H2's 24 Day Challenge

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Day 11 & Dena's Guest Post!!!

Advocare found me a couple of years ago after having a baby. I was done breastfeeding and struggling to lose the remainder of my baby weight. Although I was eating healthfully, I wasn’t able to go to the gym yet and I was feeling low in the self-confidence department. The weight had come off well initially, but I was at a plateau and nothing I ate (or didn’t eat) managed to bust the rut.

Enter Advocare. My friend Leah had been watching me come to work at night (I’m a dance teacher) with my pre-portioned healthy foods, and she kept telling me to just try Advocare. I thought I was competent on my own and “I didn’t need her vitamins to lose weight,” so I stubbornly kept plugging along with what I was doing. Eventually I had enough. I told Leah, “I will try your silly vitamins but when they don’t work, I will want my money back so just get ready.”

What a team player, huh?

You know even as I’m typing this, I can’t believe the above two paragraphs were ever about me. I am such a positive person with a sunny outlook on life. I love being a mother, and even in dark times, I believe life is good and something awesome is always in store for me. But when I go back to the beginning of my Advocare journey, I realize that my disposition is intimately tied to my physical body. And I’m not just talking about vanity. I feel most alive when I take care of my body. Eating real foods, preparing good meals, exercising until I’m dripping with sweat- while these things take time and discipline, they are always worth it and they make me feel whole. The trouble then was that after kids I just didn’t have the energy for all that until I tried Advocare.

As I said, I grudgingly embarked on that 24 Day Challenge and made my husband do it with me. It was so easy, and nothing about it felt like dieting. Advocare taught us a new lifestyle and we were loving it. By day 14 our then four-year-old son announced at the dinner table, “Mommy and Daddy why have you both been SO NICE to me?!” I didn’t know whether to be sad or excited by his comment, but either way I knew the root cause of it. We both had more energy, we were sleeping better at night, we were exercising more and we were dropping unneeded weight and inches. I was completely sold that night at the dinner table when I saw us through my child’s eyes and I haven’t looked back.

On that first challenge I dropped 8 lbs and 8.5 inches and I was ecstatic. Josh lost 10 lbs and gained inches in his chest and biceps. While our results were impressive, the weight loss ended up being a pleasant side-effect to the greater issue of energy. Since that first challenge we’ve tried grow our family, but we couldn’t. We experienced the expected emotional ups and downs and feelings of betrayal during our pregnancy losses. That was hard. But there are physical components too — the hormonal craziness, and many side-effects from physical stress— that surprised me because I wasn’t expecting them. That’s when I realized Advocare was more than a great 24 days or a few pounds gone. Advocare was a true blessing in my life because through it all it allowed me to make peace with my body. Advocare brought me back to my healthiest self after having a baby and then losing two more, and it has allowed me to feel in control of my body again and even inspired by it. That’s freedom.

I’ve managed even to make money with Advocare! I never intended to start a business, but then suddenly there it was. I started with a simple discount, and then shared my story with people when they asked about our success. Eventually I realized this was a real opportunity and I started mindfully working my hobby as a business. Because of my consistent efforts, Advocare has become a rewarding Plan B income for us and I earn about $1000/month. Make no mistake, Advocare is a work program- not a “get rich quick” plan- but if you have a desire or a need to earn money by helping people, then I encourage you to take a look at the business plan- it’s a good as the products! I know now that I have a future with Advocare. I am not required to live by anyone’s rules but my own. I can create a business that will pay me what I’m worth, and I will not have to compromise my family time or my values to earn it. I don’t have to go back to my old full-time job when my youngest heads off to full-time school. Yes, that’s freedom twice.

If I can do it, you can too. Don’t spend the time stuck and stubborn like I did- it was a waste. Advocare absolutely helps you become more than you otherwise would without it. Whether you need energy and weight loss like I did, wellness, sports performance, a new attitude, or financial freedom, Advocare has solutions. Do not settle for less. You are worth it!

Dena Cronholm

Can You See My Fingers at denacronholm.com

Thanks Dena :)

Today:

I ate every 2-3 hours and drank as much water as I could manage.

Advocare products:

· Catalyst
· Spark
· Restore Packet (Probiotics)
· Meal replacement shake
· MNSMAX Control
· Omegaplex

Food:

· Breakfast:

o Meal replacement shake

· Morning Snack:

o Banana
o Hardboiled Egg

· Lunch:

o Turkey meatballs, gluten free vodka sauce sautéed with fresh mushrooms and spinach

· Afternoon Snack:

o Hummus with Cucumber

· Dinner:

o Spicy tuna sashimi

Exercise: Today I didn't make time, tomorrow hopefully!

