This is it! The final three days of the cleanse. I definitely feel good! Much less bloaty and weighed down. I’ve had so much going on the last three days, it’s been very eye opening.

First, I’ve realized how much I “need” food when I’m stressed.

Day 8 – I had a conference call regarding an event I want nothing to do with and also a lunch meeting. The lunch meeting was good but when you’re thinking about the 100 things you need to do at the office, it’s not so fun.

Day 9 – Hello stress – I am one woman trying to do the work of 5, finalizing all of the details for the Girls on the Run Practice 5K and attending the visitation for my friends mother. I broke down – I had Penn Station for lunch. Did it make me less stressed? Nope. But it was delicious.

Day 10 – GOTR Practice 5K, sell of my sofa to random stranger through Craigslist and packing, packing, and packing. Guess which awesome coach picked up cookies, bagels and muffins for the girls once they finished their 5K? Guess which awesome coach had to take all the left overs home? Guess which awesome coach has an undying love for peanut butter cookies? It’s safe to assume there are no peanut butter cookies in my house.

Lessons learned:
1. Plan ahead – On Day 9 if I would have had lunch planned, I probably would have eaten that rather than go out.
2. Don’t bring it in the house! If it’s here, I will eat it.
3. Remind myself, I’m not super woman. I can’t do it all. Everything will not be perfect all the time. It’s ok to be imperfect.
4. Exercise. I have not done a lick of exercise in 6 days! Not good. Especially when I have a half-marathon in two weeks.

The results:
Total pounds lost – 3
Total inches lost – 11.5 (Measured right arm, shoulders, chest, waist, hips, right thigh and right calf)

4 inches off my waist, 2 off my hips.

My goal is 10 pounds, 12 total inches in during the 24-day challenge. I’m well on my way!

Day 11-24 is the Max Phase which I will finish on Saturday May 5th, the same day as the  mini. I’ll do a final post with results after May 6th. So far, I’m loving the Advocare product!

Day 4-7 of the Advocare 24-day challenge is considered Phase 2 of the Cleanse.

Phase 2 of the Cleanse does not include the Fiber Drink! HOORAY!!

It’s pretty similar to Phase 1:

Wake up – Take 3 Catalyst, Probiotic Restore Packet
Breakfast
Snack
3 Catalyst 30 minutes before lunch
Lunch
Spark with snack
Dinner with 4 OmegaPlex
Herbal Cleanse Packet

I followed the same food plan as Phase 1. I don’t branch out all that often with food, some might say I’m picky. I don’t get it.

I was able to eat out. I went to Applebee’s with my mom. I ordered a sirloin steak, rice and broccoli. I split the sirloin and only had half at the restaurant. The other half was for dinner the next time. It was actually pretty simple to find something on the menu that fit with the meal plan. I also had a work lunch with lasagna, fried chicken, mashed potatoes. I filled 1/2 my plate with salad. Then I chose the chicken and removed the skin. I might have also added a dab on mashed potatoes. But no cookie or brownie.

I’m kicking the Diet Coke. I no longer have any in the house. If I want one, I have to go and get it. I’ve learned that I wasn’t as addicted as I thought. I was more paranoid of the migraine that I always tend to get when I don’t have any caffeine. Well, so far no migraine. I believe I’ve gone 48 hours without a Diet Coke. For me, that is totally impressive. I’m going to continue to work them out. Hopefully in the next month or so, they will be a treat not a need.

I had a few missteps this phase. A dear friend of mine lost her mother unexpectedly and it hit me pretty hard. I had known her mom because she was my roommate and pledge sister in college. I saw her at wedding and baby showers. It wasn’t like she was a huge part of my life. I guess I just feel we’re too young to be losing parents. Anyway, I had cookies. I can’t say that I felt better but I had cookies.

Overall, pretty uneventful! I’ll share the results in Phase 3….stay tuned….

I am currently on day 6 of the Advocare 24-Day Challenge. And I know I promised recaps. So, here we go.

