My Pre-30 Days to Healthy Living Journey

ARbonne 30 Day Plan for Healthy Living and Beyond Essential NutritionI began the full on Arbonne 30 Days to Healthy Living and Beyond journey on 1st January 2018, but my weightloss journey began in earnest in December 2017, let me take you through my journey – what I did, how I felt etc

At the end of November I signed up as an independent consultant with Arbonne intending to then get the 30 day plan, but I didn’t think I’d be able to start it until January as we had a few weeks of being child free which mean dinners out, weekends away, and after our daughter was back it was Christmas … no point setting myself up for failure.

I did decide that I would prepare myself in the meantime so I started walking on the 29th November (not very far, but it was a start), I also decided that I would gradually start cutting back on my cups of tea during the day.

On Friday 1st December I skipped my walk as we were going away for the weekend and I didn’t want to overdo things.  Before we left my Arbonne parcel arrived, although I didn’t have time to look through it properly.

When we arrived back home I decided to get my husband to take some before photos of me (Sunday 3rd December).  That was very confronting!  I knew I was carrying some extra weight, but I didn’t see myself as being as bad as the photo’s looked.  The next morning I hopped on the scales and found that I was heavier than I thought, in fact I was the heaviest I’d ever been.

Talk about feeling depressed.

On Wednesday 6th December I saw a video which made me sit up – it wasn’t about the 30 day plan, but it was about procrastination and it really spoke to me.  This is exactly what I wrote down on that day –

Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today – this is something I really need to act upon as I feel I am the Queen of Procrastination at times so why am I waiting until January to commence my 30 day Arbonne weight loss journey?  Again it’s that pesky procrastination, I say I don’t want to set myself up for failure, but is that just an excuse?  What if I was sick and would die unless I was to go on the 30 day plan, cut out alcohol, sugar, gluten, dairy and processed foods immediately – I wouldn’t worry about it being December I would just focus on living!

I had really decided that I didn’t want to wait until January and it so happened that the next day was my day off so you could say that my weight loss journey began on Thursday 7th December 2017.

My Journal Entries for December 2017 – My Weight Loss Journey

A Quest for Better Health – Pre Arbonne’s 30 Day to Healthy Living & Beyond Plan

Thursday 7th December

I’ve just made my first shake – a chocolate replacement meal with ½ scoop of daily fibre.  I’m pleasantly surprised by two things –

  1. It shook up well without needing a blender or anything – a few others that I’ve tried have left lumps so that was good.
  2. The flavour, originally I was thinking of just getting vanilla so that I can add different flavorings – frozen berries etc, but I got one of each and the first one I’m trying – chocolate (what a shock!).  I have always been disappointed when I’ve had chocolate flavoured protein powders or meal replacements in the past because the flavour just hasn’t felt right.  I must say that I really like the flavour, it doesn’t have a horrible back taste like other meal replacements can have.   It has the lovely taste of a chocolate milk shake without that too creamy taste that some have that can leave you feeling bloated.

I keep wanting to say it tastes clean, but if I hadn’t tasted it and just read ‘it tastes clean’ I’d be thinking what on earth are they talking about!  It’s really hard to describe, but I can’t see me having a problem enjoying this every day.

afternoon shake with greens balanceFor lunch I decided to try the vanilla meal replacement – I was taking this with the Greens Balance.  When I first opened up the bag it smelled delicious, then I opened up the greens balance and thought ‘Houston we have a problem’, the initial smell reminded me of spirulina powder which, although good for you, tasted vile!

Now I shook this one for a little longer than the chocolate one as I could see some lumps, but not overly long (I do get impatient!), I’m not sure if it was the vanilla meal replacement or the greens balance, but it did dissolve nicely.

The flavour was better than I expected, it was vanilla with another flavour in the background that I couldn’t really put my finger on, but it was definitely not unpleasant.

It will take some getting used to with the green color though, it’s a bit like when I first added spinach to a smoothie – drinking it with my eyes closed I couldn’t tell it was there, but when I saw the green I ‘imagined’ I could taste the spinach!

I had a delicious dinner and if it wasn’t for the tzatziki it would’ve been an ideal meal for the 30 days to a healthy me strict diet regimen!  Lamb marinaded in Greek inspired flavorings and served on a huge bed of salad (lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrot, beans, spring onion) with the most delicious homemade tzatziki (my hubby makes the yummiest one!).

Friday 8th December

Vanilla with fibre boost is yum, nicer than with the greens balance and a lovely breakfast.   The great thing about the vanilla is that I can also throw in a few berries if I want a change or a dash of cinnamon for a bit of a chai latte flavour twist.

I really have to start going for my walk earlier as by 7 it’s way too hot as the past 2 days have testified!

