Body Science

About 1 year later

2009-10-26T07:47:00.001-04:00

It's been about a year now since I did this test and I can give you some follow ups.

First of all I used the Isagenix product for another 3 months, and then felt I was in adequate shape go change my diet again. While doing this I did notice some changes where I had to be careful of what I replaced my Isagenix meals with. I noticed that if I ate something protein heavy I would be very sluggish during workout.

Some people say that you need to do Isagenix for the rest of your life, I disagree. It is a great way to cut your weight down and improve your health as shown in the results below. It is also important that you take proper consideration of your diet and exercise. If you are one of the few individuals that is able to pay for the Isagenix product through the commissions to others, than by all means you can use it forever. For the average person I would say use it as a catalyst to improve your eating and exercise habits. How long you are on the product depends on your starting point and your goal.

Good luck in your endeavour

Final Blood Analysis

2008-08-06T10:01:00.012-04:00

The final test results for my Blood have come in and WOW there is a MASSIVE change:

Original
Vitamin B12 193, nominal 198-615
Cholesterol 4.8
LDL 3.48, nominal < 4.5
HDL 0.93
Chol/HDL Ratio 5.2, nominal < 6.0
Triglycerides 0.86

Final
Vitamin B12 285
Cholesterol 4.15
LDL 2.56, nominal < 4.5
HDL 1.14
Chol/HDL Ratio 3.6, nominal < 6.0
Triglycerides 0.98

That is Phenomenal. At this point it's definately tests confirmed. Dropped 2 pounds of fat, lowered cholesterol, Chol/hdl ratio by 1.5 points, lowered blood pressure and raised B12 by over 100 points. It's easy to see why I've been feeling so healthy and full of energy

Tom's 10 Tips for a Successful Diet

2008-07-27T21:16:00.008-04:00

1. Before making any changes in your diet or exercise routine, consult your physician. You never know what your blood pressure or cholesterol levels could be, and it might actually be dangerous for you to take on intense workouts.

2. Keep a diary, A study done by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that those who kept a record of what they ate from day to day lost twice as much, reference

3. Exercise, even if it's minimal. If you can get your heart rate up and break a sweat, you will be doing a lot to toning your physique and burning off some of the stored fats in the muscle groups you focus on

4. Drink water, lots of water. Hydration is very important to your health. The easiest thing is to bring a small 500ml bottle of water and keep it close to you, whether it be on your desk at work or your coffee table at home.

5. Read the label. This should go without saying but check the label of any questionable foods, you would be surprised to see how much fat is in a cheesy puff.

6. Prepare your own lunch. This will not only save you a ton of money each week by not going out for lunch, it's a lot healthier than most things that can be cooked in under 3 minutes.

7. 3 meals a day. Don't try to fast, eating only two meals a day can actually increase your chances of GAINING weight because your body will try to retain fat in order to survive. Trust me, your body is smarter than you, so listen to it!

8. Never eat before bed. This can be bad for many reason, including tough on your heart due to stomach acids refluxing during digestion while you're lying down. You also cannot burn the food off while you're asleep, so the fats sit there unused for about 8-10 hours.

9. Don't throw away the lessons. A lot of trouble people have is keeping the weight off when they lose it. This seems to be a general reaction usually sounding like "well I've met my goals, now i just have to retain this weight, so I can eat whatever I want as long as I exercise" WRONG! Eating habits come first, exercise comes second, not the other way around. You may find from time to time you want to treat yourself, which is fine, your diet should not feel like an angry guard at the Russian Gulag Just don't fall back into your bad habits, you've worked to hard.

10. Don't expect miracles. This may be the most important point because dieting in general is a challenge of the mind. A lot of people expect a diet to drop their weight dramatically within days. The only way for this to happen is typically very dangerous. The amount of damage that can be done to your heart through rapid changes in your weight is catastrophic. You should be looking for a long term solution, a diet that is sustainable, that will drop your weight and make you healthier. Different people will find different success rates. A thinner person with a low body weight doing minimal exercise will have smaller results than an obese person, doing full cardio and muscle tone workouts.

