The TRA Products

A friend asked me to show her what are the products in the TRA package. I had forgotten to take a picture of my own stash....so this is what I got from their website.

It consists of:

• 6 cans of Trimshake
• 3 bottles of TRA Complex (270 capsules each)
• 6 bottles of Doulean (90 capsules each)
• 6 bottles of Diene-O-Lean (90 soft gels each)
• 3 boxes of Lifepak (60 individually wrapped packs per box)
• 3 tubes of ageLOC Dermatic Effects (to moisturise and firm up any lose skin as a result of losing weight)
• 3 TRA Food Diaries (to keep track of the food we eat daily - this helps to identify the "problem areas". My problem was not eating sufficient amounts of veggies.)
• 1 Pill Box
• 1 TRA Measuring Tape
• 1 TRA Blender Cup (to mix the Trimshake)
• 4 BioPhotonic Scan Certificate (to measure the skin carotenoid score before starting, and at the end of each month)

All of the above is meant to last for 3 months. Thereafter, one is supposed to have understood the benefits of eating right, and learnt how to eat right...so there is no need for any supplements anymore. Of course, there are also those who still consume Trimshake (not daily), just for maintenance or when they are really busy to have a proper balanced meal.

That said, my opinion is Trimshake is not to be taken alone. There is still the need to take the very important VEGETABLES and FRUITS with each meal (Trimshake or not). No matter how busy we are, we should still have sufficient vegetables and fruits with every meal.

Visceral fats vs Subcutaneous fats

Through the TRA programme, I learnt about visceral fats and why it is more important (and how) to reduce visceral fats, as compared to subcutaneous fats.

Visceral fats

In simple terms, visceral fats are the layers of fats surrounding / "wrapping around" a person's internal organs. It is the deep fat, that surrounds the organs. It can cause health problems, if not controlled.

Subcutaneous fats

Subcutaneous fat is found just beneath the skin as opposed to visceral fat. It is the fatty tissue just beneath the skin.

More on the different fats.

Which matters more? Take some time to read this article. :)

TRA: 9 days after TRA

It has been 9 days after completing the course of TRA supplements.

It's the week before Christmas...imagine, all that rich yummy food around....awwww....

I have started to do more exercises (did push ups at home, leg raises while watching TV, lunges while watching TV....), since the end of the TRA programme.

Today, I met my consultant/coach for a review and to chit chat.

Weight went up by 1kg. 54.7kg. Oops. Fat % was also higher (double oops!) But...the good news is...

Skeletal muscle mass increased by a bit to 14.7kg, my basal metabolic rate finally crossed the 1200 mark.

Ok. I admit. I have not been eating right much over the past few days. I have not been taking sufficient vegetables, although I had cut down on my carb intake. Perhaps there were "hidden carbs" in the other foods I was eating (e.g. those creamy sauces). Alright, time to focus on eating right again. (note to self: Have to make eating right, a habit.)

There was another piece of good news I heard today (19 Dec)....I had met up with a friend to pick up some Christmas presents for the girls. She commented that I have slimmed down a lot. Yay! Well, friend (you know who you are)....you can achieve the same too! :)

TRA Programme: Day 91 (the LAST day of the 3-month programme)

This is the final result:

	Target Difference	Cummulative Difference	Readings
Weight (kg)	-2.6 kg	-2.3 kg	53.7 kg
Fat %	-4.2%	-2.7 %	26.5%
Fat (kg)	-3.0 kg	-2.1 kg	14.2 kg
Body Age	-5	-4	34
BMI	N.A.	Maintained	21.2
BMR	+100	-25	1188
Visceral Fat	Maintain or lower	-1	3
Muscle %	+2.0 %	+1.1 %	27.1
Muscle (kg)	+0.4 kg	Maintained	14.6

Although there is still improvements to be made in order to reach the “ideal” measurements (the target difference), I am quite happy with what I have achieved so far. In 3 months, I managed to lower my weight by 2.3kg. Not much, but more importantly, I lowered my body age by 4 years, reduced the visceral fats levels by 1 and lost 2.1kg of pure fat.

I may not be the biggest loser, but I am happy with myself. The results may be much better if I am able to go to bed before midnight each night. Nonetheless, still a good achievement. A good way to mark the last month of 2012. Cheers!!

** My consultant just told me that there have been others who lost 8kg in 1 month! wow…is that healthy? I suppose it is, as long as it is not more than 2kg a week, and what is lost is fat (not muscle).

TRA Programme: Day 71 to 88

TRA Programme: Day 71

It has only been 4 days since I last took my measurements. And over the past 4 days, things improved further.

Although the weight went up slightly, it was mainly due to muscle gained. I had lost about 200g of fat, and put on 200g of muscle. In just over 4 days. I think that is good progress, isn’t it? I didn’t do anything different. In fact, I find it more challenging to keep to eating 3-3-3-3 during weekends, as I look after the kids myself on weekends. hahaha. My consultant/coach reckons it is because the body has gotten used to the new ‘lifestyle’ and it is continuously burning off fat. I guess I will need to up the exercise factor to give the programme a boost in the final 4 weeks….

TRA Programme: Day 79

Oh dear. I had put back on 200g of fat, and lost 200g of muscle. What happened? I had started more exercises (started utilizing the gym at home). I think I really ate too much and too little vegetables. Looking at my food diary for the past week, I realized that for some days, there was 0 vege!! oh my. Maybe that’s why I ended up losing muscle…

I’m left with 2 weeks. Better seize the final 2 weeks and MAKE IT WORK!

TRA Programme: Day 88

Lucky number 88. (The number 8 in Chinese symbolizes prosperity and wealth)

Over the past week, I did more exercises. I ran the treadmill once for 15 minutes (did intervals on the treadmill), did some weight / resistance exercises (lunges while carrying weights), pushups 3 times this week and I only just started doing simple resistance exercises while watching TV (use own body as the weight, with the sofa/chair as my other tool). On some days, I had also forgotten to take the TRA supplements (quite busy this week…)

I was not able to meet my consultant this week, so I went down to the NuSkin office on my own, to take my measurements. My measurements today were pretty good! Weight reduced by a further 1.1kg over the week, while fat % was lower by 1.5%. On the whole, I had lost 1.1kg of fat this week, while maintining muscle weight. This means, my weight loss was due to the loss of fats. That’s good news! Have to keep this up, so that I can start the new year, 2013, with a new health and new eating lifestyle. Cheers to that!

Other indicators: BMR went down. Hmmm….need to eat more frequently or snack more (on fruits and vege). My body age dropped by 2 years! Wow! My body is at the real age now. I was surprised. I think those little extra exercises helped. I guess given that I was not very plump to begin with, I think simply walking more (e.g. climbing stairs, alighting one stop earlier) does not help me lose much fats. My body needed me to do more resistance exercises to build up muscle mass, which in turn, would help burn off fats faster.

Got to work even harder at it. Have to bring up the BMR.

Only 3 more days to the end of the TRA programme (with a wedding dinner in between too…)! I hope I can lose more.

I need a new wardrobe.