Okay, lunch time and I have to say that the chocolate and greens are NOT a good mix.  Not as bad as some meal replacements, but after having the other combinations I’m really not loving this one!  I am thinking it might benefit from some raspberries so I might have to get the old blender out and throw in some frozen raspberries another day and see what that’s like.

Dinner tonight was a packet of the steam fresh veg that we had in the freezer  (cauli, broccoli, beans and onion) with some of the left over chicken from last night and a ‘salsa’ of red and yellow cherry tomatoes and spring onion.  It was delicious and if it wasn’t for the butter sauce that the steam fresh veg were in it would have been a meal that I could eat in January!

It’s probably in my head, but this evening I’m actually feeling like something has changed in my abdominal area.  I definitely feel a little slimmer, last night I felt like I had actually put on weight – I was definitely a little bloated.  We shall see on Tuesday and now it’s the weekend so who knows what we’ll be doing – I’m going to start tomorrow with a shake for breakfast and going up to 1 scoop of fibre instead of the ½ scoop I’ve been having.  After breakfast it really depends on if we’re at home or out as to what I do for lunch and dinner.  It’s that 80/20 thing (except with Christmas this month it could turn more into 70/30), but it’s better than not doing anything until January right?

Saturday 9th December

This morning Roman & I had a slightly longer walk and I tried my detox tea, (which is actually called herbal tea, I’m not sure why I keep saying detox tea!) for the first time (it only arrived yesterday afternoon).

Arbonne Herbal TeaBreakfast was a chocolate shake with a full scoop of fibre (I started off with only a half a scoop the first couple of days) followed by the detox tea which I really liked.  Now I usually drink peppermint tea at lunch time so I knew that I would like that flavour, but it also had dandelion, parsley, licorice, elder flower and sweet fennel.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had dandelion and even longer since I had parsley tea (we’re talking about 20 years) and the last time I had a licorice tea it made me feel very strange.  The result – I actually really liked it and will enjoy starting the day with a detox tea instead of my usual cuppa, I just have to teach my husband how to make it.

It’s not hard, but when he hears herbal tea his response is always oh you’ll have to make that I don’t know how!  Step one put the kettle on to boil, step two open up the box and take out the tea bag, step three put the tea bag in the cup, step four pour boiling water onto tea bag and leave to steep.   How hard is that, why apart from not adding milk it’s exactly the same as making our usual morning cuppa!  I have a great husband, but there are times I just shake my head!

Sunday 10th December

Well yesterday we ate out for lunch and dinner, we’re really cherishing the child-free life at the moment haven’t been out this much together for ages!  This morning started with a lovely herbal tea (this is quickly becoming my favorite herbal tea and it’s only the second time I’ve had it!).  A vanilla meal replacement with a scoop of fibre – no morning walk, Sundays is my day off plus I thought we were going somewhere where we’d be doing a fair bit of walking, but that’s no longer the case!

Yesterday I brought a poncho so that I can walk in the rain (not sure what Roman will think of that) as well as some new walking sandals as I literally have cracked the sole of one of my present ones and they don’t seem to offer me enough support.  The new ones are soooo comfy!

Lunch was the chocolate replacement meal with a scoop of greens balance and a handful of frozen raspberries – the raspberries definitely made the drink taste much better, I hardly noticed the greens balance taste.

Oh I did end up going for a short walk in the evening to try out my walking sandals, they’re on a platform of air so feel a bit different to the ones that I’ve sorta killed!

Monday 11th December

I combined our walk from the one we were doing at the end of the week to half of the one we were doing at the beginning of the week.  Home to a delicious vanilla meal replacement for breakfast (and a lovely herbal tea afterwards while checking facebook!).  Who would’ve thought this chocolate loving gal would prefer the vanilla meal replacement.

Lunch today was a chocolate meal replacement with a scoop of greens balance and a handful of frozen blackberries.  The first mouthful I didn’t think it disguised the greens balance as much as the raspberries did, but after a couple of mouthfuls I quite like it.  Now I don’t know whether I prefer blackberries or raspberries – talk about a first world problem!

I tried the citrus fizz sticks this morning and the pomegranate one this afternoon and I have to say I’m not a big fan which is a shame as everyone else seems to like them.  I have since been told to dilute them more and if I have them in 850ml – 1 litre of water I don’t mind them as much (citrus is still my favorite though!)

Tuesday 12th December

When I got back from my morning walk (slightly increased the distance again today) I weighed myself, it’s been 1 week since I weighed myself and the start of day 6 since I started my attempt at the 80/20 plan as you know.

I’ve lost 2.1kg!

