We're Accepting the Challenge

   Oh my gosh! Two posts in a week?! Unheard of...but true. Normally my posts are about what events have happened with us recently and how we're doing; the next few aren't quite going to be like that. Glen and I have been worried about our health habits for quite some time now. Both of us have a sweet tooth that practically consume our whole heads, both of us lacked serious knowledge about where to start or even where to look for information. For the entire time we've known each other we've talked about how we have bad habits that we don't know how to shake. We knew people who had done Advocare challenges and those who not only did the challenges but were distributors and advisers for the products. We were kind of wishy-washy about it for a while until the desire for healthier lifestyles evolved into wanting to be healthy and needing to find a way for some extra income. Glen has been working already and I knew that it needed to be me who brought in that income(despite his best efforts to convince me otherwise). I looked into Advocare a little deeper and Glen and I both liked what we heard and what we were learning. But we both refused to sell anything we hadn't put to the test ourselves. Thanks to one of my family members we are able to do just that. Which brings me to....

THE ADVOCARE 24 DAY CHALLENGE:
   The Advocare 24 Day Challenge is all about resetting your body essentially. The first ten days is all a part of the cleanse phase which cleans out your body of all the toxins and junk it has built up over time. The next 14 days are the max phase which helps reset your metabolism and really retrain your body on absorbing the necessary nutrients. That's the super reader's digest version, if you want more information you can email, Facebook message, text, call, or comment down below. To start the challenge we took our before pictures and our measurements. Over the next 24 days we will periodically make a post about how things are going and we are going to be super honest because we love our friends and family and believe in being nothing but honest with you all.

Day One: TODAY!
Aimee:
   Okay, so sharing personal details about myself especially my insecurities is the hardest thing I've ever done so please be kind. I have never been the textbook definition of "fat"and I know that will lose a lot of you, but I think I represent another chunk of women that I kind of call the "in betweens." I like many others have a time where I felt at my best; for me that was toward the end of our engagement, our wedding and shortly after. This was a result of no one hiring me (because of only being in Texas a few months) and doing yoga for an hour or more every day, decreased appetite due to hot temperatures and some medical stuff that I wasn't aware of then. But I was 125 lbs which was still healthy for me but more than that I felt gorgeous. 
   My goal for the challenge was to get back to my wedding weight and learn more about nutrition and taking care of my body. Some may roll their eyes at me when I say this but it's significant for me; I am the heaviest I have ever been and even more than that I feel more unattractive than I ever have. So for me, the goal of this is my wedding weight, healthy habits, and feeling gorgeous again.

Before Details:
Weight: 149 lbs.
Right Arm: 11 in.
Shoulders: 43 in.
Chest: 39 in.
Waist: 31 in.
Hips: 40 in.
Right Thigh: 21 in.
Right Calf: 13 in.


My initial thoughts today have been these:
1. Fiber drink-unpleasant but survivable.
2. If I drink anymore water I may just float away.
3. I have never been so full while being on a "diet."
4. I miss milk.

So for some of the days during the cleanse there is a fiber drink that you have to drink and I had heard that this was the worst part so I was not looking forward to it. I am a picky person when it comes to my food and drink and to top it off I have a super sensitive gag reflex. I took the suggestion of my coach and mixed it with 4 oz of water and 4 oz of Trop50 orange, I had to mix a little extra water in though toward the end. It also helps if you brush your teeth right after.

The "rule" for water consumption is your weight divided by two is equal to the number of ounces you should consume. I hate water. Sounds strange yes, but it has no flavor so I don't like it. I fixed that problem by putting some lemon slices in the water. Made it more appetizing at least. But I am pretty sure I drank more water today than I did all last week. If I drink anymore you may find me floating somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

There are some diets or health programs that make you go through the day eating very little ("I'm stuffed...I just ate a raisin" kind of stuff). This is not the case with Advocare! You eat basically every 2-3 hours and I am so full! When you do the challenge you get all source of resources to help you but it pretty much boils down to eating what your body needs for fuel. Protein, fruits/veggies, some carbohydrates and small amounts of healthy fats. 

For the cleanse portion of the challenge you can't have dairy which is killer for me because I love milk. Normally I drink TONS but today I had none and it feels strange. We don't even have any in the fridge. Is there such a think as a milkoholic? I think I am one and I am having serious withdrawal issues. 

That's all for me!

Glen: 
   Growing up I was a very active kid and well into my teenage years even but after high school because I no longer had P.E or went swimming all summer. I lost all physical activity and I started working as a security guard to help pay for my mission. The first place they put me at had me walking around more but the last place they put me before I left for my mission had me sitting in a booth for 8 hours and for those 8 hours for 6 plus months I was constantly eating and never doing any physical activity so slowly I began to gain weight and by the time I left on my mission I was overweight and unhealthy. For the 2 years on my mission I was walking around quite a bit so I lost some weight but I never got back down to my ideal weight of 175. 

   After getting home from my mission I followed a pretty unhealthy pattern of eating all the time and doing some moving around but not much, so as you can guess my weight fluctuated and sadly I have never been able to get below 200 pounds. 
Before Details:

Weight: 231
Right Arm: 15.5 in.
Shoulders: 56.6 in.
Chest: 46 in.
Waist: 47 in.
Hips: 45 in.
Right Thigh: 24 in.
Right Calf: 16 in.

 Here is what I am looking to accomplish in this 24 day challenge
1. Reach the 199 lbs mark
2. Create better daily habits
3. Be more self disciplined
4. Be in better shape to do more activities with Aimee
5. Learn healthy habits

   After the first day I know that this is going to be incredibly hard but because of the support of my wife it is going to be a lot easier. I am looking forward to watching both her and I get healthier and personally I feel like we will grow closer together as a couple. 1 down and only 23 more to go!