For Those Of You Interested...

Here is an update on my Advocare cleanse.

This is day 3 of the the cleanse. So there have been 2 full days and I have lost 1.8 lbs so far. Yes, I am weighing myself every morning. I'm doing ok with it... I think the hardest part of it has been not being able to drink coffee. That just sucks. I am a coffee addict, so no coffee is making me a little crabby.

Basically, all you can eat on this cleanse is fruit, vegetables, salad, chicken, fish, or turkey... oh, and eggs. You are going for low carb, low sodium, no sugar, and high protein. There is no bread, no coffee, and no dairy. I hate not being able to eat cheese. Other than no cheese and no coffee, I'm not having any other problems.

I don't like fish, or any seafood for that matter, so I have to stick with just chicken and turkey. That's fine with me for now, but I see this getting very boring by the end of the week. The only type of dressing for your salad you are allowed to use is oil and vinegar. I'm ok with this... I found a mix I love that I will probably stick to even after this is all over. For my salad that I eat at lunch while I am at work, I just use Heinz Gourmet Salad Vinegar and skip the oil. M thinks I am disgusting because of this, but I love it. It has no calories, sodium, carbs, sugars... nothing that is bad for you. The biggest problem with regular salad dressings (even low fat or fat free) are the carbs and the sodium.

In the mornings, you drink a Spark energy drink before you eat anything. A half hour later, this is followed by a fiber drink.

Let's talk about the Spark drink for a minute. My sister in law (she did the cleanse, too) swears by it. My brother and I don't have quite as strong feelings for it. It definitely does something, but I don't think it's as amazing as a lot of people do. I am not a morning person at all and the Spark drink does help me wake up a little right away after drinking it. It doesn't give me any kind of ridiculous energy though. I think this just depends on how energy drinks affect you in general. If they work for you, so will Spark. If not... then you probably aren't going to see a huge difference in your energy levels. M also tried it and it did nothing for him... he said he could lay down and take a nap.

The fiber drink is gross. I'm not even going to sugar coat it... my brother and I refer to this as weeds. Because it feels like you are swallowing weeds when this goes down your throat. It is supposed to taste like citrus... but it definitely doesn't. You have to drink this the first 3 days and the last 3 days of the cleanse part of the program (and not at all for the 14 day plan that follows!). Once you mix it with water, you have to drink it right away or it starts to gel and then it is REALLY gross. I'm glad this was my third day and I will be done with it for the next 4 days. For the 4 days in between, there will be meal replacement shakes in the morning.

For snacks in between meals, you are allowed to eat fruits, veggies, or almonds (or any nuts for that matter - just a handful). I have been choosing to eat almonds for my afternoon snack. These actually hold me over for the rest of the afternoon, I was kind of surprised.

You have to take 4 omega plex (fish oil) pills at dinner time and an herbal cleanse packet - 3 vitamins - before bed.

I go to the gym Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. Monday was the first day of the cleanse, and also a gym day. One thing I noticed was that I did not have as much energy as I usually do at the gym. This is probably because I'm not eating as many calories on the cleanse. I was tired all day on Monday. Today I am feeling better, so I'm curious to see how it goes at the gym.

All in all, it's going ok so far. I haven't had the cravings that I thought I would. If I do have a sugar craving, I just eat a cup of sugar free jello (you can also have a sugar free popsicle). You also have to be sure to drink a gallon - 120 ounces - of water a day. This isn't that difficult since I have been trying to stick to 100 ounces a day for a while now.

I took my measurements before I started this and I will be doing it again at the end of the cleanse portion of the program to see if there is a difference before I start the 14 day program that follows.