D.Tox - Day 14

DAY 14....FINALLY!!!!! 

I thought this day would never come.  I am beyond happy.

I started my day by going to Trader Joe's and loading up on things I couldn't eat for the last two weeks.  I have so many meals planned.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go crazy, I'm just re-introducing the things I missed.  I will still watch my carb and sugar intake.  I can't wait to have a spoonful of sherbet.

I got my hair done this morning.  My hair grows like a weed, but my hair is super short and looks like crap if I wait too long in between cuts.  It definitely felt like a treat.

I came home and cooked myself a NY strip steak for lunch.  It was a little too well done for my taste, but it was still good and I ate the whole thing.  

I pretty much bummed around all afternoon basking in the holiday weekend laziness.

At 4, I went to the LifeSpa and got a 90 minute massage.  I can't think of a better way to end D.Tox.  It was so nice. My left leg was giving me some issues with numbness.  This is a residual issue due to nerve damage I suffered 15 years ago when I herniated some discs in my back.  Massage really helps the issue.  It really wasn't much of an issue until I started working out last year.  Before that it was just an occasional occurrence. 

I went to the Life Cafe and got one of the D.Tox smoothies.  Even they can't make the D.Tox smoothies taste great.  Sadness.

I came home and I was fiending for either sushi or pizza, both no-nos on D.Tox.  Luckily a wave of exhaustion hit me and I took a nap and woke up at 9:30.  

I woke up and watched TV until 11 and I went to bed.  One hour left to go.  I couldn't wait to fall asleep and wake up the next morning and eat an omelet.  Seriously, I am so strategic about what I'm eating Day 1 Post-D.Tox.

Well, that's it.  I'll do a D.Tox summary post to wrap up all of my feelings and experiences.

D.Tox - Day 1

If you're new to this blog at the suggestion of someone recommending the Lifetime D.tox, here is an introduction to me and how I got started.  I also did one blog entry on my first go around with D.tox here.

I'm starting D.tox again today.  The last time I D.tox'd was in June of 2013 and I lost 8 pounds.  I am doing D.tox again because it's a good idea and I am in a plateau.  I need to get the scale moving down again (not that the scale is the only thing that matters).

I plan on doing day-to-day blogging of the D.tox to give people thinking about doing the Lifetime Fitness D.tox a better idea of what it is and what happens.  Now, these are only how it affects my body and everyone will react to it a little differently.

I made my shakes for Day 1 a day in advance.  The Vegan Fast Fuel is awful.  There's no way around it.  I find that adding a scoop of Chocolate Dynamic Greens makes a world of difference.  I didn't do it last year and getting the shakes down was rough.  It was a little easier with the DGs.

Here is how I make my D.tox shakes:  2 scoops of Fast Fuel, 1 scoop of Fibermend, 1 Tbl. of chia seeds, 1 Tbl of EVOO, some strawberries and blueberries, 1 scoop of Dynamic Greens, 1 scoop of L-Glutamine, ice, and 12 oz. of Unsweetened Coconut Milk.

After my shake and the supplements, I immediately had to go to the bathroom.  TMI, but you should be prepared for lots of pooping especially the first day.  I went more last year than this time around.  It's funny how the body works.

I ate an early lunch (like before 11) because I had a noon training session with Sarah.   Sarah and I have been working together for a few days shy of a year.  She's wonderful.  If you're interested in training sessions I strongly suggest working with her.

For lunch I had a salad and a turkey burger.  I ate some of the Spring Mix by Earthbound Farm Organic, which is available in most grocery stores.  I jazzed up my salad with some cucumbers, red onions, chia seeds, and baby bella mushrooms.  I used some EVOO and Organic Balsamic Vinegar as my salad dressing.

The turkey burger is a recipe I made last week and the recipe and my review of it are here.  The burger patty itself is D.Tox friendly.  The Taztziki sauce needed some modification to make it D.tox approved.  I substituted the regular Greek Yogurt for Goat Cheese yogurt.  I got it at Trader Joe's, but I'm sure you can find non-dairy yogurt wherever you shop.  Don't freak out about Goat Cheese.  I didn't find the taste to be any different.  The only difference is the Goat Cheese yogurt was a little runnier than regular Greek yogurt. Obviously, I ate it without the bun.  I had some tomato slices on the side.

