Day 11

Today starts the max phase of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge!  I started my morning by taking 1 of the MNS Max 3 packets, which consists of several capsules full of herbs and vitamins.  You have to wait half an hour after taking it in the morning and then you have breakfast.  I chose to replace my breakfast with the Meal Replacement Shake because I figured that the morning would be the best time for me.  I'm usually really busy in the mornings, so I don't have a chance to get hungry.  I chose the chocolate mocha flavored shakes and it was so good!

I took a toning class this morning and I made the mistake of asking the instructor to go easy on me because my butt muscles were sore from yesterday's zumba class.  She made us do squats and lunges and all sorts of weird things but I felt good after class.  I did get a little light headed at one point and I'm not sure if it's because of having the shake, instead of actual food so I will have to see if it happens again.  I really don't want to substitute lunch or dinner because those are the times of day that I tend to want to snack and I don't want to overeat.

I had a salad for lunch and I did get hungry about an hour later, so I ate some cashews and I was fine the rest of the afternoon, until dinner time.  I tried to make those baked chicken & spinach flautas for dinner and it didn't go so well.  I used chicken breasts instead of thighs and chicken broth in place of beer.  I put the chicken and all of the the spices, etc. in the crockpot because I like the way the chicken shreds so easily and it turned out really well.  The problem that I ran into was that I used corn tortillas instead of flour and they crumbled when I tried to roll up the flautas.  I even tried to pre-warm them and it wouldn't work so I just had the chicken on a salad and the boys had it plain.

One of the things that everyone has said about the challenge was that on day 11, there was this sudden clarity, like mental cobwebs had been cleared away and they attribute it to the MNS.  I honestly didn't notice this mental focus.  That's not to say that I'm not feeling better since I started the challenge, both mentally and physically, but it wasn't a drastic change.  I've gradually felt better as each day has progressed (with the exceptions of the 2 days that I had a migraine).

I should have weighed myself again this morning since the cleanse is over but I forgot to do that.  I know that I am loosing weight and I have to be loosing inches because I've had 4 people tell me that they can see a change.  I normally wear a size 24 jeans and I've had to get my belt out of the closet to hold them up.  I bought a Halloween costume online and I ordered the biggest size they had, which is a 3X.  When I got it in the mail today, it said it was a size 18-20 so I was worried that it wouldn't fit, but I tried it on anyway and it did fit.  The costume has some stretch in it, so I'm probably towards the size 20 part but it fit me just fine at my waist.  It's tight across my boobs but I can't really help that.  I did go down a bra cup size last year, when I lost weight the first time but I really don't want to go down another.

I'm spending the weekend at my dad's so I may be limited on my food choices based on what they have at the house and camper.  Hopefully I will be able to find something good.  We are eating lunch at the campground and I'll probably stop and buy a salad on my way down there so that I don't have to eat hot dogs and chips or whatever they are making.  I know that there will be lots of yummy and bad food to tempt me this weekend because there is going to be a Halloween party at the campground on Saturday.

Day 10

My migraine went away so I was feeling much better.  I ate well and I took a zumba class, which gave me an hour of exercise.  Rachelle really challenged me today because she told me she'd take out a hard song if I could do all of the moves.  There is this one part that I have a difficult time with because you start by facing the right side of the room and you do a squat and then you turn to face the left side by hopping 3 times and you do another squat & it's repeated a bunch of times.  I usually modify this part and just do squats in one place because I don't have the stamina to do all of that jumping and it hurts my boobs when they bounce a lot.

I knew that the other ladies were counting on me to do it, though because I think they hate that song as much as I did.  So I did it!  It was really tough and I felt like I was going to die towards the end of the song, but I did it.  I also did the jumping parts in all of the other songs on her playlist and by the end of the hour, I was drenched with sweat and so tired but I felt good!

I had to go grocery shopping later in the day, so I tried to plan out a bunch of healthy meals.  People complain about the high cost of healthy food but I found that I actually spent about $50 less for 2 weeks than I normally do.  I also bought a lot less meat and I didn't realize until after I was putting my groceries away that I didn't plan any meals with red meat.  This wasn't intentional but I'm sure it's good for us.  In fact, I got to thinking about it and aside from the steak that I had last week, we haven't had red meat in over a month.  Since Aaron isn't home, I've been cooking a lot more chicken because I don't have to worry about making a variety of meals. 

It's the last day of the cleanse phase so tomorrow I will start taking the MNS and I will replace my breakfast with a shake.  I'm looking forward to the shakes because I'm sick of eggs.  And the shakes are chocolate mocha... mmmm.... chocolate....

Day 9

I still had a migraine today but it wasn't making me nauseous so I was able to eat well today.  I went to a pitch-in and Rachelle made a yummy salad so I had a good food choice for lunch, along with grapes and carrots.  I also had a very small bowl of potato soup ( about 1/4 cup) but I didn't put cheese on it.  I'm glad Rachelle was there because there were so many tempting and yummy treats that are not on the approved food list (cookies! a  carmel apple & snickers concoction! pigs in a blanket! oh my!).

I went to the gym for the toning class this morning and I feel like it totally kicked my butt.  We did a lot of squats and lunges, along with weights and my arms and legs are killing me but I feel strong.

I am putting my grocery list together for the next two weeks and I'm having a hard time planning my dinners.  I want to make healthy meals but I also want to make sure my kids will eat the food I make.  I try to make things that I know they will eat because I don't want it to go to waste.  It's hard to cook for just me and the boys because I don't want a bunch of leftovers.

A friend of mine posted the link to a baked chicken and spinach flautas recipe and it looks really good so I'm going to try it this week, after the cleanse is over.  I think at least one of my kids will eat it.  

I'm feeling kind of hungry now but I'm not going to eat anything this late in the evening.  In fact, I think I'm going to bed now.

Day 8

Today has not been a good day.  I woke up this morning with a migraine and it was making me feel sick to my tummy.  I took the probiotics like I was supposed to and then I waited a half an hour to drink the fiber drink.  My tummy started hurting after I drank the fiber drink so I laid down on the couch to try and settle it down.  I was supposed to wait 30 minutes after the fiber drink to have my breakfast so when I got up to make it, my tummy decided it wasn't happy and I got sick. 

I was able to get the boys ready for school and I got them on the bus but I had to lay back down after they left.  I didn't get back up until 11:30 AM and just the thought of eating eggs made my stomach hurt so I tried to eat half a bagel (which isn't on the cleanse) but it made me sick.  I laid back down until 2 PM and when I got up, I tried to eat a small bowel of dry cereal (also not on the approved list) but it also made me sick.

I had to start feeling better, though so that I could go to Zumba because Rachelle needed me to do the Time Warp.  I took a hot shower and laid back down until the boys came home and when I got back up, my stomach seemed to have calmed down a little so I had a small salad and I kept it down.  I was waiting to get something in my stomach so that I could take some ibuprofen and once I took that, my head started to feel a little better.

I went to Zumba and my head started to feel better during class but now that I'm home, it's starting to ache a little.  I'm hoping it goes away by tomorrow but even if it doesn't, it won't be as bad as today was.  I'm thinking about having a small snack before bed, just because I haven't had very much to eat today but I'm not really hungry. 

That's the one thing that has surprised me about the cleanse.  I felt hungry on the first day but haven't had any hunger pangs after the first day.  I'm probably not eating enough and Rachelle told me that I need to eat the snacks, even if I don't feel hungry.  I think it's because of all of the water that I'm drinking but I could be wrong. 

I did have someone tell me that I looked like I lost a lot of weight so that made me feel good.  I feel much better about the weight I lost even if it's not as much as I thought it would be.  I'm sure that I've already lost inches because of the way my clothing fits.

Days 6 & 7

Days 6 & 7 went well. I haven't really felt hungry this weekend so I haven't had snacks during the day.  I've had a couple of cravings but nothing too serious. 

