My main goal in doing the Refresh is more of a reset...with the cruise and several birthday dinners, I had a little more 'treating' that I normally would. For me, when I feed my body junk, I start to crave junk. I'm not sure if I will lose weight or if I will just get that reset, but either way I will be really happy!
In preparation for the Refresh, I actually used the program guide to plan my meals as well as make my shopping list. I did this the Monday before and went shopping on the Thursday before. Basically, to remove any excuses on not starting on time. :) It only took me a few minutes...
Day one- I was out pretty late last night with friends but was up at 8am and got my day started with my glass of filtered water (I am not a big water drinker, I need to be better about this) and had Strawberry shakeolgy with water, shaken, for breakfast. I can drink my shakeo pretty plain so breakfast was yummy to me. I decided to eat my 1/2 banana a-la-cart since I wasn't blending my shake.
I am not one to typically step on the scale so I really wasn't sure what to expect this morning, lol. Although I loved all of the celebrating and eating out I will be glad to get back to my 'normal' eating pattern. Here it is...my weigh in pic:
I'm actually surprised I hadn't done more damage!
Here's one more before pic:
After my water, and breakfast shake I ran 3.2 miles and had a shake and share at a friends house so I missed my Veggie and Fat for lunch, but I did get my fiber sweep in before I left the house (not as bad as I expected it to be) and I had my Vanilla Fresh for lunch, I added a few shakes of cinnamon to it. I ended up shaking it rather than blending it and I think I will like it a little better blended too.
My afternoon snack was 2 celery stalks and 1.5 tsps of almond butter...YUM!
I ended up sticking with the theme of shaking today and shook my 3rd refresh shake with water cinnamon and pure vanilla extract. I also decided I felt good enough to workout so I did Les Mills PUMP, one of my favorite workouts. I chose the Spinach salad for dinner, mostly because it was marked as a 'gas buster' salad and its actually pretty big! I enjoyed my green tea in the morning and herbal tea in the evening. I am newer to drinking hot tea but I like it. In the south we drink our tea one way..SWEET! That wasn't happening on the Refresh.
So speaking of gas...Mike rated my frequency a 7 and the smell a 10 LOL! I wont lie, It gave me gas. I think he was exaggerating though. :)
Did I cheat: Yes, I had a few pretzels this evening. I really think I tend to eat out of habit...I sorta missed chewing, as crazy as that sounds!
Day two: I woke up with a headache today, I hear this is normal. I'm not 100% sure if it was related the Refresh or not since I don't feel like I have caffeine every day, but I did wake up with one and it did come back later in the day. I just took 2 advil and went about my day. My glass of water was actually really good this morning considering I felt like it helped with my headache! I started my day out by following the 3 day Refresh guidelines and decided to head out for a run. Since Day 2 was a Saturday, I did sleep in a little so my schedule was a little off. With that being said...I was able to witness why people have said they hated the Fiber Sweep...yesterday I used really cold water, stirred it and drank it down..today I was getting ready while making it and I let it sit a minute, holy thickness! It sort of gels up as it sits. Now I see why they suggest you drink it RIGHT AWAY! I did blend my Refresh shakes today, love them! I do add my cinnamon and pure vanilla (and half banana in the shakes that it was allowed). I chose the Spinach salad again tonight but added a little protein to it since I have been running and working out. I did my Les Mills Pump workout again today, I don't feel tired or overly hungry so I don't feel like exercising was a risk at all. I would call day two a success!
Did I cheat: it depends on if you think me adding some meat to my salad is a cheat
How do I feel about the Fiber: it reminds me of an herbal tea that you can't strain. They key to success..very cold water and drink it quickly.
Did I have gas: Yes. Mike may kick me out of the room tomorrow.
My snacks of choice today: carrots and hummus
Day three: No headache today! YAY
I'm sort of a creature of habit sooo, not much variation today although the book allows for plenty. I felt fine, I ran, worked out, stuck to my meals as planned. No extras for me today. :) I realized one of the things I didn't do was the nightly broth option, you are allowed to have that as well...maybe I will do that next time to see how it affects the hunger I had on night one. I would say the hardest thing for me was not eating out of habit...I wasn't really hungry come day 3 (except night one when I had pretzels) during the Refresh, but I felt like I missed eating, not sure if that makes sense. I will definitely do it again, and try to be a little more varied in my food choices. Mike was happy that by day 3 I was less gassy
Final weigh in pic:
After pics:
My take aways:
The most popular question I have gotten is : Do I need to be near a bathroom? The answer is no :)
The 2nd most popular question: Was I hungry? I was a little hungry on the first night. I should have grabbed a few extra carrots or drank more water rather than grabbing pretzels. I don't feel bad for adding meat on night 2 due to the amount of exercising I was doing.
The 3rd most popular question: Are the Refresh shakes good? I thought they were rather tasty...I did add the allowed fruit, and {FREE} additives. I also preferred them blended.
What were other things I noticed: I decided to treat myself to lunch today (day 4) and I was not able to eat as much as I normally would have, thanks to the Refresh. Other than the headache on day 2 I felt fine the whole time. I would do it again, and would recommend it to anyone looking to jump start their weigh loss or get that reset I was looking for. :)
