Número Uno

Jesus.

Ok, so I woke up this morning and started my Slim in 6. Yesterday I did my Shakeology, and did some exercise on my own. 

My first impression of the "Start it Up" DVD. SLOW THE FUCK DOWN! LOL. So everyone is pretty much right about the cheesy music, although Debbie is pretty good. She just moves around, like she's got ADD. I know it's supposed to be aerobic exercise, and I'm an active person. I just felt like it was a little hard to get the moves down and keep up with her pace. I'm sure by the end of this week, I'll have all the moves down and keep up with no trouble. Interestingly enough, you can substitute the resistance bands for dumbells. Which is a nice! 

I chose the Slim in 6 program, because I'm not fit enough to do P90X or Insanity. In some time (six weeks I hope), I'll be able to! My goal for tackling this is to get my workout done before I go to work. I usually do my protein shakes in the morning anyway, so it just makes sense to workout and do the shake right after. Most of the time I go to the gym after work, but it keeps my up at night. The only reason why I don't do the gym before work, is for the simple fact that it's too far to go there and back home before work, and the showers there suck. 

I'm very much the type of person that needs to be worn out during the day, in order to get enough rest at night. If I don't, I lay awake for hours. My Tyler Durdeneque levels have peaked before, I have a bit of an insomnia problem. Either way, this will help I'm sure.

Overall, I think the first DVD is good. It pushes you to keep up, but I wouldn't exactly say it's beginners level. I don't know, maybe I'm out of it--but I don't normally do work out DVDs. I just go to the gym and follow my training program. Anyway, first work out is done! I'm feeling pretty good. I'm off to run some errands today before heading back to work. 

OH! 

So, I did my whole post thing about my food and exercise log yesterday. I'm 100% certain that it's a pain in the fucking ass. I know it helps some people, and making the "excuse" that I don't have enough time is not acceptable to some--but when you work 7 days straight, 12 hour shifts saving people's lives, you don't have fucking time to log what you ate for the day. In fact, you're lucky if you got anything to eat at all. I only work every other week, so I guess the group will just have to be cool with me posting once in a while. It's more of an exercise to keep you accountable. I'm sure it works for a lot of people, and I'm grateful for the online motivation and support. It's important to a lot out there. 

However, I'm not a social media junkie. Facebook is a pain in the ass, I really only post pictures or if I'm out of town and checking into things. I'm not one of those trolls that scrolls through my feed, stalking my friends and what they're doing. I honestly could care less. Sounds harsh, but I consume enough time during my day focusing on what the fuck I'm doing, let alone seeing what someone else is doing. Staying off Facebook keeps me out of trouble, trust me. 

I'm not totally out of the loop though lol. I Twitter and IG. Mostly because it's just fun, and I love taking pictures. I'm a total shutterbug. Oh and I totally took "before" pics today, HORRIFIC. 😳

And with that, I'm hitting the shower and going out for the day! 

Beach Body Challenge, go!

Guess what I got today...!

As promised, I'm trying out the Slim in 6 Beach Body Challenge! Super exciting! I don't go back to work until Wesnesday, so I was lucky to be home to check the mailbox! A bag of Shakeology alone would have ran me around $130, the challenge seemed to be a good idea. It came with a bag of Shakeology and the Slim in 6 DVD set. In total I paid $155. Let's open the box and see! 

The Shakeology bag lasts about a month. You can opt to get individual bags of one flavor or mix and match them. As y'all know, vanilla never works out for me and I'm sad to say strawberry doesn't really either. I'll stick to the chocolate. I'm sure I'll probably get bored with it, just like I do with every other shake I'm on. There are ways to change it up, but at least this brand doesn't have a nasty after taste.

You're supposed to use each DVD everyday for two weeks at a time; three DVDs, six weeks and you're done. It includes some start up guides, diet tips, a measuring tape and the exercise bands to go along with the workouts. 

Of course it recommends to take measurements and before photos. It's easier to see your progress in terms of photos. Your clothes getting loose is nice, but seeing is believing and photos make a huge impact. Here's a quick pic of where to take measurements on the body.

I'll be starting the Slim in 6 today, and report back on my thoughts in the next blog post. I started networking a bit with this challenge and made a new friend. Her name is Alexis, and she's been with Beach Body for a while now. She's a real person, with real success stories and experience. It's not a secret that I'm super fucking suspicious with some of these people, but she's legit. She's a young woman around my age, and I really felt like she was relateable. Either way, I'm on her facebook group for support in working out, and I have access to the beach body website too.

