Advocare Cleanse results. . .

I love love love doing the Advocare 10 day herbal cleanse. 

It consists of a program of clean eating.  In the morning you take a probiotic 30 mins before breakfast.  You drink a fiber supplement with breakfast and then in the evening when you go to bed you take the herbal cleanse capsules.  The eating program is really easy actually.  You just eat clean.  And honestly I eat often and I'm satisfied.  I struggle with a really strong sweet tooth so the first few days can be rough.  It can also be rough to be around sweets or foods I can't eat during the cleanse.  But it's 10 days and I'm here to tell you that *you* can do anything for 10 days.  It resets me, detoxes me from sugar and sets me up to maintain a good eating program following the 10 days.  The eating has become habit and because I feel so good I maintain it.  I have more energy and I sleep better when I eat like this.   

Anyways, here are the results.  I'm down 7.8 lbs, which is pretty typical of what I lose during the cleanse.  I lost 1 inch *each* on my bust, waist and hips for a total of 3 inches overall there.  I also lost 1/2 inch on each thigh.  Do you count both of those and end up with a total of 4?  Or do you only count on thigh for 3.5 inches? I have no idea!   

You can see my daily weights above.  It takes a while to see a difference in fat % and I'm not sure how accurate those hand held monitors are, but I lost 0.5% of body fat.  Normally I would only take that measurement every month or so because I feel like too many factors, like hydration, come into play and it's hard to get a consistent reading.  

I'm really pleased with these results.  I still want to see 176, but I feel like I got control of the scale creep.  I just hope that I can maintain it for some time right now and continue to lose.  I do the cleanse about every 90 days or so.  When I have 10 days with no real social commitments that will sabotage me.  Advocare says not to do it more often than every 90 days.  So I do it 3-4 times a year. 

Other than that life has been way too filled with drama that has been stressing me out but right now I'm not comfortable talking about it.  Unfortunately I find the position my life is in right now to be rather embarrassing and uncomfortable.  I woke up Tuesday morning thinking that life was a dream.  Then I realized it wasn't.  I sometimes wonder how I got here.  But in anycase, I'm trying to distract myself and plan a hot date with my 5 year old nephew this weekend.  We want to take him to see Pete's Dragon.  Has anyone seen it? 

Cleaning it up!

On Monday I started the Advocare Herbal Cleanse.  I do this 3-4 times a year.  They recommend not more often than every 90 days.  I love the cleanse!  It gets me back on track.  I eat a lot of food.  But it's clean.  No cookies, pretzels, cupcakes. . .  And I was becoming a sugar monster!

The amount of *crap* I was stuffing in my mouth was shocking.  I'd eat just because honestly.  The stress doesn't help.  Once I clean up my food choices, I feel so much better!  Less fluffy - goodbye bloat!  I have more energy and I sleep much better.   I might be less moody too, but that's hard to judge cause my stress level impacts that quite a bit.  

After 4 days of eating clean, I'm down 5.6 lbs!!!   Today is day 5, so almost half way there. 
(read the weights from the bottom up!)

I had let my weight creep up too high for comfort.   My goal has always been to see 176 and I never quite make it.  I get to 178 and start going back up.  I'd like to finish the cleanse in the 170's . . . even 179.8 (my scale only weighs in even increments. .  179.9 isn't possible) would be ok!  It would be a big boost to motivate me to keep my eating clean.  Right now I'm rocking and rolling.  I'm determined the weekend will be no different than this week.  I like routine in my eating, so if I can maintain this routine and eat the snacks when I normally do I will be golden. . . I hope!

This week Advocare released a new spark flavor. . . .

I've had two so far and it's yummy.  The flavor isn't as strong as I'd hoped.  I like the strong flavors so I can add more water. . . but it's still really good.  It will be high up on my list of favorites. 

Have a great weekend!  

I had a goal. . .

I'm so freaking excited today!!!   When I started the Advocare Herbal Cleanse on April 9th, I set a goal. . . that goal was to see the 170's on the scale before I leave for KY on April 27th (this coming Wednesday).  

179.8 (my scale only does even numbers behind the decimal) would be fine.  I didn't care.  I just wanted to see 170's.  My long term goal was to see 176 as that would be 35 lbs lost since I started Advocare.  I would have reached that in August if I hadn't got sick.  Life since then has been rough and the weight crept on.  I wanted to hit 176 and reassess where I wanted to go and how I wanted to get there. 