The boys and I went on a walk yesterday and we walked for 3 miles. I decided to take today off from exercise.

I weighed myself this morning & I've lost 3.6 pounds since I started the challenge. I think I felt a little discouraged because I was expecting it to be more, considering how hard I've been working out & how good I've been with my diet. I guess it's still better than the normal weight loss of 1 - 2 lbs. a week, though.

Tomorrow marks another change in the cleanse phase. Three more days & then the max phase will start!

Day 5

Day 5! Halfway through the cleanse!  The cleanse itself isn't difficult and even though there are several steps, it's easy to remember them because I have a checklist.  However, I find myself excited to be done with the cleanse.  I'm not really sure why.  Maybe it's just the anticipation of the first half of the challenge coming to an end.  The second half isn't different by much but I think I'm eager to see results.  Patience isn't one of my virtues.

I've been so happy with how well I've been sleeping the past few nights but last night wasn't so good.  I had my Oasis before bed and I was tired when I went to bed at 10:30 PM but it took me a while to fall asleep and I tossed and turned all night long.  Of course, it could've been the fact that I watched the VP debate before bed and it gave me nightmares.

I have been having an omelet everyday for breakfast since I started the challenge but I'm starting to get sick of them.  I realized this morning that I really don't like the taste of cooked spinach.  I don't mind it raw and I have it in a salad, which I've had everyday for lunch since I started the challenge.  I think I need to switch things up in the morning and maybe have a boiled egg and some almonds and grapes.

Aside from getting bored with eating the same breakfast and lunch for the past 5 days in a row, I haven't had any cravings.  I decided to take a break from cooking and took the boys to dinner at Applebee's.  I ordered a 7 oz steak (the smallest on the menu and I shared some of it with Zach because he likes steak), steamed broccoli, and a plain baked potato. 

We went to Wal-mart afterwards to get a few things and I saw that Ben & Jerry's has a limited edition Pumpkin Cheesecake pint sized ice cream.  I thought about getting it and just keeping it in the freezer until after I was done with the challenge but I decided against it.  I just know that I would be tempted with it sitting in the freezer...mocking me... 

I've been feeling nauseous in the mornings, even after I eat my breakfast and Matt suggested that I wait to drink the Spark later in the day but I think I know what the problem is.  No, I'm not pregnant.  I started my period this morning and experienced some heavy cramping this afternoon.  Exercise has helped to regulate my period but it's still heavy and painful.  I'm hoping that by loosing enough weight, it'll become normal.  I hope.  I also think this is the reason for the weepy, emotional mood I've been in for the last couple of days.  I hate hormones.  Stupid PMS.  Although I guess it's better than the migraines that I normally get when I start my period.

I guess that's enough over sharing for now.

Day 4

Day 4 brings a change in the challenge in that we don't drink the fiber drink before breakfast.  Instead, we are supposed to take the Probiotic Restore.  Thankfully, Matt messaged me to remind me of this change because I was on autopilot this morning and I would've messed that part up!

I took a toning/cardio class this morning and my arms are still killing me!  It was a good class and while I struggled with a lot of it (jumping jacks, jumping squats, running!), I made it through the class.  I noticed that I was able to do more pushups today than I normally do and it was easier to do the jumping jacks (at the first station) although I was dragging by the end of the class.

I ended up taking a small nap this afternoon, around 2 PM so I skipped my afternoon snack.  I slept for about 20 minutes and woke up feeling really refreshed but I went ahead and drank a Spark at 3:30 PM.  Zach requested popcorn for his afternoon snack, so I had a handful of it but nothing else for my PM snack. 

I made pot roast for dinner and since Aaron isn't here, I didn't buy a huge roast.  However, after I put some on the boys' plates and then I measured out 4 oz. for me, there is a ton of pot roast left over.  I'm not used to having so much left over from dinner.  I made sure to put everything up before I sat down to eat my dinner so that I wouldn't be tempted with seconds.  I also made sure to eat the carrots even though  I hate cooked carrots.  I can use this as an example for the boys and say, "See?  I ate them and you can, too.  Even though they are gross, they are still good for you."

