Entry 1: Reasons I started this advocare journey

I’ve been feeling tired and sleep deprived for at least 10-15 years – definitely all through graduate school and the past 5 years after internship as I built up my psychological private practice. The only time I felt any better was about 6 months after my hysterectomy in 2006 – I felt good for a few months after I healed from that major surgery because I was feeling what it was like to not deal with pain from endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) for the first time in about 15 years. That pain had taken more of a toll on me than I had ever realized while it was occurring. But the next year after my surgery I started having complications again with some of the same issues requiring more surgery; so my energy went down hill from there due to lack of hormones. I had to be taken off of hormone replacements immediately as the cysts escalated because they were feeding off the estrogen. So after many years of no energy, no good quality sleep and just feeling crummy in addition to mind blowing migraines 5 days a week I’m starting on advocare to see if I can get myself feeling better than I was before surgical menopause. 

Anyone woman knows that after menopause there is significant weight gain due to lack of hormones. Estrogen impacts so many things – mood, sleep, energy, weight, cognition, memory, emotions, body temperature (hot flashes), etc. I’ve seen a steady increase in weight and decrease in energy and focus/memory mostly even though I’ve been dieting and exercising consistently for years. I’ve just seen no response from my body even though I eat better and work out more than most very active and healthy women my age. I cut out carbs 1.5 years ago and I work out 2 hours a day 4-5 days a week with no results. I’ve done p90X, the firm, and the 4 hour body diet in the past 2-3 years but nothing has helped.

I’m hoping supplements may be the one area that I haven’t explored that may be the missing piece to all this. Plus, I’m slowly starting back on low doses of hormones while my cysts seem to be at a manageable level after another medical procedure last spring. So now I feel this is the perfect time for me to try to jump start my mood, metabolism and energy levels!!

Several female friends (sorority sisters) have found success on Advocare. I first heard them talking about it around the beginning of June (3 months ago) and I’ve watched their weight loss and heard their praises of Spark (energy drink). I’m always interested in weight loss advice, products or strategies because I hate having pounds to lose given that I spent a large part of my life starving myself to stay below my recommended weight. But try as I might the weight caught up with me after indulging in too much alcohol in college, trying medications to try to control migraines that have weight gain as side effects, and 7 years of too much inactivity in grad school while trying to just survive all the sleepless nights of cramming for tests and writing my dissertation. By the time I was nearing internship in 2006 the endometriosis and PCOS were in full swing which plays havoc on your weight as hormones are out of control and the pain restricts activity much of the time. Also, I have thyroid levels that are creeping higher each year that make losing weight almost impossible. It's all a scary combination.

So here I find myself looking for any opportunity to experiment with whatever will be the right fit for me. Given all that, it was really the interest in Spark that drew me the most to advocare as I am a severe insomniac. Suffering from sleep deprivation is one of the worst things I’ve had to deal with because I’m a zombie all day and then my mind is racing at night as I try to work feverishly to catch up on what I missed during the day because I couldn’t fall asleep til 7 or 8 am and then I only get a few hours sleep and my schedule is now opposite of the rest of the world. It is a vicious cycle that I’ve been locked in for years. I’ve been desperately looking for something to help with energy to get me through my therapy and testing sessions during the weekday afternoons and evenings as I am fighting to stay awake every day. When I heard everyone praising Spark for limitless energy and mental focus I knew I had to try it because I HATE soda and just could never drink coffee. I had resorted to Mountain Dew the past year on days I had only gotten 2-4 hours sleep because I couldn’t stay awake through work. Given that I hate soda I knew I couldn’t do that for long. I needed a healthier solution that didn’t keep the weight on. 

So that’s how and why I got introduced to Advocare in June 2012. I told my sorority sister, Whitney, that I wanted to do the 24 day challenge and that I wanted to sign up as a distributor from day 1. I knew this was something that I was going to stick with for at least a few months to give it a valiant effort and I wanted the 20% discount so that I could buy as much of the products as I could afford. Stay tuned for my thoughts on the products and results as I try out all Advocare has to offer!