#FitTeaDetox

I don't know about you, but whenever I get back from a vacation, I seem to have mysteriously gained 5 or 6 pounds. I'm just so busy eating whatever I want, whenever I want, that I'm lucky if I bother to fit one or two workouts in during my time away. Plus, you know, I'm quite busy lying on the beach, or sitting at the beach, or eating at the beach...you know, lots of varied activities.  Ok, so I do a whole not of nothing on vacation. Mysterious vacation weight-gain solved.

So, naturally I was stoked when FitTea approached me to try their 14-day detox. It came at the perfect time; right after I got back from vacation and had a few of those I had lots of fun! pounds to shed.  Plus, their tag line is "Give us a few weeks and we'll give you a new waistline." They were speaking my language. Here's the low down. FitTea is an all-natural tea composed of organic green tea, oolong wu yi, rooibos, ginger, pomegranate, guarana, birch, stevia, corn (there are actual kernels in there!), and honey powder. It promises to boost the immune system, promote fat burning, aide in digestion, give you energy, and suppress appetite; plus it even has antioxidants and antimicrobial properties. I decided I could use all of the above, and thus began my two week #FitTeaDetox.

Here's what I did:

The instructions say to drink a cup of tea each morning or before a workout. It didn't clarify if the tea should be drunk with breakfast or alone, and since I am not one for whom a cup of tea constitutes a meal, I had the tea with my breakfast each morning. After eating whatever I wanted and not bothering to work it off for a couple weeks, I slowly got back into the habit of incorporating produce into my diet, and exercising most days.

Here are the results:  

When I had the tea alongside a simple breakfast of Grape Nuts with raisins and almond milk, I didn't get hungry again for over 3 hours. (Normally if I eat just one bowl of cereal I'm hungry after about 30 minutes). So, I would say it certainly worked as an appetite suppressant. My waistline, however, is inconclusive. By day four I was down 3 pounds and 1% body fat, which is the lowest it's been in years. But a few days later, I was back to my normal weight. Some days I weighed a pound more, some days less. But my body fat percentage went right back to what it normally is, and stayed around that number for the rest of the time.

Here are my thoughts:

As an appetite suppressant, this tea works. But as far as weight loss, my results are inconclusive. I can't say with certainty that the tea helped me to lose weight or any inches off my waistline. The tea has a slight lemony flavor that I personally didn't love - I just have a strange association between hot lemon anything and lemon flavored Theraflu, but my boyfriend tried some and he loved it.

If I enjoyed the flavor of the tea, I would certainly continue drinking it every single morning, for the simple fact that it helps me to feel fuller longer, and also, this stuff is healthy. I can only imagine that with continued use, I'd lose a few pounds in the long run, and I don't doubt that all of the antioxidants would strengthen my immune system. But sadly, Theraflu really did a number on my psyche, and now all things warm and lemony make me be like. If it didn't kick my colds' butts on a regular basis, I'd be pretty upset with its creators for giving it such an icky flavor*.  

*Just for clarification. FitTea doesn't taste like Theraflu...it's so much better and much less intense. It's just that I've had Theraflu so many times, it just makes me want to stick my tongue out whenever something that even reminds me of it is in my presence. But I'm sure you're a much more mature person than I.

Disclosure: I received compensation for my review of FitTea.  All opinions are 100% my own.  You know how I roll.

Taking Off

As much as I would love that little quote up there to be true, my bags are most definitely not packed, which means no, I am not ready to go. I'm all about waiting until the last minute, then throwing random articles of clothing into a suitcase while my boyfriend hovers and reminds me that it's definitely time to go and we'll most likely miss our flight if we don't leave. right. now.

 Yeah, it's kind of my thing.

We're heading to warmer pastures for a little bit, and the timing could hardly be better. It just got all cold and wintry up in this state.  And I have not one iota of sadness about missing it at all.

See you in a couple weeks!

Taking Off....

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By the time you read this, I'll be on a plane headed for Europe. The next couple of weeks will include visiting some of my favorite people on earth in Switzerland, a mini-road trip to Italy, and a short stay in Iceland (!!!) I'll be back in a little while to regale you with tales of mountain hiking in Switzerland, lounging on the beach and eating tons of delicious food in Italy, and (hopefully, so hopefully, fingers crossed, please please please) getting to see the Northern Lights in Iceland.

See you soon!

Buffalove.

You may remember me mentioning that I took a little trip to Buffalo over the July 4th weekend. And even though some may say that a vacation that happened almost a month ago is old news, I'm going to call balderdash and poppycock, and regale you with photos of it anyway.

We spent the day in downtown Buffalo at a 4th of July festival along the waterfront of the Erie Canal.

My sister & me in a Buffalo in Buffalo....trippy.

It didn't take us very long to find the beer tent.

There were free concerts all day long. We boogied pretty hard.

Colorful kites being flown higher than any kites we'd ever seen flown before.

 

Hanging out by the fire with family - always a good time...until one of your cousins flings his flaming marshmallow around instead of blowing on it and burns his own hand while at the very same moment striking unbridled terror in everyone nearby. (I'm looking at you, Darren).

We all guessed the sex of my cousin's soon-to-be-born baby, then found out the result by eating cupcakes filled with blue frosting.

We enjoy a good face melting blaze.

There were so many other family members and good times that I didn't take pictures of. Sometimes when you're having fun, you just don't think about picking up the camera. In fact, this was the motto of our weekend:

Word.

Going Somewhere...

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Pardon my absence for the next couple of weeks.  I'm down in Ft. Lauderdale learning to snorkel, soaking up some sunshine, and teaching myself how to dress for
warm weather again.

I hope you're enjoying spring wherever you are.

See you soon!
♥