Advocare Challenge - Memorial Weekend!!!

Yeah, I fell behind. Memorial Day weekend made it a little difficult to write about everything I was eating on days 12-15. I did, however, stick to the plan. I have had VERY few slips or even "bends" of the rules. I did have a few glasses of wine Saturday night. I'll be honest, I felt like CRAP Sunday morning. A few weeks ago that amount of wine wouldn't have phased me at all. I don't know if my tolerance has gone down or if this is making the wine turn against me. If the latter is what is happening I may have to sue Advocare. Nothing comes between me and my wine.

Those who CrossFit know that with Memorial Day comes "Murph." Those of you who don't know about "Murph," it is a workout named after Lt. Michael Murphy who died in 2005. He is one of the main Navy Seals in the movie "Lone Survivor." If you haven't seen that, watch it. It will give you a whole new respect for Navy Seals and our military. So "Murph" is a hero WOD (workout of the day) that pretty much every CrossFit gym does on Memorial Day.  Also, the idea of a "hero WOD" is that you're doing this to honor a fallen soldier. Reminding yourself of this will force you to keep going and not quit because they didn't quit fighting for us. So, this was my first year to do this workout. It consists of a 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 air squats and you finish with another 1 mile run. I knew this would take me forever and I feared I would die somewhere on that last run. I survived ... but barely. I am doing "real" pull ups now and I am slow at them. Ripped my hands in a few places and got to where I could barely pull myself up. My time was 85:31. So basically I survived an hour and a half of hell. An 80 year old on a walker could have passed me on that run. I honestly know that if I can do CrossFit, anyone can. I am the least athletic person I know and I may be slower than your average slug ... but I can do it and anyone else can too.

Back to the Advocare Challenge and food I guess. So ... I had a great lunch on Friday, and it's something I continue to go back to. Lettuce wraps with some grilled chicken, tomato and hummus. This time I threw some avocado in there. It was totally delicious.

Friday night I grilled some pork tenderloins. The marinade turned out really yummy! *See bottom of blog for recipe. We grilled some eggplant and squash to go with it. Two of my favorite vegetables on the grill and they are so easy! I went to a cookout yesterday and took some ground turkey and made turkey burgers with some hummus on top. I also ate a bunch of watermelon and veggies. If you're ever hungry, eat watermelon! Most filling food ever!

I will say that I am FINALLY starting to feel like I am getting a little smaller. All just subtle differences. Of course everyone sees my boyfriend and tells him how skinny he looks and goes on and on. I am trying not to want to kill him ... it's hard though. I will report any weight loss in tomorrow's blog.


Pork Tenderloin Marinade

Pork tenderloin
1/4 cup (or less) Olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Place pork tenderloin (I had 2 in a pack from Sam's and this was more than enough marinade for both) in gallon ziploc bag and pour marinade over it. Let marinate for at least 2 hours. Wrap each tenderloin in foil packet and pour marinade over both. Bake until no longer pink in the center (will depend on size of meat). Let rest for 10-15 minutes after out of the oven. Enjoy!

Advocare 24 Day Challenge - Day 8

I have to say, day 8 has been my best and worst day all at once. It started off bad because I got on the scale and had only lost 1/2 pound since beginning this challenge. I am telling you... I have not cheated ONCE! I tried not to let it discourage me. Especially since my boyfriend lost 7 lbs doing the exact same thing as me. Men ... y'all suck.

The upside is that I feel GREAT and had energy and met some other goals yesterday! I had the best run I have had in years! I shaved 1:30 min off my pace and ran up every HUGE hill.  After my run I went to CrossFit and kicked some booty on some power cleans and then did better than I expected on the AMRAP. A day that started out pretty crappy turned out to be very positive!!!

As for food yesterday, here's the rundown:

Breakfast started with my fiber drink (those come back for days 8-10) ... and yes, I'm still a freak and like them. I switched things up and had my apple for breakfast and my scrambled egg/egg whites with spinach as my morning snack. This kept me full until after 1.

My afternoon snack was some hummus with cucumbers and grape tomatoes. Very good. Oh, and then another Spark.

Dinner was leftover quinoa turkey meatballs over spaghetti squash with Rao's Marinara on top. So yummy and filling!

I have always lost weight in the past by counting calories, so I wanted to see just how many calories a day I was eating during this cleanse. I ate like I have been for the last week, but kept track on my LoseIt app. I wanted to make sure I wasn't eating way more than my body could burn off in a day. Yesterday I only had 1072 calories, and at least 150 of that was from Advocare supplements! It made me feel better to know that it is more likely my body in shock than me taking in too many calories. Hopefully the weight loss will catch up soon!

Advocare 24 Day Challenge - Days 4 through 7

Got a little sidetracked these past few days, but many of my meals have been repeats anyway. However, there have been a few new (and delicious) ones I will post below.