Honestly, it seems like tracking all this might be a pain in the ass. With two years experience of eating pretty clean and on a steady diet I'm not so much concerned with what I eat. The exercise is what I'm most interested in. I've already conditioned myself mentally and need a kick start back into fitness. I downloaded my fitness pal, to keep track of things. I'm hoping to keep on the reg with logging shit in and posting on the support group page but we'll see how that goes. 

I'm aiming to blog more, and keep you all posted on all my experiences with this. I'll post as I go, and tag my results in them. As for now, I'm off for walk it's too fucking nice out to stay in! Enjoy your day all, make the most of it! 

Fucking Vanilla.

No matter how many different brands I try, vanilla protein shakes are just not my friend. 

I have some weird food expectations. I've explained this before. I'm always curious to try vanilla protein shakes, because I love vanilla! Well NOT this vanilla debauchery. It's disgusting. I'm glad I ordered the sample box of Shakeology, otherwise like a dummy I would have ordered a month supply of vanilla and chocolate. Oh and by the way fuck you too just a little bit chocolate Shakeology, for being so good that I thought the vanilla would be a game changer. 

It was around 10am when I decided to make this shake. Let me set the mood. The snow was fresh, glistening as the sun hit hundreds of tiny snowflakes in the air. It looked like a magical land, peaks of puffed white fluff scattered everywhere. What a great day to try something vanilla! Not all fairy tales have happy endings folks. Sorry to burst your bubbles but the melting girl does not lie. 

So I got all my shit out to whip up a vanilla shake, and to be honest my expectations were high. I was a bit afraid, because let's face it...anything you try for the first time is scary! This marks my 5th brand of vanilla protein shake I tried, and I've struck out every single time. 

Upon opening up the package, I wasn't impressed with the smell. It smelled like flour and cornstarch, yuck. But I remembered that I wasn't impressed at all with the chocolate, and I was so pleasantly surprised! I figured this was the same thing, so how bad could it be?

IT WAS PRETTY FUCKING BAD. I tasted it, and honestly wish that I hadn't, it tasted like shit. There was a sickening sweetness that lingered after you drank it, that asparatame flavor. I HATE that taste, I'd honestly rather have just regular sugar or stevia. This was so sickening sweet I had a hard time finishing it. I have it a good try, but ended up dumping it down the drain. 

They tried to make it like a vanilla bean type flavor I think. The shake was speckled with dark flecks in it, sort of how vanilla bean ice cream would look. In my experience anything vanilla flavored, tastes anything but vanilla. 

Needless to say I will never, I MEAN NEVER, attempt to drink vanilla protein shakes again. This whole experience has scarred me for life! Gross! So this fairy tale ended up being a horror story sequel...but with a productive ending. I'll go ahead and order the chocolate Shakeology, and see how it goes. 

Vitamitaveganmin

I was finally able to meet Tali yesterday!

I had my first appointment with her, and I have to say she's not what I expected at all. That's a good thing by the way! She was super warm and friendly, very thorough in explanations, and attentive. I checked her out on google, and the picture that popped up instantly made me a bit scared of her. She just looked really intense, and reminded me of Donnatella Versace lol. Anyway, she is young, full of life and I got a sense she really enjoyed being a doctor.

My appointment had been out off so many times, due to scheduling difficulties. She works at a local hospital here, and she also runs her own office. Between both if our schedules, it proved to be difficult. Anyway, I was very curious to see how my labs were. I haven't had lab work drawn since probably around April or May. 

I'm happy to report back that almost all of my lab work came back completely normal and healthy. Except for my Vitamin D and B-12 levels. Living in Upstate New York definitely had it's disadvantages. Being one of the most clouded areas, the lack of sun doesn't help. I take vitamins on a regular basis, but for some reason the D and B-12 values have plummeted significantly. 

I get a Lipotonix injection at my appointments. It's essentially a B-12 injection. I like them because I know it goes directly into the blood stream, and it gives me an extra boost. The normal range for Vitamin D should be 30-100, mine was 9. 

Tali ended up prescribing me a Vitamin D pill that holds 50,000 IUs. It's to be taken once a week, for eight weeks. After I'm done, I'm to continue taking the normal does of about 2,000 IUs, and have my blood work redone.

To tell you the truth, I have been extremely tired lately. Like I can't function and my head has been foggy, I blamed it on lack of sleep and pushing myself too hard week after week. I have so much going on, I get caught up in stretching myself too thin. 