Bonus: Your diet should not cost you your house. If you are using meal supplements than those meal supplements should not cost more than what a regular meal costs you.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

The Final Days, and Finishing measurements

2008-07-27T20:36:00.018-04:00

The meals for the last few days have been fairly simple.
Shakes, cereals for breakfast
light sandwich for lunch
fish or fowl for dinner.

Well, the last few days seemed pretty routine, after having done it this long it is so much a part of my day it is ingrained. I'm very pleased with the way I've been feelingly physically, along with the fact that I haven't eaten fast food, junky food is almost non existent, and I'm simply less hungry because I'm drinking a lot more water and replenishing essential nutrients in my body through proper diet and the vitamins. I'm very very pleased with the outcome.

All that aside, here are the facts:

Day 1
Weight: 157.8 Pounds
Body Fat: 12.1%
Water: 60.9
Metabolic Age: 12
DCI: 2847
BMI: 21.7
Heart rate: 60 BPM
Waist: 31inches
Blood Pressure: 140/70

Final Day
Weight: 156.0 Pounds
Body Fat: 11.0%
Water: 62.2%
Metabolic Age: 12
DCI: 3271
BMI: 21.5
Heart rate: 60 BPM
Waist: 29.9 inches
Blood Pressure: 110/70

Now, to really put that into perspective let me break that down
Day 1, 157.8 x 12.1% = 18.936lbs Fat
Final, 156.0 x 11.0% = 17.16lbs Fat

Final - Day 1
157.8 - 156 = 1.8 lbs
18.936 - 17.161 = 1.775 lbs

Meaning all the weight I lost was body fat, not muscle or water weight, and that was with minimal daily exercise of a few push ups and sit ups. With proper daily exercise, the next step, I'm confident I can bring that body fat level below 10%. Tomorrow I see the Doctor regarding blood pressure and testing. I should have those results in about a week.

Day 27

2008-07-24T22:20:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, Turkey Sandwich, Granola Bar, Yogurt
Dinner, Cannelloni

No new changes. Only a few days left.

Whole Wheat Fajita, Day 26

2008-07-23T22:44:00.001-04:00

Breakfast, 2 Granola bars
Lunch, White Fish and Salad
Dinner, Chicken Fajitas on Whole wheat, and Shake

It's becoming more apparent that I have at some point forgotten to take a few of the vitamins and antioxidants, as there are too many left for the 4 days remaining. One thing I would recommend is a small pill tin, as it's not all that fun carrying around large bottles that make the same sounds as medicine pill bottles, and that typically warrants odd reactions from other pedestrians.

Day 25

2008-07-23T00:04:00.004-04:00

Breakfast, lemon poppyseed bread
Lunch, Escargot
Dinner, Cereal and Shake

Not the most conventional meal day, but I stayed within reason. Other than that, business as usual.

Day 24

2008-07-21T22:02:00.003-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, Sandwiches, yogurt, fruit
Dinner, Cereal

Nothing of note, was in a rush so I just through some cereal in a bowl for dinner.

Day 23

2008-07-21T07:55:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Cereal
Lunch, 2 Turkey Sandwiches
Dinner, 2 chicken breasts and salad and shake

Couldn't get to cleaning the blender till later on so had to have the shake in the evening. Also need more fish in my diet, all the fowl is getting a bit boring, another grocery store run tonight should remedy that.

1 week left, Day 22

2008-07-19T22:45:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Cereal
Lunch, Shake
Dinner, Sausage

My measurements are fairly the same as last week, except I'm down to 30" waist. My body fat is 11.7%, weight at 156.8. This diet can probably bring me down to around the 10/11% mark but below ten will likely require much more intensive exercise. I'm feeling really good about not having eaten from any of the fast food chains over these last 3 weeks. That alone does a lot of good for the body.

Just another Day, Day 21

2008-07-18T23:52:00.000-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, white fish and scallop soup
Dinner, salad and large serving of oatmeal (no not mixed together)

Standard routine today, no news to report. I'll check my measurements on the scale again tomorrow.

Actual numbers, Day 20

2008-07-17T20:43:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Cereal
Lunch, Shake
Dinner, Steak and Salad

As I had mentioned before, all my blood tests sit right in the nominal range but for reference.

Vitamin B12 193, nominal 198-615
Cholesterol 4.8
LDL 3.48, nominal < 4.5
HDL 0.93
Chol/HDL Ratio 5.2, nominal < 6.0
Triglycerides 0.86

Next blood test the day after diet finishes.

Tests Normal, Day 19

2008-07-16T22:44:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, Turkey Sandwich, granola bar, fruit cup, kiwi
Dinner, Grilled chicken on a bun.

Spoke to the Doctor about my blood tests, everything is fine, my B12 is a very slightly under average but poses no issues. I hope to receive the print out tomorrow at which point I can post them. I will also schedule another test for the 28th

Client Lunch, Day 18

2008-07-15T21:17:00.003-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, Grilled Hamburger
Dinner, Turkey Sandwich and Corn on the Cob

Obviously on days when I'm meeting with clients, depending on where we go, I'm often faced with difficult menu choices that do not fit inside the regular diet. But I have still stayed away from any of the crummy processed foods from the fast food chains, which I'm very happy about, I think my body is happy about that too.

Going to try to get those blood results back, I'm curious, less than 2 weeks left until my final check up, at which point I will be reassessing how I should tweak the diet, if at all. One thing is for sure, I'm positive at this point that I can carry out more strenuous exercise when the time comes.

Reading Labels, Day 17

2008-07-14T22:38:00.003-04:00

Breakfast, Cleanse liquid
Lunch, Cleanse Liquid
Dinner, Cleanse Liquid and Hard boiled egg
Evening cocktail, Cleanse liquid with a few grapes.

2nd and last cleanse day over, glad I got through it. i think as I continue the diet past these first 30 days i will reduce the cleansing down to once every 3 months. It is difficult surviving on a hard boiled egg for the day, but at the same time I'm very thankful for the clearing it does of the system. I've heard that some people put a little of the cleanser in their shake on a day to day basis, this seems like a good idea once the initial process has completed.

I went grocery shopping today and cuaght myself reading labels, sometimes I was actually watching what I was eating, other times I was curious as to what I had been eating, and let me say yikes. Chips and other quick hand held snacks are absolutely brutal for calories and saturated fats. I think i will sub dinner with a shake tomorrow as I'll really want something solid to digest in my system before noon.

As a side note, it's no wonder so many North Americans are overweight, every 3rd commercial on television is a food commercial, typically fast food.

Cleanse tomorrow, Day 16

2008-07-13T22:59:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Cereal
Lunch, Turkey Sandwich
Dinner, Shake and Green salad

Pretty standard day again. Second and final cleanse tomorrow. Other than that, just trying to be consistent with the exercise and remembering to take the vitamins. I think I prefer the shake for lunch on the weekends. Hopefully tomorrow goes by quickly.

2 weeks in, Day 15

2008-07-12T20:36:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, 2 Turkey Sandiwches
Dinner, 3 Hard Boiled eggs, over salad.

Did the measurements again today:

Weight: 156.2lb
Body Fat: 11.9%
Water: 60%
Metabolic Age: 12
DCI: 3201
Waist: 30.25

Things are going great, normal when you start losing weight your body fat will either stay the same or go up as it becomes a larger part of the make up of your body, so that fact that both are going down equally is fantastic. I'm happy about the mid section tightening up as well though I wasn't concerned before it'snice to see weekly improvements in definition.

Change of Plan, Day 14

2008-07-11T22:16:00.003-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, 2 chicken sandwiches, yogurt, granola bar
Dinner, Plain whole grain pasta, and corn on the cob.

Change of plans, Saturday will be proper weigh in as originally planned, and I will be able to stay on Diet over the weekend. Early next week I should have the results of my blood tests as well.

More info to come tomorrow.

Client Lunch, Day 13

2008-07-10T20:08:00.001-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, Chicken Wings
Dinner, Salad

Had a client lunch today and had to deviate slightly, tried to make up for it with a simple salad for dinner this evening. Other than that, everything has been standard. Nothing new to report.

Visible Change, Day 12

2008-07-09T23:03:00.004-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, Chicken breast on whole wheat, with granola bar
Dinner, Hard boiled egg, diced over green salad.

Not much to report other than I can visibly see the difference in the muscle becoming more toned and prominent in my stomach. Since I will be away over the weekend I will measure Friday night before heading out and make a few posts when I return monday. Monday will also be a cleanse day, the second and last one of the 30 day cycle. Hopefully it goes as well as the first one did.

Breakfast Change, Day 11

2008-07-08T23:58:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Cereal
Lunch, Chicken sandwich
Dinner, Shake

One of the hardest things about this diet has to be keeping my blender clean, I think with the money I'm saving by not going out for lunch anymore I'm going to buy a dishwasher. Speaking of which I think I've gone from about $25/day for the cost of my three square meals, to about $13/day. Honestly, that's phenomal, I'll keep doing the diet just for that. $84/week I'm saving... unreal.

There was more I wanted to say but it's getting late. The diet is going to have an interesting turn this weekend as I will be heading up north for for 2 days. I'll be bringing my shake with me.

1/3, Day 10

2008-07-07T23:10:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Shake and OJ
Lunch, Boiled eggs, IsaSnacks
Dinner, Chicken in salsa and veggie.

My body is really starting to feel the push ups and sit ups every day, even though the workout is week, it appears I'm a bit more out of shape than I thought. My other issue currently is that I'm not consistent with my BMs. This was an issue from before, and the system does help with this but in the way that it's more all at once when it's time, instead of spread out over 3 days. Not the most pleasant picture I know, but it's important as there's how your body clears out some of the items trapped inside your internal tubing.

I will measure again next saturday, until then it will likely be the mainstay chicken with some fish dishes thrown in there.

Sleep Cycle, Day 9

2008-07-07T08:00:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Shake with OJ
Lunch, Chicken Breast Sandwich
Dinner, Chicken and Long grain rice with Red Pepper.

I'm starting to fall asleep in the evenings unintentionally, which I'm fine with, but it means writing these in the mornings instead of the evenings. Pretty standard day, starting to feel the sit ups more and more everyday, also got to spend some time at the driving range which was a nice alternative to the jog to today. I've noticed that I go through some staple foods very quickly. To ensure freshness I'm having to go grocery shopping twice a week. At least it's a lot cheaper than going out for fast food all the time like I used to.

Measuring, Day 8

2008-07-06T01:34:00.003-04:00

Breakfast, Shake mixed with Orange Juice
Lunch, Chicken breast Sandwich on whole wheat
Dinner, Chicken breast and Rice
Snack, Isasnack.

Pretty standard day today, but I got to try the Isasnacks, the chocolate are really good, almost addictive. But who cares right? Here are the numbers.

Pre Day 1 measurements:
Weight: 157.8 Pounds
Body Fat: 12.1%
Water: 60.9%
Skeleton: 7 Pounds
Metabolic Age: 12
Waist: 31inches at Navel

Day 8 measurements
Weight: 158.6
Body Fat: 12.1%
Water: 60
Skeleton: 7 Pounds
Metabolic Age: 12
Waist: 30.75 inches at Navel

So I'm sure you're thinking, "you gained weight?". Well yes, simple explanation, muscle weighs more than fat. As you can see from the numbers I've lost a bit around the waist, dropped the water weight down slightly, while keeping my body fat the same in proportion to my weight. This is good news, I bet by next saturday, I'll be down to 30.5 in the waist, and below 12% body fat but ony time will tell. The diet is giving me tons of energy and I'm excited to ramp up my training at month end. It really is amazing, I thought that this diet would leave me hungry, but because of all the nutrients and water I'm taking in my 3 meals are keeping me very satisfied.