So this has definitely gotten easier and easier as the week went on. Seven full days finished and I feel good! No sleepy afternoons and I am getting more done everyday. Sundays are devoted to groceries and meal planning for the week. That really makes ALL the difference. Having options and a plan can make or break this challenge.

One thing that has gotten me down, is weight loss. I have only lost 1/2 a pound in this first week of the challenge. I have not cheated AT ALL. I am hoping my body will catch up and get with the program that my mind is already on. 

Saturday was just one long day of tests. Went to the pool, where everyone was drinking beer and eating crawfish. I had my tangerine and almonds ... and water (fun times). Then, went to the movies Saturday night. I can't tell you how close I came to snatching some popcorn out of the lady's bucket in front of me in line (as I bought my over priced water). I did sneak some roasted edamame into the movies though. GREAT snack. I survived and all was good though.

So most of my breakfasts have been the regular scrambled eggs and spinach. On day 5 though I tried
whole grain oatmeal with some berries and cinnamon. NOTE: Berries are not sweet enough for that oatmeal! I ended up adding half a packet of Splenda, and it still wasn't all that good. It did fill me up though. I have since bought some organic, natural, applesauce to add for next time. We will see how that goes.

Advocare 24 Day Challenge - Day 3

Well, I'm surviving and now I'm feeling full and not missing the carbs and delicious processed foods so much. I have to hand it to my old friend avocado (did I just sound like a Subway commercial?) because that seems to be saving me. I look forward to meals with avocado in them!

So, yesterday... Here's the rundown on what went in my bawdy. As a side note, I would like to mention that day 3 was even easier than day 2. I felt full all day long. I think my body is finally getting used to all this healthiness. Go me!

Breakfast was old faithful - aka scrambled eggs with fresh spinach. Only after having my Spark and fiber drink, of course. This was the last day of the fiber drink until day 8, when you drink it for the final 3 days of the cleanse. Not gonna lie... I will miss it (see, I don't hide my freak flag. I just wave it around for the world to see.)

Morning snack was an apple.

Lunch was a repeat from the day before, but I loved it so much that I will put a picture of it up again.  Avocado chicken salad and side salad with homemade dijon vinaigrette.

Afternoon snack was some homemade hummus and sliced cucumbers.  I have to say, hummus takes 5 minutes to make, it's delicious, and it makes enough to last a while. This should be a staple in everyone's 24 Day Challenge. 

Dinner was some yummy chicken and veggie kabobs! I love kabobs anyway, so having them during this challenge just made it that much better. I marinated my chicken in fresh lemon juice, minced garlic, olive oil, kosher salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning. I halved brussel sprouts and added them (this was a first), along with some squash. I cut up some eggplant and seasoned with olive oil and kosher salt for the grill as well. It was all DELICIOUS. Very easy too.

So my after dinner snack (this was the first time I've had one on the challenge) was half a banana with some organic natural peanut butter. And let me tell you ... it was the nectar of the Gods. There is no picture because I ate it too fast.

Advocare Challenge - Day 2 is in the Bag

As much as I love the possibilities of this challenge, I also feel like there are so many things left up in the air. Can I have brown rice during the cleanse? Why are some people eating cheese? Well, I've decided that for me, I am going to not have ANY dairy, bread, etc during this challenge. I will work some quinoa and brown rice in at some point, but I haven't yet.

So, yesterday went much smoother than Monday. I wasn't so hungry and I loved all of my meals.

Breakfast was 2 scrambled eggs with fresh spinach. I threw it in a container and slightly reheated at work (after I had my Spark and fiber drink).

P.S. I am starting to actually like the fiber drink. Stockholm Syndrome? Or maybe I am just a freak.

My morning snack was a banana. This kept me full until lunch. 

Lunch was my favorite meal yesterday! I had Avocado Chicken Salad (see below for recipe), a green salad with kalamata olives, tomatoes & cucumber. I made a simple dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard and salt & pepper. I had some homemade hummus with cucumber slices for my complex carb. That was something I hadn't been getting in and needed to. Don't be fooled by the way that chicken salad looks ... it's AMAZING. I may never eat regular chicken salad again.



My afternoon snack was a tangerine and some almonds. I also had another Spark before my Crossfit workout. Thanks for kicking my butt "Jackie."

Dinner was a reheat from the night before. Still good! Lemon Herb Pork Chops, mashed cauliflower and steamed green beans.

I think I am getting the hang of this and it's DEFINITELY doable!


Avocado Chicken Salad
2 chicken breasts
1 avocado
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup yellow onion, diced
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Sprinkle both sides of chicken breast with salt & pepper and bake, covered, until done. Shred chicken. While chicken cools, dice avocado and squeeze in lemon juice. Mash together to keep from turning brown later. Add onion, salt, pepper and chicken. Mash all together until creamy, with chicken being the only chunks.

Deeeeelish!