Shakeology 3 Day Cleanse

Hey everyonee...I know I've been absent forever and I have no excuse! After the juice fast, we went on  vacation and ate way too much..... and then work got the best of me...but I'm back and commited to posting at LEAST 2 times a week. Anyway, this past weekend I did the Shakeology 3 Day Cleanse (to make up for the San Diego Food damage). It's one I've done before (and I'll include the instructions at the end of the post, in case you want to try it), and I've been successful before. For some reason, though, this last weekend was the HARDEST one I've ever done. Even harder than the juice fast, and that's kind of ridiculous since I actually got to EAT every day on the Shakeology Cleanse.
I'll start out by describing what it is. Basically you have 3 plain Shakeologies a day, 2 pieces of fruit (optional) and 3 servings of green veggies with 4oz of lean white meat for dinner. It's actually a great cleanse, especially for beginners, because you get to eat! I've completed this cleanse twice before. The first time I lost over six pounds! The second time I lost 3. And I didn't gain that weight back, so it wasn't water weight!

This time, I made a few mistakes, but two major ones: I worked all three days and it was "that time of the month".

Day 1
I weighed myself and was at 198.8 (not surprising...I gained some weight in San Diego while on vacation PLUS it's that time of the month).  I made it my goal to weigh 195 by the end of the cleanse. I told myself, I can lose 3 lbs. I've done it before. So with that goal in mind, I committed myself to seeing it through. Luckily I had my awesome friend and coach Rose doing it with me, so I had some accountability. Day 1 wasn't that hard...it was my day off work, so I had my two shakes during the day,  had some fruit, then had an amazing dinner of shredded brussels sprouts and tilapia, followed by the last shake as a snack. Easy peasy. I felt like I was on top of the world! Kind of had a headache towards the end of the day, but cleanses usually do that to me. It just means my body is detoxing.

Day 2
Woke up with a headache. A bad one. It was my working weekend, though, so I took 4 tylenol and drove off to work. I made sure to take fruit with me and my second shake, but I was still starving all day. Also, the headache did not get better AND I was incredibly moody. Like, I felt sorry for my husband moody. I'm pretty sure that was more PMS than anything. I went home and just had some cold pre-cooked chicken strips and some microwaved vegetables. I was too moody and tired to actually cook. I didn't drink my third shake (BIG MISTAKE) because I just wanted to go to bed. So I did...at 9 pm.

Day 3
No more headache but I had NO energy and I felt weak all day. Work was really hard. I was hungry ALL the time (although now that I look back on it, I realize I wasn't actually physically hungry...I just WANTED food). I felt so hungry at one point that I had a little wafer cookie a patient offered me. When I came home I didn't want to do anything so I microwaved some veggies again and ate pre-cooked chicken strips...again. I pretty much just wanted the whole thing to be over. I went to bed pretty grumpy. I remember telling Rose that if I didn't weigh 195 the next morning SOMEONE was going to get it. Lol.

Morning of Day 4 - Cleanse is over!

Woohoo!! I did it! I was so freakin happy this morning! I lost a total of 4 lbs! Despite that little wafer cookie I had!. Totally worth it, and I will probably do it again.
So, here is what I learned this time around:
-I will never, ever again cleanse while on my period. PMS and Detoxing do NOT mix well.
-I WILL NEVER SKIP A SHAKE AGAIN. This is huge. I know part of the reason I felt crappy day 3 was because I skipped the last shake on day 2. My body needed the nutrition!
-I will only cleanse over a weekend when I do NOT work. Cleansing on work days is not cool. Day 1 was easy because I basically lounged around the house all day. The rest of the days were super hard because I was detoxing, hormonal AND had long work days.
-Next time, I will prep my dinners beforehand and freeze them so I can just pop them in the microwave. That way I'll have a yummy dinner even if I have no energy to cook.
 
All in all, I'm pretty sure I'm going to do this again. I lost more weight with this than with the juice fast, and it's easier because I get to eat real food! Here's the cleanse, in case anyone's interested:

 

If any of you want to try this you can find more info about shakeology, and order it, HERE 

If you want to read my previous post all about Shakeology, you can see it HERE 

Thanks for reading! Come back Wednesday to hear about my first few days doing Insanity! (I start tomorrow!)

Juice Fast.... day 3!

Well, I did it! I actually finished the Juice Fast! I woke up this morning 1.5lbs lighter than when I started. May not sound by much, but I usually lose .5-1 lbs a week. It's hard for me to lose weight, so 1.5lbs in 3 days is great! The weird thing is, last night I was starving....this morning, I didn't feel like eating anything at all. I made myself eat some oatmeal, then I didn't eat anything again until 330 pm...and only because my friend Rose pretty much bullied me into it. I knew I had to eat, but part of me was terrified of putting any weight back on.
Another nice effect of the cleanse...I didn't feel like taking a nap today. Usually I HAVE to take a nap when I come home from work, but today...I just didn't. I also didn't sneeze the first two hours of the day (allergies) like I normally would have.
Overall, I'm glad I did the 3 day fast and I'm proud of myself for finishing it. I will definetely do the 3 day fast again. I will definitely NOT do a 10 day or longer fast. I was miserable most of the 3 days, and I see no reason to put myself through it for any longer than 3 days.
What we DID decide is that we're going to try to eat a more plant-based diet. We're pretty healthy eaters most of the time, but we still have some sort of meat for dinner every night. After we come back from our little trip, I'll be cooking vegetarian dinners 3-4 days a week, and meat dishes 1-2 days a week .  We are also going to continue juicing...at least once a day.

That's all for today, I'll just leave you with this:

Never doubt yourself. Never think you're not capable of doing something. You can do anything if you make your mind strong enough.

Juice Fast - Day 2

So...I didn't post last night. I was in such a crabby mood, I'm sure no one would have wanted to read what I had to say anyway. So this morning I'm posting about yesterday, Day 2 of the Juice Fast. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go here:

http://www.jointhereboot.com/

Day 2 was NOT a good day. I was sick of juice, I was lightheaded (probably because I wasn't drinking enough juice, but I really couldn't face anymore), and when I stepped on the scale that morning the scale showed me THREE POUNDS heavier than the morning before. Now, I should never have stepped on the scale in the first place....I know that. I know that weight fluctuates daily, that I'm putting my body through something rigorous, that bodies react in different ways and that I should have waited until the morning after day 3 to weigh. I knew that, but I still stepped on the scale. And I was still incredibly discouraged. I was crabby all morning, was complaining to my husband for too long....and I know I was making myself a pain in the butt. So, I shook it off and just keep going. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I did the cleanse in large part for weight l0ss...but I know the real reason to do a cleanse is detox. And I kept going. At some point during the day I did eat a raw sliced tomato and three grapes...but the reboot guide has a list of things to eat if you HAVE to. So I'm ok with that. The weird feeling of desperation went away as the day went on. I didn't even feel tempted to eat something even after the hubby went to starbucks and got himself a latte. And I made it through the day. I miss my workouts but I just didn't have the energy. I also desperately miss Shakeology, but I know I get to have it tomorrow so I can wait. It's funny how yesterday I was craving all of these things I haven't craved in a while - cheeseburgers, pizza, cake...but today I don't really crave anything. I'm just looking forward to eat real food tomorrow.

That's all for now, tomorrow I'll write about day 3!

Juice Fast!! Day 1

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been gone for a while...things have been incredibly hectic over on my side of the world. There have been so many things going on and I could go on forever about good and bad stuff...but I won't. For the next 3 days, I'm going to blog about my personal experience with my 3 day "Reboot" juice fast. Have you ever heard of juicing? If you haven't, I STRONGLY recommend you watch this movie:

http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

It's about 90 minutes long, and you can watch it online for free. If you have netflix, you can also watch it on netflix instant play. It's seriously a life-changing, eye-opening movie.

Anyway, a while back the hubby and I watched the movie and decided to do a juice fast. We lasted less than two days. As much as I LOVE Beachbody products and Shakeology, juicing seemed to be on a whole other level. I kept wanting to try to do the fast again, but I was two scared. Finally, the hubby and I decided to try again...just for 3 days, over a weekend when we wouldn't be tempted. So, yesterday I went out and bought $50 worth of fruits and veggies, and today we began.

So here goes. Day One.

Today was horrible. I'm not gonna lie. I had juice for breakfast and made the mistake of juicing Kale (which is amazing for you...but if you're not used to the taste, do NOT put it in juice) which made the drink just nasty. I packed more juice for lunch but couldn't bring myself to drink it because I knew the kale was in there. I drove around for work for a while, and was amazed that I didn't just stop somewhere and get food. I wasn't HUNGRY, but I wanted FOOD sooooo badly. I wanted to eat everything in sight. Luckily, after work I went out with my friend Scott to a great museum exhibit. He gave me a big bottle of ice cold water which kept me busy.

After, I came home to find my hubby already here. I made a huge batch of veggie juice and a huge batch of fruit juice to drink tonight and tomorrow morning. As of this time, I've had about 10 almonds (I had to, it was that or freaking out and going through a drive thru), juice and a lot of water. And I'm feeling good. Tomorrow's supposed to be when detox symptoms start to get bad, so we'll see! I'm excited to actually finish this. I'm mostly blogging about it to keep myself accountable :-D.

Have you ever juiced? Or fasted? What has your experience been?

Facing my Fears

Those of you that know me REALLY well know I'm a fraidy cat. I'm really clumsy, and I don't trust my own body at all when it comes to physical challenges. I'm always afraid of going up/down anything steep, or walking in anything slippery. When I went to Iceland a few months ago I did a lot of stuff I never thought I would (I'll post about Iceland later), but nothing too strenuous.
This weekend I faced a huge fear. The hubby told me on Wednesday he wanted to go hiking this weekend, and I just thought, cool, I like easy hikes. What he didn't tell me, until the night before, is WHICH hike we were doing. We ended up driving 3 hours to the town of Glenwood Springs and staying the night so we could do this trail. By the time he told me what we were doing, the room was already booked and we HAD to go.
We did the Hanging Lake Trail in Glenwood Canyon. While it was a short hike (1.5 miles each way), it was STEEP. A 1000 foot incline in those 1.5 miles. And the terrain was very, very rocky. Of course, as soon as he told me which trail he wanted to do I looked it up, and was immediately terrified. Even experience hikers in excellent shape called it a "challenging" hike. Even though I'm in better shape than I was, I'm NO WAY in shape for strenuous hikes. Or so I thought.

I was pretty much terrified the whole night before and up until the hike began. The trail was crowded, and I saw quite a few people turning back. After the first 1/4 mile, I wanted to turn back. I was short of breath, uncomfortable and terrified of slipping and hurting myself. The hubby told me he wouldn't force me to keep going, but I could tell he'd be disappointing if I didn't finish. So I pushed through. It was one of the hardest things I've done. I was constantly out of breath, my legs where shaking and I had to keep taking breaks. I wasn't the only one. People everywhere were stopping...but they were mostly older people. There were plenty of athletic looking young people that just kept going as if it wasn't hard at all. At about the halfway mark, I was exhausted and shaky, but I was almost halfway done...I figured I had to keep going or I'd never forgive myself. For some reason, the last 1/4 mile was the easiest to do, even though it was the steepest part. I think it was the knowledge that I was almost there. The top of the hike, the Hanging Lake, was gorgeous and totally worth the hike.
The way down was scary, but not as bad as I thought. While I was short of breath and tired on the way up, I wasn't THAT scared of falling. On the way down, before I started heading down, I was terrified. I was convinced I would slip while scrambling down from the top, or on one of the slippery patches and fall and hit my head.
But none of that happened. I've apparently gotten more confident, because I was able to make it all the way down without incident (and I only asked the hubby to hold my hand for like 5 minutes of it).
Three hours after the begining of the hike, we were back down at the car and headed for the hotel. And I have never been prouder of myself.
 Never be afraid to face your fears. The feeling that you get when you accomplish something you thought impossible is priceless.

This was the trail!    ------->

My Struggle With Food

Well, here goes. The embarrassing post. 

I've always had issues with food. When I was only 8 I would go to the kitchen and cut off chunks of cheese to eat in my room when I was depressed. Or sneak chocolate into my bedroom and hide bags of cookies from my mom. When I was in middle school I'd be the one kid having nachos for lunch every day instead of the salad the cafeteria also had. In high school I'd get excited when we had after school activities, because it meant I'd get to eat at McDonalds or Pizza in my break between school/said activity. 

I'm not sure when it started, but I've always associated junk food with comfort, and the LACK of junk food with torture. Whenever I "dieted" I felt like I was dying. If I tried to eat all veggies and meat and cut out carbs I would convince myself I had a headache and it was "unhealthy to not eat carbs" and I'd stop the diet after a day or two. 


This is why I've always been overweight. Last time I decided to lose weight, 7 years ago, instead of learning to enjoy healthy foods and exercise, I starved myself for 6 months, lost 70 lbs. And gained everything back within two years. Thanks to my amazing Coach Amber I've learned to disassociate food from emotions. Or I've learned that I need to do that. It's still a struggle every day for me. I've gotten SO much better. I actually enjoy healthy foods now, there's fruits and vegetables that I LOVE. But if something bad happens, I have a fight with someone, or I get depressed or stressed? About 1/3 of the time I still reach for food. I know 1/3 of the time is better than 3/3, but it's still not good.

Today is a great example of this.
I went to see a patient who lives in a facility. I've had a really, really stressful last 10 days and was pretty much feeling over everything. I was grumpy and tired. When I got the the facility, I discovered they were having a bake sale to raise money for some cause. I got to my patient's room and saw that she had bought two (HUGE) cinnamon rolls, and told me one was for me so I could have had breakfast with her.
Of course, I'd already had my Shakeology for breakfast. But, I told myself "you've been working so hard, you never eat crap like this anymore, you deserve this" and ate the whole thing. 
Of course, now I feel guilty (which is BAD, guild is another EMOTION and the whole point is to NOT ASSOCIATE EMOTIONS WITH FOOD).


This is the kind of thing I struggle with every day, but I feel like I've made so much progress in the last year. A year ago, I wouldn't have worked out today. Or I would have been like "meh, I already had a cinnamon roll, what the heck" and gone through a drive through and gotten a burger and fries.


Instead, I came home after work, did an extra workout (today was supposed to be a rest day), and started cooking a healthy dinner. 


It's progress, but I still have a long way to go when it comes to food.


I leave you with a few words of advice. Set small goals for yourself, and reward yourself when you hit the goals. But NEVER reward yourself with junk food. As my coach Amber says "Don't reward yourself with food, you're not a dog"


Thanks for reading!

Day 1 - Here Goes!

FOR THE NEXT 30 DAYS, ANYONE THAT SIGNS UP FOR SHAKEOLOGY HOME DIRECT GETS A FREE GIFT!

Day 1 of healthy eating/workouts is going well. I did my Les Mills Pump pump revolution workout, which kicked my butt! I had my Shakeology first thing this morning, which set off my day right. I'll be mentioning Shakeology and Beachbody a lot in my blog, so I'm going to explain Shakeology today. Shakeology is a nutrition take I've been taking every day for the last 8 months, and it has made a HUGE difference in my life. After taking shakeology for just 3 months my cholesterol went down, my thyroid went up (i had hypothyroidsm) and I was able to get off blood pressure meds. My doctor was impressed by my results, especially considering I didn't really change much else about my diet and didn't really exercise regularly (apparently I have to change my life in baby steps). When I first ordered shakeology I thought, wow, I can't believe I'm paying so much for a SHAKE. A lot of people  think that same thing. Well, here's the first picture I saw that convinced me to give Shakeology a try:

                                                                  


It really is that simple. If I was willing to spend $7-$8 a day eating a burger and fries for lunch, why NOT try shakeology instead? If my DH spends $4 a day on a latte, can't I spend $3 a day on a shake that will give me all the nutrition I need? Shakeology calls itself the Healthiest Meal of the Day, and it's not kidding. Here's Shakeology's nutriotion compared to other popular shakes:

                                                                       



So, once I heard Beachbody has a bottom of the bag guarantee, I decided to give Shakeology a try. And I've been a convert ever since. I lost a total of 12 lbs in 3 months by doing NOTHING else, just having Shakeology every day. This is a product I REALLY believe in, and the reason I became a Beachbody coach. So, if you want to learn even more about shakeology, or give shakeology at try, feel free to order from my site. Remember, Beachbody will let you finish the WHOLE bag of Shakeology. If you decide you don't like it, they'll give you a full refund. And I'll help you GET that refund quickly. I promise, though, once you try it you'll be a convert too!

MY SHAKEOLOGY PAGE


This is my blog for today. I promise tomorrow I'll post about my personal struggles :-)