Mama Wants Her Body Back Review - Company Founder Listens!

I'm so excited about a comment I got on an old blog post! Just thrilled! Lisa Druxman commented on my "Mama Wants Her Body Back Review" post! Do you know who that is? She's the woman who designed the diet and exercise program. She's the head of the company, this is her product! And she read my blog! Not only did she read what I wrote, but she took the time to type out a reply and muck through the secret word security thing to post the comment. I've been heard!

This is what she had to say:
I do hope you post this comment. This is Lisa Druxman, the founder of Mama Wants Her Body Back. Because you were part of a University Study, I cannot know if they gave you the actual program. But if they did, the real calories are much higher than that. The nutritionist's analysis was 1238 kcal/day for A choices, 1562 kcal/day for B choices and 2003 kcal/day for C choices. Since people will most likely eat a mixture of the choices, then their nutritional intake will fall somewhere between the A and the C (i.e. 1238 kcal/day to 2003 kcal/day). Our clients are having phenomenal results. My goal is to help moms get their bodies back but also to realize their unbelievable strength. I thank you for sharing this with your readers.

"Mama Wants Her Body Back" must be out on the market now because my blog has been hit hard with Google searchers looking for reviews on the product. There have been a few comments left behind, but not many at all compared to how many hits that one post has been getting. It has been hit multiple times a day for the last month or so.

I left out one important piece of information on my review that Lisa and other Google searchers who stumble upon my blog won't know from reading that single post. My usual audience of readers know me well, and so I don't mention it all the time. The fact is, I'm a breastfeeding mama. This made a huge difference in the way the diet worked, or rather didn't work, for me.

My baby is 20 months old now and I'm still nursing her every three to four hours, all day and night. At the time that I did the diet study, my baby was 13 months old. I didn't feel that the diet made any allowance for breastfeeding, especially since the people running the study never asked me if I was nursing. They asked a ton of other questions, but that was never one of them. And there wasn't any information in the materials provided that addressed breastfeeding. So, I was left to guess how to compensate for the extra calories I needed to maintain a milk supply. I am not a nutritionist nor am I a lactation consultant nor any other type of credentialed diet or lactation specialist. I'm just a 44 yr old breastfeeding mom carrying around too much weight around my middle. Breastfeeding doesn't bode well with dieting; however, breastfeeding and making healthy eating choices do go well together. I wouldn't say that eating a pan of brownies is a healthy choice. Guilty!

To those of you purchasing the program, best of luck to you and stay away from the brownies! I'll join you after I quit nursing and I can better focus on just me.

Diet and exercise aside, there's just something amazing knowing that my opinion was heard. My little nonsensical blog that I just write mostly for myself stood on top of the Google search engine and said "Hey!" My voice via blog post is resonating and Lisa Druxman listened! Amazing and Exciting!

Mama Wants Her Body Back

I volunteered to be a paid participant in a university study. APU is doing a product study on this diet and exercise program calle "Mama Wants Her Body Back". It's a 12 week study and all the participants have a food menu, keep a food journal, and have a schedule for doing the assigned exercises. There are a couple of DVDs and a stretchy tension rope provided too.

I made it almost two weeks. Then I called it quits. I'm done. Sure, I made a commitment, but I didn't know what I was getting into. It just isn't working for me and I don't need to continue for 10 more weeks to figure that out. They can take that result as proof that the diet needs improvement. At least for me!

The meal plan says it stresses portion control and healthy choices rather than calorie counting and skipping carbs. Well, that's all well and good, but... yup, here's the big but! But, I counted up the calories on my own. I know how to read labels! The diet was giving me fewer than 1000 calories per day.

I started to cheat because I can't do less than 1000 calories a day. I added in apples, green salad with vinaigrette, green beans, and things like that. Nothing that went against the spirit of the diet. And I brought my calorie intake up to 1200 per day.

One of the lunch choices, and I ate it every day because it is the best one, is one cup of diced tomatoes, white beans and cooked carrots heated into a soup. One of the dinner choices that I had was a 4oz piece of baked Salmon. Yipppee, 4 whole ounces of dinner. And it was fish, blech.

Still, I was feeling lightheaded, tired, crabby, dizzy and constantly HUNGRY! Gee, wonder why. The other day I started feeling like it was all just too hard and I felt kind of teary and emotional and that was the last straw. I'll be danged if I'm gonna shed tears over a stupid diet. So, I baked a pan of brownies and served myself up a big warm brownie the size of my head! I drizzled it with Kahlua chocolate sauce too. I boxed up the food journal, stretchy rope and dvds.

I did lose weight. At my first check in, they didn't tell me anything, but the next check in, I lost 4 pounds and a few cm from the measurements. I was all excited about the results, but seriously, anyone can lose weight fast if they go on a starvation diet. Those results aren't reflective of the diet, they are reflective of the super calorie reduction.

I think I lost 6 pounds total and I probably gained it back eating that pan of brownies and then having a piece of Libby's birthday cake. Oh well. I also ate a meal without guilt and it was nice! The recipes in the menu aren't very good and aren't worth sharing, so I'll spare you.

The diet is over. I am embracing my mama curves and have a new appreciation for my healthy lumpity lumps. Bring on the brownies!

Skipping Library Preschool Storytime

Like mother, like daughter. Skipping school at age 3! Wonder where she learned that!

Yesterday I took the girls with me to Azusa for my diet check-in. Azusa is 65 miles away on some of the busiest freeways in California. Which means we drove 15 miles and hour on some stretches, when we were moving along. To be fair, we hit 60 mph a few times too. Caught myself speeding along at the posted speed limit a couple of times closer to home!

It was a long drive there, and a boring checkup as far as the littles were concerned, followed by a long boring drive home. You know what happens when they are strapped down and riding in those big comfy carseats for long periods of time? They sleep!

This creates a domino sleep effect. Since they napped, and Gracie in particular since she doesn't normally nap, they couldn't fall asleep at bedtime. Or, anytime near bedtime. Not even close to bedtime! Sleeping all day does that to you.

Libby went down for the night around 11pm. Two hours later than her normal bedtime. Gracie, oh my goodness, the child could not sleep. She was still awake at 2am when I finally gave up and went to bed and left her laying in her bed in the dark, eyes wide open. But, she was laying still and being quiet. Good enough at that hour.

As soon as I got horizontal, Libby woke up. Have I ever mentioned that my babies don't sleep through the night? I don't make those kind of babies! Laid my head on the pillow again at 2:45. Libby woke up again at 4am. There's something about 4am that wakes the kidlets. I was hoping the 2am waking would get us through it, but no. Got back to bed at 4:30 with a little cuddle monster in the middle.

4:30 am and I've had just over an hour of sleep so far. *yawn*

6:00 comes around pretty quick. Hubby's alarm was going. He wasn't. Why he sets his alarm for 6am when he never gets up till almost 7am is beyond me. I smacked him a few times and went back to sleep. At 7ish, we were all up and outa bed. For some reason, I didn't feel like I was ready for the day. Gee, wonder why.

Oh, I know! The carseat naps!

I let Gracie sleep in till 9am today, but she wasn't in a great mood. In fact, her cute little toddler face was scowling at the morning sun. Library storytime is at 10:30 but by 10am, she just wasn't ready. I decided to skip running around sleep deprived with cranky kids. Messing up the sleep pattern gives everyone a short fuse and I don't think the librarian would appreciate us much, as amusing as we are when we are frumpy and frustrated and befuddled.

Let's just skip it and lay around in our jammies!

My Lovely Lady Lumps

I'm kissing my well-earned mama curves goodbye. Starting on Monday I will begin a diet and exercise program as part of a university weight loss study. It will have rules, strict diet guidelines, an exercise schedule, and accountability. I have to get weighed and measured a few times during the study, which lasts for 12 weeks.

As much as I hate to admit it, I've grown pudgy and soft around the middle. Actually, I like the extra weight in my face. I look a lot healthier than I ever did in my younger years. But, my muffin top has turned into a cake top!

I think my girth widened back when I was in my mid to late 30s and I had a cubicle job. Sitting in a cubicle day after day after day really changed my figure! Then in my 40s I had two babies. And the weight didn't just fall right off like it did in my 20s. Imagine that.

My husband took part in a weight loss study with this same University two or three years ago. That study was a two-week diet and exercise study and I participated unofficially alongside him. He lost ten pounds and I lost eight. Since then, we've added another little daughter and more fluff to my figure. But, I've proven to myself that I can follow a supervised plan and meet accountability expectations. I have my hopes up that I can do well on this study too.

Since I'm going to start dieting on Monday, I've got all weekend to eat the good stuff! I asked my husband to take me out to dinner this weekend and I'm really going to enjoy it! The whining begins in three short days!

Only 51 weeks to go

How was your first week of 2008? I got through it! only 51 more weeks to go.

My puker felt better for a day. Now she's got a cold and her tonsils are the size of Texas.

I started my diet. I only started it in my head though. So far its just been a mental diet as I work on "getting rid of the Christmas Candy".

My baby punched me in the nose yesterday. Oh the joys of motherhood! I now have a mark across the bridge of my nose. Looks like I was partying too much for New Years Eve! I really need to come up with a better battle story than "my baby socked it to me".

I've been busy this week buying and selling books on half.com. So far I sold four and bought five. I have a bunch of old books listed so I might be able to sell a few more before college starts. I have a few to buy yet too. Anyone want my Western Reader? I bought The Complete Works of Shakespeare - and I knew the minute it arrived! There was a very loud THUD at the front door. Since it didn't fit in the mailbox, the mailman dropped it at the door. As soon as I heard the THUD I hopped right up and squealed "Shakespeare!" My husband had the most bewildered look on his face. I haven't seen him look that confused and frightened at the same time for quite a while. I wonder what he was thinking?

I've also spent this first week of 2008 being a good granddaughter. I was appointed "Party Invitation Designer" and I've been doing my best to accommodate my 99 1/2 yr old granny's wishes for the perfect party invitation. So far, I've made 15 invitations. And she hasn't approved any of them. I'm going bald from pulling my hair out. I'm following all her instructions for layout and color. So I decided she doesn't know what she wants, I'll throw out some other creative options. She didn't like those at all. Back to the original design. Tweek. Tweek. Tweek. No. No. No. Seriously, I'm about ready to .... to.... ah, who am I kidding. I'll make another one.

I've been posting the invites on flikr and my sisters have been posting comments. One of my sisters thought she'd be "helpful" and help my Grandma pick one, so she posted mean negative comments under most of the invites. And a glowing positive comment under the one she liked best. Did I come unglued? Well, yes I did. So, I deleted her comments and told her not to be mean and negative. She responded with "I'm not trying to be negative. I'm just trying to get her to hate them". Are you saying "huh?" to yourself and scratching your head? Me too.

Here are a few of the designs. Some of these are kind of rough - such as one needed the sepia toned down and another one lacks the No Gifts phrase. But they were rejected so I didn't continue to polish them up. The photo of the town is real. And it hasn't changed much. The baby photo is her in 1908. Pretty cool!