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 9!!!!!

The cleanse is almost over!!! It really has flown by. Crazy what you adapt to and becomes your normal. Now, if I can just keep this as my "normal" after 24 days, then I will be SET.

So, quick rundown of day 9: feeling great, doing better in my workouts, and getting all kinds of things done as a productive member of society.

Breakfast was 1/2 cup (cooked) whole rolled oats with a 1/4 cup of unsweetened, natural apple sauce and a tablespoon of peanut butter. Oh, and a little cinnamon. It was yummy and kept me so full that I forgot to have my mid morning snack.

Lunch was leftover quinoa turkey meatballs over spaghetti squash with Rao's marinara with basil sauce. So yummy and I was stuffed!

Afternoon snack was mixed berries with pineapple and mango and some almonds.

Dinner was quinoa chicken fried rice. So good and another filling recipe. I have made this before, but tweaked it a bit for this challenge.

Quinoa Chicken Fried Rice

1 cup quinoa, uncooked (you could easily do half this amount)
2-3 chicken breasts
4 cups+ mixed veggies (whatever your favorites are- I used a frozen stir fry mix)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
garlic powder, to taste
2 eggs
Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or regular soy sauce)
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Marinate chicken in some Bragg's (or soy sauce) and garlic powder for a couple of hours. I pre-cut mine into smaller pieces to absorb flavor and cook faster. Cook in a skillet (I just sprayed with Pam) on medium-low until cooked through. Set aside.

Rinse and cook quinoa according to package. Toss with a little garlic powder once cooked.

While quinoa is cooking, heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet or wok and add your frozen veggies. Cook until all is thawed out and then add minced garlic. Scoot veggies over and add 2 eggs. Scrambled in the pan and then mix in with vegetables. Add quinoa and chicken. Add Bragg's (or soy sauce) to taste, along with some salt and pepper.

Enjoy! Serves about 5-6.

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.