You guys, I’m already a little stressed about the fact that it is January 8th. January is normally such a long month and it feels like this one is just flying! I can’t believe that we’ve made it to 2019. When we got engaged in March 2017, this year felt like it would never arrive. Up until right now, I haven’t made any concrete goals or plans for this year and in fact, I sat down to write a different blog post. However, it feels like a right of passage here on this blog to at least attempt to make some goals for the year, so here we go.

1. Blog Weekly | I really want to grow my blog this year. I want to collaborate with local stores, restaurants, and other businesses. My goal is to blog at least once a week here, whether it is here or on my cruise blog. Ideally I’d like to blog more than that but full-time work and real life tends to get in the way.
2. Lose 10lbs | I had great success with Arbonne’s 30 Days to Healthy Living Program. I’m planning to do another round and try to maintain it at least 70/30 until the wedding. I also really want to start doing yoga again, for both my physical and mental well-being.
3. Put Myself First | It has never been a more important time for me to practice self care. I don’t want to be a frazzled, stressed out bride so I’m putting myself first. That means lots of personal development, quality time spent doing the things I love, mental health days, and saying “No”. It also means getting rid of toxic people and things in my life that only bring me down.

That’s it. I am keeping my goals simple this year because I have enough on my plate right now. Cheers to a happy and healthy new year! I can’t wait to see what 2019 brings!

Arbonne 30 Days To Healthy Living Review

This post contains affiliate links.

As mentioned in my previous post, I decided to participate in Arbonne’s 30 Days To Healthy Living Challenge for the month of November. Initially I had planned to do a week-by-week update but unfortunately life got in the way. However, if you’re interested in reading about my first week, as well as some information about the program itself, click here.

My Weight Over The Years

I’m going to rewind this story back to August for a bit. When I first stepped on the scale on August 1st and seen 137.8lbs, I nearly passed out. When I graduated high school, I weighed 97lbs. Throughout my university life, I weighed anywhere from 106-112lbs. After a bad breakup in 2013, I dropped back to 95lbs again. In hindsight, that was definitely too small for me (despite my 5’2″ stature). However, my normal in the following years was anywhere from 110-118lbs.

Around the time of our cruise in 2016, I was hovering around 128lbs. It was at this point that I became really unhappy with my body. I’ve always been curvy but up until this point, I was satisfied with my weight and appearance. I started dieting and exercising off and on, but never really stuck with a plan.

The Breaking Point

Fast forward to this year and suddenly I was at 137.8lbs. I couldn’t understand how I let my weight spiral out of control but let’s be honest, it happens. I’m getting closer and closer to 30, my metabolism has slowed down, and aside from walking 10,000+ steps a day at work, I don’t do any form of exercise. Not to mention that we had gotten into the bad habit of eating out frequently and snacking on chips and candy on a regular basis.

At this point, I knew I had to do something. I had been thinking about the Arbonne 30 Days To Healthy Living Program for a while but to be honest, I wasn’t ready to bite the bullet just then as we were getting ready to go on a cruise. Instead, I made little changes, like swapping out my sugar to monk fruit, cutting back on bread and other carbs, and increasing my water intake. By making these little changes, I managed to get my weight down to ~132lbs.

However, after my cruise, my weight was back up to 134lbs and I was ready to hop on the Arbonne bandwagon. I personally know people who had great success with it and I also knew that if I spent the money, I wouldn’t quit on myself. Side note: I also read “Girl, Wash Your Face” by Rachel Hollis while I was on vacation which is all about not quitting on yourself (highly recommend!).

Arbonne 30 Days To Healthy Living

Week one was tough as my body was adjusting to a) eating less, and b) eating less frequently. At first, the shakes only kept me satifisied for a couple of hours, but over time they satiated me from meal to meal. Cutting out gluten wasn’t difficult as much as it was simply inconvenient. I replaced my regular bread with gluten-free bread and honestly, that was fine. I bought gluten-free pasta or substituted zucchini noodles and replaced chips with gluten free snacks like these and these. No, the difficult part for me was cutting out cheese. I only drank cashew milk anyway and I gave up yogurt easily, but cheese and butter.. that was rough. I tried dairy-free cheese and it was okay, but not worth it.

