Day 12: had another day off today. Didn't get up crazy early but didn't sleep in crazy late. I had things on my 'to do' list! I took my magic beans, waited 30 minutes and ate an egg white omelet with mushrooms, little cheese, and a whole wheat tortilla.
I started thinking about something yesterday and I wasn't sure if I was going to post about it because it is kind of a taboo subject. However I have decided to go ahead and post about it because I am hoping that I will reach a few people.

I recently came across a situation. Someone, a fellow distributor, was trying to talk someone into doing the challenge. He was 'wooing' this other person with the promise of his discount. If he would buy the 24 day challenge, this distributor was going to give him his discount, which was probably 20 percent. This did not hit me the right way. Of course distributors have the freedom to give whatever discounts they want. But is this setting people up for failure?

My point is this.......

There are people that make good money doing this, and then there is me, struggling to pay bills every month. Why in the world would those 'high income' distributors not help us ' little people' out. Why would they not help us with a couple thousand dollars, help us get to the 'next level'...? I won't lie, in the begining I was thinking all of these questions myself. We live on less than 3k a month and we eat and have a roof over our heads. Why wouldn't they help us?!?!?!

It's a very fundamental answer.

You appreciate it more, when you work for it.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents would buy you something... shoes, clothes a toy. You wouldn't really pay attention to how dirty it was or how it was treated. You didn't really care that you left your Toys outside or played in the mud in your brand new Nike's. Then there came the day where your parents were like, 'If you want it, you need to buy it'. You bought your first outfit or those pair of shoes that you had been 'longing ' for. Then, you washed the dirt off of them everyday, taking the utmost care with what you bought. You saw it's value because you worked hard to get it......


Your upline, whomever they may be, are like your parents. Yes, they could make it easier for you and hand you what you want but then you don't see it's value. You become a spoiled selfish brat who doesn't care and will ultimately fail. That is not what your 'parents', your mentors want for you. They want you to succeed.

It is only when you work those extra hours, make those extra phone calls or in our case, work side jobs and overtime to truly see the value of what you are working towards.

This will apply to you if you are looking to become healthy or if you are looking for a business. You will value these products and what they can do for you if you work for them. You will be less inclined to go through a fast food drive thru or eat that bag of cookies in the pantry. If you are working towards the business you will remember the sweat, the tears the valleys and most importantly........
THE MOUNTAINTOPS!!!!!

Would you appreciate your accomplishments if they were handed to you? They would not be your accomplishments!

Brian and I, we have accomplished so much. We are so proud of how far we have come. It only gives us more drive to continue!

What a day!!!! Where do I even begin!?!?!?! Today has been an incredible fantastic day! I got started late....
I ended up sleeping till 10am this morning. I am so thankful to my husband because I needed it. I woke up and immediately looked at my plan book that came with the challenge. Today was the day the plan is changed up.

These are my 'magic beans'. I am so totally blown away!!! Why? You ask. Let me tell you two reasons. This morning when I looked at the plan, it said to take a whole packet of vitamins 30 minutes before breakfast. Say what?!?!?! Before breakfast? I'm thinking to myself, this is going to ruin my entire day! I will feel so sick taking these suckers on an empty stomach!

All of these? Before breakfast?!?! Ugh. So. I followed the directions, drinking my spark. I made my breakfast, set it aside and took a shower. People.... I never got sick!!!! I have never in my life, not have vitamins make me feel sick on an empty stomach. That was incredible. The other thing that has me wanting to run around the block is how I feel! Holy mother! I feel so much energy! I feel alive! If you have read the entire blog you know what I have been through. You know that I am tired all the time. I am exhausted all the time. It is almost 9 at night and I want to go for a run or jump on a treadmill or go for a swim! I even played with my kids at the playground today! I sit at the playground. I don't get up and play! I played today! I am making a nice dinner for Brian. I took care of the kids all by myself because my husband, the hard worker that he is, is working another side job. Had it been any other night, I would be in the worst mood and exhausted. This product, the MNS Max E will be in my necessity list from now on.

