A bit of "diet" history

At this point in life, I have tried most "diets" out there. I've done Weight Watchers, Atkins, Low-Carb, South Beach, and even Dr. Bernstein's. I've had some success, but never managed to find something that I could maintain on a long term basis. Add to that an "enabler" hubby and a picky eater toddler, I pretty much turned into a short order cook anytime I tried to "diet".

In my youth, I could lose weight fairly easily. I ate poorly and drank casually so once I got a desk job, the pounds started piling on. This is when the revolving door or "diets" began. Finally after reaching my highest weight six months after my wedding, I knew I needed to do something more serious and so my Mom helped me out by paying for 2 months worth of Dr. Bernstein's. I kept that up for about 4.5 months and managed to lose 50 lbs! I felt great while I was on it, but it was unrealistic to maintain that type of diet in the long term, not to mention the sheer cost of the program. I stopped going, but did manage to keep the pounds at bay for a few months.

That Fall, I found out I was pregnant with Cate. I swear to this day that I put on 10 lbs the minute the line turned blue. That pregnancy was riddled with complications including 14 weeks of bed rest - a recipe for disaster if you're trying to keep from gaining too much weight. From my last count, I think I had gained about 65lbs. Although, I'll admit that I stopped looking at the scale at around 35 weeks...

After Cate was born, I tried to jump into losing the weight. Between nursing, losing all muscle tone from the bedrest and a thyroid problem that went undiagnosed for months, it was a lost cause. I had only lost 20 lbs at seven months after her birth. Finally, we got the thyroid regulated with medication and I went back on Dr. Bernsteins. Unfortunately this time, the weight did not come off as easily as it did before. It took three attempts as well as getting back into competitive horseback riding to lose another 25 lbs. Still I was 20 lbs away from my prepregnancy weight.

Skip ahead to June 2010 when I found out I was pregnant with Maddie. This time I vowed to take control of the weight gain. Luckily, I did not have the same complications as before and avoided bedrest. I also managed to keep my weight gain to 40lbs. Still high, but what can you do?

After Maddie was born, I knew I needed to get started on something right away. I lost the token 20lbs after two weeks, but still had another 20lbs to go. On my request, my Mom had given me a Dr Bernstein's gift certificate for Christmas, but I decided to keep that in my back pocket for now since I don't really want to spend the money if I can do some of it on my own first.

Throughout the course of my pregnancy, I watched my RMT lose weight and get healthier on a cleanse she was following. When the time came to make a decision, I told her to sign me up. Better still, hubby agreed to give it a try as well.

A few days later, we received a giant box of products from Isagenix. I'll admit that after opening the box and learning a bit of the protocol, it appeared pretty "gimmicky". Regardless, we had spent the money and I had seen the results in my RMT. I figured I'd give it a go for 30 days and then make a decision.

Sunday was our 3 week mark and the results are in. I am down 12lbs and am very happy with it. More surprising is that hubby is down 28lbs! We both find that the cleanse is fairly easy to follow and allows room to make regular meals that our toddler will eat (sometimes). We are both encouraged and can see ourselves keeping this up for sometime, with some breaks in between.

Time will tell if this is the one that works, but I do feel that we are making better lifestyle choices.

We are exercising everyday.
We are buying more organic groceries.
We are setting a good example for our girls.
We are encouraging each other.
We are in it together.