So I started the cleanse at 188.2.  Yesterday was tough day and I didn't eat dinner. I wasn't even all that hungry so I guess it didn't matter.  I never skip meals, but it happened.  I didn't get home till close to 9pm and I wasn't feeling up to making something.  

This morning I got on the scale not knowing that to expect.  I could have easily gained.  The body is funny like that.  Not eating isn't necessarily a "good" thing where the body is concerned. 

But I saw this on the scale. . . 

GOAL!!!!!    I'm stunned.  I'm shocked.  I got on that dang scale probably 4 times.  It said the *exact* same thing each time.  (Maybe one day I'll set the date on that thing huh?).   That's a loss of 2.6 lbs from yesterday.  So I'm not sure that this will remain and I could blow up tomorrow.  But I saw it.  I saw the 170's!!!!   Whoop whoop!!!!   It feels good.  Now I'd like to hold that and actually be in the 170's on Wednesday morning when I leave.  I hope I can, but I also know that I have a few things coming up that might make it challenging.  If in fact this is a bit of a fluke then it will certainly be a challenge.  If it's not, then there might be hope.  It's funny how I can gain 2-3 lbs overnight and it can take days to get it off.  It's very very rare that I drop more than 1 lb in one day.  But boy does it feel good!!!   

Happy weeekend everyone!

10 day cleanse results!

I haven't been posting because I've been waiting for my cleanse to be over.

On Sat April 9th, the hubs and I started the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse.  You can do this as part of the 24 Day Challenge or you can do it solo.  As you know in Jan we did do the full challenge.  The recommendation is to cleanse every 90 days.  Some people do the challenge every 90 days.  We have been eating pretty much like you do on the 24 day challenge 90% of the time, so we just did the cleanse.    I'm going out of town next week and we found 10 days where we didn't have any events.

The consists of 10 days of clean eating.  You *eat*.  You don't starve yourself.  You eat three meals a day and 2-3 snacks.  It's all clean, avoiding things like dairy, sugar, alcohol, condiments, bad carbs. . . we eat very little carbs.  You can have whole grain breads, but we don't. I know for myself that I will have better success if I don't.  But I do eat grain like quinoa every day.  Since I run, I really need the carbs to keep that energy level up.  I eat three snacks as I have that extra/optional one after dinner, before bed.  That's my snacky time and I just can't give that one up.  But snacks are clean: fruits and nuts.  That kind of thing.

My start weight was 188.2.
My hubs start weight was 207.8

My final weight this morning was 182.6.  That's a loss of 5.6 lbs.  I'm happy with that.  I wanted more, but I did the best I could and this is what my body gave me.  I lost half inch off of: hips, waist and both thighs, for a total of 2 inches lost.  I really want to see the 170's soon so I'm going to keep up with the clean eating and see if I can get there before I go to KY next week. 

My hubs however ended up in ONDERLAND!!  His final was 199.8.  I don't think he's been in the 100's in his adult life.  He was much larger before I met him and lost weight prior to meeting me in 2006.  But I know that he has always been in the 200's the whole time we've been together.  He's pretty excited!  He also lost a total of 2 inches: 1 from both the chest and hips.  He's kind of shrinking before my eyes.  I think he's loving it.  He was resistant to any kind of "cleanse" or limiting food groups/eating before.  But he's loving the reaction he's getting from people and I know he feels better.

The thing I love the most about the cleanse and clean eating in general is that my weight is more stable.  I don't have wild fluctuations of going up a few pounds in *one* day.  Here's my daily weight since the start of the cleanse (from the bottom up!)

You will notice that my fat % went up.   But gosh darn, those monitors are something else.  Any change in hydration can affect it.  It seems to take much more than 10 days to see results.  So I'm not too worried about that.   I've been stuck since Saturday morning at the exact *same* weight.  That's becoming a bummer.  And even more of a bummer is that it's my TOM starting today.  So I suspect I will fly up 3 lbs in a day or two from that bloat.  That's one thing clean eating can't control.  The bloat from Aunt Flo!  Ha!  

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I thought since I haven't posted in a while, that I'd share some images from this weekend.

First - my horse, Eli is lame.  I don't know what he did and I don't know if it's related to his neck arthritis.  But there's no riding right now and I don't know when I'll call the vet yet.  I leave town next Wed so I may address it when I get back, unless it gets worse.  This is a sad face selfie.  I was excited to try a horse selfie with my new phone because the front camera is wide angle.  It's much easier to fit a horse head in the photo!

