Day 16

Busy day!

Menu:

Breakfast – MRS

Lunch – Chicken Spinach Salad w/ Walnuts, Cranberries, and Blue Cheese

Snack – Almonds

Supper – Blackened Redfish w/ Lump Crab Meat & Spinach Salad & Wheat Roll

 

The day started with a Marketing Committee meeting, which pretty much took all morning. I drank my MRS during the meeting, but didn’t have time for a snack. As soon as the meeting was over, we caravan-ed over to the food bank an hour away to deliver our donation of 5600 jars of peanut butter & $12k! Yay!

After we finished up at the Food Bank, it was 12:15. We decided to celebrate with lunch at Logan’s Roadhouse. While everyone else had steaks and ribs with loaded mashed potatoes or fries (or both for my brother-in-law!), I had a spinach salad topped with chicken and other yummy stuff! I got the vinaigrette dressing on the side so I could control how much went into my salad. I also avoided the hot, buttery rolls sitting right in front of me. Success!

Right before I left work, Zack calls me and tells me that our friend Clark decided to propose to Averie! We were soooooooo excited for them! I left work to go to her house and congratulate them, while eating my snack of almonds on the way over there. They were ready to celebrate, and invited us to go out to eat with them! 

We went to Legend’s, the steak house at the casino. They have delicious food, so I was trying to behave. But, it was really hard.

I stuck to water instead of a glass of wine. When they brought out the basket of rolls, there was a wheat roll on top. I really wanted bread, so I ate it. I probably could have done without, but… oh well. Clark ordered a seafood stuffed mushroom for an appetizer. He gave us each a bite and it was delicious! Zack got a bowl of lobster bisque. Their lobster bisque is absolutely amazing. I would bathe in it! I had a few spoonfuls of that. 

I ordered the cleanest thing I could find on the menu. I ordered the blackened redfish, topped with lump crab meat (no creamy sauce). Since it didn’t come with a vegetable, I ordered a spinach salad on the side. The fish was a little saltier than I probably should have had, but it was delicious. And the spinach salad had bacon. A lot of bacon. 

All in all, I could have stuck to the plan better for supper. But, how often do your friends get engaged?!

Congratulations, Clark & Averie. ❤

 

Day 15

Monday… the start of a brand new week!

Menu:

Breakfast – MRS

Snack – Almonds

Lunch – Baked Fish & Salad

Snack – 1/2 Apple w/ PB2

Supper – Venison Tacos w/ Guacamole

 

As always, my day started with a delicious, energizing, Spark drink along with Catalyst.

30 minutes before my Meal Replacement Shake, I had the first MNS pack.

I really love the convenience of the MRS! And it’s tasty 🙂

I talked to my cheerleader/ coach, Sunny, about how my weight hasn’t moved in a few days and she asked if I had been eating all of the snacks I was supposed to eat. No… I haven’t been.

So, I made sure to eat a snack between each meal today. I had almonds between breakfast and lunch.

For lunch, I had a Rotary meeting at the buffet at the casino. Lots of temptation, as usual! They had this delicious-looking white chocolate mouse on the dessert bar today. I ignored it, but I did want to cry a little when someone across for me sat down with one. 

I find that it’s easy to ignore all of the good, but not good for you foods at the buffet if you follow this method:

– Grab your plate, and fill half of it with salad. I top mine with eggs, olives, onion, and vinaigrette.

– Find the healthiest piece of protein on the buffet, and fill 1/4 of your plate with it. I normally go for the baked fish.

– Use the rest of the 1/4 of your plate for a vegetable of your choice! I went with cucumber and tomato salad today.

– Do not make a second trip to the buffet! Fill your plate, and once it’s clean – you’re done!

– Ignore the dessert bar (unless you get a fruit cup)!

 

Once I got home from work, I had a snack of 1/2 an Apple w/ some PB2. PB2 is powdered peanut butter that you mix with water. I only ate 1/2 of the apple because I wasn’t really hungry. I shared the other half with my sister 🙂

 

For supper, my hubby wanted tacos. We always make tacos with the frozen, ground deer meat we have taking up 80% of our freezer. Zack kills a lot of deer during hunting season each year so we can have meat for the freezer! This way, we never need to buy ground beef. Deer (venison) is a lot leaner than beef, anyway!

