When I started my Health Fitness Beauty Quest in early September, I wasn’t quite sure what I would discover. I was pretty sure whatever it was I would be more knowledgable and healthier. What exactly that would be had yet to be found. Well, here I am on December 10th and I have had many AHA! moments as well as some, Hmmm….interesting moments.
In this post, I will share those moments as it relates to taking the USANA nutritional supplements provided to me by Penny Muckelroy who is an Independent Distributor for the company. Penny gave me a bag full of nutritional items she felt I would need in order to move in a positive direction. The goal was to improve my nutritional health on a cellular level. Penny explained to me that if each individual cell was healthy, then my entire body would be healthy. Sounds simple enough. In order to do that I needed to take a handful of supplements twice a day. These were given to me in AM and PM packs. As in, take this handful of pills in the morning and this second handful of pills in the evening. Seemed like overkill to me, but I was on the quest and listening to my advisors and following their instructions towards better health was the entire point.
The Ride
So for a few weeks I took them and other than fluorescent bathroom breaks, nothing seemed to change. At least that was what I thought. About 3-4 weeks into the AM/PM packs, I went for one of my weekly bike rides with my bike group. We went for a normal weekday ride of 18 miles. No big deal, right? Well, actually it was a big deal. About 1/3 of the way I noticed I didn’t feel tired. Then at the halfway mark I still didn’t feel tired. Then we finished the 18 miles and I felt like I could have ridden 18 miles more. What was going on? Then it hit me. The only big thing I had changed was in adding the AM/PM packs to my day.
I thought about all those rides and bike tours I had done in the past (20-54 miles) where I had always felt the fatigue during the ride and pushed myself to complete the tours. All this time I thought that the fatigue was part of the ride. Little did I know I was pushing my cells to do so much on what apparently was an empty gas tank. When I started taking the AM/PM packs my cells began receiving the nutrition they were missing. They charged themselves up and then I really felt what it was like to ride at full power. What a difference!
A Glance In The Mirror
At about two months into taking the AM/PM packs I noticed something else entirely. I was fresh out of the shower, going from robe to my clothes for the day when I happened to glance at my full-length mirror. I was so surprised by what I saw…or should I say what I didn’t see that I stopped for a closer look. I am a 44 year old woman who has a couple of kids under her belt and has lived a bit on the frivolous side of life. So I am sure it is no surprise that I have cellulite and stretch marks on my body. What caused me to stop and stare at myself was what appeared to be smooth skin in places that hadn’t seen smooth skin in years. I went closer to the mirror and I could see the stretch marks, but they were very faint and my skin felt smooth and soft to the touch. I was amazed. Am I saying that if you take the AM/PM packs that this will happen to you? No. I have no idea what will happen to you. I am merely sharing what I am noticing is happening to me.
Shiny and Thick
It is no secret that as we ladies get older hair dye becomes an important part of our beauty routine. Hair dye is not the kindest thing we can do to our hair. In my case, it exasperated things by drying out my hair. So, I now had dry thin hair that on good days I could manage with lots of deep conditioners, leave-in treatments, mousse and hairspray. On bad days my hair resembled a dry haystack. So, in the third month I was surprised to discover that my hair which has always been fine and in recent years thinning felt thicker to the touch. It also looked shiny. I mean healthy shiny. It was actually bouncy and soft to the touch. When the heck did this happen?!
My Thoughts
When I started taking the AM/PM packs, I had no idea that where I would see the biggest difference would be in the challenging areas of my body. My hair had become more and more of a problem the older I have gotten. I had long ago written off the stretch marks and cellulite as just part of getting older. I thought the energy levels I was experiencing when cycling were what they should be and had no idea how much I was missing.
I cannot say that anyone reading this will experience what I have in just the few short months of my Health Fitness Beauty Quest. In my opinion I am still in the infancy of what I will learn and experience as I move forward. What I can say is that I have found a whole lot of positive benefits to taking the USANA AM/PM nutritional supplement packs on a daily basis.
In the beginning I took the AM/PM packs with little expectation. Now I look forward to taking them. I wonder what the next AHA! moment will be and can’t wait to see how my body will improve as I nourish it on the cellular level. I now am beginning to understand what Penny meant when she explained the importance of doing so back in September. I am so much wiser now than I was then.
I do appreciate all of your encouragement here on the blog in the comments as well as your replies and tweets on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for continuing to support me on my journey.