The time for my review of the 24 Day Advocare Challenge has arrived. Brace yourself, this is going to be a long post!
To remind you, my pre-Advocare measurements & weight are below:
Waist: 39 inches
Hips: 50 inches
Chest: 42 inches
Arm: 15 inches
Stomach: 45.5 inches
Thigh: 25 inches
Weight: 243 pounds
How are things looking post-Challenge? Let’s see…
Waist: 38 inches
Hips: 48 inches
Chest: 43.5 inches
Arm: 15 inches
Stomach: 43.5 inches
Thigh: 24 inches
Weight: 237 pounds
Total lost? 6 inches and 6 pounds. We won’t count the chestal region since that seems to fluctuate like crazy on me for some reason.
Verdict? The Challenge worked, but not as well for me as I’ve seen for others. Granted, I did have quite a few cheat days or meals. I know if I’m not giving it everything I have I’m not going to get the most amazing result. There are products that I think really helped me a lot and others that I feel like were a complete waste of money & even made me feel a bit ill. So on that note, it’s time for the product reviews:
Advocare 24 Day Challenge Bundle ($190.25 + shipping) Rating: 3/5
This consists of:
• One box of Herbal Cleanse-Citrus
• One bottle of OmegaPlex®
• One box of AdvoCare Spark®-Mandarin Orange
• One box of AdvoCare Spark®-Fruit Punch
• Your choice of one box of Meal Replacement Shakes – Chocolate Mocha, Chocolate, Vanilla, Berry or Vegetarian Dark Chocolate
• Your choice of one box of MNS® Max 3, C, or E
(I’ll review each of these separately, as well as break out costs of each individual product.)
Catalyst ($31.50 + shipping) Rating: 5/5
This is by far my favorite product from Advocare and one that I will continue to use now that the 24 Day Challenge is complete. It’s supposed to support fat burning rather than muscle burning when you’re dieting and working out. I have no idea if this can be attributed to Catalyst or not, but in my workouts I have been able to walk on the treadmill longer, without getting muscle aches and I’ve noticed that in the three weeks that I’ve been going to the gym again and lifting weights I can actually see/feel some muscle in my body. I’ve worked out in the past and never had that happen.
Herbal Cleanse ($31.50 + shipping) Rating: 5/5
I really liked this product. It did what it is intended to do and “clears you out” without going into more detail than that. You’re supposed to do this once every 3 months and I will definitely repurchase this (although in the other flavor, I’ve heard that the Peaches & Cream is a much more tolerable flavor than the Citrus that the Challenge comes with). The fiber drinks can be a little tough to drink due to their thick consistency, but I really didn’t have an issue with this. Mix and drink them quickly so they don’t get chunky. I actually bought the Peaches & Cream fiber drinks separately from this Cleanse to help… keep things moving… which is sometimes a problem when you’re on the Paleo diet.
Advocare Spark Energy Drink ($51.95 + shipping for a canister or $22.95 + shipping for 14 pouches) Rating: 5/5
I bought the canister of the Fruit Punch after going through 3 of the 14 pouch boxes. I’ve tried Watermelon (delicious), Mango Strawberry (delicious), Fruit Punch (delicious) and Citrus (not a fan). I went with the Fruit Punch because I was hoping my fiancé would drink this too and he loves Fruit Punch. I love this stuff. I’m not a caffeine drinker at all, so having this once a day I literally felt like I had a surge of energy coursing through my veins. I’ve heard rumors that it has a Splenda like ingredient in it that has people crying “cancer!,” but honestly… everything causes cancer these days, so I’m going to enjoy my one Spark drink each day and enjoy the fact that it gives me the energy I need to get my ass to the gym… I’m pretty sure not having energy and continuing my couch potato existence would kill me in the long run too, so this is a fair trade-off in my books. If you’re already a caffeine drinker anyway, I have a hard time believing that what is in this Spark is any worse than anything in Mountain Dew or Diet Coke.
Advocare Slam ($35.95 + shipping) Rating 3.5/5
Basically a 5 hour energy drink. I liked these and the shot of energy they provided, but I wouldn’t buy them again. We got them for “free” when signing up to be a distributor along with some more Spark.
