My 21 Day Beachbody Ultimate Reset Journey - the PRE-CRAVINGS

June 16, 2016

Oh boy!! I am off my freakin rocker!! I'm starting my 21 Day Ultimate Reset on Monday and I'm eating freaking everything I can get my hands on that I crave!! Why oh why? What is going on?
 
The last couple of days I've been totally craving a delish, creamy, chocolate marshmallow malt. I mean a really decadent one. I found a recipe online by Bobby Flay (ya, I went searching for recipes and looking at all the delish pics) and I went to the store..., bought all the ingredients and made one. Okay, I made one for everyone in my house, but I was so excited for mine. Then, because I still had ice cream in the house, I had a bowl last night with hot fudge and marshmallow cream. I know right?

 
What happened today you ask? Ummmmmm......Panda Express Orange Chicken of course!! Oh I got it with brown rice though. LOL!! Like it really matters. It's like ordering a diet coke with your burger and fries. HA HA!!
 
My craving button in my head has turned on, my willpower and ability to turn it off ran away fast!
 
I have to tell you....I felt completely awful after eating ice cream and I'm sure I will feel the same a bit later after scarfing down this Panda Express. He's a cute little panda though isn't he?
 
Anyway....I don't know what's happening. Is it the fact that I know for 21 days I will be totally dialed in, no cheats, no tricks? Eating and drinking exactly what I'm told and when I'm told to do it? Am I fearing the cravings so I'm getting them out of the way? I have no clue but I have to tell you I cannot, really, truly, cannot wait to do this. This randomness that is going on with me right now is killing me!! I workout hard, really hard and I'm totally undoing it all with what I put in my mouth.
 
I think during these 21 days I will have plenty of "aha" moments about myself, my relationship with myself and my relationship with food. I'm sure it will uncover a few things that I didn't know and I welcome it!! I really want to embrace it all and totally rock this challenge out of the park.
 
Well......time to dust this off and let it go. I can't undo it now. Just do better from this moment on. Crossing my fingers for no cravings tonight!!

My 21 Day Beachbody Ultimate Reset Journey - the decision

June 13, 2016

I made a really big decision today that really makes me nervous but something is calling me to do this. For the last couple of months I keep hearing that little voice in my head telling me to do the 21 Day Ultimate Reset. I keep telling that voice to keep quiet. I have even had dreams about this Reset. They are really trying to get this message through. Soooooo.......I decided to listen. After watching a fellow coach's journey through the Reset this month and another friend and Legion of FIT coach doing it for the second time now I feel like it's my time. I purchased the 21 Day Ultimate Reset today.

My body is really needing me to do this. I feel like I have too many toxins built up and it's time to get serious about getting healthier. The 3 Day Refresh felt amazing and gave me a great jumpstart. I feel so good when I do the Refresh so I know I will feel even more amazing doing the Reset. My body hasn't been feeling well lately. I'm reacting more to what I eat, I'm getting more headaches, feeling very sluggish and I'm not able to shed any pounds so these are all signs that I have some unhealthy toxins built up.

So.....I'll be embarking on a 21 day journey when I get this. I hear that the food is absolutely amazing and delish. The absolute hardest part for me, to be totally honest, will be the no alcohol part. I mean absolutely none! Not a drop..... so please support me friends. Doing this in the summer will be tough but it's only 21 days. I will be doing this over the 4th of July so it will definitely be a challenge for me. I think it will be a mental challenge more than physical. I need this. I need to do this for me. I need to completely Reset my system to wake it up.

I need cheerleaders!! I'll let you know when I start and I'll probably video journal my experience through this. I know I can do it!! I just might be crazy, but I will succeed and it will be worth it.

How to kickstart your willpower

How 3-Day Refresh Strengthens Your Willpower

Beachbody has worked “jump start” micro-diets into our programs almost since the beginning, and with good reason. Starting off a prolonged series of workouts with a short boot-camp-style nutrition plan is more than just a way to shed a few pounds up front; it’s a powerful motivational tool. Not only are you training your willpower to take on harder tasks ahead, but with that dip on the scale, you’re affirming that you can do whatever you set your mind—and body—to do.

With this in mind, combining 3-Day Refresh with a workout program is the logical next step. This whole food and supplement-based program is intended to break the cycle of bad eating habits, and act as a challenge to put you in the right mind frame to succeed. In fact, Beachbody customer surveys indicated 73% of respondents felt the Refresh helped to break their bad eating habits. It can help you adjust to clean eating before you make a daily commitment to exercise.