Quarter Marker, Day 7

2008-07-04T19:50:00.003-04:00

Breakfast, Shake and Grapes
Lunch, Chicken Breast sandwich x 2, Granola bar, Salad
Dinner, Oat and Almond cereal (I was craving it)

I get the feeling I will be chomping on some hard boil eggs a little later as well. Fairly normal day today, Really wanted some cereal and had to use up the milk, as milk has totally disappeared from my daily life.

Looking forward to the weigh in tomorrow, feeling really good.

Shakes and Chicken, Day 6

2008-07-03T20:09:00.004-04:00

Breakfast, Shake mixed with grapes and ice
Lunch, BBQ chicken on a bun, with large green salad
Dinner, 2 Chicken breast sandwiches on whole wheat, 2 hard boiled eggs

So I've noticed a pattern here, I seem to be ingesting a lot of bird related items. If you're working through this diet and are not a fowl person I would recommend some fresh fish. The system seems to be continually cleaning through my internal workings, which is great, have a lot of energy and am sleeping very well.

Standard day today and the same likely tomorrow. Saturday re-measurements on some of the initial numbers, looking forward to that.

New Shake Additive, Day 5

2008-07-02T22:00:00.003-04:00

Breakfast, Shake with secret ingredient
Lunch, mixed green salad, 2 chicken breast sandwiches on whole wheat, granola bar
Dinner..... Steak, mashed potato, garden salad, blueberry pie

As I had mentioned before, I knew one night this week was going to be difficult to stay within the appropriate eating boundaries and tonight was that night, but I'll get back to that.

I made a ground breaking discovery today; IsaLean Shake + hand full of Grapes = extremely delicious. I'm very excited about this. If the Shake tastes somewhat heavy to you I highly recommend taking a fruit, preferably an antioxidant, and mixing it into the blender with some ice cubes and the shake mix, it's excellent.

Today I really started to feel the physical effects of the program, I had a ton of energy from start to finish today and the system is really starting to clear out my internal workings. I've also noticed that my skin is very clear and smooth which is an added benefit.

Hopefully my night out tonight doesn't affect the values of my Saturday week 1 measuring, but only time will tell.

Shake Breakfast, Day 4

2008-07-01T20:21:00.002-04:00

Breakfast, Shake
Lunch, Two Turkey breast sandwiches on whole wheat with Mustard
Snack, Grapes
Dinner, 2 small Chicken breasts and 2 cups of peas.

I got to go back to 2 solid meals today after 3 days with 1 or none. Some interesting observations; I was actually hungrier today than the other 3 days and required more snacks. I chose grapes as my snack today, they have some natural sugars but are easy to digest and carry a good amount of water in them. I'm also finding I'm waking up naturally earlier in the morning, this is a good thing on work days but I'm hoping my body does not wake me up at 7am over the weekend.

Not much to report other than I can actually see some of the broken down items from exit, I won't go into detail. Also, since my protein intake over the last few days has been low it's taking me a littler longer than usual to recover, even though I have more energy than I normally would. I would probably advise against intense exercise on a cleanse day, primarily because you might not be able to recover from it for 2-3 days, instead of 1-2 days like you would on a heavy protein diet. The good news is you shouldn't have to because it's burning up the fat in your body and flushing things out.

12 More days of Shakes and two solid meals, then another cleanse day, I'm looking forward to it, so that I can get the rest of the crud out hopefully. One thing I've definitely noticed is I take the time to cook myself a proper full dish meal. What I mean by that is I'm not just having a steak, or a kabob. I'm preparing food and meals and adding some more nutritional elements, and eating a lot more greens. This program certainly make you a lot more aware of the food you are taking in.

The next few days should be fairly standard, however I have some dinner plans some nights, so it will be interesting to see how my diet may vary.

