Let’s share our journey for those of us that want to pursue a healthier lifestyle to lose weight.

[rickandcindy23]

What collagen product do you buy, @Quilter I keep seeing collagen protein 30-minute commercials on TBN. I have been considering it because I have pain in my feet that has not gotten better with this program, even though I have lost so much weight.

 

[TravelTime]

Yes, the foods do have artificial sweetener, which my coach Rachael pointed out to me because Amber chastized me pretty good over saccharine.

It is a multi-level marketing program. At least I suspect so. I haven't really talked to Rachael much about it. I am looking to maintain after one more order early next month, then I am done. I cannot keep buying the food, it's too much money, and I am looking at the Nutmeg Nutrition website for alternatives. I also saw Keto cereal to use instead of the Crunchy O's on Facebook.

I really want to try Built Bars, too. I hear advertisements for them, and people on our FB group keep talking about them. The posts get taken down because the coaches don't make money on those. Coaches deserve a little income for what they do. I have no idea how they make money, exactly.

I want to take Optavia food to Disney World in October because I know it will keep me honest. Then I have to start maintenance, and I need to be on it long enough for comfort for our December trip. I cannot gain the weight back.

I keep looking at recipes for replacement brownies that I can bake without guilt. I love those Optavia brownies, even though they are not very filling. That just shows me how I would overeat on sweets, if I didn't have the portion control of the products. Hmmm.

I ordered the pancakes and cakes from Nutmeg State Nutrition to see if they taste similar to Optavia. I have been drinking the chocolate salted caramel shake from Nutmeg and it is delicious. I like it better than Optavia’s chocolate shake. I must admit it took me awhile to adjust to Optavia’s shakes. I have Nutmeg’s orange creamsicle shake and plan to try it this week. I have been thinking of whether it makes sense to switch to Nutmeg’s products now that I understand the Optavia program. The calories are more or less the same as Optavia except for the bars which tend to be 150-160 cal. But that is only 40-50 cal more than Optavia and if I only eat one per day, and give up a snack, it would be the same. I would lose the coaching though.

I suspect coaches earn 50% or so of the revenue generated by the clients. It seems Optavia marks up the food by double compared to Nutmeg. I have read some stories by coaches and some have been able to quit their day jobs bc they make more money with Optavia. I am glad the program is able to help them have a good career.

I am lucky in that I have not been having food cravings. My problems is I crave alcohol. When I drink alcohol, then I crave extra fuelings. This is my Achilles heal.

You should definitely take the fuelings with you on vacation. I am spending 8 days at Pismo Beach and I brought my fuelings along.

 

[Quilter]

I buy

What collagen product do you buy, @Quilter I keep seeing collagen protein 30-minute commercials on TBN. I have been considering it because I have pain in my feet that has not gotten better with this program, even though I have lost so much weight.

Trim Healthy Mama collagen. I also use these items from them:

Baking Blend (Tonight i used it to bread my oven fried chicken. The other night i used it as the breading in eggplant Parmesan.) I don’t bake goodies much with it. My friends do but they use the super sweet and gentle sweet in the recipes. I don’t.)
Nutritional yeast
Collagen
Whey
Baobab
Stevia
Gelatin

 

[Quilter]

I don’t know how Simple Mills products fit into the Optiva maintenance but I’m liking them. Brownies, cakes. pizza dough. A couple of the crackers.

 

[TravelTime]

I don’t know how Simple Mills products fit into the Optiva maintenance but I’m liking them. Brownies, cakes. pizza dough. A couple of the crackers.

Simple Mills products are probably fine for maintenance stage but they are low in protein and a little higher in sugar so they probably will not fill you up as much.

 

[Quilter]

Simple Mills products are probably fine for maintenance stage but they are low in protein and a little higher in sugar so they probably will not fill you up as much.

My 2 fav crackers are cheddar cheese and the rosemary sea salt. The box says serving size 17 crackers at a gram of carb per cracker and 3 grams protein per serving.

My style would probably be 5-10 crackers. Add some cheese to the plate. Maybe some olives or Bubbies pickle. Couple slices of apple or sundried tomatoes. Maybe some of my nut mixture which is a Dr. Hyman recipe. So cracker carbs would be combined with other proteins.

