So... yesterday ended our Advocare 24-Day Challenge. We started it back in early June. I had hoped to lose 10-20 pounds. And... not so much. I started off well - averaging about a pound a day the first week - and that's about all I ended up losing (~8 lbs).
I must confess, it wasn't all the fault of the diet though. I followed it pretty strictly at first, but around Father's Day I slipped on the food and drinking. Otherwise I didn't have any problem with the food part - it really wasn't any different than our normal diet. The biggest issue for me was the alcohol. I discovered it was more of a problem than I thought. I really only drank beer a few times, but some changes are definitely in store for me. I will write about that later. I also wasn't able to exercise the way I wanted to. Part of that was due to being sick, and part of it was my own laziness.
I will say this, though, even though I didn't lose as much as I wanted to... it's amazing how much better I feel just losing those 8 pounds. I've actually thought about starting it over, but I think I'm going to try some other things instead. I still want to drop another 10-15 pounds over the summer. Actually, I kind of NEED to if I want to do the things I want to do. So we'll see. I'm trying not to get too fanatical about it, but it will require a life-change regardless. Which I think really is the sign of a successful diet: it's not how much weight you lose, but whether it results in any long-term life change. In that regard... yes, I'm glad I did it.