Two Year Trimaversary!

Happy Sunday and Happy Two Years of Trim Healthy Mama to me!

Started at about 170 and really large for me personally (left). I had tried numerous diets - South Beach, Atkins, Eat To Live, meal replacement diets (found one product I do love now though!) and then right before finding THM I did the 21 Day Sugar Detox which was a great segue into the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle.

The pic on the right was from the other night before going out to dinner with my husband. I'm currently doing a THM-friendly detox with some Juice Plus+ products and I'm about 153/154 pounds right now. I'm also down a few more inches in just the past few days and feeling very less bloated and trimmer.

So there it is. While I didn't lose a ton of weight, I lost inches and gained so much more happiness than I could have ever thought. 

~Carly

The D14 Day 6 with some RESULTS!!

Hello, hello, hello!

It's been another GREAT day so far.  My son ended up staying home today unexpectedly.  He said he wasn't feeling well ten minutes before the bus came so better safe than sorry, right? 

Turns out he just wanted to stay home and play with toys.  We had a chat about that.  Why am I telling you this?  Well, it's actually quite relevant to this D14 journey I'm so pleased to be on. 

The past two days I've felt much calmer in general but especially as a parent.  I mentioned I was more clear and focused but I haven't "flown off the handle" or lost my "mommy sh!t" as much as I have been when my kids are on my last nerve, not listening or dilly-dallying before bed.  And I'm convinced it has much to do with The D14 program. My blood sugars are balanced which means my insulin is regulated which is all intertwined with hormones and I'm just more stable.  Crazy, right?

I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist (although I'd love to be either or) but it's fairly general knowledge that if you aren't filling your body with sugars and carbs and other ingredients or chemicals then your body can function the way it is designed to BE.  I'm truly feeling that from these last 6 days.

And guess what?  The scale is showing it, too.  I love when that happens - seeing the evidence aside from only feeling it.  Because guess what - kinda hard to show feelings over the Internet, huh?

Yep.  So I will show ya.

Image below is as follows:

Top Left is last Thursday (start day), middle is this past Saturday, top right is same weight for both Sunday & Monday and bottom left is this morning 12/8.

 

I'd like to apologize quickly for my winter feet and our ugly bathroom tile.  Additionally, I have no idea why my left foot looks more "tan" than my right foot in each of the pictures. I'm guessing it has to do with the lighting as well as the way I'm holding my iPhone to take the pictures when I first wake up ;)

 

I'm also not departing from my Trim Healthy Mama plan which I still love and rely on.  The Juice Plus+ products really are complementing this plan for me and providing me with extra whole food nutrition that is getting me closer and closer to my ultimate goal. 

 

My ultimate goal has always been to get to where I was before my first child - because it's not called child weight either!! 

 

I'm about to have a Complete shake now as my day kind of went off track when I decided my son could stay home.  Dinner is to be determined but will be in accordance with the D14 guidelines :)

So, there you have it...I'm pretty shocked, hopeful, happy and motivated.  If you're ready to join in on this please, please, please don't wait!  If you've followed me or read any posts at all, you know the struggle is real and how many "diets" I've truly tried on this journey. 

Email me at carlykirsch@gmail.com - you'll thank yourself!!!
~Carly

THM Fuel Cycle Experience & Recap

As you may know, I've been successfully implementing a diet and lifestyle plan called Trim Healthy Mama for the last three months now. I am loving this way of eating! However, after losing some initial weight I plateaued a bit. Fortunately, since THM is so thorough the authors give you a way to really shake up your metabolism with something called "The One Week Fuel Cycle." It's recommended for those who have stubborn weight and for those who have been following the plan for at least three months.

Well, that sounded like me so I decided after being true to the plan if I wasn't seeing results "free styling" - meaning just doing my own combination of on plan foods - then I would try it. 

I started Monday, March 17th and here's my experience:

Deep S day 1

Starting weight 159.6

Breakfast: scrambled eggs in coconut oil, sausage and coffee with a little cream

Lunch: large salad with romaine, spinach, celery, cucumbers and green peppers with deli chicken on top with extra virgin olive oil. Water and then a Fizzy GGMS

Snack: Chocolate cake in a mug and coffee

Dinner: baked salmon with butter on top with sautéed spinach and artichokes in coconut oil and some steamed cauliflower with a tiny sprinkle of cheese. Water to drink.

Dessert: Skinny chocolate
Exercise: 50 Minute Spinning Class and a 20 minute walk on the treadmill prior to class

Day one dinner - salmon, sauteed spinach and artichokes
and some cauliflower with a smidge of cheese.

Deep S day 2

Weight: 158.8 

Breakfast: same as day before

Lunch: left over Salmon with huge green salad with olive oil.
Snack: Chocolate Cake in a mug 

Dinner: Hamburger with roasted red peppers and a side salad and water to drink.

Dessert: Skinny Chocolate
Exercise: None

Deep S day 3
Weight: 158.6
Breakfast: same as days 1 and 2
Lunch: Thin Mint Protein Shake and left over hamburger and salad
Dinner: Veggie omelette and bacon
Exercise: Running 3 miles

Fuel Pull day 4
Weight: 158.4
Breakfast: Coffee with swirl of cream and Cottage Berry Whip
Lunch: Low carb wrap with deli chicken and veggies and cucumbers sliced on the side
Snack: Wasa crackers, celery and Laughing Cow wedge cheese
Dinner: FP Pizza and salad
Exercise: None

Fuel Pull day 5
Weight: 159.6
Breakfast: Coffee with swirl of cream, egg white scrambled and Fage 0% greek yogurt with polaner fruit swirled in
Lunch: Same wrap as day 4 with Fizzy GGMS
Snack: Big Boy Smoothie
Dinner: Buffalo Chicken Salad (made without any flour breading) and a blob of blue cheese dressing to keep fat grams in check for Fuel Pull
Exercise: Walking 3 miles brisk pace

Note: Typical Fuel Cycle calls for 2 full days of E eating.  I found early on that I am carb sensitive and chose to not do completely full E days.  This is NOT recommended in the book - it is what I chose to do for my own personal preference.

E day 6
No weigh in
Breakfast: Coffee with swirl of cream, old fashioned oatmeal with cinnamon, 1/3 of a banana sliced, sprinkle of chia seeds
Snack: Cashews
Lunch: Tossed salad with grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella balls and balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner: Trim Healthy Mama pancakes with greek yogurt and polaner fruit spread
Exercise: None

E day 7
Weight 159.6
Breakfast: Coffee, scrambled eggs in coconut oil and bacon
Lunch: Quinoa, sweet potato and black bean chili
Snack: Cake in a mug
Dinner: Low carb taco wrap
Exercise: None

So, there you have it - my first Fuel Cycle Week that I completed.  I felt really great on my Deep S days - I think I've been relying too much on Heavy S rather than true S meals.  I felt very hungry on my first Fuel Pull day and think I over did eating the low carb items - I wouldn't recommend doing a wrap, wasa and pita on the same day after doing Deep S.  Then as I mentioned, due to some pre-planned events, I chose not to do full E days but did choose wise carbs to refuel my body after this week of the Fuel Cycle.

I'm now back to free styling and feel I've learned a TON from this week.  It is recommended to do another week of Fuel Cycle or even three total weeks but I feel that Deep S is now my "trick" to get my body back into a true weight loss mode short-term and adding in E meals as a breakfast or lunch is best for me and keeping snacks as Fuel Pull also.

Today, I weighed in and the scale was 158.2 so I'm down to a new lowest weight ever!  Over the weekend I also tried on some clothes I've had tucked away and I'm still losing inches too because things are fitting again.  So thrilled and thankful for Trim Healthy Mama!

Have you tried a Fuel Cycle?  If so, what was your experience?
~Carly

My THM Update - 9 pounds gone!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I'm feeling quite lucky like a leprechaun today since I've finally reached a BIG goal in my weight loss saga. I'm now just over three months on Trim Healthy Mama and drum roll....

I am down about 9 pounds and quite a few inches (will measure and update shortly).  I'm healthier, slimmer and feel really, really good - emotionally and physically.  While 9 pounds doesn't sound that impressive overall (some ladies are dropping 20-30 pounds in three months on Trim Healthy Mama!!) for me, it's a huge victory since I've been struggling with this for quite some time.

As of March 2012, I'm down 20 pounds.  I'm now currently 10 pounds away from my true pre-pregnancy weight (150-ish) and at my first goal of my pre-second child weight (160).

I have to admit it feels really good to be at this goal.  This is a day I thought would never be here. Having really tried everything from Eat To Live, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Cinch, 21 Day Sugar Detox and a few other methods - Trim Healthy Mama is truly what finally has worked for me in these past 3+ years I've been struggling to lose weight.

And, since visuals are more powerful than words, I share with you below two pictures to show my progress.

Just to refresh your memory, I started Trim Healthy Mama on December 12, 2013 right after I ended my 21 Day Sugar Detox.

The image on the left was taken at our family photo shoot we had done literally FOUR days before I started THM.  The right was taken just the other morning.

