Boy oh boy, are you in for a treat! This morning, I went for a run. Whilst coming down the homestretch, possibly for the first time ever, I completely overshot my street without even noticing. It would be awesome if it were because I were a phenomenal runner that could go for days, alas that is not the case (yet). My head was simply full of thoughts, so many it distracted me from realizing where I was headed.

From the gym to certs to food to supplements to whether or not my niece will go to college and how it’s going to get paid for (she’s 18 months old by the way), it was all on my mind. Instead of word vomiting all of this on you, I’m going to stick with food and supplements. It is what I intended to write my last blog post about after all.

I haven’t quit Weight Watchers, though with an absurd schedule I have not made it to meetings as I should. What I can say is that the fruit smoothie I’m currently drinking is zero points plus. The Advocare Meal Replacement Shake that I’ll have for breakfast is five points plus. One of these (Weight Watchers/Advocare/Whole30/paleo) will work for me, because they all have something in common, FOOD.

It took a lot of people telling me the same thing over and over and over again to realize it. For some reason, my cohort Tricia’s blog post where she asks people to be “more aware of what you are putting in your mouth hole and maybe after reading this, you will eat more food“ really stuck with me. I think it was her use of the phrase “mouth hole” that did it (and her description of what food is). It helps that she’s cooked me dinner a few times lately and it turns out sticking cauliflower in the oven with a little olive oil and salt is delicious and takes two seconds to prep.

I’m still not paleo or Whole30 or tracking my points plus Weight Watchers style all of the time, but I’m eating real food a majority of the time, I feel better and am losing weight. My most recent kick starter to eating real food was starting an Advocare 24-Day Challenge.

Advocare is a health and wellness company offering energy, weight-loss, nutrition and sports performance products. A few weeks ago I was approached by a member asking for an Herbal Cleanse. Easy, here you go. Then a couple more people asked. Then I mentioned this influx of interest to a coworker, which sparked her interest. Well, I’m not the type to dole out these things without having the experience to back it.

Coworker and I ventured in together, day 10 was yesterday. She’s down 10lbs and I’ve lost five since we started. Yes, I attribute some of this success to the products, but you’re not taking a whole lot. It’s about diet and exercise first. Supplements are called that because they should do exactly that, supplement the other positive behaviors going on. The Challenge comes with an example eating plan, guess what – it’s real food! The same thing Weight Watchers, Whole30, Paleo and Trainer Trish tell you to “put in your mouth hole.”

I’m long-winded, I know, so I’ll end it. But this is a “my body, my experiment” conversation that I plan to continue.

Thanks for reading,
Jillian

Progress so far:
Advocare 24 Day Challenge Phase 1: 10 day Herbal Cleanse – Done! Phase 2 starts today. 3 on, 1 off x 2 cycles – Done, with two bonus runs on top of my WODs. Today is Day 14 of 100 Days of Suck, I’m caught up through 13.