About Amanda

Hey! Welcome to my blog, which will follow my Advocare 24-day Challenge as well as my adventure into a healthy eating lifestyle.

My name is Amanda, and I’m a 22 year-old newlywed living in central Louisiana with my loving husband, Zack, and our fur babies: Bitty, Bubba, and Rock.

 

I am the Marketing Director for my husband’s family’s business, St. Romain Oil. We have a chain of convenience stores. Maybe you’ve heard of us?
http://www.ynotstop.com

I was never the skinny girl. I was just average. Looking back, my junior year of high school was probably my best point as far as weight and health. I remember thinking “I’m not going to gain that freshman 15 when I go to college.” But, I did. …And more.

When I went to compete in the Ms. LSUA pageant, I was determined to lose weight. I went to a weight loss clinic and got a prescription for Adipex. I took it religiously even though it made me shake and I counted calories like a freak of nature.
How many calories is a cough drop?
During this time, I lost about 30 lbs.

 

I gained it all back, and then some.

I married my husband on April 20, 2013. I did not go on a crazy wedding diet. I think I actually gained weight from the time we got engaged (November 2011) until we got married.

Why didn’t I want to lose a ton of weight for the biggest day of my life? I don’t know. I was happy! We were in love, enjoying life, starting our new careers, buying our first home together, planning our wedding, and celebrating every moment with food. (And it doesn’t hurt that my husband is an amazing cook, who loves to create new things to impress me.)

 

Following our wedding was a fabulous honeymoon to St. Lucia. We stayed at Sandals La Toc and ate and drank to our hearts’ content from sun up to sun down each day. Definite weight gain on that trip!

With our family and friends, EVERYTHING revolves around food. So, I accepted that into my definition of normal.

I didn’t realize how out of control I was until I started really looking at myself in pictures. Who is this girl? I started to dodge the camera as much as I could.

In September of 2013, my parents’ house burned down. They and my sister lost everything. Needless to say, it was absolutely devastating for all of us. I moved them into my house, and they stayed with us for a couple months until they found a house to rent. Having 4 small dogs and 5 adults in one house was very interesting!

I started using Plexus Slim in December 2013. It gave me great energy throughout the day, but it didn’t help me with weight loss. However — it did help me kick my one-Coke-a-day habit. So, Plexus, thanks for that. Really.

Then, I had to appear on live TV for an interview on our community outreach program. I cried after I watched it on my DVR. –Not because I did bad on the interview, but because of how huge my face was. I couldn’t believe I let myself go like that. So what did I do? I drowned my sorrows in food. Ugh.

I continued with Plexus even though I wasn’t losing weight because everyone kept telling me “Just give it more time! It’s making you healthy from the inside out!” I was hopeful. After a few months and a few hundred dollars, I had enough of being hopeful. So, I quit Plexus. (*Please note: I am not saying that Plexus doesn’t work. I am saying that Plexus did not work for me.)

Working in the c-store industry, there’s always temptation… Friendly visitors stopping by with donuts, candy by the checkout, a new F’Real flavor to try, food to sample, and fountain Coke. LOTS of fountain Coke. I was not good with temptation.

I was starting to feel discouraged. Just when I was about to accept the fact that I wasn’t going to be that girl in the hot pink dress ever again or Zack’s hot wife… my sister-in-law, Sunny, told me about the AdvoCare 24-day challenge. She had just completed it and looked and felt amazing! She became my inspiration and my cheerleader. Thanks, Sunshine. Love you!

The day after our 1 year wedding anniversary, I started eating clean. I did this for 5 days and lost 2 pounds! To my surprise, it wasn’t that difficult and I was really enjoying the food I was eating! Sunny showed up at my door that Friday night with my AdvoCare box, and I was ready to begin. I started my first 24-day challenge on Monday, April 28 and I’m not looking back!

I have finally learned that fad diets or products don’t work for me. It takes a true, healthy diet and exercise to look and feel healthy!

I am not saying that everything I do is the way it should be done.
Because it’s not.
Everyone is different and should do whatever is right for their own self to be healthy and happy. I’m not saying that everyone should do AdvoCare, and I’m not saying that everyone should eat a clean diet.

What I am saying is —
This is what I did.
This is how I feel.
These are my results.

Happy reading 🙂
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Contact Me:
aaustin123@gmail.com

To purchase AdvoCare products from me:
http://www.advocare.com/140545122