My 3-Day Refresh Results! Hint: they’re great!

As promised here are my 3 Day Refresh results!

I started this past Monday morning and went through Wednesday evening. I specifically chose to do this during the week because I felt I would be less tempted to give in on something when not out with friends and because I wouldn’t be home during the day when its easier to make an excuse.

First, some numbers from Monday, May 9:

• Weight: 180 lbs
• Hips: 40″
• Belly: 38.5″
• Waist: 35″

Now this is not easy to put out here but I want to be transparent and show where I am truly starting from. I don’t go off of weight much as I rather go by how my clothes fit, what my energy levels are and how I feel in general but in cases such as this numbers are important. So let’s dive in.

Monday, May 9

Breakfast: Shakeology (chocolate) with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, small serving of fruit. 1 cup of coffee and lots of water.

Mid-morning: Beachbody’s fiber sweep drink. This is a lemon flavored drink that was surprisingly good. In between breakfast and this drink, I was hungry but once I got the fiber in I felt better.

Lunch: 1 serving of fruit, 1 serving of vegetable, 1 serving of healthy fat and Beachbody’s vanilla Refresh shake (made with water).

Mid-afternoon: 1 serving of broccoli and 1 serving of avocado. More water!

Dinner: baby kale salad with 1 serving of bell pepper, 1 serving of zucchini, 1 serving of tomatoes, some pine nuts, olive oil drizzled and salt and pepper for seasoning plus another vanilla Refresh shake. After I ate dinner I felt satisfied but as the night wore on I was tired and hungry. It seemed everything on TV had food on it! I was also starting to develop a headache. I could have gone to bed at 8:30 that night and definitely turned in early.

Tuesday, May 10

Disclaimer: to make life a heck of a lot easier on myself, I ate the same thing for three days. I love avocado (and broccoli enough) that I was ok with repeating these three days. Any longer and that would be too much. 

Not going to lie, Tuesday was a rough day for me. If you saw this post What Happened When I Didn’t Meditate then you’ll know it was my fault for how it started out. The headache from Monday night carried over into an all day headache Tuesday.

While my mood and headache was sour, my appetite wasn’t as strong or noticeable than the previous day. In fact, I wasn’t hungry by the time I normally eat dinner but once I did eat my salad, I still wanted something else and had to look away from the cheese stick calling my name in the fridge.

Note: throw away or hide all non-Refresh items.

Wednesday, May 11

I woke up feeling really refreshed and noticed that my sinuses were much clearer than when I started. This and the headaches are something I noticed when I started Paleo back in the day as well. My body has a hard time with grains and wheats and too much dairy which is why the Refresh was perfect.

The headache was barely noticeable and my energy was much improved from the previous two days. I felt satiated the entire day and knew I wanted to keep this momentum up.

Also, I did not workout any of these days. The first two days I simply did not have the energy and the third day was a very long day.

So, how did my numbers fair?

Well, I lost a total of 5 lbs and 2.5″!

Not to mention I am breathing clearer and have now proven to myself that after all of these months I’m capable of the following things:

1. I can in fact lose weight.
2. I can stick to clean eating.
3. I don’t hate salads
4. Eating well does not have to mean meal prepping every Sunday
5. I can eat less and my body will be ok
6. I was not drinking enough water before but now I’m enjoying it and making it a priority

The first two days, I loss 2 lbs each day and then on the third day was down a 1/2 lb.

Here are my final body measurements:

• Weight before: 180 lbs. and weight after: 175 lbs.
• Hips before: 40″ and hips after: 39.5″
• Belly before: 38.5″ and belly after: 38″
• Waist before: 35″ and waist before: 33.5″

Now its your turn! Join me where I’ll coach you personally through your own 3-Day Refresh using the same products I did. You’ll be in a private Facebook group with others doing the same challenge so you already have built in cheerleaders.

The challenge starts Monday, May 23 but you need to place your challenge pack no later than next Wednesday, May 18 so things arrive on-time. Just click the blue button to join.

Spicy Pineapple Chili

If you could only have smelled the chili cooking last night in my home! I knew after tasting my latest paleo dish creation that I needed to share it with you all. I got this recipe from the Civilized Caveman website. There are a lot of great recipes on here so I highly suggest taking a look around.

So here it is, Spicy Pineapple Chili

Ingredients 

• 1 pound bacon, cut into thin strips
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 2 bell peppers, diced
• 2 jalapeños, diced (seeds optional) (I used diced jalapenos from a jar)
• 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 2 pounds, grass fed ground beef
• 1/4 cup chili powder (didn’t use this, used paprika instead)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• red pepper flakes (optional)
• sea salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 1 (20-ounce) can of diced pineapple
• 1 (15-ounce) can of tomato sauce
• 1 (14-ounce) can of fire roasted diced tomatoes

Instructions

1. Preheat a large Stock Pot or Dutch Oven over medium heat
2. Brown your thin strips of bacon in your pan
3. Add in your onions, peppers, jalapeños, and garlic and continue to cook, stirring often for 5 minutes or until your onions become translucent
4. Now add in your ground beef, chili powder, and cumin and stir until your ground beef is cooked through
5. Add in all your remaining ingredients, stir well, and increase heat until your chili comes to a boil
6. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 Minutes

Spicy pineapple chili cooking away

As the chili simmered, I was upstairs working and let me tell you, the smell wafting upstairs certainly made me hungry!

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Bon appetit!

Getting back on track. Public Accountability

Why do I do this to myself? I wake up with a puffy face, congested sinuses, and an unhappy tummy. I had to walk for several minutes during last night’s run because my stomach was cramping so bad that I thought it was going to give way at any second. I have vivid dreams and wake up tired.

What have I done to do this to myself you ask?

Simple. I have been eating breads, specifically a delicious, yummy Domino’s pizza the past two nights for dinner and a half of a sandwich during a work event.

Sure, I have been busy, busier than usual (I will address this issue in about a week and a half) but I know its no excuse for slacking on my diet and trying to adhere to Paleo guidelines. I know better! Especially less than 2 weeks before a half marathon.

I try to justify why I can eat certain things like “well last time it didn’t upset my stomach so why not” or “its cheap, fast and convenient” or “I don’t have time to cook and it will take away from precious time spent on other things”. Seriously Jaclyn, you know that doesn’t pass muster.

I’m posting this publicly to hold myself to a higher standard and to keep me accountable. I should not need a 30 day challenge at CrossFit to keep me in-line rather I should have the will power to not indulge in pizza and if I do, I should probably get the gluten free crust next time.

No one is perfect, no one’s diet is perfect, but I know I can do a better job and by doing a better job, I will feel a million times better.

Here’s what I need to stick to:

Primal Pyramid

Notice there are no whole wheat or grains listed on the pyramid unlike our lovely government’s pyramid they try to sell us on.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have not been eating poorly every meal its just that the meals I do eat poorly at stand out that much further. When the meals get in the way of my training, I get pissed and when I get pissed, I like to change things.

So here’s to changes and getting back on track.