Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle Results

Last week was my first Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle. I promised to post the results here. Since I only did a one-week “mini” fuel cycle (the typical one is for two weeks), I wasn’t expecting any radical results.

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle Results

When I stepped on the scale this morning, I was surprised to find that I hadn’t lost ANY weight.

But then, I grabbed a tape and measured my waist. I lost a full INCH from my waistline. Success! I don’t care about the number on the scale. I’m more concerned with how my clothes feel. So I’m very pleased with the results.

I’m glad I tried the Fuel Cycle. Not only did I realize that I can eat more Fuel Pull meals and snacks without feeling deprived, I now know that my body really likes them! I felt more energetic on my two Fuel Pull days. Maybe those “lighter” types of meals are a bit easier to digest? I’m not sure of the reason, but I know I need to add more Fuel Pulls into my life.

My results from the fuel cycle weren’t extreme, but I bet if I did it another week I would lose a bit more. I’m happy with the outcome for now. I plan to continue staying “on plan”, increasing my number of fuel pull snacks and meals, and incorporate more Deep S meals too (not eat so much cheese, lol!).

Something else I learned from my Fuel Cycle week? That I really can fill up when I eat more non-starchy vegetables. I love vegetables, but sometimes get into lazy habits. My body seems to thrive when I eat fried eggs with greens for breakfast, for instance. (A Deep S meal.) I haven’t been doing enough of those.

I’m also happy to have found a couple of new snacks I love. Gluccie pudding (FP) and Hot custard (Deep S) are my new friends.

Have you ever done a fuel cycle? What were your weight loss or other results?

All the posts from my Fuel Cycle Week:

Day One: Deep S
Day Two: Deep S
Day Three: E fuel
Day Four: E fuel
Day Five: Fuel Pull
Day Six: Fuel Pull
Day Seven: Deep S, Deep S, E
Fuel Cycle Results!

Trim Healthy Mama One Week Fuel Cycle: last day!

I almost made it! Today’s the last day of my (mini) Trim Healthy Mama One Week Fuel Cycle. Today’s a Deep S day for the first two meals, ending with an E fueled dinner.

Breakfast 7:00 (woo, it’s the weekend- I slept until 6, late for me) I had a Trimmy (with butter in it!), chicken sausage and eggs scrambled in butter. Ahhhh, fat. I’ve missed you! I feel like kissing my KerryGold butter (it’s Irish – get it?).

Snack @ 11:15 Fried egg, Luscious Lemon Cake (a mug cake recipe from the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook). Instead of the usual cream cheese frosting, I mixed butter, Gentle Sweet and lemon juice for an icing. I LOVE this cake. If I’m craving one of those Iced Lemon Pound Cake slices from Starbucks, I have this instead and it nails it. (See more Starbucks Copycat Recipes for THM here.)

Luscious Lemon Cake - this is an old pic, I left the cream cheese off for this Deep S day. — Luscious Lemon Cake – this is an old pic, I left the cream cheese off for this Deep S day.

Snack @ 2:30 – a Chocolate Fat Stripping Frappa

Dinner @ 5:30 – this was supposed to be an E meal, but today got a little crazy. We’re busy packing up for a move right now, and my dryer is broke. We had to grocery shop, visit the coin laundry, run some errands…

I ended up eating a Hardee’s natural burger, no bun or cheese, with lettuce and tomato. It was delicious. Technically I messed up here, because the 7th day of the fuel cycle was supposed to end with carbs but instead ending up being a Deep S. Oh, well.

Tomorrow I’ll let you know the results of my fuel cycle week!

Note: I chose a one week fuel cycle instead of two weeks, because I only had a little bit to lose. And also because I just wanted to try it out, to see what a fuel cycle was like.

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle Day 6: Fuel Pull again

Today’s the 6th day of my first Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle. As with yesterday, today’s a Fuel Pull day.

Breakfast @ 6:00 – For breakfast I had a Berry Gummy, and a little creation I invented myself. I made the sweet Swiss Bread (it’s for the Bread Puddin’, but I ran out of almond milk so couldn’t make the pudding, so I had to come up with something to top it with). I ended up making a batch of Slim Belly Jelly, so I topped my bread with that, then a vanilla Oikos 000 yogurt. It looked pretty!

Snack @ 10:30 (wow, my breakfast lasted me a while eh?) a Fuel Pull spice cake (Sheri Graham’s recipe), topped with a vanilla Oikos 000, coffee with half and half, a Berry Gummy

I need to keep these berry gummies on hand at all times! I used to make them frequently but had gotten out of the habit. They’re incredibly filling, easy to transport, and quick.

