AdvoCare Success Story: Spencer McAdams

Feb 23, 2013 I attended my first mixer, I was the heaviest and as miserable as I've ever been.  I weighed 300 pounds, was in a size 48 pants, and 3X shirt (that's a 3X compression shirt in my before pic).  I needed help.  Then 4 amazing friends shared AdvoCare with me.  My life has never been the same.  I started my first 24-Day Challenge on February 25th, 2013 and lost 26 pounds and 10 inches in my waist. I took that snowball of momentum and turned it into an avalanche meeting milestone after milestone.  Ran my very FIRST 5K in August when I was down 80 pounds (ran it in 29 minutes!).  I have turned into a workout machine.  January 17th of this year I hit a milestone that is still surreal to me, 100 pounds.  I am now in a Large shirt size and 34 pant size.

I am the happiest and healthiest I've ever been in my life, I am truly living a life I only dreamed of a year ago.  If AdvoCare has taught me one thing it's not to put a limit on your dreams, because anything is truly possible if you have a vision and determination.  My journey has only begun, this is just the start of the life I was meant to live, and I am not looking back.

Disclaimer:  Personal testimonies reflect individual experiences and are not necessarily typical of the results you may obtain.  Weight loss varies with individual effort, body composition, eating patterns and exercise.  If you have a medical condition or are pregnant or nursing, AdvoCare recommends that you consult your healthcare professional before starting an AdvoCare product regimen.

AdvoCare Success Story: Toni Pearson

My journey with AdvoCare began June 13, 2012.  I was tired, overweight and knew I needed to make a change in my life but I didn't know where to begin.  I weighted 408 pounds and thought that nothing was going to work, but thanks to AdvoCare I have taken back my life and love every minute of it.  So far, I have lost 175 pounds and 110 inches in 16 months.  I have gained back my self confidence and love to share my story with others to let them know that with AdvoCare it IS possible.  

Disclaimer:  Personal testimonies reflect individual experiences and are not necessarily typical of the results you may obtain.  Weight loss varies with individual effort, body composition, eating patterns and exercise.  If you have a medical condition or are pregnant or nursing, AdvoCare recommends that you consult your healthcare professional before starting an AdvoCare product regimen.

Aha moment after Ladies Night

Wow I don't know how to describe how awesome the ladies that spoke tonight really are but I was so drawn in by all of their stories and how they got to where they are today and I LOVED each one.  All I could think of was this could be me someday and using Advocare as a vehicle for what God has planned for me!

I will be honest I have been so afraid of failing at anything that I really have limited myself to what I think I am capable of doing.  I learned tonight that I am CHOOSING to stay where I am in life because I am scared of failing, but by not ever starting I am doing what I fear most and am failing and I don't want to be that example to my children.  I have given up so much of who I am and what I want, loosing my drive in life, saying well my girls come first or making up some other excuse as to why I couldn't do something but the reality is that I CAN do whatever I set my mind to!  I need to start building myself up instead of tearing myself or my ideas down.

On my way home I was contemplating what I heard tonight and was listening to the Fish Christian Radio station and this song called "Overcomer" by Mandisa came on and it just hit me on such a personal level.  I can overcome this hand that I was dealt and I could choose to fight because my girls and myself are worth fighting for!  I need to grow as a person and step out of my comfort zone and move forward, moving my life in the direction that it was meant to go and on the path that Jesus has for me and my family.

Texas here I come!

So I  know this post is a little late but I thought I would cover what has gone on the past week or so.  The last post was about my back flare up which was pretty dang bad but thanks to my deep tissue chiropractor, who works miracles, I was able to go to Texas last thursday!!  My friends, sister, and myself were just waiting for my back to act up but the flight went so smoothly once we actually took off.

Wednesday I got my awesome Advocare gear JUST in time for Success School that weekend and was extremely excited to use them.  I got my stuff all packed and ready to go wednesday and then I was off to the airport at 3:00 pm.  We had to hang out for a bit due to our plane being delayed because the flight crew were late....thank you Spirit Airlines!...apparently its a regular thing according to a waitress at the airport restaurant we were at.  They are by far the worst airlines I have flown on.  Their tickets are cheap but you have to pay for all your bags, your seat if you want to get a seat next to who your flying with, and charge you for water!  Needless to say I will try avoid flying through them at all costs anytime I have to fly.

