Tuesday, September 22, 2015

3 Day Refresh - It Got BEYOND Real

Hello everyone!  I officially completed my 3 Day Refresh yesterday and I have been so anxious to comment on how it all went down.

So as I mentioned in my prior blog, I chose not to say ANYTHING about it until I was done.  I thought this was fair because there are many many many ups and downs on a cleanse of any sort and to chose to write a blog when I was in a rough spot would be unfair to the whole process.

But the main takeaway is that I feel AMAZING today!  As I have mentioned time and time again, the scale and I do not speak.  We are not friends.  So I decided to to use an old favorite pair of jeans as a barometer for my experiment.  Please note that these jeans have not been worn regularly for over 2 years...they've been sitting in the "skinny clothes" drawer of mine and I bravely slipped them on Friday afternoon for my "before" picture.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that they zipped up, but they didn't really "fit" all that well, you know?


So I am beyond pleased to say that I slipped those puppies back on today and they fit like a dream.  Based on my estimates I'd gauge that I lost a good 5 pounds. But it was definitely a process.  Let me take you through it all...and I promise you that I will absolutely keep it real.  Yes, I am a Beachbody coach, and one of the reasons I wanted to try this out for myself is because I want to try all of the products out at some point so I can give real insight and help to others looking for a product or program (I'm a self appointed guinea pig here).  But I am not going to blow smoke and say it was the easiest breeziest 3 days I've ever experienced.

So let's rewind to Tuesday afternoon, shall we?  I got this pretty little box in the mail.  Doesn't it look so lovely?  It contained 3 fiber sweep packets, 6 vanilla fresh packets and a 3 day refresh program guide.  (Note: you can order the kit with or without 3 additional Shakeology packets, but since I already drink it daily and have my own supply I didn't get them in the kit).


The pamphlet very easily lays out your plan and you repeat the same cycle for 3 days, but you can swap out different fruits and veggies, you don't have to eat the same meals.  Me, being frugal, decided to eat practically the same meal every day for 3 consecutive days.  Which turned out okay...I picked my favorite items and stuck with them.  Would I mix it up next time?  Maybe?  TBD really.

So after I made my list of allowed ingredients I went to the grocery on Friday afternoon.  Look at my haul?  Isn't it glorious??


I will point out that pink bottle in the middle - Himalayan salt.  Totally allowed and absolutely worth your purchase.  Other cleanses I've done do not allow any salt and to me that becomes nearly unbearable.

So, Saturday morning I woke up and it was GO time!  The first thing you do upon waking is drink 8-10 oz of filtered water.  I had it on my nightstand and drank it.  Easy peasy.  Next was breakfast and I got to drink my shakeology (they recommend the vegan version for this refresh as it has no animal products).  Luckily one of the bags we get monthly is vegan strawberry.  I couldn't mix any almond milk or anything....strictly filtered water.  So I added the water and some basil from my garden (herbs are allowed) and blended it with ice.  Refreshing.  I also had a peach as you are supposed to add a fruit option for the morning.

An hour later we could have green tea, and since I couldn't have any other caffeine over this 3 days you'd better believe I drank it.  I ended up bringing it to my son's cross country meet, drank it there and then an hour later I also brought and drank what may be the hardest part of the refresh - the Fiber Sweep.  It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like - fiber...that you drink.  It had flax, psyllium husks, etc. and tasted very earthy.  I highly recommend chugging that quickly - FYI.  Got home in the afternoon and kept working on my water (you have to drink an additional 64 oz of filtered water daily) and made lunch.  


For me, lunch was identical all 3 days.  You could have a veggie, a healthy fat and certain free seasonings.  I basically made a more solid version of my guacamole recipe.  Days 2 and 3 I added red onion.  But I chopped up a tomato, some avocado, fresh lime juice, cilantro and Himalayan salt.  Was very satisfying, and I paired it with 2 plums.  Lunch was also the first time that I got to have my first Vanilla Fresh shake.  This was MUCH more pleasant than the fiber sweep.  Maybe not my favorite thing ever, but I added some nutmeg and cinnamon to spice it up.  This shake contains a ton of protein so it helped keep me feeling full.

