If you’ve been following this blog, then you know that I’ve been talking about eliminating coffee. Caffeine is supposed to aggravate cellulite accumulation and I don’t need any help with that. According to The Fat Flush Plan, caffeine is not supposed to be good for weight loss because it raises the level of stress hormones secreted by your body. These stress hormones raise your stress level. Your body, which sees increased stress levels as a threat to survival, starts storing extra fat to protect itself. Caffeine also acts as a diuretic and washes away vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium. The diuretic effect of caffeine also messes up the fluid balance in the body and if you recall from previous posts, maintaining the correct balance of internal hydration, which helps to optimize the lymphatic system is very important for cellulite reduction. Here are the posts that go into the lymphatic system:

http://mycellulitewar.com/2009/04/12/uncategorized/cellulite-reduction-and-the-lymph/

http://mycellulitewar.com/2009/03/29/cellulite_reduction_diet/cellulite-rduction-diet-a-potassium-sodium-connection/

 I was up to 2-4 cups per day. Well, for the past two weeks I quit, but it was kind of by accident.

Two Sunday nights ago I was preparing to make the coffee, when uh-oh, no more coffee. It was too late to go to the store, so I figured I’d have tea in the morning. So Monday, I drank tea and Tuesday just some hot water with half a lemon squeezed into it. I was expecting to get a massive headache and feel super tired but it didn’t happen. I think it was the tea transition day that made the difference.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

• I definitely feel more relaxed, not as anxious. This feels very good.
• My workouts, which I do first thing in the morning, don’t have as much oomph and I’m struggling through them.
• My ability to concentrate, especially if I don’t get enough sleep which I never do (show me one working mom who actually does get enough sleep!) has decreased, particularly mid-afternoon.

So, the jury is out. If I was only quitting coffee for cellulite reduction, I might still be drinking it, but I have another reason too – I want to get pregnant – and caffeine is supposed to lower fertility.

For now, I’ll keep coffee and caffeine out of my system.

I would love to hear your opinion on coffee and caffeine. Please post comments!

Thanks for reading!

The quick and dirty explanation of GLA and its benefits is that it increases the permeability and elasticity of cell membranes and helps regulate water loss, thus helping to prevent dehydration and promote healthy skin.

And from what I remember from Beyond Cellulite: Nicole Ronsard’s Ultimate Strategy to Slim, Firm and Reshape Your Lower Body the healthier and more hydrated your cells are, the better the exchange of nutrients and waste into and out of your cells. All of this results in healthier and smoother skin because the cells are functioning at their optimal levels.

From Dr. Weil’s site:

Want healthy skin, hair and nails? Try taking the essential fatty acid gamma linolenic acid (GLA). This essential fatty acid offers a wide range of benefits, from acting as an effective anti-inflammatory agent (with none of the side effects of anti-inflammatory drugs) to promoting the healthy growth of skin, hair and nails. GLA can also be used effectively for other conditions such as brittle nails and hair, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and premenstrual syndrome.

Unfortunately, GLA is hard to come by in the diet, so supplements may be necessary. Three good, natural sources are evening primrose oil, black currant oil and borage oil. Each comes in capsule form, and vary in the amount of GLA they supply as well as in their cost.

Do not expect immediate results when taking GLA: it takes six to eight weeks to see changes after adding GLA to the diet.

A very detailed and excellent explanation exists in The Fat Flush Plan. But the part that I took away is that GLA activates hormones called prostaglandins which regulate the sodium-potassium pump, which according to Nicole Ronsard, is critical for reducing cellulite.  Optimizing this ‘pump’, the sodium-potassium exchange in cellular fluid creates and maintains healthy cells and keeps the lymphatic system clean. See one of my early posts to read more about the sodium-potassium connection.

http://mycellulitewar.com/2009/03/29/cellulite_reduction_diet/cellulite-rduction-diet-a-potassium-sodium-connection/

Now that’s a compelling reason to take GLA! I’m off to WalMart to get some more.

Thanks for reading!

Since Monday, I’ve been following Phase 1 of the The Fat Flush Plan. Thankfully, I’ve got my motivation back due to changing things up a bit. See prior post for details:

http://mycellulitewar.com/2009/06/21/status/week-in-review-moving-past-a-plateau/

I haven’t been doing a lot of exercise this week for two reasons:

1. I hurt my foot and I need to keep off of it and
2. My daughter has been sick and hasn’t been going to sleep and is also waking up in the middle of the night. So, that means someone else (me!) is also not sleeping and I’ve been hitting  snooze one too many times and missing my workout window. It’s probably a good thing too, since if did wake-up in time, I probably would have worked-out despite my foot and re-injured it.

