My Advocare 24 Day Jumpstart Experience

For the next 24 days Kev and I are doing the Advocare 24 Day Jumpstart, previously known as the 24 Day Challenge. They recently moved to a new system called ONE/80 where the first 24 days are the jumpstart, the next 28 are the optimize phase, and the last 28 are the lifestyle change.

Advocare, for those of you who don’t know, is a company that promotes physical and financial wellness through their nutritional, weight-management and sports performance products and also their coaching techniques. Although I am an Advisor with them, I don’t actually actively sell the products. Together, Kev and I have been taking a variety of their vitamins and supplements for the last 8ish years and Kev even took them during high school! We’ve really enjoyed many of their products which is why we continue to use them with great success.

Below I’ll be reviewing my experience with the 24 Day Jumpstart, not as an attempt to sell any of you, but as an information guide for anyone curious to see if their products might be a good for your body. If you’re curious about any of the products, shoot me an email and I can help you out!

So, let’s kick this off, shall we?

DAY 1-10 SCHEDULE

30 Minutes Before Breakfast: Spark (vitamin and energy supplement), ProBiotic Restore Ultra

Breakfast: AdvoCare Fiber, 8oz of water, Loaded Smoothie

Mid-Morning Snack

Lunch

Mid-Afternoon Snack & Optional Snack

Dinner & Omegaplex (Fish Oil)

Evening Snack

Bedtime: Herbal Cleanse Tablets

DAY 1 RECIPES & SNACKS

Breakfast: We’ll be having the same breakfast every day for the first 10 days. On Sunday evening I took about 10 minutes and prepped all of our smoothies for the week and I’m so glad I did!

Recipe for 2 smoothies: 1 banana, 2 cups unsweetened almond/coconut milk, 1/2 cup water, 8 strawberries, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1 tablespoon ground flax seed, 3/4 cup rolled oats, 1 large handful kale. Freeze everything (but liquid) in portioned containers then blend with milk and water and drink! So tasty!!

Snack: 1 sliced apple and 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter.

Lunch: Spinach Hummus Lunch Wraps from Love and Lemons.

Snack: Yogi Detox Tea, 1 date and peanut butter and a couple of Nut Thins.

Dinner: Avocado and Egg Salad from Pinch of Yum served on brown rice cakes.

Snack: Homemade yogurt, cantaloupe, salted pistachios, drizzled in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.

DAY 1 PHOTOS

DAY 1 THOUGHTS

This is the 4th or 5th time we’ve done the challenge and this was definitely the easiest start we’ve had. That’s a good sign!! It means our bodies weren’t in as rough of shape as they’ve been in the past and the detox/cleansing isn’t as intense. With that being said, I did have a few carb and sugar cravings yesterday, but having snacks prepped and ready to go made sure I didn’t give into those cravings. A date slathered in peanut butter is good for the sugar craving and a few rice crackers hits the spot for the carb/salt craving.

I had a mild headache yesterday afternoon, but I think it might have been due to the all the sneezing/nose blowing I was doing (thanks Austin allergies). My stomach felt great and I can already tell my skin is clearing up (it’s been super rough for the past couple of weeks).

The main reason for me doing this challenge is to help heal my gut and get it back in good working order. I’ve always had a fair amount of stomach issues, but I’m starting to learn that the majority of it is contributed to off and on good and bad gut health coupled with dairy, gluten, and sugar intake. Resets are always good to get yourself back on track with healthy eating!

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DAY 2 RECIPES & SNACKS

Breakfast: Same as yesterday! The world’s best smoothie and that ohhhhhh so tasty fiber drink.

Snack: I didn’t get super hungry today, so I just grabbed a couple of Nut Thins.

Lunch: Leftover Avocado and Egg Salad on rice cakes. This is seriously an AWESOME meal for the cleanse. It’s incredibly filling and has absolutely nothing unclean.

Snack: I was making our dinner for the next two nights during this time period, so I snacked here and there on a couple ingredients. So, my snack was a few bites of chicken, a few shrimp, and a tad bit of brown rice. I also had my Yogi Detox Tea at this point.

Dinner: Easy Chili Lime Fish Tacos from Pinch of Yum, but made with shrimp instead of the fish. We already had a bag of shrimp in the freezer and it was just as yummy! We also had some carrots and hummus and a few bites of cantaloupe.

Snack: Last night we were out walking around for SXSW, so I packed string cheese and an 85% tiny dark chocolate bar in case we were tempted to buy something at one of the food trucks. It worked!! We didn’t feel like we needed anything else.

DAY 2 PHOTOS

I didn’t get very many pictures, yesterday, but here’s the chili lime shrimp all ready to be TACO’d!

DAY 2 THOUGHTS

Overall, my energy levels were good yesterday and I wasn’t as hungry throughout the day as I was on day 1. My skin continues to clear up and my poops (TMI?) are becoming more normal. I did go on a quick 1 mile run yesterday and had to stop a few times to catch my breath, probably because I just haven’t had many carbs in the last couple of days and my body is still adjusting. I’ve noticed a few dry patches on my face, so am going to keep an eye on those the next few days to see if they go away. Again, my guess is that my skin is just going through a period of reset and there might be a few unfavorable symptoms before it gets better. All said, another great day!

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DAY 3 RECIPES & SNACKS

Breakfast: Same as yesterday! Smoothie for both of us and then Kev had 2 eggs right before he left for work to tide him over a little longer.

Snack: Handful of grapes and a spoonful of peanut butter

Lunch: Chicken Tikka Masala made in the pressure cooker and brown rice. Sooo tasty tastes!