Shortly after lunch I started feeling SLEEPY, like I had taken a major sedative.  I googled around and found out that this can be a side effect.  I also developed a very mild headache that lasted all 3 days.  Based on research this is also incredibly common.  I chalked mine up to caffeine withdrawl, in addition to my body detoxifying itself.  I think I two 2 consecutive naps and then woke up in time for my afternoon snack.

Afternoon snack might have been the best part of my day.  I got to eat hummus (you get a healthy fat plus a vegetable option), and I LOVE hummus.  So carrots and hummus it was for 3 days straight.


After that was the long wait until dinner.  This was admittedly the hardest part all 3 days.  An hour after snack you could have optional herbal tea.  I did opt for it 2 of the 3 days as it helped.  Also, I chugged water during this time to keep me full.


I also found that this time was when I was the most moody and exhausted overall.  I was ready to call it a day for the first and second day by this point.

But then dinner finally arrived.  Of all of the recipes included, the cucumber tomato salad stood out firmly above the rest as the clear winner to me and it didn't disappoint.  I ended up modifying the recipe every so slightly, removing lemon juice and parsley by day 2, but otherwise it was delicious.


You were also able to add organic veggie broth as an option and I'm so glad that I did because it helped me feel fuller.  And you paired you dinner with another Vanilla Fresh shake.

Tea was again optional an hour after dinner.  I drank it the first day and opted not for days 2 and 3 because I was already so full of liquid that I had to pee enough anyway (TMI, sorry).

That first night I slept like a freaking log.  I was already super tired.  In fact my Fitbit said I logged 10 hours of sleep.  That was just slightly incredible to me - lol!  The next morning I was tired but I got up and repeated the process.  The guide tells you not to work out or to do mild to moderate exercise only.  Saturday happened to be a rest day in my P90x program, so I was able to avoid a workout, but day two was Yoga X.  Yoga X, if you recall is 92 minutes long.  And my body was simply exhausted from only 900 calories a day, plus the fact that it was expending it's energy pulling toxins from my system so I ended up skipping some of the harder first part and focusing on the static poses (which were challenging enough).  

The rest of day 2 was a repeat of day 1.  But day 2 was the hardest for me.  I just felt lacking in all energy and a bit lousy...again that is actually incredibly normal.  But I got through it.  And I was glad.

Day 3...this was a breakthrough for me, really.  I slept like a log on day 2 again so I had a ton of sleep in my system and I woke up with energy!!!  It's like the toxins were actually working their way out of my system and there was a break in the fog.  I had clarity and more focus. And I got through my P90X workout (Core Synergestics...reminder that I need to cover that one in another blog) and felt good!

So, if you read my blog yesterday you will recall that yesterday was also the day that I found out that they were eliminating my part time job.  On day 3 of the refresh.  And one of my coping mechanisms is eating comfort food.  I think I actually laughed out loud because I was strictly prohibited from that vice yesterday.  And trust me, I stuck to my guns and kept to the refresh.  I wasn't going to screw it up.  I had put so much heart and effort into it and I wanted to experience the full benefit of it all.

So I ended up NOT cheating at all on any of the 3 days, and by the time I went to bed last night, the ginormous jug of filtered water I'd purchased was empty.


I had to take a picture of it because I was actually pretty impressed with myself :).  

Which brings me to today.  Am I glad I did this?  You bet your money, absolutely!!! I feel amazing...like I had my oil changed.  Seriously, refreshed is exactly the word for it. 

Would I do it again?  Yes.....for a reboot from time to time, but definitely not a monthly thing.  I know some people do, but I think maybe twice yearly reboot is more my style.

Is it easy?  Not exactly.....my advice to anyone going on this....take a week to completely eliminate caffeine from your diet.  I think that would have helped me immensely.  But it's manageable.  And the food is actually good, and stuff I would eat in real life anyway.  You do cut out dairy, meat, carbs and all of that though - so definitely know that going in. But it's only 3 days and  you can do ANYTHING for 3 days.

Is it worth it?  Definitely!  See the before and after picture above.  I worked for that and I feel super accomplished!!!!  And for anyone looking to restart their system and get going on a new workout program or something, the 3 day refresh is an amazing way to kick it off.

That's my recap folks.  Thanks for sticking with me.  It was a long blog but I wanted to take my time and walk through it all with ya.  And keep it all real :).

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