I want to start this challenge with a message to all those who are like me four days ago when I began my challenge. All those who looked at the scale for the first time in a long time and thought "WTF.. my scale is broken," reset it and tried again to discover that no, no it is not. Last week I found out that I am the heaviest I have ever been. I sat on the edge of the bed thinking " What happened? I workout pretty consistently, I eat alright." While those are true some of the time, and I strive to make those a reality all the time, the truth is that over the past seven months I have been more stressed and homesick than I ever have been.
Unfortunately, like many in those times I turn to food and alcohol, and like the good Irish girl I am, a lot of alcohol. It has become easier to numb stress and other issues by going out to restaurants and running up tabs and calorie counts instead of hitting the gym and running it out. While the result of this is often short-term relief, the long-term output of course is a less healthy lifestyle, and for me ridiculous weight gain.
Social worker and author, Brene Brown in her discussion on success stories writes: "Owning our story and loving ourselves through the process is the bravest thing we'll ever do."This quote dn the pages around it reveal the true importance of "the journey" as we so often are more focused on the before and after photos.What we many times don't see is the journey disguised as the caption above those photos saying " over 6 months Sally lost X amount of weight" or " over 3 months Randy lost X amount of weight." Instead, we strive to jump from our before photo into our brand new after.
What Brown stresses is that we not lose that journey, because Sally, Randy, you and I know that the journey is the most important thing. It is the hardest part, and therefore the part we all wish we could skip over. Wouldn't it be so easy to just go from "before" to "after"? The truth is that is would be easy, and undervalued. Like my weight gain I know some of you out there didn't gain weight just because you like to go out to eat, but because you are trying to cope with stress, fear of the unknown, exhaustion, self-esteem, or whatever it may be. This cleanse might freak you out, and that is totally fine because you are part of one of the supportive uplifting teams in the world, and no one NO ONE can do this alone so embrace them.
Advocare is all about building champions, "building" not "making." One thing we often overlook about champions is their defeat, and I will tell you my friends you will be defeated. You will have a day on this challenge where you think " I could just have one ______" whatever your comfort food or drink is, and you may even have it. The thing that will allow you to join the rank of champions however is that you show up the next day, because champions are applauded for their successes, but they are built by their defeats.
This challenge session I ask you to join me in pinpointing exactly why you are starting this. I ask you to dig deep, be vulnerable (I know this will be really hard for some), take away the layers that say " I am doing this to fit into a dress" or " I am doing this to attract men or women." Find a reason that is uniquely, perfectly you, that relies only on your own approval. Write it down, and keep writing every time you have a win, every time you walk out of the gym and think " How the hell did I just do 25 renegade rows without falling on my ass?" or "I've made it two days without coffee and no one around me is dead... God Bless Spark." Write it all down. Hold on to that feeling you had this morning as you stepped on that scale, or the feeling you had when you decided to start this challenge. Hold onto that motivation, then make a promise that you will never go back there, because living in those micro-successes feels so much better than a bag of Tostitos and salsa (sorry Tostitos I still love you, but I need some space).
Today I promise I will never look and feel this way again.
Are you with me champions?
LET'S GO ALL IN!
FrankenFrittata
This recipe is based off of the frittata I made during the last cleanse session with a little twist from the Pinterest universe. To make this a true FrankenFrittata you must do the following: 1. Do not read the instructions all the way through 2. Put all ingredients in the pan then realize you were supposed to bake the crust first and try to dump out the egg mixture resulting in everything falling into the same bowl 3. Attempt to salvage it because you just used literally the eggs you had 4. Please do not make a Frankenstein frittata, while still delicious it will be more delicious if you do not follow the above directions ....
Sweet Potato Crusted Frittata
Inspired by Vitamin Sunshine
Crust
1 Large Sweet Potato, shredded
2 Teaspoons Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Frittata
8 Eggs
1/2 Sweet Onion
2 Cups Fresh Spinach
1/2 Tomato
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper (optional)
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425º. Place shredded sweet potato into pie pan and press to create a solid crust. Cover with foil, then bake for 30 minutes (if making Frankenstein Frittata wait until you incorrectly put all ingredients in the frittata pan... see photo below)
2. Begin mixing your ingredients together. I threw them all in the bowl together and whipped them, but you can always whip the eggs first them add veggies.
3. Let the sweet potato crust cool slightly, then add egg mixture, recover with foil and baked for another 20 minutes.
4. Lower oven temp to 320º and remove foil. Bake for 10-15 more minutes until eggs are firm throughout.
5. Slice it up and enjoy!
As always keep running, and dancing and being a champ!
