the way I wanted to and wasn't nearly as winded as I would have been two months ago.

Tip of the Day : I came across this quote a couple of days ago and I really like it : "If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse." - Jim Rohn

Tomorrow : The weigh in, the measurements and new photos. I'm actually looking forward to it !

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Day 7 : Down 5.8 pounds

I was very happy this morning to weigh myself and have the scale flash 207.2. I'm down 5.8lbs in 7 days. I totally recognize that this pace is not sustainable and I assume there a fair of water weight in there. However I know the love handles have shrunk and my shirts/pants definitely fit a little better.

Today was a pretty good. Again..seeing results in the morning keeps me in the right mindset. I want to see the scale the next day with an even lower number and i know the only way to do that is to stay the course. However as I mentioned in a previous post, I want to test the flexibility of this diet as well. So today along with the 2 shakes and the Ionix drink and Natural Accelerator tablets, I also wound up splitting a bottle of wine with a friend visiting from out of town and I had a small bowl of my brown rice / sausage / red pepper stirfry that my wife made.

I did manage to get to the gym at 5:30, just in time for a pretty intense 30 minute workout. I did 5 minutes of high intensity elliptical and then lots of weight exercises.

Here's the recap:
9am : water, Ionic mix
11am : shake with 1 scoop
2pm : portabella mushroom burger with buns and a little mozzerrella
5:30pm : gym
6:30: apple
8pm : wine
10pm : shake with 1 scoop, bowl of brown rice / saugage / red pepper stirfry

Tip of the day : Reduce shake from 2 to 1 scoops if you know you'll be eating other calories. This is not official Isagenix advice, but it's logical to me.

Day 6 : The weigh-in

I decided to do an offical weigh-in this morning after showering and shaving (need every little edge I can get). I expected to be down at least 3 pounds. I was down 4 pounds exactly. I felt really good about this result and more importantly, I feel good about clothes fitting a bit better. The scale's an amazing motivation when it's moving in the right direction. I'm writing a note to myself that I NEVER want to feel chubby at 213 pounds again. After the cleanse, I'll take some more photos to post.

Diet was pretty easy today. I really don't mean to sound cocky, but it really wasn't all that challenging. I had great energy this morning. I had very few hunger pangs. I went grocery shopping and stuck to the small list I had rather than wandering and picking up stuff I don't need and shouldn't be eating. Very satisfying !

Here's the recap
8:30am : Shake
10am : apple
1pm : organic brown rice, free-range chicken, red pepper
5pm : hard boiled egg
9pm : shake

Workout : walked around for at least 30 mins; high-intensity cardio for 20 mins

Tip of the Day : Consider organic foods. It's a little pricier, but healthier and tastier.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Day 5 : Making the program work for me

I think I'm committed to NOT following the program to a tee because I want to know the program works with a little flexibility. One of the things I need to prove in order for me to recommend this product is that it really is a lifestyle change rather than an artificial dependency. So far, I'm really happy with my cravings and my general resistance to temptation. I'm not really snacking as much as I thought I'd want to. The day kinda just goes by with me doing my 2 shakes, a healthy meal, an apple, some other snack and lots of water and green tea. I did agonize the first couple of days and almost counted down to the next meal/snack, but now I almost have to remind myself to eat.

Here's how the day went
8am : shake
9am : went to travel clinic to get shots for our trip to Africa/Asia
11am : apple / water
1:30pm : half a sharwarma (left over from previous night), grill portabella mushroom cap with a little grated mozzarella and water
4:00pm : a few blueberries
8pm : shake

Lots of water during the day. I did not get my 20 mins of exercise today, so I'll make a note to make up for this tomorrow.

Tip of the day : Lemons and other fruits help add a bit of flavour to water. I cut up lemons into slices and put in a tupperware container in the fridge so it's easy to get a slice every time I drink water.

Day 4- A bit of a cheat day

I knew that tonight's dinner would be at an Italian restaurant, where it would be very difficult to limit my intake to 400-600 calories. So I planned ahead and then enjoyed the dinner.

This morning when I weighed myself, I was delighted to see I had dropped 3.2 pounds since starting the program. I expect rapid weight loss because that's very common when starting a calorie-reduced diet, but it's gratifying to see the scale move in the right direction. See that stat this morning gave me the boost to resist temptation throughout the day.