It would be a snack/meal. We call it “bits”, a term we picked up from a British woman running a B&B in Provence.

We combine the brownies and cakes (made as muffins) with homemade chantilly cream. 3 ingredients: heavy whipping cream, vanilla and 1/16 tsp. stevia.

These are special day treats. Not everyday.

Now that I’m checking my blood glucose I can see how they’re affecting me. So far it’s not an issue with the weight or giving me any feeling that my sugar is rising and crashing.

 

[Quilter]

What collagen product do you buy, @Quilter I keep seeing collagen protein 30-minute commercials on TBN. I have been considering it because I have pain in my feet that has not gotten better with this program, even though I have lost so much weight.

My girlfriend had foot pain for years after damaging her foot by walking too much on a slanted beach.

She cut out lectins and found the inflammation in her body decreased and foot pain was gone.

I had neuroma and plantar fasciitis. Found a pair of Cloud stepper sandals (Clarks) and Abeo boots that worked. Wore only those for about 6 months. Had to wear sandals around the house as slippers. Found other Cloud Stepper styles that worked. I put the insoles from the Abeo boots in casual shoes. Did lots of down dog stretch, massages and chiropractor. Feet are good now. They act up if I wear certain shoes or garden boots too much. Garden boots also mess with my knees if I wear them long time.

 

[rickandcindy23]

My girlfriend had foot pain for years after damaging her foot by walking too much on a slanted beach.

She cut out lectins and found the inflammation in her body decreased and foot pain was gone.

I had neuroma and plantar fasciitis. Found a pair of Cloud stepper sandals (Clarks) and Abeo boots that worked. Wore only those for about 6 months. Had to wear sandals around the house as slippers. Found other Cloud Stepper styles that worked. I put the insoles from the Abeo boots in casual shoes. Did lots of down dog stretch, massages and chiropractor. Feet are good now. They act up if I wear certain shoes or garden boots too much. Garden boots also mess with my knees if I wear them long time.

I had plantar fascitis years ago and got the Good Feet insoles. They were a cure for that pain within a few months. I need to go back and get refitted for maybe different ones again. After you buy, you can go back as often as you want for new insoles. They just sell you more cushions, which are pricey, but worth it. The cushions do wear out. I know that wearing the wrong insoles can be detrimental.

I walk just a mile or two and suffer with pain, mostly in my right foot. We go to Disney World in October. I am walking to get used to Disney by then. We only have 3 days, and so three days means a lot more time in the parks each day. No leaving after 1 PM.

I had the doctor do an x-ray on that foot about 3 years ago, and he said it's a healthy foot but some arthritis. Rick read somewhere that crossing one's feet is not good for the muscles, and I do that a lot in my recliner at night. I try to catch myself and correct it. I was outside yesterday for hours, just watering my flowers and tomatoes and picking up sticks and debris from our oversized yard (we are so sorry we chose a .4 acre yard), I had some pain in my foot, but not terrible. I know how far I can push it before it gets bad.

 

[Panina]

I find as I have lost weight new areas of pain pop up. Probably the fat not there cushioning.

For example a few weeks ago started with some numbness in my big toe. Use to walk barefoot in the house. Immediately put on my Merrill sandals as slippers and now all is good.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I ordered the pancakes and cakes from Nutmeg State Nutrition to see if they taste similar to Optavia. I have been drinking the chocolate salted caramel shake from Nutmeg and it is delicious. I like it better than Optavia’s chocolate shake. I must admit it took me awhile to adjust to Optavia’s shakes. I have Nutmeg’s orange creamsicle shake and plan to try it this week. I have been thinking of whether it makes sense to switch to Nutmeg’s products now that I understand the Optavia program. The calories are more or less the same as Optavia except for the bars which tend to be 150-160 cal. But that is only 40-50 cal more than Optavia and if I only eat one per day, and give up a snack, it would be the same. I would lose the coaching though.

I suspect coaches earn 50% or so of the revenue generated by the clients. It seems Optavia marks up the food by double compared to Nutmeg. I have read some stories by coaches and some have been able to quit their day jobs bc they make more money with Optavia. I am glad the program is able to help them have a good career.

