For all of you fellow health product co-skeptics, this is going to be a short-post blog (after the initial longer one) to share my journey through the Advocare 24-Day Challenge. Will it work? We'll see.
Then again, it depends on your definition of "work."
No cleanse, not even a perfect one, will rid you of all the weight you want to lose, or make you fit into those jeans from high school. The results may not be quick, and it won't take but several days before you find yourself requiring physical restraint to avoid that donut. Then again, it might be easy. And maybe you WILL fit back into your high-school denims. Regardless, here's my journey.
Go on it with me, and maybe use this as a reference if you're considering trying Advocare yourself.
Helpful tools I use:
- Calorie tracking: www.myfitnesspal.com (free and easy, and comes with a barcode scanner. They have a smartphone app too). You can add me, and see what I'm eating and how I'm exercising there! ---> I'll cheer you on. (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/sarahbush11)
- Steps per day/Calorie Burn: I wear a FitBit One, which tracks my daily steps (you should be taking at least 10,000 steps per day to be considered an "active" person), calorie burned, and even tracks my sleep at night.
- MEASURE YOURSELF and WEIGH yourself. Do this first thing in the morning on Day One, after you've peed for the first time that day, and before you drink any liquids at all. During a cleanse, you may not lose weight if your body preserves muscle and/or you are exercising. But you will lose inches. Measure your waist at the point just above your bellybutton, all the way around (obviously). Measure your bust at the nipple-level. Measure your hips at the farthest "peak" of your rear. Then, stand with your hands hanging at your sides: wherever your middle fingertip hits your leg, that's the point you take your thigh measurement from. Finally, weigh yourself. Write down all of these measurements.
- The products I used are linked through my post to their page on the Advocare site, or wherever else I got my info.
Day One
Measurements: 125.6 lbs Waist 26" Thigh 18.5" Hips 35" Bust 34"
- First thing when I get up (and this is NOT part of the cleanse, it's just part of my own routine), I take a calcium+D supplement (osteoporosis runs in my family, and I don't eat dairy), iodine/potassium (Americans don't get enough of this in our diets) and a Gingko Biloba (for mental sharpness, as well as prevention of cognitive/memory decline...Alzheimer's also runs in my family). I take this with a huge glass of water. These, I have found to be totally okay on an empty stomach. But when in doubt, eat with some almonds or something.
- Took two Catalyst capsules with water, first thing upon getting to work. The dosage on the bottle says 3 capsules, but I take two because I have a lower tolerance for energy supplements. Two is just fine, but three makes me feel like I could run a marathon---too much energy for a desk job. The Catalyst supplement provides energy, as well as amino acids that are important for preventing muscle breakdown when a person is consuming less calories than usual. It helps ensure that any weight lost (though weight loss is not the intention) is from fat and water, rather than essential lean muscle mass.
- One glass of grape Spark (delicious...way better than coffee) Visit this link to see how to drink your Spark properly.
- (Tummy begins to rumble, "Where is breakfast?")
- "Here!" I reply. 30 minutes after the Spark is gone, it's time for a protein shake that consists of 1 1/3 cups vanilla almond milk (Trader Joe's), 2 scoops peanut butter/chocolate-flavored whey protein (Wal-Mart), 1 TB Ovaltine chocolate powder (Target) and 1/2 banana. Calories: 358 Advocare's protein shake only has 210 calories, and I highly recommend it if you prefer not to hassle with mixing and measuring.
NOTE: Although I was totally kidding about the "donut" in my entry paragraph, when I visited our work's breakroom to retrieve my protein shake from the fridge, there was a Dunkin Donuts box on the counter. I peeked. They are so pretty. I walked away. (Mini victory!)
- Right after breakfast, chug the Fiber Drink. Yes, chug. It's not dessert, it's fiber. However, if you get the Peaches & Cream flavor like I did, it's delicious. I was surprised. I ended up sipping the last part of it slowly because it tastes like a melted Orange Dreamsicle. Yum. And it does do it's job, folks. Visit this link to see how to take your Fiber properly.
- Drink water, water, water. About 64 oz at least, but you should probably drink more like 10 glasses of water, as opposed to the traditional 8. Your glowing skin, happy gut and high energy levels will thank you for it.
- Shortly after breakfast, I take a multivitamin. It's not part of the plan, but in my opinion it's rare that anyone has the time and appetite to eat 8 whole servings of fruit and veggies per day, so I supplement with that. I take it with tons of water too, to keep the kidneys and liver happy. Never take a vitamin on an empty stomach.
- Time for some olive oil/sea salt skinned almonds. It's my mid-morning snack. I eat about 14 of them, half a normal 28-almond (1 oz) serving. I'll eat the other half of them in a bit if I'm not satisfied with the 14.
- 30 minutes before I plan to eat, I take two Catalysts. You can drink Spark again if needed, but my energy levels are high so I'm going to skip the second glass of Spark.
- LUNCH BREAK involved getting up and moving, accompanying a friend to Trader Joe's, where I picked up some white bean and basil hummus, and a head of cauliflower (which, oddly, I was craving). So, lunch is a plain egg white omelet, a cup of raw cauliflower, a cup of baby carrots, and about two TB of hummus.
- Afternoon snack of 1 TB dried cranberries, the rest of the almonds (14 nuts) and a red delicious apple.
- Workout after work consisted of an hour of sculpt yoga, followed by a sprint-jog-sprint pattern of running, followed by speed-walking.
- Dinner was a 4 oz salmon fillet, marinated eggplant and zucchini, some almonds, and almond milk with Ovaltine for dessert. With my dinner, I took my Omega complex capsules. Advocare makes an Omegaplex, but I just use my own from Target.
- Finally, my roommate came home and made piles upon miles of chocolate M&M cookies tonight. (Am I on the "Truman Show," or what?) And I politely and regretfully declined. They...smell...delicious.
- I take my cleanse capsules, 1 Valerian root, 2 Glucosamine Chondroitin (for my runner knees), and go to bed.
- I...was a GOOD GIRL today.
Thoughts from the Day:
- If smelling donuts equated eating them, I would have eaten five donuts today. But I kept thinking about what I invested in this cleanse, which made me realize it wasn't worth cheating. So I side-stepped the pretty pastries.
- Every time I wanted food, I paused to ask, "Am I hungry or bored?" Most times it was just that I wanted to munch on something. So I made tea instead, or chewed gum.
- I have plenty of energy.
- My insides feel content.
- I'm looking forward to yoga tonight, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow even more...seeing what even this ONE day of eating totally healthy will do. Because, after a weekend of junkie food, there is definitely retained water to be lost.
- I drank so much water, I think my teeth are floating. But it's a good, clean feeling.
- Today, I did not do what a cleanse is "supposed to make you do," mind you. However, I take the first actual cleanse tablets tonight before bed.
Ending Numbers:
Calories eaten: 1,436
Calories burned: 2,014 (According to FitBit One)
Minutes exercise: 90 (sculpt yoga, running, speed-walking)
Steps taken: 10,105
Water drunk: 14 glasses (8 fl oz each)