Cleanse Day, Day 3

2008-06-30T19:06:00.002-04:00

Breakfast: Cleansing Liquid.
Lunch: Cleansing Liquid
Dinner: Cleansing liquid and a hard boiled egg
Night cap: Cleansing liquid.

Day 3 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Though I did feel hungry I thought I would be very tired and weak. In actuality I have quite a bit of energy, the main problem with today was how delicious just about anything I smelled, smelled. I actually got excited making my lunch for tomorrow.

Today, while staving off my hungry I drank massive amounts of water, probably about the 4L mark, when it's the only thing you're allowed you tend to over do it.

In terms of how my body reacted, It was interesting to listen to the sounds coming from inside my body. Not the Stomach rumbling you would likely expect, but what felt like items moving through the digestive system. I can only assume this was the liquid breaking up some of the garbage inside my system. I also recall feeling very very warm at times during the day, which I suppose could be my body burning off fat and waste. I'm interested to see the scale results after the first week.

Pre-Cleanse, Day 2

2008-06-29T20:38:00.003-04:00

Breakfast: Shake
Lunch: Salad with Balsamic Vin. with piece of steak the size of a deck of playing cards
Dinner: Shake

Tomorrow I do my cleanse day, fighting off the craving of food should be interesting, I will likely make it an early night tomorrow based on recommendations.

So far the pre-cleanse has been tough, I'm only taking in about 1400 calories max at the moment, which is almost half of what I'm used to. The shakes are fine, but it will be nice to go back to 2 solid meals per day. I probably could have managed with only 1 pre-cleanse day. The program says pre-cleanse can be 1-4 days long.

The hard part about tomorrow I foresee is the non eating, of course, but also trying to do the exercise as I will likely be weaker than normal.

So far my sleeping patterns have not been alerted but I do get bursts of energy throughout the day unexpectedly. Other than a general want for a big bowl of pasta or some Spare ribs, everything else seems normal.

Pre-Cleanse, Day 1

2008-06-28T21:48:00.002-04:00

Day 1 in the bag.

Had a Shake for breakfast
Chicken, roast potato and cauliflower for lunch
and another shake for dinner.
Also had a granola bar as a snack mid day.

I assume this pre-cleanse technique is to slowly reduce your food intake before the cleanse day as you don't get much on that day. The water intake and exercise was no issue, I probably drink about 3L of water a day normally.

One observation; my urine was very bright after both shakes, I assume this is from the nutrients and toxins being expelled by my body.

I will redo my measurements on Day 7.

Measuring day

2008-06-27T19:02:00.003-04:00

Got my fancy new scale today which breaks down a few measurements and helps me review my progress a little more scientifically, also had my blood taken at the lab, I should hear back about that in about 2 weeks. So here are the stats:

Weight: 157.8 Pounds
Body Fat: 12.1%
Water: 60.9%
Skeleton: 7 Pounds
Metabolic Age: 12
DCI (Daily Caloric Intake): 2847
BMI: 21.7
Blood Pressure 140/70
Standing heart rate: 60 BPM
Waist: 31inches at Navel

Just to explain some of those values:
Your DCI is the amount of calories you would need to consume to remain at the same weight
Your Metabolic age, is how fit you are compared to your age bracket, if your MA is below your Calendar Age you're in good health, if it's above, it means you probably need to exercise more.

Conclusions:
Aside from anything I don't know about in my blood I seem in excellent condition to start exercising regularly again and start this new diet. My goals are to start eating 3 consistent meals again, as well as take the initial steps toward building a more intense workout routine.

In terms of the values above, in the next 30 days I would like to see the following:

Weight: 150-160
Body Fat: 9-10%
BPM: 55-60
Waist: 30"

If I can manage this with the product and the very light exercise routine within a 30 day period, then I would claim success and move on to the next phase in training.

Tomorrow it begins.

Pre Pre-Cleanse

2008-06-26T20:00:00.003-04:00

Before one gets this going it is important to have some kind of markers to judge your progress. As with any type of Diet and Exercise change you should consult your Physician, so today I went to see the Doctor and asked if I was suitably fit to start exercising a little more regularly.

