What Am I Eating Wednesday? Part IV

If you're looking closely you probably have noticed that I'm actually posting on Thursday. This is true, but this post is about the rest of what I ate Wednesday.

For those of you who might just be finding BigManWalking for the first time:

No I don't think what I eat is that interesting to the whole blogosphere! :-)

During the next few days and for the previous two days I am recording what I eat to show all of you readers that you can do this, too.

Using what I'm using is not a diet. It's truly a lifestyle. If you happen to not stick to it one day, don't beat yourself up. You didn't blow it. Just move on.

What I have found, though, is that it's not a challenge "sticking to it" and only when I CHOOSE to eat more I don't lose weight as fast.

Of course, one habit that I want to stress is drinking more water and I personally think cold water rocks and room temperature water I drink because it's good for me.

Last night around 7:45 I had my final Isagenix Isalean Shake for the day and this time I had no banana and only 1 1/2 scoops. Because I don't want a recurrence of gout I am looking at what my results will be if I lower the amount of shake ingredients over several days. Tomorrow I will start a cleanse for 2 days and there will be no shakes. I also like to add a little more water when I make the shake in addition to ice cubes. I like the volume. Instead of 8 ounces of water I start with 9 or 10 and then 6 or 7 ice cubes. My guess is that's 13-14 ounces of water total after the blender does its thing. When I add the ice cubes AFTER I blend the shake with the initial water I find that the action of the cubes being blended makes the shake much creamier. I'm pretty sure that's how the Isalean Shake is meant to be prepared.

Because the shake has live enzymes, it's important to drink it within 10 minutes to get the highest nutritional benefit. I'm usually done in under two minutes. I really like the chocolate.

About an hour later I had Isagenix Cleanse For Life and about 12 ounces of water as a chaser. Sometimes I like to have more water. Don't feel that you have to have the exact same amount every time, but do drink enough water with whatever you're taking in.

Around 10:00 I had Ionix Supreme and more water. I decided to stay up late and ended up remembering my wife's advice so I had some Bragg's Apple Cider vinegar in water around midnight. Drinking this much water you will probably find that if you weigh yourself before bed and then again when you wake up, the difference could be 2-3 pounds or more.

It's important to not be bothered by short-term fluctuations of a few pounds in weight. You might not have eliminated everything you've consumed and other times you might be retaining water. If you are exercising enough you could also find that you are putting on muscle, which is denser than fat, so the same volume of flesh weighs more.

Back in a couple hours with What Am I Eating Thursday? Part I.


Keep walking!

What Am I Eating Today? Part VI-IX

At 4:20 I had 7 cherries and then my wife reminded me to have some organic apple cider vinegar with water as a precautionary measure against recurrence of gout. This is not something that's part of Isagenix, it's just that I'm doing more than losing weight. I figure better safe than sorry.

Around 5:45 I had another ounce of Isagenix Cleanse For Life with 8 ounces of cold water.

An hour later I had my 2nd Isagenix Isalean Shake for the day, but this time with no banana. I also had some extra water and took a cherry extract pill and 1 Gout Control capsule. Again, the last two items are not part of Isagenix and I believe they have a negligible effect on weight loss.

Marianne and I went to see Eat Pray Love and got home less than 20 minutes ago. I had my 2nd ounce of Isagenix Ionix Supreme and more cold water.

I think it's time for bed.


Keep walking!

What Am I Eating Today? Part I

In an attempt to allow you to see that you can do what I am doing, today (and possibly the next few days) I am sharing what I eat.

Breakfast 7:15

1/2 banana blended with 2 scoops Isagenix Isalean Shake, water and ice cubes.

I was making shakes with cold water and that was good, but I discovered that
the official recommendation of adding ice cubes is better (because the shake
is creamier).

More later.


Keep walking!

Dr. Christine Eros Told Me About Gout And Isagenix

The people I have met in Isagenix are among the most helpful and most fun that I've ever met. Last night I called Dr. Christine Eros to ask her about Isagenix and gout and she had never even heard of the woman who referred me to her. Yet SHE CALLED ME tonight and I had expected to be the one to call her back.

She gives a talk on medical topics once a month including her knowledge and experience related to Isagenix. Dr. Eros is very happy to have me bring people to her talks and I am definitely going to take her up on it. She's part of Metro Family Physicians in San Diego.

What she reminded me about is that many gout sufferers should use 1 scoop of Isagenix shake instead of 2. That makes sense to me as this is the highest quality whey protein that you are likely to find on this planet. So I guess that means that you need less of it if you have gout. Apparently the 1 scoop rule is also true if you have insulin-dependent diabetes.

If you are the kind of person who just wants to buy a product and then use it however you want, you are missing out without extra bits of knowledge like this. It reminds me of what I have seen on labels over the years: Use as directed.

Tomorrow my shakes get smaller. If you're paying attention you DO learn something new every day.

Keep walking!

I'm Officially Impressed

Marianne and I got to look at a few houses today with our awesome realtor, David Diehl (you can't have him...he's...busy...yeah...that's it) and on the way to our last house he stopped in at Sub-Marina in San Marcos. Of course, I got my favorite on rye. (Check the link for my review.)

Because I've done a good job on Isagenix I rewarded myself with one of my favorite lunches. I've had even better success than I expected because I started out slowly on purpose. I didn't want to have a recurrence of gout and after nearly three weeks of no problemo I decided to do the 2-day cleanse. (When you check out Isagenix products yourself it's important to NOT do more than 2 cleanse days in a row because you will start to lose muscle as well as fat.)

So, this morning when I stepped on the scale it read 259.2 lbs! That means that in 22 days I have lost 17 lbs. using Isagenix Isalean shakes and other wholesome products. This is not a diet. It is a lifestyle. Tomorrow night I will have pizza with friends before one of them goes back to Michigan to teach Sociology. I am getting healthier and I have a real life. I love this stuff! There you have it.

Keep walking!

Ate At Lou And Mickey's And STILL Lost Weight

Yesterday I was at the San Diego Comic-Con with my son, Stuart, and his friend Dan. I'll give more details about Comic-Con in another post, but it was fun. I started the day with Isagenix Cleanse For Life and then a little later I had my Isagenix Isalean Chocolate Shake mixed with a banana. I had one Isagenix Snacks! (Chocolate) a couple hours later and I wasn't really hungry when Stuart texted me near the end of Danny Elfman's panel.

One thing that stuck with me from Danny Elfman's question and answer session is this:

Deadlines Have Value

He said that if it weren't for deadlines he would still be working on the soundtrack to "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" which came out in 1985!

After Stuart and Dan found me outside Room 6 near Mrs. Field's cookies (which didn't even tempt me - thanks, Isagenix!) we walked out into the sunlight and into the Gaslamp District where we sat down at Lou & Mickey's for lunch. My niece, Samantha, used to work here and both the hostess remembered her and Brady, our server, did as well. I hadn't counted on an appetizer, but Stuart ordered the cheese with marinara sauce and it looked a little odd and a little big when it came because it didn't match the mental picture of cheese sticks that I had previously enjoyed. Lou & Mickey's version of what amounts to fried cheese has the cheese inside a small loaf. At least that's the way it appeared to me - and it was delicious! I had chicken caesar salad and you could really taste how good the chicken was. I realized when I started on the salad that I could probably get by with a quarter of it. I decided to enjoy it all as my dinner was going to be an Isagenix shake. I just started on the two-shake regimen a couple days ago. I guess you could say that I worked my way up to it from my one-shake-a-day first week or so and I'm pretty amazed that I can curb my hunger no problem. (Maybe giving up coffee helps with that?)

About 5:30 I had Isagenix Want More Energy? powder mixed with water. We walked a lot yesterday as the San Diego Convention Center is a big place, especially when you walk through the Marriot, too. After we took the trolley back to Old Town I drove us home and somewhere on the trip home I realized that it had been a long day and with the lost sleep recently from our heat wave (I know that some of you don't think 90+ is a big deal, but it makes it tough for me to sleep.), I was just about ready for bed when we got home a little after 8.

That's when I had my 2nd shake of the day and put bedding together for our sister-in-law and her youngest son who were to spend the night on the floor sharing our room. She had been pretty sick earlier and I said a prayer that this would all be all right, and after finishing what little I had to do I laid down and fell asleep a little before 9! I slept 11 hours and that's the first time in a LONG time that I've done that. I did wake up a few times, but I rolled right over and went back to sleep. Some people forget the value of good sleep. Rather, some people if they aren't sleeping well and they try something like Isagenix or meditation or prayer or more exercise or WHATEVER gets them the SLEEP results they want, they tend to forget to give their strategy credit weeks or months later when they are sleeping well on a regular basis. It seems like the new normal or even like it's always been that way and when they view it that way they often feel like they can stop using the strategy (or tactics, for you military sticklers) that got them to this new and better place. I've seen that in personal development, too. But, I'm not going to do that. There's a reason Isagenix calls their product Isagenix Cleanse For Life.

Long story short (TOO LATE!), I got on the scale this morning and found out that even after that luxurious lunch at Lou & Mickey's, I'm down to 267.4 pounds. That means I'm down 8.8 pounds in 11 days!

Keep walking!

Dropped Almost 8 Pounds In 10 Days

When I got on the scale a few minutes ago I found that I have lost more weight. Today I'm 268.6, which means I am down almost 8 pounds (7.6 to be exact) in 10 days! My Isagenix link is in the upper right of BigManWalking. I'll be at the San Diego Comic-Con today.

Keep walking!

Progress Better Than Expected

On Monday a friend visited and we took the day and enjoyed it with him. We ended up eating out twice and I ended up eating more than I might have.

After meeting at Barnes and Noble and then dropping his car off we drove down to San Diego State, where he, my wife and I took classes. While we are still here in the place where we grew up, my professor friend went on to finish his master's degree and he's now teaching sociology at St. Clair Community College in Michigan. First he wanted to visit some former colleagues and if you've ever been to SDSU you know that if you are going anywhere on campus and then in the neighborhood, you are likely walking at least two miles round-trip. (Walking is good!)

Our first stop for food was the 4.0 Deli and I had avocado, turkey and cheese with bacon. This was the first bacon I had in a long time and thankfully, no gout outbreak. It was good. Reeeally good. I wish 4.0 was near my house. (Or maybe not!)

Later we checked in at home and walked the dog and double-checked with friends in San Clemente. We met them at their home and after some conversation we went to Bad To The Bone and I ate more than I have for quite a while. While I'm using Isagenix IsaLean Shakes and other products I simply find that I'm not that hungry. Earlier in the day I was hungry finally for lunch at 1:15 after having a shake around 6:30 am. I actually found myself choosing to eat the whole chicken breast with cheese and tiny pieces of bacon. When I say a whole chicken breast, I mean it. It was sliced and laid out like a big steak. Along with it I had onion rings and sweet potato fries. So I really ate on Monday even though I could have eaten the fries and put everything else in a bag to go. I guess I was testing Isagenix a little. (By the way, I don't recommend this behavior, I'm simply telling the truth about what went on.) Yes. It was yummy.

Yesterday I had a shake and I did the same sort of thing a couple hours later. Again - telling the truth. I am a little sad to say that I had the rest of my son's pancakes as he didn't want them. Later I went to Souplantation with my friend Mary and I didn't overeat by my standards. Soup and salad only. Technically, soup and salad and more soup was what I had. I had an Isagenix snack a little before 4 and wasn't that hungry so I decided to try another shake. This was my first time having two shakes in one day. What I haven't said yet is that not long after having the Isagenix snack I weighed myself and even knowing it wasn't going to be good, I was disappointed when I compared this to past experience.

As I looked down at those numbers I was thinking, "OK. I've still lost weight over the entire time I've been on this, but will it be Saturday before I get back to where I was with my weight?" I know this works in the long run, but I was questioning my short-term judgement.

This morning I had a pleasant surprise when I stepped on the scale - I'm down to my lowest (or best) since I have been on Isagenix on all three measurements! Here are the numbers: 269.2 lbs, water - 51.4%, fat - 38.6%. (My Isagenix link is in the upper right - call me!) This GOOD stuff works!

Keep walking!

Isagenix IsaLean Chocolate Shake

When I was a kid I remember my mom getting me Instant Breakfast from Carnation, which was the first liquid meal I remember having. I liked the chocolate and probably liked all that sugar, too.

Now I believe a much better choice is Isagenix IsaLean Shake - Natural Creamy Chocolate flavor! I mixed it with room temperature water yesterday and it was pretty good. My wife pronounced it good, which is saying a lot considering she's a big chocolate fan. I've strayed from a regimen more than once because of giving in to some of her chocolate that she has lying around. (To be fair, I've found it when she has hidden it, too.)

Today I used cold water and 1/4 banana in our blender and it mixed up even creamier. I think the lower temperature enhances the flavor. I'm a big guy as you might have guessed since I call my blog "Big Man Walking". That was at 6:30 this morning and I've only had 3 cherries as a mini-snack and plenty of water since then. Most of us don't get enough water and it's important that we do. I find that I like the taste of cold water better than room temperature and I've started to keep a container in the refrigerator as a way to make the experience more pleasant and even practical on a hot July day.

Below are some quotes I found at ThinkExist.com to motivate and inspire you and me on this journey.

Keep walking!


“The longest journey starts with a single step.”
Proverb

“The longest journey a man must take is the eighteen inches from his head to his heart.”
Anonymous

“The longest journey of any person is the journey inward.”
Dag Hammarskjold