Before I train with Sarah, I drink some Generation UCan.  I usually have the Cran-Raspberry flavor, but just last week LTF started carrying the Tropical Orange flavor.  Sarah bought me a sample and I drank it this morning.  I loved it.  When I am done with my current container of UCan, I'm going to switch to this flavor.  One weird thing is that it was white.  I was picturing it to be orange.  Color me surprised.

For dinner I had Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken Thighs  and Roasted Brussel Sprouts.  Both recipes are D.tox friendly in their original form.  I actually found the chicken recipe on this Pinterest D.Tox Board.

How did I feel on Day 1?  I felt pretty good.  I did have a mild headache for most of the day.  It would go away and come back, but it wasn't painful enough for me to have to take anything.  I found myself craving sugar in the afternoon.  I was also very thirsty.  My concentration was strong and I got a lot of work done at home.  I tried to take a nap, which I usually do on the weekends, but I couldn't fall asleep.  I didn't experience the hot flashes that I did the last year.

Workout.  As I said earlier, I had a training session with Sarah.  This week is our recovery week, which we do every 4 to 6 weeks.  I think I did all right.  I did find myself sweating while I was doing the lunges/shoulder press combo.  I'm not sure if the D.tox had anything to do with it, but I usually don't sweat that bad when I do lunges.

See you tomorrow for Day 2.

Products I Love and Use

This was just going to be an exercise blog, but I thought I'd expand it occasionally to share some things that I've come across that I love using.

First of all, I have been looking at the home and beauty section at Trader Joe's and I stumbled upon this Coconut Body Butter.  I've heard about all the healthy benefits to cooking with coconut oil and recently read somewhere that using it on your body as a lotion is great for the skin, too.  So, I've been using the body butter pictured below and I am in heaven.  It smells amazing (like coconut, naturally) and my skin feels soft and moisturized.  I was super excited that the top flips open like an oyster shell, which is convenient when putting it on.  I hate removable tops.  The price on this was pretty economical at under $5.  

Next is a day creme that I've been using for years.  It's by Bioelements.   As you can see by the jar, I am almost in need of some more.  What I love about this product is its clean non-perfumed scent.  Also, the added lutein helps protect my skin from the effects from indoor florescent lighting.  I use another Bioelements product called the Twice Daily Bar.  It's a bar of soap that I use to wash my face in the morning and clean my face when I get home and remove my makeup.  Bioelements is not cheap, but they are quality skin products.  The Day Creme runs about $50 and I buy about two jars a year.  The Twice Daily Bar is $27 and I'm still on my first bar that I bought last year.

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to quit biting my nails.  I am a horrible nail biter,  yet on the flipside, when I grow my nails they are beautiful.  I paint my nails about two or three times a week.  I've become obsessed with buying nail polish.  I treat myself to a bottle of OPI whenever I go to get my eyebrows waxed. I've really started loving Revlon's Parfumerie scented nail polish.

For a few years, I've use Revlon's Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick.  When they say Colorstay, they aren't joking.  I can apply some in the morning and it stays on the entire day and into the next day!  I have only two colors because they are my favorites.  Brilliant Bordeaux and Stellar Sunrise.  I use Brilliant Bordeaux the most and I get TONS of compliments on it.  Even yesterday, the cashier at my favorite Thai restaurant mentioned how much she loved my lipstick.

There is one downside to the Liquid Lipstick and that is that leaves your lips super dry.  Luckily for me, my friend Kate sent me some of her favorite lip gloss.  It is the L'Oreal Colour Riche leGloss.  It took some getting used to because I'm a chapstick girl, but I really have grown to like this gloss.

So, there are just a few of my current favorite products.  When I find new things that I can't live without, I'll let you know!

Week Preview

I took another rest day today because I have my latest health score tomorrow morning with Julie.  I had originally planned on going to the gym and running or possibly taking another yoga class.  Luckily, Sarah texted me early to remind me.

This is a long holiday weekend for me because Monday is MLK Jr's birthday.  Tuesday is my birthday.  I feel like I have been bad on my diet this weekend.  Not pre-May bad, but I've had some gluten and some wine.

I met my friend Brittany for dinner in Dearborn.  We ate at La Pita and had some awesome Middle Eastern food.  The food is not unhealthy, but their bread is so soft and yummy, it's like eating a cloud!  You can't resist and you can't just have one.  I had about three pita breads.  I had a cup of crushed lentil soup, a chicken kabob, some fries, and an insane amount of garlic.  Enough to keep vampires away for a few days at least.

