Advocare 10 Day Cleanse - The Results Are In!

Day 9:

I'm so close to being done I can taste it.  It scares me.  It scares me that I will go right into binging or bringing back in worthless carbs to my life.  My hubby reassured me that we won't and it is a lifestyle choice with a few cheats.  Whew.  Glad there is someone sensible in the house... except he DID order Girl Scout Cookies... hmm.

Where the weights have been thus far:

(I think Day 8 was different from what I originally posted, but this was after trying to focus the camera a few times, I believe it was 151.2)

Breakfast:
Pre-Workout - Boiled egg and banana
Breakfast: McDonald's Oatmeal - No brown sugar.  Didn't know they added cream as well, or would have got it without that.  But man, it was GOOD! (and fiber drink)

Lunch: Tilapia, bell peppers, roma tomato

Dinner: Sweet potato, corn, turkey sauce, and carrots.
Snacks: Almonds, Spark, Edamame

Workout - Today we did a new Body Pump release.  Let's just say, I didn't realize I should have lighted my chest, back, and shoulder weight.  I am SO sore.  However, now that I know I can do that much weight, no need to back off now!  I also got in a quick, and awesome, 3.3 mile run.  I am not usually EVER this fast.  I just had a LOT of energy and felt AMAZING during the run!  Maybe it was the Spark I drank about an hour before!

Day 10: HALLELUJAH! I'M DONE!

 Pre-workout: Half a banana and boiled egg (30 minutes of spin and 30 minutes of turbo)
Breakfast: half banana ... didn't plan too well here.
Lunch: Leftover sweet potato and turkey sausage, grapes, and 1/2 avocado
Snacks: Almonds, Spark, bell peppers

Dinner?  Oh... just some all-you-can-eat crab legs.  hahaha!!

So the results... drum roll please!

I'd really love to tone my back up more...It'll get there!

The fluff and bloat is gone... now to tone it!

Small difference in waist... looks more toned.

Measurements:
(Day 1 - Day 10 = Difference)

Left Calf - 15.5 - 15.5 = same
Right Calf  - 15.5 - 15 = -.5
Left Thigh - 24 - 22.5 = -1.5
Right Thigh - 23.5 - 23 = -.5
Hips - 37.5 - 37 = -.5
Waist - 32.5 - 32 = -.5
Bust - 36 - 36 = same
Left Arm - 12 - 11 = -1
Right Arm- 13 - 12 = -1

Inches Lost = 5.5  
Weight Lost = 5.8

I'm so proud of myself.  Most of all, I know none of this defines me.  I am a successful, loving, caring wife and mother and THAT is how I measure my success.  #getitdone  #loveyourself

Advocare Cleanse: Day 7 and 8

I hope you're still sticking with me, I'm almost done!  But, what does done really mean?  Am I done eating healthy, clean, and/or without processed foods?  I shouldn't be.  Am I craving terrible things?  Heck yes.  Will I have a cheat meal when I'm done?  Yes.  Will it continue?  Nope, I've made too much progress right now.

Day 7:

Breakfast: Meal Replacement Shake
Lunch: We went to Fish City Grill for lunch.  I had amazing grilled tilapia fish tacos.  I had no cheese, but I did dip them a bit in the spicy tartar sauce.  It was also a large flour tortilla.  I did not eat the rice, but I did try one hushpuppy.  And it was the most delicious thing, ever!
Dinner: Leftover cabbage soup

Snacks throughout the day: almonds, spark, strawberries, and popcorn.

I found this popcorn at Aldi and sprinkled it with the butter flavoring.  It was just what I needed for that sweet/salty craving.

Day 8:

Wellllllll, so this was my first 'gain' and I'm not sure I even consider it a gain.  However, yesterday was my first day to have 'carby' stuff - the fish taco, the popcorn, etc.  Oh well!

Breakfast:
Preworkout - 1/2 avocado, boiled egg

And if you are joining me from Megan's page - You'll soon know that we are friends outside of Internet life, haha.  We gym together and raise kids together... however, we don't incubate babies together... she's on her own for that one!  This is our morning counter while getting ready at the gym... she has it ALL!

Can you tell my side?  haha  #minimalist

Breakfast: Fiber drink (only two more, yay!) and an orange/cutie
Snack: Almonds
Lunch: Cabbage soup, boiled egg
Snack: Blueberries
Dinner: Tilapia and sauteed zucchini/squash

 I sprinkled on Mrs. Dash, Old Bay, lemon juice, and baked the lemons on top of the fish.  They were delish!  I had never been a fish fan (unless it came from Long John's Silvers.. haha) until I started cooking my own Tilapia.  It is not fishy and I enjoy the fullness I receive from it.  I had two fishes tonight.

