Day 24 – Saturday April 14th, 2012

Oh, hi! I forgot about you.  What can I say, it’s been stressful and busy, blogging is the last thing that I can think about right now.  Over the last week or so I was able to work out a few times, and for the most part I ate right and stuck to the plan (spare a few cheats… I said its been stressful!).  Brooke and I have had plenty of scares over the last week and that baby wants to get out of that stomach pronto.  However, Ryker still isn’t here.  Last night we had C-Rose stay at Gramma’s house, because both of us really thought it was the night.  Alas, the night came and went and I am at work at the time of this entry.  I only have a few minutes so I’ll keep it short and sweet. I’m so thankful for having such a wonderful wife and all the other special people who’ve helped me through this journey.

Summary of the Advocare 24-day challenge (500 words or less):  The first stage of cleansing was a little difficult at times to handle, but the hard boiled eggs made everything better.  A few days into the cleanse and I felt much better: more energized, less bloated, and just “healthier” if that’s possible.  Once the meal replacement shakes started I was well on my way to creating a healthier eating schedule and I was making much better choices on what I ate.  Had I been able to hit the gym as much as I liked I know I would have lost a lot more weight.  Now I see myself still making the proper choices, and feeding my wife and family the most nutritious meals I can on a daily basis from this point on.  After all, it’s not about me it’s about us as a whole. Ryker will be here soon and after a few months I’ll be making all the lovely and healthy veggie and fruit purees I did for Carly and that will also help us to keep moving forward with a healthy eating plan. Now if I can just get Ryker to KEEP eating the veggies, and encourage his big sister to eat them too!  If anything, this experience is showing me what it takes to make this serious commitment.  I have the motivators in place, and I have the desire, now I just need to keep following through and getting to that gym regularly. I’ve heard you can cleanse again in 6 months, and I know I must have some more crud stored away in there.  I think I’ll probably do it again, and see if I can’t get my pipes flowing fully.

I will be taking off a bunch of time and I may not be back during this school year to work.  During this time off, I plan on bonding with my boy and getting C-Rose potty-trained!  This will also be a great time to get into a workout routine, and eventually find that ever elusive dream home we’ve been searching for.

Thanks for reading, and I plan on making some more updates to this, but they definitely won’t be daily. At the 3-week point I gained a little less than a pound back, but that was after Easter weekend and all the glorious food that came with it.  Had I been working out, I bet I would have still lost weight and that’s pretty nice to think about considering it was a holiday weekend.  So until next time, I’m signing off and getting ready to go eat some eggs. Later.

Day 19 – Monday April 9th, 2012

OK, this morning 5am came waaaay too early, and when I woke up I just couldn’t make it to the gym. I needed that extra hour of sleep today.  I did get up and move around a bit and I started to leave but my eyes were so heavy, and I fell asleep with my contacts on.

Tomorrow I will be up on time, and at the gym getting a work out by 5:15am.  I promise this to you blog world, I’m ready to make this a reality.

If you are reading this you might be thinking, “he started off great but is he losing steam?”

The answer is NO! I am still ready to roll and I am not letting some measly holiday weekend bring me down. No sir. No jelly beans or chocolate bunny eggs filled with peanut butter are going to make me stop fighting the good fight.  Easter only comes once a year.  I’ve got plenty of healthy food waiting in the fridge to be eaten, and I will lose the weight. For now? It’s back to the grind. I’ll check back in later with some news on dinner and anything else exciting that happens.

Day 18 – Sunday April 8th, 2012

Happy Easter, Easter bunny.  This morning was fun, after the Easter Bunny came Carly found all her eggs and Easter basket, and then we ate some breakfast.  Afterwards we watched “Hop” and the new Muppet movie.  After that we got showered up and ready for Gramma’s house.   Today is the last major test of the weekend. I plan on being as strict on myself as possible. We’ll see how that goes though.  Check in later.

Update: I was fairly good at Easter dinner. I ate a little of everything, and didn’t have seconds spare another bowl of my soup and a bunch of ham. The ham was delicious, my brother in law cooked it on the grill.  I didn’t have any dessert, coffee, or soda.  However, I did enjoy two or three beers.  I think it was fairly successful when taken into account the amount of temptations I passed on.  The thing that was bad this weekend was the Easter candy. I don’t think I went overboard, but it was tough not to have ANY.

