Destination ME

Did you think I forgot?  Nope!  Just because I said that I was going to post once a week and haven't posted in months does not mean that I forgot!  Or that I haven't been working on my goals!

So let's see... what WERE my goals?!?  Just kidding!

Here's what I've been up to on the ME front since I last did a Destination ME post...

* One of my goals was to get more sleep.  I can safely say that has NOT happened.  I did pretty well for awhile and then... holidays, school, diabetes, life.... I really NEED to get back to trying to be ready to sleep at 11pm.  It makes a big difference.  BIG.

* Another goal was to drink more water.  I can safely say that this IS happening.  It's harder on the weekend for sure.  But I aim to drink about 100 oz of water a day.  And most of time, I hit this goal (or even exceed!).

*Coke.  THIS IS BIG PEOPLE!!!!  I don't drink much coke anymore.  I still will order it sometimes if we are eating out.  But a little 90 cal can can last me an entire day.  I've SIGNIFICANTLY cut back.  And I what's even bigger... I don't miss it.  I don't crave it.  My car does not magically go through the McDonalds drive through and order a large any more.  Ever.

* Exercise.  I have started exercising!!!  I used to exercise all the time!  Then I had a baby.  Then I wanted to stay with her after work.  Then she was dxd with T1D.  Then... You know how that ends.  No more.  I joined Jazzercise again (I love me some dancing).  And I have been going!  I was seriously afraid I might die the first class back.  Like for real.  But I didn't.  In fact, I felt good.  And what's even better... I don't feel guilty (much) about going!  That's a big deal for me!  I've just been going once a week but once Sweets switches from Gymnastics to Tumbling I'm hoping to up that to two or three!

*Diet.  I wanted to start making better choices.  And I have.  I am not snacking at night after Sweets goes to bed.  I am making better, healthier choices.  I can't tell you the last time I ate fast food.  Not that I'm perfect all the time.  No way.  I still have some sweets.  But I'm doing SO much better!

*  Weight loss.  I want to lose pounds, yes.  But my goal from the beginning was lose the OTHER weight I've been carrying around, too.  The tiredness.  The poor diet.  The unhealthy habits.  The sugar cravings.  The guilt over doing something for myself.  All the stuff that has been weighing me down both mentally and physically.  When I say "weight loss" I mean more than pounds.

But I mean pounds, too.
Here's where it gets real people.

Are you ready?

I've lost 17 pounds and at least as many (if not more... I haven't measured in a while) inches!

Can I get a HOLLA?!?

Today I went shopping.  We were there to get a present for someone else.  But I saw these jeans.  On sale.  50% off the sale price.  So tried them on.  Maybe I should add that I bought new jeans a couple of weeks ago because I was tired of pulling up my old pair.  The ones I bought today was a size smaller than the "new" ones.  That's FOUR SIZES SMALLER!

Here's a previous pic I took.  I was kinda happy...

I'm kinda in shock.

So you may be wondering... HOW am I doing this?  HOW have made these changes during the holidays?  You read my last post about all the crazy stuff that's been keeping us super busy.  HOW have I had the time?

I'm gonna let you in on my little secret....

#1 - I am determined to get it right this time.  I'm not taking failure as an acceptable option.

#2 - Plexus

What's Plexus?

Plexus is a brand of nutritional supplements aimed at helping you get healthy and lose weight.  I first heard of it from my friend and fellow D Mama, Laura.  I'm naturally skeptical about this stuff.  I mean, it never really works, right?  But I KNOW Laura.  I watched her lose weight.  I trust her.  So when I asked her about it, I knew she wasn't just feeding me a line.

I was intrigued.  Nothing had worked for me before.  I hadn't been able to stick with diet and exercise.  Even when I did for a few months, weight loss was pretty much non existent.  Maybe this would help....

What REALLY sold me on giving it a try was the Probiotic.

I have IBS.  I was diagnosed with it about 2-3 weeks after Sweets was diagnosed with T1.  Apparently my stomach could not handle the stress.  My doctor said to expect it settle down... but come back from time to time.  And it did.  And it was miserable.  Remember that vacation we took to Florida over the summer?  I spent most of it in the bathroom.  By fall, I was MISERABLE and DESPERATE.  I had tried elimination diets.  I had blood work done looking for food allergies and celiac disease.  NOTHING was helping me.

So when Laura sent me some testimonials of people saying that it had helped their IBS.... I decided it was worth the risk.  I was willing to step out on faith and give it a try.

Boy, am I glad I did!

Plexus offers many different products.  I take the Slim "Pink Drink" and Accelerator, the ProBio 5 (probiotic) and BioCleanse.

My IBS is GONE. GONE!!!

