Advocare 24 Day Challenge

My 24 Day Challenge.

I recently completed my first 24 day challenge by Advocare and wanted to share how my challenge went and what I thought.  But first let’s start at the beginning and with my 30 second story.  A year and a half ago my friend Angela introduced me to Advocare.  I ordered my 24 day challenge and put it aside for a few weeks.  We were trying to get pregnant so I was waiting to see if I was and what do you know – I was!  Fast forward to October 2015 and I have a 7 month old amazing baby girl and I’m finally ready to do my 24 day challenge by Advocare.  My husband had done one in June, he didn’t follow the diet and didn’t seem to feel any different.  In all honesty I had planned to do it because I had the product in my house and didn’t want to the money I spent to go to waste.  Little did I know I would fall in love with the products, feel amazing and decide to become an Advocare advisor.

Now that you know my story of becoming an Advocare advisor let me talk about my challenge experience.  The first 10 days is a cleanse which is the hardest part of the challenge in my opinion.  The first day I was working and didn’t eat enough so had a headache all day – but I knew why so could correct it the next day.  The fist couple of days were rough in general – no coffee (thank goodness for Spark), no chocolate and no wine.  But I got through it and I started to feel great.  By day 5 I was already seeing results and couldn’t wait to share with everyone I knew.  This is when I decided to become an advisor for Advocare.

I continued on my challenge finding the next 14 days to be amazing.  My body was responding to the clean eating and supplements I was taking.  I was fitting into clothes that hadn’t fit since before I was pregnant, the weight was coming off and I felt better.  I found it easy to stay away from the bad foods and chocolate.  In the 24 days I lost a total of 6 lbs and 7 inches.  Above all else I felt great.

Now that the 24 days have passed and it’s been another 24 days this is the perfect time for the blog.  I can say I have stayed on the Advocare products continued with my healthy lifestyle and I my body has continued to respond.  I am still losing weight, toning up and feeling great.  There are days that I do have an occasional cheat (let’s be honest who doesn’t) but I find it so easy to get back on track.  I am coaching different people on their challenges and get just as excited for each of their milestones as I was for my own.  I am building a business for me and my family, leading by example with everyone I know.

Please send me a message if you are interested in knowing more about the 24 Day Challenge or about what Advocare can do for you.

Goal: be a fit mom.... what I get " you're already skinny"

My goal right now is to be a fit and healthy mom.  I've gone back to my running and am slowly increasing the mileage.  Now I have started on the 30 day beach body challenge Piyo to increase my strength.  (I hate the gym and really despise weight training...I get bored).   If I can motivate others while I am at - even better.
Recently I had a conversation with a girlfriend of mine who is also a new mom about my workouts.  She made the comment about how I'm already skinny I don't need to workout anymore.  (To be fair, she is not the only person who has said this to me.  She just happened to say it most recently).  This comment made me stop and think.  Yes I really would love to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans and still be able to breathe and move.  But that isn't my focus right now.  My focus is to be fit and healthy, not just "skinny".  And how is it we live in a society where that is the first thing we notice when someone is really stepping up their workouts?  I have to remind myself daily that my goals are to set a good example for my family.
As far as being skinny...not a word I love because unfit unhealthy people can be skinny.  I may be thin post-baby and becoming fit.  However I am the size I am because I work hard.  I'm up running before it gets too hot pushing a baby jogger.  I do my strength training often when my daughter is on her activity mat beside me with interruptions.  This is all hard work so yes I do need to keep working out in order to stay fit.  Now if I could just master the healthy eating....

starting Piyo with my running

I said in my last post my goal is to be a fit mom and add strength to my runs.  This morning had to be a fast run (I tried to sneak out the door by myself but my daughter woke up).  I got in a 2 mile run with sub 10 minute miles for the first time since I got pregnant.  And then this afternoon I did the first workout from the Piyo workout series by Beachbody.  This workout was just the fundamentals so I know what I am doing in the other workouts...and I feel it in muscles that I never remember to stretch!  Doing the double workouts a day could go one of two ways...I become a stronger runner with more flexibility or 2 - I am no longer able to move.  I am really hoping it's 1 and I become a stronger runner adding flexibility and strength.  We will see what the next few days bring and how I am able to fit the workouts along with my daily routine in.

Changing times...

Times are changing and so is my fitness focus.  In March I gave birth to my daughter and that changes everything!!  I am still out there running and focusing on being fit however the focus is no longer just marathons.  I hope someday to return to Boston and run my 10th full marathon, and I am sure there will be more to follow after #10.  But for now my focus has become leading a fit and healthy life style.  