Lunch @ 1:30 – Loaded Fotato Soup and a chocolate Fat Stripping Frappa

At around 3:30 I was totally starved so I had another Berry Gummy (since this has NO fat whatsoever, I think I’m okay here!)

Dinner @ 5:30 – Loaded Fotato Soup, salad with Slim Belly Jelly Vinaigrette

I made it! I’m done with my second full Fuel Pull day!!

Tomorrow I go back to Deep S for breakfast and lunch, then an E dinner. And I’ll be done!

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle Day 5: Fuel Pull!

Today is day 5 of my first Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle. Today and tomorrow I’ll be eating ONLY Fuel Pull meals and snacks.

Hold me.

I’m scared. I always have a fear of being hungry, even as a child I tended to gobble my food and eat frequently. Sadly, that let to a lot of stomachaches. I’ve been working on slowing down and reminding myself, “Carrie, this is NOT your last meal!” for years, it seems.

To get ready for the Fuel Pull days of the Fuel Cycle, I added new recipes to my Pinterest Fuel Pull Recipe board. I also created a new one named Fuel Cycle and began pinning to that too. I bought extra celery, cucumbers, salad greens – and treated myself to several 000 Oikos flavored Greek yogurts (a bit pricey, but I needed the emotional security of having them on hand!). I also made two Salted Caramel Gluccie Puddings to keep in the fridge.

Breakfast @ 5:30 – I had an Oikos 000 with Fuel Pull Overnight Oats topped with 1/2 cup strawberries. From this recipe. Small coffee and a teeny-tiny bit of half and half (under 2 T keeps you well under 5 grams of fat).

Snack @ 8:30 – A Salted Caramel Gluccie Pudding and a Hot Chocolate Trimmy (with just 1 tsp MCT oil)

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle, Day 5: Fuel Pull — Ahh, gluccie pudding. I heart you.

Aaaaand it’s 9:42… and I’m starved. This is when this thing starts to feel like a diet and not food freedom. Good news is, I could definitely tell a difference in my tummy when I got dressed this morning. I wore a shirtdress to work today that I’ve never worn before. It looked great! I realize I should have added berries, veggies or some other non-starchy thing to fill me up. Will do better next meal!

I made an Earth Milk Sip (with no MCT) to distract me from my hunger.

Lunch (praise be!) @ 11:30 – Loaded Fotato Soup with Swiss Bread. I doubled the recipe so I would have some for tomorrow. I ate a hearty serving of the soup along with berries topped with 0% Greek yogurt.

I may have repeatedly moaned with pleasure while eating lunch! Food tastes SO good when you’re really hungry.

Note: I didn’t have Laughing Cow cheese for the recipe, but I wondered if I could use low-fat (Neufchatel) cream cheese. An ounce is 6 grams fat. So I had to find out, what’s an ounce of cream cheese look like? As it turns out, an ounce of cheese resembles a pair of dice. So I cut a little less than what looked like a pair of dice and popped that into my soup before pureeing. 🙂

Snack @ 3:30 – I guess I ate enough this time to fill me for 3 hours. 😉 For a snack I had a turkey-wrapped pickle, a few berry gummies (from the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook), celery sticks dipped in peanut junky butter mixed with 0% Greek yogurt, and a Trimmy Light.

Dinner @ 6:30 – Egg Roll in a Bowl, FP version.

Whew! I made it through today. I actually felt quite “light” and energetic today. I don’t know if it had to do with all the fuel pulls or not, but I do know I need more of them in my diet. And my beloved Baking Blend and Oat Fiber arrived! That means that tomorrow I can enjoy some Fuel Pull chocolate cake. 🙂

Except I’m out of cocoa powder.

Ah, the life of a Trim Healthy Mama! Always at the grocery store. 😉

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle Day 4: E fuel

It’s day 4 of my first Trim Healthy Mama fuel cycle week! And like yesterday, it’s an E fuel day. This morning when I put on a favorite skirt, I noticed it was easier to zip. Woo!

Breakfast @ 6:30 – Oatmeal with diced apple and collagen, soaked overnight in a little almond milk. I sprinkled on a little stevia and cinnamon, then topped it with a Vanilla Gluccie Pudding to help fill me up. Had a small cup of coffee with a dash of half and half.

Snack @ 9:30 – Trim Healthy Mama E waffle, topped with 0% Greek yogurt and strawberries and two strips turkey bacon. Chamomile tea. Did you know what two strips of turkey bacon (at least the ALDI brand) contains only 3 grams fat?! That means I stayed well under 5 g.

Tip: When I make pancakes, waffles or oatmeal (in other words, something I eat warm), I like to put a few strawberries, sliced, into a small bowl with some Super Sweet and microwave it for 1 minute. It makes a nice juicy strawberry sauce!

