Flashback to January 2014...
A girl I went to school with since 6th grade was posting all this information on Facebook about an Arbonne clean eating challenge. I had seen her talking about it for a few months prior and decided to contact her to ask what it was all about. She explained it to me and told me of her own reservations for trying it and it took her a year to work up to finally going through with it. She had mentioned that prior to her husband participating he would have a horrible time sleeping at night and said that his body using so much energy to process his dinner it would actually keep him from sleeping through the night. Maybe that's what my problem was too with staying asleep, since I have zero problems actually falling asleep. She sent me a sample menu with the grocery list and also gave me a few sample items like protein powder, green tea, fizz stick, etc. After looking at the menu I knew there was no way that Jimmy and Kiera would eat the majority of the meals or let alone the side dishes plus I just wasn't willing to cook 2 separate meals for the 3 of us. So that is where it all ended. For the rest of the year I would continue to sit on the couch every evening for hours doing nothing. I was pretty down at times and didn't have the motivation to get up an exercise or anything else. I knew what was going on I just didn't care.
Fast forward to December 2014...
Jimmy's cousin got me a Misfit Flash activity and sleep tracker for Christmas. I knew that she had one and I had always wanted one it just wasn't something I though about buying for myself. I am so in love with this thing it's not even funny. It is exactly what I need to get going. If I saw that I wasn't going to reach my goal of activity for that day I would get up and move around.
January - March 2015...
After having my activity tracker for a couple weeks I decided it was a good time to start exercising. We have had weights for years we just never did anything with them so I brought them out along with my yoga mat and started doing some easy exercises at home. A number of the exercises I just used my own body weight which was enough to feel the burn. I also started changing what and how much I was eating. I started eating smoothies for lunch a few days out of the week, less bread and dairy, minimal sweets, smaller meal portions. In February we bought an elliptical which I just freaking love. I began gaining muscle and losing weight. I also started sleeping better through the night and not waking up at 3am for the day on the weekends! By the end of March I had lost 13 pounds! During this time my friend Kailan and I started talking about the clean eating challenge. She wanted to participate but was in the same predicament with her husband and 3 boys. We decided that we were dead set on doing the challenge and she offered to cook the meals and we would split the cost of the groceries.
March - April 2015...
So at the end of March we began the clean eating challenge! Things were going great for the first couple weeks, and I didn't have a problem with the transition since I had already changed my ways of food an eating. There in the middle it got a little rough for me. I did cheat just a few times throughout the month but not even enough to throw anything off. It was too keep my sanity alright!
And now our clean eating challenge has ended. Since January I have lost 21 pounds and 8 of those was during the challenge. I feel great, I am sleeping through the night, I have lots of energy and no stomach issues after eating. Not that I had any before but there is no more bloating and indigestion that I would get after eating big heavy meals. Except for the celebratory pizza lunch Kailan and I ate at the end of the challenge. Within 20 minutes I was completely drained of energy, I was so bloated and my heart was racing. I won't be doing that again!
I am half way to my goal body type and I know that I can and will do it! Plus the cute exercise clothes that I have bought help to stay motivated. It really does!
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