On Saturday I took my nephew to his baseball practice.  His Dad was working and his sister was sick, so his Mom couldn't take him.  I love that boy! He's so funny and so well behaved. 

He's a true farm boy and he loves working with his dad in the field (his dad does field work for someone when not working his *real* job @ John Deere).  So on the way home from baseball practice we stopped to check on my husband in the field.  Have I mentioned on here that my husband farms?  Probably not, cause in reality farming sucks and it sucks all your money down the drain. 

Sunday morning, before my husband went to the field, we went for a run. Whew - he's just too fast for me.  I really have to up my speed to run with him.  I know it's good for me, but as summer comes and the temperatures go up, it's getting harder.  I hate hot weather running.  But I sure am proud of myself when I'm done and see that speedy pace! :)

On Sunday, my nephew was at my Mom's house and she sent me this photo.  She said he noticed the tractor a mile away and starting getting excited that it was my hubby.  I thought this photo was about the sweetest thing I've seen in a while. 

Hope all is well with everyone that reads this!  Post a comment once and while and say hi! :)

A fun 4 mile run!!!

The *only* time I've really ran with someone and we purposefully ran together and stayed together for the whole race (with limited walking at water stops and such) was during the KY Derby Half Marathon in 2014.  It was my very first half and I ran it with a friend.  We had never ever ran together before so I had no idea what to expect.  But we stayed together and finished together and it was fun.

So yesterday morning (Saturday) it was kind of sort of misty outside, but it was a cooler temperature and overcast - perfect running weather.   I didn't *want* to run as I had done a brief 2 miles on Friday after lunch and I was just tired.  I thought about taking the day off.  My husband was talking some nonsense about going to the gym.  What?!  He's a new runner and I think he hasn't quite figured out what *good* running weather is.  I said if you run here at home, I'll run with you.  Can we stick together?   My husband runs a pace around 10:00 - 10:15 I would say, but I also think he's still finding his pace as he's only been running consistently since January.   My current pace seems to be around 11:15, maybe 11:00 if I'm having a good run.  Could we meet in the middle?  And if so for how long?  I told my husband that it's good for him to do a run at an easy pace once and a while.

So off we went and I didn't want to run any mile (or much of any distance) faster than 10:30 cause I knew I couldn't hold it long.  We planned 4 miles and so I needed to find a rhythm and stay there.  The first mile was easy.  The second wasn't all that bad either.  I thought "if we can make it to the halfway point and still be together I'll be impressed".   We turned around at mile 2.  I hadn't eaten anything that morning but I had a pack of Gu with me.  I didn't take it and that was a bit of a mistake. I did take it around 2.5 and that was a bit late.  I was starting to struggle and when mile 3 hit I was pondering walking and let my husband run off a head of me.  But I pushed through.  At 3.5 we turned the corner to home and I was groaning.  My husband told me I could do this!  I stayed strong and we finished 4 miles together!

They say the best way to increase your pace is to run with someone faster than you. :)   It sure does help.  I told my husband I'd like to do it again on a regular basis, provided this wasn't a fluke.   Next time I won't run 2 miles the day before.

We got home right as fedex was delivering my Advocare order.  I truly believe that Advocare has really improved our health and our life.  My husband is the smallest he's been since I've known him and probably the smallest he's been in his adult life.   I love the products so much!

Notice our matching headbands?   We got them last weekend when we were in Springfield at Scheel's.  They are Junk brand headbands.  Technically both are unisex.  But mine is stretchy and his ties in the back.  My husband sweats buckets easily so I think he's learned that headbands are amazing for keeping sweat out of your eyes.

So 10:41 pace!  That's pretty good for me for 4 miles.  I was running well last summer before I got sick and I hope to get back to that again.  It was fun to run with someone else the *entire* time.  However, I can't talk and run.  They say you should be able to but there's just no way.  No matter how slow I run, my breathing sucks and I sound like I'm in respiratory distress.   I can never hold a conversation.  Just not possible.  I think it would be fun to run and chat, but right now I'll just take running with someone else.  It made the time fly by!

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I was in a workweek hustle this week and I kicked some butt!  I'm really not sure how because I have a desk job and it takes effort to reach 10k steps a day.   So I'm really not sure how I slammed this one, but I did. Yet another reason I was tired yesterday and wanted to have a day off.  Maybe today will be that day.  It's hard for me to convince myself to take a rest day.  Especially on a weekend.  It's different if I've been at work all day.

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 I can't stop taking photos of Doughnut the barn kitty.  She's so pretty but she's not all that nice. She's a typical female that only likes you when she wants to like you.  She purrs so loudly but then will just randomly squeal and bite you.  I guess I should be glad she's not super friendly cause I'd be cuddling her all the time and I wouldn't get anything done at the barn. 

Advocare 24 Day Challenge - RESULTS! :)

Well here we are. . . Day 25. I know it's a 24 day challenge, but day 25 is the hardest.  There are no "rules" to follow.  Do you continue with this lifestyle or do you stuff your face and blow up all your hard work?  I continue!  I continued last year with great success.  I was stronger last year.  There were no cravings. .  . no desire to stuff my face.  That's not so true this year.  But I'm focused and trying really hard to find that strength I had last year.  I can't deny I have cravings and I'm not sure why cause I kicked that during the challenge last year.  But here I am. . .  as such, for my cravings I made Advocare protein balls, using their meal replacement shake.   I've never ever made these in all this time doing Advocare.  They turned out a bit dry and I might tweak the recipe next time, but it sure did make me feel like I had a sweet snack last night.

I realized yesterday that I took (and posted to FB) a photo of breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Geesh.  I don't know what got into me.  But this is what I ate - minus the snacks (and yes I snack - often)

A shake for breakfast, tuna "salad" (tuna, pickle relish and eggs) on top a bed of quinoa for lunch and a new recipe - Autumn Minestrone Soup for dinner.  All of these were YUM!!  When I really eat clean I crave that lunch combo all the time.  I don't question it.  I just eat it. My snacks were carrots and hummus, strawberries and cashews . . the protein ball after dinner.  And handfuls of grapes every now and again. I snack often and a lot.  If I get hungry I blow it.  Big time.

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So the results. . .

I'm down 9.6 pounds.  

I don't have a before of the fat %, but it was 32.8.  So I'm down only 0.6% in fat.  I thought that was a bit on the low side. 

As for the inches, I lost a total of 6.5 inches broken down like this:

Chest: -2
Waist: -2
Hips: -2
Thigh: -0.5

Overall I'm pleased with the results.  I had hoped for more.  And I had hoped to reach 183.  Why that number?  I was lower last year (in the 170's) when I got sick.  I bounced to 181-183 and held there for some time.  My body likes that range and I wanted to get back there during the challenge and proceed to get myself over that hump.  But I will get there. . . I am motivated. 

One thing that motivates me is before and after pics because you can "see" the difference.  I'm very suspicious of many before and after photos.  I think many are rigged in some way: clothing, camera angle. . . I wear the same clothes, take the photo in the same place in my house and do the same poses.   

You probably have to make that bigger to see, but the differences are there.   And that's motivating to me for sure!!!!
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My husband did the challenge with me.  He lost 8.2 lbs and 5.5 inches.  I can visibly see him shrinking.  I guess cause you can always see progress in others before yourself.  We are always so critical of ourselves.  

I really want to see the 170's and reach a certain hole (that I punched last year) on my belt.  So those are my next goals.  I felt like I did so much better on the challenge last year but I need to stop downplaying this year's results.  I think I struggled more this year regardless of the numbers that resulted.  Mentally is was harder and I was discouraged by that.  I love the challenge though and I love the Advocare product line.  So the goals are within reach!  I just gotta get there. 

I made this fun collage of some of the food I've eaten over the past 24 days. 

Sleeping with the power out. . .

Holy cow. . . I clearly don't sleep when the power goes out.  Ugh.  Last night around 7 or so, the power started acting funny. By 8:30 it was out.  Out out out.  Not coming back on.  My husband called the neighbor.  I texted my mom (she's less than 2 miles away but on a different line than us).  Both were out.  Both had the same issues prior to the outage.

Both of our phones had low batteries, but we had battery packs so we hooked up and got on Facebook.  What else is there to do?  Everyone was out.  Literally a widespread outage.  Our electric comes from a co-op.  They posted on FB that it was an transmission line and was an Ameren issue.  So we wait.

