To protect our daughter from creeps on the internet, all of her picture posts are protected, as is my Twitter.  Readers are free to request access to either.  I’m not a snob about it, but if I don’t believe you are legit you will be denied.  I love sharing pictures of Emma but I feel better keeping her pictures less “out there”.

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve probably seen a LOT of talk about the BodybyVi Challenge I’m doing. Here’s how it works:
The BodyByVi Challenge is designed to be a 90-day program – though you pay by month, so you can cancel anytime.  The kit I chose, the Shape Kit, is $99 a month and comes with two 15-day supply pouches of shake mix and 10 flavor mix-ins.  I joined with the intention of trying it for one month. After all, I want results now and wasn’t sure I’d get what I wanted from these .. shakes.  You have two Visalus shakes – high soy protein, low sugar unlike a certain other shake brand – each day as meal replacements. (When you think about it, that’s $99 for sixty meals.) As with any weight loss program you should work out and eat better, but well, some people don’t have time for that, I know! There are add-on products such as vitamins and appetite suppressants, but I haven’t used any of those.

Here’s how it’s worked for me
I have two shakes a day most days. Some days I choose to eat meals, have shakes as snacks or even have a small meal with my shake (an egg/egg substitute and a slice of toast, for example).

What I’m doing
Calories: I use an app (and the website) called MyFitnessPal to keep track of what I eat. It’s a super easy app – just search for what you consumed and it’s probably already listed there, add it to your food diary and it adds everything up for you. My husband loved it on my phone so much that he downloaded it for himself and has been using it every day, too.  You can customize it
so you can choose what measurements to track, choose which nutritional goals to focus on, rename your meals, add your own recipes and more. It sets your goals, but you can change them (It started me out at 1200 calories a day, but I upped it to 1500). I try to stay around 1500 calories but I don’t beat myself up for going over on any goal (sugar is my worse. I’m almost always double my goal.. but it’s usually natural sugar) OR splurging. I’m making smarter food choices – I love healthy food just as much as junk food, so this is easy for me. I also drink almost nothing but plain water, which is also not too hard for me since we rarely buy drinks for home.

Exercise: Uhhh.. well, I don’t exercise nearly as much as I should to build muscle and burn fat more efficiently. Other than walking a few times a week, I’ve done a total of, like three 10-15 minute KettleWorx workouts. IF I worked out regularly, I’m positive I’d look even better/fit by this point.

My results
Since March 27th, I’ve lost 15lbs and 10.5″ in my arms (fattest part of my held-up arm), thighs, hips (I measure around the fattest part of my belly/love handles), waist (I measure “natural” waist.. above belly button, at smallest part) and chest. Here’s the numbers for each week so far:
March 27: BMI: 27.4, Weight 150lbs, Chest 39″, waist 32″, hips 40.5″, arms 13.5″, thighs 24″, size 14 or 16
April 4th: Weight 150lbs, Chest 37.5″, waist 30″, hips 39.5″, arms 13″, thighs 23.5″
April 11th: Weight 143lbs, Chest 37″, waist 30″, hips 39″, arms 13″, thighs 23.5″
April 18th: Weight 142lbs, Chest 37″, waist 29.25″, hips 38.25″, arms 13″, thighs 23.25″
April 25th: Weight 140lbs, Chest 36.5″, waist 30.25″, hips 39″, arms 13.5″, thighs 24″
May 2nd: Weight 137lbs, Chest 37″, waist 29″, hips 38″, arms 13.5″, thighs 24″
May 9th: BMI: 24.7, Weight 135lbs, Chest 35.5″, waist 29.5″, hips 37.5″, arms 13.5″, thighs 24″, size 12!

Want a visual?  These is my before and one-month photos.  I do realize (too late) that I was slouching in my before/profile shot, but that’s how my belly looked either way.  Believe me.  Ew.

These are 100% real, untouched photos – No softening, no slimming, no sucking or sticking out my stomach.A few other befores:

 
(November ’11 and January ’12 – Both of these were tops I thought were cute on me until I saw these pictures.)
(An accidental body shot – lol - May 11, 2012)
It’s like the fat in my middle (hips and belly) just melted off!  I wasn’t sure I was seeing a difference – after all, I only see myself from the shoulders down everyday, I don’t check myself out in the mirror that much – until I took the one-month pictures and compared the two.  I was blown away!  I still can’t believe the difference.

The big question everybody asks:  How do the shakes taste? Well, they are delicious! My husband loves them plain (they taste like cake mix!) but I like to add a little something to mine. My favorite way is with unsweetened almond milk (cuts out the 12grams of sugar in regular milk), a splash of real vanilla, about 1/4c unsweetened applesauce and a sprinkle of cinnamon – tastes like apple pie ala mode! This one really cures any sugar craving I’m having, even though there isn’t much sugar.

If you’d like to join the challenge with me – let’s get ready for summer! – click here to sign up!   If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to

 

** This is not a sponsored post.  This is a program I signed up for after my husband heard about it from a friend.  I’m not being paid or rewarded in any way for posting my results or anything else in this post.  The links provided are my personal links and I do earn a free kit if I get three people to sign up, but this is something I really believe in – check out that before and after again – and wouldn’t be endorsing this product if I didn’t 100% love, love, love it!  I’m posting my experience with this product because I love it and believe 100% that it works.  FYI, I am not a Visalus distributor, just a customer **идея за подарък

Hubby and I’s 4-year anniversary is coming up this month Read the rest of this entry »

Does anyone else remember those 3d puzzles that were super popular a few years back? Is it weird if I still love them? There are a lot that don’t even look possible, but I’ve never tried one. Besides, I could see getting one almost completed and Emma comes along to drag it away to play with it! Anyone a fan of these things and display completed ones?Откъде да купя икона

If you’re following me on Facebook you may have noticed that I talk a lot about a new diet Hubby and I are on. (We’ve already lost about 10lbs each!) I’ll talk about that in a later post, or read all about it on Facebook! It’s not a very resricting diet, we’re just eating healthier, counting calories and I’m on a shake program. (Speaking of diets, here’s a link that’s pretty hard to incorporate into the topic *coughcough* http://sideeffectsofdietpills.net/lipo30-side-effects/) We’re both really excited about how things are going and hope to be in swimsuit shape for summer!

My daughter is to an age where it’s important to explain why certain things are “no!”. Why she shouldn’t put things in her ears, why she can’t dip her pacifier in the toilet, why she can’t run into the street, and so on. But what is the best way to do this? I want to be realistic, but I don’t want her to be afraid of everything. I’m definitely not into the “if you go out that door, the neighbor’s dog will drag you into the road, where you will get run over by a car – you will bleed and cry! – and then the dog will eat you and you will die and never see mommy again!!!” kind of thing. I don’t want Emma afraid to play outside because “kidnappers will get her!”, but obviously it is important to teach her of stranger danger.

I would love to hear what everyone has to say about this.Художник