Weekend Recap / AdvoCare update

What a fun-filled weekend! I wanted to recap the weekend and also give a little update/share information on my 24 day challenge that started on Friday instead of Saturday since my products showed up earlier than expected J

Friday I started my regimen at work. I had

-a spark energy drink,

-fiber drink (better than I expected – still kind of unpleasant),

-hard-boiled eggs and mixed fruit,

-leftovers from Thursday night dinner when I made this,

- nuts and berries snack from my lunch trip to Trader Joe’s,

-another spark energy drink,

-lots and lots and lots of water (80 plus ounces)

-for dinner: brown rice and Grilled Eggplant & Zucchini Melange frozen thingy from TJ’s,

-OmegaPlex packet,

-Herbal cleanse packets,

-and again lots of water.

Bailey and I went for a 3 mile walk that turned into a jogging sprint once Chris called to tell me that 24 was a repeat on TV (we failed to record the first episode last Monday night).

Saturday I woke up feeling good. Chris had left around 5:30AM to go to a job, so it was just Bailey and I. She woke up around 7, so we got up and played and got ourselves ready for the day.

I had my spark energy drink,

-fiber drink,

-banana/strawberry/almond milk/protein smoothie,

-brown rice cake with almond butter,

-leftovers from Thursday (again),

-another spark energy drink,

-OmegaPlex packet

-leftovers from Friday’s dinner,

-TJ’s cheddar popcorn (small portion)

-Herbal cleanse packets,

-and again lots of water throughout the day (roughly 100 oz total)

My day consisted of cleaning around the house, doing 4 loads of laundry, going through my closet and organizing every.single.drawer, gathering items for the garage sale we’re having this week, running to the grocery store, Home Depot and Costco and entertaining a toddler. Chris and I also watched the first half of the 24 episode – so, so good! We used to binge on this show before it went off air.

Sunday morning started out around 7 again. I got up and made some fresh egg muffins to have for breakfast and for the workweek. Around 8, Bailey woke up so I ran up and grabbed her out of the crib. Being Mother’s Day, I wanted to snuggle my little peanut as much as possible (not much different than any other day). Bailey gifted me beautiful flowers, a certificate for a 1 hour massage with someone my husband swears by (I’ve never been), and a loving card. So sweet of Bailey J

I had my spark energy drink,

-fiber drink,

-egg muffin (egg whites, peppers, spinach and basil/tomato feta),

-leftovers from Thursday (again),

-a slam energy drink,

-OmegaPlex packet

-buffalo chicken lettuce wraps,

-Herbal cleanse packets,

-and lots of water throughout the day (roughly 100 oz total)

Before leaving for my parents’ house, I asked Chris to take some pics of Bailey and I in our backyard. We are fortunate enough to have a huge open field behind our house, so it makes for a good backdrop for pictures.

Afterwards, we went to my parents’ house and hung out with them. It was really fun watching my mom and Bailey playing and running around outside. Chris and my dad meandered around the cul-de-sac my parents live in. My dad is the “president” of their association (of about 10 townhomes) and has some landscape work for Chris to do up there. We were up there for about 2 hours and then headed home. When we got home, Bailey had some lunch and then went down for a nap.

 

While Bailey was napping – I got 2 crockpot meals started (buffalo chicken for wraps and Thai peanut chicken for lunches), did 2 more loads of laundry, husband mowed the lawn, I worked on a DIY craft for Millie’s birthday (pretty excited about it!), then I had my slam energy drink (first time trying it, I got it for signing up to be a distributor – energy overload!) and left to go on a jog. I had my first solo run of the spring - another Mother’s Day gift, in my book. My jog was not pretty, easy or fast. For starters – my equipment was lacking. I had headphones, but only 1 ear worked. I had an armband, but it’s for my old phone so half of my phone was hanging out. And last but not least, I am completely out of shape – woof! I went just over 4 miles. I did a pretty good job of tackling the dreaded hill on the way home – I even passed a guy that was walking! Needless to say, there is a huge amount of room for improvement.

When I got home, Bailey was awake. We got dinner ready and enjoyed our wraps on the deck – perfection! After dinner, I cleaned up the kitchen and got lunch/dinners ready for the week. Then I put pigtails in Bailey’s hair and decided we should go in the backyard to let her run around while mom took adorable pictures of the little peanut. Last weekend, I broke out the DSLR camera and I’m not looking back with regrets. The quality is so much better than my iPhone. I rarely do any editing – the pictures speak for themselves. Note to self: use the DSLR – it’s worth the extra baggage!

  

This weekend was a great weekend. I am feeling really good and energized - something I’ve missed tremendously! I feel like I have fewer cravings now. I used to think every meal deserved a dessert afterwards. It’s not completely gone. I do still think “I need something sweet” and then 2 seconds later I realize that I don’t and I’m actually full. I used to snack on chips or crackers in the evenings, but I really have little or no urge for snacking anymore. I have my dinner when I get home and don’t feel hungry afterwards. I used to hate having repeat meals (the same foods for lunch/dinner every day). I’ve been making bulk meals for the last week and I’m not hating it, but instead loving that I have meals ready to go so I’m not starving and make bad impulse snacking decisions.