I just finished an Oasis and I'm feeling pretty good.  I tried it warm tonight and it was OK.  Honestly, I'm not too fond of the blueberry flavor.  I'm pleasantly tired and I feel like I can go to bed at a decent time tonight.  I was up until about 10:30 PM last night and I probably could've stayed up longer but I knew I needed to get to sleep.  I fell asleep pretty quickly though.  I'm still waking up around 5:30 AM because I have to pee and I really don't like that.  I'm sleeping better through the night but I'm not ready to commit to a 5:30 AM wake up call every morning.  I refuse to get up, even if I'm awake and I lay in bed until my alarm goes off at 6 AM.

Day 3 - Part 2

I didn't take the Oasis like I wanted to this morning but I was alright.  I still felt sad about Aaron not being here but the weepy feeling passed once I got busy getting the boys ready for school.  I went to Rachelle's Zumba class and I felt like I had more energy than I normally have.  Some of the songs have parts where you jump a lot and I normally don't do those parts, I just march in place because it's hard and it hurts my chest.  Today I felt like I could handle those parts easily, although it still hurt my boobs to jump. 

I ate really well for breakfast, the A.M. snack, and lunch but I forgot to have an afternoon snack.  I usually start getting hungry around 1:30 PM and I want to eat everything in the kitchen but today I was busy and I didn't even think about eating anything.  I realized around 3:15 PM that I hadn't had my afternoon Spark, so I drank that but I decided to pass on the afternoon snack because I wasn't hungry and I would be fixing dinner at 5 PM.  I baked some chicken and we had leftover green beans and cous cous for dinner.  My tummy still feels full and I haven't had any cravings or hunger pangs all day.

As of right now, I feel like the energizer bunny.  I have accomplished so much this evening around the house and I feel like I could go for a couple more hours.  I will have an Oasis before bed tonight (I really will this time!) because I feel that if I don't, I may be up until 2 or 3 AM.  I really hope that I can fall asleep as easily tonight as I have the past 2 nights and that I sleep as well.  It really does wonders for my attitude when I get enough sleep.

Day 3 - Part 1

I've decided to post a blog early today because I have noticed that I have been sleeping so much better since I started the challenge. I have been getting sleepy very early in the evening, so I've been going to bed a lot earlier than I usually do & I sleep so much deeper than normal.

I know that going to the gym and being physically active should help me sleep but before I started the challenge, I was still having trouble. It would take me an hour to fall asleep, at least, and I would toss & turn all night long. I would also go to bed much later in the evening so I was getting a lot less sleep. 

I don't know if the vitamins & herbs in the Advocare products are fixing something that was missing but I love getting more sleep! I also have something called Oasis and some people say that it helps them sleep at night.  I meant to try it the first night of the challenge but I forgot to mix it up, but it looks like I won't need it to sleep.

Speaking of Oasis, I may have to use it this morning. Oasis is supposed to calm you down & settle anxiety. I'm not really feeling anxious but rather sad. I'm really missing my husband this morning & I'm feeling really emotional. I don't know if Oasis will work for that but I can give it a try!

Day 2

I had a harder time waking up this morning, even though I went to bed really early last night.  But I still got up and that's the important part.  I wasn't going to drink a Spark this morning because I wanted to save it for early evening, but I decided to have one anyway.  I just needed the extra energy and I think it helped.

I ate well at breakfast and lunch and I had two sensible snacks but Xander wanted kettle corn when he got home from school and I had a small bowl, too.  I made pork chops and cous cous for dinner and I also had a side salad.  Going back for a second helping at dinner time is one of my problem habits.  So this time, after I put everyone's food on their plate, I put all of the leftover food up and cleaned up the kitchen so that there wouldn't be anything to tempt me when I finished my dinner.  I also like to eat any leftovers that the boys have on their plates, so I made them scrape off their own plates into the trash can when they were done.  An evening snack is optional but I really don't feel hungry so I won't be having one.

Rachelle told me that she didn't think that I needed to track my calories while I'm on the challenge because I need to eat while I'm doing it.  She said that I really should be eating every 2 to 3 hours.  I guess that as long as I'm making good food choices (fruits, veggies, non-processed, etc.) then I don't really have to worry about tracking.  It still makes me nervous, though that I'm going to over eat.  But really, is it possible to over eat when fruits and vegetables make up the majority of your diet?

I took an hour long toning class this morning and it combined cardio with some hand weights.  It would have been a lovely day to walk around town but I had errands to run.  I've asked my husband to do the mini-marathon with me in May 2013 and it is 13.1 miles.  I've done it once before (walking) and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done.  I want to be a little more prepared this time around and hopefully it won't be so physically debilitating.  I took me a week to recover from it the last time because my legs and feet were in such bad shape.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good.  I noticed that a jacket that I bought last week that was tight around my hips and tummy was loose this morning.  It's only been a day but it's possible that I'm not as bloated as I normally am because of all the water I have consumed.  I've never noticed if I retain water or not because I always feel big and round and bloated.  My wedding ring is also really loose.  I had a brief craving for coffee earlier in the day but I didn't get any.  I also had a craving for Chinese food but to be honest, I was too lazy to go out and get any.   

It's almost 8:30 PM and I have a feeling that it's going to be another early night.  I'm just hoping that I don't have to wake up at 5 AM to pee like I did this morning.  Really, the worse thing about the Advocare 24 Day Challenge so far is the amount of times that I have to go to pee.

Day 1

Today was day one of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge and things are going well so far.  I got up an hour early this morning just to take all of my measurements and to make sure I drank my spark & fiber drink early enough before breakfast.  I went to bed really late last night but I was eager to get up and to start the challenge because I'm excited about what it can potentially do for me.  There are several steps involved in the challenge but they were easily met with the handy dandy worksheet that Matt had printed off for me and aside from taking the Herbal Cleanse tablets before bed, I'm done for the day. 

I didn't notice the Spark giving me any extra boost this morning but I think it did help me to overcome my afternoon hump, when I normally get tired around 2 or 3 PM.  It is now 6 PM and I suddenly feel really tired and if I could go to bed right now, I'd probably sleep for around 8 hours.  I don't know if it would be possible to adjust the Spark intake from morning and afternoon to drinking it in the afternoon and early evening.  I don't think it would keep me awake all night if I did.

I was worried that when I started the cleanse phase that I would have some unpleasant "side effects" from the fiber drink but there were no colon explosions to speak of.  The challenge calls for you to consume a lot of water and I mean A LOT of water so I think I set the world record on how many times one person can go pee in a day. 

The only cravings that I really had today was for something warm to drink earlier in the day.  When I get cold or my hands get cold, I like to have a warm mug of coffee or hot tea to hold on to.  I sent Matt a text to see if I could drink tea while doing the cleanse and he said that herbal tea would be OK but I never did make anything.  I did OK with my food choices today, too.  I had scrambled eggs with a little bit of ham & spinach for breakfast, an apple for snack, a salad for lunch, and cashews & grapes for my afternoon snack.

I noticed that I still felt hungry after my salad today but I didn't eat anything else.  I ate lunch at 11:30 and had my snack around 2 PM and I still felt hungry after my snack, too.  This prompted an early dinner at 5 PM.  I fixed the boys a chicken quesadilla for dinner and I also had the chicken but I had it on a salad, instead of in a tortilla.  I tracked everything I ate, including the Advocare products that I consumed, on myfitnesspal and I'm at around 1511 calories for the day.  That leaves me a few more calories for an evening snack if I get hungry again before bed.