Okay I promised numbers. Okay. From my: Neck I lost 1.5 inches, biceps .75 inch, breast 2.5 inches, waist 3.5 inches, hips 1 inch, thighs 2.75 and a 1/2 inch from my calves. This morning I weighed in at 228.1. My starting weight was 235.6. Which makes me 7.5 pounds lighter! I also added my numbers wrong! It is actually 12.5 inches which is still incredible for 10 days! Do you know how long it has been since I have seen 220's?!?!!! Over 6 years! Getting from 252 to 235.6 took me 5 years! 5 years to lose not even 20lbs! In 10 days I have lost 7.5 lbs! I am quoting Jason Miller, a distributor above me, to end my post.

'Choosing NOT to do Advocare is just crazy!'


Please comment if you have questions or if I can help you start your own journey. It will be amazing. I can promise you that!

(My 2 beautiful baby girls. They are my life.)
Day 10: A full day of work. I do so much better on a schedule! Of course today was a long, long, weird day at work. Just a lot of weirdness went on. It was a mentally exhausting day. The box of chocolate that was in the break room was calling my name. My snacks are NOT what I wanted today. Why? Well, I was tired and fed up with dealing with people. I just wanted a candy bar and I wanted to crawl in bed. Well, that is exactly what got me into this mess! Or one of the things anyway.
It was a joyous morning before work. Why? You ask? Like you have to ask!!! Today, was my final day drinking the fiber cleanse shake. I made it! The peaches and cream was not bad. It was very tasty but drinking it first thing in the morning was sometimes a challenge. If you are a morning person and have that 'get up and go' first thing, you won't have a problem.
As most of you know the challenge is done in two phases. The first ten days is the cleanse phase. You follow the directions on the cleanse box, you have the meal replacement shakes and the spark. People also opt for the catalyst and the omega. I did take this option. The 2nd phase is the max phase. This is when you start packing your body full of nutrients because you have been cleaned out, your body's metabolism is ready to go! So tonight I had my husband take my measurements again.... I had him do them because he knows how to measure... He builds stuff.... Like cat houses and beds that have ceilings and trailers. He is amazing! I love you 'B'! My husband, i have to give him the praise here. He wanted me tondo this challenge so bad. We did not have the money to do it. However God provided a side job. Brian gave me every cent to pay for the challenge. He was so excited for me. He is still excited for me. So, he is the one who made it possible for me to do this challenge. Thank you babe. So. He is a master with the measuring tape. Now he is a master.... But when he gave me the numbers.... I did not believe him. I made him measure again. Are we ready?!?! You wanna know?!?!!!

In ten days, I have lost a total of 13.75 inches..... Say What?!?!?! Ya'll I am on fire! 13.75 inches!!!!!!
Tmrw I will post before measurements and after measurements, with my starting weight and weight after ten days. Guys. This is the secret weapon we all dream about!
If there was ever a time, it's now. If you want to see results, It's Advocare. It's the 24 Day Challenge...... It has changed my life.

Day 9: I was off today. Had things to do around the house. Drank my fiber shake and ate some oatmeal. The oatmeal was plain with coconut shreds, 1/2 banana, a few cinnamon almonds, almond milk unsweetened and a teensy bit of Agave nectar.

It was super good. I struggled with being motivated today. A big part of that was not drinking my spark first thing. It's different doing this plan without a schedule. If you don't have to be somewhere or do anything it's hard to do the steps. Felt like I was dragging my feet all day.
Breakfast was late so lunch was my next meal. I had some left over tuna patties. Yum! My friend Taylor called and asked to walk with me. So I went and we walked a mile. I came home and did the fluidity bar work out. I probably should not have done both exercises. For the rest of the day I was exhausted. By the time I realized I hadn't finished my first spark, let alone drink the 2nd one, it was too late in the day to catch up. I would have been awake for a good park of the night. I ate some cinnamon almonds and some strawberries before dinner.
Dinner was interesting..... So. Remember that disgusting black bean soup I made yesterday and could not eat it? Well I could not bear to throw it away. So I put it in a collinder and I rinsed off the juice until I had black beans, shredded chicken, diced tomatoes. I threw some whole wheat tortillas in a pan, the chicken mixture on it, cheese for the family and BOOM! Quesadillas! My quesadilla was made with the chicken mixture and then I put fresh spinach on top of it. Did you know that putting spinach on a quesadilla or even pizza, it gives the illusion of cheese?!?! Neither did I until I did it today! When the spinach is wilted, and you chew it, it feels like cheese! Try it! And let me know what you think!
Still missing salad dressing. Thinking of making an Italian one tmrw for lunch. 1 more day on the cleanse and then we weigh in for the results of the cleanse!!! Very tired tonight. Not much brain power. Day 9, acceptable. On to day 10!