We got to the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport at 12:30 at night and it was 94 degrees!  Holy moly and I was in a sweatshirt and thought I was going to die.  We had issues getting our car rental but luckily someone else from Advocare had made extra reservations and we were able to use one of his.  As we were leaving one of my friends threw out, "You guys want to know what my imagination is telling me.....", sure what are those voices tellin ya?! LOL good times and that was the running joke of the weekend.  This is what happens when your just that tired!  By this time we were starving as we were not able to eat before we flew out of the airport...so it was time to try to find a place that was actually open.  We drove towards where our hotel was and went by a Denny's that didn't look like it was a good area so we moved on.  We spotted an IHOP but it took a lot of turns and going through very confusing construction on the roads before we finally got to it.

YUMMY FOOD!! by this time we were done it was almost 3:00am...then off to our hotel to catch some zzzzz's...but wait for it....We went to the wrong hotel!!! It was an extended stays but the wrong one, and who would have known that there were two so close to each other, literally seemed like they were only 10 to 15 minutes away from each other.  We had unloaded all our bags when we went to check in and had to load them back into the car and drive to the right one.  We finally got in at 4 am!! YES THANK YOU! We crashed and woke up at 11:30 to get ready to start off our Success School.

Needless to say we had some awesome speakers over this weekend from our SciMed Board to guest speakers such as Emmitt Smith and Walter Bond, as well as worship with Michael W. Smith was mind blowing and it ended too soon.  I cannot wait for Success school again and am so excited about what this year has to come!!

To move or not to move! That is the question

The past few days have been anything but peachy.  My back spasms and pain were so bad I could not sit, stand, or lay in any position that would make it feel better.  I got to the point where laying seemed to relieve the pain more than the other positions and I stayed that way as much as possible.  Who wants to deal with the pain right?! Not me!! Laying on the couch seemed like a good idea at the time but apparently I was wrong, it will only make my pain worse....go figure!

After staying up in pain all night and limping around I finally got to the point where I had to have my mom drive me to the ER.  The pain was horrible!!  Every time I tried to move my body would freeze up and it was like one giant spasm throughout my whole back.  It was next to impossible to move for me.  They helped get the spasms to stop and then I went straight to my deep tissue chiropractor and after about four visits I am feeling much better.  My muscles get extremely tight which causes them to lock up so stretching is a must for me and I have to do it about 5 or 6 times a day.  Its definitely worth taking the time to do my stretches instead of living in extreme pain.  I wish I would have known sooner that this is what was causing all my pain.  I was not sure if I would get well enough to fly on a trip coming up but in the end it looks like I will be good to go as long as I keep up on the instructions I was given.  Even though I still hurt its okay because this hurt is a good hurt.  The kind of hurt that happens because your using your muscles and joints again and they are having to get used to moving right. 

I am amazed at how much our muscles and bones all work together and how one thing gets out of place and it can cause several different problems due to that one thing.  He said walking at least 10 minutes a day is a good start but that I have to keep moving and keep everything working how its supposed to.  It's when we don't use our muscles that they tend to lock up.  I will be working through the pain because I know I don't want the alternative!  Luckily I have a Dr. that knows what he is doing and makes sure that he helps get me back on track and healthy!! 

Garage sale....body fail...

I was trying to raise money to go to success school and me and my friend decided to have a garage sale.  I started going through all of my girls baby items only to find I had way more than I thought I did.  I found 3 strollers, 2 cribs, a pack-n-play, 2 bouncers, a baby tub, 2 crib mattresses along with tons of baby clothes and a car seat.

I was feeling pretty dang good and decided I wouldn't bother my dad to help me and loaded his truck all by myself.  I got all but one big box loaded....just ONE box...I thought to myself "I am not coming back for one darn box!!" so I started pulling the items out of the box and shoving them into any nook and cranny that I could find...and it all FIT!!!! YAY ME!  I am feeling pretty dang good about myself right now and hopped into my dad's truck to head over to my friends house to drop it all off for the weekend garage sale.

Luckily her husband and friend unloaded the whole truck for me because I started to feel my back muscles spasming a little bit and like they were tightening up a lot.  Now of course through the whole process of loading up the truck my mom kept telling me DON"T overdo it Rachel, the last thing you need is to screw up your back again but I was like "hey its cool mom I got this! I will be fine just wait and see!!"  And my overconfidence and my refusing to ask for help did me in....the next several days my whole back would go into spasms so bad that my whole body would freeze up in excruciating pain.