He cooks down the venison with onions, and adds in taco seasoning. I ate mine on a whole grain tortilla with smashed avocado and homemade salsa. He ate his on a regular tortilla, smothered with sour cream, cheese, and jalapenos. See? It’s easy to eat healthy at home and still let your spouse eat what they want!

We finished the night by catching up on our TV shows. Such an exciting life!

 

Day 14

Only 10 days left of the Challenge! Where did the time go?

Menu:

Breakfast – Meal Replacement Shake (MRS)

Lunch – Brisket & Ham

Snack – Cantaloupe and Grapes

Supper – Whole Grain Pasta w/ Organic Marinara & Cucumbers

 

Happy Mother’s Day!

I didn’t sleep in quite as late today, but there was no time for a snack in between my Chocolate MRS at 10:30, and lunch at around 1. We had lunch at Zack’s parents’ camp to celebrate Mother’s Day. The menu consisted of Ham, Brisket, Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole (Cream Cheese, Sour Cream, Cheddar, Bacon – the works!), and Green Bean Casserole. I ate ham and brisket along with just a dab of potato casserole and green bean casserole. Seriously… just one taste of each. 

We stayed at the camp for a while, just hanging out and visiting. A little while later when they pulled out the brownies, cookies, apple crisp, ice cream, and banana pudding (Yes- that many desserts!)… my lovely, thoughtful, sister-in-law Sunny whipped out some cantaloupe and grapes. Love her.

That afternoon we went home and laid out on the sofa, snuggling with our little bitty dogs. We love those furry boys!

I wasn’t super hungry for supper, so I boiled about 1 cup of whole grain pasta and tossed it in some organic marinara sauce. I followed that up with some cucumbers. 

Weight Update:

Haven’t gained or lost anything the past few days. Still at -7!

Day 13

So… I’m a little behind. Please forgive me.

Day 13 was a lovely Saturday.

Menu:

Brunch – Meal Replacement Shake

Snack – Cucumber & Hummus

Snack – Grapes & Melon

Supper – Crawfish

And… Funnel Cake.

 

Obviously, you can tell by the menu above that today was not my best challenge day.

I did not find myself getting out of bed until about 11:30. Yea… I know. Since I totally missed out on breakfast, I had my Meal Replacement Shake for brunch at around 12:15.

Around 2:00, I had some cucumbers and hummus. Great little snack!

Around 5:00, I had some fruit.

Around 6:30, the boiled crawfish that Zack cooked for my Mom for Mother’s Day was ready! I did eat crawfish, which has more salt than I have been eating. However, I did not eat 6 potatoes like I normally would. I also didn’t drench them in sauce. 

I also really really really wanted to have a beer, but I didn’t. 

I thought this day was going to be a success! 

Wrong.

Our friends, Clark and Averie decided to stay and hang out after the crawfish boil.

At around 10:30, my lovely friend Averie decided that she really wanted a funnel cake from the fair. The boys had caught their second wind by that point, so they wanted to go walk around. Off we went! When we got there around 11, all of the booths and rides were starting to close down. We bought a funnel cake, and walked around for a little while. Yes, I did eat some of it. Not a lot, but – fried batter goodness topped with powdered sugar is definitely not AdvoCare-friendly. Right before we left, the Daiquiri booth was giving out free drinks to empty their machines. Zack and Clark each left with 3 large Strawberry Margaritas. Not sure why they thought that was necessary… but it happened. They are all currently sitting in my freezer. 

After that adventure, we called it a night 🙂

Day 12

Halfway point!

Breakfast – Meal Replacement Shake
Snack – Almonds
Lunch – Chicken Taco Salad
Snack – Banana
Supper – Baked Fish & Steamed Veggies

Another day on the go! As usual, I started the day with Spark and Catalyst.