I did an hour of Zumba this morning, so that covers my physical activity for the day.  I got to lead one of the songs this morning because I wanted to do the Time Warp.  Rachelle didn't have time to learn the routine so she said that if I wanted to learn it, I could teach it.  So I did!  I was so freaking nervous but I did it.  I think I'd like to get certified in Zumba once I loose enough weight.  It's a lot of fun!

I'm going to post my beginning stats in the sidebar to the right of this blog so that it's visible for the duration of the challenge.  It was kind of hard to take my own measurements, so I hope that they are fairly accurate.  I'm not sure if I should continue my habit of weighing myself once a week or if I should hold off on that until I'm done with the challenge.  By starting today, it puts my final day on October 31st.  Just in time for all that Halloween candy! Ha!

And here are my before shots:

Rachelle told me that I should've take my before picture in a sports bra and shorts in order to have a better visual but I'm not going to post that on the internet!!! 

New Beginning

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” - Seneca

In 2011 I weighed 330 pounds and I was not happy. I wasn't sleeping well and I had no libido. My weight was seriously affecting my marriage & my life. So in February of 2011 I decided to do something about it. I joined a local gym and I went 5 days a week. I changed my eating habits and began keeping track of everything I ate with myfitnesspal.

From February through May, I was meticulous about going to the gym everyday and about never going over my daily calorie limit (it was somewhere around 1700 calories a day). I saw results almost right away and I lost 80+ pounds. In June, once my boys were out of school, my routine shifted and I no longer went to the gym everyday & I wasn't so strict with what I ate & while I didn't gain any weight back, I also didn't loose any.

In August, the gym that I was going to got rid of all of the group exercise classes that I had been taking and with that went my motivation and my desire to loose weight. It's easy to blame it all on the loss of the classes but the truth is, my drive to loose weight had been steadily decreasing since June.

By October of 2011, I was seriously depressed. Honestly, I don't think there was a specific trigger for my depression. It just seems like my natural cycle leads me to feel down around this time of year (a friend of mine had pointed out that she noticed that I seemed to get depressed easily in the fall).

Here it is, almost a year later and I've gained almost 50 pounds of what I had lost back. When I stop to think about all the progress that I had made, I get seriously angry with myself and the tirade of hateful words that I subject myself to could strip paint from a wall. It's difficult to not be down on myself because I know that in the end, I'm the only one to blame for my failure.

In September of 2012, another gym opened up in our community and they offer all of the old group exercise classes that I enjoy. So I joined and have been going almost everyday and I've lost a total of 9 pounds since September 1st.

Tomorrow I will start the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. I'm nervous and apprehensive about doing the challenge because it is so expensive and I would hate to fail and waste all of that money. But at the same time, I'm hoping the cost will be one of the main motivating factors for pushing me to succeed.

My main reason for using the Advocare challenge is not for the weight loss, because I know that with the proper diet & exercise, I can lose weight. I'm using the challenge because I've heard several people talk about how much mental clarity it gave them. I've heard that food cravings will go away and that I will feel so energized that exercise will seem easy.

My biggest hurdle thus far has been food and motivation. It's hard for me to be disciplined when it comes to not over eating. I don't even really love food but it's like a drug. I have to have it and there are times when I crave things with the intensity of a heroin addict (ok, maybe not that bad but you get the point). So my friends who have done the challenge have claimed that once they started doing it, they no longer had the cravings that they once did. I can only hope that the challenge has the same benefit for me.

I am starting this blog to document my progress over the next 24 days, as I do the Advocare 24 Day Challenge and beyond. It's a way for me to document how I am feeling everyday, as the challenge progresses and what obstacles I am facing and maybe it will help me to overcome them by putting them into words. It's also a way for me to hold myself accountable. I'm putting it out there for the world to see. Or at least one or two people.

I am going to be totally honest with this this, starting with my weight and measurements tomorrow, and a before picture. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a big girl and it's kind of humiliating to share that sort of information with the world. But at this point, I feel like honesty is the biggest way for me to hold myself accountable and by having a record of where I started, it will help me to see the progress that I will make.