On top of that my two year old decided to take one of those exercise bands and play with them so I told her to come put it by me and leave it alone.  Well she put one end by me which I picked up and then she bolted holding onto the other end and let go.  I jumped and covered my face with my arms and lifted my right leg to protect my body and it all went downhill from there.  WHY?! WHY DID I NOT LISTEN TO MY MOM!?  She was right and I overdid it and now have been dealing with the consequences of my actions.  I have been laying down on my couch switching from heat to ice packs off and on throughout the day while doing stretches that my AMAZING chiropractor has been telling me to do.  He said I put my back out when I yanked my leg up...good grief I would do something like that!

I have been going to Deep Tissue Chiropractic ever since I was in high school.  Dr. Taylor is the most amazing guy and has done wonders over the years to help with injuries that I have had.  He focuses on the root of the problem and fixes it.  Dr. Taylor is great at explaining why my back did what it did and what I need to do to fix it.  I literally could not get out of bed without being in excruciating pain and it took me a good half hour just to get sitting up and starting to actually stand out because the spasms were so bad.  After going to Dr. Taylor its A LOT easier to get out of bad and after a few days I am feeling a lot better than I was although we are still working on my muscles as they are very tight, I feel that this is a step in the right direction and truly believe that if I had not gone to him when I did I would have only gotten worse and worse.  I would recommend him to everyone that is suffering from anything being out of place or any muscular issue.  He is extremely knowledgable in his field and am so grateful for everything he has done for me over the years!  I HIGHLY recommend him as he really knows about what he is doing and his main concern is his patients and getting them better!  I truly cannot say enough about how amazing he is!!

Aftermath of Couch to 5k attempt

My last post I wrote how I decided to try to do Couch to 5k and this is a follow-up to that.  I found out over the days that followed that running/jogging is too jarring for my back.  There were muscle spasms going on throughout my back but surprisingly most of them were in my upper and mid back rather than my lower back (where my herniated discs are).  Needless to say I WON'T be doing that again.  At least now I know that for me right now that is not realistic and I will be looking for something else I can do instead.  I rock the planks with no issues and have no problems with my lower back from doing them thankfully!!

Also I just recently downloaded an app that is called Tribesports which is free....as I don't like paying extra to have an app.  Yes I am cheap haha anyways you can go through the challenges they have on there and choose which challenge you want to take on.  I like it because there are so many to choose from.  I am doing the plank challenge right now where I hold a plank for 1 minute and do this 10 times in two weeks.  I usually hold a plank for 1 minute and then have a 10 second rest before I do the plank again and repeat this three times.  I have already held a 1 minute plank 3 times and I just started this challenge....looks like I will be done with this challenge in 4 days not two weeks :) 

Easing into Exercise...

It's amazing how you never really think of not being able to do something until your doctor or someone else tells you that you can't!  Ever since he said no exercising that is all I have wanted to do.  I know I have to do something so my back doesn't keep getting worse and so my muscles don't keep getting weaker and weaker.  I figured that I know my body and will just listen to it and see what its telling me.

So I decided to start doing more core strengthening exercises and try to do the Couch to 5k today.  I did plank holds for 1 min with 10 second rests in between a few times and only made it 10 minutes on the Couch to 5k but I was drenched in sweat.  I figure that we all have to start somewhere and I can see how I am feeling later on to see if I need to cut back a little bit or if my back can handle it so I can step it up some more.

After I did this I used my AMAZING foam roller to work out my muscles that felt like they were so tight that they were literally pulling my body over.  Doing this for about 10-15 minutes did the trick and now I am feeling a lot better than when I got off the treadmill!  My muscles don't feel all balled up and I actually feel really really good...YAY!!

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right. –Napoleon Hill

24-day Challenge...are you ready to take it on?

After doing the Advocare 24-day challenge I thought I would do a post on the results I saw in myself after taking the products.  Before I go into that though I am going to share what I felt like before.  I was extremely tired ALL the time, it didn't really matter if I slept the whole night and got 8 hours of sleep, I was still dragging and felt like I was fighting my eyes to stay awake.  My mind was foggy and it was hard for me to concentrate when I was trying to do homework or studying for my college classes.  It seemed like all the information I was taking in was going right back out.  I would get worn out really easily as well.  I have several herniated discs and was told by my doctor that I was to stay away from exercise for the time being.  This was hard hearing as I wanted to get back to exercising to start losing this weight again. This was very frustrating to say the least!

After starting the 24-day challenge I started feeling a little more awake and after a few days I felt like I was at full speed.  It is amazing how focused I felt and was able to go all day doing all kinds of stuff from cleaning the house to walking for longer than 10 minutes.  I didn't need to take any naps during the day either to refresh myself, I just kept going!  I felt amazing and within 4 days I had lost 5 lbs!  I kept on with the challenge and in a little over 2 weeks I had lost 10 lbs...needless to say I am very excited and this was the jumpstart I needed to get started with my weight loss.  I will be sure to keep updating this with my progress.