Here's the recap

8am : Half a shake, Natural accelerator, Ionix Supreme
9am : water
10am : water
11am : water
12noon - apple
1pm : egg
2pm : water
3:30pm : Starbucks iced coffee, no milk, a little sweetener
7:30pm : assorted antipasto, veal scallopini, one small piece of bread and one bite of tiramisu. I said no to the bread and wine (there's a religious joke here somewhere) and even though it felt like a bit of a gorge, I tried to be as healthy as possible with what I chose to eat.
10pm : water

I'm interested to see how much this meal will set me back. I've read that a short boost in calories can actually speed up metabolism due to an increased production of the hormone leptin. Here's a link to an interesting article about it : http://yourendocrinologist.com/leptinboostdiet.html

Tip of the Day : Carry a bottle of water when you leave the house. Carry a bottle in your gym bag. Bring a bottle to your car. It's amazing how easy it is to drink lots of water when it's accessible ! It's also amazing how easy it is to go without water when not readily available.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Day 3 - Still on the wagon

Quote of the Day : Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.

I opened the fridge 3 times today thinking about eating cheese, a spring roll or something else that I shouldn't be eating in week 1. I was able to resist temptation each time today, but I want to get myself to the point where the habit of opening the fridge ceases.
The A/C isn't working in our place right now, so sleep wasn't all that easy last night..I probably got about 6 hours. However my energy level today was decent all things considered. I didn't get a chance to do a formal workout today however I know I walked at least 30 minutes cumulatively today. Also, I'll be hitting the weights tomorrow.

Here's the rundown today :
7:00am - Shake, Ionic Supreme, Natural Accelerator
Unfortunately I was an idiot and forgot to pack a snack today.
9:30am - water
11am - water
12noon - an awesome salad from this place near Yonge and Bloor. Spinach with smoked salmon, avocado, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, egg and a light vinaigrette. Very tasty and filling.
1:30pm - water
3:00pm - water
4:30pm - high fibre granola bar (120 cal) x2
6:00pm : hard boiled egg
8:00pm : shake
11pm : water, IsaFlush

Tip of the Day : Keep hard boiled eggs handy. I boiled 6 yesterday and expect to go through them in about 4 days.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Day 2 - Tougher than Day 1.

Today seemed a bit tougher than Day 1. Day 1 was a breeze for me as I've done 24 hour fasts before so adjusting to minimal calories for day 1 was easy. I made the mistake of sleeping less than 6 hours last night and I think that contributed to my general lethargy today. I did have mild headaches today as well. I walked around for about 20 minutes today during the day and then also did about 25 minutes of interval training on the elliptical where I burned over 400 calories according to the digital monitor.

So here's how's the day played out as I did Day 2 : Shake Day
7:30 : Chocolate Shake, Ionix Supreme, Natural Accelrator
9:30 : iced coffee from Starbucks w/ 1 sweetener (I had to justify the 2 hours of wifi I was about to use)
11am : water
12:30 : walked over to St Lawrence market in search for a balanced 400-600 calorie meal. I found this small place call Cruda cafe (no..not Crud Cafe) that sold vegan/organic meals. Interesting. I felt like I was being served by the Indigo Girls. Anyway..had a glow salad which had lots of greens, tomatoes, walnuts, avocado, raisins and a light apple/ginger dressing. Quite good.
2pm : I was hungry again, so I ate a small turkey burger patty and an IsaSnack. IsaSnacks are these small pieces of  chalky chocolate. They're not terrible but they're not great either.
4pm : water with lemon
5:30pm : gym..25 minutes of elliptical..drank a lot of water
6:30pm : vanilla milkshake (again with frozen berries)
8:00pm : raw broccoli and cauliflower with a bit of hummus
9:00pm : water
10pm : sleep

So today I did probably ingested around 1400 calories..but I did have a good workout, so I think I'm ok. I do have a slight headache and that's probably a combo of the lack of sleep, and the sugar withdrawal. I remember a similar feeling at the beginning of the Atkins Diet I did about 6 years ago.

Tip of the day : Get more than 6 hours of sleep ! One of the habits of a healthy lifestyle is getting adequate sleep. Whether you use Isagenix or not, there's a tonne of science-based research that support the merits of sleeping at least 7 hours a night.

Day 1 - Not too bad at all !

This morning, I had a chat with John, who signed me up.
He gave me a few helpful tips to get me started on shake day.