Right before I left the office, I mixed up my chocolate meal replacement shake. I was going to a few more stores and I also had an annual doctor appointment to get to. You know… That once a year one that ladies dread. So, I drank my shake on the way to the first store then went to the appointment. I’m really thankful to have a lovely, friendly lady doctor who is interested in my life and family, and not just my hoo-ha. She makes it much less awkward.

Once it was over, I had a snack of almonds on the way back to the first store. (Forgot to pick up something there.)

For lunch, I happened to be passing through town at the perfect time to meet the girls at the Mexican place. Yay! I had my usual: shredded chicken taco salad with guacamole and tomatoes. I also had 3 chips with queso — gotta live a little!

When I got home from work, I had a banana for a snack.

Zack’s friend called and wanted to go on a double date to a local restaurant, Kyrle’s. Their food is delicious, and I knew I could find something challenge approved there, so naturally we agreed! We ordered an appetizer of fried mushrooms, and I only ate one. I had a side garden salad with light Italian. For my meal, I got the broiled fish with steamed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower & broccoli). Normally, I would get the same thing but with the creamy crab topping for the fish. No drink during the meal either, except for lemon water.

It’s always fun to go out to eat with friends, but it is possible to make healthy choices!

Weight update:
I am back down to -7 lbs! Woop woop!
I was calm with the fluctuation and ate that mid-morning snack!
Im only one pound away from my first goal!

Day 11

Sorry I’m a few days behind — I’ve been a little busy!

Day 11 means the beginning of the Max phase!

As always, morning kicks off with a Spark and Catalyst.

During the Max phase, there are 4 MNS pill packs and you take them at a specific time: one 30min before breakfast, one 30min before lunch, and the other two at lunch.

These pill packs are no joke. Each pack has 3-4 horse pills in them. Not sure what exactly is in each of these, but I’ll do some research and update.

You already know that I’ve been excited to try the Meal Replacement Shakes. I wasn’t disappointed! The chocolate shake tastes like Borden’s chocolate milk. Yummmmm!

The shake was perfect today because I had to hit the road to go to some stores. I do find that it doesn’t mix as well if the water is cold or has ice. So, I mix with room temp water and then add ice in to make it cold.

About 30 minutes before lunch I took the MNS pack.

When I got to the office around lunch time, I ate the turkey, spinach, hummus whole grain wrap that I made the night before. I even put a slice of low-fat mozzarella in it since I can have a little cheese now! I love cheese, so this was very exciting! Along with the wrap, I had a few grapes. I also had the other 2 MNS packs.

My afternoon snack consisted of a banana.

For supper, I made a spinach salad with turkey, cucumbers, cranberries, almonds, a sprinkle of feta, and Italian dressing.

The Italian I use comes from a packet (with all pronounceable ingredients) that you mix with water, vinegar, and EVOO into a cruet.

After supper I had my daily dose of OmegaPlex.

Weight Update:
I am up again 😦
Over the past two days, I’ve gone up 1.5 lbs. I’m not happy about this, but — I am being optimistic because weight does fluctuate. I consulted my sister-in-law, and she thinks I’m not eating enough. Adding in that mid-morning snack should help. So, I’ll try that and see!

To mark the end of the cleanse phase, here are updated before and during pictures. Left is before, right is today. Can you see a difference? There isn’t much of one, but there’s a little progress! Motivation to keep going!

I think the most noticeable difference is in my back. I’ll take it!

Day 10

Last day of the Cleanse phase of the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge!

Menu:
Breakfast – Banana & PB Smoothie
Lunch – Salsa Chicken Salad
Snack – Almonds
Supper – Grilled Chicken w/ Green Beans + 1/2 Sweet Potato

Started the day with Spark and Catalyst.

Just before breakfast, I had my last fiber drink of the challenge! Yay! While it wasn’t absolutely terrible, it wasn’t my favorite. The peaches and cream flavor wasn’t all that bad — I’ve heard that the citrus flavor is absolutely terrible. But, I think I’m going to get it next time. Lol! Everyone says it has more fibers that do not dissolve in the water (a lot of the fiber in the peaches and cream does dissolve). Therefore, it supposedly gives better results.

