Advocare 24 Day Challenge Day 2

Just a little humor! The drink really is terrible. It's not so much the flavor as the texture. It's like drinking grits and it makes me want to vomit. Yesterday I flavored it with some spark and today with some propel strawberry kiwi but like I said, it's not the flavor. Going down it just grosses me out. Maybe that's why they tell you not to eat for 30 minutes--it would probably come right back up! But oh well.  You gotta make some sacrifices to get the results you want, I guess. Nothing worth having is ever obtained easily, that's for sure.

Yesterday went pretty well. I went to the gym and did weights and biked for three miles. Tonight I have zumba.

I went to my event last night and did NOT cheat. Not once. I also left my dip that I made with someone else so I wouldn't get home and rationalize not wasting it by eating it. I came home and had some turkey and steamed veggies seasoned with creole seasoning.

I'm on Day 2 with no coffee and I honestly think that if I had to go to work, I probably could not do it. The spark does help give me energy. 22 more days to go!

Advocare 24 Day Challenge Day 1

So after hearing a lot about it and researching for myself, thinking and praying on it, I decided to take the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. I start today!

For more information on the company, the products and the challenge, go to www.advocare.com.

Obviously, I'm in the cleanse phase and let met say, the fiber drink is terrible. But not as bad as I imagined. Everyone kept telling me how horrible it was but I mixed it with the spark and stood at the sink and downed it. Bleh. But it's done.

I also need to go back to the grocery store for chicken and turkey and low fat low cal salad dressing so for lunch I had a meal replacement bar. Also bleh. But I have had worse. I slept through breakfast and morning snack.

I'm going to the gym in a little while to walk and lift weights. I have an event later that will have lots of tempting food so it will be a true test of will power, as is pretty much everything else! Headed to T-town this weekend and bunco Sunday night. But there will never be a good time to start. And I have to do something NOW.

So here I am, in all my glory. No cropping. No photoshopping. All me. And hopefully in 24 days, I can show you less of me!

Starting at 230 pounds, the heaviest I have ever been. Here we go!

Some slack off but not too much

Rhonda moved back to the other side of town so it's been a little difficult to make it to the Y in the mornings anymore. Oh how I need that accountability partner! Kayti is willing to go with me. But she's not any better at getting herself up than I am. I'll get back with it. I hope.

I have NOT slacked off zumba though. I have fallen in love with it all over again and, according to MyFitnessPal, I burn three times the calories in 45 minutes of zumba than I do in an hour of running, walking or biking. But I am still doing those as well as strength training on the nights I don't have zumba. And my calorie intake has greatly reduced.

I am still not seeing the pounds drop off but I can tell a difference in the mirror and in the way my clothes fit. So I can only hope that the number on the scale will soon reflect my efforts. 

I guess just like those morning workouts, we shall see.

On a roll...

I have been working out for about a month now. Rhonda meets me almost every morning at the Y. I usually walk a mile on the track, then do either floor exercises or weights and then do at least 2 miles on the bike. I resumed zumba classes on Monday and Thursdays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays (that we don't have church) I go to Cosby and walk.

I got all excited because the scales at the Y revealed I had lost 11 pounds. But alas, it was a hoax! The scales at the Y was not working properly. I haven't actually lost any weight at all and I HAVE changed my eating habits. I have cut way back on the sugar and carbs and am eating more protein.

Last week, I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app for my phone and I am really excited about it. It helps me keep track of my calorie intake as well as how many calories I burn during exercise. I usually come out well under my daily caloric allowance. I am also going to adjust my workout some to include more cardio and less strength training. I know the strength training is important and I can tell results already even though the number on the scale isn't down. But I need to get that number down more before I focus TOO much on building muscle.

I'm also going to make an appointment with a weight clinic and either start appetite suppressants or injections. And yes, I am drinking buckets of water!

I'm just trying to keep a record of all my efforts because this is a last resort before some kind of weight loss surgery. I really hope it doesn't come to that!  Prayers appreciated!

So much for changing my sleeping habits...

Last night was Friday night. I went to Brooke's voice recital and met the bestie that I haven't seen in over two months for dinner. I came home, uploaded and edited some pictures and then finally went to bed around 1 a.m.--only about 4 hours after my desired new bedtime. Needless to say I did not want to get up and go to the gym at 8. I tried to get up for my nail appointment at 9:30 but I had a headache. So I took some tylenol and went back to bed and didn't wake up again until 12:35 p.m.! And I've done some laundry and rearranged my furniture in order to accommodate more people for Kayti's party but that's it. I can't get motivated to do any of the other things I had planned to do.

Something has GOT to change!

For weight loss and fitness journey

I have GOT to do something about my weight. I am so super frustrated that I have put on 25 pounds since July! I don't think my eating habits are that bad. It's true, I have to eat cheap a lot and cheap food tends to be more fattening. It's also true that I have to eat on the go a lot and fast food is DEFINITELY fattening. I'm not big on sweets but I do eat them sometimes. My biggest weakness is carbs. I love bread and pasta! And I DON'T like a lot of vegetables and I know that hurts.

As far as exercise goes, well, I try. I usually make it to the gym 1-2 a week. It's been hard being in graduate school, having two kids still at home, working full-time, being involved in church, etc. It's hard to do all that and find time for exercise. It seems that EVERYTHING has to be a priority and juggling priorities isn't easy. Some weeks I do better than others.

I have tried the vitamins, weight watchers, green coffee beans, slimquick, ace...I drink a lot of water and for awhile I had given up soft drinks. But I stay hungry all the time. And I'm getting older so my metabolism, what little I had to begin with, is slowing down. It's time to get serious. I can't afford Jenny Craig or Medifast and I've tried JC and Nutrisystem before anyway. They don't come to your house and pry the cookie dough out of your hands at midnight so why pay them the big bucks?!

I know all the things I'm supposed to do and not do. It's just hard. I had AMAZING will-power during the fast at the beginning of the year but I don't know what happened to it.  And so much of our lives revolve around food! There are always cook outs, eating out, parties, celebrations, it seems every day is an excuse to eat and eat well.

So I don't know how I'm going to do it just yet but the time has come for me to get serious. I know the first thing I am going to do is to regulate my sleeping patterns. They say that if you get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, you burn more calories during the day. And now that grad school is out for the summer, I shouldn't be up late working on assignments. And if I want to be at the gym by 5 a.m. (working out early is supposed to jump start your metabolism for the day) then I need to be in bed every night by 9 p.m. Even though I don't have a reason to be up, it'll be easier said than done getting myself down. I'm a night owl by nature.

So I'm taking the next four nights to try and get that going. And after that, we'll see what the next step is.