Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Day 2 Hiccups with the Advocare 24-Day Challenge (8-7)

God is so amazing.

It just came to my mind yesterday and a few days before I found out about Advocare, I had prayed and asked the Lord to take away my sugar cravings. I didn't know how HE was going to do it, but I know I couldn't do it myself. I was in my car telling Jesus how crummy I was feeling and asking Him if he's step in. I explained to Him that I had seemed to lost the ability to make good food choices for me and my family and if he could please do something to break my sugar chain.

Well, he did.

I met up with an old friend at a graduation party and in our small talk I explained I was making a family gym in our garage. Then she told me about Advocare and I was intrigued. She offered to leave off a few packets of "Spark," which is an energy drink. The first day I drank it in the morning and I found out I had energy throughout the day. However, somedays I do have more energy than others, so I wasn't really sure it was the Spark or not.

I was going to leave the other packet for my husband, but the next day I found myself beginning to feel tired mid-afternoon and feeling like I might need a nap. I looked at that Spark and wondered if it would help, so I took it. In about 20 minutes I had renewed energy and the desire for that nap just faded.

The next day, I didn't have any Spark, and I needed a nap. It was THEN, I knew the Spark did help me and that I needed to know more about this product.

Well, I just thought I give you a quick history as to HOW I got involved with Advoare. I'm not one to spend extra money on anything. I'm a do-it-yourself kinda gal - everything from handmade, trashed picked, freecycle, craigslist, ebay, thrift shops and coupons keep me going. I don't like to spend extra money on my hair, make-up and nails and certainly not a 'program' to help me lose weight that I know I could if I had just ate right and exercised! However, for some reason I felt the urge to really try this one AND I for some reason have the motivation to follow this one through. The only possible reason I can think of as to WHY I would at all spend money on a 'program' is because of the Lord putting it on my heart. I'm sure now that this was an answered prayer FROM HIM and that HE will give me the help I need to accomplish my health and weight goals.

I can do all things through Christ who gives me his strength.

That said, I want to tell you about our rough day 2.

Day 2 we saw a challenge with the challenge (LOL) because there were some 'hiccups' along the way.

Day 2 was a church day. We both took our Spark & Cayalast about 9 am. Then we got busy getting the kids ready and doing this and that before church and didn't eat breakfast until about 45 minutes later. For Michael, it was an 1 ½ later, which was right before we had to leave to go to church. We also took our before pictures and measurements and I don't want to talk about it.

Church went longer since it was communion, so it wasn't over until 1 p.m. I did have everything packed, so Michael went in line to get food for the kids and I got the cooler with our food for the day.

There we sat, ready to eat, but we had already missed the mid-morning snack and now it's lunch time. Should we eat both now, or just skip the mid-morning snack??? Michael and I weren't sure. I was very hungry so I opt for eating both because it's not good for your body to starve. I thought I heard somewhere that if you don't eat enough, your body will feel like it's starving so it will hold onto more weight. I was VERY hungry at that moment.

Michael, however, explained the importance of portion control and that over eating on one sitting also slows down your metabolism. I totally understand that too - but truthfully, the food I had before me for both meals was still less calories than I had normally eaten in the past at one meal! I mean, the mid-morning snack was only 3 hard-boiled eggs and about 8 cherries and the lunch was a small salad with chicken. I really didn't think that was a lot.

Well, I at the eggs, fruit and ½ of the salad. About an hour later I finished it in the car. Then we were off to a graduation party. I though for sure they might have some 'lean' protein there like chicken, but EVERYTHING they had was fattening, except for carrot sticks and watermelon. Lucky for me, I brought cooked veggies with me and everything we needed to survive - except the lean protein. I was determined to be good!

Since our day was so behind schedule, I decided to have our mid-afternood snack at 5pm and our dinner at 7:30. So as my gracious hostess was making sure everybody had tons of food, I was pulling out my Advocare stuff and singing it's praises to her. I couldn't believe that with all that potato salad, cheese cakes, brownies, chips and soda around, I had no desire to eat any of it except for what I was allowed to - watermelon and carrots. Even then, I didn't eat much of that.

When it came time for dinner, I did, however, take some of that pulled pork that was backed in Baby Back BBQ sauce (sugar) and I tried rinsing it in hot water to get off as much BBQ sauce as possible. Needless to say, I'm not sure it worked because it still tasted good, but I only had about ½ fistful just to be sure.

I was so proud of myself. Thank you Jesus.

Michael and I still wonder, what is the best thing to do when you miss a meal? Do we double-up or miss it? I'm going to find out tomorrow.


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