If you are interested in doing your own 24 Day Challenge you can order it from the Advocare Website at: https://www.advocare.com/120531603/default.aspx, or of course I am available to answer any questions you have or point you to the right resource.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The Most Important Meal of the Day

Day 10

The Most Important Meal of the Day

I personally feel that every meal is important, but I am told that the most important meal of any good day is the first one.

Breaking the fast you underwent in order to get the right amount of sleep is very important for a number of reasons. A good breakfast:

Increases your brain’s efficiency throughout the day
Increase your energy and feeds your muscles
Kick-starts your metabolism

People who regularly eat breakfast tend to have generally healthier lifestyles and maintain a healthier BMI.

Sometimes I find it impossible to take the time to eat breakfast or locate the desire to put food in my mouth before I feel fully awake.

The 24 Day Challenge includes a meal replacement shake for breakfast. If you don’t like that option, you can always eat a healthy carb, protein and fruit instead. However, I LOVE that option. I have zero time to get out the door in the morning and the shake can easily travel with me. I find them very filling, reasonably delicious and they give me all the energy I need to start my day out the right way.

Today was the last day of the Cleanse phase of the Challenge. I have a love/hate relationship with the fiber drink. I will miss how full it makes me feel, but I will not miss trying to choke it down first thing in the morning.

Anyhow… excited for this next phase and continuing on this positive path!

Today:

I ate every 2-3 hours and drank as much water as I could manage.

Advocare products:

· Catalyst
· Spark
· Restore Packet (Probiotics)
· Meal replacement shake
· Fiber10 Drink
· Omegaplex

Food:

· Breakfast:

o Meal replacement shake

· Morning Snack:

o Peach
o Hardboiled Egg

· Lunch:

o Stuffed Bell Pepper (We had a lunch and learn today, and I had to order and serve soda, pizza, breadsticks and cookie pizza slices… I didn’t particularly want that food, but resisting the temptation to eat it was not easy)

· Afternoon Snack:

o Hardboiled Egg
o Apple
o Banana

· Dinner:

o Turkey meatballs, gluten free vodka sauce sautéed with fresh mushrooms and spinach

Exercise: Walk with Ari and Daniel, baby push-ups and baby reverse crunches

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Fried Chicken, Pulled Pork, Corn Bread and the 80/20 Rule

Days 8 & 9

If you are a crazy competitive over-achiever like I am, the 80/20 rule will save your sanity. This is a simple rule that I learned while doing some diet some time ago, but it has stuck with me and I apply it to other areas of life besides eating as well.

It’s pretty straightforward 80% of the time you are totally on your game, 20% of the time you live in the real world and do the best you can with the situation you’re presented, without guilt or remorse.

This is especially pointed given what happened to me late in the evening of Day 7.

I arrived at Carl’s Broncos Party and was immediately overwhelmed by incredible smells. Carl is from the South and had some house-guests staying with him, that as far as I’m concerned were culinary gods. There was pulled pork, Hawaiian sweet rolls, chips with cheese, and homemade cornbread. I’m pretty sure the cornbread was saying my name… “Eat me, Heather” I was steadfast, armed with my shrimp cocktail and the words of my blogs, I was not going to eat that delicious food.

Then the fryer appeared, things began to sizzle. Carl sliced up chicken breast into tasty morsels and into the fryer they went. When they came out they were crispy and perfect and abruptly found themselves seasoned with homemade wing sauce. Still I stayed strong.

Then the moment came. Carl looked me in the eye and said “try one”. It was like one of those movies when the voice plays in slow motion and their mouth moves in great exaggeration. What was a girl to do? Yes, of course, I’ll try one. Then I tried another and then I was like, what the heck… here I am at this party where part of the social experience is to enjoy this beautiful food, so I did.

When you have a healthy foundation to start from, it’s much easier to make reasonable food choices and enjoy them. Sunday night was my 20% and I have no regrets. The food, the company and the game were amazing.

Last night I had a class from 5-9, after being home with a sick baby and working all day, so I missed my post. Missed is the right word, I felt fit to burst with words and couldn’t wait to tell you all about that mouthwatering pulled pork.

Day 8:

I did my best to eat every 2-3 hours and drank as much water as I could manage.

Advocare products:

· Catalyst
· Spark
· Restore Packet (Probiotics)
· Meal replacement shake
· Fiber10 Drink
· Omegaplex

Food:

· Breakfast:

o Meal replacement shake

· Morning Snack:

o Banana
o Hardboiled egg

· Lunch:

o Stuffed bell pepper

· Afternoon Snack:

o Hardboiled egg
o Green apple

· Dinner:

o Chick Fil A grilled nuggets
o Chick Fil A fruit cup

§ Dinner was way later than I would have hoped for because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to eat in the class. 9:00 Chick Fil A run is not ideal, but I was starving and I did drive right past much less healthy options.