We go to sleep . . . you'd think in winter the issue would be lack of heat right?  Not for me.  It's lack of a fan.  I was too hot!  I toss and turn.  I look on FB.  People are saying the power will be back my 11.  Nope it's not. Then it's midnight. . . still not on.  I wake just before 1:30 am and it's not on.   I look on FB and my area is scheduled to be up "soon".

Bam!  Suddenly the power is back.

Guess who wasn't smart enough to turn the lights off?  Us.  Guess who got up to turn them all off?  Me.

By this point it's much cooler and I'm able to turn the fan on and sleep fairly well.  I'm no longer worried about everything in the fridge.   In the morning it's always freezing in the house because we turn the heat down at night.  I race to the bathroom where it's warm from the space heater (we need that cause we have issues with freezing pipes in the bathroom).  Um. . . guess what didn't come on when the power came back?  Yup. . . the space heater.  Holy freezing bathroom!  My kitty touches my bare legs with his little paws and they are freezing too!  Yikes.  

Who'd have thunk that sleeping with the power off would be so hard?  It was two fold I guess because I was worried about all our food and also because it was just too darn quiet.

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Yesterday was day 16 of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge and I was really struggling.  I decided to try something I hadn't tried before - making something with the meal replacement shake mix.

I had this recipe: 

I'm not a fan of a *lot* of PB so I used the regular chocolate shake.  The muffins don't rise but I didn't really know that and I filled 12 muffins as full as I dared. I didn't like how the batter tasted.  But I went on with the baking. . . 

I had enough batter to make 4 more muffins.  Unfortunately the power went out while they were in the oven.  My husband put them all away and I don't know which 4 weren't really done.  That should be fun to figure out.  I tasted one (ok two. . . ) of them and they weren't horrible.  Better than the batter was, but I'm not sure I'd make them again.  But maybe because they took care of my sweet craving I think. 

Fitbit Challenges and a weekend update

Do you have a fitbit?  I started with the Fitbit Flex and while I liked it I had issues with charging it.  I also didn't like the lack of a true display and not seeing the actual *number* of steps taken.  So at the very beginning of the year I "upgraded" to the Fitbit Charge.  Not the HR. . . I'm not hip on having a constant HR monitor.  We have enough electronics in our life I don't need that kind of monitor on my wrist.  I also don't pay any attention to calorie burn cause I don't feel that's truly accurate even with a heart rate monitor.   So I used my points from my Amazon card and got the Fitbit Charge for like $9 after my points were deducted.  Score!   But as is true with Fitbit, they have quality issues and I got a dud.  The battery wouldn't even last 24 hours.  So I exchanged it with Amazon and now I have a good one.

I go in spurts wearing my fitbit.  Mostly because I know what it takes to reach 10K steps in my daily life.  I have a desk job.  I go for a 20 min walk at recess every day, but ultimately if I don't do *something* after work, I will never reach my steps.  So once I figured out what it took, the charm of the device wore off and I'd wear it in spurts.  Maybe if I had a big run/race I'd wear it just to see how many steps I took.  But I did that with one of my half marathons in 2014 and what happened???   Well I got the 10K buzz from my fitbit early on in the race and then when I synced it later it gave me way way under 10K steps.  Bogus!  What a rip off.  I have no idea why it barfed.  So . . . again - this is why I go in spurts with Fitbit.

I actually bought a jawbone in Dec on a great sale at Target, but I realized I'm tied to Fitbit because I have so many friends in the app, that if I switched I'd lose those friends.  And what I do find motivating about my fitbit are the challenges.  So last week I was in a workweek hustle challenge. Who takes the most steps M-F??   Did I mention I have a desk job? However I have to say that I rocked this challenge.  I was often leading and honestly I think I would have won, but I had commitments on Friday after work that were *not* active and I couldn't reach my goal on Friday.  I was 5,000+ short.  I didn't even make it halfway.  But I did apparently set a personal record for the workweek hustle.  I didn't even know fitbit tracked this.

I was just shy of winning by about 3500 steps.  Oh so close!  I was bummed cause I really moved and tried like heck to win this.  :)

So the same person that invited me to that challenge, invited me to the weekend warrior challenge.  Challenge accepted!!!   I had a busy weekend.  I ran both days (3 miles) and was generally just moving around. And I won this one!!!  Whoop whoop!