So, back to the The Fat Flush Plan. The plan’s author has a dedicated website at http://www.annlouise.com/.  I haven’t looked at it in detail, but at first glance, it looks like she’s the author of two other diets, “Gut Flush” and “Fast Track”. I’m intrigued. There’s also a community forum too and success stories. Of course, there’s also stuff to buy.

So, in any case I’ve been pretty much sticking to Phase 1 with hardly any exercise so we’ll see how I measure up this weekend.

Thanks for reading

I was doing GREAT with my diet and workouts, that is until yesterday at work, right at witching hour (3′ish).

I was working through a problem at work that I didn’t quite understand and wasn’t really interested in. On top of that, I had a ton of boring administrative stuff to do that I didn’t really want to do. I just wanted to leave, but with about 2.5 more hours left in the work day, I couldn’t. For me, all of this creates stress and I guess my coping mechanism was pigging out on candy.

I complained to my husband afterwards of how I blew it, let myself down, yada yada yada…He said that things, like weight loss, don’t go in a straight line. Two steps forward and one step back. Also, that there’s no traction forward without resistance, otherwise, you’d just be floating. That’s an interesting concept. I get that, but this is the bad habit that plagues me and that’s going to keep me from reaching my goals.

Looking on the internet as to what I can do to control cravings, I find the following link. They’re looking to sell something, but it gives a pretty good explanation of why cravings happen.

http://www.womentowomen.com/understandyourbody/symptoms/cravings.aspx?id=1&campaignno=cravingsforcarbs&adgroup=ag2sweets&keywords=sugar+cravings+causes

Let’s see what else I find…here’s one… this one says chew Gymnema Sylvestre leaves…”In the following hour or two anything that is unsweetened will taste better than anything containing sugar.”

http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Sweet-Cravings

Here’s another, and I like this idea…”Practice “urge surfing.” Cravings have cycles of highs and lows, like a wave. When your craving is intense, spend five to 10 minutes distracting yourself and change your environment by doing a different activity, going to another location or brushing your teeth until the craving is low. It will pass. ”
http://www.mylifetime.com/lifestyle/health/diet-nutrition/curb-sugar-cravings-now

Ok, not new information for me. I’ve been here before, but hopefully the spark I need to keep moving forward. 

Thanks for reading.

According to The Fat Flush Plan, caffeine is not supposed to be good for weight loss because it raises the level of stress hormones secreted by your body. These stress hormones raise your stress level. Your body, which sees increased stress levels as a threat to survival, starts storing extra fat to protect itself. I don’t need any help storing fat, so the coffee must go. I’ve also heard that ditching coffee enhances your chances for getting pregnant, and since I haven’t given up on having a second child, I’m in.

The last time I quit coffee is when I was pregnant with my daughter. I quit pretty much cold turkey as soon as I found out I was pregnant and got the most terrible headache I can remember. I was sooooo tired too. But that lasted about 1-2 days and then I was fine. Fortunately, the suffering is not prolonged.

I have heard contradictions though on the fat loss part, so that has me a little confused. Caffeine is supposed to increase metabolism and give you more oomph for your workout. But perhaps they aren’t enough to counteract the fat storage due to raised stress hormones. In any case, I’m trying it since it can’t hurt to have one less pollutant in my body.

Thanks for reading!

Based on some things that I’ve been reading, I need to mix things up a bit. I haven’t been eating many starchy carbs for awhile, so maybe it’s time to re-introduce them.  Also, it sounds like I need to change my workout routine too. I’ve been doing about 20 minutes of aerobic exercise 4 to 5 times per week and getting in about 10 minutes of weight lifting about 3 times per week. I think for the next two weeks, I’m going to really hit the weights hard to try to build some more muscle.

So my plan is more carbs and more weights. Let’s see what happens.

Here are two good posts on some simple steps for working through a plateau:

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2006/02/27/5_ways_to_break_a_weight_loss_plateau.php

http://www.googobits.com/articles/2235-11-ways-to-break-out-of-a-weight-loss-plateau.html

Wish me luck and thanks for reading!

I’m back from vacation! And of course I didn’t stick to any diet. So when I weighed myself on Monday 6/1, I was surprised and pleased that I was up to 127lbs from about 124lbs. Not too bad given my indulgence.

I promptly put myself back on The Fat Flush Plan and by Wednesday morning I was back down to 125lbs. I know what you’re thinking, “It’s just water weight”, because that’s what I’m thinking too, but sure feels good to see that number on the scale.

