So I have been slacking on the blogging but fortunately, I'm not slacking when it comes to working out and loosing weight. When I finished up the Advocare 24 Day Challenge, back on October 31st, I had lost 9 lbs. and about 2 inches off of my measurements. Today, I'm down to 271.2! That's a total of 17.4 lbs. since October 8th!
When I was on the 24 Day Challenge, I was using the Advocare products and I really didn't notice a huge difference in my energy levels or the way I felt. I wasn't have any of the food cravings that I normally would have but I chalked it up to being motivated to loose weight and to succeed on the program. I wouldn't say that I was skeptical but I didn't feel like the Advocare had made a huge difference.
A few days after I finished up the challenge, I noticed that I started getting food cravings again and that I started to feel really hungry in the afternoons. This was how I always felt before I started the challenge and it's always been one of the things that I struggle with when I'm trying to loose weight. It made me see that the Advocare really did play a part in my weight loss. I've decided to stick with using the MNS Max C because it helps me to control my appetite. I've also decided to keep using the Meal Replacement Shakes for breakfast because I like the way they taste and it's so much easier than fixing myself eggs every morning.
I am also exercising every day and trying to eat right. Advocare may be assisting in my weight loss but it is by no means a magic pill. There is no replacement for diet and exercise, in my opinion. In fact, I have been motivated to become a licensed Zumba instructor and I am teaching it 3 days a week, along with 2 toning classes.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
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....
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, October 15, 2012
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.
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.
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