Day 15 and feeling blah

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I'm still hanging in there despite feeling like shit last week and have a completely shitastic birthday.
I started feeling cruddy last week and by last Wednesday night, after sitting in the freezing wind and cold for Peyton's softball game, I was done.
Sneezing, stuffed up, sore throat, nauseous.
I woke up Thursday morning (happy effing birthday to me) feeling like shit but determined to make it to Crossfit.
After Crossfit, I headed home and stopped by my awesome neighbor's house because she had left a message that she had pressie's for me.
I had scheduled a massage for 1pm so I decided to run to Target to window shop and peruse the makeup aisle.
Imagine my irritation when I get to Target and they have every effing employee stocking the makeup aisles and they're essentially blocked by the carts full of product.
Obvs, this day was not going as planned and I was getting irritated so off to Walgreens to spend my money and screw you, Target. :snob:
I also stopped by Publix to grab a couple of steaks for me and the girls for dinner since, due to softball practice and the 24 day challenge, we wouldn't be able to go out to dinner.
Then, back home for my massage!
Only that kind of sucked, too.
Don't get me wrong, the massage was great but try having a massage when your nose is running and your face down on the massage table. Not fun.
And, I couldn't breathe.
After the girls got home, we had time for homework and just a bit of hang out time before we had to head to the softball fields.
Did I mention it was freaking freezing? We were out there from 5:30-8:15 but I sat in the car from about 7:00 on.
And, I felt like such crap that I had no energy to make the steaks for dinner.
Taco Bell, for the girls, had to do.
And, a meal replacement shake for me.
Happy Birthday, to me!
Blah.

Although, I don't think I'm looking too bad for a 36 year old

I'm still hanging in there with the challenge and still haven't deviated off the plan. I'm down another 2lbs and actually squoze (yes, that's a word) my ass into a pair of size 6's Friday night and yesterday.
Jeans, that I haven't seen in years.
And, they looked damn good, too, if I do say so myself.
The only thing I'm really missing is hummus so I've decided to pick some up (since it's not really unhealthy, per se, just unhealthy when you eat the entire container in one sitting).
I'll just have to ration it and use it to dip veggies instead of my beloved Special K chips.

Hopefully I'll start feeling better soon and can shake the blahs.
I'm just feeling a bit sorry for myself lately.
The girls go to their dad's house for like the next 5 weekends in a row due to Easter and Spring Break.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself.
And, I'm going to miss them.
Sad face.

Cleanse results

Ok, so now for the nitty, gritty deets.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little disappointed with my results on the cleanse but I am trying to remind myself that this is not the 'lose weight phase'
I also know that the scale can be a nasty bitch and I need to pay more attention to the fact that all of my size 8 jeans are now falling off of me.
It seriously looks like I have no ass in them and yet,
my size 6's are still just a bit too tight so,
I'm getting there.

***warning - guys feel free to skip over this part***
Another little bump in my 10 day is that I started my period about day 8 and I think that is why my weight is up a bit.
I have to say that although I was PMS'ing last week, I had no cravings on this cleanse and I didn't feel like a raving bitch at any moment.
I'd call that a freaking win!
I really attribute that to the OmegaPlex and the fish oils calming any anxiety.
***TMI - complete***

Another point to make is that I made it to CrossFit 9 out of the 10 days on my cleanse so I really believe I'm building muscle while losing the fat.
That would explain why the scale didn't go down as much, yet my clothes are fitting better and falling off of me.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Because, really, other than that small amount of dark chocolate I had on my sauteed bananas, I really had no sugar and nothing bad.
I ate ridiculously clean and I am starting to worry that I didn't actually eat enough protein.

Ok, so for before and afters on just the 10 day...can you guys tell a difference because I sure as hell can't.
Blah

So, all in all, the cleanse was a success, I guess.
I feel healthier overall.
My clothes are fitting better.
I'm really not missing any 'bad' foods.

My goals for the next phase or what I've heard referred to as 'the burn phase' is to [hopefully] get down to about 152ish or lower, of course.
That's only 4lbs in the next 14 days.
Can I do it?

Another random thought.
I'm having a really hard time accepting that good fats are ok.
I'm talking avocado, olive oil, grass fed butter.
I know that I probably need to eat more to lose more but that's just such a foreign concept after years of being led to believe that I need to eat less.
Eating more 'clean' foods is the way to go.
I just need to wrap my brain around that.