I am lucky in that I have not been having food cravings. My problems is I crave alcohol. When I drink alcohol, then I crave extra fuelings. This is my Achilles heal.

You should definitely take the fuelings with you on vacation. I am spending 8 days at Pismo Beach and I brought my fuelings along.

Let me know what you think of the other foods. I know that making my own can work, especially the pancakes. That could save a lot of money for me. Most of the recipes I find to replace my fuelings seem to be geared to a keto diet. I am definitely going to try some different brownies. I am worried about fat after following this balanced diet so long. But those protein pancakes in that recipe I posted above will probably fit my lifestyle really well. I need protein and I love pancakes for breakfast. I can have two of those on maintenance.

 

[Panina]

So just came back from my doctors appointment and she said to me “You look great. You look 20 lbs lighter then you weigh”.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I find as I have lost weight new areas of pain pop up. Probably the fat not there cushioning.

For example a few weeks ago started with some numbness in my big toe. Use to walk barefoot in the house. Immediately put on my Merrill sandals as slippers and now all is good.

I have a major vein going up my left leg from my ankle, and it hurts sometimes. I never had that vein so visible before. Always had pain in my right foot, but this is new with the left ankle.

 

[rickandcindy23]

So just came back from my doctors appointment and she said to me “You look great. You look 20 lbs lighter then you weigh”.

My doctor was so happy with my weight loss, but he warned me that any step backward could create a backslide. He is pretty close to my age, and he has seen so many diets like this that result in weight gain after going off of the program. I cannot do that. I have to be consistent with this, and I will keep the weight off, even if I have to stay at 1,100 calories a day. I cannot go back to that. I will not.

This thread helps me more with my attitude than the Strive4Health FB group. I see a lot of backsliders on that group who come to get support because they cannot make healthy decisions consistently. I want to say, "The food is expensive, the decision has to be yours, you have to stick with it or just go back to where you were." But that is too brutal to post, and I know it would be taken down. Some of those women are young and haven't been down the roads I have been, and they just do not seem to realize that the weight loss is either a game, like Weight Watchers and Keto were for me, or it's your life. Now I know the truth: It's my life, no longer a game. I was pre-diabetic and miserable, and my investment in this food was always supposed to be temporary but a quick way to get to my goal. I saw Rachael and knew that whatever she was doing I was going to do it. It was a way to get to goal, and my constant planning for my future fuelings and the reading of the book is how I am going to stick to it for the rest of my life.

As I have said before, this was a miracle for me. An absolute God-given miracle. It came along at exactly the right time. I highly recommend the program to anyone who wants to lose weight, but get off of the foods as soon as you can and create a backup plan that works. I pray that mine will work.

 

[Panina]

I have a major vein going up my left leg from my ankle, and it hurts sometimes. I never had that vein so visible before. Always had pain in my right foot, but this is new with the left ankle.

I have an ugly vein behind one of my knees from a car accident years ago. Now with the weight loss it is more noticeable plus there are others I can see now. All over my body I have noticed things I never noticed before I lost weight. Good thing I have freckles, hides them.

 

[Panina]

My doctor was so happy with my weight loss, but he warned me that any step backward could create a backslide. He is pretty close to my age, and he has seen so many diets like this that result in weight gain after going off of the program. I cannot do that. I have to be consistent with this, and I will keep the weight off, even if I have to stay at 1,100 calories a day. I cannot go back to that. I will not.

This thread helps me more with my attitude than the Strive4Health FB group. I see a lot of backsliders on that group who come to get support because they cannot make healthy decisions consistently. I want to say, "The food is expensive. The decision has to be yours. You have to stick with it or just go back to where you were." But that is too brutal to post, and I know it would be taken down. Some of those women are young and haven't been down the roads I have been, and they just do not seem to realize that the weight loss is either a game, like Weight Watchers and Keto were for me, or it's your life. Now I know the truth: It's my life, no longer a game. I was pre-diabetic and miserable, and my investment in this food was always supposed to be temporary but a quick way to get to my goal. I saw Rachael and knew that whatever she was doing I was going to do it. it was a way to get to goal, and my constant planning for my future fuelings and the reading of the book is how I am going to stick it for the rest of my life.

