I don't have any excuses for why I haven't used my blog in the past few months, and to you, dear reader(s), I should not have to excuse, amirite? So I'll just jump right into the topic on my mind tonight...
In case you really don’t know me, I will let you in on a little secret. I have struggled with my weight my entire life. Back in 2009, I joined Weight Watchers and lost about 50 pounds in 1 year. It was one of the best things that I have ever done for myself. It was relatively easy for me, and I loved the results.
I reached my goal weight in the summer of 2010, but instead of maintaining that goal weight (for a minimum of 6 weeks as required by Weight Watchers policies, to become a “Lifetime” member), I met a boy and started dating him. Late night drinks, happy hour get-togethers, and convenience store runs became routine. In the past 2 years, I have gained 40 of the 50 pounds I initially lost back.
I could tell you about all of the other things I have tried during the past 2 years (obviously none of them successful), but let me summarize with this: I have paid monthly for Weight Watchers since July 2009. Even while I was gaining weight, I was still dropping $40 a month for something to which I was paying no attention. I finally ended my membership last month, and I actually cried. Weight Watchers was such a huge part of my life for so long, but I needed to try something else (and save that $40 a month).
Enter ViSalus! It’s kind of funny that I talk about saving money, when my first month on ViSalus has cost $100 so far. Oops. But for the past 6 months or so I have searched for something that could catch my attention and assist me in losing weight as well as Weight Watchers had. Yes, I had considered buckling down and trying Weight Watchers again, but I needed/still need something new and exciting. At least for now. What I love/d about Weight Watchers is that I learned how to be healthy. Do I always follow the principles of a healthy lifestyle? Obviously not. But I do know what it takes to lose weight & maintain weight. I am proud of that, but have been anxious to find something that could help to jump-start me in the right direction.
Enter ViSalus! Oh, I said that already. My sister-in-law recently showed me her weight loss bracelet, that she was using to track her almost 10 pound (in 3 week’s time) loss. I asked her how she did it, and she started telling me about this delicious meal replacement shake program called ViSalus. Normally, I am not the type to ever consider a meal replacement – I love food too much – but I was feeling desperate. I decided to give it a shot. She invited me to a tasting; I tried it, and signed myself up for 1 month at a time.
I replace 2 meals a day with a ViSalus shake, which is made with ViShape powder (that tastes like cake, seriously, it’s so good) and milk (I like almond milk best because it has fewer calories). There are other supplements available through ViSalus, but I did not purchase them and will try the shakes first before making any other decisions (read: purchases). I would like to track my progress/thoughts about this product on my blog, if for nothing else, to help me make my decision to continue or not at the end of my first 30 day supply.
Before my first day, I purchased a Blender Bottle at GNC, which is awesome. I have wanted one for a long time, and even convinced the staff member at GNC to get me a pink one from the back stock room. I also picked up some sugar free, fat free pudding mix, as I knew that adding a tablespoon of that to my ViSalus shake would give it different flavors.
My first day went pretty well. I had a butterscotch shake (2 scoops powder, 12 oz. skim milk which is all I had, and 1 TBSP butterscotch pudding mix) for breakfast, and a pistachio shake (same as above but with pistachio pudding mix) for lunch. They were both DELICIOUS. I also had a string cheese & a tomato for a mid-morning snack, and some grapes for an afternoon snack. I did figure out pretty quickly how this shake plays into weight loss – it has only 90 calories per serving! If you add it to the almond milk, your shake is only 150 calories, making each shake meal a very small portion of your daily calorie intake.
I was feeling pretty good the whole day, but hungry (typical of the first day on a “diet”). I got home from work and was ravenous. So much so that I was physically unable to properly make dinner; I made undercooked rice and overcooked asparagus (to go along with the chicken breasts the boyfriend was making). The rice burned me, and I had to walk out of the kitchen to avoid a meltdown. I was not in a nice mood. I was HANGRY. I ate in silence and then fell asleep on the couch. I was not only starving, but I was exhausted. I ended up waking up when my best friend got to my apartment and we went out for a drink, and after a drink I was unable to resist the Cheetos in my apartment, so I ended up eating many of those, and finished my day at 1,710 calories (I am also tracking my caloric intake on My Fitness Pal). Not proud of that one.
The second day (today), I was really looking forward to my shakes. I woke up late, and had a cheesecake shake, with almond milk, as the boyfriend made a grocery run last night for me. I was pretty hungry all day long. I had a mini bag of reduced fat Cheez-its for my mid-morning snack (maybe if I allow myself the salty, crunchy snacks, I won’t binge on them late at night?) and also had a Northern Lite Cooler from Caribou. When I got home from work, I had a tomato with blue cheese crumbles, and binged again on some SunChips that were STILL IN MY APARTMENT. GET OUT OF THERE. Luckily though, that satisfied me for a while, and the junk food is now mostly gone, so it can't get in my mouth later.
What concerned me about day 2 is that I fell asleep again around 5:30pm and took a nap until about 7pm. I am concerned that this shake program is not giving me enough energy to get through my days. I will continue it for another week or so, to make sure that I give it a good try, but I can’t continue to crash at night after dinner. My sister-in-law and her ViSalus colleagues rave about how much energy they have on the program, but I am finding just the opposite.
After I woke up from my “nap,” I had a piece of toast and some strawberries. I’m not sure if I’m going to need another small meal later. I'm already at 1,431 calories for the day and my goal is to stay between 1,200 and 1,400 each day, but if I'm hungry, I'll eat.
This is a pretty long introduction to my first 2 days on ViSalus, so I will leave it at that. I am going to try to blog every day or two to provide an update. I have some pretty lofty weight loss goals, and I am trying to be healthy about this program (eating when I am hungry, increasing my fruits & veggies, avoiding junk fo…oh wait) so that once I decide that ViSalus has helped me long enough, I will have the healthy habits to continue to lose/maintain. I don’t plan on doing the meal replacement/shake thing for too long (maybe 3 months tops?), and I want to exchange my unhealthy lifestyle for a healthier one, for the long run.
Love & cake flavored milkshakes,
Molly