Day 8 means 16 days left!

I knew today would be a little off for me since I slept in a bit and was on the go. 

Let's bullet point the boring, nitty gritty.

• woke up and downed 3 Catalyst
• 30 min later - Spark mixed with fiber drink (don't think, just swallow)
• 1 egg, 2 egg whites scrambled w/ spinach
• clementine
• crossfit - lots of core work, 100 slam balls w/ 20# and a 1 mile run
• Meal Replacement shake for lunch
• grocery shopping (walking through that bakery section sucks ass right now)
• home and another Spark
• DELICIOUS snack of 1 banana sauteed in kerrygold butter, topped with raw almond butter and a small amount of organic 70% dark chocolate.

• Dinner was Spaghetti squash w/ grass fed ground beef and natural, sugar free spaghetti sauce. 

So, for those of you who know me pretty well know how much I hate to cook. I loathe it really. 

This? Totally me. I.am.not.kidding.

So, I spent the better part of 2 hours in the kitchen today. 

Preparing the spaghetti squash.

It was actually super easy. 

Just cut it in half (carefully, those suckers are a bit hard to cut into)

Scoop out all the gunk from the middle and place that sucker skin side up, on a cookie sheet, in a 425* oven for about 35 minutes.

You'll know it's done when you can press the skin, with your finger, and it makes a bit of an indentation.

Remove from the oven (duh) and let it cool off (another duh). Then, just take a fork and scrape all the 'squash' out. 

I forgot to get a picture but  it totally looks like spaghetti! 

Ah-mazing!

So, while the spaghetti squash was in the oven I was prepping my food for the week. 

I chopped all my veggies, made homemade guac (DE-LISH) and got my chicken, for tomorrow, marinating.

Who is this person and what the hell has she done with the real Jenny?

And, I actually enjoyed being in the kitchen today! 

Crazy, huh? Is it a full moon? Is the world coming to an end?

I know, I know, the excitement of my life is just keeping you all on the edge of your seat, right? 

Laters.

Day 7 and the Atlanta Food Truck Park

Lucky me, I got to start my day out standing in line at the tag office. I arrived 20 minutes early and I was still about 20th in line.

You see, here in the great state of Georgia, we have to pay personal property taxes on our vehicles and renew our tags based on our birthday. Since my birthday is in March, I got to fork over a chunk of change to Gwinnett County as my birthday present.

Happy Birthday to me!

I know normally you don't have to actually go to the tag office just to pay the taxes but some awesome person messed up and had me registered in the wrong county and they wanted me to pay $100 more than what I needed to. So, off to the tag office to fix that ish.

After the tag office, I swung by CrossFit for class where I have to [proudly] say that I have gotten past my fear of box jumps! I am back to jumping an 18" box!

Go me!

Then if was off the the softball fields to watch both my pretty girls play their first softball games.

Peyton is in the bright blue. 

Lulu is front and center

Today was a bit more of a struggle because we headed to the Food Truck Park. 

I did great and followed the plan all day. I also stuck as closely to clean eating at the park and think I did fairly well.

My first stop was Mighty Meatballs for the Chicken Parm [hold the parm] in a lettuce wrap

YUMMY!

I had a few bites of the Kwanza Bowl from the WOW! Food Truck

and, some pulled pork with asian pear cole slaw from Sweet Auburn Barbecue

All of the food was incredible! I can't wait to go back and try more foods! I really think this place is a little hidden gem in the ATL!

Another great day on the books. 

day 6 and i WANT chocolate

This challenge has been fairly easy up until now but tonight I'm craving chocolate or hummus or chips and salsa.
I want something decadent and yummy. Blah.
The girls are with their dad so it's just me and the puppers and my growling tummy and
I want chocolate.
I even have 2 Skinny Cow candy bars taunting me in the kitchen. I seriously want to shove them in my mouth but I am resisting.

Honestly, today has been the hardest day and I have been doing great without any cravings or issues until now. I am following this cleanse to a T.

I have also run at least a mile every day since March 1st and I have gone to CrossFit Monday through Thursday. I wanted to make it this morning but was beat after last night.

Last night's WOD? It was one of the benchmarks...Eva. She's a mean girl.

5 rounds for time
800m run
30 kettle bell swings (#20)
30 pull ups

That's 150 pull ups total and I am so sore today!

I am exhausted but I am still going strong.
The real challenge is going to be this weekend and especially tomorrow. Why you ask?
I'm going to the Atlanta Food Truck Park. 
My sister ensures me that there is a truck with a Paleo menu.
This will be interesting. I am going to have to resist shoving some fried crap in my pie hole.

warning: boring deets below (days 4 & 5 - nearly identical)

Pre breakfast
Catalyst
Probiotic
Spark

Breakfast
Meal Replacement Shake
Omegaplex
25oz

snack
1 cup pineapple
1/4 cup raw cashews
25oz

spark w/ catalyst - 30 min before lunch

lunch 
mixed greens w/ tomatoes, cukes, grilled chicken and cilantro
omegaplex

snack
banana
1/4 cup raw cashews
25oz water

before crossfit
spark
catalyst

dinner
leftover roast
cucumbers
25oz water

before bed
herbal cleanse packet

Day 3 - and on, and on, and on

Yesterday was another great day with no struggles. It helped that I was annoyingly busy with work so even if I was hungry, I guess I didn't notice it.

It's another day where I'm not feeling overly wordy. Seriously, my life consists of work, the kids and working out right now. Nothing exciting. No news.

If the details of my day bores you, don't scroll down because I'm just going to post it all at the bottom for my own reference but I also know that some people like to read the details so that's why I'm including it.

I didn't get a lunch break yesterday so no run on my lunch. Luckily, I got my run in in the Pre and Post Wod with CrossFit. Here's the workout from yesterday:

Yes, it was as hard as it looks but it was an awesome workout. 

I have to say that if anyone in the Lawrenceville/Buford/Dacula area is looking to try something new, GATA CrossFit is the place to be! 

They are a newer box but they are effing AH-mazing! Seriously, love them. 

And, for the women, try it! The WOD last night was all women and most of us are newer to CrossFit so we're all learning together. 

If you want more info, contact me. 

If you want to try it, I'll come with you and we can torture ourselves together! 

Do it!

And, in other news, I painted my nails last night as well. I am totally in love with this color!

essie maximillian strasse-her

So, to recap, Day 3? Awesome and I'm still going strong.

No cravings.

I'm not starving.

I'm very satisfied with my food.

I'm losing inches. 

Wanna know how I can tell?

The pair of jeans I wore on Sunday? I can now pull them down over my hips without unbuttoning them.

Winning!

All the boring deets are below:

Pre breakfast
Catalyst

breakfast
fiber drink mixed with Spark
1:2 ratio scrambled eggs with green peppers
banana
25oz

snack
pineapple
raw cashews
25oz

before lunch
Spark (12oz of water)
Catalyst

lunch

1 tilapia filet

cucumbers

1 avocado

OmegaPlex

25oz of water

snack

apple

1/4 cup raw almonds

catalyst

crossfit + my 1 mile run

dinner

4oz chicken

1 cup broccoli

banana

omegaplex

herbal  cleanse packet

This Girl is on Fire

I feel like I'm running on fumes lately. Why you ask?
Single mom
[more than] Full time employee
Church (yay God)
Chauffeur for the kids' activities
Laundry
Dishes
Cooking
Vacuuming
Running
CrossFit-ing
Neighborhood Social Committee (slacking)
Homework (the kid's, not mine)
Dealing with my 3 (yes, 3) dogs
Yard work
Trash
Paying bills
Did I miss anything?

And, in between all of that, I try to interact with my kids, spend time with my mom, sister and her kids.
Friends? I need to MAKE time for those nitches.
Dating? LMAO Who has time for that?
Me time? I get about an hour to an hour and a half after the girls go to bed to veg on the couch and catch up on tv and I guess you could count my running and CrossFit as 'me' time as well.
What about when the girls are with their dad, you say?
I do get some time then but they typically have games on the weekends and I still attend those. Those weekends are really the only time I have to myself so I tried to get out and go shopping or to lunch with my mom. I make the time for my longer runs and I try to clean up a little more when they're not here but it's too quiet, in the house, when they're gone so I try to get out as much as possible.
Otherwise, I end up talking to my dogs or narrating for them. Yes, I narrate my dogs thoughts, doesn't everybody?