It’s an interesting thing though. I look fatter now at 125lbs than I did about 2 weeks ago at 125lbs. I have a theory about this. Every time I lose weight, as soon as I lose it, I look pretty good. But when I stay at that weight for a few weeks, I morph back into my old shape. My theory is that it has to do with your body’s setpoint. When you first lose weight, you’re body isn’t used to it, so it takes on its new and improved shape. When you stay at that weight for a while, your body resets itself into a smaller version of your old shape. Yes, you look better overall, but if you don’t keep at the diet and exercise, your body gets comfortable with the new weight and starts resorting to your old shape.  So anyway, that’s my theory – don’t know if its right or wrong, it’s just what I observe about myself and my husband.  (He’s trying to lose some weight. He’s lost about 20lbs so far and has remarked about the same phenomenon.)

On a separate note, I just want to say for the record that I’m not in anyway affiliated with The Fat Flush Plan – I just keep writing about it because it’s working for me.

In any case, that’s its for now. Next post is this weekend.

Thanks for reading!

125lbs.

Not bad considering that its far from where I started, so, I guess I really don’t have a whole lot to complain about. I can also fit into my old clothes again, so I’m feeling good about that and I have drastically expanded my wardrobe. But, if I had been consistent, I would have had better progress. It seems like I take 2 steps forward and one step back, and thankfully with that, I’m making progress, although it’s beginning to slow.

I got some good advice on iVillage about curbing overeating in social situations, which is my weakness…Here’s the link:

 http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-fbfatflush&msg=29007.2&ctx=0

So, that’s the review for this week. Short and sweet.

I’m currently on my third week of the Phase 1 Fat Flush plan. You’re only supposed to be on it for 2 weeks, but I’m doing an extra week because of my indiscretion on the weekends. I must admit, I’m ready to be off of Phase 1.

Even though I stick to the plan pretty well during the week, I’m beginning to feel that I’m reaching a plateau and that I need to do two things differently:

1. Cut out the overeating and overdrinking on the weekends
2. Increase the amount of time I’m exercising

So far, I’ve been successful at losing 10lbs when I first started in earnest (see my first post and my about page), 15lbs if I count where I first started right after my miscarriage in November 2007 (wow, was it that long ago already).

But now I’m thinking I need to do some things a little differently because I don’t feel like I’m losing any more weight and my cellulite has definitely not gone away (yet).

A word of encouragement though from my husband, he says my butt is looking awesome! It’s definitely tighter, but I wouldn’t use the word awesome.  And what about those saddlebags? Am I too critical?

In any case, I feel like I need to tighten the reins on the eating and increase my exercise time. Specifically, 30 minutes of cardio rather than 20 minutes. The exercise plan that I originally came up with is at the following post:

http://mycellulitewar.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=140

Now that I’m reviewing that post again, I see that I had committed to a 30 minute workout most mornings. So, I’ll need to allow myself 40 min to workout rather than 30 and now that I’m being honest with myself, most days I have been skipping the weight training. The minimum that I’m currently doing is 20 minutes of interval cardio almost everyday and sometimes some weight training. Probably not consistent enough for the results that I’m looking for.

 On a totally separate topic, one thing that I re-read in The Fat Flush Planthat caught my attention is that unsweetened cranberry is supposed to be effective in treating cellulite. Specifically, it says it helps  to “target cellulite”. So, not only can cranberry juice detox my liver, it can also target my cellulite. I’ll be drinking cranberry juice forever! I wonder what is in cranberry juice that makes it have that effect? That’s a bit of research for another time.

Thanks for reading!

After following The Fat Flush Plan for 5 days in the first week, I lost 4lbs. The second week, I ‘fell off the wagon’ a bit and the tape measure and scale didn’t lie.  Here’s the latest, which is the same as last week, with the exception of my right thigh which is down to 21 inches from 21.25 inches:

• Weight: 124lb
• Waist: 26.5″
• Hips: 37″
• Rt.Thigh: 21″
• Lft. Thigh: 21″

I’m planning on doing Phase 1 of  The Fat Flush Plan for one more week to compensate for my indiscretion and then I’ll move to Phase 2.

What I find interesting is that in the past I would have been satisfied with where I am right now and I wouldn’t have tried to move past this point. I would think to myself, I weigh 124lb, I can fit into a size 4 or 6 depending on the brand, I look pretty good in clothes, my face is thinner, yada, yada, yada… But now for some reason, I’m not satisfied with that. I want to get rid of my cellulite, which I’ve had for as long as I’ve been aware of it (first noticed it in my teens), and I don’t feel like stopping until I succeed. I don’t know what clicked, maybe I just got to the point where I realized I was deluding myself and accepting mediocrity – “it’s good enough”. Whatever the case may be, it’s no longer good enough.

So, I’m sticking to the plan until further notice.

Thanks for bearing with me through my mini-rant and thanks for reading.

By the way, what do you want to hear about? I’m open to suggestions.