24 Day Challenge: Day 1

The big day FINALLY arrived!! First thing's first on day 1: find your baseline. You can't evaluate your progress unless you first find your baseline. Sorry, that's the social worker coming out in me, but basically, you just do some measurements of your body and document where you're starting on day 1.

Your baseline starts with how you feel. Rank your answers on a scale from 1-5 for your energy level, sleep quality, and overall wellness. 

Next, you'll do your measurements. Use a tape measure, not the one you find in the garage, think grandma's sewing kit. Measure the circumference of your chest, waist, hips, & thigh. I recommend measuring your dominate thigh since it's probably going to be slightly bigger. Ladies, for the chest, since all of our, ah hem, "sweater puppies" are shaped a little differently, I also recommend doing the chest measurement in a light weight bra. Just make sure you remember which one it is so that you can use the same one on day 24. Then you'll document your weight, and I also did my jeans size. 

Before you move on, make sure you do this ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING... PUT THE SCALE IN THE CLOSET!!! Hide it, lock it away, and do not look at it again until day 24. Being a "scale slut" will only hinder your mental state through this. The numbers on a scale are only a small part your experience. Its even possible that your number on the scale might not change but you'll see the loss in inches. I've been doing Crossfit 3x a week since Jan, and I've lost 2 lbs. TWO POUNDS. BUT, I've lost a pants size and I can see the difference in my face and other areas. The numbers on the scale can be more of an enemy than a friend. So put it away. 

Finally, check out how many push ups you can do in 24 seconds and write that down. Ok. Now you're ready. A few other tips. If you are not going to do SOME kind of physical activity, even if it's only going for a dog walk a few times a week, AND make the commitment to follow the dietary suggestions, you might as well not waste the money. I know some distributors would probably not say that, but I'm going to be honest...the price of the bundle is NOT ridiculous, in fact I think it's pretty reasonable, but if you aren't going to follow the other parts of the program, there are no magic pills that will help you achieve your goal. You don't have to be perfect. But you have to be willing to really examine yourself and your habits and TRY. 

Ok, now for the fun part! RECIPEEEEEEESSSSS!!!! 

For Day 1, our meals looked like this:

Along with the AdvoCare products, we had breakfast, AM snack, lunch, PM snack, & dinner. So for Day 1, Breakfast and Dinner were either pretty plain or leftovers not really worth mentioning here. But Lunch. Oh sweet, sweet lunch. I'll never forget the first time the savory flavors of my first Chipotle bowl touched my lips. My brother had been dating this TERRIBLE girl who apparently only had one thing going for her: she lived near a Chipotle, and we didn't. Long story short, he took me to one when we flew to Kansas for my sister's wedding and since that day I've been O.B.sessed! So of course, I knew I needed to learn how to recreate it, and if you leave off the sour cream and cheese, and eat a more reasonable portion than is served in the restaurant, it's TOTALLY 24DC approved!! So here's the recipe :) You're welcome.

Also, just a little side note about meal prep. I use My Fitness Pal (MFP) to track and log all of my food and exercise. Like I mentioned before, plans and tracking really work well with my personality. Alice just eats what I give her, but I put all of my food into the app to check my nutritional intake. I'll try and post more about that soon, but since I do that, I pretty much weigh everything I eat. So for example, when making the turkey & bean mixture below, I know (from learning on MFP) that a serving of ground turkey is about 4 oz cooked, so there's 4 servings in a pound. And the same for the black beans. So if I want to have both but have the portions of each equal 1 serving total, then I have 8 servings of the mixture. To determine what that serving size is, I place an empty bowl big enough for the entire mixture on my kitchen scale and set the tare. This zeros out the weight of the bowl. Then I put the entire mixture in the bowl and divide the total weight by 8. Then I use the individual portion weight to divide out the portions. You don't have to do this so exactly as I do. You could also measure the mixture by cups and divide it by 8 and see what comes up. Do what works best for you and your life, but try to make the servings as consistent in size as possible.

Homemade Chipotle Bowls

Taco Seasoned Ground Turkey & Black Beans (makes 8 servings)

1 tbsp Chili powder
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Onion powder
2 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Oregano, dried
1/4 tsp Crushed Red Chili Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Paprika
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 large, White Onion, chopped

2 cloves Garlic, minced (I really recommend a garlic press, I use mine EVERYDAY)
1 lb, Black Beans (I prefer to cook them from dry, but you can also use 1 can)
1 lb, Turkey - Ground, raw

Brown the turkey in the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until soft. Add all of the spices, 1/4 cup of water, and the beans. Heat through. 

Cilantro Lime Rice 

2 cups Brown Rice 

1/2 bunch Cilantro, chopped

1 lime

If you have a rice cooker (and if you don't, consider it. If I could only grab one appliance in my kitchen during a fire, this would be it) prepare the rice per the instructions. If you don't, read the instructions on your package and follow them. Once it's finished, let it cool for a few minutes, and then squeeze in the juice from the one lime and mix everything with the chopped cilantro. 

Toppings- Romaine Lettuce, Salsa, Avocado, Hot Sauce

Assembly: 

1/2 cup of Cilantro Lime Rice as the bed, top with 1 serving of the Turkey & Beans, add 1-2 cups of romaine lettuce, salsa, 1/4 of an avocado, and hot sauce. YUM YUM YUMMMY!!

This is kind of a hard one to beat, but keep checking in, and I'll try to out do it. ENJOY!!