Day 18

I can't believe that today is day 18 of AdvoCare's 24 day challenge and I say that because it really doesn't feel like it's been that long, and......I'm not sitting on pins and needles waiting on a cheat day!!!  It's a wonderful feeling knowing I can control myself and what I eat.  I've been able to focus more, my mood through out the day is so much better even when things aren't going great around me I am still able to stay positive, and I've been able to start exercising again.  As I've mentioned before the weight loss is happening slowly but it IS happening.  I think that part is more of a mental struggle than anything.  We all have to remember that we didn't put this weight on overnight so it's not going to come off overnight.  My husband and I were talking the other morning and he mentioned that if it weren't for the way he felt on the program he probably would have already quit.  Mostly because we always want things to happen so quickly.  We want the weight to come off quick but it's something we have to work hard for or we will never keep it off.  It's like the teenager who's parents actually make them work for their first vehicle instead of running out and buying it for them.  They've had to work hard to earn it so they usually baby it and take good care of it.  We'll when you have to learn to eat nutritious and live a healthy life and lose the weight the proper way, once you've finally lost it you're the one that's really going to keep it off this time because you've learned to control your cravings and how to eat healthy and make the right choices.  Where the person who does the 500 calorie, starve yourself diets are more than likely going to jump right back into their old habits and gain most or all of their weight back and possibly more.  My husband and I both wake up feeling better in the mornings and he's back to hopping out of bed when the alarm goes off the way he used to instead of dragging himself out of bed just because he has to.  He's working out again and I'm back to walking in the mornings too!  That's not something you do willingly even when you are dieting unless the program you are doing makes you feel good and AdvoCare does.  When you are able to wake up in the mornings in a good mood because you feel good it's easier to convince yourself that the walk or that work out is just going to help you even more!  I see the positive affects it has on my husbands moods daily and my own as well.  I can discipline one kid and not end up yelling at all of them! and people at work can be in their terrible moods they are always in and I am able to stay uplifted and happy because I feel better and not let them affect me the way they use to.  It's amazing the way things you eat and drink affect everything about your day and the way you handle people & situations in your life.