I took my first dose of the vitamin D yesterday, and felt SO much better today. To tell you guys the truth, I took the day completely off. I slept in, watched Spartacus, and caught up on my Sherlock lol. Sometimes vegging out, is just what the doctor ordered! 

I'm going on a hunt tomorrow to find some liquid Vitamin D and B-12. I could easily order online, but I'd rather just have it now. Impulse I guess. I have a tendency to do that. If I need or want something, I just go and get it myself. I'll try hitting up Vitamin World and GNC first, and probably some health stores around the area. If all else fails, I'll just order them online.

My cholesterol is excellent, my triglycerides are in completely normal range (Tali said I wasn't even close to being a pre-pre diabetic), kidney function is excellent, TSH levels are great, I passed with flying colors! Being vitamin deficient is definitely changeable, and within my control. 

I have an appointment with Cody in two weeks, and follow up with Tali in a month. All together, I've been feeling great! I'll be posting my review on Vanilla Shakeology tomorrow. I actually gave my Greenberry shake to my sister, after I found out it was mostly wheat grass...not my favorite. 

Hope you all had a great day, and remember to take your vitamins! 

Powdered What?!

PB2

Have you heard of it? Maybe, maybe not. If you're familiar with protein shakes, you may have heard of this product. It's  powdered peanut butter. Adding peanut butter is pretty popular with protein shakes. There are all kinds of recipes online to switch things up.

I was skeptical at first, just like I am with everything. It wasn't 100% needed, but you guys know me well enough by now...impulse buyer. Guilty as charged. Not only was I super curious, I really wanted to see what all the hype was about. I decided to venture out, like a complete idiot, to the mall two days after Christmas. I wandered around trying to find a copy of Mario Kart for the Wii, then got side tracked at the giant sale at Bath and Body Works before hitting up GNC. Of course they were OUT of it at GNC, and so was Vitamin World. 

The next day I went to Wegmans and managed to find a similar product. It's still powdered peanut butter. 

So I picked this up in the organic section, and figured it was close enough. The idea of using this, is the fat elimination. The directions instruct you to mix two tablespoons of powder with one tablespoon of water. You're making your own paste if you will. One serving of this contain 1.5g fat. 

I have to admit, I've never tried putting peanut butter in my shakes. The idea of it piqued my interest, and I'll definitely use it. Mixing regular peanut butter from a blender, kind of seemed messy. When I discovered the powder, I was super excited. Upon opening up the lid, I wasn't surprised at all. It's just really pulverized peanuts. The smell was great, and it didn't have a sweet scent really to it at all. The consistency is more like flour.

As you can see, super easy to add in a blender right? I haven't tried this in a shake just yet, but you all know I'll tell you the cold hard truth! A jar of this brand in particular will run you about $8.99. You can find PB2 online for less I'm sure. 

Holy Mary Mother of...

Fuck, that's good.

Bringing out my inner Deb from Dexter today. So today was the Shakeology test day. To be completely honest, I put off making my shake until after hours at work. I seriously wasn't expecting much of anything. I decided to give the chocolate a try first.

I got all my supplies out. I've read somewhere about adding a banana as peanut butter helps with the taste. My plan of attack was to whip some up with just almond milk and ice. If it tasted like complete and utter shit, I was going to add the banana and peanut butter to help me get the rest of it down. 

I noticed last night when I was squeezing the pouch, that the powder seemed really fine. Finer than what my other protein powder is like. Upon opening the bag, I of course sniffed it. Immediately I was turned off. I literally almost gagged. It smelled like straight up cocoa powder and weirdness. My other powder smells like hot cocoa mix, so this threw me completely off. With some encouragement from my coworkers, I just proceeded to blend it up. I already ordered this, so why the hell not follow through. 

I've read about blending it first, and then adding ice to it. If you use a shaker bottle for ANY protein shake, you'll have the grittiness. So in order to avoid this, blend your shake without ice first. Add your ice in, and keep blending. 

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH:

HOLY SHIT. I'm not even joking, this far exceeded my expectations! I'm legit AMAZED at how good this tastes. The ice and almond milk made it creamy, like a shake. It was about frosty consistency, and a little gritty but not horrible. The taste, is out of this world. It tastes kind of like a chocolate soft serve, but like a dark chocolate flavor. AND NO WHEY AFTER TASTE! I'm really impressed to tell you all the truth. Much to my surprise, I REALLY like it. I'm seriously considering ordering these to change things up. We'll see how the vanilla flavor goes. My track record with the vanilla flavored protein shakes is awful. 

