Week 32/33: The 3 Day Refresh

I'm combining these two weeks due to holding off on posting until I finished the 3 Day Refresh.

I shared previously that I haven't been as disciplined in my eating as I had been when I first started getting healthier. While I know how to fix that overall, I wasn't doing it. I wanted to get a kickstart with Beachbody's product, the 3 Day Refresh. It was something that I had wanted to try anyway, just to see what it was like, so I figured that it was a good time to do it. I also had a friend who was doing this, so we kept in contact a lot through the week.

Before

I used the weekend to plan what I was going to eat. I have to say, it was a little stricter than I thought it would be on the food, but once I planned for it I felt ready. Before I started, I got a cold or something, so I don't know if that impacted how I felt while doing the Refresh. I also want to note that I've never done any kind of restrictive diet, like the grapefruit diet, or anything like that. The most restrictive I've ever done is counting calories and things like that, but I've always allowed myself treats when I do those types of things.

The Plan

The program comes with a guide book, which is really regimented about what to eat,  and when to eat it. When you first wake up, you start by drinking about 8-10 oz of water. Within the first hour of waking, you have your Shakeology, (they recommend using the vegan formula) and a fruit. And you make the Shakeology with water, and not milk, which is different than what I normally do.
You can have some green or herbal tea later in the morning. Then about an hour later, you have what they call the Fiber Sweep. It's a powdery-ish fiber that you mix with water and drink IMMEDIATELY, before it thickens too much. After at least another hour, you can eat your lunch, which is their Vanilla Fresh Shake (a plant-based protein powder mixed with water), plus a fruit, vegetable, and healthy fat serving. For an afternoon snack you can have another vegetable and healthy fat serving. Then later, for dinner, you have another Vanilla Fresh Shake and one of the dinner recipes. You continue to drink water and can have more herbal tea throughout the day if you'd like.

Day 1

I started on March 3, a Tuesday. I chose the middle of the week because I'm more disciplined anyway during the week than I am during the weekend. The night before, I didn't sleep very well, because of my decongestant. All I could think about was how my eating was going to go the next day, and I just couldn't sleep. So I woke up for Day 1 kind of tired. However, even though I woke up tired, I felt pretty good when I got up and drank my water and then my Shakeology. I was surprised that it tasted okay with just water. It filled me up more than I thought it would. And the tea kept me fuller, too. I did start to get hungry a couple of hours later, which is when I would normally have my morning snack. The fiber sweep filled me up a little bit, but not for long. I could see why they say to drink it immediately. The taste was okay, but the texture was a little weird. When I had my lunch, I was surprised at how full I felt. The first day I blended my fruit into my shake. The serving sizes were so much smaller than I am used to, and I pretty much eat good serving sizes. But my veggie serving was 5 baby carrots, and my healthy fat serving was a little bit of hummus. I wasn't hungry again for a couple of hours. Overall, I was feeling pretty good. I could do this.

Then I had  my afternoon snack, which was the same vegetable and healthy fat. That didn't last me as long, and I started to get hungry again in just a little time. So it was here that my attitude started to change, and this started to feel hard. I was hungry, and I started thinking about all sorts of foods that I would like to have and couldn't. If someone had told me that I didn't have to continue this, I would have gladly complied, EXCEPT I wanted to see the results from the entire three days. Plus, I had blogged about doing this, so I needed to finish, right? Dinner was better, since I got my Vanilla Fresh Shake again, plus a salad (the recipe that I decided on), so I felt full again. But all I could think about was that I had to do this again for the next two days. And I was really exhausted, so I went to bed early on Tuesday night. And even though it says mild to moderate exercise is okay, I knew that I was so tired, that I did not want to get up at my normal 4:30 in order to get my workout in.

Day 2

On Wednesday morning, surprisingly, I did not wake up hungry. I felt rested, but I was still a little foggy. I did everything the same as I did the day before, except that at lunch I ate my blueberries solid rather than add them to my Vanilla Fresh shake. I found that after I had my lunch, I felt a lot better than I had earlier. I decided that this thing was doable, just not ideal.  I also noticed, like the previous day, that after my lunch I was actually kind of full. So I wondered if spreading it out a little bit more might be better so that I was eating a little more evenly across the day. So Wednesday was a lot better, especially by the end of the day. I wasn't as tired Wednesday night as I had been Tuesday night, so that helped.

