Cleanse -> Challenge Update

This started as a 10 day cleanse and it's turned into the 24 day challenge.

Today is day 2 or 12 depending on how you look at it. The first 10 days were the "cleanse" portion and the last two days have been the "max phase", which is plagued with sucking down copious amounts of horse pills.

 

I HATE taking big pills. When I take vitamins, I get the gummy kind. Cause, Hello! It's like I'm eating candy :) So this part of the challenge is unwelcome.

 

 Each day I take one strip of pills. There are four packets. One for 30 minutes before breakfast, one for 30 minutes before lunch, and two to consume with either lunch or breakfast.

I keep the packet for 30 minutes before breakfast on my nightstand with a bottle of water. Literally my alarm goes off and the first thing I do is take the am pills.

 

As for the packets you're supposed to take with breakfast or lunch, I take them both at lunch. I want to get that shit out of the way. So far, it hasn't been a problem, no upset stomach or crazy high feelings. Then I take the last packet 30 minutes before lunch, like you're supposed to.

 

The part I like about this phase is having everything over with by lunch time. I don't have to remember to take pills before bed like during the cleanse.

 

I ordered a canister of the AdvoCare Spark in mango strawberry, because dammit the last two days I've had an afternoon Spark drink, and I've had the energy to clean my house when I normally would have headed for bed. And when I do go to bed, I feel like I could be doing more.

 

I also ordered the meal replacement shakes and plan to have those for breakfast in the am. It takes the guess work out of planning me a breakfast meal when I'm trying to get little humans ready for their day.

My AdvoCare distributor said during this phase "the weight melts off". I'm totally looking forward to this! I know it's probably not going to happen by some miracle though which is why I'm taking my ass to the gym, daily. I have a 30 mile bike ride planned for Saturday am and a yoga class on Sunday... I'm keeping it going through the weekend and hopefully the scale will show it on Monday morning since this is what I've seen the last few days...

 

 

Hope y'all have a great weekend! I'm headed to the Ft. Worth Stockyards with my fam and some friends !

Peace, Love & Horse Pills

 

Don't Forget To Eat Your Brussels Sprouts

And also don't forget that Brussels is ALWAYS capitalized. And it also always has an s on the end and I learned that from spell check thankyouverymuch. Apparently aside from being a veggie, its also a city in Belgium. Fun fact for your day there.

 

On to the point of the post... Who here likes Brussels sprouts? I had never even had them till earlier this year, I started eating healthy and thought I'd give them a try. I like to roast a lot of my veggies (sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus, etc.) so when I picked these up I figured I'd roast them.

 

I Googled a recipe on how long to roast them and how to prep them.

I've always heard that Brussels sprouts are ewww so I went ahead and made up my own recipe and just followed the prepping/cooking directions.

 

 

 

 

1. Get yourself some good old, strait off the pigs ass, BACON!!! Because dammit kids, bacon makes everything good. Can I get an amen? I use two strips, and cut the strips into pieces. Then fry that shit, but don't burn it, it's still gotta cook in the oven. You can remove the bacon from the pan but DO NOT discard the grease... you're gonna need it to rub all over your sprouts.

 

2. I don't even wash these puppies. Start by cutting the stem stub off. Layers of leaves may fall off, this is okay. Discard the top layer that falls off and keep the rest.

 

3. Depending on the size of the sprout, I halve (small ones) or quarter (large ones) them.

 

4. Spread the sprouts on a pan lined with foil or just sprayed with Pam, your choice. I use peppered bacon, but if I happened to use plain bacon then this is where I'd pepper the shit outta the sprouts. Stir in the bacon, and then add bacon grease. I start with 1 T and mix it all together until sprouts are lightly coated. You are using bacon grease in place of the olive oil you would usually use when roasting veggies.

 

5. Pop em in the oven at 450 for 20 minutes and stir them half way through. Wa Lah... enjoy. And now try to refrain from making them every night :)

 

 

 

Some of you health nuts might be screaming right now about the bacon, and the bacon fat. The way I see it, this is not the worst thing I can shovel into my pie hole. The saturated fat content of what you will eat is not going to kill you. I eat healthy most of the time, so I'm not trippin over the little bit of bacon here. Like I said I use two slices, and the amount I make feeds four people. That's like half a slice of bacon per person for all the non-mathematicians out there.

 

If you try this recipe, come back and tell me what you thought. And how did you change it?

Until then,

Peace, Love, & Brussels sprouts!

 

AdvoCare 10 Day Cleanse recap

Well, the 10 day cleanse comes to an end today. Let me just say... I heard a lot of crap about this cleanse before hand. "It's so hard", "You're going to feel crappy and be pissed off" etc, etc. I don't know what these people did differently than me, but this cleanse was easy for me. Like recockulously easy. Because so, I've decided to stay on the train and go right along with MamaL & Skinny Meg (and all the others) and continue on to the 24 day challenge.

