VIVE Weight Loss at Elase

I am beyond excited to have been introduced to the VIVE weight loss program at Elase. I am just starting my 12th week and have lost 20.2 lbs (17.3 of that being body fat!). After losing 7.5 lbs the first week, I knew I needed to keep doing it).

 Me with 1 lb. of body fat. Add another 19 of those and that is what I have already lost after 12 weeks. 

 

While I know that shake replacements are not for everyone, I have found that for me, it is exactly what I needed. I love that the shakes take the aspect of food out of the picture for me. Me and food have obviously had a great relationship throughout the years but sometimes relationships aren't always good for us even if in the moment we really enjoy them. In this case, me and food needed a separation! That separation has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I see food in a different light. Instead of thinking about what I am craving or what I might want to eat, when I am hungry, I just grab a shake. For dinner, I always make a great salad and have a lean protein or fish with it.

I won't lie, the first week I wondered if I could really keep it up. It took a few shakes before I figured out how to make them the way I like them. By day 3 of having mainly shakes, I was really feeling like a ravenous beast. I felt like I could have eaten a horse. Granted, I didn't. I stuck to the approved veggies and even stooped as low as buying a can of pickles (sorry, pickle fans!). I needed the crunch and salt aspect of it after drinking shakes. I also started chewing Extra Dessert gum (the lemon bar is my favorite) to try to curb the sweet tooth that is always plaguing me.

The other thing that has really helped keep me on track is the InBody scan that I weigh in on every single week. Thinking of it as weighing in really doesn't do it justice! In fact, I am certain it should have some super-stealth, cool name. But, let's just call it George. It does indeed tell me my weight but also tells me my body fat, lean muscle mass, and water levels. It plays music for you while you stand there for your scan and it scans all of your limbs. When it is finished, it prints our your body composition analysis and you can see exactly what your week entailed. Nice and neat on one little sheet.

What is so great about the InBody scan is that it can totally make me feel better than just the scale can. For example, on one of my weeks where I knew I had done so good staying on track, I had only lost 1.5 lbs (which is still great but I was hoping for a bit more). But with the InBody scan, my VIVE coach was able to point out that while the scale only reflected 1.5 lbs, I had actually lost 3.5 lbs of fat that week and gained almost 2 lbs of muscle and some water. All of a sudden, I felt much better about that 1.5 lbs on the scale.

So each week, I meet with her and she does the scan, talks to me about my concerns and my progress that week and measures me. We talk about all sorts of things from how I am feeling, my slip-ups that week, ways to stay on track, things coming up the following week, etc. I love talking to Brittney. She is so nice yet keeps me on track and keeps me accountable in the areas that I might start to slack. I track everything in the binder she gave me including my meal tracking, scans and weekly lessons.

I am excited to be doing the VIVE program and I feel so much better than I have in a long time. I am looking forward to seeing where I am at after I finish the whole program. My husband's 40th birthday is in November and my goal is to lose 40 lbs. by then. 20.2 lbs down, 19.9 to go. This is going to be awesome!

Full disclosure: While I am privileged to work with Elase and they let me try the VIVE program for a week, I have chosen to continue it on my own. My opinions and results are all my own.