I had a banana peanut butter smoothie for breakfast. 1 banana, 1 tbsp of PB, ice, and a little almond milk. Yum!

For lunch I had a salad with leftover salsa chicken on top. I used romaine lettuce with some broccoli slaw along with Italian dressing.

After work, my parents and sister came over to the house to go fishing in the pond behind my in-law’s house next door.

I had a handful of almonds for my afternoon snack.

After we fished (and didn’t catch much), we invited them to stay for supper. Zack BBQed steaks for himself and my family, and a chicken breast for me. We also had green beans and baked sweet potatoes with the BBQ.

Weight update:
I went up half a pound. Not sure why.
I’m not going to get discouraged because it’s normal for your weight to fluctuate a little. Also, they do say not to weigh yourself every day.

Max phase begins tomorrow!

Day 9

Menu:

Breakfast – Almond & Coconut Kind Bar

Lunch – Chicken & Spinach Wrap

Snack – Edamame

Supper – Leftover Clean Chinese Rice

Snack – 1/2 Quest Bar

 

An interesting Tuesday!

I’m officially in a routine. I know about what time each day I eat, take supplements, etc.

Today totally threw off that routine.

When I got to the office, I mixed up my Spark and took my daily dose of Catalyst (which is optional on the 24 day challenge) and ProBiotic Restore Ultra. 

I’m not sure what I was thinking — but I didn’t eat breakfast like I planned to before I left the office. I had to be at one of the stores for 8:00 am to meet with our sign guy. I didn’t think I would be there for as long as I was, but… I was.

So, at around 10:00 am, I’m near starving. I’m looking around the store frantically, but I can’t find anything to eat. We have full kitchens, so I could have gotten them to cook me some eggs – but I really wasn’t feeling eggs at all. Like we’ve established, I’m funny about eggs. We normally have baskets of bananas and apples, but they were fresh out and the delivery was coming the next day. Just my luck!

I go to the F’Real machine and start reading ingredients on the smoothies (strawberry/ banana, mango, or mixed berry). I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of those would work (they have very few, mostly clean ingredients), except – they have skim milk. I decided at the beginning of the challenge that I wouldn’t do dairy for the first 10 days (cleanse phase). So, I walk away sadly.

I start looking in the granola isle. It really amazed me how many self-claimed “healthy” bars have so many preservatives and un-pronounceable ingredients. I knew that Kind was known for being all-natural, so I checked those out. Impressive! I settled on the Almond Coconut bar, which only had a few ingredients including whole almonds, large shavings of coconut, and honey. It’s not the best Cleanse phase breakfast, but it’s better than a Sausage Egg and Cheese Biscuit. Ok?

And yes, since I didn’t even think about breakfast… you already know that I forgot my fiber drink too! 

When I got back to the office around 11:30, I had my fiber drink right before lunch. Kinda threw off my schedule, but I figured that taking it with lunch was better than not taking it at all!

For lunch, I had a whole grain wrap with chicken and spinach. I used a little bit of homemade Italian dressing to jazz it up a bit. I also had a few grapes.

I heated up some Edamame for an afternoon snack, and the girls at the office were freaking out because they had never heard of that. I made them all try it and they actually liked it! 

After work, I made my weekly trip to Wal-Mart. Oh joy! My buggy had a few unclean items in it this week because Zack was out of a few things that he had to have… Like white bread because he doesn’t like my new whole grain. 

When I got home, I was excited to find that UPS dropped off our new Dish receiver and the travel packets for our Dominican Republic vacation in June! Yay!

When Zack got home and attempted to hook up the new Dish receiver, it did the same thing that the old one did. 😦 An hour on the phone with customer service later, we have to pay an additional fee to get a tech sent to our house. Hopefully, we will get TV back soon! I’m dying.

For supper, I ate the little bit of clean Chinese rice that I had leftover. Not terribly exciting. I also took the OmegaPlex.

I was craving something sweet, so I ate 1/2 of the Brownie Quest Bar. It was ok, but it wasn’t as good as Chocolate Peanut Butter.

