Day 8-Sooo Close

The hubby and I are feeling good, still have more energy, but are a little grouchy.  We are craving a little variety.  It probably doesn't help that we are watching an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  Guy Fieri is visiting a 103 year old Italian restaurant in New York and the homemade pasta and meat sauce is makin' my mouth water.  The Italian girl in me is missing her pasta. :) Don't you just love the Triple D? Guy Fieri gets to try the most amazing meals on that show, and I just love watching how each restaurant makes their best dishes!

                                                                                  Source: google.com via Kara on Pinterest

Sadly, NONE of the foods featured on his show are featured on our cleanse.  Tonight's menu consisted of rice, 99% lean ground turkey and veggies. Yummy.

I thought I would work a little Instagram magic to make dinner look a bit more appetizing.....did it work? Not so much?

ONLY 2 MORE DAYS!!!!

xo,

KJ

Day 5-7-Weekends are Tough

The title says it all.  After a long week at work, I really enjoy unwinding with a glass of wine and an appetizer or two at one of our favorite restaurants.  Obviously neither one of those options are currently available to us (insert sad face).  So instead we decided to go buy some delicious filets (4oz for me, 6oz for the husband) and grill them up.  They were sooooooo good, but we both agreed they were missing a big glass of cab and if we are being honest, a twice baked potato would have been a nice addition as well.  

Saturday morning we both got our workout on, spin bike for J, treadmill for me. Since we have lowered our calorie intake by like a million, I felt a little weak on the treadmill without any breakfast in me.  Next time I will definitely eat first. Even if it is just a cup or two of fruit :) 

Jason and I decided that since we couldn't eat or drink this weekend, we needed something to fill our time.   We chose painting as our distraction.  Our guest bedrooms are both in need of a serious update, one is bright, baby boy blue (pretty sure it was a nursery) and the other is a very seafoamy green. ICK! After our workouts we headed to the local Ace Hardware to look at paint colors.  After looking, and discussing, and envisioning we came home with 4 samples.  

We wanted to go with a lighter grey in one room and a darker grey in the other.  After some testing, we chose our colors- Silent Night and Stormy Sky.

We taped the rooms Saturday afternoon, had more protein and overcooked veggies (BLAH!) for dinner and hit the hay early.  

Cue Sunday morning and a thermostat that read 60 degrees. Freezing! One phone call to a 24 hour heating service company, and a lot of cash out the door and our heat was restored with a quick fix to the furnace.  Thankfully we didn't need to replace it! 

Aaaannnnndddd we are back to painting.  It sure did fill our day and distract us from food (and football, sorry babe!).  J's mom came down to help us out so that made the job easier.  I have before and after's that I will post once the rooms are put back together.  So far I am loving the colors, however, the light one we chose looks a lot more blue than we thought it would, but I love it. 

We finished up the weekend with a trip to Whole Foods for this week's produce and lean protein.  Cooked another fabulous dinner consisting of chicken and veggies, and now it's official, I am OVER the veggies.  

A few things I have learned as day 7 comes to an end:

• Weekdays are ALOT easier to get through than weekends.  Who doesn't want Chipotle or a pizza after a long day of painting? 
• There are only so many ways you can eat the exact same thing 7 days in row.  I have run out of  ideas. Suggestions?
• As hard as it is on a workday to not have coffee, it is that much harder for me on a weekend.  I love my lazy Sunday mornings with a glorious, hot cup of coffee. :-(
• You really can do anything you set your mind to.  :-)

Only 3 days left of the 10 day cleanse.  Pretty sure we are both going to have a beer or glass of wine come Thursday! And I will definitely be enjoying a cup of coffee Thursday morning! Hope you all had wonderful weekends. Ready for  a Patriots, Giants superbowl? 

xo,

Kara

Day 4-Cheater :-(

It's true. I cheated. In my defense I had to.  We had a small celebration at work and my awesome boss pulled out an AMAZING bottle of wine.  I had 5 sips. A half of a half a glass. That's ok, right? Sadly, no matter how I try to rationalize the vino.....I am feeling guilty.  Luckily tomorrow is a new day, and the rest of my day today was a success.  They say to try to be 80% compliant with the food plan, so I guess this slip up won't kill me.  However it does say to AVOID all alcohol.  Oops.  Here is how I am choosing to look at it.....wine is derived from grapes, so technically it was a very small serving of fruit.  Uh huh.

My husband is a rockstar and is NOT a cheater.  I am so proud of him.  I know he is not loving the cleanse, but he is killing it!

Tomorrow is a new day, without wine, unfortunately.

Oh one more thing, I ran out to the grocery tonight and I was shocked by this......

I mean come on. Isn't it just a wee bit early for the old Cadbury Cream Egg?  Easter isn't until April this year people!! Pretty soon Easter Candy is going to be on the shelves with the Christmas Candy.  Yikes.

Happy almost Friday!

xo,

Kara

Day 3-Where's the bread???

As day 3 comes to a close I can summarize by saying the food options are just a bit limited.  Let's see, what are our options today......Oh, the same as day 1 and day 2? Ok I will go with day 1. :-) Truly, it isn't that bad, just a little boring.....and a little bland.  J and I both felt a little less energy today, and we both woke up willing to practically kill a man for a cup of coffee.  Sadly a fiber drink was on the menu instead.  Probably for the best.  I wouldn't last long in jail. Anywhooooooo........