Lunch @ 1:30 – Broccoli stir-fry. It was rather delicious and I made it up on the spot. And it’s a Fuel Pull so I’m definitely remembering this. I could serve it over rice for E fuel, or make it with beef for S. I simply browned lean ground turkey with red onions and broccoli, then sprinkled on ginger, garlic, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes and a dash soy sauce. Yummy!

For dessert I had a microwave Apple Crisp. (This is what gave me my E fuel, the broccoli stir-fry had no carbs.) I tried to cook it in my toaster oven, but it started burning on the top, boo! So microwave it was. I also pretty much made the recipe up on the spot. I sliced a small apple and topped it with 1/3 cup oats, a dash almond milk for moisture, dash salt, stevia, cinnamon. I would have added a little vanilla but I ran out.

I really hope my order of Baking Blend and Oat Fiber arrive today, because it will be hard to do two days of Fuel Pull without them!!! Note to self: never, ever run out of either of those things. I really wish Trim Healthy Mama had autoship. I was forced to order those from Amazon because THM’s shipping is slower.

I sipped on a Caramel Roobios Shrinker today. I made it with two Roobios tea bags and added caramel extract. Yum!

Dinner @ 5:30: Sweet Potato Oat Soup

Bedtime snack @ 7:30 – Half an apple with apple dip (from the THM cookbook)

I’m a little nervous about the next two days, which are Fuel Pull days. I’m concerned that I’m going to feel hungry all day! We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle: Day 3 – E Fuel

Today’s day 3 of my Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle, and I can now eat CARBS. Days 3 and 4 are E fuel days. Woo!

Breakfast @ 5:30 AM – For breakfast I enjoyed an Apple-Cinnamon muffin, with an extra half apple and Salted Caramel gluccie pudding: a lovely combo and it kept me full for the entire 3 hours! Plus a small coffee with a tiny amount of half and half.

Snack @ 8:30 – Vanilla Gluccie Pudding – again, I love this stuff! So glad I finally tried it, and it’s Fuel Pull!

Lunch @ 11:30 – Half a sweet potato, ground turkey patty, sauteed onions and zucchini. GGMS to drink.

Snack @ 3:30 – I made a Trim Healthy Mama “E” waffle and enjoyed it with mock maple syrup (recipes for both are in the THM cookbook) and a couple of sliced strawberries. I had a cup of half decaf coffee with 2 T half and half (which has only 3 grams of fat, keeping me well under 5 grams!).

And would you believe, I discovered I had run out of oat fiber AND baking blend!? For me, running out of baking blend especially is an emergency. I was craving Sheri Graham’s Fuel Pull chocolate cake which calls for oat fiber and couldn’t make one! Plus, with Fuel Pull days coming

Dinner @ 6:00 – Another ground turkey patty, this time with a salad and half a sweet potato. For dressing, I stirred together a bit of 0% Greek yogurt, a dash mustard, a bit of stevia for a “honey mustard”. It was good.

Tip: one of the ways I save time while doing Trim Healthy Mama is to cook several things at once for use them later. For example, I cook several sweet potatoes at a time and eat one every day until they’re gone. Or I cook Bust-a-Myth banana cake or Trimtastic Zucchini cake, cut into portions, and freeze so I have an easy snack or meal. I often make a family-size portion of muffins, freeze and do the same. Etc.

Tomorrow is another E day. See you then!

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle: Day 2

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m doing a Trim Healthy Mama “Fuel Cycle”. Today is Day 2. I’m still in Deep S mode today.

(Quick note: OliveNation, my favorite source of flavor extracts, is having a 20% off sale for 2 days. Use code TWENTY at checkout. I used their caramel extract just yesterday to make Salted Caramel Skinny Chocolate. I don’t love skinny chocolate as-is, but it was awesome doctored up this way! I added a couple teaspoons caramel extract to the recipe, then once I poured it into molds, sprinkled extra mineral salt on top. I loved it! Go here to take advantage of the offer, minimum order $25.)

Breakfast (5:15) – yes, you read that right, I ate at 5 am! I was STARVING when I woke up. Obviously my metabolism is kicking into high gear, because I usually don’t eat until around 6:30.

I had a frittata made with 3 eggs and Mexican-seasoned ground turkey (leftover from last night’s taco salad), plus coffee with a very small amount of half and half. (Small amounts are ok on a fuel cycle.)

Snack (9:00) – a fried egg and 2 small sausages, then a Hot Custard. People I felt STARVING. This is a good sign. The ol’ metabolism is waking up!

Lunch (11:15) Yes, I know I didn’t wait a whole 3 hours here, but I was cooking for the kids and didn’t want to go back into the kitchen soon after to cook again. So I had half a chicken breast cooked in butter with sauteed kale. Just like yesterday. Keeping it simple!