I ended the night with a nice soak in the bath tub.

 

Weight Update:
I am officially down 7 pounds! Woop woop! My clothes aren’t so snug anymore, I have energy, I feel great!

 

 

Day 8

Monday morning… back to the grind!

Menu:

Breakfast – Banana w/ Peanut Butter

Lunch – Grilled Fish w/ Salad

Snack – Almonds

Supper – Salsa Chicken Wrap w/ Spinach

 

Not an exciting Monday, thankfully.

When I got to the office, I took my Catalyst and ProBiotic Restore Ultra while I mixed up my Strawberry Mango Spark. 

Meanwhile, I was mentally preparing myself for the Fiber drink.

I have the Peaches & Cream flavor, so it really isn’t all that bad. I’ve heard that the Citrus is pretty atrocious.

Following my Fiber drink, I heated up my Egg White muffins and sliced up a banana. I’m not sure what it was, but something about the egg muffins smelled funny. I am a person that has always been weird about eggs. They smell funny to me, and I normally can’t make myself eat them. Today was one of those days. So, I didn’t eat the egg muffins and I actually threw them away. I ate my banana with a little extra peanut butter to make up for the muffins.

Every Monday during lunch, I have a Rotary Club meeting. Most Monday’s it’s held at the Buffet at the casino. I know what you’re thinking — danger!! But on the contrary, it’s actually pretty easy to eat healthy there if you use will power. They have a great salad bar! So, I grabbed a plate and filled it with mostly romaine lettuce, black olives, cucumber, mushrooms, a dash of sunflower seeds, and some vinaigrette. I also selected some delicious baked fish and some chopped cucumber and tomato salad. I pretended that the dessert bar was disease-ridden, and I smiled as I enjoyed my healthy lunch. I almost died when the girl sitting next to me walked in with a caramel cheesecake, but I didn’t actually.

The afternoon passed by quickly, and before I knew it – I was on my way home to greet my fur babies.

While I finished watching the first season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians on Amazon Prime (still no Dish receiver), I ate a few Almonds.

For supper, I made something pretty delicious!

Salsa Chicken

Pre-season your chicken with the spices of your choice (I used Mrs. Dash). Spray your skillet with EVOO cooking spray. I put 4 chicken tenderloins (so I could have extra for lunches) into the skillet. I covered each tenderloin with a tablespoon of Salsa Verde and regular salsa. Put the lid on, and let them simmer. Keep checking on them. As you turn them on each side, the salsa will slide off. But, that’s ok. Once the chicken is cooked, use a fork and shred it up. Then, stir the shredded chicken around in the salsa. Let it simmer on low for a few more minutes. Done!

I put half of the shredded chicken into a whole grain tortilla with spinach. Delish! And kind-of Cinco de Mayo! 😉

Not an exciting day, but I’m almost done with the Cleanse phase!

Day 7

Sunday Funday!

Menu:

Breakfast – Whole Grain Toast w/ PB2 + Banana

Lunch – Leftover Chinese Rice

Supper – Turkey Breast Spinach Salad

Snacks – None today. Wasn’t hungry!

 

Slept late, then helped Zack pack a lunch for his long day #2 on the tractor. I even made him a Fruit Punch Spark to take with him! I think he really liked it 🙂

After Zack left, I enjoyed my own Spark while I took a nice, hot bath. Lovely way to start a Sunday!

I also had my daily dose of Catalyst and ProBiotic Restore Ultra (Days 4-10).

I followed that up with a piece of whole grain toast, smeared with a little PB2 (which is actually pretty good!), and a sliced banana. 

More TV drama – I went to turn on the TV so I could watch some instant movies from my free Amazon Prime trial, but the remote wouldn’t work. Turns out, it just needed batteries. So, off to the Dollar General I went! Bought the batteries, came home, put them in, and… it still didn’t work. So, I watched movies on our DVD player all day. Can you say Sex & the City marathon?!

My goal for the day was to finish my bottle-painting project and re-organize our closet. I’m proud to say: mission accomplished for both!

