Half-way Mark!

Well, it's the end of day 2 in the Max Phase of the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge. That means that it's officially the halfway mark. It seems weird to say I'm halfway done. From here on out, I have less time in front of me on this challenge than I've completed, and that's pretty cool. It really feels like it's gone by fast. Despite being super hungry a lot of the time and the initial caffeine addiction I had to get over, it hasn't been that bad. Ok, the hunger really sucks. Of course, if I'm being fair, I could be eating more, I'm just trying to keep to my FitBit meal plan and calorie allotment, so that makes the challenge harder.

I started looking around for plan approved baking recipes and I've found some different treats I want to try out. One that I did try was some homemade Larabars. If you aren't familiar with Larabars, they are fruit and nut bars, natural ingredients, no preservatives and all that jazz. I made some oatmeal raisin ones that were quite tasty. Not terribly low in calories, but not so much that they were a deal breaker as a snack. The recipe called for oatmeal, raisins, walnuts (I substituted peanuts), salt, and vanilla. I added a bit of cinnamon because it seemed like a good idea. It's all puréed together until it makes a sticky "dough" which gets formed into bars - if you want, that is, really, you can do any shape you want. The recipe makes 3 "Larabars" at about 180 kcal each. Well, mine were about that. Maybe the peanuts are especially high in calories because the recipe said they are 175. No matter, with no added sugar or fat and no refined grains, it's allowed in the plan, so I'm happy. And they were tasty. That's the best part. Wee man ate one and loved it, so I'll have to keep the recipe even after this program is over.

So, that was the most exciting part of the day. I'm hoping to try some muffins tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Here's the meal plan for today:

- Spark Energy Drink

- Breakfast - Meal Replacement Shake

- Morning Snack - Pear

- Lunch - Catfish and carrots (leftovers)

- Afternoon Snack - homemade "Larabar"

- Dinner - Baked chicken thighs, green beans, carrots, kale

Despite my huge helping of veggies, the hunger set in not long after dinner. It's depressing, really. Oh well. Calorie count is still at a deficit and under allotment. I just have to keep that in mind. Bed soon... Tomorrow we go again.