Day 7!!!

YEA! Only 3 more days left of my herbal cleanse! Today was a good day. I started the day out with spark and my probiotic. Then for breakfast 30 minutes later, I had a meal replacement shake, and I think I had a few strawberries too before I headed to church, as a snack to tide me over til church was over. I took catalyst before lunch. I've been forgetting my catalyst the past couple of days and not taking as much of it. Lunch was the usual veggie soup. My afternoon snack was a banana. Occasionally throughout the day also, I have a few "Nut Thins", a cracker that my in-laws always buy, and I "think" they fit the criteria for the herbal cleanse, so I will always grab a handful when I just need a little something crunchy. they are wheat and gluten free. I like the pecan ones. I really didn't drag any this afternoon, but I still drank a spark to make sure I'd be energized for the rest of the day.

Tonight, we made some more chicken, better chicken! :) It was the 30 minute chicken (a whole chicken) done in the Pampered Chef deep covered baker, much juicier than the grilled chicken. It makes juice too that I can pour over my brown rice so it's not so dry. I don't eat the skin of the chicken. I think it's a pretty healthy version of chicken. :)

Tonight after dinner, my family went swimming so that was my exercise for the day. I swam around using a noodle making sure that my legs were always moving.

Today, I kept thinking about why I love Advocare so much and how I can survive doing the herbal cleanse. Wanna know why? I'm going to tell you-lol. I LOVE to eat! It's ingrained in me, my family, we live for when we travel to go to super cool, local restaurants, always looking for new good places to eat. :) There is no way I could give up eating good food for all my life. Advocare allows me to eat and to enjoy eating. Doing the herbal cleanse and the 24 day challenge helps curb my cravings, so I make better choices. Then when there's something bad I want, I either only eat a little or sometimes the craving goes away. I think that's so awesome, because I still get to eat all the good food! I get to enjoy going to good restaurants or making good recipes at home. But I believe Advocare has helped me to realize all the processed snacks that used to seem so good, aren't good for you, they're bad for you, worse than a good homemade chocolate dessert. I actually can't stand most processed snacks these days, I feel yucky when I eat them. But I do LOVE Mexican food, and yeah I know it's got lots of fat and cheese and stuff in it, but I don't eat it daily, but I get to enjoy it and I don't suffer because of it.

I've also learned portion control. Nowadays in our family, my husband and I use salad plates instead of dinner sized plates. I truly think it helps me manage my portions. Try it! It really works! Now if we were having a multi dish meal with lots of different options one day, I might use a dinner plate, but the things we make and eat for dinner fit really well on a salad plate and it keeps our portions under control.

I think Advocare has helped me to learn to make better choices of what to eat and to manage my portions. I'm willing to be miserable for 10 days on my Herbal Cleanse to really clean my body out of junk, then when the 10 days is up, I go back to eating regularly but I don't go crazy.

Day 6- (written and posted one day late)

We had a busy day yesterday so I didn't get to posting on here last night. I can't believe I'm almost done with the part I like least about the 24 day challenge. I'm going to be a champion though and make it all 10 days. Yesterday was a busy day so I took advantage of Advocare's Meal Replacement Shakes to get me through since we were out and about, and I needed something healthy to fill me up.

I had my usual one for breakfast, but also, I had one for lunch because we were out running errands, and I didn't want to be tempted to grab fast food if I got too hungry. Their meal replacement shakes are definitely a life saver. Later on, when we got home mid-afternoon, I ate my usual veggie soup lunch.

I'm still feeling great and for the most part, full of energy. I do get a little frustrated when it gets this far along in the herbal cleanse, because like I said, I'm not an average height person. I'm a little person, 3 ft. 8, with achondroplastic dwarfism. Losing weight and keeping it off is NOT easy, but thanks to Advocare, it's been made possible, though it's a slower journey for me than an average height person. So think about this if you don't know me, I'm the height of a kindergartener, but with the body of a woman, and the appetite of an adult too. I have to work REALLY hard. My scale isn't really showing much weight loss yet. I usually lose 2 or 3 lbs on the herbal cleanse. The first herbal cleanse I did was the one where I lost the most. I've just been at a plateau in the low 80 lb range, but I'm determined to get below 80 lbs by the end of 2011. I personally would love to be about 70 lbs in the end, I think, but by the end of 2011, I want to be at least in the mid 70's lb range.

Even though I don't have a very good "before Advocare" picture taken intentionally, I am able to look back at pictures in those few years before Advocare and see a difference. It's definitely changed me.

I'll write more tonight, since this was really my post for yesterday.

Day 5!

I'm halfway done with my herbal cleanse! I've made it through another day without cheating on anything. I don't think the lightly buttered popcorn I had for a snack today went too off the mark.