The good thing is that you don’t have to cut out these foods forever. However, gluten and dairy cause issues for a lot of people, often unknowingly. I know that I can’t tolerated milk, ice cream or copious amounts of dairy, but I am fine with moderate amounts of cheese. Personally, I didn’t notice much difference by cutting out gluten, though I definitely experienced less bloating. For those with acne and skin problems, I’d highly recommend a trial of removing those products from your diet.

Week two and three were easier once my body started to adjust. As I mentioned in the last post, I decided to add my own probiotic back into my regimen as I was having an IBS flare up during the first week. It took about two weeks to completely settle but I didn’t have any issues after that. I was supposed to complete the 7-day body cleanse during week three but I think I only did 3-4 days. It is a gentle cleanse (as advertised), but in my field of work, you cannot go to the washroom whenever you like. Therefore, I didn’t want to do it on days when I was working. I definitely feel as though it cleared some of the sludge and waste from my body though.

Week four was a struggle as we were so close to the finish line. While I enjoyed my shakes, fizz sticks, and detox tea, I was ready to eat the Christmas cookies in my fridge. However, we made it through and we were so pleased with ourselves for sticking with it.

Results

Arbonne 30 Days To Health Living Results

Arbonne 30 Days To Health Living Results

From November 1st – December 1st, I lost exactly 6lbs (134 -> 128) and Jordan lost 12.6lbs. Jordan didn’t do measurements or photos but I did and I lost 7 inches. I lost everywhere that I had measured, ranging from 0.5″ on my arms to 2″ on my hips. My clothes fit more comfortably, I feel better about myself, and I no longer cringe at how I will look in a photo.

Between cookie parties and 30th birthday parties, we definitely didn’t follow the plan 100%. For the first half, I’d say we were 80/20 but by the second half, closer to 70/30. We also didn’t exercise once during the month. We are relaxing and enjoying the holidays this month with all intentions of jumping back on the bandwagon in January. After all, we have a wedding and a honeymoon that we need to look good for!

After a week of not eating properly since the program ended, I was afraid to step on the scale. Suprisingly, I had only gained back 0.6lbs! I also have less desire to eat fast food or junky food now because it honestly doesn’t taste as good. I’d much rather have a fizz stick than a glass of soda and I’d prefer a detox tea over a sickly sweet holiday drink.

It really is a lifestyle change and not a fad diet and you can see for yourselves that it works. While I did sign up as an Independent Consultant with Arbonne, this is an honest review of the program. If you are interested in completing the program, please get in touch via e-mail, Instagram or Facebook. I will be happy to work with your budget to help you acheive your goals. You can also view all of Arbonne’s products here!

Arbonne 30 Days To Healthy Living Challenge: Week One

First of all, you may be wondering..

What is the Arbonne 30 Days To Healthy Living Challenge?

It is a nutrition program that focuses on alkalizing your body, correcting gut health and eliminating toxins, thereby jump starting a healthy living lifestyle. For 30 days, you eliminate gluten and dairy from your diet, replace 1-2 meals with Arbonne protein shakes, and essentially “eat clean”. The goal is that after 30 days, you will have increased energy levels, weight loss, improved digestion, less bloating, clearer skin, and better sleep.

I decided to try the Arbonne 30 Days To Health Living Challenge for one reason: accountability. I’ve been saying since January that I need to lose weight, exercise, make healthier choices, etc. And I can do it for a few days, but I inevitably fall back into my old habits. I figured that by committing to this program for 30 days, I would not only (hopefully) reap the benefits but I would also prove to myself that I could actually do it.