Day 3

On Thursday morning, I did wake up hungry. But my Shakeology satisfied that. All day long I was excited that it was my last day, even though I realized that still meant that I had to go to sleep, and THEN I could wake up and eat unrestricted again. But it was good. Thursday was much like Wednesday, where I was feeling better. Oh, and one thing I noticed was that the small portion was enough to fill me up now. I did spread out my lunch more, eating my carrots, hummus, and blueberries first, and then drinking my Vanilla Fresh shake about an hour later. I guess that helped
some.

Results and After

So, I knew I would drop some pounds, because this was basically around 900 calories, which is obviously not sustainable. From Tuesday morning to Friday morning, I lost 3.6 pounds and about an inch in my waist. However, I also knew that I would gain some back just by going to my "normal" diet. And I did. I was careful on Friday, sort of. I knew that I wanted to retain some things that I learned from the Refresh. Namely, beginning the day drinking 8-10 oz of water. They say that gets your system going, and it really does. I also knew that just drinking the Shakeo in the morning was enough to keep me full until my morning snack. Previously, I've been eating eggs with veggies right after I work out, and then drinking my shake an hour or two later. And then still having a later morning snack. I also could probably get by with adding less milk and more water to my shake. (I've been doing 8 oz of almond milk and 4-8 oz of water, because I like the consistency.) I ate a spinach wrap with turkey for lunch, so my first meat in a few days. I could only eat one of the halves, though. But, I did cave and eat my peanut M&M's that I had been given from our Sunshine team for my birthday this month. (I got it on Wednesday, so I am proud of the restraint that I showed in waiting until Friday when I "could" eat them!) And Friday night, we got takeout from one of our new favorite barbecue restaurants. So, Saturday morning, my weight was back up a little bit, but it still is the lowest point that I've been since beginning this journey in July. I've now officially lost 28 pounds. Woo-hoo!

So would I do the Refresh again or recommend it to others? I'm not sure if I will do it again. Maybe. I'd say if you have something that you're trying to lose weight for, it's good if you can handle how restricted it is for 3 days. You also have to realize that the weight loss will most likely be temporary. It would be really good for a kickstart, which is what I wanted to use it for, but I didn't plan for the "next stage" as well as I should have. Although, there will be more in another post about what I'm doing now. But overall, I'm glad that I tried it, I'm proud of myself for sticking with it and not cheating AT ALL, and I'm hopeful that the things that I can apply toward a normal eating plan will begin to make some differences in my progress.
 

 

Week 31: Time for a Refresh

Time to get real. I have been off my nutrition game lately, and I'm starting to see the difference.

I'm still working out 6 days a week, and I'm sure that my added muscle tone is helping me out with an increased metabolism. HOWEVER, they say that abs are created in the kitchen, and it's pretty evident in my (fl)abs right now that I am not eating great. I haven't been careful with my eating like I had been when I first started getting healthy. And that happens every once in a while, but I usually get back on track right away. But, first we went to the fair, then we went to Disney, and then my Girl Scout cookies order came in. I swear, Thin Mints are like crack or something. Well, I went back up a pound, then the next week another pound, and now I've gained back a total of about 4 pounds. Which means I had lost 27 pounds, but now it's back down to 23 pounds.

Wake up call!

So, I decided that, of course, I need to refocus my nutrition and get back to my right ratios of proteins, carbs, and fats. But, I also decided that I was going to do Beachbody's 3 Day Refresh in order to get a kickstart. I've wanted to try this for a while, and I figured this would be the perfect time to go ahead and do it, so I ordered it. Now, I don't know much about it yet (it just came in today), but I know that I'll drink one of my Shakeology shakes everyday. There also is some sort of fiber drink, and you can eat some fruits, veggies, and healthy fats. There also are some dinner recipes. I will definitely keep you updated when I start it (March 3 is the planned date).

I'm excited to see some results, both from the Refresh, and just from getting back on board with my nutrition, too.

Week 30: WHY I am a Beachbody Coach

Even though I would normally post an update on my weight loss, I wanted to use this blog post to talk about WHY I have decided to be a Beachbody coach, and my journey from that perspective.

I first got started, really because my husband signed me up. As far as the business side of being a coach went, I wanted nothing to do with it. And I told my husband that. I said that he could do it, but that I wasn't going to. I knew I needed to lose some weight, and I was all up for that. (Even though I secretly wondered how long we would really stick with this.) So, my WHY initially was to become healthy myself. If you've been following along, you know that I have lost 27 pounds. But, it didn't take that long for me to realize that God had brought Beachbody into our lives. And that meant that I needed to go for it the best that I could.

