Portion Control...the Easy Way

The obsession began in my teens.  I have an older brother who lives in Memphis, TN.  Many week-ends during high school and college I would visit him.  Being from a small town, Memphis is where all the action was.  I saw many a good concert during those years. :)  One week-end while visiting my brother he took me to a restaurant called Red Lobster.  That was it!.  The damage was done!  I have eaten at many nice restaurants  since then, and have enjoyed my meals.  However, nothing compares to Red Lobster in my book.  Anyone who knows me well knows that if given a choice, I will choice Red Lobster over ANY restaurant.  

I quite literally can hear the restaurant calling my name during Endless Shrimp weeks and Lobsterfest.  My stomach knows no limits when I am there, thoroughly enjoying my food.  Therefore, I was more than a little apprehensive last Friday night when my husband and I took our twins who were home visiting from college to my favorite place in the whole world.  (I have purposefully stayed away from there the last few months...not trusting myself.)

I have done so well on Plexus Slim.  (I am down 15 pounds now!) The sweet cravings are so very low, and I get full quickly when eating my meals.   It is like portion control without having to do anything or without feeling deprived.

I guess Red Lobster was to be my biggest test.  Could I eat there and not go crazy?  Could I leave the shrimp scampi on my plate and take it home for another meal?  I was nervous, but, I kept thinking about how I was always surprised when I sat down to eat something I really liked and would become full very quickly since starting Plexus. 

Well, of course, I ordered my favorite, the combination of 3 shrimp choices...Walt's favorite shrimp, shrimp scampi, and shrimp Alfredo.  YUM!  
I started with one of the mouth-watering garlic/cheese biscuits.  I LOVE those too!  However, they didn't taste as yummy as usual.  The salad was good, but, I began getting really full about half way through it and didn't finish it.  Then came the main course.  My plate was so huge, we had to move things around on the table.  

Of course, it was delicious.  But, I was full.  I mean full like I couldn't eat very much at all.  After several bites I was done.  It was inconceivable to my family that I stopped so soon after receiving my food.  

I was so happy I took a picture of the food left on my plate.  WoW!  I left Red Lobster feeling full and more importantly, feeling good about myself.  I have passed the final test!  Plexus Slim has curbed my appetite at Red Lobster!  I am a believer.  Portion control at its simplest!

This is my plate AFTER I finished eating all I wanted!

Oh Happy Day!

I will not be nervous now anywhere I choose to eat!

My new motto!

Just click on one of the two pictures to get

 started on your healthy weight loss journey!

Still Losing Weight...But Gaining Health Benefits

I've lost another pound...the easiest, most healthy way I have ever lost weight.  I am down 14 pounds in less than 3 months without dieting or exercising.  I have lost inches and inches...even an inch around my neck and have gone down 2 pants sizes.  My blood pressure went from hypertension level to almost, nearly normal, and I don't experience any of my sleep apnea symptoms anymore.  WoW! 

 I started taking a probiotic a couple of months ago.  I wasn't even sure what a probiotic was supposed to do.  I just knew I had a severe immune deficiency and all the antibiotics I take daily, (875 mg twice a day...a total of 1,750 mg. daily), were killing all the biotics in my body, good, bad, or ugly.  Even with all the antibiotics, 2 types of allergy medicine, and Vitamin C I was taking daily, my immune deficiency is so bad that I would get a sinus infection that would wipe me out about every month to 6 weeks.  The infection would continually get worse and last 1 and 1/2 weeks to 2 weeks, with me doubling up, sometimes tripling up on my antibiotic.  

Of course, every year or two, my doctor has to increase the amount of antibiotic because my body becomes accustomed to the dosage and it needs more to work at the same rate.  I have had this condition all my life, therefore, I am now taking enough antibiotic to heal a hospital of people, and I still get sick...really sick.

My deficiency is so bad that an allergist wanted to send my blood work to Duke University to have it analyzed at one point.  Speaking of doctors, not one doctor or specialist ever mentioned a probiotic to me.  Wonder why not?  It's just common sense.    

When I began taking Plexus, I kept reading about the probiotic they make, ProBio5, and was curious if it might work for me.  I decided to try it.  Since I began taking it, I have not had one sinus infection.  I should have had at least 2 pretty severe bouts at this point.  I haven't.  My good biotics are being put back into my body and getting rid of some serious yuck going on in there.  

