Day Three of the 10 Day Cleanse

It's day three and I'm starting to feel the affects of the cleanse.  Lighter and less puffy (for lack of a better word).  In fact, the scale says I'm down four pounds this morning.  That's right, 4 pounds in three days!  Now, I have to admit that I ate Mexican the night before the cleanse weigh in and I always hold water and weigh heavy after eating Mexican...but I'm still counting my loss thus far as 4 lbs.  I'm kind of a head case, so seeing a good loss initially gives me motivation.  I know, I'm crazy!

Before Breakfast - Fiber drink & Spark
Breakfast - Meal Replacement Shake
Snack - Grapes & Cashews (I'm a grab-n-go kinda girl...this is a quick, easy snack)
Lunch - 2 eggs, scrambled w/ peppers and highly seasoned w/ garlic, pepper)

Snack - strawberries

Before Dinner - spark

Dinner - Grilled chicken with fajita chicken layered in lettuce wrap along with yellow peppers, avocado, and tomato.  Delicious!

Day Two of the 10 Day Cleanse

It's day two of the cleanse.  I haven't been overly hungry but I can't say I haven't wanted to grab a piece of bread, crackers, or cookies.  Mostly I've wanted a Diet Coke.  That's my weakness!  I can do ANYTHING for 10 days.  Eating my snacks is the secret to not being hungry.

Before breakfast - Drink my fiber drink and spark...love that spark!
Breakfast - handful of almonds and handful of grapes
Snack - handful of nuts
Lunch - barbecue pork, baked beans, and pineapple

Snack - Apple with natural peanut butter
Before Dinner - A spark
Dinner - Grilled steak, salad (w/slivered almonds, dried cranberries, blue cheese, & vinaigrette), and steamed broccoli seasoned with lemon pepper

Before Bed - Take herbal cleanse tablets

Let the Cleanse Begin

Many of you have shown interest in the Advocare 10 Day Herbal Cleanse Scott and I use every three months.  The cleanse is an amazing way to jump-start your weight loss plan.  Most people hear the word cleanse and picture themselves sitting in the bathroom for 10 days.  It's not like that!  I find that it cleanses my palate as much as it does my digestive tract, cleaning my desire for sweets and gets me eating my fruits and vegies again.

I am always willing to give information on the product but the follow up question is always, "What do I eat on the cleanse?"  We started our cleanse on Saturday, so I thought I'd post my food diary to help answer that question.  Get your cleanse and spark today and join me!

DAY 1
Before Breakfast - Drink Advocare fiber drink & spark (I like pouring a little bit of mandarin orange spark in my citrus flavored fiber drink)
Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs
Snack - handful of cashews & a handful of grapes
Lunch - Salad purchased from Publix deli with roasted chicken also from Publix deli & vinegarette dressing
Snack - Natural peanut butter spread on a cored and halved apple
Sometime before dinner - Advocare Spark
Dinner - Leftover salad from lunch and a grilled hamburger patty (no bun, but a little blue cheese)
Before Bed - Take your herbal cleanse tablets

**The Herbal Cleanse includes the fiber drink and the tablets you take while cleansing (herbal cleanse tablets and probiotic tablets).  Spark is sold separately.  Advocare also has a 24 day Challenge which is basically the 10 day herbal cleanse with an additional 14 days.  The 24 day challenge bundle includes the herbal cleanse fiber drink, herbal cleanse tablets & probiotic capsules as well as spark, meal replacement shakes, omegaplex vitamins, & 14 days of vitamins to use after the initial 10 day cleanse.

We use the replacement shakes, spark, and vitamins year round, so we usually just use the 10 day herbal cleanse as a jump start to get our eating habits back in line.  The 24 Day Challenge Bundle is a good buy since it includes shakes, spark, and vitamins.  If you choose to purchase the 24 day challenge, it includes enough spark for 1 a day.  I like to drink 2 a day, so you might consider purchasing extra spark.

I can feel the nest getting emptier...boohoo

Jared just received an official acceptance letter from his college of choice.  Next fall he will be heading to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  I am so excited for him.  UTC has such a beautiful campus and surrounding city.

 

The Mighty Hunters Find Success

I received a text last night from Jared that read..."I killed a monster", along with the picture below.  I believe he was correct.  :)

One Night in St. Louis

Gabe and I dropped Scott and Jared at the airport early Saturday morning for their hunting adventure in the mountains of Wyoming and headed for an adventure of our own.  We had one more passenger to pick up and made it to Murray just after the sun came up.  It only took one text and two phone calls to bring Jacob lumbering out the front door of his dorm, carrying a pair of shorts, a shirt, and swimming trunks (didn't his mother teach him to bring a toothbrush?).  Hey, a college guy can't remember everything on just two hours sleep.  

We continued on to St. Louis, making it to the zoo before lunch.  What an awesome zoo...bears, sea lions, and my favorite, the monkeys. After the zoo we checked into our hotel next door to the home of the St. Louis Cardinals.

There would be no rest for the weary, so we dropped out bags and continued on, walking to the City Museum.  Talk about a cool place.  The whole place is created for climbing, crawling, and sliding.  You have to see it to believe it, but here are a few pictures.  They don't begin to do it justice.

The next morning we took off to riverfront to see the Arch.  Of course it was closed due to the government shut down, but we still got to see the enormity of the structure.

Next was the science museum and planetarium.  Awesome and very hands on.  Did I mention that the zoo and science museum don't charge admission?  Inbelievable!

We hopped in the car around 1:00 and watched the Arch disappear in the rear view mirror.  We made the most out of a day and a half.  The icing on the cake was receiving an unexpected phone call from our mighty hunters as we approached home.  What more could a girl ask for?

Jared lookin cool at the beach. :)

Look what Gabe found...

So the beach is fffffreazing, so we did a little shopping this morning at the biggest outlet mall I've ever seen. Beautiful! Gabe found himself a pair of sunglasses. When we returned from the mall, we put on our winter coats and went to the beach (not really on the coat part). Gabe found a load of seashells.

Spring Break

Every year we take a spring baseball trip to the beach. Every year we pack shorts, flip flops, and t-shirts excited for hot sunny weather. This year is no different than years past...a cold 65ish degrees and we are very unprepared. Today was our first day to play ball. We made it through the 3rd inning and the the rain came down. The good news...no more rain the rest of the week.

Good friend, good times

It's become a tradition for my oldest, dearest friends and I to meet once a year. Nothing too fancy because coordinating schedules is near impossible. Unless its a milestone birthday year, we generally meet in Carbondale (about halfway). Carbondale has everything we need...a little shopping, a few tasty restaurants, and a place to stay. There is nothing like good friends to listen, compare kids/husband stories, laugh, and cry with. This year we discovered that it isn't uncommon for any if us to be in the shower and not be able to recall if we've washed our hair or not but we can remember all the words to our favorite song or movie.

Jacob shakes it Harlem style

If you haven't already heard of it, the Harlem shake is sweeping the nation. If you go to YouTube and type in Harlem shake you'll get lots of different groups with their version of the dance. Murray State has its own version and you can see our very own Jacob in the video. He is front and center kneeling with overalls and a bright yellow beanie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SEY8pC9pXg&sns=em

Jacob has a date

Jacob was kind enough to share a picture of he and his date with his mom. They were headed to either a fraternity or sorority formal. Cute!