We switched things up tonight by cooking dinner at my parents house, so that gave us the illusion of a little variety. The only problem with dinner at the rents occurred when I started slicing ciabatta for them. I actually SMELLED the bread. Yes, I took a moment to breathe in its heavenly scent.  Please don't judge me.  I am a self proclaimed carboholic.  However, tonight I can say with pride that I made it out of my parents without a single bite of bread or pasta.....success! 

I stopped at Whole Foods on my way home to pick up more fresh produce. Boy do I love me some Whole Foods.  I always feel like a healthier version of myself when I shop there, don't you?? Check out my loot Instagram style.

I can honestly say I don't think there has ever been a time when I have come home from the grocery with ONLY fruits and veggies.  Chips always seem to find their way into my basket.  Not this time chippies, it's produce only for this gal.  It's like a whole new me.........I don't eat bread now, I just smell it. :-) 

I am off to boil some eggs.......Hope you all are having a great week.  Eat some carbs for me! 

xo,

K

Day 2-more energy?!?

I wasn't sure I believed the 24 Day Challenge claim that you would have more energy and truly feel better after just a couple of days.  They say "In 24 minutes you will feel a difference. In 24 hours you will know the difference.  In 24 days you will see the difference."  Well friends, I am a BELIEVER! I don't know if it is all in my head, but I do know that normally I get to the end of a work day and I am exhausted.  I get home and I have no energy to cook dinner let alone workout.  Today, I felt great when I got home. I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill (J biked for 45!), cooked dinner, cleaned up and still feel great.  It is so refreshing. I really can't believe that after 2 days I can possibly feel different, but I do. :-) 

J and I took our measurements today so we can truly "see" our changes at the end of the challenge. Measuring each part of my body was a wee bit depressing, but it had to be to done to help us achieve our goals.  We also downloaded an app on our phones called Lose It!  IT. IS. FABULOUS.  It tracks everything we eat, it can even scan the barcode from your food and Lose It! knows everything about it (calories, fat, ingredients).  Amazing.  I have always read that keeping a food journal is a big key to success when it comes to healthy living and so far this app is the perfect "journal" for us. You should check it out if you like knowing exactly what you are putting in your body.  

Today was just like yesterday as far as food and supplements go.  The only change I made was adding a bit of basmati brown rice and wild rice with dinner.  The challenge allows for complex carbs with one meal a day if needed, and I felt J would be happy with a little extra thrown in.  Dinner was actually quite tasty-Mahi Mahi is so easy to make and delicious, and surprisingly it did not need much seasoning at all. Oh and what is the added bonus to eating the correct portions, you ask? Leftovers for lunch tomorrow! 

2 days down and 22 more to go :-) I think we can....I think we can.....I think we can. 

Hoping I write tomorrow with even more energy than today. 

xo,

Kara

24 Day Challenge-Day 1 and a Cowhide

Hi All!  Happy New Year!!

The hubby and I began a cleanse today, a 24 day cleanse.  It's gonna be hard.  I am just hoping we can do it.  Commit to the 24 days.  The cleanse is an Advocare product and Drew Brees is a spokesperson for the company! If he is promoting it has to be legit, right? Right? Right.

The 24 day Challenge starts with a 10 day Cleanse and then finishes up with a 14 day max phase. There are supplements you take throughout the 24 day challenge. Herbal Cleanse, Probiotics, Spark, OmegaPlex, MNS max supplements, and Meal Replacement shakes.  The last 2 are not started until the 14 day Max phase.  No tasty Meal Replacement Shakes for me yet. I did quite a bit of online research before we committed to cleanse and I liked that most everything is all natural and you actually EAT while cleansing.

Source: advocare.com via Jamie on Pinterest

So the cleanse started this morning with a really thick fiber drink (herbal cleanse), mmmmm delish.  Moved on to the"Spark" drink (no coffee for the first 10 days-and preferably for the full 24) so Spark is supposed help with your energy throughout the day. Not so sure about that......jury is out on the whole Spark as a substitute for coffee thing.  The no coffee rule almost stopped this whole cleanse before it started, but I figure if I can't give something up for 10 days I am in trouble, so Spark it is.  Oh and then some fruit for breakfast.  Woohoo.  So yeah, I was hungry by about 8:30.

Fruit for a mid morning snack.  Salad for lunch. Rice cake with natural PB and a Spark for mid afternoon snack.  Chicken and a TON of veggies for dinner. Oh and about 4 Omegaplex horse pills.

Update.....It's currently 8pm and I am hungry.  Clearly I have been eating WAY too much, and not enough of the good for me, healthy food.  So I cut up all of these beautiful veggies for dinner.  Gotta start somewhere......sorry for the slightly blurry, iphone pic.

I will check back in tomorrow, to let you know if I am feeling "cleansed" and to give you more deets on the days ahead.

Oooh on a fun, non cleansy note-----J and I went to the National Western Stock show this weekend and bought a cowhide rug for our dining room! (Thank you Kate for the fabulous idea!!) I LOVE it.

Do you??

xo,

KJ