Challenge: Day 4

This is the first break from the fiber drink! Hopefully my gassy bloated tummy will go away now. :(

Breakfast: egg scramble with mushrooms and green onions. I also baked some paleo apple cinnamon muffins. They are made with almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, eggs, banana and diced apple. Nummy!

Lunch: this was amazing and my husband liked it too! I made the chicken avocado salad from the challenge cookbook and had it over a bed of lettuce. Jacob had it on a slice of toasted bread. This is a keeper!

Dinner: I made the crockpot chicken burritos recipe from the challenge cookbook. We decided to serve it over lettuce like a salad. I added black beans and slivered almonds. We had it with trader joes Goddess dressing. Fruit on the side. We both agree that this recipe is a keeper. Mmmm

Snacks: brown rice cakes with peanut butter. We also had a paleo muffin. 

Challenge: Day 5

Today is the best I have felt! Energy, clarity of mind, good mood. This is also the day Jacob mentioned he felt the best too.

Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, whole grain toast with peanut butter. (And Spark of course!)

Lunch: Used the rest of the leftover chicken from last night's crock pot chicken burritos for a salad topper. I picked up trader joes Goddess dressing as it looked like it had all clean ingredients and wasn't too fatty. I just dipped my fork in the dressing and then stabbed into the salad. It was the perfect mix of black beans and avocado with the salad. 

Dinner: I made chicken breasts cooked in coconut oil. Made a sauce of chicken broth, coconut milk, basil and mushrooms. I put that over the chicken and quinoa with a side of corn. 

Snacks: Fresh fruit salad, had a protein shake after my workout, and a paleo apple cinnamon muffin. 

Challenge: Day 3

Day 3

Breakfast: 1 Fried egg, part of a piece of toast.  That fiber drink sure does fill me up!

Lunch: Since I forgot my leftovers yesterday, I got to have those today for lunch.  It was leftovers from a dinner of beans and rice from the 24-day challenge cookbook.  Delicious!

Dinner: We had a family BBQ. This was our first time being faced with a potluck event full of delicious foods that we had to avoid, not to mention dessert and homemade ice cream!  Jacob and I had some kabobs (steak and veggies), I also had a hamburger patty cut up with lettuce and mustard and some fruit salad.  Future tip, when we have a potluck type event I am bringing a good hearty salad so we won't feel so deprived.

Snacks: The normal veggies, fruit and trail mix.  The evening snack I whipped up a berry protein shake using a half-scoop of vanilla muscle build protein powder. 

How I felt: I felt good today.  Less painful gas cramps than yesterday.  My energy dropped at the end of the day after dinner.  I think this was because of all the fruit I had (sugar crash!) and the heat naturally makes a person tired after a while.  

Challenge: Day 2

Day 2

Breakfast: Fried eggs (we use coconut oil, NOT butter and it makes perfect eggs!), slice whole wheat toast and some sliced apple.

Lunch: I forgot my leftovers at home, so I ended up picking up a Starbucks salad that was around 300 cals.  It was delicious, but I was still bummed that I forgot my leftovers.

Dinner: It was friday, and payday, and I had a birthday gift certificate from a local higher-end seafood restaurant that was expiring in two days so we decided to go there and get a healthy option.  I had baked salmon with veggies.

Snacks: I had some of my homemade trail mix as well as some carrot sticks.

How I felt: I felt great energy-wise.  I did have some cramps from gas throughout the day, so I know the extra fiber from the fiber drink was working on something. 

Preparing for the Advocare 24-Day Challenge

Preparation and planning is the key to success with the challenge.  The challenge is a GREAT way to learn how to eat clean and healthy, and at regular intervals.  Here's what I did to help me prepare for mine and my husband's challenges.

Tools:

From www.chooseyourchallenge.com

• 24-Day Challenge Cookbook - a great starting point to get recipes and learn what ingredients to use and foods to eat.  
• Grocery List - this is a great listing of safe foods to eat during the challenge
• Trim Timeline, Tips & Measurements - This is a good sheet to use to guide you through the challenge as well as a place to jot down your starting measurements and weight.

From Advocare's Challenge Site

• Advocare Assessment Form - This is similar to the form mentioned above as it allows you to log your measurements and weight and it is from Advocare's official site.

I started by sitting down with the challenge cookbook and marking all the recipes that sounded like something we would actually enjoy.  Once that was done, I began writing out the week's foods for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner.  Having a written plan, posted on my fridge, makes it fool-proof for both me and my husband to follow.

Next, I went through my meal plan and the recipes to create my grocery list and went shopping.  Now we have all the food for the week (I did have to go back halfway through the week to get more fruit).

Tips:

• Buy the larger bags of carrots/celery and cut them up ahead of time and portion them out.  This makes it easy to grab a portion for a quick snack or to take to work.
• Before you go to bed, look over your meal plan to see if any meat needs to be thawed in the fridge, and to pack your lunch if you're working the next day.  I also like to look at it to feel prepared for the next morning's routine.
• Have lots of healthy snacks!  Buy more than you think you will need.  The last thing oyu want is to be starving and making poor snacking choices.  
• Clean out your kitchen before the challenge.  Remove/throw away/hide any "bad" foods so you won't be tempted.  If you are the only one in your home doing the challenge, maybe have a "safe cupboard" where you have all your healthy snacks and only go to that cupboard.  You could reverse that as well and move all the snacks you should avoid to a separate cupboard for you to avoid.
• Get up early enough to not only make breakfast, but to have your Spark and fiber drink without feeling rushed.  Make this an excuse to create a new morning routine for yourself that you can enjoy- to read the paper, do your devotionals, etc.  

Good luck in your journey!  Feel free to ask questions and share any tips that have helped you out along the way.  I am blogging about my daily journey, so take a look around for posts on how I fared throughout the challenge.