Category Archives: Shakeology Cleanse

Ready. Aim. Focused.

It seems I found my groove so well, that I haven’t had time to sit down and write.

Wow!

The past two weeks have been quite the whirl wind. The kids went back to school, so we started a new routine. I made lots of small changes to my fitness and nutrition, which are yielding big results, and I’ve been working on lots of personal development, which feels amazing.

With the kids back in school, my day starts a lot earlier and it allows me to get my Focus T25 workouts in bright and early. This week I started the Beta phase of the program and I absolutely love it. I’m not sure if it’s because all of the workouts are new for this month, because there are weights involved or if it is because I was doing Alpha for so long, but I’m honestly enjoying the change. My favorite so far is Speed 2.0. I can feel everything engaging, I get a good sweat going and I didn’t clock watch at all when I did that one. I know…it’s a 25 minutes program, but I do catch myself clock watching at times. I find I look for the halfway mark and the 5 minute mark, but I didn’t do that with Speed 2.0, I was actually shocked when it was over.

This week was a rest week for Body Beast with the hybrid Mike is doing, so I just followed my regular T25 schedule. I’m looking forward to new workouts with Body Beast next week, too. I’m sure there will be lots of soreness in my future!

Meal prepping has continued to be a life saver for me. I slacked a little with it this week and it resulted in us ordering pizza last night. We used to order pizza every Friday night… it was tradition, but we hadn’t done it in the past month and I didn’t have anything ready to toss together for dinner so I said why not. I had no idea I would gorge myself as soon as it entered the house. I ended up feeling tired and sluggish after eating it, which is something I never noticed before, but I guess with the nutritional changes I’ve made over the past few weeks, my body rejected the amount I forced it to consume.

MyFitnessPal has also become part of my routine again. We were challenged as part of the accountability group I am in for Focust T25, to track AND post screen captures of our food intake daily. It really made me think twice before I grabbed a cookie, handful of almonds or an extra scoop of rice. For the most part, it just helped me to tweak the types of food I was eating. It also helped me to ensure I was hitting my daily caloric goal, because I didn’t realize I was under most days, before I started tracking. The small task of logging my meals showed not only on the scale the past two weeks, but in my measurements (You all know I feel about the scale by itself.) so if you have been stuck and you’re getting frustrated by a lack of results, make sure you take the time to journal your food!

The other thing I have been spending a lot of time on is Personal Development. It’s one of those things that I’ve been told to do, as a coach, but I allowed everything else to come first and I never had time. Sound familiar? Because that’s the excuse I hear all the time, from people who want my help getting healthier, but haven’t committed yet. Ironic, isn’t it? Well… I realized the irony, I made changes, and I committed. I’ve been reading a minimum of 10 pages per day (my current book of choice is The Compound Effect), I watch or listen to at least 15 minutes of inspiring video or audio a day (so easy to do while running errands in the car or I pop ear buds in while I fold laundry), I’ve made a digital dream board which I plan on printing and hanging where I can see it daily and I’ve set goals for myself.

I could kick myself for not starting this sooner, but I can’t change the past, so I’ve just been focused on my daily tasks and enjoying the feeling it brings.

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Lastly, many of you who have been following my blog from the beginning, know that Shakeology has been a staple in my diet for years. Lately, I’ve had a lot of people messaging me on Facebook, asking questions about it as well as the programs I’ve done, so I’ve organized 7 Day Shakeology Challenges over on Facebook. I am so excited by the positive response it has received! If you have ever wanted to try Shakeology, need to jump start healthy habits and gain energy without sugary energy drinks and tons of coffee, stop by my page or comment below for more details! I’ll also be starting some program based challenges soon!

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Shakeology Cleanse 2012 – Day 3 and Results

Well…it’s official…I’m DONE with the cleanse!

Yesterday was day 3 and I changed things up a bit. My husband was off from work and wanted to go out for lunch so I had my salad and grilled protein then, instead of for dinner. I actually felt better doing it this way and had even more energy throughout the day than I did waiting until dinner time to finally have some real food.

My morning started off like usual. Glass of water, iced coffee (black of course) and a shake. Lunch was a grilled chicken fajita salad and water. I did indulge in some fresh chips and salsa, I have zero guilt about this as they are my favorite and it’s not everyday that I get to have them. Dinner was another shake as was dessert for the night.

I definitely slacked on my water intake yesterday and I think it showed on the scale this morning with only a 1 pound loss, although I have ZERO complaints about my results from this cleanse. I can honestly say my sweets cravings are almost gone, my impulse urges to eat have diminished and I don’t feel as bloated and gross as I did on Sunday after the holiday cookie/food binge that took place this year.