Here's how the day played out
8:30am - Chocolate shake (2 scoops, frozen berries water) - tasted like a chocolate milkshake
- Isagenix Ionix Supreme (1 scoop with 6oz water) - had a sweet tinge
- Natural Accelator capsule - tasteless
10am - 8oz of water
11am - went to driving range
11:45am - ate an apple
Noon - worked out for an hour with a buddy (15 minutes stairmaster, 45 minutes weights) - drank lots of water during this
2pm - chocolate shake
4pm - water
6pm - dinner - turkey cutlet, small piece of salmon, half plate of raw veggies (chick peas, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli)
8pm - water
10pm - water

The day wasn't too bad. Im a bit hungry right now..but nothing too terrible that will keep me up at night.

Tip of the day : Use a magic bullet to blend the shakes. Add frozen berries (I bought a big 2kg bag from Costco).

Monday, July 12, 2010

The Starting Line : Photos




Here's photos from the start day. 213 pounds and a couple of ugly mugshots. I'll try and wear the same t-shirt for every photo so the difference is hopefully noticable.

Question and Answers

Here's a rolling list of Questions and Answers. I will be filling out the answers as I come across the info in my reasearch. If you have any questions you'd like me to add, please leave me a comment. I've divided them into the following categories

A) Health Questions
B) Business Questions
C) 30 day Cleanse Questions


A) Health Questions
1) Have there been clinical trials ?
2) Are the ingredients all natural ?
3) What are some of the potential risks ?
4) What happens if I stop taking the product ?
5) Could taking these products pose any risk to having healthy children ?


B) Business Questions
1) How does the business model work ?
2) How much work do I need to do to get to $500 a month ?
3) How much support does Isagenix offer ?
4) What type of reaction do I get when I speak to people about Isagenix ?

C) 30 Day Cleanse Questions
1) How hard is it to follow ?
2) What happens if I don't follow it to a tee ?
3) What support will I receive during the 30 days ?
4) How quickly will I see the results ?
5) How quickly will I feel the results ?
6) Do I have energy to go the gym ?
7) How quickly are my eating habits changing ?

What's in the 30-day box ?

Here's a run down of what I got in the box

4 IsaLean Shakes (this will be the bulk of the calories ingested over the next 30 days)
2 Cleanse for Life powders (for cleanse days)
1 Natural Accelerator
1 IsaFlush
1 Isagenix Snacks
4 Want more Energy packets
A whole kit of information on the cleanse as well as the business

How I learned about Isagenix

It all started a couple of weeks ago when a buddy I've known for over 18 years told me he's completed a month of Isagenix. I didn't much about Isagenix at the time..but I had a negative bias towards it because it's MLM (Multi-level-marketing). I was shocked that my friend, who's done very well as the owner of his business, would get involved with this, but he explained to me that he was looking for some passive monthly income that would provide the family a bit more security while he took risks with some new business ventures.

Fair enough..but why Isagenix ? He said that his wife and sister-in-law had done the program and had seen serious results. He did the 30-day cleanse himself and dropped 18 lbs. The results are what got him really excited. He said he had more energy, more stamina, fewer inches and less body fat %.

Fair enough....but what about long terms affects and dependency and costs ? So I started to do some research. I did a bunch of googling such as "isagenix scam", "isagenix reviews", "isagenix lawsuits" and a few other negative search terms. There were definitely some naysayers, but not nearly as many as I expected. A common complaint of naysayers said that they did experience weight loss but put it back on fairly soon. A few people however commented on their posts asking whether they reverted back to their old eating habits or adopted the new habits that the 30 day cleanse was supposed to teach.

Over the few days, I've come up with a lot of questions and have figured out some of the answers. I'll set up a Q&A post which will keep a running log of the questions and answers. If you'd like to have a question answered, please let me know.

Anyway..I've done sufficient research to convince myself that there's very little downside in doing the 30-day cleanse. Best case scenario, it's really works and I drop about 15lbs. cultivate much healthier eating habits, gain faith in the product and become more open to the business. Worst case scenario, I drop a few pounds but not enough to justify the cost, don't fully believe in the product and therefore can't really become an advocate of it and sell it.

FYI..The 30-day cleanse cost me $279 US + membership fee + shipping. The total cost on my credit card was $316.22 USD.

In this blog, you'll find...

I've decided to blog about my 30-day Isagenix Cleanse as a way to hopefully keep myself motivated as well as to serve as a guide to others that are considering doing it themselves.

In this blog I hope to :
* Details my consumption for each of the 30 days
* Keep a running log of Q&A's
* Provide helpful tips that I uncover along the way
* Track my numbers (weight, inches lost)
* Draw a conclusion on whether this was a good investment for me

Hope you enjoying reading it !