You see, a lot of times, I write my prayers in my journal. On July 15, 2014, I prayed for many things, including to lose weight, to find some good friends, and to get out of debt quickly. On July 19, Jason saw an invitation to join a challenge group for P90X3, and as he decided to join, he also decided to sign (both of us) up as a coach. As we found out more about how everything worked, I saw that the answers to the prayers I had just prayed could all lie right in this new venture.

So then, in addition to wanting to be healthy, my WHY became more about finding financial freedom. This one is really important to me. We have been able to work toward that pretty well since we started in July. But, I'm also beginning to see some unintended, unexpected WHYs pop up in my mind. For one, I have seen more of an entrepreneurial spirit develop in me. Since I've always worked in the school system, I've never had the situation of being responsible for developing a business, but it's a pretty cool thing to think about. I've never been interested in the cutthroat business world, but there is something to be said about setting goals and then working to achieve them. And I get to do that without having to be in the cutthroat world. Plus, Beachbody recognizes even the small achievements, like when I got promoted to an Emerald coach in January.

Throughout the now 30 weeks that I've been sharing my journey, I've been told that I am inspiring and encouraging others. That is really nice to hear. And now that I'm running my own challenge/accountability groups, I am really wanting to help others get healthier. So that is another big WHY for me. In fact, I really believe that a lot of people are missing out on fulfilling their purpose in life simply because they are tired and unhealthy. And I would like to help people get healthy so that they have the energy to fulfill the purpose of their life.

Do you know your purpose? Are you achieving it? If not, is it because you are tired and unhealthy? If so, I'd like to help! Just let me know!

Fitness Journey Week 29 and One Word 2015 Update

I can't believe that I've been on this fitness journey for 29 weeks already. Even though I was overweight, I'm really feeling so much different now, and I can't imagine going back to just eating whatever and not working out.

I've said this before, but it really is second nature now for me to get up so early, get dressed in my workout clothes, and go out to our detached-garage-turned-gym to do my workout. And I really enjoy that alone time, too. It's just me, my video, my weights, and knowing that I'm improving myself. I can feel that I'm getting stronger, too, with my Pump workouts.

I will say that my nutrition is not as on-point as it was when I first started. I have my moments, but I'm just not being AS careful as I was, or as I think I should. But, I'm still making progress, and this week I lost another pound, bringing my total to 27 pounds lost since July!

I also wanted to update a bit on my One Word. I wrote about the word I chose for 2015, "Push," in this post. I have to say, I have second-guessed picking a word that means moving obstacles. When I picked it, I was feeling very confident and optimistic about the new year. Don't we usually feel that way about a new year? Now, I'm not saying that I'm not confident or optimistic now, but I am saying that I've had the opportunity to experience obstacles this year. A LOT of them. Just in the fitness realm, at the beginning of January I fell down my steps and bruised my tailbone. That hurt for a while, but it's feeling better now. Then a couple of weeks ago, I twisted my ankle while holding my daughter, so I tried to keep from falling with her. My foot was swollen for a couple of days, and it's actually still sore just a bit. In the emotional realm, let's just say I have a 3-year-old. Haha, but seriously, we've had some situations where we are needing to teach her acceptable boundaries and teach her to listen to us, and that just creates some obstacles. So, little did I know that choosing the word PUSH would cause me to be put in situations that would force me to push through, but that's what's happened.

Anyway, I WILL keep pushing to my next goal. I still want to lose 13 pounds by the end of April. And I want to continue to develop my character, so I'm okay (sort of) with the obstacles that I've experienced so far this year.

28 Weeks Later...Progress Pictures

For anyone who hasn't read my journey yet, I was at my heaviest weight in July 2014. I was not very happy with how I looked, but I had pretty much zero motivation to do anything about it.

Then came Beachbody. After signing up as a coach, I participated in accountability groups that helped provide the motivation that I had been missing. I have now lost 26 pounds, plus 7 percent body fat and 7 inches in my waist. Woohoo! And I feel SOOO much better! I'm not done yet, I still have about 9 to 14 pounds that I want to lose.

This last week in my Pump and Combat workouts (I'm doing a hybrid schedule of the two that was created by Beachbody), it was more of a transition week, kind of like how P90X3 is set up. Instead of lifting weights with Pump, it was more High Interval Intensity Training, so there were some plyometric-type exercises. Whew! I was exhausted. But the next day, I really felt it. Now this week, I already started a more intense Pump workout, so again I'm really feeling it in my back. I can't wait to see even more progress.

Here are some progress pictures.