There weren't as many people in this one but I still kind of crushed it.  The daily recommended amount of steps is 10K and you can see I stomped that.   Not all weekends are like this.  And honestly if I wasn't in the challenge I may not have ran both days.  As I said above the challenges and competing with friends in the one thing I love about my fitbit.  There is a revolving 7 day total that you can look at to see where you rank with friends.  I have a cousin that runs her butt off and is almost always over 100K steps in any given 7 days.  I'm never above her.  Sometimes you just don't have a chance :)

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Yesterday I went to a baby shower.  My brother's girlfriend is pregnant.   I decided to try my hand at making a baby blanket.  This was a bit of a challenge because I couldn't decide on a pattern.  I knew exactly what color scheme I wanted, but choosing the pattern was stressful.  I actually chose this pattern and started with 2 rows of each color.  That looked off.  So I started over and did three rows of each color.  This is the shell stitch.  I learned a lot doing this blanket.  I learned 2 stitches I hadn't used.  I taught myself to make the top row even once I was done.  And I did a border for the first time.  A double border at that!  I think it turned out well. I have no idea how it will hold up.  I cringe at the thought of washing it - will the colors bleed?   Will the yarn hold up and dry well?  Yikes.  And if I can, at every baby shower, I try to give something horse related.  The stuffed horse is super cute, baby safe and I've given it to a few people now.  I adore it! I should buy myself one.

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Today is Day 15 of the Advocare 24 day Challenge.  My weight is creeping down slower than the last challenge.  Which is kind of disappointing.  But it is going down and I'm feeling much more confident and comfortable in my clothes.  I brought my own food to the baby shower.  It was at 2 pm so I actually had a good lunch that held me over and I didn't eat all the snacks.  The key is really preparation and not allowing yourself to be set up for failure.  That's true with any eating program/ lifestyle change.  

We tried one new recipe this weekend.  Yesterday my hubby made Beef and Butternut Squash soup while I was at the baby shower.  He had it ready and waiting when I got home.  It was actually really really good.  We'd like to add a few more veggies next time.  Maybe some celery and green beans.   But holy cow - I LOVE butternut squash in soup.  I can't wait to make this again. 

Here is the recipe.  The interesting thing I thought is the outside of the beef was pink.  I don't know if it was the broth/squash that made it that color.  I cut my pieces up smaller (we'd do that differently next time too) and the insides were well done and brown.  It was kind of the opposite of how a steak would be where the inside is pink.  I was amused by that.  It's the small things. . . what can I say? 

Have a great week peeps!!! 

Advocare 24 Day Challenge: Phase 1 results

Today is day 11 and the first day of the 14 day phase 2.  They call this the max phase.   You are no longer cleansing your body, but you are giving it proper nutrition and vitamins.  You take quite a few pills in the MNS system.   I don't love that, but I do love results. . . .

So what were my results from Phase 1?

-6.6 lbs and -3.5 inches overall!!!

My inches broke down to:
           Chest: -1
           Waist: -1
           Hips: -1
           Thigh: -0.5

I'd rather have kept the chest and lost more hips, but such is life.

I didn't get a photo of my fat % monitor on Day 1.  (Running late for work as usual)  But I was at 32.8 %.  I didn't write down the BMI but I imagine it's the same. Oh and that's a high BMI - the freaking bar flashes so I forgot about that and the pic snapped at the wrong time.  I wish I was normal BMI, but I'm not.

Yesterday was a bit challenging.  We regularly have pizza day at work.  We had a few inches of snow and we had severe server issues at work - causing many people to twiddle their thumbs.  The boss declared it a pizza day.  Ugh.  They set up the tables in the hallway just outside my room.  The smells. . . oh my the smells!  But I was mentally strong and I resisted.  I wasn't about to mess up.  I am pretty strong on the challenge cause I believe anyone can do anything for 24 days.  But the day before I'm going to take phase 1 results?? That means I'm even stronger.  I resisted.  It's all about choices and eating for your goals.

But man. . . that's a lot of pizza and therefore a lot of pizza smell to resist. . . .  I did it!  SUCCESS.  Eat for your goals!  Eat to live, don't live to eat.

I can't wait to have final results in 14 days.  My weight has been holding for several days now - even creeping up 0.2 lbs today.  So . . . I think my body is resisting.  Which means I have to be strong and strict with my food choices.  I think I need to cut back on the fruit a little bit. It's my saving grace and replaces my sweets.  So a few less handfuls of grapes are in order.

