travelscams

How to Avoid Travel Scams

Posted On July 28, 2016 By admin In Blog /   No Comments

How would you like to take two people to Hawaii for 7 Days, 6 nights with round trip airfare for only $299.99?

That’s the advertisement on my FAX machine today.

No company name, just an 800 number.

They advertise a ton of other trips and places like Orlando or Miami Beach, Jamaica, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, New Orleans, San Antonio, Las Vegas, LA, New York City, Washington DC, 8 Days and 7 nights Cruise the Bahamas or the Caribbean, San Francisco or San Diego all with round trip airfare and some of them are only $199.98.

Then there’s four days and three nights and all-inclusive vacation resort in the Dominican Republic, Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica or Playa del Carmen. And to be honest with you this is the first one I’ve seen in a while that claims to include airfare.

Quoting from the ad:

This is a Monday only super sale freebie Monday’s wholesale pricing.

Let me tell you, if I thought for a second it would be legit, I’d be blasting the 800 number to you now. I’ve been recommending things to friends and family and readers and followers for years, whether I have an affiliate link for it or not.

I’ve been recommending things to friends and family and readers and followers for years, whether I have an affiliate link for it or not.

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An affiliate link means that if you buy I might get paid a referral fee for recommending it and you don’t pay anything extra. But like in my recent post about HCG, I don’t get paid anything I just recommend products that work and help people and that I really believe in.

Four years ago, I recommended something that turned out to be a scam, but the only person that took me up on it was my then husband. I’m always quick to admit when I’m wrong, but often I connect people with great bargains.

Unfortunately not only did I fall for a travel scam, but I also talked one of my friends into it so that we could go to Hawaii together.

While both of us lost $298 each and a ton of wasted time trying to get our money back, it also hurts my heart when something isn’t legitimate. So in an effort to protect you all from this kind of foolishness I want to describe what happened.

The flyer that I fell for also had no company name and was FAXed to my office.

It says:

For a limited time only, we are offering to all employees access to our company vacation packages at the promotional rate you save $3,000 per couple please review vacation details below Cancun, Cabo, Jamaica, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Cozumel or Mayan River duration 5 days and four nights with all meals included for only $99 per person.

You choose the dates. Packages are opened dated and valid for one full year.

Included in package 5 star resort guaranteed.

One year to use.

Corporate meal plan: All meals and drinks including five star dining & premium alcohol.

Children stay and eat for free.

Unlimited activities: Snorkeling, kayaking, windsurfing and all non-motorized water sports.

Free bonus: 4 days and three nights Orlando with Disney or Universal tickets and free car rental.

First hundred callers receive 60% off discounted airfare!

And then they give the phone number in a reservation code.

So the first problem when I called was that $99 a person obviously comes to less than $200 but they charged me $298 because I had to pay tax blah blah blah blah blah. I went round and round with them about what tax rate percentage they were charging and on what amount and never got a satisfactory answer. In terms of your state sales tax on $198 wouldn’t come to another 100 dollars. And I was told that when I booked the trip there would be another $99 per person booking fee, which wasn’t originally advertised.

Originally they were trying to talk me into $385 and I went round and round and round with them over what they were saying vs. what they were advertising.

Although the ad said 12 months the person on the phone insisted I had 18 months to use the package.

I made them put that in writing. This is critical for anything you ever buy, always get any changes in writing.

When my friend called the exact same phone number to book the trip for he and his wife, they got a company in Mexico and were charged in pesos. He didn’t tell me until after that was done but we both knew there was something odd about that.

When I called to book our trip to Hawaii, the first thing I was told was Hawaii isn’t all-inclusive only the locations out of the country. Well I had saved my flyer which shows that it was advertised as included.

It did me no good because the people I was talking to claim that they weren’t the company that sold it to me and that they were only the booking company. (Months later when I called the original sales phone number back, I got…the booking company as they were one and the same.)

When they sent me the list of hotel choices, they also sent the list of how to get the discounted air fare they had promised. Remember I told you where it said “first hundred callers receive 60% off discounted airfare!”? Well guess what, they sent me the links to Expedia and Orbitz to book my airfare at a discount.

Really?

Like a dog with a bone, I have continued to try to book that trip. I’ve had no luck whatsoever.

Like a dog with a bone, I have continued to try to book that trip. I’ve had no luck whatsoever.

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I was determined to get my all-inclusive so I asked for Costa Rica. I was sent an email for an incredible resort in Costa Rica but when I called to book that I was told I needed to pay an upgrade fee. How do you upgrade from all-inclusive 5 star resort? When they couldn’t get the upgrade fee, they actually had the nerve to try to book me into a $68 a night hotel in Costa Rica and tried to pass it off as a 4 star resort.

I asked to speak to a manager repeatedly for weeks and never once got a phone call back.

Let’s talk about some other scams.

Locally here in California I see people standing on the corner waving signs saying “Trip for two people airfare included $99 for Hawaii.”

That sounded good, so I went to a timeshare presentation with my boyfriend and for attending you’re supposed to get this trip. But then when you go to sign up for it you have to pay this fee and you have to pay that fee, and ultimately the trip is for 2 days to Waikiki for 2 people, well I thought I’d outsmart them and line it up with this other trip that I’ve been telling you about and just extend the return date. Well with this particular plan you cannot do that you have to come back on the date that they say.

So it’s not a scam, but who really wants to go to Hawaii for only 2 days?

From California it’s a 5 hour trip each way so any other part of the country would be further.