I couldn’t believe it, I’ve been telling myself that I’m imagining changes that I think are happening, but maybe I’m not – just imagine what January is going to bring.  I am so excited!  By the way for those of you that count in pounds according to Google that’s equivalent to 4.6lb.

Delicious chocolate, greens with frozen blackberry lunch today.

Wednesday 13th December

vanilla protein shakeLumpy vanilla shake this morning, now lets talk lumps!  When I first started I told you how well it mixed together well yesterday it appeared very lumpy and I had to use a teaspoon to try and get the lumps out.  I blamed it on the fact that the water I used wasn’t as cold as usual so this morning I grabbed a cold bottle of water out of my fridge and tried to make it with that.  I had noticed on another occasion that it didn’t mix very well, but I hadn’t shaken it for very long so thought it was my fault.

This morning it was lumpy again and this time I had a lightbulb moment – it’s the amount of fibre!  When I first started I used ½ scoop of fibre in the shake, but now that I’m up to the full scoop it’s not mixing well when shaken by hand.

I use a blender on my lunchtime shakes as I’ve been using frozen berries so from tomorrow I’ll start using it for breakfast too.  Most of the people I’ve spoken to you at this stage seem to use a nutri-bullet so if you have one then pop everything in there.

I don’t own a nutri-bullet, when I was having a lot of smoothies over the summer (last year) my husband brought me a generic version of nutri-bullet and if it’s something you’re considering it’s been working well for me!

I started my walk at 6.30 this morning instead of 6 like yesterday and by the time I got home at 7 it was way too hot for walking, this is going to be a challenge!

Lunch time I went for a chocolate raspberry shake which was divine.

Tonight I’m going to be having fish with a huge salad and I can’t wait!

Tomorrow is our work’s Xmas lunch so not sure what I’ll be having and I don’t care!  We’re going to a lovely Italian restaurant so after a shake for breakfast all bets are off J

Thursday 14th December

I had the morning shake and then went into work – the Xmas lunch was awesome, but sooo big!  I knew then that I would just be having a shake in the evening because I was so full.  I turned out not even wanting that!

Friday 15th December

Took the dog for a shorter walk today and had a chocolate shake for breakfast, also had a choccy shake for lunch and we’re away on holiday this afternoon so no more shakes until Monday probably – maybe Sunday night depending if we have a large lunch on the way home or not.

Monday 18th December

What a big weekend!  Back to reality this morning with an early morning walk with Roman, we incorporated the short walk that we did on Friday with our usual walk, but I left about 6.30 and the poor dog was starting  to pant a bit in the last stretch with the heat – I really have to leave closer to 6 it was just hard to get up this morning.

Delicious vanilla shake for breakfast and I was hungry by 9.30 which isn’t a good sign – I had a healthy snack of a handful of nuts though and that should (hopefully) see me through to lunch time.  My daughter arrives home tonight, I hope she hasn’t brought me any chocolate as I want to be good for the rest of this week at least ….. only one week until Christmas eek!  Still haven’t brought hubby a gift, he can be so hard to buy for some years.

Tuesday 19th December

My overindulging on the weekend (starting Thursday with Xmas lunch) has caused me to put on a kilo this week – not so happy.

Walked the dog – it’s about 2.1 km (I measured it with the car as best I could) which isn’t as far as I thought it was, but that’s okay.  I’ll probably increase it on Thursday, maybe tomorrow I’ll see how I feel in the morning.

Delicious vanilla shake for breakfast – I’m getting to really enjoy these followed by my delicious herbal tea.

Chocolate, banana and raspberry shake for lunch and a gorgeous looking salad with fish for dinner.  Snacks of nuts in the morning and a nectarine in the afternoon.  I was feeling quite hungry today.

Wednesday 20th December

At 5.30 it was already too hot to go for a walk, the humidity was very high and my chest felt like it had a tight band around it already as much as I hate it I’m going to miss my walk today – the dog is guarding the front door waiting for me to get dressed poor thing!

Thursday 21st December

I left at 5.30 for my walk this morning and I’m drenched!  It would’ve been a little earlier but my daughter wanted to come so it took a bit longer for her to get ready!  I must admit it was a lot easier walking with her because we were just talking away and the walk was nearly over!

Delicious vanilla shake for breakfast again, I’m getting boring aren’t I?

Having my breakfast shake and herbal tea so early means I’m ready for lunch mid morning and at this rate I’ll be eating dinner about 3 o’clock!  I had a nectarine at 9.30 and a boiled egg at 11.00 so that I can then have my lunch shake at lunch time.

Friday 22nd December

We went out to dinner last night and I was so proud of myself as I ordered the chicken, brie and bacon meal instead of the chicken, brie and bacon burger and I chose the sweet potato wedges with salad over the curly fries!  I actually really enjoyed it when it came and I don’t feel like I was short changed at all and I managed to avoid the burger bun and the potato so I’m giving myself a big pat on the back.