This week its back to the grind and I plan on having a successful week. I am exhausted though, and could really use another weekend to rest up.  And the beat goes on…

Day 17 – Saturday April 7th, 2012

Today was Easter with the Byrne’s and my first awful day of dieting during the 24 day challenge.  I did decent up until dinner time, but I made the Italian Wedding soup. It wasn’t really that bad for me in essence, but it was still not great during the diet. My brother and his girlfriend brought baked chicken with pesto, and that was really good too, but progressively worse than the soup. My mom brought three different types of homemade quiche which was probably the most unhealthy of the main courses.  Of course, I had the most of the quiche out of all three.  I also made kale and we had some fresh garlic bread too.

After dinner I felt awful. Run down, bloated, and fat. Again. For dessert we had gelato and I picked at a carrot cake muffin.  All I have to do is make it through tomorrow without going completely hog wild, and it’ll be a fairly successful weekend considering it was a holiday.  I think I’ll be OK, but we’ll see how it all shakes out. Great time with family today, and now I’m ready to crash already.  Monday isn’t going to be any fun at work, I’ll say that right now.

Day 16 – Friday April 6th, 2012

It’s good Friday and I am thinking about hitting the grocery store early today to get ready for tomorrow. I’m still on the same schedule with food/supplements that I outlined a few days ago, and I will be for the duration of this challenge.  Yesterday was a sobering wake up call, but I plan on stepping up my game by beginning early morning workouts starting Monday at the latest. I think it might be tough to get them in over the holiday with all we have planned.  I’m currently snuggling with Carly and watching The Fresh Beat Band, and dreaming of my glorious meal replacement shake I get in a couple minutes.  <tongue meet cheek>

Gonna get this day going here in a few minutes and the first step is to get ingredients for my soup for tomorrow. I need to try and make this as healthy as possible. The reason I started this blogging business was to keep a journal of my experience, but to also keep me involved and thinking about all this healthy eating and exercise business. It didn’t use to be so hard, but kids really make you think about everyone except yourself.

 

Day 15 – Thursday April 5th, 2012 (-3; -8 total)

Today is actually Friday at work, because tomorrow is Good Friday and we are off! I didn’t remember until about an hour into my work day and it really started to motivate me to get things done.  I’m starting with the blog as I didn’t update for a day or so, and it was the first time I really fell behind with updates.

Last night after going to see the house, we ended up going out to eat.  We are running low on food in the house right now, so this was the quickest and easiest solution.  In hindsight, we should have just whipped something together with what we had at home, but our appointment for the house was at 5pm and that late hour makes things kind of difficult.

We went to a Japanese restaurant in Grayslake called Kawa.  It was “OK”. We chose to eat the Mongolian BBQ buffet style thingy, and compared to some others, it was very average.  I didn’t eat as much as I could have, so I am going to call this meal out a success. Its an all you can eat kind of place, and I only made one trip up, albeit, it was a good sized plate of food. I stuck to 95% veggies and meat, but I did add about a 1/4 cup of noodles and some sauces.  Would we go back to Kawa? If we were having that craving for Mongolian BBQ, and we didn’t feel like making the trip to FlatTop Grill or HuHot, we might. The inside of the place felt like a convenience store that was still in construction, and the wait staff was strange to say the least.

We are probably going to need to hit up Mariano’s here really soon, but we also need to go shopping for Easter this weekend.  I am probably going to make Wedding Soup as we are hosting a pot-luck with the Byrne family on Saturday.  Will update later today with my week 2 weigh in number. Wish me luck.

Afternoon edit: Weighed in. Lost 3 pounds and I’m a little disappointed.  At first though, I was HOT, I mean really upset. I felt like I harnessed some serious will power this week by sticking to my diet and not cheating really at all.  Then my supportive wife reminded me that we’ve been so busy looking at houses, cleaning, taking care of Carly, and keeping everything flowing that I wasn’t able to work out last week.  I’ve come to the conclusion that I knew was the answer: I need to start going to the gym in the morning before going to work.  It’s gonna be tough, but I can do it and once I get into the routine it gets easier and easier.  I plan on sticking with this, accepting the small losses I’ve made, and trying to build on them. At least I didn’t gain anything, so I got that going for me. Which is nice.

I went to this doctor. He says I swallow a lot of aggression. Along with a lot of pizzas.