Today was my first big day of exercise during the herbal cleanse. I made it to step class, my favorite exercise to do! I survived the whole class without walking out of it. Before class, I had spark and a meal replacement shake mixed together so I'd be energized, plus I took my Catalyst. It felt good to exercise again.

I also took my son to the pool this afternoon, so I got a little more exercise there. I'm tired tonight in a good way after all the exercise I got today and of course probably too because I stayed up last night til midnight reading. LOL.

Day 4

Today was pretty good, though I wasn't as productive, I did feel great all day long! Today was the first day using the probiotic, and there was no fiber drink in the morning. So I started my day with the probiotic and a Spark. 30 minutes or so later, I drank a berry meal replacement shake in which I added strawberries to it, because I had some that were going to go bad if I didn't use them.

My exercise was fun. :) I walked and my son rode his bike a few blocks to his friend's house so he could ride bikes with the friend in their culdesac, and I could pick up my tupperware I ordered. :) So it was good exercise for us both!

I won't bore you with too many eating details, b/c it's pretty much the same every day for me, but I ate the same lunch I've been having, had a banana or two today, and the same dinner. I'm getting kinda tired of chicken. I wish I liked quality good for you fish that you could grill or bake, but I don't. It's about this time during the herbal cleanse that I really get tired of grilled chicken. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like just chicken by itself. I want sauce on it or I want it mixed up in a casserole. I seriously think grilled chicken is boring. I need to figure out a way to liven it up more where I won't get tired of it, but where it still follows the herbal cleanse rules. I love my veggie mix that I make of the zucchini and red bell peppers, but the grilled chicken and plain brown rice get really, really boring. But I'm not going to give up. I'm going to stick to it and make some really good progress on my feeling good and weight loss goals by the end of this!

I drank a 2nd Spark today too. Two Sparks a day really help me get through all my day much better. I'm able to enjoy my time with my son, get more chores done around the house to help my husband to not have to come home to a sink of dirty dishes.

Here's my daily dinner so far. Top left is chopped up zucchini and red bell pepper sauteed in olive oil with a clove of garlic pressed with it. Top right is grilled chicken with Pampered Chef's Southwestern seasoning on it. Bottom is boil in bag brown rice, so it's quick and easy. One bag lasts me two nights or so with my husband eating some of it. To keep me from getting tempted to eat junk or go for something easy, I go ahead and prepare the chicken and veggies on day 1, enough to last awhile, so it's easy and convenient, so I'm not tempted to grab something else easy and convenient and bad for me.

I don't know if this blog is helping anyone, but I hope you learn something from it to help make your Advocare 24 Day Challenge work for you! Or if you haven't ever done the challenge, I hope it'll inspire you to try it, to stick with it, and you'll see results! Also, the blog is to help hold myself accountable as I write, I don't want to write that I messed up really badly! LOL!

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to make it back to the Y for my 9:30 step class I like, and get some really good, hard core exercise in.

Day 3 was awesome!

Wahoo! Day 3 was awesome! Started the day with my fiber drink mixed with spark, and a banana. Today was different in the fact that I had a training for substitutes to go to this morning at 9, and we weren't allowed to bring food or drink inside. I was really worried how I was going to do it. I still brought water in. :) But I put an ice chest in my car w/ mandarin orange spark mixed up already in a travel coffee mug, then when I got out of the meeting, I shook a packet of berry meal replacement shake into it, shook it up, then drank that. I was ready to go! I didn't eat anything else til almost 2 when I had my usual veggie soup. That meal replacement shake/spark mixture was a lifesaver. It helped me get home w/o getting low blood sugar, b/c it was a
portable easy way to get nutrition and energy in one.

Today, I didn't do any exercise on the wii or at the y, but I did vacuum a couple of rooms and cleaned up around the house. I consider vacuuming exercise because our vacuum is as big as me, and it's heavy, and is supposed to be self propelling, but it's so powerful, that it's very hard for me to manage. Got a good ab and arm workout I think vacuuming. Dinner was my chicken, zucchini, red bell peppers and brown rice. I don't eat a huge variety during the herbal cleanse, because I'm so picky, but what I eat works for me.

The other amazing thing today was that I had more energy definitely! I even took my son to swim lessons tonight, and it's been months since I've had the energy to take him there. My husband had been taking him because I was always tired and feeling bad at night. I think my second spark of the day helped me.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, day 4, because it's when I start the probiotic and no more fiber drink for a few days! :) Easier mornings than having to measure and divide my fiber drink in half for me to get it down.! Overall today, I felt really productive! I hope tomorrow's just as productive!