Now I didn’t have a walk this morning, it’s the first day of hubby’s holiday so he didn’t set his alarm and I didn’t actually wake up until 6 and to be honest we have so much to do today before mum arrives that I just decided to leave it!

I had my vanilla shake and herbal tea for breakfast, although I think I drank my shake too quickly which isn’t good as it doesn’t fill you up enough if you don’t take your time with it (in my opinion anyway).

I had a handful of mixed nuts at 10am and am just hanging out for lunch now.

Monday 25th December

Okay the past couple of days haven’t been very good diet wise, but I haven’t been nearly as bad as I would usually be at this time of the year.  Today I’ve had crumpets for breakfast, a couple of mince pies and a few pieces of chocolate during the day.

Lunch was chicken fajitas and dinner was turkey nachos (a Mexican style of Christmas!) and I’ve had a couple of coronas – tomorrow I’ll be a lot better.

Tuesday 26th December

weigh in time - great weight lossFancy having a weigh day falling on Boxing Day!  The good news is that I lost 1.7 kg – doing a happy dance right now!

I tried a new flavour shake for my breakfast today – chocolate with some frozen cherries and it wasn’t bad.  It made me think of my childhood when we would go to my aunts for Boxing Day and we always had a Black Forest Gateau for dessert.

Wednesday 27th December

Well after a 3 or 4 day hiatus the walking was back on this morning, although we did start a bit later and the sun had a bit of a sting in it so we walked a different route!  Since mum arrived I’ve only been having my breakfast shake (except for Chrissy Day when I had none) so this morning as well as my scoop of fibre I also added a scoop of greens balance into my breakfast shake – vanilla and a handful of frozen blackberries, very nice!

Thursday 28th December

A walk again, a herbal tea and a shake with both fibre and greens added.

Friday 29th December

Got a period last night, first one in absolutely months and today I woke up with cramps and swollen joints, hands, feet – definitely not walking!

I haven’t had the tea or any shakes instead hubby brought me a milo in bed and when I got up I had a cup of tea and some toast and marmalade.

Slowly feeling better but I’m just eating whatever today and will get back on track tomorrow.

Have to start planning my menus for Jan 1st onwards, but I don’t have the energy to do that right now, despite feeling so blah and even though my legs feel really heavy (typical for me during my period), I actually feel quite slim around my tummy area which is kinda strange, but very nice!

Saturday 30th December

Back on track – a walk followed by a brekkie shake and a herbal tea – the shake included both my fibre and greens balance as it’s probably going to be my only shake of the day.  I’m also planning on doing my meal plan for next week which will be the full 30 days to healthy living and beyond plan.

I can’t wait – my husband actually said this morning that he could see I was losing weight which was a big shot of confidence as I thought I could see the difference, but then you start wondering if it’s in your mind.

Photo session tomorrow for my 30 day before photos, it’ll be interesting to see the difference between this photo and my previous ones, weigh in and measurements too.  It’s funny but I feel like a kid counting down to Christmas it’s really exciting to be about to start the ‘proper’ journey!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my journal entries and if you want to see how I’m going then please go to –

My First 30 Day Plan to Healthy Living & Beyond – Week One

NOTE: The products mentioned are all available through Arbonne. I am an Arbonne Consultant so if you purchase through my shop – louannecox.arbonne.com I will be compensated (at NO cost to you). Message me through Facebook or Instagram with any questions

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10 thoughts on “My Pre-30 Days to Healthy Living Journey”

  1. You are a very brave soul starting any kind of diet, even a pre-diet during the holidays. Many of us tend to hide in our homes in January just trying to recover from the holidays. I wish you great success with your diet and look forward to hearing your results! Good luck!!!

    1. Thank you Cynthia, I’m not sure if I’m brave, I just decided that I was fed up with putting it off and I’m certainly feeling better for having taken action.

  2. I admire your being able to stick with the plan as well as you did during the holidays. My own December/January diet plan was called the flu, and I lost five pounds. I’ve gained three of them back now that I’m better and eating more normally again. Your plan is healthier. Can hardly wait to see your before and after when you’ve finished your plan.

    1. I’m glad you’re feeling better now Barb, it’s always horrible being sick, but I always think it’s worse when it’s the holidays too. I will definitely be posting photos at the end as I’m still in week 2, but people are really noticing the difference already.

  3. Wishing you much success with your new diet plan and regime, Lou. I, too, am looking forward to the ‘before & after’ photos. And I would imagine that keeping this journal is a good motivator for continuing on track throughout the length of the plan.

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