Day 8, I had to work. Since it was day 8 I had to take the fiber drink this morning. Took my meal replacement shake to work. Things were super crazy at work. I brought strawberries and nuts for a snack and my tuna patties for lunch. I will close the day out at 116 oz of water. I remember a few weeks ago I would struggle to get 64oz in. Yesterday I only got 64 oz in and I have been so thirsty all day! Why is that ?!? I believe it has to do with changing my habits! It is no longer acceptable to only get 64oz of water in a day. My body is now using more water because I am giving it more water. No wonder I felt like hibernating all the time! I was not drinking nearly enough. Let alone the nutrients I was not eating!
Today I really started to get negative about not be allowed dairy and my chocolate. Like, I started thinking about downing some major nachos and dark chocolate candy bars. Today was just a super stressful day at work and I just wanted my cheese! After lunch I could not stop thinking about dark chocolate. I normally, after lunch and dinner will have a small piece of dark chocolate and it tells my body that it is satisfied and eating time is over. It's like the whole drooling dog scenario when the guy rang a bell. 'Pavlov's dog theory'. So I knew what would happen if I didn't do what I did. I would binge and eat any chocolate I could get my hands on. So, in order to do preventive damage control I went down to the gift shop and bought some dark chocolate almond bark. Broke off a piece, about a tbsp, and ate it. After I ate it, I did not feel guilty nor deprived and I went along with my day. When I got home I was extremely tired. I could not eat what I made for dinner and I just wanted to crawl into bed. So I made an egg white, mushroom burrito on a 100% whole wheat tortilla.

However I still could not get cheese off my mind. So again, I threw some mozzerella on my eggs put it in a tortilla and was super happy. I may have completely and totally screwed up my cleanse part of the challenge today. I don't know exactly how the cleanse works but I am sure they say no dairy for a reason. However, I knew had I not done what I did I would have just threw in the towel and ate a big plate of nachos tonight. So I did what was best for me. Do you know how you tick? Are you able to eat food in a controlled way or is it all or nothing with you? Are you able to keep junk in the house and not eat it? This is one thing I give weight watchers credit for teaching me, calorie counting and portion control. The bad thing about weight watchers is you can eat 10 candy bars a day if you wanted to use your points for that. There really isn't a big focus on eating clean or encouraging it.
So I told you I would tell you about the black bean soup. I made it for dinner tonight and it was absolutely terrible! I could not even eat it! I am so upset though because there was a pound of chicken in that soup! The recipe called for lime juice and I feel like had there not been the lime in it, it would have been eatable. This is what drove me to the egg white omelet. Oh well, you don't know what's good unless you try it!

So. Day 8 was kind of a down day for me but that's okay! I need to have down days in order to appreciate the fantastic days!
I can not wait until weigh in day on Thursday. I took a peek today and I almost fell on the floor in excitement. I ran into the bedroom and woke up my husband and shared the exciting news! I now officially weigh less than my husband! That! Is something to celebrate!

The next few days will be photos of my family. Why... Well. It's important to have a team cheering for you. Whether is be your family, your friends or the team that is made through joining the AdvoCare family!
Today is usually a worship day for my family and I. However our 6 year old has been complaining of a stomachache the last two days. I wasn't sure if she was getting the virus again that she had a few weeks ago so her and I stayed home.
I kind of grazed all day long. I did remember to take catalyst as well! This morning I had a small banana with some almonds. I was kind of exhausted from working the last two days. I went back to bed to lay with my daughter. When I got up I felt better, finished my spark and got a shower.
I promised pictures of dinner last night.

