Day 7 of Phase 1/ Day 14 Overall

Today is the last day of Phase 2/Week 2 of the Ultimate Reset! I can't believe I've made it this far!

I'm pleased to say that at the end of Phase 1/Week 1, I had lost 6 pounds. I'll let you know this weekend the final results from week 2 :)

I've been eating fully vegetarian for a little over a  week now and have almost cut out all grains as well. I haven't had any sugar or coffee since I began (except for the on bite of a cupcake last weekend). I've noticed that I've been a little hungrier more often during this week but by raising my water intake and having a snack in the afternoons, it's definitely not a problem. 

I've noticed that my acid reflux is gone and I have a ton more energy than I did before starting. In fact, the reason  I ultimately decided to do the Ultimate Reset is because one day after a long day at work, I was going to Walmart, still for work, and I felt so sluggish. Basically, I felt like I was Jabba the Hut trying to drag my huge body across the hot parking lot. I was miserable and angry with myself for letting it all get that point. 

This week, however, I unloaded the inventory at work in record time and felt amazing! Before this, it was the same thing, everything took so much effort. 

The food has been hit and miss taste-wise. Mostly it's been fine and I'm willing to try anything. I've really enjoyed a few things and not liked others at all. 

As for supplements, I'm SO excited to take my last Detox packet. It's horrible! One more before dinner and I'm done! I'm still getting headaches but I know it's from my neck and not the diet. 

I'm excited to get my final results for week 2 and share with you tomorrow!!

Phase 1 Complete! What I've learned...

I'm about to have my final meal of week one/phase one of the Ultimate Reset. I'll post my final weight loss for the week tomorrow.

Through this week, I've learned:
That I do have the strength to stick to a healthy meal plan by myself.

I was addicted to coffee, despite my protestations, but I still know that it's hugely a comfort issue. As in, drinking coffee is a great social activity, environment and makes me feel good above and beyond the caffeine fix :)

I don't mind being on a mostly vegetarian diet.

I HATE miso soup.

I have enjoyed learning new recipes and types of food.

I can kick my sugar habit!!

This weekend will be tough. It's great-grandma's 95th birthday and we're throwing her a surprise party! I'll be out of town for the weekend so I'll have to really make plans to stick to my diet. The meal tomorrow night is brisket made by my amazing cook of an aunt. *sigh* but it's for the greater good of my health :) Also, my sister is making cupcakes. Normally, not a big deal. She's making Limoncello cupcakes. mmmmmm

Cravings!!

Here I am, on Day 5 of the Ultimate Reset. I loved the foods I've eaten today! Oatmeal, Quinoa salad and hummus with veggies, and tonight, more Ah-mazing stir-fried veggies. (Also miso soup, though, which is pretty iffy). But oh, how I miss coffee!

I want to share my reasons for choosing this cleanse. It's a bit expensive for me on my new lower wage at the coffee shop so it was a pretty big decision financially. Not only that, but I have struggled mightily with actually sticking with my own prescribed "diet" for longer than 3 or 4 days. I have developed some really bad habits of snacking all the time, which then would make me feel badly about myself leading to more emotional eating. On top of it, I could not break myself of sugar. Obviously, it's possible as I'm proving to myself right now and I'm on my fifth day of NO SUGAR! Yay me!
I'm tired of seeing pictures of myself and not recognizing the person I see, and not because of my occasional hair color changes. So, yes, I'm going into this hoping to lose some weight. But above and beyond that, I want the 21 days to be a real and true lifestyle change. Something that forces me to break my bad habits, develop  new and healthy ones, and give myself the confidence and tools to continue to lose the weight necessary to be healthy again.

There have been a couple of nights this week in which I wanted to say "screw it" and order out. I don't love cooking and this is definitely an extended version of what I normally would cook. Another habit to break (eating out because of laziness) and a good one to form (cooking at home with healthier ingredients. I'll have to learn efficiency).

I WANTED sugar today! I had to go to Walmart and it seems like all the sugar cried out to me. Made me think of Confessions of a Shopaholic where all the mannequins speak to Rebecca.

