We finished!

We finished the cleanse! I lost 5 pounds, Rocky lost 10, and the details are all on the other blog.

I'll keep doing cleansing days a couple times a month, I LOVE most how it has been good for my skin!

Anyways, just thought I would let you know!

Important lesson learned this weekend...

an mp3 player should not be washed with the laundry...

(I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo bummed and so mad at myself)

Days 5 and 6...

Still going well, I am really thoroughly enjoying the experience. Details of course on the cleanse blog, but just wanted to let anyone know who is only checking this blog. I love this program. wish I had found it much sooner!

Days 3 and 4

The cleanse is going really really well. I am blogging more in detail over on the other blog I mentioned in the previous post. I feel really great, and I am loving this. Really enjoying the experience.

I'll keep you posted. Almost half way done.

Day two...

I'm not sure what happened to my day 1 post. I did one but it disappeared somewhere into the great unknown of cyberspace! Happens to me often, I am convinced my computer doesn't like me. I'll be having troubles and I'll call Rocky over to fix something and when he tries to get it to work, it works just fine! So, "sayonara" to my day one post wherever you went!?

To recap, Day one was fine. Days one and two of the program involve drinking a cleanse inducing supplement 4 times a day, and lots of water. It wasn't as hard as I though, except that not having to cook, eat and clean 3 times a day left me feeling lost as a housewife! I never realized how much my daily schedule revolves around it. OH and by the way, Rocky decided to join me!!! He said he felt hungry sometimes, I didn't feel so bad, and the little snacks that are provided to curb hunger and cravings were good enough for me. Before taking a bath last night I had lost .3 kilo from the morning (1 kilo= 2.2 lbs).

Now on to day two, things are still awesome. I feel GREAT! Really I feel uplifted and just content. I had this mental picture of being weak and tired from replacing my meals with the supplement. But I feel awesome. My stomach has growled like twice today but that was right around time to drink the next cleanse and I am NOT starving to death. It really only happens when I see something that looks good. Like yesterday I spotted the bowl of chocolates on the kitchen table and my tummy went "grrrrrrrr" but then I put the bowl away where I can't see it and I was fine. I take the supplement 4 times a day on day one and two, and after taking the supplement I feel really satisfied for a couple hours. This isn't as hard as I imagined, only I just want to chew something. In Japan they have a saying, "You're mouth is lonely." which means you aren't hungry you just want to eat. That is so true for me now.

I have little red spots popping out on my face and back. I think this is some "deep cleaning" going on in my skin. I have had acne and skin problems since I went to college. That's also when my diet went way out of control and I started drinking about 6 Dr. Peppers a day. I am sure there are all kinds of toxins in there that just need to get out.

Although I am not doing this for the weight loss, I am down 1 kilo (about 2.2 lbs) from yesterday morning. Last night at bath time Rocky had already lost one kilo. MEN! argh! He didn't weigh this morning but tomorrow is a weigh and measure day for the program so we'll see how many pounds and inches he lost tomorrow. With my excercise and diet that I've been doing to lose weight, it could take me at least 2 weeks to lose a kilo, and that was if I was REALLY restricting portion sizes. It is amazing how this supplement really gets your body to kick those pounds OUT!

So that means that I hit my goal today! My goal was 60 kilo, and the scales this morning said EXACTLY 60.0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I danced myself a little jig and threw a little party in the shower this morning! It took me a year and a half but I lost 14 kilo! (that's a little over 30 pounds total!) I kinda wish the cleansing program had come along a lot sooner, it wouldn't have taken me nearly that long.

Tomorrow I begin 5 days of replacing two meals a day with Isagenix shakes, and the other meal is a low fat, heigh protein meal. We weigh and measure tomorrow too.

For anyone who wants more details and wants to hear other people's stories, I made another blog where I am documenting these 9 days in more detail (although some will be a repeat of what is here) AND including other information and testimonies of other's who are doing this. That blog is Me and Isagenix

Especially read Debbie's testimony, I still can't believe the changes in her! It's amazing.

I'm still here...

Ok, so blogging every day is HARD! I don't know how I used to do it. I must have been superwoman or something. Anyways, I am gonna try to be better, and I bet that this week I will because, I am going to do a body cleanse starting tomorrow! What's a body cleanse you say? Well, it is NOT like what many of you might have heard of known as a colon cleanse (which I also recommend). It is a 9 day program that will help rid your body of toxins and JUNK! I have been dying to do this, and I do hope that my dear hubby joins me (come on hunny, you can do it!). He was gung ho about it at first but now that the day is approaching, he is being a little wishy washy, we shall see if he does it.

So my Mom, grandma, cousins, some friends and so forth have done this and they say it is awesome. Makes you feel better, makes you LOOK better. Mom says her dear sweet hubby told her she was just GLOWING after she did this. Her skin really looks great evidentally. Not to mention she lost like 14 pounds on the first cleanse she did, and she is part way into another (she has 5 more pounds to go to reach her goal weight). All my other aquantances lost weight dramatically and are feeling great.

I'm not doing it for the weight loss (except to get off this last stinking kilo and a half that is hanging on for dear life)! I want to do it for the health benefits. I am still having some acne although it is MUCH improved over before. And I am looking forward to other benefits I'm gonna see from this thing.

So I am going to blog daily about the experience. The first two days consist of pouring liquid nutrient and the cleanse inducing supplement, which is all natural and packed with good stuff, into the body and jump starting the cleansing process. The next five days are packing your body with tons of nutrient. And the last two days are the same as the first two.

So we are off and running first thing in the morning. I'm excited (how bout you sugarpie?)

I'm back...

Still doesn't seem real that our friend is gone. He was such a precious precious person. I was so tempted to ask God why, but you know I have total assurance that God has a big plan for this. Ken was so special and so in love with his Lord Jesus. He shamelessly shared the Lord with his friends, he was a servant and a huge light in the darkness here. Believers like that, unfortunately are not the norm, and if God chose to allow him to go home rather than stay here for longer, he has to have a big purpose in store. It has to affect more lives than he would have affected had he continued here in his walk of faith! I believe that with ALL my heart.

The wake yesterday was such a mixture of sadness and hope for me. I had a strong confidence and hope that God is especially going to work in his parent's and sister's life through this. Yet he made such an impact on so many people and so many were grieving deeply. I will miss him so much too. It still seems like it must have been a dream to see him lying there so still and lifeless. Rocky's gonna miss him a lot too. He was one of Rocky's best friends.

Please lift up his parents and sister in prayer. They were definitely in shock and have a lot ahead of them. Pray for the church that he attended there and they might somehow have an impact on those men he worked with. They filed into the church and looked lost and so confused. If at all this could impact some of them to search for God and Ken's church might somehow reach out to them, that would just be awesome.

We already feel a sense of renewed determination to share our faith. And a greater sense of how precious life is and how quickly it can be lost. And such an appreciation for the many people God allows us to know and to be impacted by!!! We serve an awesome God and the family of believers he has surrounded us with are so precious. I am so thankful that I was able to know Ken when he was alive and see how much light and love he brought to the people in his life.

We came back home LATE last night and were up early this morning to prepare for chapel at one of the Christians schools we speak at often. I had prepared my message days before all this and the title was "been there, done that". The verse was Hebrews 4:15-16. I had already planned to talk about how amazing it is that we have a God who came here and walked in our flesh, experienced everything we have and knows exaclty how we feel when we bring to him our troubles and struggles. It was so appropriate to be able to share how in the loss of our friend yesterday I was able to take so much comfort in knowing God was there for me, and I could take my sadness to him in prayer and he would understand. I hope it had an impact on some of the girls at the school.

I was filled with peace all day today and often found a smile spread across my face when I thought about where Ken is now. He is in the presence of his beloved Savior, worshipping him and adoring him. WOW, how amazing that must be. On the train ride yesterday, I listed to "I Can Only Imagine" over and over several times. WOW, what is it like to see Jesus, to be in his presence. Would I dance, stand in awe or fall to my knees? I Can Only Imagine what it will be like. One day, I will know. We'll all be there together standing in the middle of His Glory, worshipping him! WOW, it's gonna be amazing.

Ken, I know you're there already and I can't imagine how awesome it must be. We miss you buddy, but we are waiting with hope and anticipation to see what God is gonna do through this. See ya when we get there!

A friend goes home to Jesus...

It still doesn't seem real, but a very close friend of ours lost his life today. He was in the fishing industry and had some sort of water accident. We still don't know the details, we just found out. We are going to the wake tomorrow. He was only 30 years old. Unbelievable.

So I won't be checking in as I had resolved to do everyday. I'll check back in on Thursday. Please pray for the family and all those whose lives he touched (and there are many). He was a strong believer and many of us are left with the hope and peace of knowing where he's gone and that we'll see him again. But many others, including his parents and sister, are not believers and will not have that hope. Please pray...

New Years 2008

Can not believe it is 2008! WOW!

OK so here is my New Years resolution, to get back on track with my health and fitness and blog about it again. If you hated reading about all my meals and workouts and stuff, then I appologize. But this blog keeps me accountable. I will label these blogs as "weightloss" so you can know just to ignore them if you don't want read bout this stuff.

So I haven't gained any weight back but December was horrible for eating and working out. I was lucky to get in some excercise once a week, and I was never able to control my meals. So I am back at it in January now. We are going to the states in late April and I want to be able to shop for new clothes in the size I plan to STAY in for a good long while.

So I finally made it back to the gym today after not being able to go because of concerts, holidays, or family and friend get togethers. It felt soooooooo good. I will be back on track with my eating tomorrow, although I didn't do so bad with portion control, I just couldn't get all the veggies I wanted, and had to eat a lot of carbs cause most of the time that is the bulk of a Japanese meal.

I stayed in the sauna way too long at the gym tonight before showering. I met two sweet young ladied and we were just talking away. I didn't realize how long I'd been in there till my head started pounding. I am now red as a lobster, have a ragging headache and can hardly keep my eyes open so I am headed to bed!