Let's talk Advocare!

**First of all, let me point out that I am not affiliated with Advocare at all, and I am not getting paid   

   for this post. **

I was at work when I overheard someone talking about Advocare. I've heard of it before, but hadn't heard about it, so I listened. 2 girls in my office sell Advocare. One lady is in her 50's and runs on her lunch break. She is a role model to me. She's beautiful, healthy, and in total control of her body. The other lady that sells Advocare, found it because she needed help. Her body was not functioning properly and she was overweight for her size. She has lost 60 lbs with Advocare. She is making good food choices and exercising regularly. That's what it's about folks. Simple, huh?

Well you would think that it would be just that simple, but it's not. I know. I've been there. I didn't struggle with weight before or right after I had kids. 9 years ago, I started struggling with my weight. A little bit here and there, body was changing, the infamous "FUPA" appeared. It was dreadful. It seemed to happen overnight. 

A few years ago, I had enough. I was sick of being "fat" and shared my disgust with a co-worker. She turned me on to a weight doctor in OKC and I made an appt. My boss at the time, was very generous and offered to pay for my initial visit, as well as my co-workers. That was a great gift and a very nice gesture. 

I lost 17lbs in the first 6 weeks. It was coming off left and right and I felt great. I was eating all of the right things, but I wasn't exercising. About 3-4 months in, I was down 30lbs. I was exercising about once per week (playing indoor soccer), but that was it. When Spring rolled around, I was walking 3 days per week about 30 minutes each day. The weight stayed off, but it became boring, quickly. 

I couldn't eat carbs, I couldn't drink beer, I couldn't have a normal lifestyle. Carbs and beer are pretty normal in our family, especially in the summertime. Summertime rolled around and I decided I didn't want to "diet" during the summer. 10lbs were back on within 3 months. I was devastated. I thought, no big deal, I will just start again in the Fall. I just couldn't get the motivation back. I had worked so hard eating all of the right things, depriving myself at Thanksgiving time, depriving myself on NYE, to have it all wasted on a "summer break from dieting". 10 more lbs came on, and then finally the number on the scale grew to where it was at the beginning of my journey in November 2008. 

Talk about wind out of your sail...it was a blow for me. Someone who has been thin their entire life, can't control the weight as an adult. Seems so unfair. 

I tried again, visiting my weight doctor month after month. $100 after $100 visit. I just didn't have it in my heart. My motivation was gone. My mind wasn't able to focus like that again.

In December 2011, I joined Weight Watchers. That worked for me. I lost 10lbs or so just by tracking what I ate, but I hated that. I didn't want to track every bite I took every day. That's not me, not my lifestyle, and it didn't fit. I quit. Basically I would splurge on lunch or dinner and had the frame of mind that I already blew it, might as well enjoy it. 

Dieting is not easy for me. I love food. All kinds. Sweets. Soda. Beer. Wine. Cheesecake. Mexican food. Brownies, etc. All kinds - I say. I'm not racist when it comes to food. I eat it all. 

What's funny is, I love healthy food. too. Fruit, veggies, salad, chicken, etc. I love it. I'm an equal opportunity lover of food. Yep that's me, porky pig here. NOM! 

Anyway, I wanted to find something that was healthy and easy for me. Something that could work with my lifestyle and it would still be beneficial, so when I heard chatter about Advocare, I started researching. It's a wellness company and has a lot of great reviews. Everyone was talking about this 24 day challenge bizness, so I looked into that. 10 days of the herbal cleanse...uhhhhhhh. Then 14 days of a lot of pills, but you aren't required to follow a strict diet 100% of the time. It suggests 90%. In my mind, I'm like "Yeah buddy, 10% to eat what I want!"

I contemplated selling it, because I like having control of that sort of thing, but I already sell Scentsy, so I didn't want to add anything else to my plate. (on top of my cookie making business, ya know)

I texted my sister and begged her. I think my exact text was "Will you please sign up to sell Advocare, so I don't have to?" I didn't get a response back from her...until later. A few quick messages back and forth and she was signed up. I told her I "Dan misted" her into doing this. (BB14 was in full swing then). We ordered the 24 day challenge and I started mine on October 9th. Well I didn't measure myself beforehand (bad girl) and I didn't weigh myself beforehand (bad, bad, girl), but I have lost weight and inches. 

I know I have lost about 6lbs. Maybe more, but I didn't weigh the first two days of the 10 day cleanse. I know I have lost several inches. My pants are becoming looser and I'm sagging like a brother in some pants. My "FUPA" is shrinking a bit. but nowhere close to being gone.

