Day 4!

I know, I know. I didn't blog yesterday. I'll make up for it with TWO posts today!! Lucky you!

Yesterday was a rough day for me, but I made the correct choices. For those of you who aren't familiar with Advocare and the 24-day challenge, the first 10 days are the "Cleanse" phase and then the next 14 are the "Max" phase. The first 3 days were the same plan, and then days 4-6 change it up. So, yesterday I didn't have to have a fiber drink!! Instead I took these 2 little probiotic pills with a Spark energy drink.

I also decided that I wanted breakfast instead of a meal replacement shake. I cooked 3/4 cup egg whites seasoned with black pepper and a touch of garlic powder, and ate it with with 2 tbsp salsa on top. I also had my 2 morning Omegaplex pills. I thought I was going to want a banana but decided I was full after I ate! Again, my eyes haven't learned the actual size of my tummy yet.

Is it just me or do the pills look like eyes and the fork
 looks like a mouth trying to eat my eggs?

In retrospect, I think the decision to cook breakfast instead of having the meal replacement shake is what made yesterday so hard. I felt hungry ALL day. It didn't help that for lunch we stopped to pick up this madness for Justin.

Not worth it.

Instead of having pizza, and man did I want pizza, I dropped him off with his carbs and went home to cook instead. I decided to make some healthy taco meat. I used lean ground turkey, cut up an onion and added some tomatoes at the end (after draining the fat and wiping the pan from the meat and onions). I seasoned it with black pepper, cumin, garlic powder, parsley and oregano. I put it on top of my pre-made salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mushrooms) and added 1/2 an avocado. I used some lemon juice instead of dressing.

Healthy taco meat!

Lunch. Better than pizza!

So I defeated lunch. I spent the afternoon working on several different projects and doing some stuff towards purchasing my house. I'm still waiting to hear back on my offer, in case you were wondering!

So then came dinner. I hosted a meeting with the Ad2 Board last night. Of course, our monthly meetings are at a restaurant. I wanted everything from the menu, especially the surf & turf Thomas ordered and these lovely Nachos Sarah shared with everyone. A margarita would have been nice too, and I realized that I've added alcohol to the list of things I'm putting on hiatus.

Sarah's nachos. Also not worth it.

Instead, I stuck to the plan. I ordered a house salad with no cheese or croutons. As I ordered, someone made a joking comment "can you get any more boring?"  I laughed. And then I said, "and no dressing please."  It was all in good spirits, but I was really proud of myself for not giving in to temptation

I forgot a before pic, so here's an after. It was lettuce
(a mix of iceberg and romaine,  shredded carrots and grape
tomatoes. I used lemons again as dressing.

The other thing I realized at dinner/the meeting is that I'm surrounded by people making healthy choices! I guess it's a glass half full/half empty perspective, but I never realized it before last night. Josh, who sat to my left is also on a cleanse and he ordered chicken with steamed veggies. My 3 closest friends are all eating clean and my mom is trying to diet as well. I have friends at the YMCA from last summer, plus Shelley goes with me. It is SO easy for me to see the pizza and nachos (not yos!), but no so easy to pay attention to the health decisions being made around me. I think I'm just starting to pay more attention to the healthy things surrounding me, because I finally feel like it's possible to make a change. I've felt overwhelmed and incapable of losing weight for so long now, but I'm finally feeling empowered!  Hopefully I can learn to shift my focus and maybe one day it'll come natural to notice (dare I say, desire) the healthy instead of the unhealthy. Until then, I'm going to fight off the unhealthy the best I can. I did drink a total of 16 cups of water yesterday, and also had 1/4 cup of raisins as a snack. At the end of the night I had my herbal cleanse pills and 2 more Omegaplex pills. I didn't work out yesterday, but don't worry I did on Day 5! I'm also losing weight. I'm not ready to post my weight loss yet, but rest assured that this challenge IS working very well for me! I hope everyone has a fantastic day! See you on the flip side!