I'll start at the beginning...
I am a lazy girl. Before I had kids, before I was married, and before my metabolism slowed way the hell down, I was a thin little lady. I could eat whatever I wanted and not have to worry about gaining weight.
Fast forward to two babies later, eight years of being happily married, and about a hundred Jack in the Box-college-run-tacos later. Haha...you get the point. Like most people I'm looking for that quick fix that will get me back into my size two jeans (or even size 8 or 6!) and get me skinny.
So I tried this "magic" pink drink, Plexus Slim. I took the drink for three weeks total. I did three or so days on, then three days off at first to see how it affected Lizabear. When I saw that she wasn't having adverse side effects, I continued taking my once daily drink.
My immediate reaction and results? I LOVED it! I've never done drugs, but i can imagine it's like being super high on an upper or stimulant without feeling foggy, gross, or jittery. I had more energy than I've ever had before. I planted a garden. I mowed mom and dads whole lot. I played for days and days outside with Charley never craving the need to nap. I jogged around my neighborhood. I did more housework in the last couple of weeks than these past months combined. I felt spectacular and thought, "wow, is this what normal people feel like?"
A bit of back story about me (kind of off topic but it does relate later :) ...
I suffer from depression. I've had it since I was a teenager but didn't fully understand what I had until I was in my early twenties. With the help of my doctor, my family, a counselor, and medication, my particular case is well under control. Don't get me wrong, I still have what I call "down days", but life happens, and sometimes situational circumstances can greatly alter our mood.
I was seriously so convinced that Plexus was helping me feel normal. I absolutely loved the feeling of being present, more focused, and able to tackle life with this new found energy! Not to mention, my clothes were getting looser and I was quickly losing inches. Awesome.
Then the mood swings began. I'm not talking PMS type mood swings, I mean like something so drastic I had my mom worried, Joseph was scared and checking on my mood daily, and I was terrified of each new day because I didn't know if it would be a good day or a "down day".
Guys, I'm gonna get personal. I get that mental health isn't something most people talk about on their family blog, but I honestly think this is so important and needs to be said. I'm not looking for sympathy or attention, I genuinely want to get awareness created and some sort of "literature" out there (and by out there, I mean on the internet) because I couldn't find any other symptoms or side effects that were similar to mine.
So let's talk mood. My mood was insane. Crazy nutso feelings I have never felt before nor ever want to feel again. Joseph and I had a civil spousal argument one evening over something trivial and afterwards I found myself on the bathroom floor, crying, googling "suicidal thoughts" on my phone. It was that bad, yall!
The next day I would be fine. My normal cheerful self.
Then the next day: again with the major meltdowns, suicidal thoughts, feelings of self-loathe, not wanting to be around my children, and just overall wanting to be by myself. Not typical for me.
The next day I would be fine. My normal cheerful self.
And the cycle continued like this.
Joseph mentioned a few times that it could be my "pink drink" altering my mood, but of course I was in denial of that because I desperately wanted it to work. Plus, I liked feeling so productive and having more energy.
I'm not sure what in my mind clicked and made me STOP drinking the pink drink. I guess it was sort of an experiment, but I did stop.
And ever since I have not had any bioplar tendencies. No more thoughts of self-loathe. No more thoughts of self harm. No more crazy Brandi! (Well, crazy Brandi is a pretty normal thing for me, but you know :)
I don't know if Plexus Slim reacted poorly to my depression medication or if it just reacted poorly to ME? But let it be known, that the "scientific study" that was conducted on this product on only eight people, did not show any adverse reactions such as my own.
Lesson learned: don't buy into the hype that you can get skinny by doing something easy. Joseph has told me time and time and time and time and time and time and TIME again, that it takes hard work combined with diet and exercise.
On that note, I found this beautiful article and I think I need to do more of this. Embrace my flabby tummy and stretch marks because if I didn't have them, I wouldn't have my beautiful girls!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleyperez/photographs-that-hope-to-change-the-way-we-look-at-post-p
We are all unique. We are all individual and different. Different is beautiful and oh so good. Be careful what you put into your body and be careful with body image. It's such a huge part of our society but it truly isn't everything. When I look at my gorgeous girls I want them to know that they are beautiful, they are smart, they are compassionate and sweet. And character traits far outweigh physical beauty.
***Disclaimer-I am in no way a health advocate and I definitely don't want to offend anyone who sells Plexus Slim. This is just my individual story that I wanted to share.
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