Day 13

DJ Dawgie Dawn is.

Saturday was a terrible day for me. I had some personal stuff going on and normally that would mean all kinds of binge eating. All freaking day I wanted an Oreo shake from Jack in the Box, but I resisted. I didn't work out and I didn't track my water. I did eat healthy, but in large portions. I started with my meal replacement shake and Spark energy drinks for breakfast, and thanks to my good friend Marjan I managed to make it through the day without doing too much damage. For lunch I had not just salad but also shrimp and salmon. And then I had more shrimp. I literally ate about 3/4 lb of shrimp throughout the afternoon. 

Disclaimer: it was a small plate. Confession: I at least doubled up on the shrimp.

I'm not proud, but it's better than all the fast food and pizza I wanted. I also at a ton of lentil chips with a bean dip our friend Jenn had made for salad night earlier in the week. I know I drank at least 16 cups of water, but I'm not entirely sure exactly how much I had. Let's just say I'm glad Saturday is over and I didn't completely blow the diet. I waited for Sunday to do that...

Day 12

As of Friday morning I'd lost 9 lbs in 11 days! That, my friends, is reason to celebrate!! How do we celebrate? Not with cake and ice cream!  Instead I celebrated with healthy morning drinks (complete with my photo-bombing cat)!

MNS, Chocolate Meal Replacement Shake,
Spark Energy drink, and Sunnie under my glass coffee table!

And then, just to kick the weight-loss celebration up a notch (who'd I just quote? leave a comment with your answer!!), I met Shelley for a double workout. That's right; DOUBLE. We did Aerobic Workout class at 9 AND the Zumba class at 10. Let's just say I was exhausted and sore by the time I got home, and I've never hated the stairs leading up to my apartment more than I did this morning. We'll see if I make it to the gym tomorrow, but I'm considering giving my body a day off. 

For lunch I went back for the same tacos I had last night. In posting the picture for yesterday's blog I realized how much sour cream I actually used, so I made a conscious effort to use less today. I could taste the difference, but not enough to be sad about it. I'd rather be healthy than have a little extra sour cream. Even though I'm still eating small portions for meals, I'm getting REALLY full. I was a little uncomfortable after lunch, which I haven't felt since I started the challenge, and I don't like it. It's crazy to think that I used to do that to myself after almost every meal as recent as 12 days ago. Smaller portions shall be had going forward.

Good thing I don't like rice that much....

For dinner I had a chopped salad from Subway, with my new salad dressings. I'd ordered some Walden Farms dressings because I read on someone else's Advocare blog that it was the best dressing. They were correct! I had the Bacon Ranch flavor. It is calorie, sugar, fat, carb, gluten and cholesterol free, and it tastes FANTASTIC!  It was kind of stinky though, says my boyfriend. The salad itself was lettuce, spinach, cucumber, tomato and chicken.

Subway. Eat fresh.

Day 11

Yesterday, Day 11/Thursday, was the beginning of the Max phase of my Advocare 24-day challenge! Basically from this point forward I'm just supposed to eat healthy, the way I plan to eat the rest of my life. I'm still doing a meal replacement shake for breakfast, energy drinks and MNS Color Packs, which are vitamins. Here's what they look like!

MNS Color Packs

I did an hour long step class, walked (and ran a whole :30) on the treadmill and then did 6 more minutes on the elliptical. For lunch I had spaghetti with ground turkey and veggies, and then I went to my foundation inspection on the house. I had 1 cup of mixed berries as a snack in the afternoon as well.

Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

For dinner I had the best meal yet! I had the same ground turkey I've been eating, but I ate it on whole wheat mini tortillas. The best parts? Fat free cheese, light sour cream and salsa. SO GOOD!

Sorry it's fuzzy. Not sure why....

I snacked at a friends house last night too, but it was all healthy things. Overall, it was a great day!

Day 10

Day 10 was a good one!  I started the day Wednesday losing weight and then doing 60 minutes of Zumba! It was also a great day because it was the last day of the cleanse period, which means last fiber drink. While they were tolerable, I'm not going to miss them! Cleanse complete.

For lunch ate leftovers from BYOS the previous night, and I know I ate healthy dinner but I really don't remember what I had. The main things I remember from Wednesday are all the items that came up on my house inspection. My realtor is pretty sure the seller will fix everything but we'll have to see. Because the day was so full I didn't take any good pictures for you. Instead, I'll share a few more of the interior of the house. Here's the kitchen I'll be eating clean in. Keep in mind these are "before"pictures. Paint and matching appliances will hopefully happen before I ever move in!

Kitchen

Pantry

Day 9

Day 9 started rough. I woke up to my alarm to go work out, but had a headache. Ultimately, I went back to sleep and skipped my workout. Not my finest moment, but hey, I'm human!

