Day 24

I have been waiting 24 days to share this with you, so without further suspense, here goes.....!!

I don't know why the Lord gives me such big babies, but He does, and they streeeeeeeetch out my short frame when I'm carrying them! Cory was 8 lbs, 12 oz., and East was 9 lbs, 3 oz. (and early!).

Preg with Cory

 

 

Preg with Easton

 

 

 

Now, I love my boys, wouldn't trade them for anything, but as any Mom knows, they can do a NUMBER on your body and it takes WORK to get it back. It took me a year to lose all the weight with Cory, and well, 20 months to lose it all with Easton. I felt tired all the time, I hated that I couldn't wear my clothes and I didn't like what I saw in the mirror. The first year after having Easton it was "acceptable" to have the extra weight at the beach, but the second year we took him was ENOUGH.

 

 



My eyes are closed, haha, but this was one year to the day after having Easton and still not in my "regular" clothes (let's see, 9 1/2 months of not wearing them while preg, + one year after baby= not happy).

 

 

 



 

 

 

Fast forward to these pictures taken at Thanksgiving of this year and something had to change. I was so uncomfortable with myself. When this opportunity to try the 24-day challenge fell into my lap, I had to take it. I couldn't tell myself that I would "lose it my way" any longer because it wasn't working! I had witnessed two of my friends results and just couldn't sit back and wait for something to happen anymore. The results? They speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 

Before (with the round stomach

thanks to my sweet boys)

 

 

 

 

 









After- no round belly!

 

 

 

 

Before

 

 

 

 

 

After

Did you know yoga pants could be that loose?!?

 

 

 

 

Before

 

 

 

 

 

After

Look at my face!

 

 

 

I lost 5 pounds total and 6 1/2 inches off my body- 6 1/2 INCHES!!! In 24 days!!!! That I had carried around for 20 months!!! I dropped 2 pants sizes, from an 8 to a 4. A comfortable 4, not a button-it-and-take-a-quick-picture 4. FINALLY, I feel like my old self again! I have energy! I cannot remember the last time I have felt this energetic. My husband is asking me why I'm bounding out of bed at 6:30 in the morning and the only thing I have done differently is add Advocare to my life.

 

 

I will be the FIRST to say that this stuff is not cheap. However, it has helped me cut out some other costs. After having Easton, I hemorrhaged for a couple of hours and lost a lot of blood and never really felt like I got my energy back after that. Normal blood levels are typically around a 12, and mine was a 5 when I left the hospital- after two blood transfusions. (Not trying to scare any preggo's reading now). I was taking 3 iron pills a day just to try to have enough energy to wash bottles. I am now completely off those iron pills! Another way we've saved is in our grocery cart. It is now filled with produce, which sounds costly, but actually has saved us money because of what we are not buying......chips, soda's, 5 lb bag of sugar for my tea and jelly, ice cream, cookies, and an endless supply of Pop-Tarts, Golden Grahams, etc. I'm also no longer buying bigger size clothes, I can go back to what I have in the closet and dust them off!

 

While I was on my challenge I was SO thankful for my support team. Like I said earlier, I did this challenge with friends! They were REALLY there for me through it all. (Their results will be posted this week- they are amazing!) Danielle and Emily's  experience with the products helped so much, and I loved checking in with my friends daily. As a mommy it's tough to get back our pre-pregnancy bodies and I've been going through that journey myself so I would love to help others!

 

Every morning I drank my meal replacement shakes, took my vitamins, and saved my Spark for the afternoons. I checked in with the website daily, and printed off my grocery lists and searched for yummy recipes to try.

 

If you'd like to order a challenge or any other Advocare products you can do that here at my webpage! Also here is a direct link to order the 24 day challenge

You can also join a membership through Advocare and get a 20% discount for life on all your products (no minimum purchases or anything like that). Plus they will send you $50 worth of free Spark and Slam just for signing up! I'm a bit of a coupon freak and always feel the need to save money somewhere, so I signed up. Of course I love everything and now I have a discount on all of my purchases! If you want to sign up for the membership you can do that right here and start using your discount right away!

 

I am so thankful for Advocare, it has given so much back to me! I shudder to think of the holiday weight I would have put on, or would be trying to hide and lose at this point. Right now my friend Emily is offering $150 to the Biggest Loser for January 2012. Here are those details. Are you reading this right now wondering if this is right for you? Contact me on Facebook or by email, hcc.mcever@yahoo.com. You have nothing to lose but weight!!!