So here are some pictures I'd like to share with you.

July 2013

January 2014

July - I probably weighed around 155 in that picture.  Today I am 151.  It is not about that number, ladies.  It is about working out, running, cardio, lifting weights, eating right, etc... Ya know, all that crappy stuff.  Yes, it sucks, but you want to see change?  You've got to make change.

Only 2 days to go!!!!

Advocare Cleanse Day 5 and 6

So, it is almost midnight, which would start Day 7... but, I can't sleep, so let's read about days 5 and 6.

Day 5 - Saturday - The weekends on the cleanse are always the hardest.  Not, because I want to eat out and have all my cheat meals (okay, maybe that is true), but also because I don't get my water intake completed because I'm usually so busy.

Day 5 started with another wee bit loss on the scale - Perfectly okay with this!

Breakfast: A boiled egg and half an avocado.  I was headed out for a run and it needed to be light.

My first official half marathon is at the end of March, therefore it was time I got off my 4 week running strike and outside.  It was not fun.  I had aches from not running for so long, I was preoccupied in my own thoughts, I couldn't get my breathing regulated, etc.  Yet, I got out there.  Not every run is your best run.  What matters is that you did it.

After my run I came back to put dinner in the crockpot.  My friend introduced me to cabbage soup a while back and I thought I'd hate it.  It always smelled foul, I guess due to the cabbage.  It is basically a vegetable soup, but with cabbage.

Vegetable broth, garlic and onion powder, cabbage, carrots, celery, mushrooms, two cans of diced tomatoes, and two packets of onion soup mix.  I could have only done one onion soup mix and then added a diced onion.  It was tasty and made enough for a day or so of lunches this week.

Meanwhile, this is happening:

My 5 year old daughter loves building forts, and because she is an only child, she likes her parents to be IN the fort WITH her.  This was our attempt at all being in there at once.  To save our sanity, we went out to lunch.

Genghis Grill is one of my absolute favorite places to eat!  I love that I can get a medium sized bowl, but fill it to the overflowing top of yummy goodness.  The only part not on the cleanse was the sauce I added.
Broccoli
Chicken
Black Beans
Chickpeas
Edamame
Pineapple
Onions
Carrots
2 Eggs
I usually ALWAYS get a starch.  Today I chose brown rice (cleanse friendly) and knew to get it on the side so I could control the portion size.  However, once I started eating all the yummy bowl goodness, I did not miss the starch and therefore, did not eat the brown rice.  WIN!  May start doing this from now on..

For dinner I ate the cabbage soup.

For a snack, I had bananas, walnuts, cinnamon, and vanilla stevia drops.  Very yummy when I wanted something sweet.

Day 6 - A super busy day ahead of me with not many pictures.

 The scale... teeny movement.

 Snack: Honeycrisp apple with PB2 sprinkled on.  I realized I didn't need to actually make the PB2, this was good enough!

Brunch: 1/2 avocado, 2 eggs.  Some people use egg whites; I really enjoy eggs, so I usually always do the whole egg.

This afternoon I attended a bridal show with one of my besties getting married in October.  Always a fun and exciting time.  I did have two 1x1 inch cake samples... seriously, they were no bigger than 1x1 inch square, haha... greedy cake people!

After the bridal show I had to book it to Irving for a Pure Romance training seminar.  I started selling Pure Romance last January, and I LOVE it!  If you're interested..

So, while on the road I ate 2 oz of almonds.

Dinner: Advocare Meal Replacement Shake - Chocolate Mocha and a bowl mixed fruit (watermelon, pineapple, and blackberries)

Snack: Another apple with PB2.

That was my day.  Typically, I would have eaten more, but being on the road and in meetings curved that a bit,

Whew!  Once again, very impressed with my cravings lately.  A lot of girls ate pizza tonight for dinner and it didn't even look good to me.  I love pizza.. however, it was easy for me to just socialize while I drank my shake and they ate their pizza.  Moving forward!

Advocare Cleanse - Day 4

Today was wonderful!  No cravings, I was not tired, I ran on adrenaline all day.  Wooohoo! 

I woke up to realize I had only lost .2 ounces today.  As much as I know it is not a weight loss fix, it is still sad to see it stabilize.  I'm hoping it picks back up soon!  For the past 19 months I've been fluctuating between 151-153.  I'm glad I've been able to maintain, yet, it isn't where I'd like to maintain.  I'd like to be in my size 6 jeans, and if I can do that at 150lb, then so be it.  Yet, that hasn't happened yet.