For lunch I tried to eat the turkey cutlets described in the Day 7 post. I took one bite and this is when I threw it all away. I ended up with the spaghetti again instead.

Yuck.

Yum.

For dinner I went to a friend's house for BYOS night with the girls! S is for "salad"!  Perhaps it's not as exciting as adult beverages, but it's healthier!!  I ate more food Tuesday night than I have since I started my challenge. I brought 2 types of healthy chicken salad and a hummus/veggie tray.

Ingredients for one of the chicken salads I made.

One friend brought a health bean/veggie dip salsa. The hostess with the hostess made a very healthy pasta salad with shrimp and her famous spinach dip. She also made a healthy pistachio/fruit salad desert. It was AMAZING! I was so full and convinced I'd be sick from eating so much when I left, but miraculously I didn't get sick. Here's a sample of the smorgasbord of food! Overall, salad night was excellent! Great food, great company, great times!

J's bean salsa with veggie chips and whole wheat crisps. 

My chicken salads - served with whole wheat
carb options that nobody ate and we put away!
I was so proud of everyone for resisting the carbs!!

The hostess's shrimp pasta salad!

Here's my leftover container so you can see a bit of everything. :)

I managed to drink 16 cups of water, so that was an improvement! I also thought I'd share with you the painting I made for the hostess. She's an amazing friend and has helped me throughout the house buying experience, helps watch my cats when I'm out of town and has helped me in more ways than I could ever list here. She's pretty much amazing, and after spending literally months trying to decide what to get her I decided I'd sit down an paint. I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Thank you, friend!

Day 8

Not another manic Monday, whoooooaaaaaa whoa. Wish it was Sunday!

Monday was a good day! I went to the gym and improved my mile time on the elliptical! I did the full 33 minute workout and did the in and out hip abduction machines.

A week ago my time was 15:29!

22 minutes, and almost 2 1/4 miles. 

For lunch I had more of the whole wheat spaghetti I made earlier in the week, with some newly cooked lean turkey and veggies.

Same old spaghetti you keep seeing. I like it.

 For dinner  I chopped up some veggies to eat with grilled chicken in a whole wheat tortilla. I also cooked some white rice for Justin, which he ate instead of veggies. It was nice to be able to easily cook food that we both like/can eat.

Mushroom, green & red bell peppers.

Chicken seasoned with garlic and black pepper on the Foreman.

I only had 10 cups of water on Monday so I made sure to amp it up the next few days!

Day 7

I'm back!!!  My apologies for being gone a few days and thank you very much to those who reached out to make sure I was still on track let me know the blog was missed! I'm going to post each day as a separate post so it doesn't get too long.

Sunday was day 7 of my challenge, and it was also Father's Day. The day was rough for two reasons.

1. Since my father passed away in November of 2010, I get emotional on Father's day. Usually being emotional means eating emotionally.
2. We ate out for lunch and then ate at Justin's parents for dinner. 

Despite these hurdles, I feel that I did pretty well. I tried to make a new recipe from the Advocare cookbook: Turkey Cutlets with Mango/Peach Salsa.

Here's what happened:

Chop 2 peaches and 2 mangoes.

Add 1 can Rotel. You can use mild
 or original. I don't like spicy so I used mild.

Mix together with minced, lime juice, water.
You can add cilantro if you want; I didn't.

1 lb of lean turkey breast cutlets.

Lay cutlets on the bottom and top with the salsa.
Set to cook for 6-8 hours on low.

 What not to do:

Don't fall asleep and forget that you have food in the crockpot.
I tried to salvage it but ended up throwing it all way. HUGE waste of time and money.

In addition, to all my Advocare pills/drinks I had an okay food day.  I had a turkey burger for lunch. I asked them to grill it dry and I didn't eat the bun. I did have fat free mayo (scraped half off) and fat free cheese. Oops. I also had ketchup and ate it with the lettuce and tomato. It was good, but man did I want their cheese fries with ranch.  :(  You'll also notice my water instead of coke. I haven't had a single coke since I started, and I almost don't even want it at this point!

For dinner Justin's mom was super sweet and cooked healthy for me. I ate some sugar free jello, cantaloupe, steamed green beans, a hamburger patty with ketchup and some potato salad. She didn't use salt so even though I cheated I didn't really feel guilty because it wasn't THAT bad. Also, I tried to work out Sunday morning but when I got to the Y it was closed. :(  Apparently Sundays they're only open 1-6pm. I even looked up the Lamar gym because I was already dressed, in the car and willing to drive to Beaumont. Were they open? Of course not. So Sunday I came home, did 100 crunches and called it a holiday. Here are a few pics of me and my dad in honor of Father's Day!

Dad and me circa 2002. Also, look how skinny I was. Motivation!

Dad and cute me. No idea what year. Maybe '91? Do I look 6?