I have cut back on my antibiotic on the week-end.  I am about to cut out 1 pill every week-day also, and see how it goes. I would love to be able to completely quit taking an antibiotic every day! I have also cut out one of my allergy pills a day. 

  

Losing Weight...and My Engagement Ring!

I have been married for almost 29 years, and I haven't been able to wear my wedding band or engagement ring for at least half of those years.  I even had it stretched once.  

A few years after having my rings stretched, and being the stubborn person that I am, I decided I was going to wear the wedding set even if it was too tight.  I would not get those rings stretched again!  That was ultimately a bad decision on my part. :)  I ended up at the jewelry store, my finger swollen and purple,  having my engagement ring cut off my finger.  

On November 6, 2013, when I began drinking Plexus Slim, I couldn't get my wedding band or engagement ring on without forcing them.  Let it be said that I can learn from my mistakes.  I wasn't about to wear them when it hurt to put them on.

About mid-December I tried the wedding set on for fun.  I had lost several pounds and I was hoping they would fit on my finger.  They did!  They went on without any force, and better yet, they came off the same way!  I was so proud!  I began them wearing immediately.  It was a milestone in my weight loss to be able to wear my rings again.  

The next few weeks as I lost more weight, my engagement ring became so loose that the diamond in the the setting would end up turning and facing the palm of my hand. Another good feeling.  

Well...yesterday when I got home from work I noticed that my engagement ring was not on my finger.  The band was still there but, not the engagement ring.  Of course, I panicked.  After all those years of not being able to wear my rings and now I had lost my engagement ring!  

I began retracing my steps...from putting my teaching bag down, to the garage where I had played with my dog, Max, when I first arrived home, to the mailbox, to my parking place at my school, along the path to my room, and finally to the sink where I had washed my hands right before I left to go home. 

My husband and I just stood silently at the counter, looking down at the left-over soap suds in the bottom of the sink and humongous holes in the drain.  My heart sank.  I rushed over to my desk.  Sometimes when I put lotion on my hands, I take my rings off and lay them on the top of my desk.  Nope.  I knew in the back of my mind heading over  there that the engagement ring would not be found.  Why would I, even as absent-minded as I am sometimes, put one ring back on and not the other.

I was priming myself up for a good pity-party.  I was ready to sit down behind my desk when I noticed my husband reach down underneath a student desk and pick something up from underneath the leg bar of the desk.  The leg bar is a metal bar that sits about an inch from the floor and balances the legs of the desk.
As he stood up, he was holding my engagement ring in his hand.  

Apparently, my ring slipped had off sometime after my students left yesterday, and I didn't even feel it.  That's scary.  It just slid right off my finger and I didn't feel a thing!  I believe I have learned 2 things from the experience.  1.  If I want to wear my ring, I will either have to get it resized, get a ring spacer, or wear it below my wedding band.  2.  If my rings are too big, my clothes must be too big.  You all know what that means! :)  :)  :)  I have always wanted the problem of having to go shopping because my clothes are too big.  I have lost 12 and 1/2 pounds on this 4 foot, 11 and 1/2 inch body since November 6, and my clothes ARE getting too big.  It's a great feeling!  

There is a saying, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."  For me, nothing feels as good as knowing that even though I am losing weight now, I will be able to continue to lose it, next month, and the next month after that...  For way too long, when I began a "diet" or took pills, over-the-counter or prescription, I knew they were a temporary fix.  Now I am doing something that I will continue doing for the rest of my life as I continue to improve my health.  You just can't beat that! 

As I have said before, it is the easiest thing I have ever done!  

Plexus Slim 7-Day Challenge Contest / Giveaway

Hey everyone!  Don't forget to enter the Plexus Slim 7-Day Challenge Packet Giveaway.  It ends this coming Friday.  Plexus Slim is delicious!  In addition, to this healthy, all-natural drink, you will receive a 7 day supply of Accelerator pills also...to speed up your weight loss.  Just take them with your Plexus Slim each day!

Scroll down just a tad to the entry post.  If you have already LIKED my Facebook page or followed my blog, enter anyway!  Entering will put you in the drawing.  Have a great day!