So that isn’t actually a scam but it’s not particularly practical either. They also gave us a trip to Vegas, but the voucher they handed me is for a hotel off the strip that I’ve stayed in before for only $25 a night so it wasn’t a particularly valuable gift. And they gave me $100 restaurant voucher for a company that I won’t even spell out to you because the voucher is so worthless I can’t register it online they’ve made it impossible to use it so it’s just no good whatsoever.

I will be leaving for Costa Rica in 2 weeks with airline tickets for two paid with my airline miles. I’ll be writing all about that trip and upcoming post. But I did not get that trip with the $298 voucher. I had actually bought it from another company and planned to book two trips back to back. I will be staying in two sister resorts that are incredible all-exclusive but I had to pay about $600 for 1 and $950 for the other.

So let’s start with a $600 one, it was advertised on Facebook as $399 Costa Rica several nights five star resort all-inclusive for 2 people. Reserve it now for $100 and pay the rest when you book. I often travel by myself but for that price I could afford to pay for two people and not use it or put up a notice on Facebook to my friends and say, “Hey I’ve got a great trip who wants to join me? It’s all inclusive just pay your own airfare.”

When I went to book that trip, they absolutely insisted that I could not go as one person even though I had paid for two. Turns out it was a timeshare presentation that I had to attend with another person. Nevermind the fact that I could afford to buy a Timeshare on my own if I chose to. I do hate deception, but not
only would they not allow me to go by myself or take a friend, it had to be a romantic partner.

So it just happens that my boyfriend had had his drivers license mailed to my office where I also have my drivers license mailed so I was able to “prove” that we are “cohabitating” even though we aren’t. He took two days off work to go on the trip even though he can’t stay for the full trip. I had to beg him to do it as it was the only way I was going to be able to use the vacation I had already paid for.

They also charge an additional $99 fee when you go to book that wasn’t originally disclosed. I haven’t had a vacation in so long and wanted to go to Costa Rica so bad that I went ahead and paid the extra money which is what I guess they are banking on. That’s how I also wound up spending $950 on the other trip, and not getting any of the $298 credited at all.

And unfortunately I waited so long to book that trip that I did not have the opportunity to contest it with my bank as a fraudulent charge which it was in the end since they never allowed me to
use it for what they had advertised.

So here are some tips for you to avoid travel scams:

#1. Make sure you know the name of the company that you’re working with.

#2. Look up the company’s Better Business Bureau ranking before you buy from them.

#3. Book the travel right away.

#4. If it turns out to be fraudulent, contest it with your bank.

I have reported both of the companies that were involved in the $298 scam to the Better Business Bureau, and neither company has
responded to the complaint.

For anyone following my very extended 21 day weight loss challenge, I will be suspending that until I get back from my trip as I’m not going to be on a diet at an all-inclusive resort and yes I expect that I’ll probably gain weight. But I can live with that.

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Why You Might Need a FitBit

Posted On July 21, 2016 By admin In Health /  

I looked into getting a Fitbit when they first came out but rejected the idea.

I had a series of happy accidents that happened over the last couple of weeks that led me back in that direction.

First, I met a woman at a conference who showed me hers, and showed me how she tracked her food with it and how easy it was and how she lost 18 pounds and that piqued my interest in it again.

Then, a week ago I walked into a Verizon store to talk about upgrading my phone, and they started throwing everything at me and the kitchen sink which included a Fitbit for free.

(My posts often can contain affiliate links to products or information that I believe will be useful to my readers.)

They have come along way since I first looked at them and even though I could have gotten the top of the line one for free, I picked an Alta.

It looked a little masculine to me at first which I wasn’t comfortable with, but I picked a cute little plum colored one and have been enjoying it all week.

I need to start out by telling you they are not a hundred percent accurate. But they do give you a very good
idea of all kinds of things. You can track how much water you are drinking. It tracks your sleep if you wear it
at night. It tracks your steps, and your calorie output. And you are able to input your food so that you can track how many calories you’re eating.

I do notice that even after it syncs you may have to click on a certain area before it actually updates it. It will tell you that you have no sleep logged when you really do and things like that but as soon as you click on it it will update.

But there is one very confusing feature where it tells you that you’re over budget on your food calories and that you have more calories to use. I find that very confusing, and apparently so do a lot of other people as we had to Google it for an explanation. Because the explanation is rather complicated I think I’ll let you research it for yourself to make a decision.

But overall I have been extremely happy with my new FitBit. I’ve lost 2.8 pounds in the last two weeks using the Fitbit and HCG diet.

What the Fitbit has helped me to understand is that at best I expend an average of 1,600 calories in a day.

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What the Fitbit has helped me to understand is that at best I expend an average of 1,600 calories in a day. And it’s also helped me to understand that I need to walk more in order to expend those 1,600 calories.

I already knew that I was very sedentary. But the FitBit has really helped me to understand why I can eat so little and not lose much weight.

I will confess that I did eat an entire 950 calorie pizza today which is completely off my diet, but it did taste good and I’m going dancing tonight so I will expend much more calories than I normally do and I will rack up at least 5,000 steps in 2 hours as opposed to my 3,000 steps in an entire day.

But I now understand that I can’t eat like I was and have to make better decisions for a lifelong change.

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But I now understand that I can’t eat like I was and have to make better decisions for a lifelong change. I see that If I want to lose 1 pound in a week, I need to eat 500 calories less than I expend every day. So it’s confusing when I eat say 750 calories less but GAIN weigh because I exercised more.

So some days I win some and some days I lose some.