That would sound something like this:
Houla (looking at me with his sad eyes): 'Hey Mama, I miss PeyPey. When's PeyPey gonna be home so I can snuggle with her at night.
Me: I know Houla, I miss our girls, too but they'll be home soon.

We have lots of conversations back and forth, those dogs and I.

I'm not going to lie. It's tough getting it all done. I have nobody to vent to at the end of my day.
Nobody to chat with about struggles or dreams.
Nobody to hug. Well, except the kids and the dogs and most days they are the perfect stand ins but,
you know what?
I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I am happier than I ever was being married. Not to bash on my ex-husband even though, at times, I'd like to. ;-)
Not even sure why I'm telling you all this.
I'm not looking for sympathy.
I am happy.
I have been asked how I manage to do it all. Juggle everything.
I have to admit, I'm pretty rock star but my house is not spotless, the laundry piles up and the dishes can wait a day or two at times. That being sad, my house is also not a pig sty.
I get by.
The girls help out a lot.
Or as my sister used to say, I must have a horseshoe stuck up my ass because things always seem to fall in place for me.

Day 2 - still going strong

Bear with me today. I'm not feeling too wordy so here's how my day went.

fiber drink mixed with spark - 6oz water
Catalyst

breakfast
1:2 ratio for eggs w/ green peppers
banana
25 oz of water

snack
strawberries
1/4 cup raw almonds
25 oz of water

kind of hungry so i had:
30 min before lunch
Spark + Catalyst

then ran my 1 mile - 9:42

lunch
tilapia
cucumbers w/ homemade guac
Omegaplex
25 oz of water

snack
1 cup of pineapple
1/4 cup of raw cashews
25oz of water

Catalyst 10 min before CrossFit

CrossFit
Front Squats w/ 65#
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Jump Ropes
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

That's 1100 jump ropes right there, people.
Completed in about 29ish minutes.
My time sucked tonight but my front squats rocked!

And, just in case you don't follow that workout because the WOD's can be confusing at times, that's 10 front squats then, 20 jump ropes, 9 front squats then, 40 jump ropes and so on.

Post WOD - 2x 500m row

Dinner
Meal Replacement Shake
1 cup of mixed fresh fruit

I will be taking the PM portion of the Herbal Cleanse before bed...which I will be heading shortly.
This girl is beat.

And, just because he's so cute. I looked outside and he was sitting on the tree stump looking so cute.
He stood up when he saw me grab my phone to take a picture.

Day 1 - easy peasy

I woke up around 7:30 but didn't fully get out of bed until closer to 8:30am.
I woke up energized and ready to begin this challenge.
The scale was my first stop.

Starting weight is 158lbs and, I'm actually down 7lbs in the past 3 weeks anyway from cutting alcohol out of my diet. Lush. 

After weighing myself, I headed downstairs to take my Catalyst and then, I mixed up my fiber drink and Spark. 

Not gonna lie. The fiber drink was pretty nasty. My Advocare Advisor suggested I mix the fiber drink with the Spark and I did but I know what I did wrong for day 1. 

I mixed my Spark separately with about 8oz of water and then, I mixed my fiber drink with about 6oz of water and then, I mixed them together.

Bad idea.

That made 14oz of fiber drink to choke down. 

I tweaked my process for Day 2 and it went down much more smoothly. 

After that, I headed back upstairs to take my measurements and before pictures. 

I swear the camera really does add 10lbs. Especially when you have less clothes on. I swear I feel skinnier in jeans and tops.I thought about posting all of my befores (I took 3...one front and one from each side view) but I think I'll just post one of them and then, I'll do comparison side by sides at the end. 

I know y'all are super excited to read about my every move today but I really wanted to give you an overview of the first day. 

It really wasn't that hard. (TWSS)

I was never really starving or craving anything. 

After the measurements and pictures, I headed back downstairs to make breakfast and take the Omegaplex.

Scrambled eggs (they're in a blob like that because I cooked them in the microwave) and strawberries

I decided to head to the grocery store after breakfast as the girls were at my mom's from their sleepover the night before and I hate taking them to the grocery store with me.

I swear they have to touch every.single.item. on the shelves and fight and argue and drive me freaking insane.

Also, my mom decided to take them to Kohl's and Michael's to go shopping so I had some extra time to get a few things done.

Off to the grocery store to spend nearly $80. Almost all of that was produce, too. 

Home to put the shiz away and off to CrossFit for open gym.

Oh and I'm pretty sure I drank a Spark and took Catalyst before heading to the gym.

I got there just as they were opening at Noon and Tiffeny was there as well so we decided to work out together and chose this workout from Tuesday.

We did the walking lunges while holding a 15lb plate overhead and this workout amounted to approximately 150 lunges, I think.

81 pull ups (yes, you read that right...more on that in a sec)

81 ab mat sit ups

81 push ups (I'm a wuss and had to do these on my knees)

Time was 23:36 for me. Tiff was a bit faster. 

I was so proud of myself though. 

When I started CrossFit, I had to use the strongest band (blue) to help with my assisted pull ups and now I'm down to using just the green band which is the 2nd easiest.

Next stop will be the purple band and then, no band!! 

Here's an example of what it looks like with the band. You knot it around the bar.

Step into it

And, pull up

I'll admit, after working out is the only time I was really, really hungry.

I should have planned ahead and brought a Meal Replacement Shake with me, duh.

Because I left CrossFit and had to drive to my mom's house to pick up the girls. 

I had thoughts of stopping by Arby's, or Hardee's for something to hold me over and then would remember that I can't eat anything like that right now.

I also drove past a Sonic. Mmmmm, Cherry Limade but, nope.

So, I got the girls and we headed straight home so I could shove something in my pie hole. 

I did end up drinking a Meal Replacement shake and then crashed and took a 1/2 hour nap.

Then, I got up, drank a Spark and took Catalyst (now, I'm thinking I took too many Catalyst yesterday though) and ran 1 mile because I'm also crazy enough to sign up for a running challenge for the month of March.

A minimum of 1 mile needs to be run everyday. 

I decided to make a Paleo meatloaf for dinner last night. I used Coconut Flour instead of breadcrumbs. 

It was nasty. I followed her directions but there was too much flour and not enough liquid so the meatloaf was dry, crumbly and very floury tasting.

I ate it but didn't make the girls eat it.

Oh but I did make some kick ass guac to dip my cucumber slices in. OMG, it was so good! 

Just an avocado, lime juice, tons of cilantro and 2 spoons of fresh, all natural salsa. 

Then, before bed, I took the herbal cleanse and Catalyst again. See, this is where I think I took too many Catalyst. 

Better tracking today.

Ok, so I was really worried about cravings.

Especially at night when I typically have some sort of chocolate to satisfy my sweet cravings but all in all, I was perfectly satisfied all day. Weird.

As for water? I probably guzzled 80oz or more. 

I drink a lot of water and have been for awhile now.

I've rambled on long enough. I should have kept better notes throughout the day and will make sure I do better for day 2 as I feel like this post is a bit disjointed. 

beastmode

I actually enjoyed this WOD (Workout Of the Day for you newbies) except for the Wall Climbs which should be more aptly named 'Wall Falls' because that's pretty much what I did.
They are hard to explain but facing away from the wall, hands on the ground, you put your feet up on the wall (you start out facing away from the wall, here peeps).
Walk your feet up (legs straight) while you walk your hands closer into the wall.
Basically a handstand.
Then, you walk your hands back out away from the wall and let your feet slide down.
or
in my case you fall down...off the wall.
Got it?
Good.

Now, for T2B (Toes to Bar)
Do Wall Falls Climbs 5x and then head over the to rack, hang from the bar above you and pull your toes all the way up to your hands.
Right?
Wrong.
If you're still a weakling like moi, you hang from the bar and pull your knees up as close to your elbows as possible.

That last thing on the list?
Those back squats?
That's what's going to help your ass look like it hasn't slid down the back of your legs.
It's just a squat while holding a bar across your back.
It looks something like this:

No, that's not me (although strangely enough, I think she kind of resembles me). I'm not sure I even went down that far.
I back squated with 95# and
That's the most I've ever done!
That was some heavy shit, right there!

Then for the post WOD?
Just an easy 200 sit ups.
No biggie.

Now onto an Advocare update.
I stopped coffee today after weaning myself for the past 1 1/2 weeks and
I started the Spark, Catalyst and ThermoPlus today.
All three before breakfast and before lunch.
I'm also going to drink another Spark and take the Catalyst before CrossFit tonight.

Oh and my weight this morning?
159.6 
And, I don't plan on going back into those 160's anytime soon.