Day 1 of the 2nd Phase (or Day 11 total)

Today has been a challenge and very busy! It was somewhat confusing today with all of the supplements that had to be taken and I messed up with the timing of two of the packets. Tomorrow should be easier now that I know what I need to do and when to take everything.

Anyway, this morning Jason, Alyssa and I worked at a Fallen Officers Memorial Motorcycle Ride. It was a great experience. We were asked to help serve food. They had biscuits, gravy, hashbrowns, eggs and sausage. Everything smelled and looked amazing, but I was able to refrain from having any of it. Yay! I am so proud of myself! Normally, I would have indulged too much.

I do feel like I am losing weight or inches anyway. I am looking forward to getting on the scaled again. I never thought I would hear myself say that. LOL. I am hoping to have a mixer in the near future. I am so excited about my early success that I can't wait to share it with my friends and family. This program would be great for anyone and everyone even if you don't need to lose weight. It would be great for anyone looking for better physical fitness, increased energy, better mental focus or just all around a better lifestyle.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Day 9 and still loving it!!!!!

I haven't reported in the last few days since this is the first week of school for the kiddos. It's been a great week and also a very trying week. I miss my kids former elementary school and my daughters friends as she is having a difficult week. I have been tested several times this week, but am extremely happy to report, I haven't strayed once yet on the Challenge. We are exploring several new meal idea's with meat and veggies. I have introduced my hubs to eggplant, squash, snow peas and several other things.

I am EXTREMELY happy to report that as of day 8 I have lost 7 lbs and a total of 3 inches from my waist. I couldn't believe when I got on the scales because I didn't expect to see results so soon. Tomorrow is my final day of the initial 10 days of the total challenge. From what I have read so far, the true results phase is the final 14 days of the challenge.

I wanted to highlight the benefits that I have seen so far besides the initial weight loss. My favorite aspect so far is my energy level. The Spark is great for energy. I have more energy now that I have had in many years drinking coffee and several diet cokes a day. The second aspect is my mental focus, this was something I didn't expect because I thought I had plenty of mental focus. As a part of my job, many times I doze off or just become bored or not focused. Now, I feel great and can stay focused all day long. Another aspect is my decrease in stress. Normally on a weekend when we have all 5 children running around the house, my stress level is above and beyond the normal means. This last time, even though I had only been on day 2 of the cleanse, I felt much more calm and relaxed.

As I am seeing results, I am so excited to start sharing the products of Advocare with anyone and everyone!!!!

Day 6

I am finally going to finish up the background I provided earlier on.....

Fast forward to 2007. I met Jason, who is now my husband. He is a police officer in the town where we live who happens to look FANTASTIC in uniform. Jason is very much an active person, not only for his job, but by nature. I started slacking in my working out at the gym and started working out alot with Jason. He does more weight training than anything else, but I didn't care as long as I was active. Fast forward again to 2008, we got married and had a child (Jaden, now 2). This is where things started going downhill.....

With Jason's schedule, we didn't have anything routine in our lives. He works 6 days and is off 3 days and had his daughters all 3 days he was off. This made 5 (count 'em 5) children at our house on his days off. Obviously those days didn't always fall on my days off. Our daily happenings consisted of something like this.... Wake up, feed children, Jamie go to work, Jason tend to children all day, Jamie come home, Jamie make dinner, Jason tend to kids while Jamie makes dinner, soccer practice, after school activities, soccer games and anything else you care to throw in there. We had very little time for anything other than the kids, let alone any type of exercise or healthy living. My eating habits went down the drain and I continued to gain weight even after I had Jaden. I can't even tell you how many times I have been asked if I were pregnant again or still pregnant in the time since I had him. This did nothing for my self-image. I was an emotional mess and a picture of non-healthy living. It was so difficult to cook something that the kids liked in addition to something that was healthy for Jason and I. This lifestyle also consisted of heavy drinking which is obviously not something that can be included in a healthy lifestyle.

It was finally this year that we decided we needed a change, a big change. The drinking stopped, I started working out and finally eating better. With these changes, I started seeing some changes in my body, but not enough.

I joined Facebook, at the urging of my oldest son who was on Facebook. He was constantly on me to join. I checked his periodically, just as any Mom would, but wasn't a member myself. I finally joined and hooked up with many friends and family I hadn't seen in years and years. One of the friends was Melissa Stambaugh who was doing Advocare. She was seeing drastic results and I wanted to know what she was doing to see those results. I was able to meet up with Melissa and Kelly Prater on August 1st to hear all about it.....

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Update on Day 6.....

I am still feeling good, but I have had some small cravings for milk. Before this cleanse, I drank alot of milk. It was skim, but I was drinking 3 to 4 glasses a day. Not drinking any milk has been a struggle. I really love the Spark drink and am about ready to order more as my husband is drinking it as well. He really likes the Slam too!