My Blood pressure was 140/70
I do no smoke
I very rarely drink alcohol(maybe 1 Beer a week)
I do not drink coffee, but have typically 1 cup of tea in the evenings

The Doctor has set me up for Blood testing tomorrow, those results will take some time to come back, so I will report them when they become available. Tomorrow I intend to measure my waist (at the naval), my weight, my Body Fat %, my body water %, muscle mass, and metabolic age, using a higher end scale... assuming I can figure it out and I will take my "before" picture. Saturday the program will begin with the Pre-cleanse.

My Doctor also brought up that because I have a high metabolism, my body fat % will likely drop off quickly initially due to the jogging and reduction of high fat content in my diet only time will tell

It Begins

2008-06-26T19:00:00.010-04:00

A few years ago I started to suffer from chronic neck and back pain that were related to prior injury. As a result I was no longer able to enjoy any physical activities, even walking would cause severe migraines. Recently I have been seeing a Chiropractor to have this issue resolved, I had tried many other things and been consulted by many different Doctors in different specialties and nothing had worked until now.

Now that the problem is on the mend I was hoping to become more active again in jogging, tennis, golf and snowboarding. After not being able to work out properly for nearly a decade however, my energy levels are very low and I am eating poorly. Luckily I have a high metabolism and my BMI has stayed in the optimal range, and my blood pressure is 140/70.

The premise behind this "experiment" is not to lose weight, but to turn the weight I have into lean muscle weight, to increase my energy levels, and to clear my body of some of the garbage floating around my system.

I've been speaking with a friend who had mentioned a company called Isagenix. Isagenix develops nutritional cleansing products that assist your body in performing at its optimum level through valuable nutrients and meal supplements to control caloric intake. This was very important to me as some "Diets" will actually either flush out all of the water in your body or burn off your muscle, leaving you weaker than when you started. The advantage to this program seems to be the sensible requests on food intake, where 600 calories per meal would be the max. Depending on what you're eating, that could be a fair sized meal. A lot of the time when you are feeling hungry, it is actually your body telling you, you are either under hydrated or you do not have the adequate nutrients in your blood stream. This is the reason you should always drink a lot of water in your everyday lifestyle, and why all Food and health organizations suggest a balanced diet.

So that's the premise of Dieting in general and my situation, here's the plan:

Isagenix recommends you workout for at least 20 minutes a day, it also recommends you drink purified water equal to the amount of half your body weight in fluid ounces daily. For Example, a 160lb. man should drink 80oz (about 2.5Litres) of water daily. The program, which recycles on a 30 day period, also has some days you will be detoxifying your body and will be eating less. The 30-day product I'm using is called the Total Health and Wellness System which consists of Shake Powder, vitamins, antioxidant pills, and two liquids, one for cleansing, the other for energy. The program starts with 2 pre-cleanse days, 1 cleanse day, 13 shake days, 1 cleanse day and finishes with another 13 shake days. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Currently:
I walk with the dog for about 20minutes every evening.
I have a light breakfast, typically a granola bar during my commute.
For lunch, depending on the day I have either left overs or purchase lunch at a restaurant or fast food joint.
Dinner is typically either high carb or high protein, rarely the two together.
In terms of water consumption, I estimate I drink about 1.5 Litres of water/day

Since I am mid treatment for my neck, I do not want to exert myself to hard so my new routine will be:
10 minutes jogging with the Dog in the morning
Isagenix Shake for Breakfast, with the vitamins, antioxidants and energy liquid.
For Lunch A turkey/chicken breast sandwich and salad with Balsamic dressing, accompanied by some fruit.
For Dinner, i will keep it a little more open and say a protein source, a carb source, and vegetables. All in moderation.
In the evening I will go for another 10 minute jog with the Dog, and do 10 pushups and 10 situps.
I also intend to consume the recommended 2.5L of water daily.

This probably seems like extremely light exercising, which it is, however I want to see the effects of the program, over the effects of me working out intensively.