How I Lost 24 lbs in 24 Days
My honest review of the 24-Day Challenge
It all started with a phone call.
I remember the moment distinctly — I was headed back from a trip to my family’s ranch and received a call from my friend Mark after having reached out to him on Facebook for weight loss advice. He told me about the Advocare 24-Day Challenge and how he and his wife had lost weight together and how they felt better, etc etc.
Admittedly, I was intrigued, but I was waiting for the part of the phone call where I would ask him how much it was, and whether I could fit that into my budget or not.
Because, lets be honest…$190 is a lot of money for anyone to spend on something that they’re unsure about. Yes, you can spend $200 on shoes, but you know exactly what you’re getting — shoes. You can go to the grocery store and blow $200 EASY (I do it all the time), but at least I know my refrigerator will be stocked for a week or two.
That’s the problem with committing to the 24 Day Challenge; people don’t know what they’re getting in return, so they’re extremely skeptical and oftentimes let their superego decide for them, before ever allowing their id to play a role in the decision. If you’re looking to lose weight and feel like you have tried everything, but have yet to see the results you want — I’m telling you to be less analytical, and more primordial. Because if you listen to every single Amazon.com review of Advocare or read blog sites that bash their “pyramid structure” you’re building a psychological silo that you’ll never hurdle.
And when it comes down to it, Advocare is about the products, not the press.
I went out on a limb and purchased the 24-day challenge from Mark. I read the booklet it came with and did my due diligence on what I could and couldn’t eat. I stuck to the diet psychologically, which turned into instinct, unconsciously.
Let me break down the two phases to you, and my experience during them.
The 10-Day Cleanse Phase:
Undoubtedly, the hardest part of the challenge. They throw it at you for the first 10 days to see what you’re really made of. Seriously, if you can bully through the first 10 days of no cokes, no processed foods and no empty calories (everything I was used to consuming), you’ll leave the 10 days feeling like you can do anything.
I lost around 18-20 lbs during the cleanse. I went from 232 lbs to 212-214 respectively. The biggest change for me was drinking as much water as I did. This has turned into a necessity for me, even after completing the challenge nearly a week ago. The fiber drink is also pretty sucky. It tastes bad, but you just chug it. You can’t mix it and sip it for a few minutes or it will congeal quickly — you just have to pretend like it’s Keystone Light and you’re John Belushi in Animal House.
The biggest motivator for me was losing nearly 1-2 lbs a day. I knew that most of it had to be water weight, but that’s typical for any cleanse. I was literally cleaning my digestive tract of 20+ years of eating processed foods and things that were never meant to be ingested in the first place.
This part of the challenge leaves you feeling lighter, healthier and ready to take on the MNS phase.
The MNS Phase:
So, after day 10, you find yourself ingesting 8-10 pills a day. That was a little bit of a turnoff for me, but I don’t have a big problem taking pills so it was whatever. I just did it and didn’t think about it. The booklet that it comes with shows you when to take everything, so after the first couple of days, it becomes routine.
I found that while I continued to lose weight during this phase, I didn’t lose nearly as much as I did during the cleanse.
Instead, I lost inches.
To me, that was way more important than losing even 50 lbs. Losing inches is the true motivator. Fitting in jeans you wore in high school is the true motivator. Feeling unafraid to shop for slim-fit clothes is the true motivator.
The reason why I gave the challenge an A- instead of an A+ is because of the headaches I began to have during the MNS phase. Something about how I spaced out my meals from the time I took the pills gave me headaches. I even got sick on the MNS phase (unrelated) and hopped back on it a day or two later and still had headaches. I reached out to Mark and his wife and they advised me that the “MNS Control” pills can sometimes do that if you don’t eat soon enough after taking them. So, I simply ate sooner, and they went away.
Can I mention that the level of support you receive during this journey is absolutely awe-inspiring? Seriously, I’ve had the greatest support system this entire time, and that was one thing that really helped me stay strong during the challenge.
That’s why I’ve posted recipes that will hopefully make the transition easier and help others reach their goal. That’s why I’m writing this post — to help you understand what to expect during the challenge and show you that there is an entire community of Advocare supporters waiting to catch you on the other end of that leap of faith.
This is me after my 24 day challenge — 24 lbs down, 4 inches smaller in the waist, and a whole lot happier:
Since the challenge, I’ve found that my workouts are WAY more impressive, my recovery times are shorter and my body responds better to the type of workouts that just made me sore before.
The whole experience has taught me a huge lesson: I can live outside my comfort zone and enjoy being healthy. As a chef, that’s not easy. As a marketing person who works in an office, that’s definitely not easy. But as someone who truly cares for their own personal well-being, it’s a no-brainer.
Because 24 days and $200 later, I know what I invested in — myself.
Are you ready to change your life and invest in yourself? Visit my site, take the 24 day challenge and come back for recipes and advice that will help guide you through your weight loss journey. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or comments: brandon.hurtado05@yahoo.com
Until next time,
-B
