Been there, done that!

Today I am starting my first day of the 10 day advocare herbal cleanse!

I am pretty excited and ready to get started on my goal of 10 days of clean eating. 

This summer my mom was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer.(Post to come later!) Knowing that this is something that is in our family, I have really been obsessing about clean eating lately. I just didn't know where to start. Everything I have read about this cancer has been stressing how important it is to put good things into your body to help prevent your risks of this cancer. 

This is SCARY because everything we eat these days is full of CRAP! 

I am by far no where near a healthy eater! I do not remember being at a healthy weight since high school. About a year or so after high school I was the heaviest and most unhealthy that I have ever been! Living on my own for the first time and not really knowing how or what to eat...it will get ya!

December 2009 185lbs!!

Spring of 2010 140lbs!!

 Yeah...I like the second picture much better than the first!! 

I don't think you can REALLY see how much weight I had put on in the first picture because I refused to take any pictures where I was not covered up by people, dogs, blankets or SOMETHING but it was bad! And...I deleted every single picture I found of myself at that weight. I just did not feel like myself. But the reality of it is...we can't put bad food into our bodies and expect to feel or look good! Also, that was a point in my life where I was in a 7 year long relationship and I just was not happy anymore. I found that not being happy with something in my life pushed me to make even unhealthier choices!

I feel like I have truly been there and done that with many "diets" that I hear or read about. Nothing ever really taught me how to eat right and I never kept the weight off. (Until I tried Weight Watchers that is!)

So, what have I tried...?

Lets see.....

In those pictures above I lost about 15lbs without trying to. After ending that relationship, moving back home, not cooking for myself anymore and eating my mom's food again I lost weight. But my mom and I starting doing the HTC diet. 

I know...I know...But it was the cool thing to do then! 

I lost a lot of weight, like 4 or 5lbs a week! That is how I went from 185 to 140 in only a few months! I loved seeing these quick results, BUT as I've learned these get skinny quick diets DO NOT WORK! Yes, I lost weight but NO, I was not able to keep all of it off after the diet. And I did not learn a thing about eating healthy.

Lets see...What did I do next? Counting calories! Yeah.....That did not work well for me! I felt like I was always hungry when doing this and never could keep myself where I needed to be. I used apps like myfitnesspal and other popular apps I found. But I quickly got bored with that!

Between all of this I slowly gained back 10 lbs here and there after dropping 45lbs. I got up to 155 and stayed there for a while. I even attempted nutrisystem! This was incredibly expensive might i add!!! I didn't love the meals, but I did love the protein shakes. I lost maybe 10 lbs in two weeks!! BUT, like I said lose weight quick diets don't work....I gained it all right back. ANNOYING!!!!!!!

But around December of 2011 I began having some serious dizziness! We thought maybe it was vertigo and then a number of other things..It took doctors and specialists months of tests and different meds to figure out that it was inner ear migraines! My doctor put me on a medicine that had some yucky side effects. One of them being that my stomach couldn't tell my brain when it was full! So between December 2011 and May of 2012 I had gained back about 20lbs!!!

 Uhg. Here we go again!

May 2012 back up to 175lbs!
Here is my amazing family! My grandparents came into town from Houston, Texas for my sister, Kayla's hs graduation!

December 2012 back down to 160 lbs!
Crazy what dropping 15lbs can do!

How did I do it this time...?

Well, for starters took myself off of the medicine that was NO HELP and with that alone I felt much better! Also, I spent some many nights praying that God would put his hands on me and help me with these inner ear migraines as they were really affecting my everyday life and nothing I did seemed to help. I tried to focus on getting healthier in hopes that this would help ease some dizziness! After doing some research, I found that Weight Watchers truly has a great reputation for helping people change their lifestyle when it comes to making healthier choices! Well, Weight Watchers helped me! A lot! Over time I gained more knowledge on the foods that I was eating and how to make better choices. This is how I was able to eventually drop the 15 lbs.  It did take time, about a 1 or 2 lbs a week, but It stayed off and I felt much better! My inner ear migraines (dizziness) disappeared with time also! Today, July 2013 I've maintained my weight loss! :) It fluctuates about 2 or 3 lbs depending on when I step on the scale each week. But on my first day of my 10 day challenge, I'm weighing in at 162 and that is where I am starting! 

Again, my hopes here are to gain more knowledge about the foods I am eating and work hard to avoid processed foods, hormones, pesticides and other yucky things like that! To learn more about clean eating. I want to lower my risk of cancer, cancers that run in my family! I just want to try to get rid of my daily headaches! All in all....I would just like to feel healthier! I decided to use a blog as a place to keep track of my progress (and even setbacks) as a way of motivating myself. :) 

We shall see how I feel 10 days from now!

Karah