Body By Vi

I recently acted on a whim and signed up for the 90-day challenge from Body By Vi (Visalus).  Yes, it's one of those "fad" diets and will probably be obsolete in 2 years but hey, I lost weight on the Atkins diet about 12 years ago and there are very few people who do that now-adays so I guess a loss in popularity doesn't always mean something doesn't work.  In addition I actually know personally several people who have assured me this is not a sheme to get my money- it worked for them!
Anyways, I've kept it kinda quiet, partly because anytime I've mentioned it to someone there is a little bit of scoffing, but also because over the years I've discovered that with dieting it's best to have a small support group and just let everyone else notice once there is something to take note of.  However, since my blog is read by about 8 people that I know and love I figured I could write about it a little bit on here.
My goals are simple- lose weight, get healthier, make meals easier.  I've been proud of myself for how much I've worked out in the last year, but I'm hoping this is just the boost I need to actually make those pounds come off.
So far, I'm really enjoying it.  The shake mix itself when you just add it to milk is tasty- it tastes a lot like sweet pancake batter or cake mix, it is called "sweet cream."  But the best thing about it is that you can mix it with just about anything to get all kinds of flavors.  The company includes flavored mix-ins that pull double-duty with immunity boost, metabolism boost, etc, but I haven't needed those yet as I've been having fun just using various fruit combinations!
I honestly haven't made one yet that I haven't enjoyed, but some of my favorites have been frozen raspberries and powdered bakers chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate powder with banana, and applesauce with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little uncooked oatmeal for bulk (tastes like apple pie!).  Another great thing is that you don't need to add much of these flavors to each shake.  For the peanut/chocolate/banana one I added less than a teaspoon of peanut butter (keeps down the extra calories), even less cocoa powder, and half a banana.  It was so tasty!
The shake mix itself is packed with about a million vitamins, metabolism boosters, minerals, omega-3's, protein, and all kinds of healthy stuff.  They also post lots of recipes on their website for new flavors, I want to try the Chai flavored recipe I read about and there are even some that include spinach!  I make two shakes a day to replace two meals, usually breakfast and lunch, have some light and healthy snacks if I need them, and eat one "sensible" meal.
All of this said, I like it so far, I find I'm so busy during the day and this is so quick and easy I don't even miss "regular" food.  It is a little harder for me to do just a shake for dinner, but it's not out of the question to pair the shake with a salad or veggies, or if I've been "good" all day and not snacked I might throw in something like with a bit more bulk.  I've found that it's easy to forgo snacks when I'm spending money on this plan and putting a lot of effort into it (I mean the shakes are good and all but if I'm going to replace too meals a day with a liquid diet then I'm not going to mess it up with snacks!).  I also really like that there is no calorie or points-counting to worry about.  I did Weight Watchers before and I cannot imagine trying to keep up with that while chasing around E2.  I might add a program called "my fitness pal" just to keep track of what regular food I'm eating but we'll see.  Portion control comes naturally because my appetite is already shrinking and the scale this morning showed a loss of 3lbs (I'm not overly excited as our bodies can fluctuate naturally throughout the day, but at least it's not a gain!;) since I started on Friday.
I'll try to keep this updated as I go, and hopefully you'll be able to see for yourself soon that this is working!
~Krista

Locker Room

I got a littler reminder of what it is to be a pre-teen (tween, as they are called these days) at the gym today.  There was a school having their 4th Grade end-of-year party there so of course the locker room was a popular location for the girls to giggle and hang out.  After my workout I had to shower, and since the showers at my gym are not made to bring your change of clothes into I always dress in the main locker room. 
Normally this is not an issue, but the moment I saw 10 4th graders milling around I knew this would be awkward- not for me, for them.  So I tried to dress as quickly as possible.  Midway through getting dressed I needed to remove the towel from around me and put it on my head so I could put on my bra.  I was alone in my "section" of the locker room but a group of girls was just on the other side of the bank of lockers from me.  It was at this moment that one of the girls went to leave and, apparently, saw me sans bra and towel as she popped back to her group and I heard a sudden hush as one girl (not discreetly enough for her friends' taste) asked "don't go over where?"  There was much "shushing" and another girl who had also missed the directive to "not go in that area where that lady is naked" asked the same question.  Meanwhile a little blonde girl pretended to nonchalantly wander into "my" section, see that I now had my bra on, and sidle back over to her friends while yet another girl answered loudly: "you know, where Michael is, don't go where Michael is."  (This must have been the quickest she could think as their conversation 30 seconds earlier had revolved around going to find Michael and see if he wanted to hang out with one of the girls).  There was much giggling and more repeating of "don't go where Michael is" before they finally left the room.
Anyways, that was fun, and even though it's been quite awhile since I was a "tween," I was surprised by how vividly I remembered being shell-shocked by, and feeling oh-so-awkward around the women who dared to be completely naked in the locker room!  Now I'm one of those women...how times have changed.