24 Day Challenge 2015

I recently completed Advocare's 24 day challenge with the encouragement of my spin instructor, who introduced me to Advocare and their products.I have spent the last two weeks reflecting on my experience with the 24 day challenge.  I was initially bummed that I didn't lose as much weight as everyone else seemed to or as much as I had hoped I would.  After a few days of being bummed, I realized that everyone's body is different and that I shouldn't be comparing my experience to everyone else's that I did the challenge with.  Despite not losing much weight, I did lose inches on my waist and thighs and my jeans fit better than they did before the challenge.  I also learned that I can eat healthy/clean and still enjoy the foods I eat.  The recipes I tried off of the 24 day challenge/advocare website were very tasty. As much as I'm not a huge fan of cooking, I actually enjoyed trying new dishes during the challenge.  I'll admit the challenge got tough at times because as a nurse I never know when I'll actually get a chance to take a lunch break, making it difficult to time some of the MNS supplements right during the Max phase of the challenge.

Let me give a brief overview of the 24 day challenge.  Days 1-10 are the cleanse phase.  The purpose of this phase is to cleanse your body in order to better absorb nutrients that are good for your body. During this phase, clean eating is emphasized in addition to fiber, the spark drink, a probiotic in the morning, omega 3 fatty acids, and vitamins at bedtime.  During this phase, it is important to stay away from dairy products, refined sugars, white bread/pasta/rice, whole wheat, junk food, and processed foods while eating fruits, vegetables, proteins (fish, turkey, chicken, lean red meat), and complex carbs (oatmeal, lentils, beans). During this phase and the max phase, healthy fats such as nuts and avocados are allowed in moderation.  This phase was hard for me initially because I was having a hard time grasping some of the things I shouldn't be eating until I had a conversation with my coach and her mentor, who followed up with me regularly, to clarify what I should be eating during the cleanse phase and what I shouldn't be.  After the first few days of eating things I shouldn't have been (i.e. the whole wheat wraps I had been using, Lavash wraps are a better cleanse friendly alternative).  Days 11-24 is the max phase.  The purpose of this phase is to maximize nutrient absorption and weight loss.  During this phase, we continue with the spark drink and the omega 3 fatty acids and start taking the Metabolic Nutrition System (MNS) throughout the day and a meal replacement shake once a day (I did mine for breakfast because most mornings I have to get up at the crack of dawn and really don't have the energy to try to think of what to eat for breakfast). The MNS is a combination of vitamins to fill nutritional gaps in our diets while boosting our metabolism.  In this phase, we are allowed to slowly reintroduce dairy and whole wheat products in moderation while still continuing with our clean/healthy eating.

Disclaimer: Advocare products alone will not give you miracle weight loss results.  You have to be willing to exercise and eat well. But, unlike many fad diets you don't have to completely eliminateany food groups, as long as you eat in moderation.