 

All you need is the MNS Max 3, which is a whole bunch more supplements and meal replacement shakes. Check out Skinny Meg's blog to get info on how to order or go HERE. This is the sweet lady I get my goods from. I ordered the Max and a canister of mango strawberry Spark.

 

 

The Spark is supposed to be a coffee/soda/caffeine replacement. It's an energy drink that promises to sharpen mental focus and produce long-lasting energy with no "high" and no "crash". I haven't really noticed an increase in energy after I drink this, not to say there hasn't been one.  I don't drink coffee, and lately I've rarely been drinking soda. I suppose the only reason I'm sticking with the spark is to put some flavor in my water filled drinking days.

 

As far as how I feel on day 10 of the cleanse? I feel awesome! I definitely notice I have more energy overall. I've been waking up 15 minutes earlier than usual, and some days I even wake up and clean!!!!! Something I've never done before, since I have two other humans, plus pets, plus me to take care of in the am. I have been biking or hitting up the gym everyday. I even did yoga on my off day on Sunday. This past weekend, I cleaned my house. It needed it bad, but I was actually looking forward to it. LOL Who looks forward to cleaning their house??

 

I started the cleanse weighing 170.6... I've never been a daily weigher, but I figured since I was doing a cleanse I would weigh myself everyday. A) just to get an idea of what a lying whore the scale is how my weight fluctuates daily anyhow and B) to see how much I would lose in the end. My weight went down, then up, then down then back up... it was really pissing me off and making me look forward to going back to once a week weighing. Ultimately this is what the scale said on Day 10:

AND......... I should have taken a better photo...but you get the gist, right?

 

It looks like I lost 5lbs even : ) I'll take it! I already eat clean/healthy 95% of the time. So I was doing this cleanse to rid my body of all the junk food/cigarettes/alcohol I used to have and to lose weight. Period. I'll take a five pound weightloss in ten days any week. Watch my fat ass get on the scale tomorrow and it says 167! lol , I wouldn't be surprised.

 

Starting weight on 1/1/13 181.0 lbs

Weight on 3/13/13 165.6

Weight lost 16 lbs

Goal weight 138 lbs

Lbs to lose till goal 27

Days until my Destin, FL vacay where my ass will be in a bikini come hell or high water 91

 

I will have updates on how the 24 day challenge goes for me.

Until then happy hump day homies!

I Heart Thirty One

Have you ever heard of Thirty One? I'm kind of addicted... I'll show you my goods but first let me give you some back ground info, yo...

Thirty One is a direct sales company that was started in 2003 in a women's (Cindy Monroe~ she's the owner) Tennessee basement with one sewing machine and one embroidery machine. Today it has grow to over 100,000 consultants and a home office in Ohio on 31acres!

Thirty One is purses, shopping totes, lunch totes, beach totes, wicker baskets, wallets, coin purses, accessories, gifts, stationary, and more. The products are so versatile, as you'll see in a moment when I show you how I use them. The best part is, over 80% of the products can be personalized! Even better, they come out with three new catalogs a year, always introducing new products and patterns!

Every month Thirty One has a monthly special, this is a really good way to get lots of product on the cheap...


Let's take a look at an episode of Thirty One Hoarders some of the products I use in my home...

=

                              We like to hunt. Ducks, if you couldn't all ready tell. So of course I had to have a camo LUT. I use it when we... take a guess??  I put ammo, beer, food, blankets, etc. in it and take it down to the hunting spot... we take a lot of crap down there and this carries it all for me :) (Large Utility Tote $35 + $7 embroidery)

 

I have several of these totes, they are good for EVERYTHING! Seriously, I have one for gardening tools, my coupons, junk in my trunk... It's cray cray. This one is for summertime and I have a picnic thermal that matches it to take to the pool. I'm currently using this to haul all my stuff to work in the am. (Organizing Utility Tote $30 + $7 embroidery)

Hello, you had to know my kids would have a bazillion Thirty One bags... LOL On the left you see Abram's, well Austin has the same exact things with his name on 'em... and on the right you see Austin's and obviously Abram has the same things... I'm telling you addiction is a disease and I'm sick! (Cinch Sak $20 + $7 embroidery, Medium Utility Tote is retired)

Here is the Keep It Caddy holding our DVDS and Wii games, I'm not sure what the one with the animals is called, it's retired... we have two of these. Shocking I know. They hold toys in the playroom.
 The Square Utility Bin is retired as well, but I use mine for video games obviously. I also have one to hold my newspapers & coupons. The two robot SUT's hold the boys' toys and there is another Keep It Caddy in there too... (Keep It Caddy $20)

Hang Up Home Organizer, hangs in my dining room, it keeps the mail and the boy's papers off my teeny tiny kitchen counters. I super heart adore this pattern too!!
The Medium Utility Bins on the right hold my rags (you can barely see it says "Rags" on it, and also hold my bras, and hats on the dryer. (Organizer $45, MUB $25)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this adorable pattern!!! This is a small lunch tote, neither it nor the pattern are any longer available. If I know my office is providing lunch, I take this to work with a couple snacks in it. I think this was the first Thirty One product I ever bought! Still a fav!