Exercise: Two long walks with Daniel, he loves it and baby sit ups…

Today:

I ate every 2-3 hours and drank as much water as I could manage.

Advocare products:

· Catalyst
· Spark
· Restore Packet (Probiotics)
· Meal replacement shake
· Fiber10 Drink
· Omegaplex

Food:

· Breakfast:

o Meal replacement shake

· Morning Snack:

o Apple
o 2 Kalola’s Egg White Muffins

· Lunch:

o Chipotle Bowl (Black beans, chicken, all of the salsas)

· Afternoon Snack:

o Almonds
o Peach

· Dinner:

o Salmon
o Steamed mixed veggies

Exercise: Nope

Gratuitous baby photo:

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Grief by any other name

Day 7

I weighed myself today. I’ve lost 4.5 pounds since last Monday. That’s just crazy! A healthy rate of weight loss is 1-2 pounds/week, but sometimes when I start a new program or I’ve been eating especially badly, the first couple of weeks the weight just melts away.

Weight loss is sort of a weird thing. Where did the weight go? A week ago there were 4.5 additional pounds of me.

In a way it’s a little symbolic. There are lots of traditions and cultural beliefs associated with grief. One that’s always interested me is the Native American practice of cutting their hair during significant mourning. The idea is the hair is a container for part of a person’s spirit, and cutting the length showed that the spirit was reduced and desolated by their loss. Then as the hair grows long again over time, it signifies the restoration of the person’s spirit.

Losing weight, directly associated with a symbol of grief, is liberating. I’m sending away those pounds and not turning back. When I’m at a healthy weight, my spirit will be that much closer to being restored.

I love TED talks and I love this woman's words. Check it out, if you've got the time...

http://www.ted.com/talks/suheir_hammad_poems_of_war_peace_women_power

Today:

I ate every 2-3 hours and drank as much water as I could manage.

Advocare products:

· Catalyst
· Spark
· Restore Packet (Probiotics)
· Meal replacement shake
· Herbal Cleanse Supplement Packet
· Omegaplex

Food:

· Breakfast:

o Meal replacement shake

· Morning Snack:

o Banana

· Lunch:

o Garbanzo Plate (Chicken, hummus, lettuce, veggie salad, cilantro sauce)

· Afternoon Snack:

o Hardboiled egg
o Green apple

· Dinner:
`Bronco Party Goodness:

5 oz Shrimp cocktail
Fresh cut snack veggies

GO Broncos!!!

Garbanzos, mmm....

Exercise: Bike ride to Margaret’s Pond with Arielle

Saturday, September 6, 2014

A New Pair of Pants

Day 6

I got up this morning and my pants didn’t fit! I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl (or a dress kind of girl) and my favorite pair of jeans that I picked up post baby no longer fit… They were saggy where sagginess was unwelcome and generally just too big.

It’s amazing how quickly eating right and moving your body makes noticeable changes. I feel much more awake throughout my day and kind of glowy (must be the water.)

I dragged Arielle to the mall and picked up the next size down in my favorite Express boot cut denim and a soft shirt that’s sexy but good for cuddling with the baby. I feel like a new me and this is a new day. Hooray for retail therapy!

One of the keys to the 24 Day Challenge is eating small, frequent meals. I’ve been doing my best to eat every 2-3 hours. This goes against my years of dieting… I always thought the less I ate the skinnier I would be. I would try to not eat for as long as possible, skip meals, and I definitely did not consider snacks a good thing.

By eating more frequently:

I’m less likely to lose control and overeat
My blood sugar and energy stay consistent
I burn the calories I do consume more efficiently

I love weekends because it means I get to spend extra focused time with the people I love. Tonight I’m looking forward to spending time with Josie, snuggling up with my babies for a movie night and enjoying this cool, almost-fall weather.

Today:

I ate every 2-3 hours and drank as much water as I could manage.

Advocare products:

· Catalyst
· Spark
· Restore Packet (Probiotics)
· Meal replacement shake
· Herbal Cleanse Supplement Packet
· Omegaplex

Food:

· Breakfast:

o Meal replacement shake

· Morning Snack:

o Hardboiled egg
o Green apple

· Lunch:

o Yellowfin sashimi with jalapeno
o Cucumber
o Hummus

· Afternoon Snack:

o Almonds
o Banana

· Dinner:

o Stuffed green peppers (lean ground beef, brown rice, juicy diced tomatoes)

Exercise: Foggy morning walk with Daniel Charles and Zoe the Ridiculous... plus shopping while baby-wearing, that's hard work!