Day 14 – Wednesday April 4th, 2012

Wednesday went pretty much as usual for me.  The next 10 days are all going to have the same schedule as far as eating and supplements:

Wake up – packet of supplements, Spark

30 min later – Meal replacement shake, packet of supplements

Mid-Morning – 3 hard boiled eggs or a yogurt

30 min before lunch – packet of supplements

Lunch – Sammich, carrots, supplements

Mid-Afternoon – piece/bowl of fruit

Dinner – Lean protein, vegetable, complex carbohydrate

Today we looked at a house in Lake Villa. It was gigantic, with 2 staircases, a monster yard, and tons of room inside. The only negative to the house is that the current occupants are like farm/zoo animals. There is actual spit on the wall in places, there were guns/ swords/ rifles/ bows and arrows/ and axes spread out over the house, and it doesn’t look like they clean. Ever.  Other than the messiness and the need for paint and carpet, the house is in excellent shape, and I think we are going to make an offer. We’ll see how it all shakes out and I’ll keep you posted!

“Whoever lives here also has the ‘Beast’ from the movie, The Sandlot. I shit you not, this dogs water and food bowls were as wide as sewer caps and about a foot deep.”

 

Day 13 – Tuesday March 3rd, 2012

Today is going to be a busy one. After school I have night class, and I have to hope all is well at home and no babies decide to come early.

After my pills  and Spark this morning, I had my meal replacement shake when i got to work. This shake is pretty darn good, I gotta say. Especially when you consider its mixed using water. You’d think the flavor wouldn’t be very good, but it really is delicious.  It doesn’t always fully dissolve in the water, but its tasty and it fills me up.

At mid morning I had three eggs, and some water.  For lunch I have carrots, a sandwich (the usual) and some fruit.  I actually have a few different food choices stacked up in the fridge at work, in case I am here longer than anticipated or I want something different.  I’m still taking a packet of pills each when: I wake up, with the meal replacement shake, 30 minutes before lunch, and with lunch.  I also take two Omega Plex pills after dinner.  Back to work.

Day 12 – Monday April 2nd, 2012

Well 6am came despite my prayers, and Spring Break is over. I packed up Carly and hit the road for the day. It’s always tough leaving my girls when I’ve been with them non-stop for eleven straight days. Upon waking up I took my pills and when I got to work I made my chocolate meal replacement shake.  Today I don’t have hard boiled eggs with me, so it may be a tricky day. I do have a mess of fruit and veggies though so hopefully I can get by on that.

The end of Spring break also marks the resuming of my Master’s class, which is on Tuesday nights. I need to get some homework done by tomorrow in order to be prepared. It’s gonna be another busy week!

At 10 am I had finished my Spark and meal replacement shake, and I set out to find my snack. I ended up settling on some celery with peanut butter and a carrot.  So far, it’s a LOT easier being back at work and dieting. I am busy and my mind is occupied, and there are a lot less temptations without my refrigerator around.  Plus, I can’t just leave work and go get a slice of pizza or a torta. Tortas are my favorite snack while I’m in Waukegan. It’s actually called a Torta Milanesa: A breaded steak cutlet on a Mexican roll with cheese, avocado, sour cream, and hot sauce. They’re to die for, but terribly unhealthy. I haven’t had one in 2012 yet. For lunch I am going to have a turkey sandwich, some more carrots, and perhaps some grapes or a cutie.

I haven’t decided on dinner plans yet. I need to start thinking about it or I am going to be stuck with something unhealthy. Brooke, if you are reading this, take something out of the freezer for dinner! ;0)

We ended up having turkey burgers (no bun) with some mashed red skin potatoes, and yep, you guessed, oven roasted kale.  My wife is severely addicted to kale.

Day 11 – Sunday April 1st, 2012

Where to begin. This morning was particularly scary and started very early. Around 2am I woke up with sharp pains in my stomach. I thought I had to “go”, but when I sat down on the throne nothing happened. The pains in my abdomen were getting worse by the minute, and all I could do was lay on the bathroom tile in the fetal position.  Brooke, being 8+ months pregnant, was not much help. She asked if she should call 9-1-1, and I told her I didn’t need that. What happened next is kind of gross, so you may want to stop reading here.

