My second guest blogger- Devin. She is my roommate and she has inspired me more than probably anyone has in my blogging. I hope you enjoy what she has to say about her road to health and success:
Cleansing the Mind, Body and Spirit
Hey everyone, my name is Devin Albert and I am one of Chelsey’s roommates. I follow her blog regularly and encourage all of you to share her tips with your friends and family. It’s as easy as sharing a post you loved on your Facebook and Twitter!
I am honored to be Chelsey’s second featured blogger and hope you will all learn something from what you read here today. To get started, I will tell you a little bit about why I wanted to jump-start my weight loss. As a senior at Ohio University, I have fallen into a lifestyle of drinking cheap beer and less-than-wholesome food. I am ashamed to say that for most of my college career, living a healthy lifestyle has been somewhere toward the bottom of my “to-do” list.
After I heard Chels talking about the Advocare 24 day challenge, I became really interested in learning more-after all, I was going to be in Hilton Head in my bikini in a little over a month and I was less than excited to be seen in anything other than a poncho. Though I could not afford the entire 24 days, the cleanse was definitely affordable so I thought I would give the 10 day cleanse a shot!
As a female, my “I want to lose weight” kicks usually were sparked by something-whether it be a day I felt particularly gross, a boy that made me feel crappy, a day of shopping where everything looked awful, or some other sob story reason. The unfortunate consequences of using these kinds of things as motivation is within a day or two, you have a day you think you look good, or you don’t care about that boy anymore, or you stop going shopping because you are too broke anyways. My point is, motivations like those come and go rather quickly. I found that the only kind of motivation to KEEP ME MOTIVATED was something on-going.
The best way to phrase it is exactly what I told my mom on day 3 of the cleanse-I want to love myself on the outside, too. I can honestly say that I love who I am and am proud of the woman I have become. However, I am not even CLOSE to loving my outside as much as I love my inside. I want to feel great about myself in all aspects-so that is now my motivation. What is YOUR motivation?
After discovering my motivation, the cleanse was easier than I thought. I felt absolutely amazing, I was SEEING RESULTS and felt like a brand new woman.
I didn’t realize how crappy I felt until I felt THAT good.
I told Chelsey that I never wanted to come down from the high that I felt and that I could not wait to be confident in my body, rockin my bikini on the beach It’s all a state of mind-and you ARE stronger than your cravings. I thought I couldn’t live without certain things…I found out that they are a lot easier to say no to than I thought. It’s not just about cleansing your body, it’s about cleansing your mind, body and spirit.
Have the will power to know that you will feel better (and in turn, look better) without some of those things you crave. It’s also really important to surround yourself with a great support system. Chelsey helped me a lot just by telling me that she was proud of me. Sometimes, when we are doing something positive for ourselves, others jump at the chance to bring us down. Be happy enough with yourself that those comments don’t matter, and surround yourself with people that are happy FOR you and will motivate you to succeed.
Be EXCITED about being healthy-it can be really fun! You learn to love new foods you never even know you liked. In my journal that you can find here I highlight some delicious meals that are good for you too! If you get excited about getting healthy, not just getting skinny, your world will completely change. I started looking at certain foods and no matter how good they smelled or looked, I knew that they were extremely processed and held no nutritional value-I was grossed out. Do I still crave those foods sometimes? Sure I do…but those times I am disgusted by them, I remember the skinny girl that desperately wants to come out, and turn away.
I found that challenging myself daily added to my success. Whether it be the amount of water you drink, the number of times you are tempted and successfully say no, or simply making your work-out a little bit harder, you will prove to yourself that you are STRONG.
This cleanse was the perfect way for me to jump-start my weight loss. It’s not unhealthy; it’s not super challenging and you SEE RESULTS. I want to emphasize that I’m not trying to pedal Advocare products. However, this has been the most effective tool that I have ever used. You see fast results and more importantly FEEL AMAZING! Find what works for you, but the only person holding you back from reaching your ideal self is you. Find the reason you want to look and feel better and tell yourself every day what your hard work is going toward.
So what are these results I keep talking about? In 10 days, here is how my body changed:
I Lost 8 lbs, 1cm in my arms and essentially 2 inches (each) from my leg, waste and upper body measurements. That’s a really significant change in 8 days.
Weight loss is hard work, but the results are well worth it. I hope to continue on my path to a healthier me and look forward to reading about more people that were positively influenced by Chelsey and her goal to make a healthier America
Make sure to share her blog with your friends and family-she has a lot to offer! Not only does she teach me great recipes and small tips that can change your life, she is a fantastic support system for anyone who wants to get healthy. I definitely would not have been so successful in my 10-day cleanse if it weren’t for her motivation and support.
Thanks for reading, make sure you check out my Journal to read more in-depth about my experience!
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