We then went to the adjoining cigar lounge and had a few more drinks.  I had two glasses of Riesling and several glasses of water all night.  It was nice to go out and do something different, but it sure was freezing out!  YIKES!!!!

This morning I went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on some of their soups.  I bought some panccetta and mushrooms to add to my soups.  Also, on my shopping list was a block of mild cheddar to grate myself and some Udi bread to make gluten free grilled cheese sandwiches.  I made one soup from scratch.  It was a recipe that Sarah sent me on Facebook.  It only has two ingredients.  Here it is.

I'm super excited because tomorrow starts the new Fitbit challenge!!  I am determined to get the minimum of 10,000 steps.  I'm training with Sarah on Monday and Wednesday, I have Pilates on Tuesday.  I'm going to get a day or two of running and Spinning in to reach my step goal.

Have a great week everyone!

Blizzard Eve

We're supposed to get hammered with snow starting tonight (Saturday) and all day tomorrow.  I'm supposed to go back to work on Monday, but we'll see what happens.

As close as I live to the gym I don't know why I went crazy with the workouts today.  I mean, I could walk to the gym if there wasn't such a threat of hypothermia.  Luckily, I just park at the far end of my complex and walk over.

I went to the 645 am spinning class.  There was quite a decent turnout for such an early class on such a frigid morning.   It wasn't filled to capacity, but a solid turnout.   Props to those who made it out there.  It was a great ride.  I'm excited that construction starts on Monday on the new Cycle Studio!

After class, I went straight to Trader Joe's to stock up on some food for the next few days.   You know, just the typical blizzard preparedness.

I showered, rested up a bit, and then went back for the 1215 yoga class with Rickita.  This is the same class I did last week (Ashtanga Vinyasa) and it's my favorite.  Coincidentally, the girl on the mat next to me was just returning to Lifetime after a two year break.  Before class, she asked me about this class and the instructor.  I told her it was my favorite class and instructor, and I also suggested some other yoga classes/instructors at Lifetime that I really enjoyed.

Yoga was fabulous, as always.  I'm looking forward to the Friday evening class that is supposed to start this upcoming week.  What a great way to start your weekend, huh?  And construction also starts on the new Yoga studio, as well.  Exciting things are coming to Lifetime Fitness-Novi in 2014.

Currently, I'm dealing with a weight increase due to the Rose Bowl party I went to.  The food was mainly healthy as the hostess is severely gluten intolerant.  I think I just ate a little too much, but the weight is coming down back to normal.  It's all good.  I'm still moving forward and still motivated to reach my goals.

D.tox

After I got settled into my Pilates class and finally got over my first few workouts with Sarah, I decided to do the Lifetime D.tox.  I'll be honest and say that I wasn't really excited to do it.  Two weeks of cutting out caffeine and many other things I loved.  I really didn't understand why I would pay $200 to do such a thing.

I braced myself for the worst and took the first two days of the d.tox off from work.  I wasn't sure just how weak or irritable I would be.  Other than having crazy hot flashes the first day, I actually enjoyed having an energy boost!

I went on the grocery tour that Lifetime offered.  Jillian took us around the Better Health Market in Novi.  It was pretty informative.  I do like Better Health Market, but I'm partial to Trader Joe's since it's just a mile away and a little less uptight.

I made some of the recipes on Lifetime's D.tox webpage and they were okay.  I altered some of my favorite recipes like Carne Asada tacos in collard green leafs instead of tortillas.

At the beginning of Week 2, my smoothie maker died while making my afternoon shake.  It was a pretty sad looking smoothie maker, but it still bummed me out.  Fortunately, I went to Target and  picked up a Ninja XL660 blender.  It's pretty pimp for a blender.  See......

I survived D.tox!  I lost 8 pounds!  I had Jillian do a before and after D.tox Health Score.  The only thing that stunk was that my blood sugar went up by 4!  Completely shocking and quite disappointing to me because Type II diabetes runs in my family and I was classified as pre-diabetic.  Jillian suggested that I take the Stress and Resilience test to see what exactly was going on.

I took the test and got my results about two weeks later.  It was really great!  I plan on retaking in the new year. I was put on several supplements to help me out and I noticed a vast improvement in my weight loss.  If any of my readers are Lifetime members, I strongly suggest the Stress and Resilience test.

I also suggest doing the D.tox.  I plan on redoing the D.tox sometime in the new year, as well.  Maybe after my birthday,