If you want to take a look at the 24-day challenge just click on the Advocare we build champions and it will take you to the site.  The challenge is under the trim line and I think its absolutely amazing and have continued to take some of the products that it came with such as the Spark and OmegaPlex.  I also bought the Catalyst and Thermoplus to take as well which are optional.  I LOVE these products!!

The Bod Pod

So when I first started this challenge I had to do a bod pod testing.  I had mixed feelings about this as I wasn't sure if I wanted to see the results...if I didn't know then it would be easier to just ignore my situation as I wouldn't know how bad I had gotten.  So I was dreading the bod pod as I was sure I was going to have very little muscle on my body, and the day finally came to go in and get the test done.

I was uneasy because I thought the person doing the test was the same person that was there when I signed up and it was someone I knew from church when I was younger and he was a guy.  I was told to wear skin tight clothing so it would be more accurate...great I have avoided tight clothes for years for a reason!!  Luckily the person in the room for the testing was a woman...*WHEW*...she still insisted that the least amount of clothing (bra and panties) I had on the more accurate the test so I sucked it up and left only my bra and underwear on.  It didn't last too long maybe 10 minutes altogether and then I was done!

While I was still embarrassed I knew it was a step in the right direction for me.  This would tell me with extreme accuracy what my fat mass was and what my lean body mass was while also telling me my weight.  Since this is about my weight loss journey I figured I would share my results...hey why not right?!  I went into the other room where the man was that helped me register for the test and he went over the results with me.

On June 18, 2013 my test results were:

Fat Mass:    46%      88.9 lbs.
Lean Mass:  54%     104.4 lbs.
Body Weight:          193.3 lbs.

Mind you my weight was about where I thought it was but dang I thought my lean mass would be a lot lower!  The nice thing about this test is they can tell you what the lowest you can weigh would be.  I was told I should never try to go under 123 lbs. because that would be considered unhealthy for me.  He said some people are just made to be smaller or even bigger.  It all depends on the person's genetics and how they are built.  I thought this was really interesting and never really thought about that.  Good to know since I always said I wanted to get down to 110 or 115 lbs.  Now that is not even considered realistic to me after finding this out.

I mostly want to strive to obtain a healthy and realistic weight or fit goal.  This was a GREAT start to my journey for sure!!

FitGirl-ItGirl Beginnings

Hi I am a 27 year old single mother of two amazing children.  I was never "fit" and never saw myself as small or even average.  After having my girls and having problems with a few herniated discs I decided to get myself on track to a healthier, happier me.  

Back in January 2012 I started on this journey at 192 pounds...I was very overweight and miserable.  I wanted to lose weight and get into a healthy lifestyle.  I found a plan called LiveFit that was created by Jamie Eason and I loved it because it did not involve a ton of cardio and it was a 12 week program that I thought was realistic and something I could do.  Three months later I had lost 22 lbs and was heading in the right direction but I went on a trip and even though my family was accommodating my eating I felt bad and told them not to worry about it...big mistake on my part...I should have kept to my routine and kept working out on this vacation.  After this two week vacation, all the flying and driving I found that the discs in my back were out of sorts and I had a flare up.  

This flare up resulted in extreme pain and me having to stop the workouts for the time being.  I did what the doctors tell you not to do and laid down a lot because it was the only thing that helped alleviate some of the pain.  I slowly got worse and worse and slowly gained the weight back.

I had hit bottom again I did not want to go out and do anything because I was ashamed of how I looked and that I had let myself go back to that place.  I had to do something, I did not want to just sit by as my girls grow up and not be able to do all the things I had planned to do with them.  It was at this time when I was so depressed and down on myself that my sister talked to me about going to a Bod Pod Challenge at CrossFit Milltown and doing the 24 day challenge through Advocare.  I thought..."I can't do any working out and I am tired all the time as it is, I am not going to be able to lose weight and compete against these people who are fit, or can even exercise!"  I had all these negative reasons going through my head about why I couldn't do it but there was this little part of me that said "You CAN do this!  Just give it your all and maybe it will be enough to jumpstart you losing weight".  

My journey to being fit was revived through this Bod Pod Challenge and by accepting it I took the next step.  I was so excited when the 24-day challenge came in the mail the following week.  I went shopping to buy the foods I needed to do the plan and planned out what I was going to eat while I did it.  It's time to live with no excuses and do whatever possible to get healthy!!