My 3-Day Refresh Review : Day 1

 Day 1 Review of the 3-Day Refresh

The 3 Day Refresh is a cleanse program created by Beachbody to eliminate bloat, clean out your digestive system, and cleanse your body of toxins and junk. Some people use it to jumpstart a healthy habit with a bang. Others use it to drop a couple pounds before a big event.

I am using it for the former reason. This summer has been fun, with amazing vacations, fantastic food, and memories with good friends. But I can feel a couple extra pounds hanging on my midsection where I tend to gain weight. I'm also a smaller person now, so a couple pounds shows pretty quickly. While I'm at a point where I can eat what I want within reason...well, the 'reason' part of that kind of flew out the window during the past couple months! 

So let's REFRESH!

5:45am - Wakeup Water

I wake up and down the 8oz of water that the guide says to drink immediately. I'm constantly dehydrated and know that I need to do this. I'm going to try to make this a habit regardless. The cold water bothered me however. I think I may try hot water with lemon tomorrow morning and see if that make it a little more 'coffee-esque.' I do love my coffee. 

6:15am - Workout

The program recommends mild to moderate exercise. If you're doing serious cardio or heavy lifting, you have to fuel your body properly to recover from that. The Refresh is about allowing your body to cleanse and heal, so we don't want to do anything too crazy. I went with some Pilates Extreme from 21 Day Fix Extreme today. 

7:30am - Breakfast 

Shakeology with one serving of fruit for breakfast. I made my fruit some frozen banana pieces to make my Shakeology all nice and creamy. I normally use almond milk, so water feels thinner somehow. With the banana, it's barely noticeable. Love me some chocolate Shakeo!

8:15 - Coffee Optional...but not for me. 

The Refresh recommends foregoing coffee for best results. However, I wish to be a functioning human, so I need my coffee. Just a small cup, but it makes me a different person. 

9:45am - Mid-morning Tea Break

You can have green tea at this time if you want. I used my matcha powder! Yum!

11:00 - Fiber Sweep

Um, this was interesting. I'm really glad I followed a couple instructions which I shall now pass on in the spirit of really good advice...

1. Use super cold water. But no ice. Ice will make the powder clump. But get the water as frigid as possible. 

2. Shake and drink IMMEDIATELY. It's going to start thickening very quickly because of the fiber in it. You don't want that. 

3. CHUG. The flavor is not bad. It's got a lemony taste to it. But it's not something you want to think on and savor the bouquet. Open your gullet and pour it down. 

On the upside, it really did have a decent taste and it kept me full for a good couple hours. Fiber for the win!

1:00pm - Lunch

I'm lucky enough to live close to my office, so I ran home for lunch. You get a serving of vegetables, a serving of fruit, and a serving of healthy fats. You also drink a Vanilla Fresh shake. 

I examined the list in preparation a couple days ago and identified the veggies and fruits with the biggest serving sizes. It's all about volume, folks! I'm a hungry girl! Seriously though, the serving size on brussel sprouts is 2 itty bitty sprouts, but 3 huge cups of lettuce. Salad FTW. And you get 12 medium strawberries in a fruit serving. Fill-er-up. 

Gotta say, I'm not a big fan of the Vanilla Fresh. But, in it's defense, I'm not a big fan of the vanilla Shakeology. I'm just such a chocolate hound. It needed more ice and less water. I think it was too liquid and not frosty enough. The more it resembles ice cream, the happier I am. 

3:45pm - Afternoon Snack

 You can pick a serving of veggies and a serving of healthy fats. I chose sliced red pepper and hummus. I was getting a little hungry at this point, so I'm glad I got a snack.

7:30pm - Dinner

There was DEFINITELY too long between the afternoon snack and dinner. I was fading fast. But I made it and got a huge spinach salad with tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber, sprouts, olive oil, and lemon juice. I also threw some Ms. Dash seasoning on there for fun. You can have a cup of vegetable broth with fresh herbs if you want. And YOU WANT. It was delicious! Again, you have a Vanilla Fresh shake. 

Confession: I threw a spoonful of my chocolate Shakeology in the Vanilla Fresh to give it a chocolate flavor. Much better. And it was just a spoonful...

10:30pm - Bedtime

So I'm sitting here now, writing this post, with a cup of ginger camomile tea. And I'm wishing I would've not wasted time on some snarly domain hosting issues and gone to bed earlier. My stomach is starting to growl. So, 2 lessons in that: hire an expert for complicated web hosting issues and go to bed early when on the Refresh.

But here's a few other takeaways on the first day. 

1. I need to space out the morning meals more and make lunch later. I got way too hungry in the afternoon and wasn't hungry at ALL in the morning. Smarter timing can probably fix that. 

2. I'm glad I have a ton of yummy herbal teas. I have a hard time drinking water, so throwing a teabag in it makes it easier. 

3. I love my husband. He could tell I was still drained even after eating dinner and cleaned up the entire kitchen. He also cooked for himself so I wouldn't have to cook food that I wouldn't be eating today. 

4. Food is fuel. While I'm glad I'm doing this cleanse to renew some healthy habits and shrink the size of my currently expanded stomach back to normal, the muscles I've gained in the past few months require fuel to keep me going. While I'm ending the day feeling light and healthy, I'm a little weak, which is to be expected. 

5. I have more willpower than I thought I did. But I'm super nervous about tomorrow evening. The hubs is working the evening shift and won't be here to keep me from face-planting into the fridge. Must be strong. MUST. BE. STRONG. . . . I might be spending the evening at the bookstore. That will get me away from the fridge. 

Check out Day 2 of my 3 Day Refresh Review!