The pains went down into my legs and were excruciating. I felt like I was going to have a diarrhea explosion, my feet and legs were aching, and now an incredible headache emerged to top things off. The last thing I remember was seeing the massive pool of blood on the floor when I turned around trying to get comfortable. It was everywhere, and must have been pouring out of me from behind because I had no idea where I was bleeding from. I reached into my shorts and felt around, and when I looked at my hand it was deep red with blood.  The bathroom door was closed so Brooke hadn’t seen anything yet, and I instantly thought about it being very  important to not let her see, because a sight like this would have sent her into the delivery room immediately.

When I came to, I was in a hospital bed with an IV tube running into my butt. I was alone in the room, but on the small table next to me there was a greeting card in a tan envelope propped up against a vase of flowers. How long had I been out? This was the first question I needed answered. I grabbed the card and opened it up, and inside there was a note reading: APRIL FOOLS!

Did I get anyone? Of course, I am joking.  Advocare does not really make you bleed from the anus or send you to the ER. I don’t really have the time/energy to pull any April Fools jokes as this was a long and stressful week. This is the best I can do this year. Tomorrow it’s back to school and the daily grind. I think it will actually be easier because I’ll be even busier with work added into the daily mix.

Day 11 marks the start of the next phase of the 24 day challenge, and I get to open the purple boxes now. I was to make a Spark first today, and take the first of four packets of capsules that are part of the MNS packet. Each strip of packets comes in a grouping of four, resembling a strip of condoms. The MNS packets are basically vitamins, nutrients, and dietary supplements.

“This isn’t me. This is what the little strip of packets looks like though. I don’t know her either.”

“I’m gonna get very familiar with these…”

After 30 minutes I am supposed to have a meal replacement shake, that also mixes with water. I’m really not going to eat any food mid-morning during this phase (as least as I read things right now; I’m careful not to look too far ahead or I will get confused.

“I’ll let you know how this tastes around lunchtime when I update.”

I’m supposed to drink this at breakfast, and also take the 2nd packet of MNS supplements. I ordered chocolate as well, but I think the meal replacements shakes come in vanilla and berry too. Who would choose vanilla or berry when you could have chocolate? I suppose there are weirdos everywhere. Time to get to work.

Edit: OK, I’m drinking the shake now, and it’s really good. These will be no problem to have everyday for the next two weeks. It is pretty thick though as there is a lot of powder to dissolve. Just like with Spark, I ended up using a lot more water than the 9oz. the instructions say to use.

I forgot to add, last night Brooke and I got on the subject of pizza. She mentioned she was craving it and that was all it took for temptation to set in. I started rationalizing about it being OK to “cheat” just once on the diet. I imagined only getting an individual sized pizza and eating it for lunch and dinner as to spread out my cheatery. In the end, I decided to give it a rest for the duration of the challenge. I want to see what the product will do when I follow the instructions and eat properly.  I tell you what though, I hope I am celebrating a monster negative number at the end of this so I CAN have something to celebrate.

Edit: At mid morning I had three more hard boiled eggs. You’d think I’d be sick of them by now, but its funny, when I start making them I have no desire to eat them. As I peel them I start to actually feel sick with the thought of eating them. As I eat them, I love them again and I scarf them up. I like them best when they are still a little warm, with a dash of salt. Not really hungry at all, before or after the eggs, so we’ll see how it goes with lunch. I am supposed to take the 3rd packet of supplements from the MNS box thirty minutes before lunch. Will update again later. Time to paint Brooke’s toenails and finish the laundry.

“I would love to get a midge…. er, “little person” to live in my cabinets. It would suck to lose the cabinet space, but it’d be worth it if I could train him to do the laundry.”

Final edit for day 11: For dinner I made tilapia dusted with garlic powder, salt, pepper and fiery spice mix. On the side we had instant potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts. This afternoon I had a major craving for something, anything with flavor and carbs and meat and cheese. The first thing I got stuck in my brain was Tacos El Norte. I imagined chips and salsa for an appetizer as I waited for my cheese enchiladas with mole sauce, rice, and beans. Then it was pizza, then I started thinking about Chinese food. It was brutal, and by far my worst hunger pains I’ve had since I started this challenge. I seriously was inches away from breaking down and going out to pick something up. I ended up taking a short nap, and when I woke up I hurried up and began making dinner. Maybe I was just overtired or something, because I was STARVING when I was having the cravings.  When this is over, I am gonna have to fight really hard to not do some serious damage. Hopefully the results will be worth it, and inspire me to push forward. Tomorrow its back to work, and days will start to fly by again. Pretty soon Easter will be here, and I need to think of some “healthier” options to serve.