Thanks for reading!

Some fun recipes over the weekend

It was a 3 day weekend this past weekend.  Whoop!  It was freezing freaking cold without snow.  If I have to be that cold it should at least snow.  It's suppose to snow today.  I believe when I see those beautiful flakes with my very own eyes. 

Today is Day 9 of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge.  Lots of people can't wait till Day 11 which is the first day of phase 2.  I don't understand because I eat the same on all 24 days of the challenge.  The Advocare Daily Guide doesn't indicate any differently.  Yes I'm an Advocare distributor and if I have one complaint about the whole thing it's the lack of definitive instruction and the way directions are spread through the grapevine.  I've heard things that absolutely don't make any sense and some things that are totally scientifically incorrect.   So that's my beef, but I love the products and what they have done for me.  But I'm pretty dang strict on the challenge.  I don't do dairy at all.  I avoid all processed carbs - no whole wheat bread for me.  Not even Ezekiel bread.  No pasta of any kind.  No sprinkling of cheese.  No yogurt.   The carbs I eat the most are fruit, quinoa and sweet potatoes.   

So anyways . . . I'm rolling right along and I can't wait to share a scale update on Day 11. 

In the meantime we had some fun with recipes this weekend.   

 First. . . on Saturday we made a soup that we made last year when I did the challenge (my hubby did not) and we loved and freaking forgot about it.  We will be making this a lot more often.  Here is the link sweet potato, chicken & quinoa soup.   YUM!  It's a crock pot recipe.  Check it out.   I'm eating leftovers for lunch today :)  It looks better in the blog photos. 

We had fish on Sunday and decided to try brussels sprouts again.  We like them but struggle to cook them.  My friend said to cook at 350 for 20 mins, then 425 for 10 mins.  That worked like a charm.  And we learned the smaller sprouts are better. The last time we tried I swear our sprouts were the size of golf balls.  They weren't very good. 

Last night we tried a new to us recipe that people doing the challenge are raving about.  Hummus Crusted Chicken. 

It was really good.  There is zucchini, squash and onion under that chicken.  We'd change a few things next time.  We would butterfly the chicken so the hummus covers more surface area.  And we'd cut back on the amount of lemon we left in the pan during baking.  If you want to try this recipe here it is. 

I've heard it's good with pork chops too!   

This weekend my hubby and I worked out three days in a row!  I took him to the gym with me on Sat and got him a 7 day pass.  I think he's going to join.  He joined the Y with me years ago and didn't last that long.  He had a lame excuse about not liking them withdrawing from his checking. . . umm. . . that's the easy way to pay and whatever.  I still don't know how committed he is, but this gym is much cheaper.  He says he wants to keep his cardio up.  We will see if he signs up once the 7 days is up.  And we will see how often he goes if he does sign up.   I love that he's trying and seems dedicated now.  

I'll be back on Thursday with an update on the results from phase 1.  If you are doing the challenge as well - stay strong and rock on!  You got this!

Crinkle. . . crinkle . . . crinkle. . .

Crinkle crinkle.  What is that noise?  Oh that's the sound of my husband opening one of these:

What?!?!  Seriously.  We are doing the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Candy canes are not on the menu.  What the heck?   It was about 9:30 pm last night.  We just got done watching 2 more episodes of Orange is the New Black and were going to bed.  He was going to feed the kitties and give Sophie her medicine.  And I hear the crinkle of the plastic.  Umm. . . nothing in plastic is on the menu. 

"What are you eating?" I ask.  

He gets defensive and says "It's just a candy cane! It's only a candy cane". 

He didn't use cuss words for once if I remember right.  I was mad.  Should I have been mad?  I don't know.  We are doing this challenge together.  A candy cane didn't temp me but the crinkle of the paper did.  It's like during the various times when I'm not drinking soda and I a coworker has a fountain soda . . . I can hear the ice.  My mouth starts watering.  So the crinkle made me think of chocolate. 

And yes I went to bed mad at him.  Do I expect perfection on the challenge?  I don't know.  Maybe.  I expect it of myself.  I don't even eat my vitamin C and vitamin D vitamins right now cause they are gummies and have a coating of sugar.  No artificial sugar in my system!   So yes I guess I expect the same from him.  But above that I expect that he doesn't eat these things in front of my face.  If he isn't committed he can cheat during the 12 hours a day that I'm not home.  That's what I expect. 

