Welcome to day 1 of my 24 day challenge. For those of you that know me, you know that I am fairly in shape but I'm always looking for a way to lose a little weight or get into better shape. Over the years, I have tried many things and some have been very successful but most of the time my bad habits get in the way and I eventually gain the lost weight back. Well, today I am beginning a 24 day challenge/cleanse to hopefully rid my body of the toxins and cravings that I am currently experiencing.
The 24 day challenges is from a company called Advocare and it is based off of 10 days of cleansing the body of the waste and toxins and then 14 days of building up the good vitamins, nutrients and probiotics so that your body can process and utilize food as fuel, the way it was intended to. This is not one of those crazy cleanses where you drink cayenne pepper and lemon water and you can't eat food and you are running to the bathroom every 10 minutes...oh no - I could not handle that! This is a combination of high fiber drinks, probiotics and healthy food to cleanse and recalibrate the body. During the entire challenge, I will still be eating food but the food will consist of fruits, veggies, lean proteins and complex carbs.
On average, people lose 12 lbs during the 24 day challenge. I don't have a ton of weight to lose but realistically I've been in the same 15lb weight range for the past 12 years. I go up and I go down but I pretty much always stay between 150-165lbs (OMG I just admitted my weight in print!! SCARY!) I am 5'8" and have a good foundation of muscle mass from being a gymnast, so that weight isn't ridiculously high but it is still higher than I would like it to be.
I feel good about my body when I am 150lbs so that is my initial goal. I'm currently at 162 so that would be a 12lb loss. I know that 150 is something that I can achieve because I've been there before in recent years, however ideally, I'd like to find out if 140's is attainable. Honestly, I'm not really sure whether it is or not because I haven't been there since I had my big growth spurt of 10 inches in high school. Once I get to 150, I will do another assessment to see how I'm feeling and whether I feel that I should maintain at that weight or if my body can remain healthy and lose more.
Of course weight loss is a priority for me but more than that, I just want to feel healthy again. I know that I am not eating the things that properly fuel my body and I feel sluggish and icky most of the time with constant headaches. From reading other people's reviews of this 24 day challenge, their energy level increases, their focus and clarity increases, inches and weight decrease and headaches disappear. That is my hope. With everything that I have on my plate (graduate school, work, baby, husband, volunteer work, etc) I could definitely benefit from those results.
So...now that I've bared my soul (and my weight - I still can't believe I did that!!), here is how the next few days will go...
Days 1-3
* Wake up and drink Spark (Advocare's version of an energy drink - full of vitamin B) on an empty stomach
* 30 minutes later drink the cleansing Fiber drink with breakfast. Breakfast consists of a few eggs or a piece of fruit or a piece of oat toast with peanut or almond butter or a meal replacement shake.
* Snack of fruit or almonds between breakfast and lunch
* Lunch - salads w/lean proteins or vegetables and lean protein
* Snack again (same thing)
* OmegaPlex supplements taken with dinner for the healthy fatty acids. Dinner consists of lean protein and veggies again (complex carb if needed) - we are having Salmon tonight YUM!
* Snack if needed before bed
* Cleansing tablets at bed time. (Herbal Cleanse Tablet: Senna extract, wheat grass powder, cranberry juice powder, burdock extract, astragalus extract, echinacea extract, milk thistle extract, schisandra extract, beet powder, odorless garlic powder).
I will let you know how we did tomorrow. Oh yeah...I say we because my husband is doing it with me!! This is the first thing that Matt has shown an interest in doing with me because it is done with the purpose of healthy, rather than weight loss like my other ventures like weight watchers, etc.
Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted along our journey!
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