As I have said before, this was a miracle for me. An absolute God-given miracle. It came along at exactly the right time. I highly recommend the program to anyone who wants to lose weight, but get off of the foods as soon as you can and create a backup plan that works. I pray that mine will work.

I get it. We have to have awareness always not to slip back.

I realize higher carb foods will be out of my food chain. More then the weight loss, the inflammation being gone is my incentive. Veggies will be a staple, the lower carb ones.

The surprise is cheese. It use to make me sick, no more, so giving up some things but able to have others And I love cheese.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I get it. We have to have awareness always not to slip back.

I realize higher carb foods will be out of my food chain. More then the weight loss, the inflammation being gone is my incentive. Veggies will be a staple, the lower carb ones.

The surprise is cheese. It use to make me sick, no more, so giving up some things but able to have others And I love cheese.

Oh, yeah. Cheese is great. I am loving my cauliflower crust pizzas. I have the Pampered Chef air fryer. It's an amazing appliance. I am trying coconut shrimp tomorrow in that thing.

Our daughter has acid reflux and cut cheese, milk, yogurt, coffee and lots of her favorite things from her diet to solve the problem. I think she might be off track with cutting those out, considering she still has acid reflx. So the changes she made may not be the answer. I think she has an allergy of some sort but has yet to figure it out. She is tiny but built like Rick. She weighs about 105 pounds and is my height. She is just built that way (tiny wrists, fingers and skinny little feet) and I am just so jealous. She makes lots of homemade bread and bakes cakes and cookies every week. She eats all of it. Lucky girl that she doesn't take after my side of the family.

What I do notice is that she eats half of her food at a restaurant and takes the rest home for the next day. She never cleans her plate. I was taught to clean my plate and do clean it. I need to figure that out very soon. I have 12 nine-inch plates for my lean and green meals, as Dr. A says we should do.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Still struggling with constipation. How odd. I didn't have that problem until the last two months or so. Taking magnesium but may need to continue the Miralax.

 

[Quilter]

Oh, yeah. Cheese is great. I am loving my cauliflower crust pizzas. I have the Pampered Chef air fryer. It's an amazing appliance. I am trying coconut shrimp tomorrow in that thing.

Our daughter has acid reflux and cut cheese, milk, yogurt, coffee and lots of her favorite things from her diet to solve the problem. I think she might be off track with cutting those out, considering she still has acid reflx. So the changes she made may not be the answer. I think she has an allergy of some sort but has yet to figure it out. She is tiny but built like Rick. She weighs about 105 pounds and is my height. She is just built that way (tiny wrists, fingers and skinny little feet) and I am just so jealous. She makes lots of homemade bread and bakes cakes and cookies every week. She eats all of it. Lucky girl that she doesn't take after my side of the family.

What I do notice is that she eats half of her food at a restaurant and takes the rest home for the next day. She never cleans her plate. I was taught to clean my plate and do clean it. I need to figure that out very soon. I have 12 nine-inch plates for my lean and green meals, as Dr. A says we should do.

My BIL would say onions “bothered “ him. Garlic too. It was an endless list of things i cooked with regularly.

He’d come over and eat what I cooked. Later I would ask”how do you feel?” Fine, he’d say. It has taken a long time but he has finally agreed that it was other additives/preservatives in the prepared food that was causing his problems.
Yesterday i asked him to help me put together a Trim Healthy Mama recipe. A Timmy Bisque. They are involved recipes with many ingredients but so worth it. The flavor has such depth. He ate it with no problems last i asked. The one ingredient that gave me concern was the noodles (I used Wonder Noodles from Thrive Market).

 

[Quilter]

My doctor was so happy with my weight loss, but he warned me that any step backward could create a backslide. He is pretty close to my age, and he has seen so many diets like this that result in weight gain after going off of the program. I cannot do that. I have to be consistent with this, and I will keep the weight off, even if I have to stay at 1,100 calories a day. I cannot go back to that. I will not.