I haven’t stepped on the scale since I started...I can’t decide if and when I want to during this challenge. I don’t want to get discouraged if “the number” hasn’t changed or god forbid, it’s gone up. I will have some pretty big challenges coming up. We’re already slated for dinner at Millie’s on Wednesday for her birthday/Mother’s Day. I’m going to have to pass on pizza and cupcakes L Memorial Day weekend will also be difficult – cabin food generally is not health food. It will take a LOT of will power to get through that weekend. I also usually have my fair share of drinks while up there – I don’t plan on indulging. I hope this will show me that I can have a good time without unhealthy food and drinks galore. I already realize this, but sometimes it’s just easier to grab a handful of chips or candy and a beer or glass of wine!

Just some tips that I’ve picked up so far: split everything out and make individual Ziploc baggies for each day. This is so helpful!! I just grab my baggie for the day and use my AdvoCare 24 day challenge app to track my food, water and products that I’m using. I’ve made a handful or recipes from this site they’ve all been pretty good. Take pictures of yourself before, weigh and measure yourself. This is part of the app, but I’ve read people regret not measuring themselves before. It’s not all about the scale! Have an assortment of healthy snacks (nuts, dry fruits, fresh veggies and fruit, popcorn (no butter, low sodium), rice cakes, nut butter) to grab on the go.

Anyways, sorry for the long-winded recap! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! And thanks to the people that commented on my original post – I really appreciate any and all of the support I get

Weekend Recap

Wow, I don’t even know when the last time I did a recap of our weekend. This weekend really wasn’t anything special, but I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. Gotta start somewhere – right?

Friday:

Thank the sweet Lord that I’m able to work from home these days, because I ended up working from home on Friday. I woke up and got partially ready and then heard the horrible road conditions that we had from the snow storm that had been going for 12 hours. My boss gave me the ok to work from home. Bailey got to stay home, too so we didn’t have to venture out into the nasty snowy roads. Chris worked lunch and that evening, so it was just Bailey and I. I was able to get quite a bit done before she woke up for the day and Chris left for work, during her naps and while she watched cartoons and read books.

my two loves

accessorizing with mom's sandals

wait, maybe a headband will work better

my sweet baby girl - love her so much!

That evening was pretty low-key. I was starting to feel a little under the weather and after taking a bath (after B was down for the night), I ended up falling asleep in bed (around 9pm).  I’m so old!

I'm too cheap to pay $1.99 to have "picibooth" removed from my photos - so there you have it

Saturday:

I woke up bright and early and got quite a bit of cleaning done that I should have done Friday night. We had a birthday party at noon in Minnetonka. Bailey had lots of fun playing at Cambrie’s 4^th birthday party! Bailey went down the slide by herself for the first time and we had a lot of fun watching her play with the big kids (and hovered constantly to make sure she didn’t get knocked over ;)) We hit up Popeye’s on the way home since we were “in the area”. We are sooo obsessed with this place. It’s our go-to when we visit Florida and now there’s some locations in MN. We were supposed to get one in Savage last spring, but something happened and we didn’t. I think it’s kind of a good thing – we would eat it way too often if it was down the street! Chris went to work Saturday evening and B and I hung out at home. I did a Zumba workout (really need to get back on track with those!!) and Bailey played in her little kitchen. Poor little peanut is teething hardcore, so there were quite a few snuggles mixed in, too J

 

 

 

      These 2 are bound to be causing trouble at the cabin this summer - I can't wait!!

Sunday:

I’ve hardly been to the grocery store since we’ve been back from Florida. Chris has gone the few times that we needed to since the weather has been horrible and I don’t like to bring Bailey out in it if I can avoid it, plus we save money when Chris shops J I’m consider using Coborns Delivers – does anyone have experience with this? There’s a delivery fee, but I feel like me not going to the store will reduce the amount of crap I get distracted with and will probably save us money.

We hit up Costco and got a ton of fruit and veggies and then Target for some other essentials. I felt pretty proud when I got home and we had bought so many fruits and veggies that we didn’t have enough room in our 2 big drawers for them all. I’m really trying to get back on track with working out and eating healthy. After lunch, I made up a veggie tray to keep in the fridge and prepped our smoothies for the week. I feel so ahead of the game right now! I also created a list of healthy sweet and salty snacks to hang on the fridge. I’m so guilty of grabbing bad food that’s readily available and making a meal of it. I want to stop this horrible habit I have and take the thinking out of the process of deciding what I want when I’m hungry. If you have any favorites or suggestions - let me know, looking for ideas!

lots of fruits and veggies and meal prep done!

Super random list of stuff, but I'm hoping it will help

Speaking of healthy…later that afternoon, we met up with my friend Sarah and her daughter Amelia at Smash Burger. I’d never been and I won’t be dying to go back. It was decent, but nothing that knocked my socks off. It was great to see Sarah and Amelia, though! We hadn’t seen them since Bailey’s birthday party and Amelia is growing so much. She’s 8 months old and is cute as can be. I could just kiss her little cheeks all day if I had her with me! I hope we’ll be able to hang out more this spring and summer and do fun stuff like go to the zoo or park.

Ahem, Once upon a time there was a naughty little monkey....

Oh, let's read Winnie the Pooh instead

Bailey didn't display her best "sharing" behavior. All of these toys/books are Amelia's...Bailey helped herself

Sunday nights are pretty slow around here. Just getting stuff ready for the week and squeezing in as much snuggle time as I can with Bailey before the week starts. I sure do miss her the most on Mondays. She brings so much joy to my life, more than I could have ever imagined!

Hope you all had a good weekend!!