Have you tried the FitBit? What are your thoughts?

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My Top Dieting & Weight Loss Fails

Posted On July 14, 2016 By admin In Blog, Health /   No Comments

Restaurants are training us to be an obese society, by serving double and triple portions of what a person should eat in a day in one meal.

If you go to a place like Disneyland where there are an abundance of people walking around it’s amazing how many of us are overweight.

Personally I’m looking for sustainable weight loss, because obesity leads to a tremendous number of health problems not the least of which are diabetes and heart issues.

I’m looking for sustainable weight loss, because obesity leads to a tremendous number of health issues.

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We have been talking about dieting the last couple of weeks, and next week I plan to talk about the Fitbit and update my weight loss progress the week after that.

(My posts often contain affiliate links to products or information that I believe will be useful to my readers.)

But this week I thought some of you newbies might want to see some of the dieting efforts that I have wasted money on that did not have long term results (some of them did not even have short term results!)

In no particular order–and keeping in mind that your personal results may differ from mine–here are my top dieting and weight loss fails:

NutriSystem

I have tried Nutrisystem which I consider to be very expensive and not the healthiest food choices.
You eat one pound of food per day. I did have some weight loss but do not feel the program is a good
choice expense, health, or long term weight loss-wise.

Sensa

I have tried Sensa which used to advertise and average of 30 pounds lost but I didn’t come anywhere close to that although it did work a little. You sprinkle it on your food so it’s easy to use and costs about $50-100/month.

Garcinia Cambogia

I have tried Garcinia Cambogia, which are natural weight loss pills.

Hypnosis

I also spent several hundred dollars on hypnosis for weight loss with no improvement.

21 Thin Down Pills

I also tried 21 Thin Down pills that promised 1 pound of weight loss per day and I got zero.

Diet and Exercise

I have tried diets with and without additional exercise. I have tried many gym memberships and did not get weight loss from them. You always get the lecture that you are gaining muscle and that muscle is heavier than fat.

(I’m pretty sure that one pound of fat, one pound of muscle, one pound of feathers, and one pound of lead all weight the same even though they may have different mass…)

But I will confess that I work at the computer all day and lead a pretty sedentary life except for the exercise I do in the morning and dancing when I can make the time.

Liposuction

I’ve spent several thousands of dollars on liposuction with mixed results. The first session resulted in some improvement on one side of my front. There were two incisions and one got infected and took months to heal. I would say I was 25% happy the look. The doctor realized he didn’t do a good job and repeated the procedure, with additional improvement but still less than perfect results. At this point I would say I was 50% happy. 

Oh, you should have seen me on the meds. The first procedure he didn’t give me anything for pain because I’m allergic to it so he gave me something to relax. The second procedure he gave me the pain meds even though I told the nurse I was allergic to them. Turns out she wanted me to have them so she could steal some from my purse during the procedure.

But the truly funny part of the story is apparently they got me pretty loopy as I went online the next day and bought $950 dollars’ worth of stuff. Someday I will blog about the full story, but it was bazaar to see the crazy
things coming in the mail for weeks afterward like leather corsets. I remember thinking, where was I planning to wear this, church or work?

So the doctor still realizing that he had not done a great job, and getting to charge me another $300 plus talk me into doing another area (which also needs to be redone) for another $1,800, did his third procedure on me. This time, I’m 90% happy. My stomach is really flat for the most part except at the top and two pouches. 

Here’s they thing they don’t tell you about liposuction and he failed to mention until after the 3rd time,
unless you start eating less, your body will start storing fat on another part of your body. So while I had
maybe 15 ounces of weight loss from the surgery, I look better, but have gained 10 pounds and my thighs
are starting to look like thunder thighs which was never a problem before and why I started the HCG diet
again.

Fat-Melting Radio Waves

Since my liposuction doctor still knew he had not done a great job and because one body can only take some many surgeries in one year, and because he needed a guinea pig for his new equipment, he offered me 6 free fat melting sessions.

He said the machine used radio waves. But he also called it “cooking chicken” so I wondered if they were micro waves. He promised it was safe and he promised results.

I did lose two pounds after one session but my belief is that it was just water weight from dehydration. I feel that if there was any true fat loss as he promised that I wouldn’t sill have the pouches.

Overall, I would not recommend that anyone spend money on the fat melting radio waves.

Overall, I would not recommend anyone spend money on fat melting radio waves.

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So with all of that said, I’m happy with my 8+ pound loss so far and am buying more HCG supplies and going to continue on restricted calories. And I have started using a Fitbit and will share about that next week.

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I don’t share any of this because I have a deep and burning need to let everyone see into my personal life, but rather to help you choose what may or may not be best for you and steer you clear of something that may just be a waste of money.

I’d love to know which dieting methods have and have not worked for you, please share in the comment box below!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Please consult a licensed medical professional before embarking on any new health regimen.

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21 Day Weight Loss Challenge: My Results!

Posted On July 7, 2016 By admin In Health /   No Comments

One of the reasons that I chose to go on this diet publicly is for the accountability.

If I blow it, I have to confess it to all of you…so here we go.

I will start slow and break it down.

I started on the 21 day HCG diet weighing 160.4 pounds.

And today is day 21 and I weigh 152.5 for a total weight loss of 7 pounds, 14.4 ounces.

That is of course nowhere near my goal of 20 pounds which may have been unrealistic to start with for the time range allotted.

But the nicest result so far is that my face is thinner and people are noticing the results.

