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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