The first 10 days is a cleanse which is broken down into three phases.
Phase 1 – Day 1-3
Phase 2 – Day 4-7
Phase 3 – Day 8-10

Phase 1 – The basic outline looks like this:

Wake up – Take 3 Catalyst
Breakfast – Fiber Drink
Snack
3 Catalyst 30 minutes before lunch
Lunch
Spark with snack
Dinner with 4 OmegaPlex
Herbal Cleanese Packet

Catalyst is basically Amino Acids which feed and preserve muscle and starve fat.

OmegaPlex are your Omega 3 vitamins or essential fatty acids.

The Fiber Drink is a funny joke created by Advocare to make you want to die. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but it’s a gritty, fiber drink with a sandpaper taste, it get stuck in your teeth, if you let it sit too long it makes a gel or paste. In other words, torture that I paid for! The first day, I mixed the packet with water and was only able to get a few gulps down. There was gagging. It was gross. Day two, I mixed with Crystal Light Fruit Punch and it went right down the hatch. Day three, I was out of Fruit Punch so I substituted Pink Lemonade – very poor planning. The outcome was a repeat of day one.

That being said, I understand why people do cleanses. I saw things that I have never seen before. Or maybe things I had seen before that were being scrubbed from my system. It was pretty awesome, to be perfectly, disgustingly, honest. I never had any cramping. I never had to RUN to the bathroom. But when I went, I went.

The diet portion of the challenge is pretty straight-forward. 5-6 meals a day. Clean carbs (no more than 30 grams), clean protein, healthy fats, and lots of fruits and veggies. 3-4 ounces of protein at lunch and dinner. And water. Lots of water. Oh, and Spark! I forgot about Spark. I love SPARK! It’s an energy drink, mix the powder with water and enjoy. It even tastes great!

Now, because I do not like healthy food, it’s been alot of the same. My morning snack is 3 hard boiled eggs and a fruit – apples and bananas are the only fruits I eat. My afternoon snack was a can of tuna and 24 almonds. I really didn’t want breakfast because of the Fiber Drink so I could hold off until my egg/fruit snack.

Lunches were interesting. I think I did a turkey wrap each day (the wrap only had 11 carbs). I tried a salad with it the first day and was really full. So I ended up just eating the wrap day 2 and 3.

Dinner was chicken or lean steak with aparagus or broccoli.

I did have an evening snack of a Cliff bar. By the time, I went to be I was starving! And I can’t sleep when I’m hungry, so I had to snack. Now, I probably should have had something more fruity or vegetably but I didn’t.

Items not on the list that I consumed – I did have a diet coke each day. I do have an interesting theory (besides addiction) that I’ll share later. Cliff bar, whatever. Power bar – typically consumed between Fiber Drink and snack.

Honestly – I’m damn proud. No cookies. No cheese. No crackers. No “real” snacks.

How did I feel?
Day 1 – I felt silly. More than normal. I was having trouble focusing. I watched the clock like a hawk for eating times. I was pretty nauseous in the morning after the catalyst but realized that I need to take them with more water.
Day 2 – I felt great! The “cleanse” portion kicked in and I’m pretty sure I was floating away.
Day 3 – I still felt great but it was a bit off because it was Saturday. I was really grumpy on Saturday for other reasons but that’s for another time.

Exercise –
I tried to do a long workout on Friday after work. I had 10 miles on my training schedule. Not smart unless you typically run those miles in an hour. I started off in a jog, then ended up walking the majority of 8.5 miles. I was starving and tired. My body was very confused. The sugar it usually has was not there and there wasn’t much there to replace it. I typically walk a 14-15 minute pace. My last mile hovered around 18 minutes. Needlesstosay, I will not be doing another long run until Sunday or Monday when I’m off the cleanse portion of this adventure.

Phase 2 has been so interesting to me. Can’t wait to start that recap! I’m definitely listening to my body and learning lots!

Until then……..

**Disclaimer** I am not affliated with Advocare except as consumer. I was not asked or paid for my review of their product. These are my personal experiences witht the product. I am not a doctor or health care professional – just a simple overweight girl looking for a jump start.