The New News

So, as you all know I started with Advocare in October of 2014 and did a 24 Day Challenge at the very beginning. Well, before I started using Advocare products I was 263 lbs (cringe!), I lost 20 lbs on my first challenge and since then I have gone down to 219 (most days), I got really excited on Saturday when I stepped on the scale and it said 216.4, but then it immediately went back up to 219 the very next day, so it must have just been a fluke. But anyway, that brings my total weight loss to 44 lbs!!! OH YEAH! GO ME!! I am totally doing the happy dance right now. I will even take a picture for posterity's sake... (runs to the bathroom at work to snap a quick photo). Ok now don't get super excited, the bathroom here is gross and the lighting is terrible, I still think I look good!

I have yet to purchase new pants after the weight loss, I fully intend on getting all the way down to 175 before I do. So for now I look like a frumpy old lady with a saggy ass in my much too big for me pants. I can't even tell you how many people stop me and tell me that I look great.... It's a lot. Total confidence booster in and of itself. I am still using most of the same products as before. Spark, Catalyst, Omegaplex, and Meal Replacement Shakes. I have added a couple more items in for myself and a couple for Brennan and Michael as well. 

Brennan's new favorite thing is the Purple Champs:

It's a DHA supplement chew. They are super tasty and Brennan walks over to the cabinet every day points and says "purple". How can you not give in to that? So stinkin' cute. The DHA helps support normal brain, eye, and nervous system development. 

My other favorite items I have added to our ever expanding list of goodness are the bars:

I pack a couple of these with me every day so I have food options on the go. I usually have a AdvoBar for lunch, and a DB9 bar for snack. They are so so good. Brennan and Michael love the DB9 bars.

My husband also takes Rehydrate with him to work everyday. Its an electrolyte replacement drink and is great for working outside all day in the hot Texas weather. I drink one after/during workouts or while we are out working in the yard. So yummy!

So These are my families favorite goodies AdvoCare goodies. Has anyone tried these?

  

A Long Time Coming...

So, I know it has been quite a while since my last post, but hey, life happens right? The holidays were insane, as usual. Family flew in from out of town, Brennan's first birthday was smashed in there somewhere. I had major "ish" go down at work and at home and I am trying to pick up the pieces. So I figured I would get on here and bug y'all a little bit.

***Warning*** Emotional stuff below!!

The main reason for my not being around over the past few months was due to the fact that I suffered a miscarriage. It was hard. I didn't even know I was pregnant until I went to the doctor due to some abnormal bleeding and got slapped in the face with the news. At first I was totally fine. Then about 3 days later it hit me hard. Before I lost all this weight I had serious fertility issues and I was told that I would never be able to have children without medical interventions. So Michael and I took the necessary steps to conceive Brennan. I never even thought that I could get pregnant on my own. So the thought that I had conceived a child without my even knowing it was unfathomable to me. Then to have lost it without knowing it existed was even harder to come to terms with. On Feb 3rd 2015 I lost my baby at 8 weeks and 3 days gestation. It has taken me a while to not cry every time I think about it. I know that I am not alone in what has happened to me, but I still feel like an island. I didn't reach out to friends or family, I only told my husband. I couldn't deal with the "I'm so sorry for your loss", and the "everything happens for a reason", and the "It will happen when it's meant to". So I kept it a secret. I hid the hurt from my husband, the disappointment on his face when I told him was enough to make me never want to mention it again. We arn't ready for another baby, hell, we can't afford another baby, but it still hurts immensely.

Here is to hoping I continue to heal from this and get back on track with my life. I promise my next port will be much more lighthearted and hopefully entertaining. 

Much Love!

Challenge Results!

I am so freaking happy. I could see the changes in my body, but nothing makes you happier than looking at where you started and seeing how far you've come! Officially I am down 20.2 lbs from when I started this Challenge and I am so happy with the results. The hard part will be maintaining my good eating habits and continuing the weight loss. I fully intend to do this Challenge again in 90 days and I am so happy about the start to my journey!!!!

https://www.advocare.com/140959085

I still need to measure myself and total up my lost inches, but I am starting to look pretty darn good!!!!

I guess this is it for my Challenge updates for now, I will keep you posted on all of the other fun things happening in my life. Brennan's First Birthday is just a couple of weeks away! If you have any questions about the Advocare 24 Day Challenge please let me know, I would be happy to blab on and on about this amazing weight loss kick starter! You can ready more about the Challenge here!

Day 23

Ok so as I am nearing the end of my 24 Day Challenge I wanted to catch up and dump all of my thoughts out in one place.

1. This Challenge has been amazing! I can totally understand why so many people love it! The results I have seen are an amazing confidence booster. (I'll post pictures tomorrow)

2. It was much easier than I expected. I went into this Challenge with the mindset that I would follow through to the end and do it right!

3. I had some moments where I thought I was going to break, but I drank some water and told myself I was just bored and didn't really need anything I was "craving".

4. The support I have gotten through this Challenge makes me want to get someone else on this thing so that I can be that support for them. It has truly been inspiring!

5. I feel better. I know it sounds ridiculous, but its true. Giving your body the right amount of fuel and eating as cleanly as possible makes the biggest difference in the world when you are trying to lose weight, bulk up, tone up, and even maintain weight.

6. I really want to continue eating like this program suggests. Its a great guideline for clean eating. I never once felt like I was starving, which made it so much easier to stick with the Challenge.

7. If I could go back I would be more diligent about sticking with a daily workout. I did really well during the Cleanse Phase and did something every day, but a sick baby really derailed me during the Max Phase and I had a hard time getting back on track.

8. Today is Day 24! The last day! I weighed myself first thing this morning and I am down 19.7 lbs. I know that once today is over I will cross over to the 20 lb mark and I am so excited!

These are the products that come standard with the Challenge. I ended up getting an extra box of meal replacement shakes (pumpkin spice) and I also added Catalyst to my Challenge and had great results! Catalyst has become one of my favorite products ever!!! I will forever be taking this for the rest of my life!

  

Happy Halloween!!! And Random Musings...

Today is Halloween!!! We decided that since Brennan isn't quite a year old yet that we would just take him around to a couple of people's houses so they could see him in his costume and coo over how cute he looks! He's going to be a garden gnome. There is just something so adorable about a baby with a beard. He is way to young for candy so we will not be asking for any of that, and plus also, I'm on day 19 of my 24 Day Challenge and I don't need that in my life.

I am so glad that he finally got over his illness, and now we are just dealing with him being an unhappy camper over his teeth, which are about to poke through any day now. I need them to come through. I cannot live another day of my life with him being a cranky pants and waking up every 20 minutes during the night. Does anyone have any good tricks to help get him over this? Or will I just have to ride out the storm and pray that he gets over it soon?

On another note I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this Challenge. It has been surprisingly more easy than I thought it would be. I have issues sticking with things, especially diets because I just want to eat all the food in the WORLD. Sadly, I can no longer afford to keep gaining weight, after all I want to be around for many many more Halloweens, Birthdays and Christmases. Who else is going to embarrass the crap out of my child if I'm not around to do it? 

I am down 15 lbs, and can finally fit into the jeans I abandoned to the back of my closet 2 years ago which is a major achievement! I call them my old new jeans. I feel great which is also a bonus and my skin looks amazing if I can brag a little. Here is a no make-up, no filter, selfie for ya!

Silky smooth!!!! Like butta!!! Don't mind the bags under my eyes, it's been a long 10 days. I will definitely be getting some Sleepworks in the next couple of days! 

Here is a little inspirational somethin, somethin for ya to get you through the day!

Max Phase Low Down

As promised here is the low down for the Max Phase of the 24 Day Challenge.

What you will need:

1. Spark (super duper important)
2. MNS Max 3(great for those with caffeine sensitivity), MNS Max C (appetite control), or MNS Max E (Energy)
3. Meal Replacement Shake (my favorite is the Chocolate Mocha!)
4. Tupperware
5. Blender Bottle
6. Tote Bag
7. Go-Stak (I live and die by this thing!)

Optional Add-ons:
Catalyst
Omegaplex
ThermoPlus
Muscle Gain
Leptilean

You can find all of these products here: https://www.advocare.com/140959085

The first thing you need to know is that there are 2 options for this phase. You can choose to do the Max Pack Phase or the Lean-In-13 Zig Zag Program. The Max Pack Phase is more simple and I highly recommend this for first time Challengers. You will get to continue to eat just like you did during the Cleanse Phase with the option for a 6th meal if you've had an intense workout or are very active on a particular day.
The ZigZag Program is a little more complicated. Your days will consist of Burn Days and Refuel Days. On Burn Days you will eat no carbs at all and no fruit (except for breakfast). Refuel Days will reincorporate carbs and fruit back into your diet. It's recommended to do 3 Burn Days to every Refuel Day, but you can do 2:1 or even 1:1 if you need to.

I decided to go with the Zig Zag program for my Max Phase since I have already decided to cut out the carbs from my Challenge all together. Although, I have had a tough time sticking to the regimented time frame for eating my meals due to my poor sick baby. I am trying to get back on track and stick to the meal plans as best as possible, which is much easier now that we are back to a normal schedule! So, every night I pack up my tote bag with my blender bottle, meal replacement shake, snacks, lunch and my GoStak!

The most different thing about the Max Phase from the Cleanse Phase is the MNS packs you will take every day. There are 4 separate pill packs that you will take throughout the day and they look like this:

And here is my GoStak packed with all that awesomeness:

That pretty much sums what you will be facing in the Max Phase of the Challenge. So Far I am down 14 lbs and I feel amazing! I only have a few days left on this challenge and I am so excited to see what changes my body goes through! Comment or email me with any questions you might have.

Catch up!

I cannot believe it has been 6 days since my last post... Life just got a little crazy for a minute there. Brennan was super duper sick, and overall not a happy camper. Sick kids make life infinitely more hard. Watching my poor helpless baby be sick for almost a solid week was the worst thing ever. You don't want the details, let just say it was BAD! I basically turned into a kangaroo last week. Brennan is apparently a very needy, sick child. Think Man-Flu but on a more intense level, maybe now you understand... This was his first major illness, and it scared me a little. So I have been MIA due to the exorbitant amount of time it takes to nurse a baby back to health.

Lets just say that the last 6 days have been a roller coaster. I was so focused on my little one that I had a hard time sticking to the challenge guidelines. It was rough. I missed a few meals and snacks through out those few days and had no energy to workout. I have a lot of making up to do! My plan to get back on track is to up my workouts over the last 10 days of this challenge and to really, really, be strict with my food intake times and amounts. I know how well this challenge can work, I just have to get myself back in the right head space to complete it with confidence and trust in the system AdvoCare has set up. I know this works, I just have to work for it!

I am finishing these last 10 days strong and proud that I have accomplished what I have. I am down 12 lbs and I feel great! I would probably feel much better if I had followed challenge structure exactly, but life happens and I am picking myself up and dusting myself off and preparing for a better tomorrow. I am in the Max Phase of the challenge, this the the part of the challenge where you have prepped your body for successful weight loss and you can see and feel the pounds fall off. I already know that my body is changing and that my pants are getting looser and my stomach is getting flatter. I love the results I am seeing and it only makes me want to see more.

I will update you on the in's and out's of the Max Phase of the challenge tomorrow with a walk through of my day and all of the changes from the Cleanse Phase, but for today, this is all I got!