Snack: Nothing. Not the best idea to keep my metabolism going, but I got super busy and just spaced off eating anything.

Dinner: I made a big salad with a hodge podge of ingredients: kale, spinach, avocado, red onion, cucumber, and leftover shrimp all tossed in a homemade yogurt lime southwest dressing. Half of it got wrapped up in a whole grain tortilla! (gotta make a taco out of everything, right?)

Snack: No snack for me tonight! Kev had a yogurt, berry, pistachio parfait.

DAY 3 PHOTOS

DAY 3 THOUGHTS

Day 3 went great! Energy levels are still up and I’m really enjoying all of the food we’re getting to eat. “Getting to eat” might sound like a weird phrase, but so many people when they hear we’re doing a cleanse assume we’re drinking prune juice all day and chewing on raw broccoli. Not the case at all! We get to eat really yummy, clean food!

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DAY 4 THOUGHTS and MEALS

Quick update today! I literally ate the same thing yesterday as I did on Day 3. Hello meal prep food! My stomach was feeling a little queasy all day yesterday, but nothing to be concerned about. Just a little uncomfortable. I can tell quite a bit of difference in my face and belly just from the first few days of cleansing, and from past experience, I know it’s going to continue to slim down! Hello again to a healthier gut and sayonara to extra winter chins.

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DAY 5-10 THOUGHTS/MEALS/PICS

We’ve been eating SO WELL the last week. I’m really loving all the new recipes we’ve tried and haven’t felt like we’ve been lacking in anything. There have been a couple of times I’ve been dreaming about freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, but whenever crazy craving for something sweet I’ll eat a date smothered in peanut butter or make a fruity smoothie. Both have done the trick and I haven’t cheated at all yet!

Our meals for the last 5 days have been:

Pressure Cooker Chana Masala over brown rice

Taco Bowls with Cucumber Jalapeño Ranch dressing

Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato and Kale – definitely my favorite from the week!!

Sheet Pan Salmon with Cauliflower with Spice Rub

Goddess Curry Chicken Salad

And our snacks have been:

Hummus and carrots

Steamed Edamame

Yogurt and berries

Almonds, grapes, apples, peanut butter, celery

I’ve felt really full of energy this cleanse; so much so that I’m having trouble sleeping at night. I just don’t ever really get the feeling that my body/brain are ready to go to sleep, and when I do, I seem to be restless in the night. Unfortunately, even though I’ve had a lot of energy, when I’ve tried to run my body has been pretty tired. So, mentally and at a normal state of activity, I’m feeling energized, but think I’m still a bit too depleted to do an excess of physical activity. I think that will change as soon as we transition to the max phase where we’re pumping ourselves with vitamins and supplements to recharge our bodies and continue on a path to greater strength and endurance! We’ll be starting that phase on Thursday and I’ll be updating throughout as well.

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DAY 11-24 MEALS

Our dinners and lunches for the max phase of the 24 day challenge were:

Saucy Paleo 5 Spice BBQ Meatballs over quinoa or brown rice

Salmon Burgers With Slaw (use gluten free breadcrumbs in the burgers)

Instant Pot Lentil Gumbo {VEGAN}

Sweet Potato Chickpea Burgers

Indonesian Rice Salad with Tofu (go easy on the oil)

Pinto Bean and Swiss Chard Baked Burritos (whole wheat tortillas and go really light on the cheese)

Our snacks have continued to be mostly the same, but we HAVE switched up our morning breakfast smoothie to THIS ONE. I omit the protein powder and use a combo of flax/chia/oatmeal instead and also throw a handful of spinach in there for some morning greens. It seriously tastes like a milkshake, but it’s packed with great nutrients!

I was actually out of the country for days 15-22, so I asked Kev to reflect on how days 11-24 went for him. And, since I’ve been back and am working my way through the remainder of the challenge, I’m agreeing with all of his sentiments as well.

Reflections from Kev…

Almost all of my sugar cravings are gone, most of my bad snack cravings are gone, and overall it’s just been easier to pick up something healthy rather than something easy and processed.

I’ve been taking the MNS C pills and decided on day 12 to stop having any spark during the day due to the amount of caffeine already in the pills. I’ve also discovered that it’s better to split up a few of the caffeine heavy pills throughout the day to lessen the jitters.

On day 22, I introduced my 1 cup of morning coffee back into my diet and moved 1 of my morning caffeine pills to lunchtime instead.

Overall, my mental clarity and focus have been great. The combination of a changed diet, omitting bad snacking habits, and having the MNS pills in my system have all contributed to an overall increased wellness!

Reflections from Jessie…

I echo everything that Kev did, except for I have to approach my MNS packets a bit differently. My body is extremely sensitive to caffeine, so I can only take one of the caffeine heavy pills per day, and I choose to take it at lunch after I have a good amount of food in my system. Otherwise it’s too much and I’m all over the place jittery and a bit nauseous.

Since I have 14 days worth of extra pills that I’ve pulled from my packets, I’m using those along with my stand-alone bottles of Coreplex, Omegaplex, Probiotics, and Catalyst to continue my daily regime after the actual challenge has technically finished.

Overall, I’ve been feeling awesome! A diet reset is something that can be so beneficial for both your body as well as your mind. And, my gut health has greatly improved too after getting all the toxins out of my system. Our plan moving forward is to adopt an 80%/20% manner of eating where we eat clean 80% of the time but still allow 20% for date nights, gatherings with friends, and occasional sweet treats!

If you have any questions about the challenge, don’t hesitate to reach out!!