I did not take a picture of the salad because I decided I did not like the dressing. I want desperately to eat more salads but I don't like vinegar and oil and I don't do balsamic vinegar either. Probably going to have to wait until the cleanse and make some clean ranch dressing, which I have done before! The spaghetti is 100% whole wheat, the sauce I made with tomatoes and just Italian herbs and spices. Then I topped it with some veggie shreds. I had this for lunch with some almonds. I was kind of not in the mood to put meals together today. However I was not hungry and I did try to balance my carbs and protein. For dinner I made tuna patties.
I got the recipe from:
http://dailyupsandpounds.blogspot.com/2013/04/clean-eats-krabby-patties-and-more.html?m=1 .
She is a friend that has been clean eating for a year. She has a great blog and I encourage you to visit it and look at her recipes. She does some crazy crazy stuff like avocado chocolate pudding..... I haven't tried that one yet. She says its fantastic! Anyway I don't care for the taste of salmon so I used just plain tuna fish from the can. The whole family loved them! My youngest was asking to eat them for breakfast! I served them with a side of strawberries.

They seem very versitile. You could do a 'tuna pattie bar' and let everyone top their own the way they want. My husband had cheese and ranch on his. The kids and I just ate ours plain! They have quinoa, tuna, sweet potato, eggs, and a tiny bit of corn meal in them. We will be making them again for sure!
I talked a little bit about having your family's support while making this lifestyle change of eating clean. My family is super supportive. They will want to try the new foods I am making. They want to know why mommy is eating this way now. Brian knows not to offer me pop or candy . So what if your family isn't as supportive? I know some of you that are going through this right now. There really isn't much you can do to change them. My best words of advice is keep on changing you. Keep on this road of health and maybe one day they will 'get it'. I was a unsupportive family member at one time. My brother has been telling me to eat clean for 2 years. I just kind of rolled my eyes and thought I could do it my way. He never really bothered me about it but every so often he would bring it up again and offer it as a solution. I just didn't understand. I did not understand how much salt and sugar is put into things you normally buy, like spaghetti sauce. I did not understand that when you put crap into your body that it was not going to run efficiently. I just didn't get it. Calories are calories, I would think to myself. Your body doesn't know a difference between grilled chicken and a piece of white bread. I want to say to you, it does. Your body, this body that God created, does know the difference. I will tell you than when you eat what you should be eating, clean, unprocessed crap, your body all of a sudden knows what to do. My brother is so very excited that I have started down this road of eating clean. What he is a skeptic about are the Advocare products I am using. I know that he is only voicing what a lot of people are thinking. If you can eat clean, what do you need AdvoCare for.
The fact of the matter is, everyone needs supplements. It does not matter how clean you eat, how much you think you are putting vitamins and nutrients into your body. Even if you eat organic, the soil quality in our farms are not what it used to be. Soil depletion has reduced the nutrient content of our food supply. In most areas of the world, the land has been overfarmed and overgrazed. In most of the world, manures and other mineral-rich products are not put back enough on the land. This has depleted the soil quality. In many other areas, the soil is just of low quality and is difficult to improve. This produces food that is low in many minerals, in particular, but also low in vitamins, and hundreds of other nutrients found in food. This doesn't even touch on hybrid foods, pesticides, how long it takes from picking the food to getting it to your table. All of these things reduce the foods quality. This article
http://drlwilson.com/Articles/SUPPS-WHY%20TAKE.HTM

had some great information. AdvoCare makes supplements, that are free from fillers. They are quality tested for over 200 illegal stimulants. Olympians take them, and trust them to have quality ingrediants. So when you take the supplements from Advocare you are getting quality products. They have many different lines; sports, health, trim, well being. There is truly something for everyone. Not to mention the amazing 'Magic Mommy Juice' A.K.A. Spark!
Tomorrow I will be writing about a black bean soup we tried.... If you have any questions, please feel free to comment!
Day number 7, was a great day!

