Taking a 24 Day Challenge!

The next few blog posts will be about my journey on the 24 day challenge with Advocare.  I have been getting a lot of "cleanse" questions lately.  It just so happened that my friend and Pure Barre instructor, Molly, was starting a 24 day challenge with a 10 day cleanse period.  So here I am... ready to give you my experience, thoughts, and tips on this cleanse & challenge specifically, while also providing insight into cleanses in general.  If there is a specific cleanse that you have a question about, email me at BriTexas@gmail.com

8/25: The Day Before...

As with anything starting up, I always get a mix of feelings the day before “go” day.  I get excited to try something new.  I get anxious to see what positive or negative results I may get.  I get determined with the preparation and making sure I know exactly what I need to do to kick it off right. 

A few fun facts:

The cleanse part!

• I have a sweet tooth so am going to give up sweets and sugar (for the most part) during these 24 days.  Think 80-90% of the time.  I don't believe in complete restriction!
• Because of the above, I may or may not have had a little extra sugar today in preparation.  I don't recommend that, but I am definitely human... and the last package of Nutter Butters were calling my name.
• The first 10 days of this challenge are part of the "cleanse" phase with the first 3 days including a Spark energy drink, fiber drink, Omega 3 supplement, & a cleanse supplement.
• A cleanse does not mean you have to be on strictly liquids.  I get to eat on this challenge.  Side note: you should eat on any cleanse you do too.  Liquid diets do NOT teach you anything and just cause you to gain weight back once you are off them.
• If you are interested and serious about doing cleanses, you only need to do a cleanse once every 3 months.
• In reality, your body is pretty AWESOME and can cleanse itself.  Fruits and vegetables help cleanse your body too.  But, a "formal" cleanse like this one every now and then do not hurt either if you prefer it (and especially if you feel you have a few too many Big Macs, overly processed baked goods, or the like).
• I do the grocery shopping in our house. I secretly decided to buy treats that only Matt likes to keep me from being tempted by the aforementioned Nutter Butters he normally keeps upstairs.  Good thing he doesn't read my blog (start evil laugh now).

8/26 & 8/27: Days 1 & 2...

My first day went excellent.  I literally woke up, drank my Spark, and felt so great that I went for a run.  I am not a natural morning person.  It takes me awhile to wake up and I was tired.  Okay, realllllllyyyyy tired this morning.  But after I drank a Spark, within 10 minutes, I felt much less tired and had plenty of energy to get my workout on early in the day.  Now, keep in mind that I am not a coffee drinker so I wasn't replacing anything with Spark- just adding it to my daily routine.

My second day didn't go as well, but I am not blaming it on the challenge.  I am blaming my "aha!" moment for not clicking in BEFORE breakfast.  You see, there is such a thing as too much fiber and it does not feel good on the tummy-tum-tum.  My breakfast should NOT have been muesli with greek yogurt when the fiber drink has 10 grams of fiber per serving already!

My thoughts after the first 2 days:

My 10K Training Tools!

• I will eat a high protein, low fiber breakfast (think eggs!) when accompanied with a fiber drink.
• I am drinking a lot of water.  I always drink water, but I feel like I am drinking even more which is always good.
• I am excited about the Omega 3 supplement.  I do not eat fish on a regular basis so definitely need my Omega 3's.  Omega 3's help reduce inflammation in the body and are great for the skin, among a whole host of other benefits.
• The fiber drink is weird.  But, I mix mine with orange juice and let's be real... orange juice can make anything weird taste good.
• Fruit punch is my favorite flavor of Spark so far!
• Taking the cleanse pills right before I go to bed makes me a little nervous.  Not really sure why.  It's definitely a mind over matter thing.  I am sure I will uncover the reason or uncover my nerves after a few days.
• I am "training" for a 10k currently so run 3x week.  I am way more of a dancer than a runner so this running thing is not easy for me.  I think Spark is going to help me train better... and that excites me!

'Til next time...

Eat well,

Bri