After participating in a few, now I'm leading some of these groups myself. Maybe you're wondering what the groups are like. Basically, the participants commit to working out at home to a Beachbody program of their choice, drinking Shakeology, and eating healthy everyday. The group is done on Facebook as a closed group, so only the participants can see what is posted. Each day I post a tip, a motivation, or some sort of prompt, and the participants check-in each day. I've seem some great interaction, and everyone gets motivated and helps support each other. And we're starting to see some weight loss, some changed mindsets, and just feeling better overall.

If you think you'd be interested in participating in one of my groups, please complete my challenge group application form.

https://claireee323.wufoo.com/forms/challenge-group-application/

It's the Little Things-Weight Loss Update (Week 27)

This week, I will just put it out there that I didn't see much progress. In fact, even in looking at myself, I feel like my stomach is looking bigger. I know this is not the right mindset to have, since it's probably a little self-defeating, but that's what has been going through my head. And it may be a little true. I unofficially changed my ratios of proteins, carbs, and fats. I think I'm eating a little less protein and a little more carbs than I had been, so that may be the reason for the progress stopping. The program that I'm currently doing has their eating plan set up differently than the previous two programs that I've done. The previous ones will tell you to eat, for instance, 5 proteins, 3 fats, and 6 carbs (and they break some of those even further). This one just gives you some recipes, but doesn't really recommend what ratios you need to do, so I've been loosely staying with what I had been doing with P90X3, but not as strictly. In fact, I haven't been too careful about snacking.

So I think I need to reread some of my previous blog posts and remind myself of all of the things I've said about non-scale victories and all of that. One thing that I noticed this morning, that after about a month of lifting weights with my Pump program, I did push-ups today and found it even easier than it had been when I was doing P90X3. (I didn't have to do as many, but you know, it still counts!) Also, I can see overall that I'm not as wide as I used to be. And I'm pretty pleased with the progress in my legs so far.

Anyway, no additional weight loss this week, BUT I'm getting stronger! Sometimes, it's just the little things!

Six Months In...Weight Loss Update (Week 26)

I'm at week 26, which means that I'm halfway through my first year of my new lifestyle. On July 19, 2014, I signed up to be a Beachbody coach. What I knew, was that I was at the heaviest weight I had ever been (not being pregnant), I wasn't happy with how I looked or felt, and signing up as a coach meant that I was going to get started exercising and try to make some changes. What I didn't know yet, was that I really was going to stick with it and see results, it was going to affect so many more areas in my life than JUST my physical fitness, and that I would be so excited to help others start on a similar journey.

I've been leading an accountability group, that we call a "challenge group," for the last week (really, two weeks with the "introductory week." If you don't know what a challenge group is like, basically, everyone works out on their own to a Beachbody program of their choice. The group typically lasts 4 weeks, and the group members commit to eating healthy and drinking Shakeology. I was excited to start it, because I know every one of them from different points in my life. They all were excited to get started and ready to be healthier. I have been SO BLOWN AWAY at how they have all supported and encouraged each other. It's so exciting to see! And I know that they'll see some great results soon.

During the last week, I've still been back on track with my working out motivation. And I guess with my eating, too. I am doing a hybrid of Les Mills' Combat (martial arts-based) and Les Mills' Pump.(weightlifting), but I decided that I was missing my weekly flexibility that I've gotten used to. The Pump program does have a yoga workout, called Flow. However, I didn't like it as well as X3 Yoga, so one day last week, I felt like I needed to just do that workout, so I did. Then, I decided that I'm going to modify my hybrid workout schedule. It's pretty much set up to do the Pump workouts on Mon, Wed, and Fri with the Combat workouts on Tues, Thurs, and Sat. I decided to keep it that way, except change the Saturday workout out for either X3 Yoga or one of the PiYo workouts in order to get some flexibility in there. And I'll do those on Sundays before I go to church.

So, yesterday I did PiYo Sweat. I felt like I was seeing an old friend that I hadn't seen in a while. I also could see some improvement in how I did, compared to what I was able to do back in August and September. It was pretty cool!

I do have to say, two weeks ago I fell when I was walking down my porch steps, and I bruised my tailbone. It still hurts, and it's kept me from doing certain moves as fully as I'd like to. But, I think it's starting to feel a little better, so hopefully I'll be back at 100% pretty soon.

Anyway, this week I lost another pound. I have to admit, it does feel good to see the numbers going down again. But, even when I wasn't, I knew that ultimately my healthy choices were paying off in how I felt and how my body was responding. So, if you're on your own journey, and you aren't seeing weight loss like you'd like, just stick with it and know that you're getting stronger and healthier.