Day 6: spent mostly at work. Drank 130oz of water today. Don't have much different to post so it will be short tonight. I had an Advocare Chocolate Mocha meal replacement shake for breakfast. Almonds and a banana for a snack. For lunch I had pizza, without the tortilla with added in shredded chicken. I call this skillet pizza. I sautée mushrooms, onions, peppers.... Basically anything that you would want on your pizza. Then I added clean pizza sauce and the veggie shreds. I had some shredded chicken in the freezer already cooked up that I threw in top.That was super good. Then for a snack I had an apple and and 1 tbsp of the powdered peanut butter.
Came home super tired. However I managed to try and make a salad dressing out of strawberries, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I put that over my salad, with some cinnamon almonds. Then I had 1/2 cup whole wheat spaghetti with the homemade sauce I made yesterday. Then sprinkled veggie shreds on top. I have to say, I was impressed! It was all very flavorful! I have leftovers and will eat it again tmrw. I will take pictures then. I totally bombed on the Catalyst today. Why is it so hard to take 30 minutes before I eat a meal? It's not rocket science!
Clean eating is becoming easier and easier. It is def. doable. I was afraid in the begining that I wouldn't have time to make stuff from scratch. You all that know me, know I work 12 hr shifts. I have a family to take care of but it is so do able. I am so glad I took this plunge and I am so grateful for Advocare giving me the edge to do it. Please let me know if I can help you start your own journey to a healthier you. You know I would be honored to do so. I love helping people.
Victory to Day 6! I was for sure a BEAST!!!

Oh day 5 how I kind of resent you today. Friday night, in our house is known as 'family night!' This night, every week we make or order pizza, play games and or watch a movie. In the summer we will do bonfires and s'mores, but one thing holds true..... There will always be pizza on Friday night.
This blessed event started very young for me. I can remember it being a tradition once we had moved back to Ohio from West Virginia, this was when I was 8. So for nearly 25 years, I have been eating pizza on Friday nights. Do the math people. Luckily, I have been doing my homework and PLANNING! This is a huge part of this program. Do not be caught unprepared.
I have been learning a ton about eating this week and I have to say, walking through the grocery store today, I felt so empowered! I am looking at labels now and I'm 'getting it'!
I'm excited for the next 5 days while on the cleanse but I do have to say I miss dairy. I don't even eat it that much. We eat a lot of Mexican around here and I find that's when I am grabbing for it. Today's meals were very basic.
After talking my catalyst and Probiotic cleanse tablets ( I forgot to mention that yesterday. In place of the cleanse drink, you take 2 small capsules before breakfast), I came up with a concoction for breakfast. 1/2 cup of Oats, with a tbsp of peanut butter and a tbsp of cocoa. As of right now I am kind of unsure about sweetners in this phase. I know Splenda is okay in moderation but other things I am not sure of. If I were following 'the clean diet' Agave nectar and honey are allowed to sweeten. I may or may not used a tbsp of one of those. I ended up only eating half because is was so filling. For snack I had some strawberries and mixed nuts. Lunch was 1/2 cup quinoa ( the base I made the other night with celery and onions), with 1/4 cup black beans I made the other night. They are just beans. Then I added 1/4 of an avocado. Now this is where I would have but a dollop of reduced fat sour cream on top. Being on the cleanse, I did not. I put some Mrs. Dash 'fiesta lime' on top and that was lunch. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the sour cream. However, I was very surprised at how good it was! I ate it all! Snack kinda happenned late. I ate some 'cinnamon roasted almonds' while I was putting the groceries away. Then I made a snack.

This was something I had been seeing for awhile and decided to try it. It is 'PB2'. Basically it is powdered peanut butter. It only has 45 calories per 2 tbsp and in all honesty, was amazing. I put 1tbsp on a brown rice cake and some thinly sliced apples.
I want to clarify something. I just realized today that I am doing something wrong. For things that are labeled 'starches', during the cleanse phase, you should only be eating one a day. I kind of messed up on this. I have been eatin 2 to 3. Again, I doubt that there will be someone out there that doesn't miss something. This program is not a start and a stop at 24 days. This program is meant to start new eating habits that you will continue. So tmrw, I will be starting the 1 starch a day.
Something I have not eaten a lot of is salads. I think it's because I have no dressings! I have a recipes for a strawberry dressing of some sort I forgot to make at the begining of the week I may make tonight.
Something else I have a beef about is the variety of spaghetti sauce at Kroger. Every single brand had added sugar and salt. I was a little ticked! Lol. So I bought some canned tomatoes, added garlic powder, onion powder and Italian herbs. It has been on the stove for a few hours. My Great-Grandma Parolin would be proud. Hopefully it's edible! I may need to call my uncle in Texas who is the only one that cooks authentic Italian anymore. We will see.

