I'm almost 26 years old and I stand 5' 6" tall and have an athletic build. All my life I've been able to eat whatever I want and not need to worry about weight gain. My metabolism coupled with my super active sports life in high school kept me at a tiny 110 lbs at my heaviest. That was 8 years ago.
I grew up, moved to college, got comfortable in my long-term relationship, and replaced sports with video games. Needless to say, I gained quite a bit of weight. Like 60 lbs of weight.
This is me on March 17, 2012 weighing in at 168 lbs!
While I'm lucky to be tall and hide my weight well (instead of having it all settled on my hips/butt) it still wasn't a look I was comfortable with.
So I decided to change it. That's when I met Sara Sirois and learned about ViSalus 90-day challenge.
Let me tell you my story and why I love this diet program.
Visalus is a meal replacement program (think SlimFast - but actually good tasting). The plain shake made with just milk and mix will taste like vanilla/white cake batter. That's the only reason I decided to try it. I couldn't imagine trying a liquid diet if it didn't taste good.
You can replace 1 or 2 meals per day with a shake depending on your personal goals. It does not need to be the same meals each day either. I drink 2 shakes/day and I always have one for breakfast since I don't normally eat breakfast. It helps to give me a boost of energy in the morning and keeps me from getting hungry earlier on in the day. Then depending on my plans for that evening I will either have my 2nd shake for lunch or dinner and a regular meal for whichever I don't have a shake.
For instance, if I know my husband won't be home for dinner I will typically have a salad with some kind of meat for lunch and then a shake for dinner so I don't have to cook. Or if I know I'm going to dinner with family and friends I will have my 2nd shake for lunch.
And that's all there is to the program. 2 shakes & 1 meal per day. It's very important that you don't skip meals though. Like don't drink a shake for lunch & dinner and not eat breakfast. You still need the proteins/fats/etc that you will get from eating regular food to optimize your health.
The shakes have a TON of nutrients and vitamins in them, but you need the sugars and fats and all the other stuff that comes with eating regular meals. Not to mention that eating all 3 meals a day will boost your metabolism. If you skip a meal one day you'll probably be OK but if you do it over a long period of time your body will go into "starvation" mode and it will turn muscles into fat to burn for energy. Not a good thing.
SO...back to the plan basics... There are a variety of kits you can choose from again depending on your preferences and what you have as a lifestyle.
The kit that I get each month is the Shape Kit. It is $113.95 after tax and S&H. They charge your card automatically each month as long as you are active on one of three dates that you choose (5th, 12th, or 19th). The shape kit comes with 2 bags of mix and 10 sample flavor packets (2 each of orange, peach, banana, strawberry, chocolate). This is enough product for 2 shakes per day for a month.
You are also allowed two HEALTHY snacks per day. They can be up to 200 calories each. The company offers items you can buy that go hand in hand with the shakes, but I just opt for things like string cheese, apples, and pretzels. The chewier they are the better since the only thing I miss about eating "real food" is the chewing. So having chewy snacks gives me that feeling and helps to make me feel full between meals.
It comes out to less than $2 per shake after adding in the cost of the milk / juice that you mix it with (plain shakes, no added flavors). You can add just about any flavors you like and there are loads of websites that can give you ideas. I normally add fruit to mine as it makes it thicker so you feel fuller longer. I've been on the diet since 3/22/12 and have only had the same shake once since then.
And here is the best part. They have a "3 for free" promotion. What that means is that if you get three people to sign up under you during any month, you get your next months kit for free (you just pay S&H - $10). That doesn't mean 3 new people every month. I signed up on March 19 and couldn't quite get the three before the 31st. So I had to pay for my April kit. But in the month of April I got 4 to sign up under me. So when my kit shipped out in May I was only charged $10 instead of $113.95. Definitely can't beat that!!
I'm saving a ton of money and losing a ton of weight (and inches!!) which makes me feel better about myself in addition to generally feeling healthier. My current challenge ends in only 5 more days and I plan to start another right after as I would like to lose even more weight and inches. Plus the shakes taste good and make me feel good.
All I've done is replace two meals a day with a delicious, nutritious shake from ViSalus.
Even then I cheated on some days and only had one shake, and there were times when circumstances didn't allow me to have ANY shakes that day.
I did no extra exercising aside from normal housework and walking the dog. I feel so much healthier and better about myself. I can't wait to start my next challenge and hopefully get down to what the doctor claims is my "ideal" weight of 130 lbs.
If you would like to try ViSalus to see how much you can lose, please don't hesitate to call me or e-mail me. My cell phone # is 207.735.6522 and I am out of work at 5 PM every day. You can also visit my website at: www.http://courtneyjo86.bodybyvi.com/ to see some videos and get the inside scoop.
At $2 per meal, how can you afford not to?
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