When I invest the money in the challenge (it's not cheap!) I give it my full commitment.   I paid for his challenge cause I ordered and my credit card is linked to our Advocare account.  I suppose I should have had him pay for his.  Then maybe he would realize the expense and be more committed. 

I think the other thing that bothered me is that he didn't *need* that candy cane.  What?!  He was mindlessly eating.  Through the challenge you learn how much you mindlessly eat when you want to reach for something you "can't have".  It's eye opening.  

So yes, my feathers are ruffled over a candy cane.  And I don't even know how to talk to him about it. 

But I'm rocking the challenge and the scale and I are friends again!  I won't post anything about my weight till I'm either a week in or at the end of the 10 day cleanse mark.  You never know what the scale will do, but these last 2 days have been *happy dance* moments when I saw the number on the scale.  

Advocare 24 Day Challenge . . . Day 1!

Whoop!  Today is day 1 of the Advocare 24 day challenge.   I stuffed my face like every meal was my last meal this weekend.  I blew up.

Holy yikes!  This makes me want to cry.  I undid a lot of hard work the last half of the year.  I used getting sick as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted.  I went through stages of panic and depression during that time and food was comfort.  But I could have got it under control.  I totally could have.  I just didn't.  Then the holidays came and I did ok.  But then New Year's came and I had 11 day till the challenge.  So what I did I do?  I ate everything one last time.  Like I'd never ever be able to have it again.  So I earned that 196.  I know it.  I own it.  I'm moving on.  (the fat % was 32.8% but I forgot to take a photo.  That's up too. . . )

We prepped food this weekend.  I made scrambled eggs for my breakfast every day.  My husband made chicken for my salads.  We made some quinoa and fruit salad.   So it's on!  We got this under control.

That was my breakfast this morning.  I'm drinking my spark right now.  I decided to have mandarin orange to shake things up and it's pretty good.  A bit like tang from the old days, but I was stuck on fruit punch so I needed to change it up.

Last night before we went to sleep. . . the last thing my hubby said was "I can't wait to start our cleanse tomorrow".  Whoop!  He had to come into this in his own time.  He's done the cleanse with me before but I think just to humor me.  I feel like he really *wants* to do it this time.  And this will be his first time doing the full 24 days.  So I'm very excited to see how he does.  I'm super happy that he wants to do this and was looking forward to it as well.

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One last thing . . .

I bought an Amazon Fire Stick over the holiday sales.  Finally set it up this weekend.  My internet doesn't seem to be fully up to snuff with streaming (we live out in the sticks) but it's working well enough.  Last night we watch three episodes of . . . 

Whoa!  Wow.  First of all when practically the first scene is 2 women having sex. .  .and your husband says "what are we watching". . .   ha!  Nah it's all good.  I can't wait to watch more!!!  I can't believe I finally got on the Netflix bandwagon.  I feel so grown up. 

A different weigh in day. . .

I don't think Mondays are the best day for me to weigh in.  I tend to drink less water over the weekend and if I cheat it's usually a weekend day. So I'm artificially up on Mondays.  However, here it is - big ol gain. . . I gained everything back.

This is beyond discouraging.  HUGE.  I ran 5 miles on Sat.  I was up a bit on Sunday.  I expected it.  A run can push me up.  And I didn't eat the best, but I was very active that day - walking a huge craft fair with my mom.  I was on track yesterday but I still went up. So I don't know.  I need to get this under control before I pack on *more* weight over the holidays.  I'm thinking of doing the Advocare 10 day cleanse again.  I just ordered one to have on hand as I sold the one I had.  I could start Friday.  I'm off Wed.  My birthday is Thurs.  So I don't want to start before then.

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Like I said, I went to a craft fair this weekend. . . this was my favorite purchase!!!

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I love snowmen.  I keep them out all year around in my house.  It's never the wrong time for some snowman love.  This guy is sitting on the shelf of a new floor lamp we got a few months back.  Perfect spot.  He's so freaking cute!!!

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At the end of last week I finally finished the crochet afghan I'm sending to my friend in TN.

As far as I know she doesn't read this blog.  I hope! :)  I'm not going to lie, I'd have loved to keep it for myself.  I hope she loves it!  I bought more yarn this weekend to start my next project.  A baby blanket for my brother's girlfriend. 

These are the colors that I chose and now I need to find a pattern! :)