Isn't that REFRESHing?

Weekends have always been tough for me. I do pretty well during the week because my routine is very similar from day to day because of my work schedule. On the weekends I tend to sleep later and my day is much more fluid in terms of what plans I might have or what chores I'm trying to get done at home. Consequently, I tend to not drink as much water, eat food that is not exactly on plan, and sometimes miss workouts. For that reason, I wanted to begin the 3 Day Refresh over a weekend to help me reset the habit of being "off" on weekends. A Saturday would have been ideal, but my Refresh package did not arrive until Friday and I needed time to read the materials and grocery shop so I began on a Sunday.

Day 1: I recorded my weight and measured my hips and waist. The Refresh plan advises drinking water first thing so I did that after my weigh in. I then enjoyed a Greenberry shake and some fruit. I also chose to have a cup of black tea with stevia for my tea time since I didn't have a chance to step down my morning coffee intake and did not want a headache. (Other than 1 other morning, I consumed green tea or herbal tea for all the other tea times.)
 

I usually have a bigger breakfast of eggs and Ezekiel bread, etc. on the weekends so I did feel a bit hungry after tea time. Luckily for me, the fiber sweep drink filled me up until lunch. I personally had no issue with the fiber sweep but I have added fiber mix drinks to my eating plan before and was used to the slightly gritty consistency. The book advises drinking the fiber sweep quickly after mixing. I made mine in my shaker cup, which helped as I could continually shake it between sips. The flavor strangely reminded me of Fruit Loops so it was not unpleasant. I also added a little additional water at the end to try and get the remaining bits of fiber that clung to the cup.
 

Lunch was a vegetable and a healthy fat from the list plus a Vanilla Fresh shake.

 

Vanilla Fresh Shake

 

The shake filled me up pretty quickly and kept me full until my afternoon snack and tea time. For dinner, I chose to have the optional organic vegetable broth and a vegetable stir fry. This was tasty and filling and it was satisfying to eat a warm meal. I also chose to put off my second Vanilla Fresh shake by about an hour to be sure I would not get hungry in the evening or overnight.

 

Broth with parsley and veggie stir fry.  I added curry powder to spice mine up!

My energy was pretty low throughout the day. I don't think this had anything to do with the Refresh as I was eating fairly consistently throughout the day. I just chalk it up to one of those days. I did not, however, workout due to this fact.
 

Day 2: This was probably my best day overall. I felt pretty good in the morning and followed the advised food schedule fairly closely, though occasionally it was more like 2 hours between certain parts of the schedule, but I never felt exceedingly hungry. I did switch my afternoon tea and snack so that I had my snack later in the day to give me energy for working out. I did a double PiYo routine. My energy waned a little by the end but this was about 50 minutes of exercise total. I had the soup and stir fry for dinner again and also drank my shake afterwards as I did on Day 1.

 

Kale and strawberry salad for lunch plus avocado and a little red wine vinegar.

Day 3: This was the only day that I mixed the fruit serving directly into my shake. For me, it was better to eat an actual piece of fruit to take up space in my stomach instead of adding it to my shake. However, this morning I was in a bit of a rush and knew my schedule would be off so I purposely tried to boost my breakfast. I also had an extra cup of tea because I was not able to consume the fiber sweep until late morning. I also got home from work later than usual and was not able to work out. I physically felt like I could but my husband and I had a lot of things to discuss so that took precedence.

Stir fry close up.

 

I had anticipated that dinner on Day 3 might be the hardest. This is mostly because it's your last meal on the plan before you can go back to eating whatever you wish. I guess that was mostly a mental roadblock, though. I was still satisfied by my broth and stir fry and my shake.
 

Other points: Water is very helpful in terms of helping you process your food and keeping you full so drink up!
 

I should mention that I primarily ate the same thing for all my snacks and meals. I'm not usually that way on a daily basis but it was much simpler for me to prepare my food that way and it wasn't boring to me. It could be because by the time I had dinner, I was very much looking forward to a hot meal.
 

As for the fiber sweep, I know some people have worries it will do a number on their digestive tract. I eat a decent amount of fiber on a daily basis so this was not an issue for me. I could tell the product was doing what it should and I had no adverse effects. In fact, I'd be really interested if Beachbody started selling the fiber sweep as a supplement.
 

So....drumroll....the end result: 6 pounds down and half an inch off my waist! Pictures don't do it justice because my waist is one of the areas that still needs a lot of attention so you'll have to take my word for it. :)

But I felt good and very energized.  One week out, I am back up about 2 pounds but I think that's pretty good overall. I do wonder what my results would've been if I'd worked out all 3 days but I'm still satisfied with the end result.

If you've been considering the Refresh please let me know if you have any questions. If you'd like some support, fill out the form below and join a Refresh challenge group. The Refresh Challenge Pack is on sale only through the end of July so act fast!

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With a Little Help From Your Friends

Support has been so key to my success.  My husband has been amazing all along and my family and friends have been very encouraging and invested in my progress.  Unfortunately some people do not have this type of support or are surrounded by Negative Nellies.  Now that I'm a coach I can be that friend and that supporter that others need. It's truly one of the best things about coaching.