My final results are as follows:

I lost a total of 6.5 pounds, half an inch lost 2″ above the belly button, 3 inches lost at the belly button and 1 inch lost 2″ below the belly button for a total of 4.5 inches lost.

I plan on sticking with two shakes a day for the rest of the week and then settling in a new workout routine on Monday.

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Shakeology Cleanse 2012 – Day 2

I know I’m a little late on this blog and I had full intentions on doing it last night but I had something come up.

Yesterday was Day 2 of my cleanse and it honestly wasn’t that bad. I woke up and headed for the scale to see what impact Day 1 would have on the number. I was down just about a pound and somewhat disappointed because the first time I did this, I lost 2lbs the first day. I quickly got over it and realized a pound is a pound and got my day started. To my surprise, when I took my measurements, I was down on all three numbers! This further proves that the scale does not tell the whole truth.

Meal one was a glass of water, iced coffee and a chocolate Shakeology. I was very full after this and had to force myself to have “lunch” today. I drank a ton of water again which resulted in me spending most of my day in the bathroom, but I think my body just adjusted quickly to what was going on. I was very hungry around dinner time but once I was around food, my appetite went away so my meal was actually very small.

While I didn’t do a workout today, I had plenty of energy and didn’t feel as tired as I did on day one.

I’ll admit, I totally forgot to drink my two cups of green tea and I might have had a teeny, tiny piece of Entenmann’s Ultimate Crumb Cake, which my husband brought home the night before not realizing I had started the cleanse. However, upon stepping on the scale this morning, that teeny, tiny piece of cake didn’t matter anymore as I lost 4lbs! Crazy right?! I also went down again on all three of my measurements!

Day 3 has already kicked off for me and I’m sipping my first shake of the day as I type this. Hopefully if time permits, I’ll have another blog post tonight…if not, Day 3 and my results will be a joint blog tomorrow.

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Shakeology Cleanse 2012 – Day 1

I woke up this morning and decided to move my Shakeology cleanse start date up one day.

If you do not know what Shakeology is or what the Shakeology cleanse is, please click here. You can also check out my first experience with the cleanse and see what my results were.

I am not sure why I decided to do this and as the day progressed, I regretted the move more and more.

You see, it’s Sunday, and Sunday equals beer, pizza, some form of salty snack in a bag and usually some ice-cream during the 8pm game. Not the ideal health food, but hey, I like certain things and I understand that I’m holding my progress by indulging in them. Don’t judge me.

I started my cleanse with my usual cup of iced black coffee, a glass of water and then my first of three chocolate Shakeology shakes. I felt great after this meal and I was grateful I slept late because it meant a shorter day and hopefully less hunger.

Shortly after this meal, I went into my fridge and remember there was a whole entire pizza pie in there. PIZZA! If you know me, you know my love of pizza. I was officially miserable and tried to avoid the fridge for the rest of the day.

I busied myself with a 20 minute workout on the stationary bike, taking down all of the Christmas decorations both inside and outside of the house and watching football. The problem with watching football was that it made me want pizza….sigh…it was like the book “If You Give A Mouse a Cookie”…and an obvious sign that I was once again hooked on foods I shouldn’t be hooked on.

I decided the cravings meant it was time for lunch so I prepared my second shake of the day and I had a banana with it. It was good…but it wasn’t pizza. Can you say one track mind?

In between shakes I drank tons of water which meant I went to pee about a million times. At least it gave me something to complain about besides the fact that there was pizza in my fridge. *sigh*

Dinner time meant food. REAL FOOD! I prepared a pork roast, steamed veggies and potatoes for the family. I had my green tea at this time along with a large helping of steam broccoli and lean pork, a long with some spinach. It was heavenly, mostly because I couldn’t sip it through a straw.

As for shake number three? I’m currently sipping it as I write this pity party blog. It’s another chocolate shake (I loathe the greenberry stuff) and I added some frozen black cherries to it.

Be sure to keep out for my blog tomorrow! I will report any weight loss, if there is any as well as any measurement changes.

If you have done the Shakeology 3 Day Cleanse before or if you are doing it now, I would love to hear about your experience.

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Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse Results!

Well the torture cleanse is over and I survived it! I woke up this morning and couldn’t wait to get to my cup of coffee and I had been dreaming of a southwest style breakfast burrito! Before I could get to that I had business to attend to. I had to weigh in and take my measurements.

First on the agenda was the scale…..lost another 1.5 (darn that extra banana I had yesterday). for a total of 5.5 pounds lost in 3 days! Next were the measurements…I took 3 measurements before I started. One at the belly button, then 2 inches above and 2 inches below. I lost a little more than an inch off each which gave me a loss of 3.5 inches total over the course of 3 days.

Overall I am pretty impressed with the cleanse. Day 1 was an absolute killer and if you drink a lot of coffee everyday it is going to be VERY difficult. Day 2 was much easier but that could be because I was off from work. Day 3 was a breeze and it was a busy day for me. The energy jolt at bedtime was a bit of a killer though…I ended up being awake until after 1am but I woke up feeling great and I wasn’t hungry at all!

The not being hungry part this morning was great and crappy at the same time. It was great that my body seemed to have finally adjusted to the cleanse but it was crappy because I was now able to eat food and I wanted that burrito dammit!

When all is said and done the cleanse is something I would be able to do again if needed. I am hoping to move onto eating cleaner now but I am going to do it in baby steps. I’ve found that whenever I jump into things I just get frustrated and burn out. As I have over this year long  journey I will tweek things gradually until I form a habit. So far cutting back caffeine, sugar and carbs has been a major success, there is no reason why I can’t do clean eating as well!

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Day 3 – Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse

Today was my third and final day of the Shakeology cleanse. I woke up feeling good like yesterday and headed to the kitchen to get things started. I didn’t even look in the direction of the coffee maker, although I could feel it staring at me and watching my every move. I grabbed a glass of water and once again curiosity got the better of me so I went to go weigh myself. Low and behold I lost another 2lbs – wow! That makes 4lbs in 2 days GONE! NICE! I’m just hoping I didn’t lose any muscle during this. If I did Tony Horton will help me build it right back up when I start my second round of P90X on Monday……so stoked!

I went about my normal routine….getting kids on the bus, some Yoga, blended up my lunchtime Shakeology to have at work along with my morning one, brewed my green tea, grabbed some fruit and out the door I went. I’ll be honest I was nervous going into today. As I mentioned in yesterdays blog, Wednesday is my long day. I work at the doctors office, come home to cook for everyone then run off to decorate cakes up at Coldstone. I honestly didn’t think I would be able to make it through this day on this cleanse….I grabbed some extra fruit in case of fatigue and said a prayer.

Upon reaching work I saw I had some tweets….and realize people were dropping out….they couldn’t make another day. I had my out, and trust me I thought about saying FUCK IT and throwing in the towel, but I already did that on INSANITY so my thickheaded self dug her heels and I reminded myself that I CAN finish this day out!

Work went by pretty fast and I didn’t clock watch waiting for lunchtime to roll around like I did on Monday. My tweeps kept me busy during lunch and most of the afternoon and before I knew it my shift was over and I wasn’t miserable.

I ran through my normal routine at home which today included taking my daughter to Girl Scouts. I had my salad which was completely boring after eating the same thing for 3 consecutive days! All I could think about as I ate that boring old salad was the cup of  coffee I was going to have tomorrow and the breakfast I was planning on making! Yum, Yum Yum!!!!

I brought my final shake of the day with me to work at Coldstone, which by the way is like being in hell during a cleanse. I normally do not crave anything in there….UNLESS they are making coffee ice cream! If there is coffee ice cream being made fresh I have to have some with chocolate sprinkles! Mmmmmmmmm!!!!! Oh! I also have a thing for Sweet Cream with Reese Pieces….what?!?! Like you don’t have a weakness!

Thankfully for my sake there was no ice cream being made tonight but for some reason all I could think about was a waffle bowl with coffee ice cream and brownie mixed in with fudge and whipped cream….SIGH. I managed to eat none of the goodies that tempted me all night. I had my shakeology and a bottle of water….good Nikki!

To my surprise it is a little after 11pm and I am WIDE AWAKE! I can’t believe it. For two days I crashed or was ready for bed by 8pm, tonight I could conquer the world and probably still not be ready for bed. Go figure.

Tomorrow I plan on waking up, weighing in, taking my measurements and then losing myself in a big cup of coffee before coming back here and sharing my results!

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Day 2 – Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse

Well, today was my second day of the cleanse and I woke up feeling great! I thought I would have a headache, be starving and cranky (well crankier than usual when I first wake up as I am NOT a morning person) but I didn’t feel any of that. I even went into the kitchen and didn’t get bitchy that I couldn’t have any coffee……ok…..that’s not TOTALLY true but I wasn’t about to bite anyone’s head off like yesterday.

I probably wasn’t supposed to but I went and weighed myself this morning out of curiosity. To my shock I lost 2lbs! Yep…you heard me 2lbs in one day. I don’t know how good that is, as rule of thumb is to only lose 1-2lbs per week but it is a cleanse so I guess it’s ok….if not as soon as take my first sip of coffee on Thursday morning I will probably gain the 2lbs right back! THAT would be my luck! SIGH

I managed to go about my morning routine of getting the kids ready for school before even thinking about my tea. My first shake was yummy – possibly cheated by adding the peppermint extract again…..sssshhhh….don’t tell anyone, it can be our secret!

P90X Xstretch was the morning routine of choice as I am still trying to recover from my week of Insanity….I know, I need to blog about that too and I will soon. I also did a round of the fitness trail with my bestest neighbor. I was VERY surprised I had the energy to do all of this and wasn’t hungry at all. Oh! I had a banana before hitting the trail too.

Lunch was around 1pm and it was the same as breakfast. I wasn’t really hungry but I had my time schedule to stick too so I chugged it back and moved along with the day. Snack today was my second cup of iced green tea and grapes….I know….you’re totally jealous of this menu!

Dinner was my gigantic salad with grilled chicken. It was yummy….not quite as yummy as yesterday but still….it was better than another shake. It was nice to need a fork again! About 3/4 of the way through I actually felt too full to continue which truly surprised me, I mean it’s a salad AND it’s the ONLY food I get to eat and I couldn’t finish it….something is wrong with me!

A little while ago I had my dessert……yep…..you guessed it (insert sarcasm)….another Shakeology shake! Woohoo!

By this point I am no longer amused and cleaning the blender 3 times a day  is  just getting to be annoying. I am also crashing despite the nutrient packed shake. I feel mentally alert since drinking it but physically I am drained and just want to lay in bed.

Tomorrow will be my final day of this torture cleanse and it will be THE hardest day for me. Wednesday is my long day. I work at the office in the morning, come home, prepare dinner, then race off to do some cake decorating up at the store. How I’m going to survive such a long day on so few calories is beyond me….my game plan is to not dwell on it and go with the flow. Worst case I will have an extra fruit during the course of the day. Like that will really help! *rolls eyes.

With that I am tired and LOST is finally at the DVR’d point where I can watch it with no commercials. Hopefully I will survive tomorrow and be back to blog about it….if not….well…..hope you enjoyed Day 1 and 2!

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Day 1 – Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse

Today (April 12, 2010) was the first day of my 3 day cleanse and it was tougher than I thought it would be. My day started out like it normally does, until I reached the kitchen and realized I would be drinking green tea instead of my usual cup of glorious coffee. It was fresh brewed coffee, all hot and wonderful smelling for the other people in this house….for me a box of green tea waited to be brewed….sigh.

I drank my plain green tea which really wasn’t so bad and proceeded to do my yoga before having my first Shakeology of the day. So far, so good….off to work, life was good.

Once I reached my desk at work things started going downhill. There was coffee brewing (which is something that normally doesn’t happen there) and the smell was taunting me. I also seemed more aware of all of the goodies that were just lying around waiting to be eaten – there were crackers, jelly beans, gummie worms, chocolate, cupcakes….all the pitfalls that seem to come with working in an office. I managed to ignore them all as I walked to the fridge to get my grapes and a cup of water. Yum! *grumbles

However at this point I started watching the clock….lunchtime couldn’t arrive soon enough. I was hungry…no….I was starving! I NEEDED my next shake and I needed it NOW! People around me were eating and starting to heat up their lunch and it smelled so good. I however had a shaker cup of Shakeology and some green tea….double sigh.

As the work day chugged on I began to run out of steam. How could this be happening…how could I NOT have energy when drinking more than one Shakeology shake?! They are packed with nutrients and vitamins! I chalked it up to the fact that I was doing INSANITY (I dropped out…whole different blog that I will one day type out) and my body was reacting to the huge change in calorie consumption. It still didn’t make me feel any better, I had no energy, I was getting shaky and I was not a happy camper. I wanted a NAP!!!!

Fast forward to dinner…..30 torturous minutes grilling my chicken for my larger than life salad and I was now happy! I had FOOD!!! I wasn’t sipping through a straw, I needed a fork dammit! It smelled amazing, it tasted amazing and I savored every bite of it….YUM! Dessert was my third and final shake which I added some peppermint extract to (it may be a no-no…I don’t know and to be honest could an 1/8th of a tsp really matter that much?!)  I was now ready for bed at 8pm…sad huh?!

As I lay in bed totally exhausted and once again questioning my choices over the past week I realized something…..this was all in my head. I am so used to walking through the kitchen and grabbing a snack (healthy of course although I am human and have kids so the occasional cookie does happen) and trying to consume massive amounts of calories to keep up with my workouts that I thought I needed to feel miserable doing this.

I’m hoping that with tomorrow being my day off from work and with my new mind set it will be easier to make it through. I have my chicken and salad all prepped. My fruit waiting to be eaten and my blender all clean and ready to be used repeatedly!

Good night!

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