Being the skeptic that I am... and even as thrilled as I was that it was working... part of me still wondered if it was just coincidence.  I mean... it always did come and go.  So maybe it was just a coincidence that it went away the same time I started the ProBio 5 and BioCleanse.  But then I ran out. It was Christmas.  I was busy.  I didn't realize how low I was...  I honestly didn't think it would be that big of a deal.

But within a couple of days without it, my IBS was back.  The day my new bottles of ProBio 5 and BioCleanse arrived was (almost) better than Christmas morning!  I'm not a skeptic any longer.  It works.

As for weight loss.... Like I said - 17 pounds and lots and lots of inches.

Don't believe me?  Look at this...

I have gone back and forth about posting this since I took the December picture.  I hate showing the "other" side.  I'd love to tell you it was a bad camera angle. But.... every picture from Walk Day looked like that.  And I've got a ways to go... But there it is.  Transparency at it's best.

Now, is the Slim and Accelerator a magic pill that will let you eat every kind of junk food, fatty food, bad for you food you can stuff into your body in one day and still lose weight?

No.  But why would you want that anyway?

I have found it to be a great tool in my Destination ME journey.

It has eliminated my cravings.  Like I said... my car no longer is pulled like a magnet to the McDonalds drive through.  I don't crave sweets or junk at night.  IF I'm hungry, I can grab some grapes and be fine.  Sweets and J can get frozen yogurt and eat it in front of me and I don't even care.  Not only can I say no, I say no because I actually don't want it!

I'm just not as hungry.  Without the hunger and cravings, making healthy choice is SO MUCH EASIER.  It almost FEELS like magic!

I HAVE ENERGY!  Yes, you read that right!  I have more energy!  Even if I've been up fighting with diabetes all night.  I actually have the energy to exercise now!

Still not convinced?  I had blood work done recently.  I didn't WANT to.  But it had been three years.  And with my family history of autoimmune diseases, my doctor said she wanted to keep a close eye one me.  And see where my cholesterol was because it was high last time.  I had been only been taking Plexus a short time.  About 6 weeks or so.  I was down 10 pounds.  But... I still weighed more than I did three years ago when the last labs were drawn.  And let's face it... my diet had only gotten worse.  I didn't think six weeks was enough time to make a difference.  I wanted to wait longer.  She kinda forced me. And guess what?  My cholesterol is great!  It's not just lower.  It's GREAT.  Now.... what could be reason for that?  Exercise?  Hadn't started that yet.  Diet?  Maybe.  Plexus?  I have to believe it played a part.

I often get asked what's going to happen when I stop taking it.  Won't I just gain it all back?  My response has always been that it is helping me change and break some bad habits.  It's helping me develop some new, healthy habits.  That is what is going to keep the weight off in the long term.

I actually got to (accidentally) try that theory out.  Over Christmas, I didn't just run out of my ProBio - I ran out of EVERYTHING.  I was so busy... and then I just decided I'd wait to reorder till January.  Well, you know that was a disaster for my IBS.  But was it a disaster for weight loss?  During the season of multiple holiday parties every weekend and lots and lots and lots of junk food?  Nope.  I did not gain weight.  I did not go back to snacking at night.  I did not start going to McDonalds and drinking coke.  Now THAT is a win.

Plexus has worked for me in many ways!  I am SO THANKFUL I took that leap of faith and gave it a try!  There's nothing special about me, folks.  If it can work for me, it can work for you, too!

If you would like to learn more about it and/or give it a try for yourself, you can check out my website here:  www.mypinkdrinkshrink.com  or email me at theprincessandthepump@gmail.com .  I would happy to answer any questions you have!

So what's next?

Keep on keeping on.  I'm not there yet.  But I'm well on my way.

I think a weekly Destination ME post too much.  I'm gonna try to post monthly about my goals and my progress.  I'd still love for you to join me!

I'm going to be working on getting more sleep, upping my exercise days, and continuing to eat healthy.
What are YOUR goals?  What are some weights that YOU want to lose?

Playing Catch (Up)

How has it really been this long since I've written anything?

Life has been crazy - as usual!  Not crazy in a bad way.  Just crazy!

Sweets has been busy with school and other activities.  Second grade has brought us a LOT more homework.  We spend time every night studying and doing homework!  This has me worried about what's to come...  She cheered for PeeWee Football this fall (and I coached!).  She also has been busy with dance classes and gymnastics lessons.

When we're not running her to activities and doing homework, J and I have both been busy with work! Sorry, that's not overly exciting but it's true!  I find that after A (I'm just gonna start using her initial - if you've been reading for awhile, you know her name.  Right?!?)  goes to bed, I usually spend the rest of the evening working on school work!

Blogging has just kind of taken a back seat to life!