If you've seen my Facebook like page or my personal profile, you've most likely seen me talking about Challenge Groups. I thought I would take some time to explain what a Challenge Group is and why it's successful.

I have personally participated in two different Challenge Groups - one for T25 and one for the 21 Day Fix. The T25 group was my first and lasted 60 days. That's a big commitment but boy was I glad I had committed to it. I was very nervous about the holidays approaching last year. It's a difficult time of year for everyone, let alone someone trying to lose weight. That group helped me survive the holidays AND lose weight and inches.

Challenge Groups are run in closed groups on Facebook. Your coach(es) post information everyday to support and encourage you and provide tons of information and answer any questions you may have. You and the other participants in the group check in everyday to discuss how your day went. You rate things like your food intake, if you drank your Shakeology, and your workout. (Like how well you followed your meal plan and how hard you pushed yourself during your workout.) You might be surprised by how much one Facebook post keeps you accountable. I often thought "don't want to post that I ate french fries" so I didn't eat them. Or even "better do my workout and not make excuses to the group about why I didn't."

As I said above, support is necessary and an amazing benefit of a group. Your coach(es) want the best for you and love hearing how the program is working for you or in what areas you might need help. You might struggle with things but you find out that others in the group are struggling with something similar. You realize change is hard and there's nothing wrong with you for struggling. You also find ways to get past your struggles and find a lot of motivation and togetherness in the group and people to cheer your successes.

I have personal experience with T25, the 21 Day Fix, Slim in 6, and Piyo but there are challenge packs and groups for any of Beachbody's programs.  If you think a Challenge Group might help you, fill out my form below and we'll find a program that works for you and a group to support you, too!

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Spinning Into a New Me

My turning point finally came in January of 2013.  A coworker suggested we join a boot camp challenge.  I thought it over for a few days.  I knew it was something I should do but change is difficult and I was at close to the highest weight I'd been in my entire life.  Could I do this?

I weighed my options.  I am a sociable person but not particularly outgoing so there was the risk of embarrassment, possible injury, the inevitable fear of change.  But then another thought occurred to me.  What if it made me feel better?  What if I lost weight?  Was that worth stepping out of my comfort zone?  Luckily, I decided it was.

The boot camp challenge offered prizes at the end, one of which was for perfect attendance at all 24 boot camp sessions.  This wasn't a goal of mine initially but after I survived the first few classes it seemed feasible.  I'm a classic over-thinker and in this case I tried not to think much at all.  I had class 3 days a weeks so I planned everything with those classes in mind.

Class was difficult.  It pushed me physically, and sometimes it was tough to get through, but I started to realize something...it was making me fee better.  There were days when I didn't feel too great or I didn't want to go but I had made a commitment so I went anyway.  And I came home feeling good.  (What?!  Exercise makes you feel better?  No way!)

My progress was slow at first.  This happens for a lot of people, especially when you are building muscle.  Don't get discouraged because your success isn't showing as much on the scale.  Go by how your clothes fit and how you feel.  Those two things should be enough to keep you going for a while.

By the end of the boot camp I had lost over 18 pounds.  It was a great start and lit a slow burning fire in me.  (I even squeezed in a run between work and cooking dinner for my mother one night because I was stir crazy and needed to burn off some energy.  I chose running over crashing on the couch for 10 minutes.  Me?  Really?)

 January 2013/April 2014

Over the course of the next year and a half I joined Weight Watchers, did Yoga and Zumba at work, started running, ran a 5k, joined classes at an exercise studio, started my first Beachbody Challenge Group, started clean eating and drinking Shakeology and eventually became a Beachbody Coach myself.  That's a lot of change and growth for someone who was scared of taking that first boot camp class.  What's the trick?  Just take it one step, or one class, at a time.

I had never thought of myself as being adventurous enough to take a spinning class but I did tonight.  I was presented with the opportunity and thought "Why not?"  That's a total attitude shift from who I was last year but I realized I'm not afraid of opportunities anymore.  Life is no less challenging but I feel so much readier to face these challenges head on.  So don't be afraid, be fierce!

Need someone in your corner to help with your fitness journey?

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Welcome to my blog!

I've thought long and hard about starting a blog and I finally decided now was the time. There are so many things I often want to say that would make a Facebook post way too long or take up too many tweets so this blog is where I will spread my wings, at least in terms of word count. :)

My name is Michelle and I've been married to my husband for 4 years. We're hoping to have kids soon, which is part of the reason why I finally started to get my health in order. 

I'm a person that's been overweight the majority of my life. I am not where I want to be yet but I'm so much closer to my goal than I ever thought I'd be. I figured I would just be fat my entire life, that it was genetic, that there was nothing I could do about it. But you know what? That's not true. Achieving and maintaining my goals is hard work but I'm not much different than most people who have lost a lot of weight. And I think that's a good thing to realize. I am not different and you are NOT different. If someone else can lose 100 pounds, so can you! There is a method to it and if you find what works for you and you have dedication and perseverance you can do anything. 

 July 2013

 July 2014

I'm living proof of that concept (90 pounds down since 01/2013!) which is why I call this blog and my Facebook like page Persistent Fitness. Be persistent. Fight for yourself and your health. If you need support, I'm here for you.