Day 4:
Yesterday was so hard! I knew it would be because of the day long training for work. I prepared all my foods and supplements but I had to sorta sneak my supps so people wouldn't think I was on some strange drug LOL. Also had a terrible headache STILL which didn't help. So, long story short, there were a series of difficulties which lead me to eat a provided Subway Sandwich instead of my prepared lunch. I made the decision then and there to move on immediately and have no regrets or beat myself up over it. After all, I did resist the free coffee and pastries that confronted me throughout the day.

Day 5:
I feel pretty good today. I've had some weight fluctuations and I'm back to the 4.4 lbs lost. I'm tired because I opened the coffee shop again today but I don't feel the crazy fogginess from lack of caffeine, but I did buy some Zen green tea today. Everyday gets me further from meat so again, I'm so thankful for Sean's support because it's a change for him too. I'll make him some chicken with our stir-fried veggies and miso soup tonight. Last night he ate a LOT of quinoa to make up for his lack of meat ;)

Beachbody Ultimate Reset

On Saturday, July 14 I started the Beachbody Ultimate Reset. What is that, you ask?
The Beachbody Ultimate Reset is a 21 day detoxifying cleanse program. It's not a starvation diet or a juice diet, in fact, I stay full until my next meal or snack.
There are three phases: Reclaim, Release, Restore. In the first week, you reclaim you body by slowly phasing out animal products and reclaiming your body and preparing for change. During the second week/phase you release the toxic compounds stored in the body and begin eating a fully vegetarian diet. The third and final phase is Restore, in which you put back probiotics and nutrients expelled during Release. The diet is now Vegan.
The Ultimate Reset comes with directions, supplements, and recipes, as well as a support group.

When I began on Saturday, I feared my resolve to completely cut out sugar and coffee. After all, I work in a coffee shop. I'm on day 3, though, and it hasn't been nearly as difficult as I thought. The most interesting thing to me is how much of a habit it is for me to simply reach for sugar or pastries without really thinking. Not because I want it, necessarily, it's truly just a bad habit that's led to my current weight gain.

I'll give more updates as I go along, but here's my brief daily diary so far.

Day 1:
I had to open at the coffee shop so I prepared my lunch of a microgreen salad and dressing the nigh before. I took my supplements in the morning and took my breakfast of toast, scrambled egg and spinach with me. I do NOT like steamed spinach, I've discovered. I put the egg and spinach between the pieces of bread but still couldn't quite finish it. The salad was pretty good. After work, I fell asleep on the couch. Not sure if it was because of not sleeping well and then getting up early and then no coffee or some combination. I woke up with a terrible headache which I was later able to attribute to my neck going out of place when I slept on the couch :(
Dinner was salmon and more steamed spinach.


Day 2:
I still feel pretty hazy due to caffeine and sugar withdrawl and also a bit nauseas from my headache so it's hard to distinguish the two. My headache has made me basically useless and I ended up taking a pretty long nap this afternoon. I was thankful for the oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast and Sean and I enjoyed the Greek salad with grilled chicken for lunch. Dinner was also really good, beans and rice tacos. I'm so thankful to Sean for being incredible supportive through all this. He pretty much eats what I eat and generally enjoys it. Eventually, I'll have to start adding some meat to the meals for him, especially as I phase it out for myself.

Day 3:
When I awoke this morning, my head felt quite a bit better, though still not great, so I made an appointment with the chiropractor for this afternoon. I realized this morning that I've been forgetting to take the Alkalinize supplement and took it this afternoon. Um...Yuck!
The fogginess is nearly gone today which is great. I miss coffee but at least I feel better. Sean ate some pizza snacks today and it took so much power to not justify eating "just one". But I did it! Not cheating here! The book says day 3  and 5 are the hardest but today hasn't seemed any harder than the others. I think tomorrow will be hard because of my schedule. I have a day long management training and I'm not sure how I'll be able to eat my food.
I was very skeptical of the Nori Rolls and Miso Soup but it actually turned out very good and I mostly enjoyed it ;)

By the way, I've lost 4.4 pounds!