I made a vow to make it through the holidays with out gaining any weight this year.  I am happy to report I did that, but I still felt bloated and just not myself when it was all said and done.  Having a food intolerance (for me dairy) can do that to you!  So can those few extra cookies, cocktails and other cheats we all indulged in over the past 3 months.

Time to refresh!!

I have done this program before so I knew what to expect.  Here is a quick review of what I thought of the 3 days and who I would recommend this program to.

Day 1

I woke up and worked out as I usually would.  This program does have you at a calorie deficit so you may not be able to work out as you normally would, but I figured I could sneak this one in before my body knew what was about to happen!

• 5 am- wake up and workout- ChaLEAN Extreme Lean Circuit 1
• 6 am- drank 20 oz of water and had Vegan Chocolate Shakeology with frozen blueberries and water.
• 9 am- green tea
• 10 am- Fiber Sweep (digestive health drink) OK so people really hate this drink.  I don’t find it to be too bad.  Use VERY cold water, shake and drink it right away.  It reminds me of watered down lemonade.
• 11:30 (I was hungry by now!)- lunch.  I had the Vanilla Fresh blended with 1/2 a frozen banana,  water and cinnamon.  I had that with roasted broccoli.
• felt kinda hungry by 1:00- drank a ton of water and felt better
• 3:00 (waited as long as I could)- afternoon snack of celery and almond butter and a green tea
• 5:30- dinner.  Vanilla Fresh blended with water and ice with roasted asparagus with almonds

I drank a ton of water and therefore visited the rest room way more that usual.  I felt hungry in the afternoon, but nothing too bad.  I believe it was more of a mental thing.

Day 2

Today is my scheduled rest day, but I normally try to get a run in.  Today I opted to rest.

• 6:00 am– woke up and drank 20 oz of water
• 7:00 am- breakfast- Tropical Strawberry Shakeology blended with frozen pineapple and water
• 9:30- green tea
• 10:30- Fiber Sweep
• 12:00- lunch- I had the Vanilla Fresh blended with 1/2 a frozen banana,  water and cinnamon.  I had that with roasted broccoli.  What can I say, I am a creature of habit
• 3:00- carrots and almond butter
• 5:30- Vanilla Fresh blended with water, ice and pumpkin pie spice and a cucumber and tomato salad.

Felt much less hungry.  Drank a ton of water again.  I liked the salad but it was a little to lemony for me, but I would try it again with less lemon in the dressing next time.

Note to self- its probably not a great idea to bake banana bread muffins for the boys when you can’t have one…and they smell so good!!!

Day 3

Final Day!  I scheduled this as a day off too.  I had hoped to sneak in Pilates Fix but it just didn’t happen.  At this point I am excited to eat some oatmeal and eggs the next day, but am not feeling super deprived or hungry.

• 6:00 am- woke up and drank 20 oz of water
• 7:00 am- breakfast- Vegan Chocolate Shakeology bended with frozen blueberries and water
• 9:00- green tea
• 10:30- Fiber Sweep- although it is not horrible, I am glad to be done with this one!
• 11:30- lunch- Vanilla Fresh blended with frozen strawberries and water with roasted cauliflower.  See how I mixed it up a bit today!
• 2:00- celery with almond butter
• 5:30- Vanilla Fresh blended with water, ice and cinnamon and the spinach salad- this was by far the most filling dinner recipe.  I kept checking to makes sure I hadn’t measured wrong.  It was a surprisingly big salad!

I felt great on day 3.  I felt less bloated and just more back to my normal self.  I made the boys spaghetti squash and turkey meat balls.  It smelled divine in  my kitchen but I really didn’t feel like I was missing out.

Results

Over all the experience was pretty painless and I am pleased with the results. I actually lost 1.5 pounds, but my measurement stayed the same. I do feel like I lost a little of that “extra” from around my waist.  Realize that everyone is different and you aren’t necessarily going to lose pounds of fat in these 3 days.  It will mostly be fluids and toxins your body is holding on to.  The main reason I did this was to restart or refresh after the holidays and I feel just that- refreshed!  I also feel like this was a great way for me to focus on my water intake and I hope this kicked off a good habit for me with that.

I would recommend this to anyone:

• looking to refresh after some over indulging
• looking to change their eating habits and wants to kick it off with a bang!
• someone who feels like they have reached a plateau in their fitness/weight loss journey.  This will be a great way to shake things up for you!
• looking for a little extra something to get you ready for a special trip or event.

This is not a quick fix!!!  If you go back to bad eating habits after you finish the 3 day you will lose the result and quick!  Why put yourself through the 3 days (which are doable but not exactly fun) if you are going to undo all the good when you are done.

Here is the best part: the 3 Day Refresh is on sale this month!  You can get it for only $10 with the purchase of Shakeology.  Now is the time to get yourself back on track and start some lifelong healthy habits.

If you would like more information on the 3 Day Refresh go to http://eepurl.com/baZVnr