Gratuitous baby photo:

Friday, September 5, 2014

Plot Twist

Day 5

Plot Twist

My smokin’ hot friend Candice posted this to her facebook wall the other day and it really struck home for me:

Last year at about this time, I went to an ARTCRANK Event in Denver with Daniel’s dad. It’s a poster event, with you guessed it, a bike theme. The event itself was pretty fun, but what was extra special about it was I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time, so excited and so in love. There was a poster shown at the event that I just knew was perfect. I knew that I was expecting a little boy, I was sure of it, and I was so hopeful that the outcome of this pregnancy would be different than the one before. The poster was what I wanted to put on his nursery wall and what I wanted him to grow up believing in… adventure, possibilities, and to follow his heart. I didn’t buy the poster that day. I didn’t feel comfortable counting on something I couldn’t be sure of and I didn’t want to jinx anything.

Now a little over a year later, I’m ready to buy it and frame it and put it on his wall in the home we will be moving into in a couple of weeks. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find it. It wasn’t for sale online and ARTCRANK only sells posters at the shows it puts together. I was able to get in touch with the artist with the help of the ARTCRANK team and she put the print on etsy for me to buy. She loves the story and her email to me today brought me to tears.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/172875241/artcrank-snow-day-hand-pulled?ref=pr_shop

I won’t be putting it on his wall in the home I’d hoped to have with the family I had grown to count on and love. This moment is not the one I saw myself having. There’s been a major plot twist. Today, it makes me sad, but tomorrow will be a better day.

Plot twists happen all the time. Embracing them and moving forward is the only option.

Advocare products:

· Catalyst
· Spark
· Restore Packet (Probiotics)
· Meal replacement shake
· Herbal Cleanse Supplement Packet
· Omegaplex

Food:

· Breakfast:

o Meal replacement shake

· Morning Snack:

o Hardboiled Egg
o Orange

· Lunch:

o Brown Rice Spicy Tuna Roll (King Soopers)
o Cucumber

· Afternoon Snack:

o Hardboiled Egg
o Apple

· Dinner:

o Crockpot turkey breast with green enchilada sauce
o Salad with peach vinegar

Exercise: I took a rainy-day walk with Zoe the ridiculous dog

Thursday, September 4, 2014

I'd Rather Be Weeding

Day 4

I’d Rather Be Weeding

Finding passion and purpose in what you do is so important. Today I felt a bit bereft of that… I spent the majority of my time at work negotiating Government contracts and corporate insurance.

My degree and previous career focus was horticulture. I could very happily water plants, think about plants, talk about plants and write about plants all day every day. Today, instead of negotiating contracts I would even rather have been pulling weeds

Very often, for lots of important reasons, we end up in careers that don’t necessarily reflect the passion at the core of who we are, so how do we incorporate our passion into everyday life and find passion and purpose in everyday tasks?

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to figure out how to bring more passion to your work and everyday life:

1. What do I love to do?
2. How can I be the best version of myself?
3. What gives me energy or makes me feel excited?
4. When do I feel the most joy?
5. How can I bring this into my work and other tasks?

Even though I am not working directly with horticulture, I have found ways to be passionate about my work, which takes up the majority of my time, and everyday tasks:

I am passionate about providing a good home for my children, where I have time to focus on them and provide them with the things they need to be comfortable
I am passionate about supporting my family business and its success is very important to me
I am passionate about the mission of our company because I believe we save lives through improving crisis decision-making
I am passionate about providing exceptional human interactions in everything I do because I really do believe it’s all about people
I am passionate about plants and try to look for projects that have an agricultural element to them, this passion extends to my everyday life
I am passionate about our corporate culture and I really do consider my coworkers family (some literally are) and I will do whatever I can in my different roles to support their needs
I am passionate about solving impossible problems

Being healthy and taking care of myself support all of these passions and give purpose to the Challenge I am doing.

“When passion is strong and it is identified and understood, it is possible to harness that energy to create great things and have a big impact in the world.” – Karin Volo

I am challenging myself today to stoke those fires and bring back my passion because if I’d rather be doing something else then I’m not going to be effective at what I’m doing.

Today:

I ate every 2-3 hours and drank as much water as I could manage.

Last night I didn't carve out the time to pack my lunch because I was too busy helping with homework and cooing at the baby, thinking that this morning I would get up early and take care of it. That didn't happen, sigh. We barely made it out the door in time to get everybody where they needed to be when they needed to be there.

Preparedness is so important to the success of this plan. Even though I made it work, I know I could have gotten in options that were just slightly better had I packed my lunch/snacks. Luckily, I had to drop by Office Depot to pick up a tablet keyboard this morning on my way to work and there is a Whole Foods right next door. I popped by and picked up some reasonably delicious selections, but forgot to grab some fresh veggies. I ended up deciding sodium packed liquid veggies were better than none J

Advocare products: