3-Day Refresh: My Thoughts and Results

I was excited when I learned about the 3-Day Refresh during the 2014 Coach Summit. I wasn't able to attend but was following everyone's posts regularly to keep up with the latest and greatest news. I had been interested in the Ultimate Reset, but 21 days seemed like a long-term commitment for a "cleanse" like that. 3 days: totally feasible. I have been struggling to stay on track eating right so this was a great way to jump start my upcoming 21 Day Fix.

If you're not up on the basics of the Refresh, let me give you a quick overview. For 3 days, your meals will be as follows (note that you must wait at least 1 hour after each meal before having the next):

Wake up: Drink 8-10oz of water
Breakfast (within 1 hour of waking): Shakeology and 1 fruit serving (fruit can be in the shake or eaten on its own)
(Optional) Morning Herbal or Green Tea
Fiber Sweep Drink
Lunch: Vanilla Fresh Shake, 1 fruit serving, 1 vegetable serving, and 1 healthy fat serving
Afternoon Snack: 1 vegetable serving and 1 healthy fat serving
(Optional) Afternoon Herbal or Green Tea
Dinner: Vanilla Fresh Shake, plus one of the dinner recipes from the Refresh booklet, and 1 cup (optional) of organic vegetable stock.
(Optional) Evening Herbal or Green Tea

So here are my thoughts. I ordered the Vegan Chocolate Shakeology with my Refresh since I hadn't tried the Vegan Chocolate yet and Beachbody suggests the vegan with the Refresh since it digests easier. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan. From what I've heard from the Vegan Shakeology lovers, they are best when blended with almond (or other) milks. That's not allowed on the Refresh so to me, it tasted a little more gritty than the regular Chocolate Shakeology I normally drink. It was absolutely still drinkable, but I did taste a difference. If you have tried Shakeology in the past but not the Vegan, this Refresh is a great way for you to try the Vegan without committing to it for an entire month since the kit itself comes with 3 packs of the Shakeo flavor of your choice (if you order it with the Shakeo --- there's also the option of ordering it without the Shakeo if you already have it at home).

The Fiber Sweep surprised me the first day. It has a hint of lemon flavor to it. I wouldn't say it tastes bad, it's just a grittier texture than I expected. I struggled to drink it the first day until I remembered my favorite TV show: Friends. Remember the episode where Chandler and Ross are being bullied at Central Perk and make their own coffee in Chandler's apartment upstairs? They have to stir while they drink... and honestly, I found on days 2 and 3 that it actually worked best this way. Keep stirring in between sips so it doesn't settle at the bottom of the glass and it actually goes down much easier. (Honest!)

The Vanilla Fresh shakes taste very similar to Vanilla Shakeology. I added a few sprinkles of cinnamon as I had with Vanilla Shakeo in the past to give it a little more flavor. Overall, I enjoyed the Vanilla Fresh Shakes. I thought on the last night that I would try a dash of orange extract to change up the flavor --- it wasn't my personal favorite but you can certainly play around with different extracts since they're freebies on the Refresh if you're looking for more variety.

Personally, I tried to wait at least an hour and a half in between each meal/shake/tea. I didn't have the evening tea any of the nights, nor did I drink the optional organic vegetable stock with dinner since my dinner was at 7pm. I also stretched out my lunch (I'm not sure that this is suggested but I did it and still was successful): I noticed I was getting hungry in the 11 o'clock hour so I ate my fruit from lunch to help me push lunch to nearly 1pm. Then I had my 3 cups of lettuce with oil and vinegar (sounds plain but it seemed like the most filling/substantial option on the list of veggies to me) and shake around 1pm (after I would do my PiYo workout of the day).

My plain looking salad --- it was filing though!

Each day, my afternoon snack was carrots and hummus. I accidentally bought the petite carrots instead of baby carrots so I had 12-15 of them since they are super tiny in comparison to the normal baby carrots (I probably should have had 10-12, but I needed to finish my hummus!!) Haha

I drank a lot of water in between meals to help me feel full, not to mention I would squeeze some lemon in for flavor. As for my tea breaks, I opted for a decaf Blackberry Pomegranate Green Tea that Lipton makes. You're not allowed to add milk or sweetener to it (Truvia is allowed but for best results, they suggest plain). I probably should have had plain Green Tea but I'm not a huge fan so I drank this stuff which was pretty good. I never finished the whole cup, it was just something for added flavor in between meals for me.

They also urge that you don't drink coffee. If you MUST, it should be black. I made my morning Shakeology with half a banana the first morning and wasn't a fan of it without my usual PB2, so the second morning, I used chilled coffee and added a teaspoon of vanilla extract (one of my favorite recipes). I had been trying to wean off the caffeine but did feel a little tired so I used Half-Caff coffee. It tastes like a Starbucks Frap (just not as sweet).

My breakfast of choice: Vegan Chocolate Shakeo
(blended with coffee and 1tsp vanilla extract) and 2/3 cup blueberries

Dinner. There are 9 different recipes to choose from. I opted for a Spinach Salad --- knowing my body, it seemed the most substantial and filling, plus it didn't involve any cooking. I actually really enjoyed dinner with my Vanilla Fresh shake and felt very satisfied after eating dinner each night. I added more tomato and cucumber since I don't like peppers.

3-Day Refresh Dinner: "Spinach Salad" ( I added more
tomato and cucumber since I didn't add peppers)

A quick note on working out. I know that Beachbody has said you can still workout while doing the Refresh. I did fine on Days 1 and 2 with "lighter" PiYo workouts, but on Day 3, I was doing "Sweat" which is a 35-minute fast-paced workout where I usually burn 200+ calories. When I got down to the last 10 minutes, I did start to feel a headache coming on and had to turn it off before I could finish the last 3 minutes because I was worried I was pushing too hard and just needed food. I think if I had eaten something and then worked out 30+ minutes later, I might have been ok, but you may want to consider doing lighter workouts on your Refresh days. I've read plenty of people's reviews saying that they still did their usual P90X3 workouts and others of high intensity cardio, but I don't think I could have done it. You know your body best, use your own judgment. I just wanted to share my experience with you.

I'm not going to lie because I definitely pride myself on being up front and honest: I had random hunger pangs throughout the day. More so in the morning because you have Shakeology for breakfast but no other "food" until lunch (just a tea and the Fiber Sweep). I stretched out my food more because I know I have a later dinner due to my husband's schedule. I think it's vital that you try to schedule each meal ahead of time so you know when you're eating and don't get too off schedule so you don't get hungry and have nothing to eat. And of course, there's no cheating allowed. I'm a Stay at Home Mom so there was temptation staring me in the face all day, every day when I fed my daughter (and at dinner time with my husband). If you can, I would definitely urge doing this Refresh with a buddy so you can talk each other through it each day. I did this with a friend (from a distance) and having her going through this with me was so helpful and encouraging.

So, after all of this, are you curious about my results? After my first 3-Day Refresh, I am down exactly 4lbs. I lost 1.75" around my waist, and 1" around my hips. I'm excited!!! My friend who did the Refresh along with me that I mentioned had even more amazing results, and I do want to share them too because it shows how two people can follow the same exact plan (and we pretty much had the same food choices daily) and the results really do vary based on each person's body, metabolism, muscle, etc. My AMAZING friend in just 3 days lost 7.6lbs!

I found this program to be easy to follow, the foods for the most part were satisfying. I just wish there was some sort of actual "food" between breakfast and lunch, but I realize that while I didn't have that, I also didn't starve myself. I obviously was daydreaming about foods I shouldn't be eating (my Facebook news feed was the worst because I follow all kinds of food bloggers --- both healthy and not so healthy). But here I am, finishing up my post about this program, down 4lbs, enjoying a much needed and earned cup of coffee as I begin my first day back on the 21 Day Fix Eating Plan. I would (and definitely will) do the 3-Day Refresh again --- possibly every other month. I feel great, slept better than I had in quite some time, and am re-focused on eating right.

So do you still have questions? I'm always an open book! The Challenge Pack is still on sale through the end of July if you want in on the 3-Day Refresh. :)

~ Aly