My update is short and sweet today. My kids started back to school with my oldest starting Middle School this morning. Although it's always excited, it is quite nerve wracking as well! I feel like I was in Middle School yesterday and now my first born is going there...... : (

Day 4

I feel great today! The cleanse changes up slightly on day 4 through 7 adding a probiotic restore in the morning and not taking the fiber drink (woohoo!). I haven't felt a difference today at all.

This weekend is the first weekend in awhile hubs and I have had the weekend off together. We slept in a bit then decided to hit the mall before we picked up the girls in Noblesville. Today was the first day I have been tempted to deviate from the recommended diet. The food at the mall smelled great, but the real temptation was with Orange Julius. I have been drinking these since I was a kid. Although the temptation was huge, I didn't stray. I drank my water and enjoyed it thouroughly.... No guilt......

I would love to report that I have lost weight, but I wouldn't know yet. Our scales are junk (lol). I did take measurements and am happy to report that I have lost 1.5 inches in only 3 full days on the cleanse. YAY!!!!!!

I will finish up the background soon. Until tomorrow.....

Some background....

So I am going to use today's update to give you a little background. This may take awhile so bear with me. I have struggled with not only my weight for quite some time, but also my body image. In high school, I was the average size 4-6, but I never felt skinny or even good about myself. I have always related this to low self esteem. After high school and the short stint at college, I got married and had my first child (Brendan, now 11), not exactly in that order..... : ) ...... My self esteem and self image went down hill quickly after this. I dealt with depression, anxiety and a wealth of other issue's brought on by you guessed it, ME. It wasn't until my 2nd child (Alyssa, now 8) and a divorce that I started caring about my self image.

About a year after my divorce, I met a girl at work who always had a passion for working out or at least staying fit. We hit it off immediately and started hanging out outside of work. We decided that we would start exercising and getting in shape together. We also decided that we loved to eat and drink beer and wouldn't change that, that would be no fun (lol). We thought as long as we were working out religiously, that the eating and drinking were okay. Don't get me wrong, we didn't eat junk all of the time. We watched what we ate, but didn't starve ourselves or deprive ourselves of the things we loved. We joined the Carmel gym together. We started going to the gym near work about 3 times a week during lunch. They offered a variety of classes during the work week such as kickboxing, step aerobics, circuit and basic weight training. The classes were awesome. As long as we went together, we were very dedicated to working out.  We went members for 3 years or more so we saw alot of trainers and class teachers. We had one that we LOVED. Her name was Stacia and she was awesome. She made us push ourselves very hard. I could bounce quarters off my butt (lol).

Although we were always working out and we were in great shape, I still didn't feel great about myself. I still had a little bit of a tummy that I couldn't get rid of, I still wanted to be better. I tried various supplements and never got the exact results that I wanted.

Day 2

I am still loving AdvoCare!!!!! I honestly thought today I would get cravings, but didn't at all. I really think the Spark and Catalyst are helping to curb my hunger. I had so much energy today, I walked about 2 miles and it felt great! I hate to bore you with the details, but here is how my day usually goes on AdvoCare:

7am - 3 Catalyst and a Spark on my drive to work
7:30am - Fiber Drink (gross) followed by the meal replacement shake
10am - A piece of fruit (pear, apple, berries) and sometimes a few almonds
Noon - I have been having salad loaded with veggies and a balsamic vinegrette dressing
2pm - 3 Catalyst and a Spark, if hungry a few almonds or rice cake
6pm - 4 Omega-plex with dinner which consists of a lean meat and steamed veggies
9:30pm - Herbal Cleanse pill packet

In the midst of all of this I drink lots of water. If I am bored with water, I add a packet of the Crystal Light flavoring, which has very few calories and no sugar.

I have noticed that I make about 10 trips to the bathroom during my work day due to all of the water and Spark.

Today, I was soooo excited to get my shipment from Advocare which included my regmine for the final 14 days of the cleanse. I was excited to try the different flavors of Spark. I really like the Grape although it leaves a funny after taste. It doesn't take much to excite me if you haven't noticed.

If you know me at all, you know I am not a good cook at all. This diet is going to test my skills! Tonight I did Tilapia and eggplant on the grill. The tilapia was yummy, but I could use some guidance on good things to spice it up with. Jason liked the eggplant, but me not so much. I was starving when I got back from a walk so I had a rice cake with All Natural JIF Peanut Butter on it (recommended by Kelly and Melissa). It was so yummy! If you haven't tried the natural, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Overall, I am really excited about this program! I could definitely see myself sticking to the majority of the eating habits going forward. I honestly don't miss the carbs at all.

Until tomorrow......

Day 1 of 24 Day Challenge

Today was great!!!!! I feel great!!!!!! I didn't have the urge to sway from the recommended diet even once. I had no cravings at all and had plenty of energy all day! I really love the Spark drinks and can't wait to try more flavors. The only downfall, in my opinion, was the flavor and consistency of the fiber drink. It was horrible!

I will add details of my daily regimen once I have a little more time. I just wanted to note that I have started and feel great!

Thanks AdvoCare!