Day 2

It's Day 2. This AM, again, I had no problem with my fiber drink. Here's my secret to help me get it down easier. I divide the mix in half. Then I make a spark and divide it in half. So I have a 1/2 glass of spark, and put 1/2 of the fiber drink mix in there, stir it up, drink it as fast as I can. Usually at the bottom, is a little thick stuff, so I add a little more water to get that down. Then I repeat w/ the other 1/2 glass of spark and fiber drink mix. In between the two, I drink a little water and wait a minute to give myself time to get it down. It's hard for me to chug 8 ounces of a drink, so it helps me to divide it into 2 parts.

The chocolate craving has come.... this is the hardest part for me I think, but I'm going to make it!!! I'm going to resist! When I do resist, I find that by the end of the 10 day Herbal Cleanse, that the craving is gone. Last time, I did the Herbal Cleanse, I cheated though, and ate my dove dark chocolate squares, my same ole habit of eating one after lunch and one after dinner, but this time, I'm NOT going to give in!

For breakfast, I had my fiber drink mixed with spark. Then I exercised a little on Wii Fit Plus. Then I had a banana. A couple hours later, I was heading out to take Forrester somewhere so I needed a filling snack that would last me, so I made a Berry Meal Replacement Shake by Advocare. Lunch was my special veggie soup w/ some whole grain egg noodles in it.

I'm feeling a little more sluggish today than yesterday. But overall, I think I'm doing well sticking with the eating plan and herbal cleanse. My body's definitely getting rid of the junk. I think doing at least a Herbal Cleanse even if you don't do the whole 24 day challenge, helps you get your body back to normal again. It's definitely what I needed after all the horrible eating I've done most of this summer. Now, I'm cleaning my body out of all that junk I ate. It's a great feeling, and I know I'll feel so much better physically and mentally after this. I'll feel better about myself. It's been awhile since I've done it, but I used to do it after the holidays, in January, when you're done with all that eating from Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Made me a yummy dinner of sauteed zucchini and red bell peppers with garlic- two veggies I like, with some grilled chicken and brown rice.

I might be wrong, but I think I've lost a pound already. We'll see! :) Tomorrow, I think I'm going to drink a spark right before lunch to keep me going the rest of the afternoon. I'm definitely more sluggish today and think I need more spark. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm staying up so late either-lol. I do think day 2 was a success though! I didn't succumb to any cravings!

Day 1

Day 1 of my 24 Day Challenge- which is also day 1 of the herbal cleanse part done! I did not eat any chocolate, & didn't succumb to eating any dairy! Wahoo! Also, I was never starving! Yea! I felt really pretty good all day long! Oh yeah, I even tried a new food, well, an old food, that I've never liked- I ate an apple! lol! Still didn't really like it, but I ate most of it.

So why am I doing the 24 Day Challenge? Why do I use Advocare? Several years ago, I realized that I had gained a ton of weight since I'd had my baby, in about a 5 year period of time I had gained 19 lbs. That doesn't seem like much, but it adds up when you're only 3 ft. 8. I had joined the YMCA and was exercising and had gotten really fit, yet I hadn't lost any weight or inches. My clothes were still too tight, and I refused to buy a bigger size. I decided I had to do something. I had a 5 year old son, who is very active, and I want to live a very long time, and to be able to enjoy doing things with him. I wasn't able to do much at that time, b/c I felt so miserable with all that extra weight I was carrying around.

Another friend of mine who is little like me told me about Advocare, and how it worked for her, so I was like oh my gosh, if it worked for you, then I have to try it! Now 3 years later, I can see that yes, it does work. In the past year, I've not used as many of the products and I've maintained my weight loss of 17-18 lbs. This summer however, I got really lazy and put on several pounds. So here I am, starting full force again. I'm going to lose those pounds and more.

This isn't an easy thing to do for me, the herbal cleanse part, because I'm a really picky eater, but I've figured out my ways to get it to work. Today, I've had the fiber drink mixed with spark in the morning, and a little while later, I ate a banana. That really kept me full most of the morning. Later in the morning, was when I tried the apple with some natural peanut butter. I ate some of it. For lunch, I had my special veggie soup with whole grain egg noodles in it. To help my sweet tooth, I ate a few strawberries. For an afternoon snack, I had a whole grain brown rice cake with natural peanut butter on it. I wasn't as prepared for today when it came to dinner. I'd bought veggies to make that I like- red bell peppers and zucchini, and we had chicken in the freezer, but I wanted Nick to grill, and by the time he got home, I would be too hungry. So I ate the last of our chicken penne al fresco, which wasn't perfectly following the plan, but it was better than getting too hungry and really cheating. You'll find that if you cheat a little, you'll still see results!!! Though, I'm really trying overall to not cheat at all this time- last time I did the herbal cleanse, I was bad and really cheated more than I should, therefore my results weren't as satisfying to me. This time, I'm not going to give in!

In this blog, I'll keep you updated on my progress, my discoveries and my tricks, and you're going to see it work! Let me know if I can help you with your own 24 day challenge. It sure has changed my life!