This thread helps me more with my attitude than the Strive4Health FB group. I see a lot of backsliders on that group who come to get support because they cannot make healthy decisions consistently. I want to say, "The food is expensive, the decision has to be yours, you have to stick with it or just go back to where you were." But that is too brutal to post, and I know it would be taken down. Some of those women are young and haven't been down the roads I have been, and they just do not seem to realize that the weight loss is either a game, like Weight Watchers and Keto were for me, or it's your life. Now I know the truth: It's my life, no longer a game. I was pre-diabetic and miserable, and my investment in this food was always supposed to be temporary but a quick way to get to my goal. I saw Rachael and knew that whatever she was doing I was going to do it. It was a way to get to goal, and my constant planning for my future fuelings and the reading of the book is how I am going to stick to it for the rest of my life.

As I have said before, this was a miracle for me. An absolute God-given miracle. It came along at exactly the right time. I highly recommend the program to anyone who wants to lose weight, but get off of the foods as soon as you can and create a backup plan that works. I pray that mine will work.

I highly recommend you look for Mark Hyman’s book “What The Heck Should I Eat” when you’re ready to transition away from the program food. If the library doesn’t have it ask them to get it.

It’s an encyclopedia of food. There is a companion cookbook but he also has recipes on his website.

 

[Quilter]

I was in Better Health (food chain in our area) and saw one bottle left of Eden brand Ume Plum Vinegar. I had no idea what it was but thought I’d give it a try. Eden foods is a MI company.
Looked it up today and was pleasantly surprised with the proposed benefits. Will have to try it in salad dressing.

Another recent experiment is sumac spice. I saw it in a Za’atar recipe. I’ve enjoyed trying new things and like Middle Eastern type recipes.
When i got home i put it on steamed broccoli with olive oil. Yum! I like the tang.

Groats are another new food for us. MH had a guy on his podcast raving about the benefits of Himilayan groats. DH made a batch this morning. I topped mine with a warmed mix of leftover veggies. Topped with olive oil and red wine vinegar.

 

[Panina]

Still struggling with constipation. How odd. I didn't have that problem until the last two months or so. Taking magnesium but may need to continue the Miralax.

Didn’t you make some substitutions with Optavia fuels? It could have made the difference

 

[Panina]

This year I lost so far a total of 44 lbs. With my SVT hospital health scare yesterday (details posted In my Journey thread) I can just imagine with the extra weight my outcome might not have been as good. In my mind the weight loss made me much healthier letting my body endure and recover from this medical emergency.

I now even have more incentive and desire to stay and live healthier. I am so thankful that I finally found my way and am no longer using food as a drug.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I have been on the program for one year as of 9/3. I am down 75 pounds. 3.5 to get to my goal, then I move to maintenance.

I have been eating yogurt once a day and that is the only fueling I am replacing for now. I am going to replace others later. I even ordered Built Bars yesterday to replace my Optavia bars.

 

[TravelTime]

I ordered some protein powder a while back and it arrived with a warning that it could contain lead. Today I was looking at some other protein powders and it also had a warning. I wonder if anyone knows much about this?

Here is a Consumer Reports story on this topic. The Clean Label Project did the research study. They list the best and worst protein powders based on contaminants found in the research study.

Arsenic, Lead Found in Popular Protein Supplements

Some protein supplements have a high level of toxic heavy metals, according to a report from the Clean Label Project. Consumer Reports explains what you need to know.

www.consumerreports.org

Any thoughts on how concerned we should be?

 

[Panina]

I ordered some protein powder a while back and it arrived with a warning that it could contain lead. Today I was looking at some other protein powders and it also had a warning. I wonder if anyone knows much about this?

Here is a Consumer Reports story on this topic. The Clean Label Project did the research study. They list the best and worst protein powders based on contaminants found in the research study.

Arsenic, Lead Found in Popular Protein Supplements

Some protein supplements have a high level of toxic heavy metals, according to a report from the Clean Label Project. Consumer Reports explains what you need to know.

www.consumerreports.org

Any thoughts on how concerned we should be?

As I started reading this article I felt very concerned and as I continued and read “Plant-based proteins may have higher contamination levels because the plants are especially prone to absorbing heavy metals from soil” it occurred to me then the veggies, tofu, beans, etc., we eat should have the same problem thus everything we eat has risk.

Imo you can take any food product and find something wrong with it.