MNS Max 3 ($45.95 + shipping) Rating 1/5
This is a mix of various vitamins that are supposed to maximize your fat loss and energy. That being said, I was not a fan of these at all. They hurt my stomach (they have very specific times to take everything), I felt no additional surge of energy or anything like that. I preferred the Cleanse phase of the Challenge because it honestly felt like I was doing something that was causing weight loss in that phase… the Max phase didn’t do a thing for me. Edited to add: I just took the last of these pills with my lunch today & literally feel like I am going to get sick. Thank goodness today is the last day, because after feeling like this way too many days in a row, I would probably throw the rest of these pill packages away after feeling the way I do now. I’m sure this product doesn’t make everyone feel like this, but for me it’s a complete miss.
OmegaPlus ($21.95 + shipping) Rating 4/5
This is essentially fish oil, but I love it. It’s much more concentrated than the kind I bought from Meijer and used on a daily basis previously and the price isn’t THAT outrageous. I will buy this again once I run out because I do think fish oil is something that everyone should take on a daily basis & the concentrations make it worth the price.
Meal Replacement Shake ($44.95 + shipping) Rating: 2/5
I bought this in the Chocolate Mocha flavor. My friend got the Berry flavor and I have to say I much preferred the taste of the Chocolate Mocha option. That being said, I think this product is way overpriced for what it is. Its 220 calories and it does not fill you up at all. I preferred making scrambled eggs & veggies every morning. If I was going to use Meal Replacement Shakes, I’d probably buy a canister of Slim Fast for a fraction of the price.
ThermoPlus ($31.95 + shipping) Rating: 2/5
I wish I had not purchased this product at all. It’s supposed to support fat lose/ramp up your metabolism, but I’ve since read reviews and there is no evidence to really support that it does that at all. I’ll keep taking them until I run out, but I wouldn’t buy again because I feel like they weren’t worth the cost.
To make a long story short, I believe that the 24 Day Challenge is hugely beneficial for people who have not been dieting/eating healthy recently. I’ve said in the past that I need a gimmick in order to stick with anything weight loss related. That being said, I think sticking with Paleo would have been more beneficial to me than dropping all the money on the 24 Day Challenge. My weaknesses are carb related, and by cutting those out I was bound to lose weight. I didn’t need all the other stuff to help with my diet. What I did need something to help give me the energy necessary to go to the gym after a long day at work and there are definitely some Advocare products that helped me do just that. Spark, OmegaPlus, Catalyst and the fiber drinks are products that I will continue to buy myself (with my 20% distributor discount, of course – if you are going to buy Advocare products at regular intervals, spend the $79 and become a distributor for the bonus products and the 20% discount… you can sign up at my site) for the foreseeable future.
My friend was down 15 pounds on this Challenge the last time I checked. That’s amazing. I know that what works for me isn’t going to work for everyone else and vice versa. Advocare has been amazing for jump-starting her weight loss. For me, weighing in at 237 is fine and dandy, but I was down to 235 on Paleo (yes, only for a day, but I did get there!) and I truly believe that sticking with Paleo would have been enough to get me back to that point and beyond. I do to some degree that maybe I am turning fat into muscle and muscle weighs more than fat and all that stuff and if that is the case I can’t be upset at all. I do feel like I look better today than I did 24 days ago. What does this mean for my future? I’ll continue to drink the Spark (which is definitely NOT Paleo friendly), the Catalyst, the OmegaPlus and the fiber drinks as needed, as well as eating an 80/20 Paleo diet and allowing the occasional cheat meal (Valentine’s Day is coming up, I’m going to enjoy myself at Maggiano’s!). Most importantly though, I’m going to keep up my gym visits and try to get more consistent with them.
And with that, it’s time to bring back the focus of this blog to what it originally started as – wedding planning. According to my countdown app on my phone, we’re down to 116 days, just under 4 months and it is time to get busy! I’ve been doing a lot more wedding prep in the past few days so I’ll post again this week with updates on that. Thanks to everyone who followed along with my Advocare journey! If you’re just starting out on Advocare good luck! Let me know how it works for you!