Giveaway - 7-Day Plexus Slim Packet

I just can't say enough great things about Plexus Slim and what it has done for me!  I haven't just lost weight, I have gotten healthier...lowering my blood pressure, and getting rid of my sleep apnea...just to name a couple of things!  I am giving away a 7-day supply of Plexus Slim and the Accelerator pills to some lucky person!  It is a $29.95 value.  

I believe you will love it! 


 Read my previous blog posts to read more information and facts about healthy, natural Plexus Slim. (One post is a video of a doctor who breaks down each ingredient in Plexus Slim).  


To enter, scroll down to the Entry Box, (directly below the picture), and click on one or both of the entry choices to follow my blog or LIKE my Facebook page.

  If you have already liked my Facebook page and/or followed my blog, click on the entries below anyway!   This will put you in the drawing too. 


The contest runs from January 6 - January 10, 2014.

 The winning name will be automatically drawn by a computer when the contest ends and the winner will be announced!

  

Good luck!  

Let's lose weight and 

keep it off this year!

Entries for the 7-Day Plexus Slim Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Plexus Slim - 10 Great Things

I am just a normal person.  I am a  school teacher with 3 grown children, (well, they are all in college, but, I wouldn't consider them adults yet). :)  I have a husband whom I've been married to for 29 years this coming March, and I have a dog named Max.  Like many other normal people, I have also fought the weight loss battle for the majority of my life.  

I have lost and gained a tremendous amount of weight over the years.  I have lost it in some of the most unhealthy ways possible, only to gain it back plus some each time.  If you've tried it, there is a good chance I have too!  At this point in my life, I know in the back of my mind that whatever I am doing or taking really isn't going to work, but, I usually try it anyway.  Then it doesn't work...not for long anyway.

Enter Plexus Slim.  I have been taking Plexus Slim since November 6, 2013.  I have lost 10 and 1/2 pounds, mostly through the holidays.  It is the easiest thing I have done...EVER! (Plexus Slim is a powder in a packet, similar to Crystal Light packets, that you pour into a bottle or glass of water and drink once a day.  Extra add bonus...it tastes great).  I can eat what I want but, Plexus takes away many of my cravings, reduces the amount I want to eat, and gives me the willpower to put the fork down.  I get satisfied quickly when eating a meal.  Plexus is a healthy, natural drink.  I was talking to my husband a few days ago and we began discussing all the ways Plexus Slim has helped us.  I love making lists so, I decided to list the top 10 ways Plexus Slim Products have made a difference in my life.  

So, here they are:

1.  I have lost 10 and 1/2 pounds, mostly during the holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Year's.  That's something I would never have dreamed I could do!
2. I have lost 4" in my waist, 1 and 3/8" in my arms. I have even lost 7/8" of an inch in my neck...very cool!  
3. My blood pressure has gone down from 188/84 to 137/80. WoW!  I am most grateful for this!  I would take Plexus Slim for the rest of my life just to keep my blood pressure normal!  Yes, it is healthy enough to take the rest of my life, and I definitely am going to do just that!
4. I am supposed to go to a sleep apnea treatment center this month.  Actually, I was supposed to go months ago, but, I kept canceling on them.  I snored like a bear...it was so bad that my husband slept on the couch many nights, and when my kids were at home they would close my bedroom door at night and still hear me in the family room.  (Very embarrassing...esp. since they had friends over all the time!)  Snoring was the least of my concerns though.  I would literally wake up in the middle of the night unable to breathe or swallow.  It was like my throat had swollen and my tonsils were growing out of my mouth.  The last couple of years I would sleep sitting up many nights.  I was scared.  However, I was just as scared of going to the sleep apnea center and finding out I needed surgery or that I would have to wear an oxygen mask the rest of my life.  Now, my sleep apnea symptoms are gone.  I rarely snore, and I do not ever wake up feeling like I can't breathe or swallow.  That is a wonderful, peaceful feeling!  No surgery or oxygen mask for me! :)  Still another reason I will never stop taking Plexus Slim.
5. My husband, who never has wanted to try any weight loss supplement, has seen how Plexus has helped me and has began taking it.  He has lost 9 pounds.
6. I have more energy.  No, I don't have the kind of energy that makes me want to run around the house.  It is very subtle, similar to the drink itself. I usually come home from work and fall asleep as soon as I sit down.  Now, I generally don't.  That doesn't mean I don't ever, but, for the most part I get a second wind and am functional throughout the evening.
7. I feel liberated.  I am not chained to any meal plans or certain types of foods.  I don't have to eat things that remind me of styrofoam or cardboard ever again!  I don't have to pass up opportunities with friends and family when eating is involved. I can have any dang thing I want.  (Plexus helps with the willpower to stop eating so you don't overdo it.)  I feel like a normal person again!
8. I feel good about myself.  I can feel the weight loss in my clothes and I can see it in my face. There isn't a better feeling than for your normal clothes to be too big! My goal is to lose 40 pounds so I still have a way to go.  But, I know that Plexus works and will work for the long-haul, so I am confident in my ability to lose the next 30 pounds.  I know I will do it!  I just lost another 1/2 pound today.  (And I had Dunkin' Doughnuts for breakfast yesterday and Zaxby's for supper the night before.) :)   
9. People have seen me losing weight and have wanted to order it for themselves.  I am making money by selling Plexus Slim as an ambassador.  
10. I have a severe immune deficiency...very severe.  I take an unheard of 875 mg of antibiotics, not once, but twice a day just to stay well. Since I am a math teacher, I will do the math.  I take 1,750 mg of antibiotics a day!  Even with the amount I take, the antibiotics still do not do their job all the time.  I take antibiotics that I am pretty sure  affect all the biotics in my system, the good along with the bad.  That can't be a good thing!  I still get a severe sinus infection several times during the fall, winter,and spring anyway.  (I'm sure I have one of the 3 worst jobs for a low immune system...working with children). My last infection at the beginning of October almost wiped me out.  I was doubling up, sometimes even more than that, on my antibiotics just so I could function in life.  I cringe to think what that did to my body. I began taking the probiotic, ProBio5, that Plexus sells in November.  Wowsie!  I have not had even a hint of a sinus infection since.  Yes, I am still taking my antibiotic but, I have faith that I will be able to lessen the amounts as I go along.  However, using the probiotic is just what the doctor ordered.  Or is it?   It is amazing to me that not one doctor or specialist over the years, (and believe me, I have seen them all...one specialist even wanted to send my blood work to Duke University for a study), recommended a probiotic to me.  Why not? Hmmm...go figure.

I could actually make a bigger list but, I will stop here.  If you would like to begin your weight loss journey to lose weight and keep it off, come join me.  I have been so thankful that Plexus came into my life!  It has changed not only my weight but, as you read, it has began changing my health.  

I would love to have you visit and LIKE my facebook page so you can receive updated posts, testimonials, and information about Plexus and its products.

Pixie Pink Plexus Facebook Page

or click on the image below to go to my website and find more information on the Plexus products.  

If you would like to sign up as an ambassador, just contact me on Facebook, on this blog, or by email:  lcourtney06@comcast.net.  Why not sell it?  If it is working for you, then other people will want to try it too!  Just a thought. :)

New Year's Resolution - Lose Weight? Diet?

Happy New Year's Day!  I hope everyone enjoyed themselves last night.  My family always gets together with our best friends and our families...with food being the main focus throughout the night.  You name it, we have it!  I was concerned about how my willpower, craving less sweets, and satisfied feelings were going to hold out with all the hot wings, cheese dip, chips, cakes, cupcakes, cocktail sausages, sausage balls, and on and on that were set out for the taking ALL evening!  Could I be strong?  Would I be satisfied?  I had been good all through Thanksgiving and Christmas without being deprived.  In fact, I had lost 10 pounds since November, much of it being through the holidays.  But, New's Years Eve is usually when I binge in the worst way, cramming in everything I can eat before the big New Year's resolution day.  

I make the same resolution every single year!  Lose weight.  Every year I say, "This is really going to be the year I lose weight! Why does no one believe me?" So, every New Year's Eve I eat everything I know I will not be able to have after I begin my "diet" the next day.  I don't know my reasoning other than maybe I think that if I over-eat enough of the foods I love, it will hold my cravings off for a while.  All I know, is it has become a yearly tradition for me...eat until I am stuffed and miserable, then go on a "diet" the next day.

Over the years, I have given up my diet plan, even before the end of January 1.  Very sad.  I have no willpower. Sometimes my diet will last a week or so.  Some years, I begin an exercise routine to go along with dieting.  This lasts until I have something to do something one night, a show is on I must watch, or an injury occurs from overdoing it...whichever one comes first.

One year, as my New Year's resolution, I joined a gym with numerous other good-intentioned, very naive people.  I went a couple of months, inconsistently, only because I felt guilty about paying for a year's membership fee.  After working out, I would usually stop on the way home and reward myself with food of some sort.

Another year, I decided to join a weight loss program as my New Year's resolution.  My friend and I would go weigh-in once a week and attend a meeting while we were there.  By the 4th or 5th week, we were becoming desperate.  We were weighing our socks before we put them on, and leaving our jewelry at home. We couldn't wait to leave the meeting so we could go stuff ourselves and, in our own words, "pig-out" on the way home.  After several months, I did eventually lose 12 pounds.  However, I felt hungry and miserable most of that time.  And yes, the weight came right back, plus more after my "maintenance program" started.

I am no light-weight when it comes to dieting.  I have done everything that anyone could do incorrectly when it comes to losing weight.  I have starved myself, rotated and counted calories, taken my fair share of prescription diet pills, counted fat grams, carbs, and points, purchased and listened to a hypnosis dvd, and taken crystal granules that you sprinkle on your food. The list continues with green tea, herbs, homemade concoctions, and white crosses purchased at a convenience store that made my scalp tingle and gave me the sensation that I really could crawl out of my skin.  I'll stop here but, you get the idea.  I won't even get into all the useless exercise equipment, some of it rather expensive, I have purchased over the years.    

This year, I am going to make the same New Year's resolution.  Yes, I am!  You can't talk me out of it! :)  This year, 2014, however, is going to be different.  The reason I know this is that I have lost 10 pounds of weight from November 6 - Dec. 31.  I have lost weight through Thanksgiving and Christmas...a first for me...EVER!  I did it being totally satisfied with what I ate.  I ate the foods I wanted...I just didn't eat as much...didn't want it!  

I have found my answer to losing weight.  I do not call it a diet.  Since I eat what I want, I call it, "lowering my food intake."  Plexus Slim is a powder, similar to a Crystal Light packet, that you pour in a drink once a day.  You drink it and your done.  It is that easy!   

Do I have to exert some willpower?  Yes.  But, Plexus makes it easy to do since it makes you feel satisfied quicker and lessens your cravings for sweets.  It does this naturally and using only healthy ingredients.   (Listen to the video in the previous post from a doctor talking about each ingredient in Plexus Slim).  I am not naive enough to believe there is a magic drink or pill out there.  However, I do feel this is as close as it gets!  I have the willpower to put down the fork, and I do not need as many sweets.  I know each and every day that I can eat whatever I want!  No depriving myself...EVER!  That is a liberating feeling for a life-long dieter.  

Other health benefits from Plexus.  My blood pressure has dropped from 188/84 on November 6, 2013 to 137/80 on December 31, 2013. WoW!  My sleep apnea symptoms that were to send me to a sleep apnea center at the first of this year, have all but disappeared.  Now, I don't have to face the fear of having surgery or wearing an oxygen mask the rest of my life.  I have dodged that bullet, thanks to Plexus!

If you are ready to lose weight, just give me a holler! We can do this together!  I am so excited about what this year is going to bring.  I know for a fact that Plexus has worked for me and others.  (My husband has already lost 9 pounds in about 3 weeks).  

Just follow the link below to visit my Facebook page, Pixie Pink Plexus. (No, the site is not just for women.  Men drink Plexus too!)  Click LIKE while you are there to get posts and updates from me! 

https://www.facebook.com/pixiepinkplexus

If you would like to find out more information about Plexus Slim or to purchase products, follow the link below.

http://lisacourtney.myplexusopportunity.com

Let's get excited for the New Year and all the positive  changes we can make!  (I am actually looking forward to wearing a swimsuit at the beach this year!)