My Wicker Basket (retired) holds my fruits and veggies on the counter.
 The Picnic Thermal Tote on the right can hold 6 bottles of wine, yessiree :) Or 3 2 liters if you're not a drunk like me some people. I have three of these. One of them has Austin's name on it with a baseball Icon and we use it for his baseball games, the other I use to take to the pool.  (Picnic Thermal $35)

Here is the purse I'm currently carrying. Its an Organizing Shoulder Bag, I stuff the Coupon Clutch, Mini Zipper Pouch, Timeless Wallet, and Lil Expressions notepad... and guess what it all fits!! Can I get a woo hoo! (OSB $45, Coupon Clutch $25, Mini Zipper Pouch $12, Wallet $35, Notepad $20)

I earned this Cindy Tote for frizzle... that FREE folks :) Just for doing my job!

Here is yet another one of my Organizing Utility Totes. They are everywhere... I use this one to take to parties and keep my files/orderforms/catalogs nice and neat! (Cindy Tote $70, OUT $30)

Aww... I think this set is so super cute! Which is why I own it, duh! I carry this Retro Metro Tote with matchingadorableIcan'tlivewithoutit Scarf in the fall :)

The Little Carry All Caddy is at work and holds my tissue box... I also order one of these for Austin's teachers. Either for Christmas, their B-Day, or Teacher Appreciation, and I wrap a little hand sanitizer from B&BW to it. Super Cute ! And they love it ( Retro Metro $55, Scarf $10, Little Carry All $12)

Hello?? Doesn't errrbody need a cute wrap for their camera strap?? This wrap comes in an even cuter pattern now, I'm surprised myself that I don't have it already... Maybe because this camera isn't even mine, it's my broski's so I don't think he likes me decking it out in girly 31 wear.

And the Inspiration Case has my favorite Bible verse on it... It just seemed fitting to carry a Bible in, right? (Strap Wrap $10, Inspiration Case $15 when you host a party, otherwise unavailable)

Umm my house is ghetto really small... like I don't even have a master bathroom small. Like two people cannot comfortably fit in the bathroom I have, small. So naturally when your house is so damn small, you would not expect there to be a toilet paper holder installed. Like, who the fuck doesn't think to install one of these when building a house? The peeps who built my house, that's who. No worries, Thirty One has a product for me... sigh of relief :) This Medium basket does this trick! (Basket $35)
 

I use this on the daily... and I have to be honest, it's not big enough for all the food I take. Luckily, Thirty One just came out with a larger lunch box! Oh snap... mama's gonna have to go buy me one! (Thermal Tote $18)

 

Another Large Utility Tote, yes. Just be glad I'm not taking a picture of ALL of them! I probably have about five more that aren't pictured. It's sick I know. I use this one to carry clean folded laundry up the stairs. Then it folds up nicely to fit behind my washer when I'm not using it. This way I don't have to have ugly plastic clothes hampers all over the place. Though I don't know who I'm trying to kid... I still have those ugly hampers, but only 2! (LUT $35, Wallet $35)

 

 

 

 

Wells Ladies and Gents, that be all the photos I will show you as not to freak you out anymore! If you have any questions about Thirty One... give me a shout. I'd be happy to answer them for you.

karynrky@verizon.net

 

I will be writing more posts about Thirty One when there are recruiting incentives, monthly specials, outlet sales  etc.

I sell Thirty One as in I am an Independent Senior Consultant for the company, but I don't like to sell Thirty One. I hate talking to strangers about it, it's outside my comfort zone. Really unless you talk to me about it first, I'm probably not going to say anything to you about it. That being said I would never push Thirty One on anybody. If you like it great, if not, oh well. These posts will be purely for you to know what's up with the company.

 

That pretty much sums up my life

It's Monday, Monday, Monday oh...

Monday's at work, we bust our butts to post 5-8 million in cash without taking a lunch break. But we gotta eat right? So we order in. Mmm... Yummy. Mmm... Not healthy. We choose from a handful or places. Usually Jason's Deli ( who ALWAYS manage to fuck something up, it happens every.single.time) Jimmy Johns, Italian Villa, Taste of Asia, or Chipotle. Otherwise the office has ordered in Olive Garden, pizza, BBQ, or Anemias.

Let me now demonstrate how I eat out, and order/alter something to eat healthy...

