~ Hiking at Sugarloaf Mountains ~

I don't hike often, but I like hiking a lot!  Last weekend and this weekend, a bunch of my friends and I got together with our dogs and hiked!  I love seeing Momo on the trail.  He's so good!  He doesn't run off even when he's off leash.  He'll go ahead of me but come back to check on me because I am slow.  He's so good with climbing the rocks too!!

Today, we went to Sugarloaf Mountain and hiked on the blue trail.  It was a little weird getting there because the entrance looks like a private house.  But, once we figured it out, it was such a fun hike!  It's not that hard, but certainly have lots of uphill and rocks.  We even crossed a small stream and Momo loved it.

This is him ready to pounce across the stream.  He got all muddy and I had to bathe him just like last weekend.  I was hoping this week, he can keep himself clean enough that I only have to wash his feet, but no.  What does he care about bathing, he just wants to have fun!

 

We have fun just climbing on rocks.  I was trying to do the Lion King scene, but it was tough!  I am sure Momo was wondering why the heck I was dangling him from 6ft in the air!

There were plenty of great photo ops too.  Here are a couple of my favorites.  Nothing too exciting though.

The view was great at White Rocks.  The sky was beautiful and everything just looked so peaceful!  It was quite windy up there though! 

The blue trail was about 5 miles and it was a good distance.  I can really feel the physical toll right now.  Last week when we went to Great Falls, it was a more challenging hike but shorter.  At the end, I wasn't even tired, but I was certainly scared at a few points when I had to climb up the rocks and slide back down.  Fall is such a great time for hiking!  I hope I can find some time and companions to hike again soon before it gets too cold!

~ Detox Phase 3 Completed ~

Sprinkling Clean - Rose - All Natural Complexion Cleansing Powder with Real Rose Essential Oil by LaConchitaNaturals on Etsy

Ok, finally I am done with Phase 3! That means my 9-day treatment is completed. Phase 3 is basically the same as Phase 1. So, no eating for 2 days but tons of water and the cleansing juice 4 times a day. It was going just fine, except the last day when I went up to New York City with my fiance to do some wedding stuff. All that awesome food and I couldn't eat!!!

Dinner time rolls around and my fiance confessed that he cheated on the last day because he was at a work event and there was a lot of food around. So, I said "Screw you" and started eating. Look at all this awesome Japanese food! Who could've resisted?




Did I fail? I don't think so. I am actually very happy with the results. Here are my health stats before I detoxed. I hesitate to put weight on here, but I will :)

Weight: 128lbs
Skin: Extremely dry
Migraines/headaches: headaches every week, migraines about once a month
Asthma: seasonal. My "attacks" last for a few hours and I get them just about every day. Symptoms are neck tension, chest tension, pressure in my lungs when I breathe. My doctor gave me medicine which I took for 4 days with no results.
Energy Level: I felt sluggish a lot. After I eat lunch, I can literally fall asleep in my chair. I had to walk around, talk with people to stay away. And no, I don't eat a heavy lunch. It's a fair amount of veggies too and not a lot of carbs.

So, I did the 9 day treatment and it's been a week since my last day. Here are my stats:
Weight: 117lbs
Skin: Dry
Migraines/headaches: Haven't had a headache since I started detoxing.
Asthma: No issues at all. You may say "well, if it's seasonal, then maybe the season ended." That can be true. But I am just happy it's gone.
Energy Level: I still feel tired sometimes, but it's not like the extreme fatigue I used to feel.

I do feel better so I am continuing on with the 33 day treatment. That means for 15 days, I still take the shakes and juice morning and night and take 1 metabolism pill a day. Then, it's another 9 day detox. I will report results again after my second 9 day detox.

Overall, I am happy with everything. Is it worth the money? Well, it is to me because having asthma and migraines were horrible. Weight wise, I actually wasn't very concerned. Losing weight is just icing on the cake. My mom is also extremely happy with her results. She has own medical issues that I won't disclose here, but this detox did help with those issues.

If you want to find out more, feel free to contact me or Google it. The company is called Isagenix and they produce a lot of health products. Check it out :)

~ Detox Phase 2 Completed ~

detox tea blend from thelooseleaf on Etsy (note: this is not what I am using to detox right now)

After living through 2 days of fasting for phase 1, I was ready for phase 2. Phase 2 involves juice, milk shakes, regular food and metabolism accelerating pill. Yay for real food! Surprisingly though, I didn't even eat when I first got up. I just had the milk shake and waited till lunch. Not even one snack.

If you are using this detox regimen for weight loss, then you are only supposed to have 1 full meal a day. The other 2 meals, you have the shakes instead. Do I want to loose weight? Sure, but I want to eat. Food is my friend. So, I had light lunches and dinners along with the shakes. It's not my fault really. My friends just happen to schedule outings at Timpano and Yuraku while I am in phase 2. I can't just say no!

Can you eat anything you want? Well, you can. But, the program highly encourage you not to eat a lot of sugar, fats and carbohydrates. So, I just cut back on the rice. I actually had a brownie yesterday. I couldn't resist.

So far, I have lost about 5 pounds. I don't see a difference in my body but I don't really notice these things. No headaches so far. No asthma symptoms (I have seasonal asthma, very mild). Everything else feels normal. Just two more days for phase 3, which is identical to phase 1. That means no eating again today and tomorrow. Argh....and I forgot the snacks at home today so I just didn't eat anything at all today. I am feeling a little bit hungry, so I think I am going to reward myself with 2 snacks when I get home.

Just some more results. My fiance's brother completed the program and lost 10 pounds. My fiance completed the program and...I don't know what happened there. He didn't weigh himself before he started. I did take a picture of him, topless though. We will compare later :) My mom is on her last day and she said she lost about 5 lbs also. Stay tuned for more results after the weekend!

~ Detox Phase 1 Completed ~

Just something I found when I Etsy-searched Detox. Click on picture to go to the listing.

I started a detox regimen. Why? Because two of my friends tried it and they said they haven't had migraines since the regimen. That's a huge plus for me. Side effects? Weight loss. Ha. Ok, I think they sell this as a weight loss/detox thing, but I am just doing it for detoxing. I don't have the perfect body, but I won't torture myself just to be thinner. Wait, I didn't mean to say that detox is torture...Seriously, I do believe that detoxing is good for people. So, I figure I will try it out. It's a 9 day treatment and it costs money. I won't tell you what it is till after I am done and I see the results.

Basically, for the past two days, I didn't eat regular food. I drank this juice 4 times a day, had chocolate-flavored snacks 6 times a day, plus 2 pills that is an "accelerator" to "kindle your matabolism for burning fat safely". Oooo and I drank like gallons of water. About 250mL an hour.

The Good

First, the positives. I actually only felt hungry twice. Maybe it's because I am drinking so much water. But, honestly, I really didn't feel that hungry. When I did feel hungry, it's mostly when I am thinking about food, like making dinner plans for tomorrow and playing Restaurant City on Facebook. I wanted to eat for sure, but not like starving hungry. But, keep in mind that I am the kind that can skip lunch because I forget to eat.

I don't feel as tired as I usually do. About every other day, I get really, really fatigued in the middle of the day and I can seriously fall asleep sitting up. Didn't feel that way for the past two days.

The Bad
Ok, it's not really bad. But, the juice does not taste good. It doesn't taste horrible, but I won't drink it if I didn't pay for it and it isn't good for me. It's slightly tart, not sweet at all. If you ever tasted raw aloe, it's like a very watered down version of that. It does have aloe in it, so maybe it's good that it tastes like raw aloe?

Yesterday, 3 bright red pimples showed up on my face. I don't know if it's related though. I do get pimples every once in a while and I think it's just hormonal. But usually, they are not this angry red. Supposedly, it is normal for bad stuff to happen to you while you are detoxing. It's like all the toxin is trying to get out and acting up one last time.

Last thing is that I feel bad for not being able to eat with my dad. That's usually when we bound and talk over what happened during the day and him bestowing onto me all his infinite wisdom. He ate in front of me a few times, but, like right now as I am typing this in the dining room, he is eating instant noodles in the kitchen. Isn't he sweet? I think he's being nice and not tempting me with food, though I know he's just lazy sometimes and like to eat from the pot on the stove.

Weight
I didn't weight myself yesterday. We don't have a working scale at home! But, I did weigh myself recently at a friend's place and I will be going there tomorrow so we'll see what it says. My mom who is also doing this detox thing said she lost 5 lbs! Yea, it can be water weight blah blah blah. We'll see if she can keep the weight off after the regimen.

Gimick?
Ok, so the cynical side of me is constantly calling myself stupid. I paid money to do this to myself. Duh. All I am doing is not eating, of course I will loose weight!!! I think part of that may be true. But, I think another part that will help someone loose weight and maintain the weight is very psychological. I heard somewhere that it takes a few days to break a habit, but those few days are hard. So, imagine you are someone who's addicted to sweet drinks or bad snacks or huge dinners. Then, you got convinced to start this regimen, you paid a good amount of money for it, so you will follow it. And given a schedule and a purpose, it's much easier to follow then just say, "don't eat snacks". So, even if the juice and pill does nothing physical for you, it helps you break your bad food habits.

Well, phase 2 starts tomorrow. It'll be 5 glorious day of regular food! Well, 1 regular meal and some light snacks throughout the day and 2 shakes that came with the package. The schedule says I am only supposed to have lunch, but since I am not trying to loose weight, I can eat more than the schedule says. My dad is already planning out what to make for lunch. Yay~!