challenge update

So, we finished phase one of the challenge! How's it going?

-Shakes: I really struggled to like the shakes. Turns out, it just needed unsweetened, vanilla almond milk. Hardly adds anything nutrition wise but way improves the taste. Since the challenge pack only comes with 14 shakes, I went ahead and ordered more in the chocolate mocha. Yum! The chocolate was good, too, but I liked the mocha better!

-Energy: Before I started the challenge, I said that if I wasn't feeling better in one week, I was going to call my primary doctor and have a check up and get a blood panel drawn. I was tired, struggling to sleep, and just not feeling great. The first 2 days of the challenge I did not feel better. By the 4th day, I felt totally different. I had energy, I could think clearly, I slept better. I know good food is good medicine... some times we just need help hitting that reset button!

-Appetite: I was hungry the first 2 days. I haven't been hungry since day 2. In fact, I have been making my dinner smaller and smaller. I am just not hungry. That sounds insane. I am always hungry. I'm sure it helps that my food options do not include cookies or ice cream. I feel like I could *probably* be hungry for those things. But after my protein and vegetable in the evening, I am good.

-Supplements: we added in the nutrition supplement system for the second phase of the cleanse. Most of it is ok...  one of the four packets definitely makes me feel "off", but I am going to give it a few more days. I am pretty sensitive to most medicines and supplements, so it definitely can take me a while to tolerate something.

-Diet coke / coffee: I just miss drinking it. I don't *need* it, though. Spark has been hugely helpful, and I'm sure it's better for you than Diet Coke! In fact, usually I am racing for that second Diet Coke after lunch, which has now been replaced with Spark... and yesterday I totally forgot to drink it. Which means I felt fine.

-Exercise: I've been keeping my activity level up as much as I can, but I did something to my left shoulder and need to have it adjusted before I can keep going strong... so it's going to be cardio only until Friday. Not ideal, but just life.

-Support: the ladies and coach doing the challenge with me are awesome and hilarious. It definitely helps!

-Weight loss: Isn't this the only one that matters? Ha! I've lost 4% of my body weight since starting, which bumped me down to the lower middle number on the scale! A middle number I haven't seen since before I was pregnant. YES! So good and definitely motivating! (If you don't know what I mean, I will give an example that is not my actual weight. Let's say you were in the 190's - the next lower middle number is the 180's. Make sense?) It feels good to bust through a barrier I have struggled with and still to have 2 weeks left on the challenge.

-Hard parts: When I want non-challenge approved food. But that's the whole point, right? Reset to a healthy diet. Also, the packets for phase 2 have been a bit hard to remember, because you have to take them before you eat, which means remembering to bring them with you/take them before the meal. I think the more I do it the easier it'll be. Dinner is also hard, because I have to figure out what both Robert and I can eat that we both like, and that, my friends, is a Venn diagram with no overlap.

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