Left image is Decmber 8, 2013 and the right is just the other morning.

Then, just for "fun" I decided to dig up some older photos of myself - which were quite hard to find since I didn't enjoy having my picture taken.  Nonetheless - here it is...

March 2012 (180), February 2012 (170), February 2014 (163) and the other morning (160).

Far left is when we were at Disney in March 2012, next is Disney end of January/early February 2013, next is February of this year and the last image is just the other morning.  I can definitely see the weight loss in my face more in the last two pictures.  While I'm holding children (trying to strategically block myself!) in the first two pictures, you can see I'm clearly larger in my face -  and honestly just larger all over!  And all I can think when I see the image to the far left is "Who is that???" Because it certainly doesn't look like "me" and at that point I didn't feel like myself either.

So, from my tiny little speck of the Internet here, I'm hoping to inspire someone that if you have been stuck or wanting to finally lose the "baby" weight - or ANY type of weight - it is truly possible with the right plan.  I've found something that finally works and I'm so thankful.

I have some toning to do and am currently working out 3-4 days a week now.  Hopefully will have a true "after" picture to share shortly as I hopefully reach my goal weight!

~Carly

Update and my 21 Day Sugar Detox Experience

Happy New Year!

Despite my lack of posting in 2013, I feel it was finally a decent, healthy year for me.  My youngest turned four in December and is really a preschooler at this point - however, my baby/toddler weight is still here.  I'm only about 8 pounds from where I was before I became pregnant for the second time and 18 pounds away from my ultimate goal from pre-pregnancy.

So, I'm not done yet!

As I had mentioned, I had been reading quite a few diet and lifestyle books last year.  I even tried Dr. Furhman's Eat To Live nutritarian diet for four months.  While I felt great I didn't lose any significant amount of weight from it.  And honestly, I really missed protein.  And eggs.  And cheese.  I'm glad I ate in that manner for the time I did because it really made me love salads and eat more vegetables. Bottom line, it wasn't really for me.

So, fast forward - err, I mean, rewind back to late October and November of  2013.  I had seen a lot of people trying Paleo diets and some other friends on social media had posted about something called The 21 Day Sugar Detox.  I looked into it and decided to try it and bought the e-book on November 3rd.  I joined the Facebook page and joined the challenge that started on November 4th. It definitely was hard avoiding sugar and gluten and wheat.  Some of the changes I made that have stuck since doing the 21DSD - as it's commonly referred to - are:

1. Drinking my coffee with cream or half and half only.  No stevia or any other sweetener.  (I use a small amount now since I'm on a new diet - more to come on that soon!)

2.  Constantly reading labels and not being tricked by food companies.

3. Eating more vegetables and using them in unique ways.  For example: Cauliflower can be used as "rice" or crust for pizza.

4.  Using more spices for flavor in lieu of sugar or salt. Many health advocates have been calling sugar the new salt for quite some time and I see why.  There is sugar in EVERYTHING.  Even places where sugar shouldn't need to be added!

5.  Trying new recipes and adding them into our regular weekly menus.

I had lost a few pounds on this program and felt my body changed shape a little bit.  I did not lose as much weight as I'd have liked (obviously) but was pleased with how it really altered my taste buds and made my cravings for bad carbs go away.  A lot of other people on the Facebook challenge group had some really great success.  I think the problem for me was I'm already eating pretty healthy foods and was really not consuming a ton of sugar before - maybe more so in the form of fruit sugars.  But sugar is still sugar.

Where does that leave me now?  Trying to find a program I can stick to long term.  I think I may have found it.  So stay tuned for my next update over the next week!
~Carly

Cinch - Day 1...Again!

Good morning!
It's a beautiful and cool Wednesday morning and I'm happy that I'm starting the Shaklee Cinch Inch Loss Plan...again.

Yes, you read that right.  It's Day 1 again.  As I mentioned in my post from Monday, I should have just stuck with it all along - and who knows, by now I may have been closer to my goal weight.  But, we can't live in what if's - so I'm just getting back to it since it worked so well the last time.

To recap:

I began Cinch with a 2 week starter kit on April 9, 2012
Starting measurements were:
Bust- 40
Waist - 36
Hip - 44

April 17th update were:
Bust - 38
Waist - 34
Hips - 43

I had lost just about 6 pounds and 5 inches in one week! You can read that full update here.

So, here I am just about two months later.  I'm back up a few pounds in weight (although I have my "friend" so my weight is a bit higher due to that) so I'm not sure exactly how much I have gained back.  Nevertheless, my starting measurements again are:
Bust - 38
Waist - 35
Hips - 44

So, I'm still down a few inches total but up a few pounds.

But I'm not giving up.  I'm off to the gym this morning and I am expecting the rest of my Cinch Transformation pack to arrive today - the tracking on the UPS site says it's "Out for delivery"!

Yay!

Have a great day and I'm looking forward to my results again from Cinch...again!
~Carly

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho It's Back to Cinch I Go!

Happy Monday!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. It was rainy here but we had a nice day Sunday and went strawberry picking.  You can't beat fresh produce!

I quickly wanted to put an update on where I stand diet-wise and my realization - I've got a bit of diet obsession and confusion.  I can't seem to stay focused on one before switching to another.  I started off with the Cinch Inch Loss Program.  On that, I lost 6 pounds and 5 inches in less than 2 week.

So, why on earth did I stop that?  Well, I'm not going to kid you - it is expensive.  I received the two week starter kit for free.  I wanted to continue, but the cost frightened me a bit.  (Stupid mistake - keep reading)

So, I opted to not continue with it and joined Weight Watchers since everyone was raving about it and I decided to join the bandwagon.  Why spend extra money when I can count points and track things with Weight Watchers - "the number one diet in the country"?  There was a special 3 month sign up promotion which cost about $60.

Well, initially I lost on Weight Watchers - key word being initially.  BUT, I felt hungry.  Nothing is worse than when you're on a "diet" and you're hungry.  I was cranky and irritable and tried not to be.  Even though I had used tracking and journals before to help lose weight - this was different.  I was obsessed with my points.  How many points were in these?  How many points do I have left?  Is this worth it to eat it if it's 4 points?  What if I run out of points?  Points...points...points!  I was working out and earning activity points, I stayed within my daily points and dipped into my "extra treat points" every now and again but they never were used up - ever.  According to Weight Watchers, people I spoke with and even the Customer Service guy I spoke with - I should be losing when in fact I had gained back a few pounds.

All this effort and nothing to show for it. I was irritated and it got annoying.

Really annoying.

Then, one day last week, I was perusing through the pantry because *big shock* I was hungry - and I came across a Cinch Snack Bar that must have been left over from my last order and a few extra packets of the Chocolate Shake Mix.  I'm pretty sure I "ooohed" out loud and excited at my find.

So, for lunch that day, I had a shake for lunch.  It was good.  Like, super-yummy-good.  And, for the next few days, I couldn't help but think to myself:


Why did I stop using this?  It worked fast.  It tasted great. And, I felt awesome and saw results.  

WHY DID I STOP?  

Sorry for all caps - but I was mad at myself!  Well, I already mentioned it before - the cost - but then that got me thinking too - this program is designed to be a 3-4 month time commitment and you learn with the program to go into a lifetime maintenance after you lose your weight and inches.

So, it's simple.  Back to Cinch I go.  Pulling another diet switcheroo - but this time, I've ordered enough for an entire month's worth instead of the two weeks supply.  I ordered it Saturday and I can't wait for it to arrive!
I lost 6 pounds and a few inches pretty quickly last time and now that I'm working out again on a regular basis, I hope to see results quickly again.

Therefore, Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho it's back to Cinch I go!

I will take measurements and everything again - like last time and keep you posted on my progress again.  In the meantime, have a great day!

Cinch - Day 8 with update!

Gooood morning!

As I already shared with you, last Monday was the beginning of my Cinch Inch Loss Program.  It's now Day 8 and I still feel amazingly great.

I'm energized, still not feeling deprived or hungry and motivated.  But most importantly - I'm seeing results.  Fast.

So, after 8 days of two shakes a day, a snack bar, tea, lots of water and a healthy dinner each night -
here are the stats I'm sure you want to know:

Starting measurements:
From April 9, 2012
Bust: 40 inches
Waist: 36 inches
Hip: 44 inches

Day 8 results:
Today, April 17, 2012
Bust: 38
Waist: 34
Hip: 43

In just over a week, I've lost a total of 5 inches and I have lost a total of 5.8 pounds*!

My legs, arms and face look and feel smaller, too.  I have always had hips, but I'm a little disappointed (if I should even be allowed to use that word) that I didn't lose another inch there, but I'm so thrilled.

I'm still in awe of how well this is working and keep asking myself:
Why didn't I find this sooner?

Let me know if you're interested in learning more about the Shaklee Cinch Inch Loss Program.
~Carly

*Note: I know since I'm opening up about this experience and blogging about it, I know I should share my weight. But I'm still embarrassed about the actual number.  Even though I know it's "just a number" I'm not ready yet to share.