Here's what I love...it has been fairly easy. Really. Much easier than I anticipated. I went from drinking 2 to 3 cups of coffee per day, to zero cups. Drinking one coke zero or diet coke almost everyday, to zero. 1 glass or 2 of wine every evening, to zero.

I drink my Spark twice per day. 

I survived the 10 day cleanse. (It really wasn't bad at all...the worst part is the fiber drink. It was pretty dreadful, but it's a fiber drink, what do you expect?) 

There's a lot of pills. (A lot of big pills, but if I can tolerate them, I'm sure you could too! I'm really amazed.)

I don't crave a lot of the crap I was consuming before. (wine, bread, soda, coffee)

I eat, or try to eat, every 2-3 hours. (Breakfast - snack - lunch - snack - dinner)

If I do splurge on dinner (Chick-Fil-A or Sonic), I don't beat myself up. If I start to feel bad about it, I go for a walk

I drink a boatload of water every day. 

I pee a lot - because of said water consumption

I really do feel good. If I were to fall off the wagon, it would have happened this week. Hubby is traveling, so this is my chance to blow a diet by eating take out. Monday night, I made pizza on the grill. Tuesday night was Subway. Tonight, it was just me and my son, so we splurged on Sonic. Otherwise, it would have been BLT's. I ate chicken nuggets and a few tater tots. Felt a little guilty (as I weigh myself daily and want to see a smaller number), so I went on a walk. No biggie.

Everything is okay in moderation. That's my mantra. I don't need that crap in my body. It tastes good for a second, but then it's over and gone.....

2nd day of the challenge. This shirt fit me snug then. Now it's much more loose. 

Today. Not a great comparison, so I will see if I can get a full body pic taken soon.

Guilt is over, my stomach is still crazy full, and I'm outta here to go rescue my piggie from the backyard. 

Negative Nancy

I hate walking into work late. It just messes my whole day up, but when Scott's traveling, it's almost inevitable.

That's how my day started. I pulled into the work parking lot at 7:57 (according to my car clock). By the time I got to my desk, my desk phone said 8:08. Weird. I'm pretty sure it doesn't take 11 minutes to go from the parking lot to floor 20. 

Anyway, that's how the day started. 8 minutes late to work, no reminders on my calendar, shut off the alarm, so instead of waking up at 5 something, I woke up at 6 something. I did get the pig fed, everyone out the door on time, trash to the curb, kids dropped off at their respective school. Doh. Forgot to feed the dogs. Daggnabbit. Poor puppies. I bet they were hungry all day. I'm glad I didn't realize that until this evening, or  I would have felt horrible all day long. I already felt bad for leaving them outside on a cloudy day. I am so glad it didn't bust out pouring rain. That would have been bad. 

I digress...

I get to work 8 minutes late. Argh. Still ticked about that whole thing. I'm pretty sure our work clocks are off, but I guess that would mean we are leaving before 4 everyday. Boom!

There's a lady at work that I will refer to as "negative Nancy" (NN). (I'm not trying to offend any Nancy readers, just trying to make a point. I think. And please note...her name isn't even Nancy) When I walked into work late, she (NN) is already gritching about something. Not just a typical gritch (oh wait, for her I think it is typical), but a sons of b***hes this and sh*t that. I think, "Great. It's going to be one of THOSE days." I, along with the other 6 innocent bystanders in our department, had to listen to her go on and on and on and on about this, that, and the other (which basically in a nutshell was a rant about her duties and her broker...aka her job). And trust me, when it's a problem for her....it's a problem for us all. 45 minutes of griping. This whole time I'm thinking about jumping out of the 20th floor window, even though they don't open. I'm also texting my friend who used to work in that department, but bless her lucky soul, she moved to Dallas in June. She felt my pain for a second. She remembered what it was like when NN went on about her inconveniences in life, (NN seems to have many - many being an understatement). She (my friend) was quick to remember that she was smart several months back and jumped ship. That was the end of her feeling sorry for me. 

I don't blame her. I wouldn't feel sorry either. 

Oh wait. What's that?!?! 

The rant about her having to do her job is over. THANK GOD! Uh oh? Not the debate.....NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

So that my friends led me to putting in my earphones for the remainder of the day. My ears were practically bleeding from the constant flow of gritch coming out of this lady's mouth.

I mean, we all have bad days, but ya'll don't understand. This lady lives in a bad day kinda world. Everyday it's a new problem, bigger than the last. I constantly have to try and think of something different during one of her rants, otherwise I will be sitting in the HR office, getting wrote up for "not playing nice in the sandbox". 

So I tried to focus on happier things......

Pandora is the bomb.com

These pens rock. 

#pretty #colorful #happy

Take that, Negative Nancy. 

Weekend Update!

All furbabies in the bed - minus one! 