Today's Food:
Breakfast - I decided to try the Advocare Meal Replacement Shake today.  I knew I was going to be in the car and didn't know what time I'd be back to my office, so my oatmeal was out of the question.  Oh, and I didn't get up in time to eat it at home. ;)

Review: I am actually VERY impressed!  It wasn't chalky, it didn't taste like protein powder, etc.  And, the best part, I didn't have to blend it with anything to make it taste good.  I mixed it with cold water and then added ice once it was mixed.  I didn't even THINK about being hungry/needing a snack until 11:30am.  I drank the shake at 7:30am.  That made me a believer.  I will keep these in my car and desk at work for just-in-case instances.

Snack - Apple
Lunch - So, I packed a salad for lunch.  Apparently, I need to wash my lettuce... I bit into a big o bite of dirt.  Trashed the salad. So, I ended up eating 1/2 an avocado, grapes, and watermelon for lunch.  Needless to say, by the time dinner rolled around I was HUNGRY.
Snack: Spark and 2oz. almonds
Dinner:  Ohhhemmgeee.  I was so excited to eat that I forgot to take pictures of prep and then there was only one pepper left once I remembered to take pictures of the end product.

I fed 4 adults tonight so I used 5 peppers. 
Recipe:
5 bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 package Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage
1 box Far East flavored Quinoa
2 tbl. Worcestershire sauce
1 zuccini cut up very small
1 small can tomato sauce.

Oven to 350.  Make quinoa per box directions.  Cut peppers.  Cook sausage.  Cut up zuke.  Mix together zuke, sausage, quinoa, tomato sauce, and W. sauce.  Spoon into peppers.  I baked at 350 for about 20 minutes and then uncovered for another 15 to get the peppers soft. 

Ohhh, it was deeeelicious!!!!!!  The quinoa is a filler, you can't taste the zuke, so really it is a delicious sausage and savory-tasting dish.  That lone yellow pepper soon went into my stomach.  I ate three halves... yum

Snack:  Right now, I'm eating this.  Half of one of those large, yummy, salty pickles!! 

I know my blog isn't quite so exciting, but I know that I am always looking for people's ideas on the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse, and hope that I can also help other people!

Tomorrow I will show pictures and discuss what I bought to get us prepared for the Cleanse!

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse - Day 3

Today is Day 3!

I really, really wanted coffee this morning.  Something about the cold, rainy weather.  Ugh.  But, instead I drank that fiber drink and have already finished 36 ounces of water and it is 9:18am.

Here is a recap of my weight thus far:

(Totally forgot to take a picture of Day 1: Oops.)

Weight Day 3: Yeah, so... turn your head or your computer upside down. :P 153.4

What I'm wearing for Day 3 (because, why not!)

Food for Day 3:
No gym this morning... my extra 2 hours of sleep were weeellll worth it!
Breakfast: Fiber Drink and oatmeal (1/3 c. oats, cinnamon, 1 tb. walnuts, 1/2 banana, one sweet n low)

*I know Sweet N Low is highly frowned upon, but I do not enjoy Stevia. :P*
Snack: Apple and Tomato - I sliced a large tomato and sprinkled with salt and Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning
Lunch: Leftovers from last night: 1/2 sweet potato, turkey breast, broccoli
Snack: Other 1/2 of banana, strawberries, blackberries

My new job has me on the go all the time.  I always stay prepared with snacks and water!

Dinner: Chicken taco salad - shredded chicken, lettuce, black beans, tomatoes, and half avocado (not shown)

My daughter is semi-picky, but she likes odd stuff.  Here she has chicken, a roma tomato, black beans, and strawberries.  And she is making her scary face... be scared, she's vicious.

Today was my worse day for cravings.  I wanted a cheeseburger AND Wingstop.  I wanted it all!!  However, I will say, I have NOT cheated once.  That's a big thing.. normally I do my coffee with SF creamer, veggie chips, snap pea chips, etc... but this time, not doing anything processed.  It has been hard, but worth it.  I am sleeping SO much better... like a baby full on milk!

*1/10/14 - This post was supposed to be published yesterday, but I just now loaded pictures, oops.  Stay tuned for day 4 later....*

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse: Day 1 and Day 2

January 7, 2014 - Starting weight - 155.8.