So here's my opinion

For anyone who has past experience with protein shakes, these are definitely worth a try. It has a different flavor and consistency that is more than just tolerable. I've been so skeptical and hesitant to order these, because I feel like all of the reviews are biased and fake. You all should know me by now, I'm anything but fake. The Melting Girl gives REAL HONEST REVIEWS on everything. Even my crazy rants! I'm telling you, I was expecting to be horribly disappointed. 

For those of you who don't have experience with protein shakes, y'all probably will have a hard time honestly. A lot of the online reviews saying Shakeology was disgusting and they were gagging, WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF PROTEIN SHAKES! I had a tough time adjusting to protein shakes in the beginning, I'd love to tell you all you'll grow to enjoy them. You really don't. At least I don't. I will never get used to the taste of whey protein, and that won't ever change. So honestly, it probably does taste like shit for shake virgins. 

I'll let you guys know how the rest of the flavors taste, but I'm really kind of excited about Shakeology now! Who would have though?!

Shakeology & Beach Body

Ok,

So everyone sees all these infomercials for Beach Body right? These guys are responsible for the p90x program, insanity etc.

I'm a real person, with real weight to lose. For anyone that follows my blog, knows I've been at my diet and workout regiment for about 2 years now. I'm not a phony. I'm a realistic person who has lost as substantial amount of weight, and has gained some of it back. Only 10lbs really but that's enough for me to have an entire meltdown about! 

Going back into my shake program, I couldn't help but have nightmares about the taste of whey protein haunting me again. I've been off my shakes for a while now, and just the very thought of mixing them up again makes me gag. I will NEVER get used to the taste. I guess it's a necessary evil not taste so great, after all I'm used to drinking shit that tastes good. I mean, have you ever tasted an iced vanilla latte before?! I rest my case. 

I've been debating on investing in Shakeology. It's a product made by te Beach Body company and supposedly it tastes like nectar from the gods of protein shakes. I'm skeptical as all fucking hell. I'm a hard sell, so I'm not expecting anything spectacular. I've researched Shakeology for over a year, watched YouTube videos, searched online, spoke to Beach Body coaches, the whole shabang. 

So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I contacted someone that was offering free samples. Although he has yet to mention anything about sending me a free sample, he seems encouraging in the process of weight loss. Which honestly does nothing for me, so fuck him. Sorry man. I went on the site, and I'm not sure how the hell I missed this! 

So they have this deal for $19.95 plus shipping and handling for a sample box. It comes equipped with two chocolates, one vanilla and a green berry packet. Why there are two chocolates I have no idea. Anyway, I'm planning on ordering it this week. I'm seriously considering using the Shakeology shakes instead of the ones I'm on now, IF AND ONLY IF they taste better. 

Let's face it, these shakes aren't going to taste like fucking milkshakes. I can get over most things if the benefits weigh out the cons. Which these protein shakes (whatever brand they may be) do. You get the right amount of protein you need, vitamins and it helps regulate your diet. So spending like $30 at most I think the Shakeology is worth a try. 

Onto the next:

With the ever growing industry of social media, it's been crazy easy for people to connect with one another. I've had a few people connect with me via Instagram that have dedicated their lives to healthy living. These girls are inspiring, real and they motivate me to do more! My friend Trish is currently doing a challenge program from Beach Body. It's the T25 program. The whole idea of this program, is that it's a work out in 25 minutes. Which is really doable I think. 

I'm not going to lie. The first time I did p90x I threw up twice and it was during the warm up and first part of the DVD. So needless to say I wasn't interested! Thank god I was doing it with a friend and didn't have to buy it. He continued and saw great results, but he's a stick and fit! It was too intense for me. So I started researching just like I always do and found reviews about the T25. I'm not committed to it just yet, I'm just tinkering with the idea.

And no, I'm not affiliated with anyone or any product. I'm a REAL person, telling MY STORY. One of the biggest reasons why I started this blog, is because I couldn't find REAL people that weren't biased on their opinions or experience. If you have any interest in reading my blog, I tell you the straight up truth. My truth that is lol. 

Regardless if anyone even follows or reads this blog anymore, it's also a tool to keep me accountable. A healthy mind and healthy body are extremely important. To cut corners and lie would only do yourself harm. 

Anyway, I'll order these "miracle" shakes later this week and let you know how it goes. Step by step as usual! Tomorrow I'll be cranking out my shakes with a blender, and we'll see how that goes!