Advocare 24 Day Challenge

What is my love language you ask? Why, food of course! If you give me anything scrumptious, particularly fried or sweet, I will instantly be your BFF. Needless to say Keith and I quickly became BFFs with Princess Cruises around a month ago thanks to the never ending delicious pizza bar, desserts, and coffee. (oh and the awesome trip to Alaska) On our way back to Texas, we stopped in Seattle and what else were we to do but eat at all of the recommended restaurants we could fit in a 72 hour period....oops. 

So this is how the Advocare 24 day challenge came to be.

As Cross Canadian Ragweed once sang, we were "sick and tired of being sick and tired." We talked about "getting healthy" when we returned from our trip and it was at that time that our sweet friend Shayna posted her 24 day challenge success photos. What intrigued us most was that this mother of two young kids was able to cut out coffee (multiple cups a day) and had even more energy now than she did with the coffee! Keith teaches 2nd grade and I just finished grad school. We LIVED survived off of coffee during the school year and yet we still had no energy. We had a strong desire to get healthy and take care of our bodies and so we started the 24 day challenge.

I will post soon about our meal plan and how we ate healthy(ish) on our week long vacation. The nerd in me really helped out because I researched and planned so many meals before we received our box of Advocare goodies. Shayna recommended that I became familiar with the challenge guidelines before it came so I wouldn't be so overwhelmed. That was such a great tip and I would recommend that to anyone planning to do the challenge. It was good to know what foods were encouraged vs which were allowed in moderation BEFORE we started so that I could stock up on the good foods. 

 

Throughout the challenge I found myself craving less and less of the bad fats and sweets. Natural peanut butter with a few sneaky chocolate chips became my guilty pleasure. I no longer drink coffee and don't get any headaches from not drinking it. In the last 24 days I have not fallen asleep in a movie and that is a huge victory! All in all I feel like a healthier person with loads of energy!!!

It's amazing what you can do with the right nutrition, healthy eating, and working out 3x/week.

I am thankful for this challenge because it taught me tons about discipline and God's call for us to take care of our bodies. I realize that when I take care of my body I have more energy to spend serving Him. Thank you Shayna for your encouragement throughout this challenge! Keith and I truly appreciate you!!!