Embracing a Healthy Family: Read How the Advocare System Helped My Friend Get in Shape

I've tried so many products to help lose weight and many of the products would work if I stuck to them but I have a bad habit of not sticking to the plan. I know that if I have a buddy system, I can be more successful. This is where my friend Trish comes in. She's an Advocare success story. She proved it works and now I'm going to try it. I know how many others struggle with what works and what doesn't so I wanted to share Trish's story and I will be adding updates on how well I do. This is not a sponsored or paid post as I did buy the products to try.

Trish's story:

At 14, I had the ultimate teenage dream body; flat stomach, toned legs, slim arms….everything. At 21, I was filled out and in a wedding dress on my way to becoming a Navy Wife. I was a dream to my Husband and although parts of me were showing signs of endless drinking games and all nighters at the local burger joint I was happy. At 24, my body was a wee bit more maternal. I was a new Mom and with that I figured an 80 pound baby would be popping out during labor and yet again I’d be slim. No- she wasn’t even 8 pounds. Damn. During a 4 year break in between children I had managed to lose 40 of those former baby weight pounds and I was proud of that and then my Husband and I got just a bit too excited about trying for another baby and my weight loss journey stopped because well, baby on board and at 28, a wee bit more weight packed on and again, I was disappointed that 60 pounds of baby wasn’t there. Sigh….at 30, I’m a fat ass. No seriously, if I was typing this then I would have hand to God inhaled the remainder of a bag of Muddy Buddies. No joke. It wouldn’t even have a chance. I am a busy Mom but my car ran the roads; I didn’t. So, where do I go? I’ve tried ALL of the weight loss programs. I was hungry, I was moody and I still snuck a nightly Snickers bar out of desperation. I sounded like Gollum…my precious candy….my precious. I prayed the kids wouldn’t hear me. So, I hit rock bottom and man….it sucked. But, I gave up and I was sort of just content to wearing 4x shirts and eating whatever I wanted to and every now and again worrying if I was going to end up like that Mom on “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”

Suddenly, I’m 31 and yep, still fat. I remember sighing and thinking to myself “why can’t I just stop? Why can’t I play with my kids or just do something physical to help myself out? I’m so tired. This sucks”. Then a friend of mine posted something on her Facebook newsfeed: “Hey! Anyone wanna join us for a quick 1 mile run this Saturday?” Running. Running. I tried out for track team in high school- I got 1/3 of the mile around the track before I felt like dying. I was NOT a runner by any means. And I certainly wasn’t going to start now at 332 pounds. I let the thought pass and went about my day; however the thought kept popping up so….I went. I looked like an idiot my first time. I did not have proper running shoes on, I was wearing something that was the equivalent to a sauna and I looked like a fat kid in a celery store. I was searching for a way out, this place scared me…dear God, where is the candy??!! Then the dreaded words: “okay, let’s get started”. Oh sweet baby Jesus, I will RUN to my car if it’ll count. This was a bad decision. I was going to die, in the middle of a nice neighborhood and like Gilbert Grapes Mom they may have to burn half of the subdivision down because they couldn’t move me. Just burn and rebuild. Easy. I felt my friends hand on my back and somewhere in those skin folds she assured me I would be fine. So I started out with a walk, then a trot….I feel like a horse. A horse that was given freedom to roam but was really off to the glue factory. Trickery is afoot. Then I breathed in, then out, then in and out….holy Mother, I was running! I wasn’t fast, but I was doing it. This was my first day of the last day of being fat. I was empowered and Twinkies could suck it.

Then last Winter I saw an advertisement for the Gate River Run. I mulled it over in my head- at that point I had successfully ran/walked/trotted in 5 different races and my eyes widened when I saw “every finisher gets a MEDAL!”” Yippeee!!!! I like shiny things! It would be my first medal ever and I was determined. Later, at a get together I noticed one of my friends. I mean, I always noticed her but I really noticed her on that day. She was happier, more energetic and did she lose weight? So I discreetly sashayed over to her and whispered “what are you on??” She looked at me, smiled and said “Oh…Advocare!”. Ad-what? Then she slipped me a packet of Spark. I seriously felt like this was illegal drug transactions happening. She was so energetic and happy….this is crack flavored like mangoes. So you know, not one to turn down a free anything; I drank it. Within a little bit of time I was happier, I was more energetic…I actually wanted to run long distances without a medal at the end waiting for me. I was done. I wanted more, I felt amazing! So then I talked to her about other products they had. She knew my struggles with my weight and she knew that all I wanted was to be free of it. That’s when she told me about Advocares 24 Day Challenge; a two part diet challenge that would change the way I felt, what I ate, how I looked. I wanted it- it was guaranteed to work and guaranteed that I would feel awesome. Well, I had Spark so of course if a simple powdered drink could do what it just did, I was all in. I ordered it and during the next 24 days; my clothes got bigger on me, my stomach got flatter, my cravings for sweets and fatty food diminished, my skin cleared up and my energy was through the roof. I raced the Gate River Run 15 pounds and 8.8 inches lighter. My friend who first turned me onto Advocare gave me some Rehydrate and Spark for the long run ( 9 MILES!!) and I felt on fire! I was Rocky on the steps! I was Britney Spears before she went bald and crazy! I was awesome!!

So, here we are. I’m almost 33 and I’m currently holding steady at 280 pounds. It’s totally not where I want to be…yet but I will get there. I’m in the middle of my second 24 day challenge now and have lost 4 inches and 5 pounds- I’m only on day 12. I have Spark to keep me going, Clear Mood to keep me from feeling down and the motivation that this coming February I will be running in the Glass Slipper Challenge at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. All in all, it’s 19.3 miles….my longest run ever at that point. I’m doing this because of Advocare. It gave me my life back and I’m proud to give these products everything I’ve got because it gave my kids their Mom back, it gave my Husband a Wife who thinks more of herself now, a woman who is happy and playful and would rather go outside and play than watch movies and eat all day. MY LIFE….finally. So, now I’m a distributor for the Advocare company. It’s not about the money I could make, for me it’s about empowering people with their goals and what they can do to achieve them. I would really love to have you see what Advocare can do for you because I KNOW it will change your life. I’m living proof. And, if you’ll allow me; I’d love to be with you every step of the way; cheering you on while you change your world!

Here's the website: https://www.advocare.com/13105846/