Feeling Blah

This weekend I didn't get to the grocery store and we are out of everything. This means I've had to figure out what I was going to do for breakfast, lunch and dinner as I got hungry. It's been a bad, bad thing to do to myself. I've struggled all week and ate out every single day. I really think planning is the most essential part of eating healthy. I've tried to count my calories every day this week, but when I'm hungry, desperate, and have nothing at home I tend to go over my limit. It's really hard to eat out every meal and eat 1,300 calories a day. Yesterday I had 1,500 calories, not a total bust, but it isn't helping my weight loss either. Luckily enough this morning I hadn't gained any weight, but I feel blah. Eating out time after time just makes me feel bloated and nasty. I haven't been getting as much fruits and vegetables and I can tell a difference in how I feel. 

A lot of people have been doing the Advocare 10 day cleanse. It's the hot trend right now. I've been reading other people's blogs about it for two months now, interested, but not convinced. I've never done a cleanse and to be honest I'm scared of the idea of "cleansing" for 10 days. This girl works 40 hours a week. I can't be sitting on the pot for ten days. After talking to numerous people and reading about it I finally decided to go ahead and try it. I figure it's only ten days and worth a shot. I keep hearing it's a gentle cleanse. We will see. I'm still a little worried. So to prepare, I've been pinning recipes that look good and are within the food limitations. A friend has given me a grocery list of foods you can eat so I've been coming up with meal plans and creating my grocery list for this weekend. I would consider myself a picky eater and while I won't necessarily struggle to find foods that fit within the cleanse limitations, I am not one of those people who can just eat anything. I wish I was. So I'm trying to be as prepared as possible to be successful for this entire cleanse. It's only ten days, but it's ten whole days and a lot goes on in my life in ten days. When I finally decided to do the cleanse, it wasn't just to lose weight, but also to feel better overall. No more eating out and feeling blah. Many of the people I have talked to said they feel awesome afterwards and have seen results far beyond weight loss. The main thing that intrigued me was someone who said that they stopped sweating as much in the night. She mentioned that after her children she thought it was a change in her hormones and I can totally relate. I've felt some changes in my body have been due to hormonal changes, but maybe I'm wrong. 

All that being said, I do want to lose weight and that is the main reason for trying this cleanse. I've really been trying to lose some weight since the weather has gotten better. My goal right now is 20 pounds. In 2011 I lost 25 pounds and wanted to continue to lose another 20, but I just fell off the weight loss train and stayed where I was. When winter came this year I slowly saw the scale climbing back up and I knew I had to do something. I still wanted to lose weight, not gain back the weight I had lost over a year ago. I've lost almost 10 pounds since my heaviest weight this winter. I've been counting calories and I had been exercising with the Couch to 5K program until I injured my knee a month ago. Since my injury, I've been going to physical therapy and making great process, determined not to give up due to this setback. Running and exercising SUCKS, but I cannot wait to get back to it. During my appointment tomorrow my therapist is hoping to re-introduce running and full exercise and I'm so excited. I'm hoping that the ability to exercise again along with this cleanse will really get me motivated to lose these 20 pounds that I've been wanting to lose for so long. I know it won't be easy and I know it's going to take diet AND exercise, but feeling better about myself and my body is so worth it. 

I also have an appointment with my general doctor tomorrow.It's just a yearly physical and so I'm going to make a point to get her opinions on this cleanse and talk to her about vitamins. I know I need to take them, but I don't. Other than food and the actual cleansing, one thing I worry about when doing this cleanse is what my energy level will be like. I don't drink caffeine and I'm a busy person working full time and having a two year old. My mornings start at 6am my day usually ends at 11pm or later. Sleeping in is no longer a part of my life. Advocare sells an energy drink called Spark which everyone raves about. However, I've been advised not to drink caffeine by my doctors and I've really tried to listen to them. When I got out of the hospital it was something that was really stressed to me due to an elevated heart rate and the strain that caffeine puts on your heart. While I would enjoy the benefits of the energy boost that Spark would give me, I'm not sure it's something I'm going to be able to drink. Since I may not be able to use the energy drink as a pick me up while my body is cleansing and detoxing I've decided to plan around it. 

I've been told that most people find the third and fourth days the worst energy wise. With this in mind, I've decided to start the cleanse on Wednesday which means the third and fourth days would fall over my weekend. Starting on a Wednesday also means that I will only be on the cleanse over one weekend which is when I tend to eat the worst. Adam is such a bad influence! (But I still love him more than anything in the entire world!) I hope having the one weekend fall within days three and four will not only allow me to rest if I feel exhausted, but also be early enough in the 10 days that I will be motivated to stay on track and not give in to weekend temptations. I know it's just a cleanse, but I am really excited. I'll be sure to blog with updates and my end results. Most importantly, I'm going to be sure to make a point to get to the grocery this weekend and do everything I can to set myself up for success.