A funny side note to this story is that my 111 pound Jockey boyfriend who is not on a diet has added more vegetables and water to his daily intake and has lost 4 pounds without trying!

Along the way, I did some testing to see what cheats I could share with you, and I did some emotional eating and sabotage.

My house was burglarized and that put me into the emotional eating stage for a couple of days. But with any diet, if you don’t make sustainable changes, you will only gain the weight back anyway.

(My posts often contain affiliate links to products or information that I believe will be useful to my readers.)

I previously shared that the HCG diet  is the only one that has ever worked for me before. I previously lost 19 pounds and kept it off for 7 years.

When I reread the instructions to the diet is says that menopausal women may need to repeat the diet.

So I’m raising my hand so say that I fall into that category.

At this point I’m determined to continue and you are going to think I’m crazy when you here the plan that I have devised to do that as inexpensively as possible since I have already invested $199 so far plus $80 worth of steak.

But before I tell you about that let’s look at some of the numbers.

The HCG diet restricts you to taking a hormone, eating a very limited 8 portions of protein, carbs, fruits and vegetables. Your caloric intake is 500 calories per day which is VERY small.

The HCG diet restricts you to taking a hormone and eating only 500 calories/day.

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On this diet an average person can lose almost 1 pound per day.

To put that into perspective, you can also lose one pound per day by fasting, which is eating NOTHING as long as you do it for several days in a row. My first fast was 9 days and my record was 21 days but I did them both for spiritual purposes not weight loss.

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I have recorded my data below so that we can all see what worked and what didn’t.

My Weight Loss Log

6-11-16: 160.4 pounds. I had pre-loaded my system by taking the HCG for the prior 3 days and started the diet portion on this day. Please note that the time of the day you weigh yourself can change your results. I always recommend the a.m. when you are the most dehydrated.

Breakfast: First I put 3 oz of steak on to cook with a little seasoning while I prepared everything else.

I also fill 4 22 oz. BPA free bottles with alkaline ionized water to drink throughout the day.

I made a juice/shake in my Nutra Bullet large container using the following: Peeled orange, celery, fresh basil leaves, fresh spinach, Zeal and alkaline ionized water from my Chanson water ionizer.

Please note that some days I put an orange, other days a whole apple including seeds and peel and other days I put in strawberries as my fruit. From here out, I will refer to this basic recipe as “Juice.”

I drink about 16 ounces of the juice/shake and put the other half in my bag to take to work for lunch. I just put the lid on the Nutra Bullet container and take it with me. I throw the 3 oz. of cooked steak into a zip lock bag and take it with me with the 4 bottles of water, juice for my lunch a few hours later.

It’s very important to stay hydrated and we are not looking for water weight loss but fat loss.

My entire breakfast ritual takes me 10-15 minutes including drinking the juice.

Lunch/Snack: Eat the steak, and later as a snack drink the juice. 5 wheat thins can be consumed as a snack as well twice a day and I found that very helpful but as you look at my results as me move along, I found that my weight loss was better without them even though they only added 40 calories.

Dinner: 3 oz. steak, salad consisting of spinach with Mother’s Vinegar and tomatoes and sprinkled dry basil and 5 fresh organic strawberries for dessert.

The above was my diet for most days and most of the time I was not hungry. There were two days where I was hungry and two days when I was weak.

I will list what I ate each day along with that days results but if it was exactly as above, I will refer to it as “basic” since this is my basic meal plan every day. If I cheated it was usually by adding 2 extra strawberries or 2 extra oz of meat.

Please note that each days food relates to what I ate the day before. I write it down in the morning related to the prior day.

6-12-16: 159.3 pounds. Basic food intake from above, 1 pound 1 oz loss off to a great start.

6-13-16: 158.4 pounds. Basic. 15 oz. loss, very happy camper.

6-14-16: 158.2 pounds. Only 2 oz. lost, Basic food, no cheating, even went for a walk. Grrrr not happy with the

results.

6-15-16: 157.9 pounds. Basic can u do the math here, I can’t figure it out.

6-16-16: 156.9 pounds. Basic food, exactly 1 pound of weight loss, YAY! I was still eating the wheat thins twice a day at this point as part of the “basic” diet.

6-17-16: 156.6 pounds. Only two ounces lost. I ate the basic but substituted mushrooms as my vegetable instead of the salad and I got greedy and had an extra serving of the mushrooms.

6-18-16: 156.8 pounds. Up 2 oz. even though I stayed strictly to the basic diet. Not too happy.

6-19-16 156.1 pounds. Down only 7 oz. even though I stayed strictly to the basic diet except I stopped eating the Wheat Thins so all future references to basic exclude the Wheat Thins unless they are noted. Not too happy about it.

6-20- 16: 155.5 pounds. Went a bit off the rails this day. Used 3 apples in my juice. Ate 2 3oz. portions of steak which is part of basic, had my spinach salad but also had one bite of hamburger meat and 1 slice of cheese.

6-21-16: 154.7 pounds. Basic, but I stuck a piece of Manchango goat cheese on top of my steak. (It was tiny and the diet allows for 1 spoon of creamer 1 time per day which I’m not doing so I wanted to test the little cheat.)

6-22-16: 154.2 pounds. Down 5 oz. Grr. Basic + 2 oz extra steak + more Manchango goat cheese on top of my steak.

6-23-16: 155.2 pounds. UP 1 POUND! My house was burglarized and I went off the rails with food and emotional eating this day and the next couple of days. Juice, 3 oz steak, 6 oz chicken with cream sauce, 2 Taco Supremes, and 2 desserts.

6-24-16: 155.9 pounds. UP 7 oz. Juice, 3 oz steak, 6 wheat thins, (2 cheese crackers, 2 cheese stuffed dates at a

reception) 8 oz chicken with cream sauce, garlic BREAD.

6-25-16: 154.7 pounds. Down 1 pound. 2 oz juice, 3 oz steak, strawberry, 5 wheat thins, spinach, strawberries, and

3 oz Chicken w/chipotle cream.

6-26-16: 154.7 pounds. No movement on weight. Ate basic but had 16 ounces of steak instead of 6 and had cheese on top of all 16 ounces.

At this point it’s very clear to me that I’m not going to make my goal in the 21 days. Every day that I cheat, I’m wasting money because I spent $199 on the weight loss drops that I’m consuming every morning. So now I’m going to let you in on the crazy plot that I hatched.

But before I do, I will tell you that I’m not called The Penny Pinching Princess for nothing.

Clearly I need to extend the diet. So I could spend another $199, or as I decided, I could use the really old HCG that I still have on hand. HCG is known for being a little unstable and not necessarily lasting that long and this stuff I have on had is OLD. And it’s injectable rather than drops.

You cannot get syringes without a prescription but I had some–or so I thought–for a B-12 prescription that I had gotten but never used.

So I decided that since I don’t know if the old HCG is any good, I would take the drops in the morning instead of 3 times per day, and take the shot in the afternoon so that at least some HCG would be in my system.

When I went to administer the shot, I found that the doctor had prescribed me syringes without needles! That’s beyond crazy. So I had 3 old pre filled syringes and I’m reusing them. I know, I know, I’m not supposed to do that. But I’m not sharing them with anyone so I’m convinced it won’t kill me.

6-27-16: 153.6 pounds. Down 1 pound, 1 ounce. Looks like the shot worked and maybe even better than the drops. Humm. Ate basic with the following exceptions added 5 wheat thins, 2 extra oz. of steak and tiny cheese.

6-28-16: 152.7 pounds. Down 15 ounces. Still very happy. Basic + 3 extra ounces of steak+ tiny cheese. My theory is that if I eat a little extra protein once in a while, my body won’t think it’s in starvation mode.

6-29-16: 153.2 UP. Hmmm. Not happy. Juice, 5 wheat thins, 8 oz steak, spinach, strawberries, 2 bites of cheese, 1 bite mac and cheese and I used hair conditioner.

6-30-16: 153.8 pounds. Up 6 ounces. I ate 1,000 calories instead of 500 which included the basic, plus extra chicken and 5 tiny chocolate covered figs that were 100 calories.

7-1-16: 152.5 pounds. Down 1 pound, 3 ounces. Juice, 3 oz steak, 3 oz chicken. 500 calorie salad, 100 calorie candy chocolate bar.

It’s very important to remember that you should not try this diet without also taking the HCG since you want to lose fat not muscle.

If you try the HCG diet without taking the hormone you will lose muscle instead of fat.

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On the HCG diet, you use NO skin or face creams and you are not supposed to use hair conditioner. The goal is to add no fat to your body as you want to burn fat not muscle.

Here are two areas where I may have affected the results of my diet: I did use hair conditioner every 3 days. And I use lip balm about 100 times a day every day compulsively.

I am going to continue the diet as long as my supply of HCG lasts or until I reach my goal weight and will update you on my progress when I am finished.

DISCLAIMER:
I am not a doctor, please consult a licensed medical professional before embarking on any new health regimen.

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Exercise is Free Medicine

Posted On June 30, 2016 By admin In Health /   No Comments

 

Why I Changed My Attitude Towards Exercise

I was just touching my toes while I was waiting for some water to warm on the stove, when I remembered something that a friend of mine told me.

Exercise is free medicine

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“Exercise is free medicine,” Colleen had said. Colleen is 84 years old and while she’s only three years younger than my grandmother and they both share the same type of blindness–macular degeneration, which renders them legally blind but with some peripheral vision–the differences between them are stark.
One of them gave up on life and confined herself to a chair almost 50 years ago, is overweight, and requires a caregiver while the other is the most active senior I’ve ever seen.
Despite being legally blind, she takes the bus and goes to the senior center and the Braille Institute and takes all kinds of classes, including cooking and dancing classes. Colleen takes several vacations a year including annual trips to Hawaii and to Graceland to visit Elvis.
I have always hated exercise, and avoided it like the plague. Doctors always wrote me excuses to get out of physical education in junior high and high school.
But as I have crossed over into middle age as a single woman, I’ve begun to see the value of exercise more and more. Physical exercise also helps our mental health by creating endorphins.
Personally I like low impact exercise, like walking or bouncing on a rebounder. Dancing has become my joy and I can easily get 4-10 hours a week of exercise doing that. I also started doing a few girly push-ups (from the knees rather than the toes) to build my arms and it gets easier as I go along.
When we are younger we don’t think about our old age, and while I still consider myself far off from old age and retirement, I plan to go into it fully prepared for the best health that I can possibly drag along with me.
I’ve been drinking alkaline ionized water from a water ionizer for about 10 years now. I’ve seen it do remarkable things for my health, and I hear other people tell of the amazing benefits.
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I would have never thought that changing the water I drank could make such a change in my life but it has. And people even think that I’m much younger than I am.
I’ve even added more fruits and vegetables into my diet which is something that I would have never thought possible as I didn’t really like them.
The women in my family live well into their nineties, so I fully expect to live to be ninety eight, but my plan is to be healthy.
So I will utilize Colleen’s advice that exercise is free medicine and do more today than I did in my twenties and thirties.
How about you?

DISCLAIMER:
I am not a doctor, please consult a licensed medical professional before embarking on any new health regimen.

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weight loss challenge

21 Day Weight Loss Challenge

Posted On June 23, 2016 By admin In Health /   No Comments

Hi everybody, I’d like to invite you to come along with me on a weight loss challenge. I saw a picture of myself right after my birthday and honestly it was my arm I wasn’t happy with, and so I’m back on another diet.

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If you have read my blog for a little while you know that I always try to practice eating pretty healthy, although I have no problems working in desserts once in a while.

I had actually lost 10 pounds between Christmas and February by cutting sugar and carbs and the turned right around and gained it back.

Who wants to do that?

But I have been working crazy hours to get great content out to you all and my weight went back up.

I don’t know which age category you’re in, but weight loss for menopausal women is more difficult.

But not impossible!

Weight loss is more difficult for menopausal women, but not impossible!

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I talk about multiple dieting options in my Princess Power program, but the one that I’m going to be using for this challenge is the HCG Max diet.

It costs $199.

But for me, is the most effective diet I’ve ever been on. It was my video editor that reminded me about HCG Max and said he thought I should do that one again.

When you have a lot of stress in your life your body gives off a hormone called cortisol and cortisol is a cause for weight gain.

My former husband had been a bodybuilder for many years and considered himself a weight loss expert, but everything that he suggested I try didn’t work.

Weight loss for men and women is extremely different–it’s much easier for men to lose weight than for women.

Way back in 2008 when I was opening Chanson Water I was putting in crazy hours and eating out a lot. I knew I had put on weight just by the triple rolls in my stomach when I sat down.

Here’s a picture of me when we had the grand opening for our office. I was looking pretty stout and the scale was kissing 169 on that day–the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life.

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So I used the HCG diet at that time, and successfully lost 19 pounds very easily and kept them off for years.

Back then, I had to order HCG outside of the country and had to inject myself with it. I’m so grateful that I found HCG Max which is just drops that I put under my tongue. Both diets share the same diet plan.

You can’t put any lotion on your skin or creams on your face which I personally have never heard any other diet talk about.

And both diets have a very restrictive types of food that you can eat.

And realistically you’re only eating about 500 calories a day… I can hear the screams right now as you read this… the groans…the cries.

I know it doesn’t sound like much but it can be quite satisfying.

You eat about 3 ounces of protein twice a day–that could be chicken or a very lean steak, or white fish or turkey. I always choose steak.

You also have fruits and vegetables, and even carbs twice a day, but they are very restricted. And the types of vegetables and fruits are also very carefully restricted for your benefit.

And whatever you do please don’t try to follow that little tiny diet I just told you about without the HCG Max, it won’t work, you will be hungry and you will lose muscle.

The HCG Max is the straw that stirs the drink. Whether your male or female, it basically tricks your body into thinking you’re pregnant and don’t ask me why, but that helps you to lose weight and it helps you to tolerate the restricted calories without being hungry.

Basically you load your body with the HCG for 3 days and on the third day you start the diet. The first two days you’re just putting the drops under your tongue 3 times a day. If you follow this diet to a T, you can expect to lose about a pound a day.

Although there may be days that you don’t lose especially if you’ve cheated, or touched creams.

Yesterday was my third day, and so that was the day that I actually started on the restrictive calories but my problem is that I actually made an appointment for a massage weeks ago and I have to go follow through that with that today because I forgot to cancel. So when they give you a massage they put cream on your back therefore I may not lose weight today which is disappointing but it’s my own mistake.

When you are dieting always weigh yourself in the morning and always weigh without clothes. If you weigh at different times of the day you will get different results because you will have taken in different amounts of water or food.

When you are dieting always weigh yourself in the morning and always weigh without clothes.

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When you’re on this diet, you can eat as many as eight times a day or just spreading your food out. So interesting enough, I eat the exact same thing that I do every morning by using one piece of fruit, a handful of spinach and I also used some celery and some basil leaves because I happen to really love basil leaves but they’re not necessary in my smoothie along with Chanson Alkaline Ionized water and a scoop of Zeal.

Yesterday the piece of fruit I chose was an orange, and in the past for many years I didn’t put any fruit unless it was maybe strawberries or blueberries in my smoothie because the real ideas to get more vegetables in your diet. So I find a great deal of irony in the fact that I could do the same thing that I’ve been doing at least for breakfast and lunch and lose weight.

What I do is I mix one large smoothie in my NutriBullet and in general it can be any combination of fruits and vegetables and for this diet it’s slightly restricted to things like apples and strawberries and oranges and specific vegetables.

I drink half of the smoothie for breakfast, and the other half for lunch. With this diet I also eat an extra three ounces of steak for lunch and another 3 ounces for dinner.

To my 3-ounce steak dinner last night I also had 5 strawberries, a bowl full of spinach with some cherry tomatoes on top and I had used Bragg’s organic apple cider vinegar as a dressing.

Because of the HCG Max, I felt full and satisfied.

Now one of the challenges that I have and I know that those of you that are in a relationship may have, is that you have other members of your family to feed and that may create temptation.

My boyfriend is a jockey who weighs 111 pounds, and his problem in life is losing weight too easily and having a hard time getting it back on. He needs to sometimes reach 117 or 120 pounds including his clothes, boots and saddle to ride in a specific race.

So obviously when he’s having dinner with me I have to take his dietary needs into consideration as you will with your family members.

If you’ve read my post about creating intimacy at dinner time, you know that when my jockey and I have dinner together we eat off the same plate and feed each other.

So the new challenge I have is to explain to him that this little piece is my steak and everything else is yours and we’re sharing the salad and here’s extra strawberries for you.

So far so good.

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I haven’t been under a hundred and fifty pounds for more than half a second for at least 8 years. Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could push this puppy to 140 lbs by the end of the 21 Day Challenge knowing that I would probably gain back 5 not long after the end of the diet?

The fun thing here is you guys are now officially my accountability partners.

So you can follow up and ask me at the end of the 21 days of my thighs are still rubbing together. Or you can come back and read my update posts.

If you’re interested in following the HCG diet or any other diet and would like an accountability partner, you’re welcome to comment below and keep me updated on your progress.

P.S. It’s been 6 days since I started and have lost 3 pounds 14 ounces so far. Clearly I’m not going to hit the 1 pound per day mark, but I’m still pleased with the results and I have only been hungry one day.

DISCLAIMER:
I am not a doctor, please consult a licensed medical professional before embarking on any new health regimen.

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Guilt-Free Skinny Chocolate Recipe

Posted On June 16, 2016 By admin In recipes, Uncategorized /   No Comments

Okay I admit it: I ate 3/4 of the bowl (over a 10-day period)

I have just made the greatest discovery known to womankind: Chocolate.

Now, I know that most of us know how delicious chocolate is and have a passionate love affair with it.

Psychologists have even been known to prescribe chocolate for depression.

Psychologists have even been known to prescribe chocolate for depression.

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But how would you like to be able to make your own guilt-free skinny chocolate in minutes and not have to worry about gaining weight (in fact, you might even lose weight!)

I’m going to give you two recipes below.

But first I’m going to tell you why I chose MOCAFE Azteca D’Oro 1519 Mexican Spiced Ground Chocolate.

First of all, it’s spiced and tastes like Mexican chocolate which I looove.

Second, I bought 25 pounds of it since it was a bargain and I didn’t realize it was powdered so I have a lot to use up. (I thought it was Mexican chocolate and was going to use it to garnish a wedding cake–whoops!)

Since I had 25 pounds of it, I’ve been depleting it one day and one scoop at a time out of sheer mental obligation and taste bud delight by having a cup of hot chocolate per day.

Imagine my aggravation when my faithfulness was rewarded with… weight gain! Grrrrrr.

And so I created the following recipe, and now instead of consuming one scoop per day, I’m enjoying 2 scoops every ten days and getting the same flavor as if I were downing more calories, so my waistline has benefited.

My Skinny Chocolate recipe can be used one spoon at a time into a cup of warm milk giving you the wonderful flavor without the excessive sugar which spikes your bodies glyscemic response.

Or you can eat it by the loving spoonful without regret because it’s mostly made from coconut oil which is known to be great for your skin, health, and even weight loss!

(A fitness instructor told my daughter that she eats spoonfuls of coconut oil topped with chocolate chips as a treat!)

The best part? It only takes 2 minutes to make.

And it’s Gluten free, Vegan, and Paleo!

My Skinny Chocolate Recipe

Ingredients:

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a bowl and stir together. Refrigerate and enjoy.

Alternate Recipe

If you don’t have the above ingredients you can try the following:

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup coconut oil
  • 2 tsp dark cocoa powder
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 1 pinch salt
  • ¼ tsp Vanilla extract

Directions:

Stir together in a bowl and refrigerate to thicken.

Regardless of which recipe you try, you can eat it by itself straight from the bowl, or spoon it into warm milk, or pipe it into some cute little chocolate drops, or add nuts and cut it into fudge.

But no matter, how you cut it, you can’t beat the taste!

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My Top 8 Anti-Aging Secrets

Posted On June 9, 2016 By admin In Beauty /   2 Comments

“Nature gives you the face you have at twenty. Life shapes the face you have at thirty. But at fifty you get the face you deserve.”–Coco Chanel

Today is my 54th birthday, and some people think I’m still in my 30s.

I got the nicest compliments from early birthday well-wishers.

I had told a lady that I had a granddaughter that was turning 16 this year and she promptly asked me if I was a time traveler.

Of course that thrills my heart.

And some guy described meeting me as magical, saying that I was mystical and angelic, which feels good.

I do know that I look a little younger than my age, and would like to share some of my anti-aging secrets with you in honor of my birthday.

 

#1. Eat and Drink Alkaline

We’ve all heard the saying, “You are what you eat.”

But did you know that most foods and drinks–even many bottled waters–can actually age you?

The late great Sang Whang explains why acid buildup is the actual cause of aging and alkaline ionized water is the fountain of youth in his book Reverse Aging.

Alkalizing foods and alkaline ionized water have an antioxidant effect on your body and oxidants cause aging, while antioxidants suppress aging.

The alkaline water that’s available in bottles in the grocery store is not the same as what you would get from an electric water ionizer, neither is the water that you would get from a non-electric mineral water ionizer.

The electric water ionizers create ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) which is the measurement of how much antioxidant value the water has. You will not get that with the other copycat waters. You will only be getting an alkaline pH, which is only part of the value that the water brings.

I’ve been drinking alkaline ionized water from an electric water ionizer for 10 years. While this is not an affiliate link, I do own the company. I’ve been importing this brand for over 8 years, because of the effects that I had after drinking it.

In addition to making me look and feel younger, I attribute this antioxidant-like water to removing the pain I had from a 20+ year knee injury, as well as allowing me to reduce my eyeglass prescription twice in four years.

If you invest in a water ionizer young, you will enjoy the benefits for decades to come. Not only in your skin, but in financial savings and in your health.

If you invest in a water ionizer young, you will enjoy the benefits for decades to come.

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No matter what age you are if you follow these tips you will look years younger 5, 10 and twenty years from now than you would if you did not follow these steps.

Your peers will all want to know why you look so much younger than they do.

#2. Don’t Sleep With Makeup On

Always remove your makeup before going to bed. Never sleep with makeup on. It will clog your pores and make your pores larger. Smaller pores make your skin appear younger, fresher and tighter.

#3. Don’t Forget the Skin Toner

Always use skin toner after removing your makeup. My favorite is Chanson SkinBalance, but you can make your own if you have a water ionizer. It is a wonderful anti-aging product. I love how it tightens my skin and helps reduce fine lines. The Japanese call this “beauty water,” and let’s face it, those women tend to age gracefully.

#4. Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize

Start moisturizing now even if you’re in your 20s. As we get older our cells begin to shrink due to a loss of water. I talk about my favorite skin care products for acne-prone dry skin here.

#5. Change your Pillowcase Often

Sebum from your hair will build up on the pillow case, and will embed in your pores if you are a side or face sleeper. So changing your pillowcase often is a simple anti-aging tip.

#6. Sleep on Your Back

If you sleep on your side or face down you have to be very careful not press the sides of your face too hard into the pillow because it can create wrinkles.

In fact, the wrinkles on the sides of the eyes called “crows feet” are often not from smiling, but actually due to sleeping in positions other than your back.

You’ll also wind up with wrinkles on your chest as you get older from sleeping on your side or stomach.

There are special anti-aging pillows and chest patches you can place on your decolletage area that I use to prevent wrinkles and sleep comfortably.

#7. Don’t Smoke

I never smoked, but smoking is a common source of wrinkles around the mouth, and also severely dehydrates and ages you.

I never smoked, but smoking is a common source of wrinkles around the mouth.

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#8. Don’t Drink With a Straw

Most people don’t realize that drinking out of a straw will create the same affect as smoking when it comes to wrinkles! So sip pretty instead.

As I celebrate my 54th birthday, my wish is that I empower you to be, do, and have more than you ever thought possible, while looking and feeling great!

Check out Fabulous and Fun Life for more tips on looking young and beautiful.

Be sure to sign up below for my free 7 day video series for more great Princess Power tips!

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Establishing Traditions: Why My Partner and I Eat off the Same Plate

Posted On May 24, 2016 By admin In Blog, relationship /  2 No Comments

Establishing rituals in your relationship or in your family can become beautiful traditions that carry on.

After our first couple of dates where we sat across from each other in a restaurant, my boyfriend and I began to sit next to each other. We just enjoyed it that way.

One day we were in a restaurant and an older man came up to us and begin to praise my boyfriend. I guess because we weren’t wearing wedding rings the man instinctively knew that we were dating, and he praised my boyfriend for sitting next to me. He said that if he wanted to keep me, he needed to continue doing that for the rest of his life.

We have another tradition that I think is not only romantic, but brilliant.

It came about in an unusual way.

We both lost our mothers when we were 12, and neither of us had been raised directly by our parents (we had both been sent to live with relatives–me at age four and a half and him at age five).

I had asked him one day what things he remembered about his mother.

He thought long and hard and then responded that she always prayed before dinner, and that she and his father ate off of one plate with one set of silverware.

We have no idea what their reason for doing this was–it may have been as simple as not having enough plates and silverware because they had many children.

He thought long and hard and then responded that she always prayed before dinner.

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But I thought about it and came back to him the next day with some thoughts.

While I really love God, I was never raised with the habit or tradition of praying before my meal. I know a lot of people do it and a lot of others don’t. But I suggested that we adopt that into our relationship. It’s another level of gratitude and I can see the wisdom of that.

Additionally, whenever he came to my house for dinner, I began to serve him the meal on one plate. Unlike his parents we use two sets of silverware but one knife.

So the tradition has grown into me praying before the meal, and him cutting the food and us feeding each other.

I think it’s romantic but let me assure the deeper wisdom here. Like most of you we lead very busy lives and have many things going on in our brains. It’s a nice way to sit down and focus on each other.

I know that you’ve seen families in a restaurant sitting across from each other and not even talking.

Picture your family, what was your dinner like last night?

I know that when we begin to have children the children need our time and attention, but do you realize that your husband often feels left out?

When the children are grown and gone, it’ll just be the two of you. So having and maintaining a beautiful relationship now will give you a strong foundation to stand on later.

Something as simple is adopting this romantic way of focusing on your husband in between giving the baby bites of food may be a way to strengthen your relationship.

I can tell you that when we’re eating that way in a restaurant people often look at us in envious ways.

When we’re having a dinner party I will admit that it makes some people feel uncomfortable because they don’t understand it.

But when I explain the tradition people are always blown away and seem to have their opinions reversed.

Having and maintaining a beautiful relationship now will give you a strong foundation to stand on later.

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People are different, and your spouse may not be comfortable with something like that, but what traditions or rituals can you add to your relationship to strengthen it?

Can you fall asleep holding hands or each other? Can you go for a walk after dinner?

Let me know in the comment box below some of the traditions that you have or would like to start.

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