Yesterday I started the 10 Day Cleanse.  I am an educator and that means I just got down with a 2 week vacation.  Well, really it was a 2 week period to eat whatever the heck I wanted, and I did.

During that two weeks, I went on a Disney Cruise and also ate like a champ.  Can you say bacon every morning, ice cream every lunch, dessert at every dinner, and a Mickey Bar before bed?  Oh yes.  Then, I decided I wasn't quite done when I got home and had every fast food restaurant I had been dreaming of.  Yep.

I weighed 153 when I left for the cruise.  I weighed 156.7 when I got home from the cruise.

Yesterday I weighed in at 155.8 to start the Cleanse.  I have no idea how I even remotely lost anything, I felt like a house and ate like a horse.  But, man, it was DELICIOUS.  Do I recommend a 14 day hiatus all the time?  Of course not.  Did I eat everything without feeling guilt?  Not really, I knew better.  But, I didn't care.  I knew I'd get right back to the gym 3 days a week, starting back on the running train, etc.  So, I didn't dwell.

Let me also say that I do not do the cleanse to lose weight.  I do the cleanse after my eating has gotten out of whack because it truly does help jump start the clean/healthy eating again.  I was even EXCITED to go to the grocery store!  If you didn't see, check my IG (@mneatherlin).. I posted everything I bought.  I work out regularly, 3x a week/60 min sessions and try to get in running on the weekend.  The cleanse is just that, not a miracle diet.  Yes, you'll lose, especially if you eat like crap before starting it.  BUT, there is NO guarantee you won't gain it back.  Hence, me joining Megan's Diet Bet at the same time... it is all about accountability!

I'm going give it my best effort to document what I'm eating, how I'm feeling, etc.  I'm not a regular blogger, so if I fail at it... well, then I failed.  HA.  Oh, and I drink at least 80oz of water a day.  This isn't new for me... I carry a jug with me everywhere and fill my water bottle from it; the only way I keep track of how much I'm drinking.  I've also been keeping a sliced lemon on my desk at work and add a slice to my water each time I fill it up.

Day 1:
Pre-workout: 1/2 avocado, boiled egg
After workout: Fiber drink (go with the peaches and cream flavor) and 1/2 banana
Breakfast: 1/3 cup quick oats, 1 tb. walnuts, cinnamon, 1/2 banana
Lunch: Palm-sized baked chicken breast, boiled egg, one bell pepper (I love bell pepper and could eat them all day... my stomach/gassiness is not a fan.)
Snacks: Strawberries, grapes, blackberries, and one Spark.
Dinner: Shredded chicken with 1/2 avocado, 1/2 c. black beans, and fresh salsa. (My hubs made me two servings of this, so I packed the other for lunch Day 2.)
Late Night Snack: 2 oz almonds

 I should have gotten in more veggies, but I struggle with this.  I don't usually have time to steam veggies at work and I don't really care for reheated steamed veggies from left overs.  Oh, and I forgot to take the very first packet of cleanse vitamins that you're supposed to take at night.. oops.

Day 2: January 8, 2014 - Also first day of Skinnymeg Diet Bet

I was very gassy last night, but that is also what happens when you get back to eating clean (at least for me).  My body is adjusting... no crazy poopness, just gas.

Food Today:

Pre-workout: 1/2 avocado, boiled egg (I'm loving this and it carries me through.)
After workout: Fiber drink and clementine
Breakfast: I was at a campus for longer than expected today, so I didn't get to eat my oatmeal.
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Other half of my chicken mixture, blackberries, and strawberries.
Snack: Bell pepper, 2 oz almonds
Dinner: Turkey breast tenderloin from Aldi, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, 1/2 sweet potato
Snack: Apple, cinnamon, and walnuts cooked in a pan till soft and yummy. I was not hungry after dinner.  Therefore, I did not eat!

Today I've been very bloated.  I'm normally ALWAYS a water drinker, but today it took me awhile to get the amount in which caused me to chug a lot.... it may be added air.  It may be the other bell pepper.  It may be the fiber drink - Not sure.  Once again, the cleanse doesn't cause me to have any poop issues, just gets things moving along.  No fear!

I will say that I am super impressed that I've stayed away from any type of carbs (except my fruit, veg, etc.).  If you know me, I'm a bread LOVER.  I'm trying really hard to help cure my craving for these.  That is why I eat almonds... I think the crunch helps with that craving.  I will probably have some sort of grain tomorrow.  I'm not trying to go carb free, AT ALL, just trying to curb the cravings.

See ya tomorrow!  (hopefully)