A Different Kind Of Journey

I am an observer. In high school that is pretty much how I stayed out of trouble. While some of my friends were making poor choices drinking, sleeping with boys, experimenting with drugs, shoplifting, etc, I was watching. I was waiting to see what kind of results or consequences were brought on and then formed what I liked to consider my own educated opinion. My parents were lucky. I made high honors in grades, was involved in sports and leadership groups, had an after school job and was put up as an example by teachers while still remaining on good terms with my peers. Granted, there are things that, oh man...if I knew what I knew now, would sure have made a difference... But nevertheless it is what it is and I was glad to get out of high school with very minor emotional bumps and bruises.

One of the things I wish I could have told myself is how so NOT fat I was. I look back at pictures and remember that I fit into a size 4 most times and was a size 6 for my grad dress....and yet...I felt fat all the time. Not enough to push myself into anything self sabotaging like an eating disorder but as a adolescent I sure remember those thoughts. Today I look back at those pictures and shake my head. What I wouldn't give to have a tiny body like that again. But years, surgeries, stress, a body that has prepared itself for pregnancy twice and other things have made that tiny body a thing of the past. When I met DH I had just recently broken up with my ex and had started running, eating meal replacement shakes and making healthier choices. I was at my prime. I do not think I ever looked better..I also had time as I was conveniently living at home and unemployed. Give me a break, it was over four years ago, I was only 22!

Before our wedding and about a year before that I started gaining back the weight. (Fabulous timing right?)But there was something wrong with my body. I felt sick every time I ate and had stomach pain and felt bloated pretty much 24/7 for about two years. In July about a month and a half before our wedding I had emergency surgery for a seriously infected and inflamed gall bladder. I had (according to the ultrasound tech) many stones documented every time I went into the ER in the past years but was never told about it until that last time when I was rushed into surgery because it was so bad. After being on bed rest for a week, about two months later DH and I started noticing a change. I was losing wight without doing anything different...my body was trying to get back to what it considered normal. Now however, I am stuck trying to lose those last 15 pounds. That is where the observations come in...

I am not one to fall into fads without some research. DH and I attended a Mona vie thing a while ago at the request of the friend and I had to do all I could to keep DH from getting up and walking out the door. I felt it was at least polite to sit through the presentation even though we knew it was not something we wanted to take part in. They were good friends and that is why we went. I have been looking into my options as to which route I wanted to take to lose that last bit for a little while. As DH not so kindly put last night I tend to start new things all the time that never seem to work. In my defence ...how do you know if they work if you do not try..? This leads me to my most recent research. A couple girls that I know (yes KNOW... Not a "friend of a friend". I know these girls, see them, etc) have lost a significant amount of weight on a new program. Two out of the three have lost just over 10 pounds in a month while the other has achieved a high weight loss for her body size/type as well (which is a smaller frame). Not only that but their husbands got involved after seeing that and now their husbands have started losing wight or bulking up (another option of the program). That is where the 90 Day Challenge and Body By Vi comes in. The ultimate reason why I am thinking of starting this is I did not want to start something that I would have to potentially stop in a month if I got pregnant. I needed it to be super safe even if I was pregnant. And this totally is. In fact one of the girls was pregnant while she was on the challenge and chose it for that specific reason as well.

The 90 Day Challenge and Body By Vi is basically a shake diet/lifestyle with exercise worked in. Now...it is not shakes that bother me. I can do shakes. It is the moment when I can taste the chalky/icky/blehness of the powder in the shakes that I get really turned off. Also...I love food. And the fact that I can continue to have whatever I want for dinner which will not change anything at home! I eat breakfast and lunch at work/alone anyways so DH will not have to suffer for my curiosity! lol. I lose weight and he still gets steak, potatoes, rice, and pasta cooked for him every night (and I get to eat it too!) Pretty much the only reason I am so open to this is I am seeing first hand the success of my friends and how much happier they are. How they not only FEEL better but look great as well.

As I have not tasted the product (which I hear makes the shakes taste like you are drinking an actual milkshake...yumm) yet I am going over to a friends house to try it out and then will go from there. I am cautiously optimistic. If those girls can make it happen and they are moms and career women with the same time/issues that I have why wouldn't it work for me?!  Has anyone else done this? If so what were your experiences with it? If it is something I decide to do I will keep you updated and informed.