Eating: It was great that my husband decided to do the Challenge with me because we really worked together on our meals. We would cook lots of meat and make big salads on Sunday evenings and use that to make our lunches and quick dinners throughout the week. We both work and I made more of an effort to get to the gym 4 times a week during the Challenge so dinners needed to be quick and easy to through together at 8pm after the kids are tucked into bed. We grilled steaks, made rotiserrie chickens in the crock pot, baked tilapia and salmon, grilled chicken and veggies. It was delicious and so much better than those frozen diet meals I was nuking every day for lunch. We experimented with new foods like quinoa, chia seeds and flax seeds. Made flourless banana/oatmeal muffins, and I got over my fear of protein shakes.
Exercise: Immediately after starting the Challenge I felt a huge difference in my stamina and endurance at the gym. I'm sure it is a mix of the Sparks drinks, the vitamins, eliminating the junky, processed foods from our diets and the mentality that I was doing something really good for my body. I used to go to the gym for classes twice a week and run a third day, normally a 5k. I enjoy running and having the quiet time to think but was constantly making deals with myself~ one more lap around the circle and you cna walk for a little bit kinda deals. I had only run more than a 5k once in my life and ended up with a hurt foot for a month afterwords. But the first week that I was on the Advocare products I noticed that I wasn't making those deals with myself anymore during my runs and that I WANTED to keep going once I hit the 5k mark, so I did. I started out by running 8k, about 5 miles. Then added another day of running so I was running 10 miles a week. Then I bumped it up to a 10k, or 6.2 miles twice a week. And my last run on Sunday was a 7 mile run. I am so excited about my increased endurance and I am now convinced that I should train for a half marathon in Oct. Advocare and clean eating has helped push me from struggling through a 5k to busting through a 11k and setting a new goal for a 21k run! I am so thankful for that. I also have a ton of energy to kick some tail in my Circuit Breaker class on Monday nights. I finally got the Hubs to go with me to the weekend class last month and he is now as obsessed as I am with it. The teacher is amazing and encouraging in a "not taking any bs or excuses" kinda way and she has us doing exercises that we wouldn't normally do on our own. I actually look forward to a 90 minute butt kicking, sweaty people packed MONDAY night workout now<< that is insane!! In addition to the running and Circuit Breaker, I meet two of my best girl friends on Friday morning for an hour long spin class. It is so nice to start the weekend off on a healthy foot and the teacher plays some great music!
Results: I lost 6 pounds at the end of Day 10, gained a couple back at the beginning of the Max phase then lost those two pounds again by the end of the Challenge. I lost a total of 10.5", including 2" from my tummy, 2.5" from my chest, 1.5" from my ribcage, 2" from my hips and a little from my thighs, calves, arms. I am currently at a weight that I last saw while I was in college, a couple pounds lighter than I was when I met Tom. I am in much better shape, my bathing suit bottoms are all too big, my pants are all baggy, I don't feel like I am trying to hide rolls and pudge in my shirts anymore. I am overjoyed with what I see when I look in the mirror. Here are my before and after shots....
I LOVE this picture!!! You can definitely see the difference in my stomach and in my shoulders!
Side view~ Check out how much smaller my bottom is! Those bikini bottoms are too big now. :) My arms are less flabby too.
You can see some definition in my shoulders and back here, thanks to the insane amount of pushups we do in Circuit Breaker....seriously I can not only do 100+ pushups but I can do all sorts of flavors of pushups: Superman, Spiderman, plank, explosive, frog, you name and I can do it!
So what is next you ask? We have completed the 24 Day Challenge and all the shakes, herbal drinks and supplements that came with it but we are not done. They, and by "they" I mean all the Advocare reps and blogs out there, say that this is a lifestyle change and as corny as it sounds I totally agree. In just 24 days I saw what healthy eating choices and exercise can do to my body and I want to not only maintain what I have achieved, I want to keep it going!! So we are continueing with the protein shakes in the morning, stocked up on Sparks because seriously that stuff is AMAZING, and I just ordered some more Catalyst and some Thermoplus which are great when you workout along with the 24 Day Challenge. Hubs is so excited with our results, he surprised me with a beach trip to celebrate our bathing suit ready bodies. Just the two of us jetting off to Aruba for 5 days. :) :) :) We leave in 11 days so we are keeping up our diet and exercise to be in the best shape we can be in when we arrive in paradise. I have no doubt that we will take full advantage of the all inclusive resort for those 5 days but when we return we are jumping right back on our clean eating and exercise bandwagon.