Today was Jason's Deli... I order the Wild Salmon-Wich ... this buckaroo has 670 kcalories :( and looks something like this

I had to find this photo on the interwebs... I wouldnt know what this sandwich looks like because I never order it this way.

 

I take off the gaucamole, tomato, some olive oil spread, oh and the lucious bread they serve it on. By the time I get my order it looks more like this...

 

It comes with a side of fruit, chips or steamed veggies.

 

Sometimes I'll add low fat mayo... According to MFP, this revised meal is only 379 kcal :) Win!!!

And now I'm at the gym on the treadmill, so I'm going to leave you with that...

AdvoCare cleanse ~ Is It Already Day 5?

Ahhh Day 5...

 

The lady I bought my AdvoCare from is a friend of mine and so we've kept in touch during this process so far. She's been great, always asking me how I'm doing and telling me whats normal and not, etc, etc. She's also told me how the cleanse went for her. Plus, I absolutely HATE the fruit punch flavored spark, so she was kind enough to drop some of the orange flavor samples off for me and I have to say, I love the orange flavor. To me the fruit punch tasted way too sweet. I already don't like the taste of artificial sweetener. When I drink those juice packets you mix in a 20oz bottle of H2O, that shit has to be watered down... big time. The fruit punch tasted too much like artificial sweetener to me.

Anyhow, this lady friend of mine said the cleanse went something like this for her: she felt like she had a cold for the first three days and woke up the fourth day with lots of energy and was good from there on out. I felt fine the first two days with minor side effects, and have been awaiting the Energizer Bunnies' visit on day four. Womp Womp... that shit didn't come... maybe I just always have a lot of energy? Who knows?? I feel the same.

I will say during the last four days and today as well, my throat has been extremely dry, even with all the water I've been drinking. I cough all day long, a dry cough. My co-worker is very OCD about people coughing/sneezing/touchingtheirface without sanitizing their hands afterwards so you know my ass is sanitizing every damn time I cough.

 

That's my only complaint about this cleanse thus far... not too bad.

 

I did a Zumba class last night (day 4). If you haven't tried Zumba before, do yourself a favor and go take a class. I love to dance. I can't dance for shit, but I love to do it. So I love Zumba because nobody in there 'cept the instructor has a clue whats going on, and everyone looks ridiculous. Win Win for me. The class was 1 hr and I burned 888kcal. Cha Ching!

 

 

So I totally expected the scale to look something like this:

 

I was 166.8 yesterday. I'm cool with the number not changing too much. When it jumps from 169 to 167 in one day (like it did Monday to Tuesday) then I dont like it. It makes me think I could go right back up to 169 the next day. But when it stays at the same number and fluctuates ounces then I know I probably do actually weight 166. Get it?

 I started January 1, 2013 weighing 181lbs, so I'm on track baby :)

Link Up

Today I am linking up with Holly & Jake for my very first time...

 

Finish this Sentence:

 

1. People always tell me... I have beautiful hair... I hear it all the time. Its long and thick. I keep it up in a pony or bun most of the time bc I don't like taking the time to blow-dry it and curl it...

 

2. In the movie based on my life... what does this mean? Who would play me? Idk, but the actress would probably come and bitch slap me when it was all said and done

 

3. Typically, I end up regretting... not cleaning my house on a daily basis... It gets messy quick with two little boys and a shedding black lab

 

4. I always ask to leave off the... onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, guacamole, anything with tomato chunks

 

5. Kim and Kanye really... If I were her I'd make him publicly apologize to Taylor Swift (has he done that? I don't follow entertainment stars too much) But I wouldnt think I'd want to be with someone who was rude like that.

 

6. My Parents always reminded me... nothing comes to mind, maybe that's why I am where I am

 

7. Every single day I... brush my teeth first thing when I wake up... morning breath is no bueno

 

8. This one time in College.. By the time I got to college I had 1-2 kids and was married. So this 

one time in college I had really good girlfriend and I miss her bunches... we laughed so hard!

9. My grossest habit is... biting my nails... if you really knew what was under your fingernails, you'd know how gross this really it.

10. My latest white lie was... Last night I was writing a post and my husband asked what I was doing... I haven't told him I started a blog.

11. I know all the words to... The abc song woot woot!!! No really, a lot of songs and maybe the Lion King

12. When I grow up... I just want to be able to relax, and have no debt, and do nice things, like rent jet skis, or go to Montana for a week, or go somewhere tropical

13. Sexy time is... not often enough anymore :(

14. I will never, ever... hmm, jump out of an airplane, eat a live animal/insect, cheat on my husband

15. I think it's hilarious... the things kids say. Austin said recently he doesn't like coming to our house bc he feels like its the end of the world... I also think my husband and Hubby Jack are hilarious