I'm sure many of you have heard about Advocare by now. In my area of the country, Advocare reps have exploded in number within the past year. The notoriety of the products has expanded greatly with the addition of many well known athletes touting their success. Normally, taking a bunch of pills and drinking meal replacement shakes isn't something I buy into or get excited about. Honestly, I am not quite sure I will say that I am "excited" about them still, but as I mentioned yesterday, I do have some weight I would like to lose and the timing seems good with the new year and freedom from my pump (that is a long story for another day, believe me!) so I decided to go for it. A while back Mark was talked into trying the 24 Day Challenge by a friend of his that had just begun to sell Advocare. Although I thought it was a little expensive and ridiculous (I think I may have been pregnant at the time so there was no way I would join in limiting my tasty food intake- Hello! That's the best time to enjoy food guilt free if you can stomach it!), I didn't discourage him too much and he went for it. He ended up losing about 10 lbs and looked noticeably healthier, especially in his face. He claimed that he felt more energy than he had before and better overall. I kind of thought maybe it was just because he had been eating healthier and smaller portions- the 24 Day Challenge comes with optional meal replacement shakes, supplements, cleansing drinks and Spark, an energy drink that is meant to replace coffee and pop. It has directions about what to take/eat when and suggestions for types of food to eat and avoid. Whether the products have much to do with the transformation was questionable to me. I thought maybe he would do it once and be done... but no, not so. A few months later, I pulled up to my house to find a box on the doorstep. It turned out that his friend had convinced him to become a rep himself so that he would get a discount on the products whenever he wanted to reorder. So fast forward to now. Though still a little skeptical of it's effectiveness, I decided to take advantage of Mark's discount and join 80,000 people around the nation that have begun the 24 Day Challenge today. Here is my take so far.
I began the day with a cup of Spark. Mark had only been buying the watermelon flavored Spark and while I do like watermelon flavored things, I ordered the mango strawberry Spark to give it a try. I liked it! It tasted pretty good! I miss the warmth and coziness of my morning coffee and evening herbal tea, but I guess for 24 days I will be okay without them. The next step is to wait 30 minutes before drinking the cleanse drink and eating breakfast. As per Mark's suggestion, I chose the peaches and cream cleanse and I was expecting to gag or choke it down, but actually it wasn't too hateful! I was pleasantly surprised. I decided to try a meal replacement shake for breakfast. Again, upon Mark's suggestion, I tried the mocha chocolate flavor. I think next time I should mix it with almond milk or something because mixed with water was not very good. I was disappointed. An hour or two later I was feeling a little shaky from the caffeine in the Spark so I ate a snack- half a banana and a kiwi- which seemed to help. For lunch I ate a salad with some chicken on top. We have company coming this evening and I needed to get the house cleaned so I went to work on that after lunch. I was feeling a little sleepy again about 2 PM so I drank another glass of Spark and felt reenergized. It's snack time now so I am having a clementine and a handful of carrot sticks. Dinner tonight will be sweet potato black bean chili which will be great for our vegan guests. The last thing to take for the day is a supplement before bed.
So far, I feel like the 24 days should go pretty well, but I might get bored with the rules. I am hoping to shed all of my baby weight and start feeling refreshed and ready for the year. Wish me luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment