3 Day Refresh Results

I JUST COMPLETED THE 3 DAY REFRESH!!!! On Tuesday I never thought I would be able to say that. I wanted to share my experience on how things went, how I found the program and of course my results. Now I know from the picture above you may or may not be able to see much of a difference...I know I sure can! My results weren't huge or drastic like the commercial portrays the program BUT I was slightly skeptical and I never expected these kinds of results so quickly from any program. Remember that everyone has a different starting point so everyone's results will vary.  

I have never completed anything like this before. I have always wanted to do some sort of juice cleanse...I even bought two books which had the juice cleanse program in them but I never did it. I was nervous to try them and go without food just juice for any period of time. I'm a busy person and I don't have 3 days to dedicate to a juice cleanse. I know people who have done juice cleanse and they are all so tiered and grumpy during the three days they are on their cleanse, I didn't want to be tiered and drag around the office. I was skeptical they wouldn't work and always talked myself out of even trying. 

So why did I try this one? Because it was advertised as a cleanse with NO STARVING, sounded like something I could do!!! So why did I do the cleanse? I wanted to break some bad eating habits I had and kick start my system.

First off lets talk about the kit. This program comes from a company called Beachbody. The kit nicely lays out everything you need for the refresh and comes with a program guide. Now when doing this program you will need to use Shakeology, Beachbody has an option for you to just buy the kit by its self or buy it with Shakeology.

 Each day you will need to drink a Fiber Sweep and two Vanilla Fresh drinks. Okay I just want to take a minuet and tell you about the Fiber Sweep....IT WAS HORRIBLE!!! By far this was the worst part of the three days. Now I don't want to scare you away from doing this but I just want you to be warned! It's slightly chunky and has a lemon taste which I didn't like. It doesn't really dissolve in water so I would recommend using a blender to help dissolve the powder and drink it REALLY fast....that's how I did it. Now the Vanilla Fresh on the other hand was amazing! It smelled so good and tasted yummy, I also put this in a blender with water and some ice....it was delicious.

 In addition to the kit and Shakeology you will also have to do some grocery shopping...yes you do get to EAT during the 3 days. In the program guide it will tell you what you can eat and how much. Stick to the program!! It was a little tough because it's a lot less food than I was used to eating but it's only 3 days. The book gives you a couple optional choices, some days I did the options and some days I didn't. I'll take you step by step what I did each day.

Now I did this program Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday....so I tried really hard to plan ahead but I failed a little bit. My tip is shop ahead and buy more than you think you will need. I didn't buy any of the option food and had to run back to the grocery store on Tuesday (which I was trying to avoid) and pick up some of the option food. Also make sure you take you before pictures and measurements before you start, I know I'm sure glad i did.


Day 1
I found the morning of day 1 pretty easy but as lunch approached I was getting a little hungry. Now I get food cravings right away when I smell food so I decided to leave the office during lunch just to make things easier on myself. After lunch I was good for the rest for the afternoon until dinner. During the day you are allowed two optional teas and I took advantage of both. Around 5 I was getting slightly light headed and was CRAVING food but this went away after dinner and that was the only time I felt light headed...the cravings went away after day 2. I was able to go about my normal day at the office but not when I got home. Normally I workout every night but I was REALLY tiered to I skipped my workout for the full 3 days.

Around 7 I started to get hungry again and there is an option to have some vegetable broth at the end of the day which I wasn't planning on doing so I didn't buy any...since I was getting hungry I decided to run out to the grocery store, which I tired to avoid but I'm glad I went and got it. By the end of the day I felt exhausted and it was hard to get off the couch and do anything.

Another tip I will add...clean off your counter! It never even occurred to me how much food we have just sitting around. On the weekend we had made some garlic bread and the leftovers were wrapped up on the counted and it really bothered me. The day before you start the program just go through your kitchen and tuck any food you have lying around away in a cupboard so it wont even tempt you!


Day 2
I woke up with energy! I was shocked, I expected to be really tiered and dragging but I wasn't. Now day 2 was really busy for me at the office, I had a hard time sticking to the eating schedule and I had to stay at my desk and work though my lunch. I had to skip the optional tea because I was too busy to run but I was able to fit everything else in. I found that I had a ton more energy than day 1 and even though I had some slight food cravings around lunch time it wasn't as bad as the first day. Even when I got home it didn't bother me when my fiance ate his dinner in front of me and I even packed his lunch that night. Normally I pack his lunch everyday but on day 1 I told him he had to do it himself because I didn't want to be digging around in the fridge tempting myself.


Day 3
I was a little tiered and hard to get out of bed... but that could also have been because I was up late! As soon as I got out of bed and had my first glass of water had a ton of energy again! Now day 3 was almost an epic FAIL...I was driving to work when I realized I forgot my fiber sweep and vanilla shake at home. Everything else I had but I forgot those two things on the counter. I really wanted to finish the full 3 days I was SO close to being done. I rushed home mid morning to get them so my food was slightly out of order on day 3 but I still fit everything in! I did have the optional tea on day 3. I had absolutely zero food cravings and I had a ton of energy....I don't think I've ever felt that great!


Results
Now for the part you've been waiting for....or you just scrolled down to the bottom to read and skipped the rest. Either way, from the picture above you can tell a slight difference in my before and after pictures. Over the three days I lost 4 pounds, my start weight was 149 and went down to 145. I lost 2 inches around my stomach, chest and thighs! After doing this I was expecting to lose weight and I was expecting to lose weight around my stomach but what really stocked me is loosing fat off my legs...for about 6 years I ran track and field and developed large thighs, which were muscle when I was training but when I stopped running track it turned into fat that I could never get rid of. I stopped track and field in 2006 so I've had this fat around my legs for 9 years!! I know it's hard to tell in the picture but in person I can tell my legs are skinnier. Plus I've also developed a more defined hourglass silhouette!

Would I do this again? Absolutely! I don't think I'll be doing it again right away but now I'm very curious to see what kind of results I could get doing this a second round.

How do I plan to keep off the weight and keep my results? I'm instructing a T25 challenge group starting April 6th which should help, if you don't know what T25 is it's a Beachbody at home fitness program that also comes with a eating plan. I also will be more aware of my eating habits and of course continue drinking my Shakeology!

How do you buy this program? www.beachbodycoach.com/mspamblam or send me an email mspamblam@gmail.com

I took a couple pictures during the 3 days I was on the refresh program and posted them on my Instagram account, if you want to check those out head over to https://instagram.com/mspamblam

I hope you found this review/results on the 3 Day Refresh helpful and interesting. If you have any questions that I didn't answer please leave them in the comments below and I would be happy to answer them!

21 Day Fix Review

I've had 21 Day Fix since January, now that I've been through the program twice I feel I can give an honest opinion of what I thought of the program. This is an at home workout and eating plan that is made by Beachbody. For those of you who don't know Beachbody has over 20 different workout DVD and before attempting this program I did go through P90X back in October.

You have a few options when purchasing the program, I decided to purchase the "challenge pack". In the challenge pack you will receive the workout DVD's, eating plan, color coordinated containers, shakeology container and a one month supply of shakeology. The one money supply of shakeology is not included in the picture because I and waiting on my next order to arrive.

First off lets go into what the eating plan contains. The eating plan guide will tell you step by step how many calories you should be taking in everyday. Based on your calorie intake you get to eat a specific amount of each color coordinated container. So to give you an example: my calorie intake based on my weight was 1,200-1,499 everyday. What does that mean? I got to eat 3 green containers, 2 purple containers, 4 red containers, 2 yellow containers, 1 blue containers, and 1 orange container. So what does that mean? Well every color of container falls into a food category. For example the green container is vegetables. The eating plan even gives you examples of vegetables that can go into this container: kale, carrots, cucumbers, celery, ect. The eating plan is very straight forward and even includes recipes in the back of the book to help you come up with meal ideas. The theory behind the eating plan is portion control, this is NOT considered dieting. Many people overeat and it can affect your fitness results.

At first when I looked at the meal plan I thought there is no way 1,200-1,499 is enough food I'll starve!!! But to my surprise that was enough food for me, I cut way down on all the snaking I did throughout the day. I enjoyed eating real food and I stayed away from going out for meals, Its amazing how much it affects your body! I'm also big on drinking calories. What does that mean? Well at my office we get an endless supply of coffee, juice, pop, ect. I head to the kitchen about 5 times a day to get something to drink without thinking about the calories I was drinking. Over the 21 days I stuck to drinking shakeology, water and tea only. Now I will say that the first week is tough. Your shocking your body into making a change and my energy level was low. By the end of the 21 days I felt I had more energy and with my weight loss I felt my self confidence go up! Now that I've done this twice I feel amazing, it's hard to describe but I don't feel weighted down by the extra crap I was eating and drinking everyday.

Now the workouts portion. I've done other Beachbody programs before and they didn't work for me. I was really hesitant about this one but I have to say this is my favorite so far! Each workout is only 30min, it was really easy to fit this into my day. I did my workouts everyday after work, I was finished before dinner time! The trainer on the DVD doesn't rush any of the moves and you get breaks in between each move. It was easy for me to follow along, there is a modifier on the DVD and for my 1st round I had to follower her for the 1st week. By week 2 I felt a lot stronger and just followed the regular moves. Now you do need some equipment to complete this program, depending on what you have in your house already you may or may not need to invest so extra money on top of your purchase. All you need is a yoga mat(or some kind of mat you can do floor exercises on) and 2 sets of weight (a light and heavy set).

In 21 days the biggest place I notices a change was my arms. They are more defined and it got rid of my "chicken wings" that I disliked. Over my first 21 days I've also lost 9 pounds with the workout DVD and eating plan. Mostly I get comments that my face looks skinnier but I've also noticed my hips are slimmer. Almost to the point were I need new jeans which is exciting!

For me personally I think this program is amazing but now that I've done it twice I'm feeling a lot stronger and I'm going to be purchasing 21 Day Fix Extreme next!!

If you want to purchase this program you can head over to www.beachbodycoach.com/mspamblam