Girls day of shopping while the boys attend the OU /KU game

Fun times @ BCF (Burlington Coat Factory)

Eat Mor Chikin

FROYO at Orange Leaf 

More fun times for the girls! 

Practicing with the curling wand while watching Hunger Games

All done.....2 HOURS LATER!!

Being Silly!! 

Chocolate Chip pancakes just for Jayden

Fruit for my pancake

It was so good - can't wait to have it again! 

Still love my Jayhawks, even though they got their asses kicked by OU Saturday. 

88* on 10/21/2012 @ 4:30pm?!!?!? Yes Please! 

Thunder Up! Probably the only game we will attend all season, but it was cheap and fun, so I'm glad we got to enjoy it! 

Laters Baby! 

What goes around....

Oh Karma, sometimes you really, really make me happy! bwahahaha

More on this topic later!

Welcome to the teenage years.....

This is what happens when you accidentally pick up your daughters phone (thinking it's yours) and the first text you get is someone requesting a photo. Of course we had to honor his request.....

My ever growing wishlist....

I feel like I am so blessed, yet I can't help but want more. (Greedy, much?!?!?!) If you know my husband, you would know that he would buy almost anything to make me happy. This is very good for me, but can also be very bad! :0) For instance this little guy joined our family all because my husband knew I wanted one. Boom! (Side note: My husband is just as in love with this pig as I am. However, the pig loves him more. Am I a little sad? Yes. Is it okay? Of course. I'm just thankful that the transition of pig > human life was easy. End side note.)

His face....OMG! I die. 

Anyway, I digress.

My birthday and Christmas are coming up, so if anybody needs any ideas for gifts - here ya go! 

Kopykake projector - essential for proper cookie decorating. (In my opinion)

KU. Jayhawks. Apron. Cookies. Must. Have.

And these Toms? Adorbs.
You really can't go wrong buying me anything KU. I mean, I love it all. 

Cookie Cutters! I love this shape especially, and it's one I don't currently have.
I'm always looking for unique cookie cutters! This one is available on Etsy!
 

Vitamix - um Hello! This little contraption does a lot of work!
It's expensive, but it's amazing. I see myself purchasing this beaut via QVC easy pay. Merry Christmas to me! 

I'm not typically one to just throw my "want" list out here for the world to see, but in case any of my readers want to shop for me, here are a few ideas. Please understand that I'm well aware that most of these items are a tad pricey, so if in doubt...KU! Oh and cupcakes from DC Cupcakes. :0) 

Toodles. 

Weekend Update (Better late than never!)

I'm going to pretend for a second that my weekend started Thursday. It did...kind of. My sister, mom, niece, and niece-in-law came down from Kansas to attend the 2012 Kellogg's gymnastics tour. I purchased the tickets a couple of months ago as a birthday gift for my mom. Her and my sister went back in 1996 (I believe) and enjoyed it, so since they were touring here in OKC, I thought it would be fun for us all to go. 

Walking to the Chesapeake Energy Arena, we saw this. Sorry for the blurry picture. 

Who has two thumbs and got upgraded to the lower level section? This girl! (Well technically we all did - which was totally awesome! We were a little disappointed to be in the 3rd level, but ticket prices were super expensive, so free seats in the lower level was super!)

Our view of the floor, from our new seats! 

Oh dad. How you crack me up! My mom had texted my dad to tell him we got upgraded to the lower level.
My dad never texts, so we were surprised when he sent a text back to her saying "Lucky U".
I then sent a text to my dad that was similar to this: "Hi Dad! I just wanted to say that I'm super proud of you for texting mom back and it didn't take an hour." This is what I got for a response. Cute, eh? I thought so. 

We introduced my mom to Honey Boo Boo Child. She laughed a lot, so I'm guessing she liked it.
(And when I say liked, I mean laugh hysterically at people that actually live like this and film it. I seriously wonder why we allow this on television and then wonder why I'm obsessively tuned in)

Yeah Buddy! 

Jayden and her Papa acting silly

Gracie and Boots attacking Papa. 

To DIE for. For real. 

Best cupcakes eva.

My sweet Baleigh girl. 

K-State Purple icing. Complete accident. Blech. 

Icing is ready for the kids to decorate cookies

I actually let the kids.... gasp....decorate their own cookies.  

Well lovies, I'm outta here. Big day tomorrow! David Nail is in concert and I won tickets from a local radio station. And.....the radio station called today and said "Surprise! You can go to the sound check and see the exclusive behind the scenes backstage happenings." I was like hell to the yeah. Hopefully, I will have some awesome pics to show you, but be warned, it will be from my phone camera. (I'm scared to haul my big camera in, only to be told it's not allowed and then have to do the walk of shame back to the car.)