The one thing I've learned in the last 5 months is that Mom's are busy!!!!  I am lucky enough to be home with my daughter most of the time but still trying to fit in workouts is a challenge.  Thankfully recently we got the Bob jogging stroller and that has made my runs much easier to get in and I am more consistent getting out the door.  However trying to strength train is another challenge I have yet to overcome.  I convinced my husband to do a 30 day squat and ab challenge with me - he's not loving it.  But that is at least a start.
Hopefully blogging and joining a 30 day fitness challenge group will help me stay on track since I will now be held accountable!  

Exchanging the shoes….

November 7, 2013

Yup that's right it's time to exchange those sneakers.  So after Sunday's run I went back to the really dead old running shoes to see if I was still having pain.  And no pain with the old sneakers which confirms my concern…it was the new shoes.
I truly understand the recommendation of a less structured sneaker, however I also have always been told don't make a major change (unless you are having issues due to your current pair) when you are increasing mileage.  You either increase mileage or make a major change to your form or sneakers etc - never both.
So back to the store I went.  The shoe expert I dealt with this time was wonderful and agreed with me the sneaker was too big of a change.  In fact the new pair was NOTHING like my old pair and was probably way too big of a change combined with increasing mileage.  Of course they no longer make my sneaker but we came out with something that is considered similar.  Hopefully this will work.

Growing Pains or Something to Worry about?

Sunday November 3, 2013

Today wasn’t a great run, in fact overall it was pretty awful.  I had to spend most of my run paying very close attention to my body trying to figure out what is going on.  Starting by mile 3 my entire right leg was cramping up.  It started in the hip and gradually the entire leg had cramped.  Of course at this point I was 3 miles from home and still had 6.5 miles to go in my run.  I did my best to stretch out at mile 3  and made my way home, managing to stay on pace.  But now came decision time – to scrap the run or keep going?  This is never an easy decision to make and you have to look at so many possibilities.  If this was the start of an injury would I be better off cutting the run short and hopefully preventing a full injury?  But what about not getting the mileage in?  How do I determine if this is an injury versus growing pains?  I mean after all there is going to be discomfort with an increase in mileage. When I got to the house to switch out my water bottle at mile 6 I decided to take time to stretch that leg out.  After 10 minutes of stretching the pain was mostly gone and I felt ready to run again.  I decided to go out and try to finish my run but if I started to hurt at all I would turn around and go home.  The run ended up going much better than expected and I think I found the culprit of my pain – my new running shoes L Time to figure that out…

Food Poisoning on Saturday….8 Mile Run on Sunday

The title say’s it all about my run this weekend.  I am exactly 12 weeks away from my 9^th marathon and for the first time in years I have time goals.  Training is starting to ramp up and I am focusing a great deal on my runs, especially my long runs.  Saturday was a day off from training and I managed to get food poisoning from leftovers.  I spent Saturday afternoon throwing up and dry heaving, Saturday night curled up on the couch with my club soda and Ritz crackers. 

Unfortunately my diet of club soda and Ritz crackers is not exactly ideal the night before an 8 mile run.  Which means I had some decisions to make.  1. Was it a good plan to go running on Sunday after throwing up on Saturday?  2.  Did I have enough reserves to get through the 8 mile run?  And if I didn’t and was really bottoming out while running would I be able to make the tough call to scrap the rest?  I decided before going to bed if I didn’t throw up again and had no other GI issues after 2 A.M. I would get up planning for my run.  When I woke up I was no longer nauseas which was a good sign and as far as I was concerned this meant the run was a go.  I took down a granola bar with some water and gave it about 30 minutes to see how my stomach handled it.  All seemed well so I got my water bottles ready and time to head out the door.  For my last few runs I have been filling my first water bottle with water and then at the halfway point my loop brings me by the house and I switch out for the water bottle filled with Gatorade.  Today I decided to fill both bottles with Gatorade so I could help make up for the lack of caloric intake on Saturday.

Overall this run went very well.  I was able to keep my scheduled pace of 11:10 min/mi without an issue.  The last mile was a struggle for me, however this was more of a mental issue than a physical one.  This is the first marathon where I do not run with anyone – ever.  I was bored and had to work hard to get over my mental block of just wanting to stop.  Above all else when it comes time for the marathon, my mental strength should be stronger than ever.