The key to breaking these types of habits—or achieving any other goal—isn’t what you’re capable of doing as much as what you think you’re capable of doing. It’s called “mastery” or perceived control. In his book The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control, psychologist Walter Mischel describes this as “the belief that you can be an active agent in determining your own behavior, that you are able to change, grow, learn, and master new challenges.”

If that doesn’t ring a bell, you may also know mastery from the Little Engine’s mantra: “I think I can. I think I can.”

So adding a shorter challenge to the front of a longer challenge is a good opportunity to see that you have the right stuff. You knuckle down for three days and are quickly rewarded for your efforts. Maybe it’s not quite the challenge you’ll face in [INSERT PROGRAM HERE], but it’s a challenge nonetheless—and an opportunity to see what you’re made of.

And, in all likelihood, taking on a “mini” challenge like the 3-Day Refresh doesn’t just inspire you. It very well could be strengthening your willpower on a deeper level. Research has established that willpower works like a muscle in the sense that it gets fatigued when you push it too hard. With this in mind, it’s only logical that willpower can be strengthened—again, just like a muscle. In Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney discuss the notion of “willpower workouts,” citing endurance artist David Blaine, whose stunts include fasting for 44 days and holding his breath for 17 minutes. He works up to these feats by, well, working up to them. “Getting your brain wired into little goals and achieving them, that helps you achieve the bigger things you shouldn’t be able to do,” Blaine told the authors. “It’s not just practicing the specific thing.”

Affecting positive change in your life is hard work. If it weren’t, you probably wouldn’t need to change to begin with. So it’s important to be strategic in your plans. Starting your fitness program with a kickstart like the 3-Day-Refresh not only preps your mind and body for the weeks of hard work ahead of you; It also shows you that you have the power to do anything—even hold your breath for 17 minutes. (Although you can always opt for healthy weight loss and improved fitness instead.)

3 Day Refresh journey and results!!

I documented my journey July 7-10, 2014 on my Facebook page.  Here is my journey that I thought I'd share here with you too!

July 6  So excited for this week! My first PiYo challenge group kicks off tomorrow and so does our 3 Day Refresh!!! We are planning our meals now so we can stock up and have everything ready and easily available!!

I don't know about you, but I seriously over-indulged this weekend with food and drink. I enjoyed every bite, morsel and sip and had a ton of fun. Not feelin the least bit guilty. 

I've heard some people call their bloated tummy a "food baby." If that is the case, then I'm just about at my due date and ready to pop!! LOL!!

SOOOO anxious to get going on this 3 Day Refresh tomorrow to cleanse and get rid of these toxins and extra bloat. I'm even more thankful that Edde is doing it with me. It will help so much to be doing this together. I'll document this for you so you know what it's all about. 

July 7   Ok....A little nervous about the words "fiber" and "sweep" together! I trust the 3 Day Refresh process though. Just drank it...let's see what happens. LOL!!!

Okay here's an honest update of day 1 of the 3 Day Refresh. The pic below is just a sampling of what we ate. We also had Shakeology, Fiber Sweep, Vanilla Fresh, an apple, summer squash and lots of water and tea.

Up until 4pm I was totally satisfied and not hungry at all. Then I worked out. Got really hungry after that and then we made dinner. It was SOOOOO hard grilling a delish pizza for the girls and us eating veggie stir fry and a protein drink. The food choices and the recipes have been super good so that's not a problem. It's just looking at and smelling that darn pizza! LOL!!

Right now at almost 10pm I'm more hungry than I normally am at this time, but having some decaf green tea now will hopefully satisfy me.

I think I should workout in the morning to help with this nighttime hunger. I probably revved up my metabolism working out so late like that and having a lighter dinner than usual. 

Most of the food intake is earlier in the day and lighter at night. Not how I normally do it, so that's just a little change. 

This is definitely doable and even Edde is surprised at how much he is loving the veggies!! He even came home and made summer squash for his snack!! Now that is "totes cray!" LOL!!!

Anyway….day 1 done and on to day 2 tomorrow. Headed back to work so am packing up all my food for the day.

Oh and BTW, the Fiber Sweep I was worried about hasn't caused me any trouble. Hopefully it doesn't! 

July 8  Okay, so far so good on Day 2 of the Refresh....the only problem I'm having so far is not having coffee!!! I normally only have 1, well okay okay maybe 2, cups of black coffee in the morning. The Refresh doesn't require you to not have coffee they just highly suggest you refrain from it for these 3 days. 

It's only 3 days....if I can't do it for 3 days I have a problem. I'm finding out that I have a problem!!! Yikes!!

Had my delish Shakeology this morning, 1/2 a medium banana, green tea and water with lemon. Next up is my famous Fiber Sweep!! Happy Day!!