Not that I WANT it to, of course!

What else have we been up to?

Well, here's a quick little "catch up"...

SECOND GRADE!  Sweets started second grade in the fall!  Hard to believe...  Second has brought new challenges for us. Those deserve a post of their own...

In the fall, one of the students at our High School created a "Grey Out" event in support of T1 Diabetes.  His bother has T1 and he was motivated to bring awareness to our community.  There was a night at a football game where everyone was encouraged to wear grey.  They sold bracelets and raised money for JDRF.  All the kids in the district with T1 (there are 20) were invited to come onto the field and hold the banner they made!  There will be a 5k held in the spring, too!  It was a really great night!  I am so impressed with this young man and all he's doing for diabetes awareness!  

Also in the fall was our JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes!  We LOVE the walk!  It's always such a special day!  My super talented artist friend, Steve, designs our shirts each year and they are always really awesome!  A loves to see her T1 buddies at the walk - and this year we even had a very special (and very big) doggie who joined our team!  It was a great day and we really appreciate all of our friends and family who join us on walk day and who donate to our team!  I'm not sure what our exact total was this year but I know we raised over $14,000!  

Sweets cheered for her school team this fall!  And I was a (assistant) Coach!  That kept us quite busy!  She LOVES cheering!  However, she's decided that she would rather be inside (she is not a fan of cold or rain!).  She also wanted to know if she HAD to cheer for people or if she could just cheer... I'm not sure she really gets this whole "team spirit" thing! 

We took a trip to DISNEY WORLD at the end of October!  It was AWESOME!  We have been in the summer when it's too hot to enjoy it.  Now that Assistance Passes are pretty hard to come by... and while she's still young... we just decided to go in the fall and enjoy!  And boy did we!  We have always had an Assistance Pass when we visited before (and it's always been in late July or August).  This time, we didn't get one and we didn't need it.  We went to the special Halloween party, too!  We all got to Trick or Treat through the Magic Kingdom!  THAT was awesome!  You can see the picture of all the loot she got!  It was a wonderful, magical experience!

Of course, no vacation is complete with a D Disaster.  A's Dexcom transmitter battery died.  You are supposed to have some time once you get the warning but we got a couple of hours before it totally died.  The good news was that it happened the morning we went home!  The bad news was that we were without it while we waited on the third party supplier and our hospital to argue over prescriptions and faxes.  That was not cool.  We will always replace that sucker when 6 months are up!  

We also got to visit with some super special D friends while we were there!  We got to hang out with Lora of My Diabetic Child and her family!  We get to see them whenever we go to Florida and they have become great friends!  We also got to meet- for the FIRST TIME in REAL LIFE - Alexis and her family from The Chronicles of D Boy and Ribbon!  They were just as awesome in person as they seem online!  I was only sorry that we just had one evening to hang out!  

Sweets is taking Tap lessons this year in addition to Hip Hop!  She loves, loves, loves dance class!  Hip Hop is still her favorite but she likes tap, too!  Tap gives Mommy a headache.  It's still a favorite thing of mine-- watching her dance is so much fun!  Girlfriend has got moves!  It can really drop her bg so we've got to keep an eye on it... but it never stops her!

This girl will NOT pull a tooth!  The reason?  It might bleed.  I said, "But you see blood every day!"  "Yes, Mom.... but not from my MOUTH!"  She has a point, I suppose.  Anyway, she had an adult tooth that came in in front of a baby tooth.  It loosened it quite a bit.  A little wiggling was all it would have taken.  But.... she had to go to the dentist and have it pulled.  She would NOT pull that thing or wiggle it on her own.  I thought maybe this experience would encourage her to wiggle... Nope.  She said it was so easy that she wants to come back and have them pull ALL her loose teeth.  Great.  

Sweets went ice skating for the first time with our JDRF Holiday Hoopla event!  She LOVED it!  

I had this idea... One day I was thinking about all the people who are diagnosed or who are in patient over the holidays - and how sucky that would be.  And I thought.... I want to do something for them!  So, we created some goody bags!  We put in some holiday tattoos, erasers, JDRF bracelets, pins, and stickers.  We made a diabetes themed ornament to include as well.  I wrote a little letter to include with the treats.  Then we delivered these to our local Children's Hospital Diabetes center for them to distribute!  It was a lot of fun!  I'm thinking that we are going to expand and make it a bigger outreach opportunity next year! 

Of course, we had to visit Santa!  We had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends!  

So - that's it!  That's a really quick peek at what we've been doing the past few months!  There's some stuff I missed... And some stuff that needs it's own posts.  I'll get there.  I promise!  

I hope that your fall and winter were wonderful and I'm looking forward to hanging out with you in 2014!