What day is it again!?

So today I woke up and had NO idea what day of the challenge I'm on. Whoops!! I had to go to my best friend Jennifer's blog to see what day she was on because we started the same day. So I guess today is day 7. =) Don't get me wrong, I'm still following the plan and taking my cleanse pills, I just don't feel like it's a "challenge".

This weekend my mom came in to town. We had a great time playing with the girls, shopping, and eating out... yes, eating out. Friday night we went to Chili's. Normally I would have gotten a burger, or something fried, followed by a molten chocolate cake. YUM! But not this time. I had salmon and broccoli and rice. It was really good, and I didn't feel guilty afterwards which is the important part!! Then yesterday, for lunch, we went to Serrano's. Torture! I had a grilled chicken breast salad with vinegarette. I watched my girls eat rice, beans, enchiladas, and tacos. But I survived, and again, had no guilt later! Really, I think what makes this even more impressive is that this is the time of the month when I would normally be hoovering food, especially mexican food and sweets, into my mouth. I feel wimpy and drained, but I know it's just hormones. Hey, we are being honest here, right??

So far, the only exercise I've gotten this weekend was Just Dance Wii for 30 minutes, but I was definitely sweating. I may jog tonight... or I may not. We'll see!

So, I guess since tomorrow is Day 8, I'll be back to the Fiber Drink. I'm excited to get in to the MAX phase and start taking all the vitamins. That's where the real energy comes from!! Less than a month til Hawaii, so I've really got to get serious about the extra exercise I need. I teach class on Wednesday and Saturday this week, and I always end up sore after I teach, so that will be good!

Well, I think that's it for now. Here's to a good week!

OMG!!!

Holy crap!!! I just ran 3 miles in 27 minutes!! That means I was running 9 minute miles. That's BOOKING it for me. So pumped!! I told Regan, I wouldn't believe it if it wasn't me that was doing it. I can't believe what a difference it makes to eat right!! I'm only on day 4 of the challenge and already feel like a new person. Why do I ever let myself get so far off track!?!? I must have been hanging on to some serious water weight because I was down 4.5 lbs this morning. I think maybe I was super bloated from the Mexican food we had for our "last meal". Either way, it feels great to see the scale going in the other direction. I'm not typically someone who cares about the scale, I'm more interested in how I look and how my clothes fit, because as a few people have pointed out, muscle weighs more than fat. But I have been hanging on to a bit of extra fat around the mid section I'm trying to tackle. I don't think I'll ever have a six pack, that's not my goal. I just want to feel good about myself, and I was there just 9 months ago, so I know I can do it again.

Ok, I've been seriously rambling, I think the endorphins from my run have me on a high. I'm all over the place! Here's what my day looked like yesterday:

7:30 - Fiber drink, breakfast shake

8:30 - Spark and Catalyst

9:00 - Stroller Strides

10:30 - Half of a protein bar (it was a gross flavor!)

12:30 - Chicken Sausage (OMG! MY FAVORITE THING EVER!), 5 cherub tomatoes, celery with almond butter and a cutie orange.

3:00 - almonds, turkey jerky, strawberries

4:00 - Spark

6:00 - Spinach salad with grilled steak, avocados, tomatoes, carrots, and balsamic vinegerette. Yummy!

9:00 - Rice cake with almond butter and herbal cleanse pills.

It was a great day, and I'm just so glad to be feeling better!! Yay to being healthy!

Day 2

Ok, I guess for those of you checking in who didn't follow along last time, I'll do a quick summary of the challenge. The 24 Day Challenge is made up of 2 phases. The first phase, days 1-10, is the Cleanse. The word cleanse usually makes people wrinkle up their nose because they are thinking of the juice cleanse where you drink lemon water and eat nothing for several days. First off, that's completely unhealthy, second, you put it back on the first time you eat something! This cleanse is nothing like that. I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. The challenge kit I purchased from Advocare also includes a fiber drink, probiotic pills, and cleanse pills (vitamins, appetite control). The trick is to eat CLEAN! No sugar, no diary, and no bread. I can eat fruits, veggies, lean meat, eggs, and nuts. It gets a little old, but it's only 10 days. Seriously.

The second phase is the MAX phase. This is when I will begin taking like 15 pills a day to get the MAX amount of vitamins and nutrients that my body needs. Stuff I miss from my normal diet. At this point my energy level should be through the roof and the weight/inches should start really coming off. I can introduce a very limited amount of bread and diary back in to my diet. Again, very limited. Ideally sugar should be cut out FOREVER. Not likely, but it's a good goal.

So that's it. Here's a sample of my diet from yesterday (I'm currently on Day 3, writing about Day 2).

Breakfast - Fiber drink and breakfast shake (I added a TBLS of PB)

Mid Morning Snack - Protein Bar (we were out running errands)

Lunch - Half a chicken breast, boiled egg, 6 baby carrots and hummus, 4 strawberries with almond butter.

Afternoon snack - Almonds, beef jerky, and grapes

Dinner - Salmon, green beans, salad

Nighttime snack - Herbal cleanse pills and more strawberries and almond butter... it's so good!

So that's it. I'm feeling pretty good today. I got my Stroller Strides in, but I'm still feeling like I need more exercise. Guess I shouldn't push too hard. Maybe I'll do a P90X workout at nap time. We shall see. Well, that's it for now. Thanks for checking in!

The Challenge... again.

Well, here I am again... going through the Advocare 24 day Challenge. I feel a little silly because I just read my last post, which said "I have NO intention of going back to how I felt before." Whoops. I completely lost control and completely lost sight of my health. I stopped taking my medication, stopped eating right, stopped jogging, and worst of all I weigh more right now than I ever have (except when I was pregnant). So here we are, beginning of a new year, and I'm going to work on getting back to the new me.

A huge part of my motivation right now is our trip to Hawaii in 34 days. I'm really excited about a trip with my husband, with no kids, for 6 days, but I'm having a hard time getting TOO excited because I feel so unhealthy and unattractive. Who wants to go to Hawaii feeling unattractive!? Not me! So, although I plan to continue healthy living long after the Hawaii trip, I needed something to jump start my weight loss and boost my energy level. That's why I decided to do the challenge again.

Yesterday was Day 1 and it wasn't hard at all. I think the difference this time is that I knew what to expect and I was better at planning meals. The hard part is going to be curbing my cravings for the bad stuff, i.e. ice cream, cookies, pizza. I really wish that I craved healthy food, but I don't. I have to force myself to eat it. It gets better, I know. But the craving for Mexican food never goes away. I guess my problem is that I haven't figured out how to be healthy 95% of the time and splurge the other 5%. It usually ends up at an even 50-50 split... hence the weight gain. The holidays were especially hard on me. I just need to improve my will power. So, that's what 2012 is about. The year of WILL POWER... will power over food, will power of clutter, and will power over laziness!!!

Well, I'm not sure who's going to be reading this, but it makes me feel better just to write it down. Here's to a healthy new me!