WARNING!! TMI in this update!!

3 Day Refresh update: I was hungrier than usual this morning but once I had my Shakeology and fruit I was fine. Did well through the day until I got home. That is the hardest part of the day for me always. I like to come home and have a snack. It's my routine. 

My routine almost always includes peanut butter. Peanut butter with anything! Who am I kidding??? I don't need anything with the peanut butter. Whatever I have with the peanut butter is just to make me feel better about having peanut butter. Had some cucumber and hummus instead. Really good, but it's not peanut butter.

I am zapped of energy and haven't worked out today. In fact I even fell asleep on the couch. I rarely do that!! However, I seem to have a lot going on at the same time as my refresh. 

--------------WARNING!!! Here's where there's TMI coming up.-------------- 

My womanly "monthly visitor" arrived and was also kind enough to bring a cold with her so I really can't say my tiredness is from the refresh. I think it's the combo of everything. I'm not having to go to the bathroom a ton for "movements" like I was worried about. I'm going more often only because I'm really drinking a lot more water than I normally do.

Feeling okay hunger wise right now. Will wait to eat dinner a bit later to keep the late night hunger pains away. 

That's my 6:45pm update on Day 2. More later!!

July 9   Morning Refresh update!! I feel so much better in regards to hunger than I did yesterday. I've had my banana, drinking my Shakeology right now and water. Feel perfectly content. The only reason I'm not feeling well is because of my cold, but other than than I am feeling much less bloated and leaner today! Even with my "monthly visitor" I'm feeling like this. That's a really good thing in my book!!

Today is our last full day. We can do this!! It was funny though, last night all we kept talking about was what we are going to have for dinner on Thursday night. LOL!! We had all these things we were blurting out and then laughed and said how stupid it would be to do all of this good stuff for our body and then go put crap back in it. Yay!! I think it's helping to change our mind too!! All in moderation baby!!

I have to share what Edde posted last night in our Challenge Group. If you know my hubby, he's not too down with veggies. Some, but not all, and he definitely doesn't choose to have them for lunch or a snack. If he can do this anyone can do this. No offense my love...I'm so happy and proud of you for committing to this and doing it with me!! 

"Well I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I really don't eat a lot of veggies so was pretty scared. But wouldn't you know it, I am actually looking forward to my veggies during this. They feel like a treat. But my fruits.......now that is a super treat!! Tonight we ate later...we held out for as long as we could...hopefully that helps with our late night hunger pains. Day 2 is in the books. Just a couple hours before bedtime. Then I wake up and get a fruit!!!!"

WAHOO!! We are officially done with the 3 Day Refresh!! I'm so glad I did this. Today was, by far, the best and easiest day food wise for me. I wasn't ever hungry…in fact I didn't even eat all my food!! Shhh…. I was very content and satisfied all day long.

We'll have our results for you sometime tomorrow. We took pics, weight and measurements before we started. We'll see how we ended up tomorrow morning!!

I've never done a cleanse like this before and neither has Edde. It was all veggie and fruit based, no meat or dairy. At first that was a little hard but today I didn't really even think about it. You are getting lots of protein with the Shakeology and the Vanilla Fresh protein drink as well as getting good fiber in the Fiber Sweep. I was never uncomfortable, didn't have any "bathroom" problems and really wasn't too hungry at all. The first day was the hardest but after that I was totally fine.

With it being only 3 days I think this is really doable. Besides my cold and "monthly visitor", I feel really good! Definitely feel much cleaner and leaner. Feels good to feel this way!

This is certainly something I could do every once in awhile to clean up and either get back on track or just feel like refreshing myself.

See ya tomorrow with our results. I'll also see if I can get Edde's thoughts down here too!

P.S. - I totally forgot about my cup of coffee this morning. Didn't even need it and I just made a batch of homemade brownies and I didn't lick the spoon or the bowl!! MIRACLE!!!

July 10    RESULTS!!!

Wow, I truly was shocked at these results for it only being 3 days!!  I only lost a bit over 4 pounds but I learned that my nutrition is the key to looking and feeling lean.  I had gotten way off track and the water weight and bloat totally showed it.  It doesn't take much to get off track.  You can be working out so hard and doing what you need to do with your workouts, but if your nutrition is off your hard work won't show as quickly.

I've done the Refresh a couple more times since this first time and each time I get the same results.  This is a perfect way to kickstart a new fitness program or getting yourself back on track with your eating.  It's only 3 days, the food is great - in fact I still use a few weekly because they are so good - and you just feel so good about yourself.  Try it out!!  It's great to have on hand during the holidays.