So dinner. It was freaking incredible. I used 100% whole wheat tortillas, clean pizza sauce, I sautéed mushrooms, onions and peppers with garlic. Put it on the sauce. Then I got veggie shreds which is a soy based cheese substitute. Put it in the oven until the cheese melted. I am so incredibly excited that I can have my pizza and AdvoCare too!
In the end. I am learning that its about quality, not quantity. You can eat 1500 calories of pre packaged foods or 1500 calories of nutritious food that will actually fuel your body. It's your choice. The 1500 calories are not created equal. I have found that eating the crap food, clogs me up. It makes my body not want to burn! Eating quality food, helps my body to burn and lose weight. 'You won't get the million dollar body ordering from the dollar menu....'
Since Monday I have lost 3.7lbs!!!!!
Starting weight (4.9.13): 235.6
Weight today: 231.9
-----------Pounds lost this week: 3.7 lbs
Total lbs: 3.7lbs
Water: 100 oz.
Exercise: no excuses. I just didn't exercise. I was bad.

I cancelled my gym membership. That is a very odd first sentence of a weight loss blog I know. I started really thinking about the gym today and for me and this time in my life I have decided its not for me. I am a home body. If I am not working, I like to be at home. So for me to get in my car to workout for 45 minutes, it's just not realistic for me. What is realistic? Swimming in my backyard, doing a workout video, taking a walk with my husband, riding bikes with my kids, taking the stairs at work.
I felt like yesterday's post was a disorganized. Maybe because I wasn't on a schedule and so my day was disorganized. Today I am going through the kids clothes to see what we have for summer and putting away the winter clothes.
Today is the 4th day so no Fiber drink for a few days. I drank my spark and took one Catalyst. 3o minutes later I had breakfast. I decided to start today with a banana and some peanut butter. I love love love the meal replacement shakes that came with the challenge but there is only 14 and I want to make them last a month. That means for the next few days I will be doing other things for breakfast. Which is good for you, variety is the spice of life after all. That and the buffalo sauce that's burning my mouth at the moment!
Lunch is just what we had for dinner last night. Minus the sweet potato fries, just wasn't feeling them today and a bit more buffalo sauce with some added avocado made into guacamole with Mrs. Dash fiesta lime. It was all super yummy and spicy. Being spicy is good for two things. 1. It actually increases your metabolism. 2. It makes you drink more water.

Something that I believed going into this challenge is that 'Clean' food is boring food. The last few days I am finding that to be untrue. I actually can't wait to go to the grocery store to find other things I can make for meals this week. Something that is true for this lifestyle is 'planning is essential'. If you don't have a plan, if you don't have the support then you will fail. This is why I like the AdvoCare program. You get the support from people who have walked in your shoes. You have people behind you, starting, that you can help. You have people ahead of you to help you. However you have to reach out and ask for the help.
I am hoping by doing this blog,I can show just 3 of you the benefit that I am receiving from AdvoCare. That those 3 will have the courage to change the course of their life and that you, might help 3 more people.
Tonight for dinner I did on the fly. I'm kind of sick of chicken. It was my go to meat this week. The only meat I ever buy is chicken or ground beef. Since ground beef is not that nutritious it was chicken..... For 5 days, lunch and dinner. So, needless to say I will be expanding my horizons this week. Anyway. Dinner was a quinoa 'bar'. I made a base of quinoa, onions and celery. Then we all added toppings to our own liking. The kids put cheese and sour cream on theirs. I put hot sauce and corn in mine. After the fact I realized corn probably isn't in the okay list of foods to eat. However I did not beat myself up about it. Bottom line, it was corn..... Not a candy bar! Something else hit me at dinner. My daughters saw what I had on my plate and wanted what I had. I put on their plates a scoop of quinoa. My youngest looked at my plate and looked at hers and said 'where's the corn?'. I promptly put corn around her quinoa like it was on mine. Those little eyes are watching. The are watching what I eat . I am forming healthy habits for them right now! If that doesn't motivate me I don't know what will!

Aside from eating and the plan, I had a 'blue' day. Right when I woke up I knew I had a struggle ahead of me. It was raining and when it rains I hurt. My body aches. I don't know if it is a form of fibromyalgia or if its just a normal thing that happens to everyone and my nerves are just over sensitive. Anyway, I had to fight for everything today. I had to fight to eat right, exercise. I had to fight to even get out of bed this morning. My point is that everyday presents its own struggle. You will have stress in your life, you will be sick, you will have to work, you will (fill in the blank). We can all make excuses, all day long, about why we eat the way we do, why we don't exercise, why we do the things we do. Bottom line: excuses don't give you results. If you want results, stop making the excuses.
'One bad meal won't make you fat, just like one good meal won't make you skinny.' This is a lifestyle change. You must Change Your Life. YOU.


Day 4:
Exercise: fluidity bar
Water: 80 ounces
Cleanse effects: feeling pretty cleaned out
Still no crazy urges to run to the bathroom.
Weight: 235.6lbs
First weigh in is tmrw!!!!!!!!

Day 3 started off more slowly than days 1 and 2. I got up and took my fiber shake and the Chocolate mocha meal replacement shake. This morning I wanted a little bit more so I added a banana and peanut butter to it. I'm in heaven.... One thing I will suggest is straws. The fiber drink goes down so much easier with a straw. This morning I ran out of straws and I was so upset. I chugged the fiber drink and my shake down without it. I wasn't very happy!
Last Friday I worked out with a sweet friend of mine. She brought over Jillian Michaels '30 day Shred'. We did it and I have been hurting ever since. Doing it, I knew better. I knew I could not do anything so hard impact. Sometimes I get so frustrated because my heart and mind are so willing but my body is not. I have lower back issues. Stenosis, arthritis and buldging, degenerative discs. All of this is happening in the same part of my back. Any jumping, pushing, pulling anything at all throws it into fits.
Today I will be starting back on a program I bought in the fall but never used it consistently. It's called 'fluidity'. It is a ballet bar with a DVD to follow. It strengthens your core without the jumping around or being on the floor too much. I am excited to add it to the '24 day challenge'.

Just finished 'Fluidity' and I am laying on the floor. For being low impact it still packs a punch!
When I woke up this morning I felt different in my middle. I know it was only the begining of day 3 but I seriously felt different. I am not going to post my 'skin' photos but I can tell you I DO see a difference. Other people may not be able to see it but that's okay. I know I am not seeing things because my husband saw it too! I did take photos with my shorts and shirt on just to document.

The left is the night before Day one and the right was this morning. Again you can't see much with the clothes on but the bottom part of my stomach, the 'pouch' as I like to call it, is less.
I kind of just 'snacked' today. I had that heavenly shake when I was supposed to be eating lunch. Then I ate fruit and nuts. Then before dinner I ate hummus with carrots. Dinner tonight was a thrown together meal.

The chicken was grilled on our grill with Mrs. Dash and olive oil and then cut. Then I added to mine Franks buffalo sauce. ( I don't know if this is clean or not but it was not that much. There was no added sugar or corn syrup). The vegetables were sautéed first in olive oil, (the peppers and onions) and then I added carrots, broccoli and cauliflower to steam. Lastly the sweet potato fries were tossed with olive oil and corn starch and baked. Those I am still trying to figure out. I can't get them crispy and not soggy. Over all I was very happy with dinner. I just hope I can keep up with my creativity. I am not a 'cook' and I don't throw dinners together easily. I was glad today was pretty simple and everyone loved it.
I forgot, all day, to take my catalyst. I don't know what's wrong with me! I need to have it sitting out so I see it when I am not working.
It feels more of a lifestyle today. I wasn't mad about eating clean. I wasn't 'longing' for what I couldn't have. It has felt very natural to me. There are still 'temptations' in the house. The hubby and kids still want their chips and their cookies but I never ate those in the first place so they really don't tempt me now.
My before bedtime snack for the last three days has been the brown rice cake, natural peanut butter and a banana on top. It satisfies my sweet, crunchy and savory 'tooth' all at the same time.
I want to end with a quote I saw today.
'EAT FOR THE BODY YOU WANT TO HAVE, NOT FOR THE BODY YOU DO HAVE.'

Day 3:
Water: 85 ounces
Cleanse effects: still no weird poo poo : )
Feeling: I feel cleaned out, I def feel less of me in the stomach area
Exercise: fluidity bar program
Feel full?: I have not felt stuffed but I have not felt hungry. I feel stable and level.