Snack (1 PM) A few pieces of Salted Caramel Skinny Chocolate, a Trimmy and a Salted Caramel Gluccie Pudding. Um, excuse me gluccie pudding, but where you have been all my life?!

I drank GGMS in the afternoon.

Dinner (5:30) – Salmon Patties, roasted cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Oh man do I love roasted veggies! It brings out the natural caramelly sweetness in them, plus butter and olive oil – hello. I had a couple pieces Salted Caramel Skinny Chocolate for dessert.

I’m looking forward to eating some carbs tomorrow, but my body really loves these Deep S meals and snacks!

Go here to read the first post about my Trim Healthy Mama fuel cycle, and notes from the entire week.

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle: My first day

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to do a Trim Healthy Mama fuel cycle. A fuel cycle is designed to wake up your metabolism. It’s not for people new to Trim Healthy Mama. It’s recommended for those who have been on plan for a long time and have mastered the concepts, but who have a bit of stubborn weight hanging on.

I’m hoping to lose a bit of “fluff” around my waist and belly, sadly a problem area for les femmes d’une certaine age. I think also I’ve gotten a bit lazy in my diet lately. While I’m on plan 90% of the time, I don’t eat enough Deep S meals, or Fuel Pull meals. Maybe this will help me discover some new favorites and remind me of the importance of JUGGLING the fuels!

I also chose to do the fuel cycle for only one week, instead of two. I don’t want to lose a lot, just a couple of pounds that hopefully will come off my waist and belly. I’ll update every day on what I’m eating as well as my thoughts on the fuel cycle process.

If you want to know how to do a Trim Healthy Mama fuel cycle, you must read the book! If you haven’t already, go here to get a copy for around $12 on Amazon.

Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Cycle

This is my very first time doing a fuel cycle, so I made things easier on myself by getting prepared. I created a Fuel Cycle pinterest board and added meal plans. I read about other people’s experiences. I made a meal plan for the week, down to the snacks, so I wouldn’t have to think about what to eat.

Starting weight: 124.2
Waist circumference: 29″ (yuck)

Here I am, in my messy pajamas still, first thing in the morning. (Funny note: I actually weighed myself a few minutes earlier and the scale said 126. Then I used the bathroom. For kicks and giggles, I decided to weigh myself again, and I had “lost” 2 pounds. Ha!)

The Fuel Cycle days will look like this:

Day One: Deep S
Day Two: Deep S
Day Three: E fuel
Day Four: E fuel
Day Five: Fuel Pull
Day Six: Fuel Pull
Day Seven: Deep S, Deep S, E
Fuel Cycle Results!

Fuel Cycle Day One – Deep S Day

Breakfast (6 AM) – 2 eggs fried in butter with sauteed kale, 4 strips of bacon and a Trimmy Rich.

Snack (9 AM) – fried egg (I was going to have something else, but this was left over from breakfast, so I had it so it wouldn’t go to waste), Trimmy made with Teeccino (see my review of Teeccino herbal coffee here).

Lunch (12:30 PM) – Green salad with cucumbers and seasoned chicken. I sauteed the chicken in butter and Cajun seasonings with added chili powder and onion powder. The salad dressing was a simple olive oil and ACV vinaigrette. I enjoyed a Roobios Shrinker after my meal.

Snack (3:30 PM) – Deep S Hot Custard (thanks Briana, you are amazing!). The custard was delicious and so easy, but I still felt STARVING after I ate it, so I cooked a chicken breast in butter and seasonings (left over from lunch), along with pan-sauteed kale and a Trimmy.

I recall being VERY hungry the first week or two on Trim Healthy Mama. I think because I’ve always had issues with low blood sugar, and it was hard for me to adjust to fewer carbs. I found that I felt better with S helpers some of the time instead of regular S meals.

At this point in the day I’m feeling a mild headache. I’m not sure if I’m in ketosis or detoxing or what. I took a nap! I drank a big glass of water too. (Maybe I’m not drinking enough?) Then I made myself a GGMS to sip on.

Dinner (6:30 PM) – Faux Taco Salad – a huge plate of lettuce topped with seasoned ground turkey, black olives and cucumbers and lots of Tabasco to tickle my taste buds. I had a few pieces of Skinny Chocolate for dessert.

Thoughts on the first day of my fuel cycle:

I love Hot Custard. This one’s a keeper.
I need to eat more kale with eggs. So yummy. When I first began THM, I ate fried eggs with greens a lot, but got out of the habit.

I’ll be back tomorrow, another Deep S day, for an update.

Have you ever done a Fuel Cycle on Trim Healthy Mama? What were your experiences?