I had all intentions of starting it on the following Monday because Mike would be in meetings most of the week so my lunchtime and midday temptations would be less. I woke up that Monday morning ready to go. I had my first tall glass of water instead of my coffee and realized that I just was not feeling it. I went ahead and made my first Shakeology of the day with just water and ice. Yep, I was dizzy and had a headache. Allergy Season. So I decided by 10:00 that my awesome 3-Day Refresh was not happening, not today at least.
Flash forward about 3 weeks and I wake up on a regular Wednesday morning and decide today is the day! The words "Cleanse", "Caloric Restriction", "Fiber Sweep", "Refrain from drinking coffee" are all a little scary to me. But I thought, its 3 days. I can do just about anything for 3 days, My grandmother once fasted for something like 3 weeks to 'starve' a tumor. (Which apparently worked?)
I can do this!
So here I go on my 3 day adventure!
First things first...the booklet only SUGGESTS refraining from drinking coffee. So I did have a small cup of black coffee on that first day. After that here is how my days went:
#1 Lots & Lots of water. My goal was to drink a gallon a day, on its own, not as tea or part of my Shakes.
#2 Breakfast: Chocolate Shakeology with 1/2 a banana, water and ice.
{In the mornings I would rather have a delicious and thick smoothie than eat the banana so I added it in the smoothie. Without the banana it was a little too thin for me....I learned that from my first attempt a few weeks prior.}
#3 Fiber Sweep: Boy, did I dread this the first day. But it wasn't so bad. I mixed it with only about a cup and half of COLD water and drank it quickly. The longer it sits, the more it sets. It was 'texturey' shall we say, but had a nice sweet lemony flavor. Its only once a day, big deal. (And the dreaded results you would expect from something called Fiber Sweep are nothing to write home about, if you know what I mean!)
#4 Lunch: "Lunch?" you say? Why yes! I took out my next cute little packet from the box of Vanilla Fresh and mixed it with ice and water in my NutriBullet. I drank that and had a serving from the veggies list (usually just celery and carrots) and on the first day I had just 1 1/2 teaspoons of unsalted, unsugared almond butter. That left me hungry. But on days 2 & 3 I switched to hummus!! 2 whole Tablespoons of hummus to be exact! Not so bad!
#5 Afternoon Snack: I was a little boring here, but again, I had celery and hummus or almond butter. The veggies list is long, I just migrate towards celery sticks!!
#6 Afternoon Tea: La-Ti-Da! So fancy!
#7 Dinner: Another delicious (seriously) Vanilla Fresh Shake....but I treated this as dessert. So for dinner I had my "optional" cup of organic vegetable broth to really fill me up with chopped scallions, dried tarragon, garlic powder and/or parsley. The first night, I was not prepared, or inspired so I just added some kale from what I had cooked for everyone else to my broth. I had a few almond slivers on the side. (I was not really hungry that first day either, even though I skimped.) So on the second and third night I made better choices and had an entire spinach salad one night and cucumber and tomato salad on the next night.(recipes below). I barely had room in my belly for the Vanilla Fresh Shake!!
#8 Evening Tea: I had a cup of good ole Sleepytime Tea!
So, wanna know what happened? Well, I lost 5 pounds and 1.5 inches (overall)...in 3 days! Without starving myself!
I did not do it to lose weight, mind you. I did it to lose the bloat and to tune things up on the inside. I didn't notice the weight loss until the 4th day. I always try to weigh myself around the same time of day with the same type of clothing on, and on the same scale. I think those are important things to keep in mind.
I have never done a cleanse or fast before, so this was something I was a little afraid of at first. It really was not bad at all. The hardest part for me was the actual action of not eating. If I do it again I will make better choices and really plan it out. Like I said before, you can do pretty much anything for 3 days. I think its a great choice for doing 4 days before an event or after the holidays to rid your body of some of those built up toxins!
Here are my 2 favorite recipes from the plan that I incorporate into our normal menu quite often!!
**Full disclosure** I am a Beachbody Coach however I chose to do The 3 Day Refresh because I was interested in doing a mini-cleanse on my own. If you are interested in hearing more I would absolutely love to help you out on your personal journey. Fitness and Health are my passions and I am committed to helping people achieve their own health and fitness goals!! fb.com/DarbyCam
I love your honesty on starting & food choices!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! Thanks for reading!!
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