While I did sign up to be a consultant (yay discounted prices!), this will be a totally honest review. I plan to check in weekly with my results, thoughts, etc.

What Is Included in the 30 Day Program?

I decided to purchase the whole program so that both myself and Jordan could share it. For 30 days, it includes:

• 2 bags of protein (we chose chocolate and vanilla)
• 40 servings of Detox Tea
• 2 boxes of Fizz Sticks (we chose pomegranate and citrus)
• A bag of daily Fibre Boost
• 1 month supply of Digestion Plus
• 1 week Body Cleanse or 1 can of Greens powder (I chose the cleanse)

This is enough for one month if you are doing two shakes, two tea and two fizz sticks each day. We each do one shake, and I typically do one tea and one fizz stick, therefore this could potentially last two months, or you could choose to save money and split it with a friend.

Week One Thoughts

Not gonna lie, the first few days were a little rough.

I had sampled the vanilla shake prior to buying it and I knew it was really yummy. I’ve tried many, many protein shakes before and I’ve either a) hated the taste, or b) had stomach issues after. The Arbonne shakes actually taste delicious. As a rule, I’m a chocolate fan while Jordan is a vanilla person so I decided to order one of each. Surprisingly (in his case), he actually prefers the chocolate. To compromise we’ve been mixing the chocolate and vanilla half-and-half because we still get the chocolate taste which we both want.

I drink my shake for breakfast (with the added fibre boost and digesion plus), while Jordan typically has his for lunch. For a few days, we both found ourselves really hungry a couple hours later. However, that has now subsided and we both feel sustained until our next meal. I guess our bodies just needed to adjust!

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen me talking about the fizz sticks. They are my favouite thing. They are a great replacement for coffee (or soda, in my case) and not only do they taste great (not too sweet), but they give you energy and alertness as well. Pomegranate is my favourite while Jordan prefers the citrus.

The detox tea is a nice tea to drink after a meal. I feel like it really settles my stomach and because it’s caffeine-free, I can drink it in the evening. I’ve also replaced my regular morning tea with this. It has a peppermint-herbal kind of taste. It’s not the best taste ever but it’s tolerable.

I’ve been finding my IBS acting up this week, even though the digestion plus contains pre/probiotics which is what I take for my IBS. I added my own prebiotic pill back into my morning routine but things still haven’t gone back to normal yet. I’ve also swapped out my cashew milk with water in my shakes the last couple days to see if that makes any difference. It seems like it may be improving slightly.

After the first two days, we had to pick up some “healthy”(ish) snacks. I’ll share all of those in a later post but we’ve been much happier since adding a couple munchies to our diet. Our meals are basically just our regular meals except we’ve swapped white rice for brown and sweet potato for white potato (which we tended to do anyway).

We did cheat a little bit, so I would say we followed the program 80/20. I had a meal out at Moxies where I ordered a delicious tuna salad, which I never would have done before. We also had a celebratory supper for Jordan’s convocation and I ordered salmon and mashed potato. The potato technically wasn’t allowed but old me would have ordered steak and fries, so it was still a healthier choice. I also had a fresh baked bread roll that evening and it was so worth it.

I’ve hidden all the leftover Halloween candy and chocolate as well as our favourite chips. I haven’t really been tempted by alcohol thus far, but I might have a drink this weekend. I think that as long as we follow the program with the 80/20 mindset, we will be okay.

Week One Results

I don’t plan to measure myself or take photos again until the end of the program but we’ve been weighing ourselves regularly. Probably a little too often. I was actually lower on my 5th day (finally breaking my plateau!) but then I gained a little back, for a total loss of 3.6lbs this week. Jordan has lost exactly 6lbs! Overall, we are both pleased with the results thus far (though neither of us feel as if we look any different yet) and we are looking forward to what the next three weeks bring.

You can check out my Arbonne shop HERE and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about the 30 day program or any other products that you see.