I started the bottle project a couple months ago, when I saw on Pinterest that you can easily paint wine & other liquor bottles by pouring the paint inside and swirling it around. Yea… it’s not as easy as it looks. I totally failed at doing that. However — I did decide that I wanted a monochromatic look instead of a bunch of different colors for decoration above my kitchen cabinets. So, I took the messed up bottles outside and spray painted them an ivory color. They looked awesome! And, since they’re going to be above my cabinets, nobody will be able to see little imperfections. So, I decided that I would do everything that color. It took me a while to collect all of the wine bottles, vinegar bottles, Crown Royal bottles (actually not so long for these! lol), pickle jars, etc. 

I washed each bottle well, then soaked them in a sink of really hot, soapy water for a few hours. Once you pull them out, the labels pretty much peel off! Get a scrub brush and a little elbow grease, and the glue will come right off! After removing the labels, I let them sit for a few hours to dry. After they were dry, I took those bad boys outside and sprayed them down. Some bottles needed a second coat.

I took a break while they were drying to eat lunch. For lunch, I had leftover Chinese rice! I added a little hot sauce to give it some kick. Still yummy the second day!

I did something different with the Crown bottles. Since there’s so many pretty ridges and designs on that one, I gave it a brown base coat and an ivory top coat. Once both layers were dry, I sanded the ridges to show the brown and create an antique, distressed look. They came out pretty great if I do say so myself! 😉

I put some white silk flowers in the pickle jars to give it a little texture. The two flowers on the ends are “wild flowers” and the middle one is tulips. 

I still want a few more short items and a few more tall bottles for the ends, but that will be a project for later! 

Once I finished my bottle project, I moved on to our closet. I’m kind of a freak of nature about keeping things organized, so our closet really wasn’t bad. But – there were a few things that I wanted to re-organize. I had a bunch of shoes on the floor that I wanted to put on the top shelf of the closet, but there wasn’t enough room. 

We had two piles of Zack’s long-johns and swim trunks on the shelf that I wanted to put somewhere else. I have a 3-tier plastic slide-out unit under my dresses (not pictured) where I had a bunch of old t-shirts that I don’t wear (all random shirts from events I went to). Sizes ranging from Small – XL. lol! So, I organized those by size and put them in the empty guest room closet. I didn’t want to throw them away, but I don’t need them taking up valuable space. 

Freeing up that shelf space allowed me to arrange all of my heels and boots on the shelf, along with my tote of purses and Zack’s shoes on the right side (not pictured). 

I also went through my slacks and plucked out the ones that had ripped hemlines and torn pockets. I’m sending those off to my seamstress to get repaired. Hoping to get into smaller sizes soon!

Once I finished with my projects, I kicked my feet up and watched some Sex & the City instead of listening to it in the background.

I didn’t have any snacks. I’m not sure why, but I never felt hungry during the day. I don’t want to snack just because, so I didn’t have one. We did eat supper early, so that could be why too.

When Zack finally got home, he was hungry so we ate supper early. He took a container of leftover gumbo out of the freezer and had that while I made a salad of turkey breast, spinach, almonds, cranberries, a tiny bit of feta, and homemade Italian dressing.

We ended the night by watching a movie through Amazon Prime Instant Streaming (Zack got the remote to work!).

Before bed, I took my last dose of the Herbal Cleanse caplets (Days 1-7). These caplets are the size of horse pills! They are huge, and they’re not in a capsule. Yuck!

Overall, it was a great weekend – and my first full week of the challenge!

Weight Update:
The scale hasn’t moved since yesterday, so I am still at 5.5 lbs down! It’s unrealistic to expect the scale to move every day, so I’m not disappointed. A lot of people say to not weigh everyday, but I’m just way too excited to do that!

I’ve also noticed that I have a huge amount of energy throughout the day! Normally, I would have laid on the sofa and watched TV all day, but now I actually have the energy to complete my around-the-house projects!

Cheers to a great second week of the Challenge!
Monday – Wednesday I will finish up the Cleanse phase.
Thursday I begin the Max phase! Super excited to try the Meal Replacement Shakes!