3 Day Refresh

Needless to say all of the travel this summer was not the best situation for my waistline! Truth be told though- I’m ok with that. One of the biggest parts of traveling for me is the food! I love trying different restaurants and eating the local fare. I knew I’d put on a few pounds this summer and that I would probably feel a little icky by the end of it from not being as regimented with my nutrition and from drinking more than I would on a regular basis.

As some may know, I am a beachbody coach and I absolutely love most of their products from the fitness programs, to shakeology, to the performance line. In addition to these products they offer the 3-Day Refresh which is like a 3 Day cleanse. I was always weary of it because I am not a fan of crash diets or anything that causes you to lose weight quickly, however, by the end of the summer and especially after the bachelorette trip I was feeling icky from not being on top of my nutrition. Also, after completing my 30 ‘Kinda’ Hard challenge I knew I had the mental strength to do something like this for 3 days.

I went ahead and ordered the products and the Monday after my travels were over I decided I dive into it! The program comes with a program guide which explains step by step what to eat in the mornings, for lunch, for snack and for dinner.

I unfortunately caught a small head cold the week that I started my 3 Day Refresh.

Believe it or not, normal colds do still exist! It was actually our first normal cold since the beginning of the pandemic. That being said, I unfortunately did slack on the documentation of my 3-Day Refresh. I normally would have done before and after photos and many more photos of the meals than what I captured but since I wasn’t feeling well, that did not happen.

On that note, I was also weary of starting this not feeling well since I was not sure if depriving myself of nutrients from certain food groups like animal proteins and carbs was the best idea while fighting a cold. On another note though, I figured the detox may push the cold out. Furthermore, I didn’t have as much of an appetite as usual so it was likely easier to follow than it usually would be. I will likely do this after every summer and every holiday season moving forward so I promise next time I will get the before and after photos as well as more photos of the meals. Let’s find out how it went….

The first thing you do every day on the 3-Day Refresh is drink 8-12 ounces of water. This should be done before you put anything else in your body. I had been told by one of the coaches on my team that she works out normally while doing 3-Day Refresh. I do not do well with working out on an empty stomach and the small meals I usually do on my timed nutrition meal plan do not really work with the schedule provided with 3-Day Refresh. Nonetheless, originally my intention was to try to do my normal workout day 1, especially since I had eaten normally the previous day. I woke up not feeling well though so I decided to pass on that. Beachbody on Demand does include 3 days of yoga meant to compliment the 3-Day Refresh so I decided to give this a try. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t feeling great the other two days I decided I may be better off getting some extra sleep so after day 1 I ended up skipping working out all together. If you are the type of person who can work out on an empty stomach, I would consider giving normal workouts a try or if not the 3 days of Yoga are there for a reason!

First meal of the morning is Shakeology with some fruit. Some of my favorite combinations for this are chocolate with pineapple and café latte with an apple. You are provided with a list of fruits and how much you can have per serving. I have been drinking Shakeology most days for almost 3 years now! It’s a great source of protein, it’s full of superfoods, probiotics, and prebiotics. It also curbs sugar cravings. Surprisingly, one of the main reasons I have stuck with it so long is because it helps with my allergies. I used to suffer from terrible allergies and I would get sinus headaches that were so bad that I could not function. I started drinking shakeology and this improved drastically. If I thought it was in my head, I did an allergy test later on and I couldn’t drink it for a few days prior. They explained the magnesium in it helps with allergies so the test would not be accurate if I did not get it out of my system beforehand.

An hour after your Shakeology, you take in one of the products specific to 3-Day Refresh called fiber sweep. To be honest, I was a little scared of this product. Thankfully, there was not anything to be scared of! I did comment this to one of the coaches on my team and she says she did well with it too, however, she thinks it may be since we follow the meal plan Beachbody provides, our bodies are used to high fiber foods. I do need to warn you though that it does not taste great. It does have hint of lemon but not enough to say it tastes good. Also, if you let this product sit, it will thicken quickly! My strategy to avoid this was to just drink it very fast. My friend’s recommendation was to put a little bit of water, mix quick, and then keep adding water until it’s done. Bottom line, this isn’t something you are drinking for the taste so just go in mentally prepared for that!

An hour later you have the option of having tea. The user guide discourages coffee, however, if you must, you should try to drink it black. I drink my coffee black but I have to admit this was an adjustment that took me months!  I was able to pass on the coffee though especially because the morning tea can be a green tea or an herbal tea that has caffeine. I went with chai tea and it was a great alternative to coffee allowing me to stay on track with the 3 day plan!

For lunch you are allowed a serving of vegetables, a serving of a healthy fat and a serving of fruit. Food lists and serving sizes are provided for all of them. You also get to have the next product included with your 3-Day Refresh which is Vanilla Fresh. Honestly, Shakeology tastes better so I am glad that’s my 365 go to for easy protein, but the Vanilla Fresh is not as bad as the Fiber Sweep and I would say it’s filling. On the last day, instead of having my serving of fruit a la carte, I mixed ½ a banana in with my Vanilla Fresh. I have to say it tasted much better like this and in the future I will continue to mix in ½ a banana at lunch time when a serving of fruit is allowed! For lunch I usually did carrots and hummus or cauliflower with olive oil.

At snack time we were allowed another serving of a vegetable and a healthy fat OR some raw juice options. We have a juicer so I figured why not bring it out for the occasion! The amount of juice each recipe produces is not much but I did enjoy the juices, especially the “zing” recipe which includes green apples, carrot, celery and ginger. I also did the “Kalange Juice” one day which includes kale, orange and ginger. I did pass on the third option which was ‘Beet the clock juice’ to not have to purchase so many groceries I may not eat later. I think the inclusion of the ginger in these juices definitely helped with my cold! I know ginger is good for colds and I could feel it clearing up my sinuses. My only gripe with the juices is I do feel the juicer requires a bit of clean up after use and it is not recommended to make raw juice in bulk and save for later since it loses some of it’s nutrients. For snack I usually went with baby carrots or sliced cucumber since my afternoons are hectic and I needed a quick option.

An hour after snack we were allowed another tea, however, it was specified that it could not have caffeine. I enjoyed this because it helped to hold me over for dinner time. The program guide comes with a good amount of recipes for dinner. They are delicious but be warned, it’s just veggies with a healthy fat (usually olive oil) so most are something you would normally have as a side rather than a full meal. I chose roasted asparagus with almonds, cucumber and tomato salad (not pictured) and the spinach salad. You have the option have having one cup on vegetable broth to your dinner which I took them up on! You can add some guilt free seasoning to it for some flavor. A list of guilt free flavorings is also provided in the program guide.

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I am not sure why but, as you can see, the spinach salad is much bigger than the other options so if you are going to do this, I highly recommend making this at least one day if not more. It didn’t really make sense to me since I’d had the cucumber and tomato salad the previous day and this did not have much less cucumber and tomato in addition to everything else added to it. Fortunately, my friend who had done this before had warned me so I made sure to plan on having the spinach salad at least one day and I think in the future I’d have it two nights! With dinner we get a final serving of the Vanilla Fresh product. It doesn’t look like much but between the soup and the protein in Vanilla Fresh, I was satisfied every night after dinner. The spinach salad was also huge so that day I was really good to go! An hour after dinner you have the option to have another tea.

You are also supposed to have at least 64 ounces of water a day while you are doing this. As some may know, my 30 day challenge earlier this year required that I drink a gallon of water a day. This is one of the things from the challenge that I have tried to keep doing and while on days when I’m on the run and don’t want to carry a gallon around it is a challenge, I think I’ve been pretty good about it. As a result, I went for the gallon on these 3 days rather than the minimum of 64oz. I will admit between the gallon of water and the teas which serve as a natural diuretic, I was definitely in the bathroom often but given that this is supposed to be a detox, I guess that is the point!

From first thing in the morning the day I started to first thing in the morning the day after I finished I lost a total of 5.2 lbs! I’d been warned that fiber sweep could still be taking effect after the 3 days, especially once you start to eat normal again so I weighed myself the following day and I was down another 2 lbs for a total of 7 lbs! I know I was retaining water day 1, especially coming out of a boozy bachelorette party weekend, and I know this is bound to fluctuate, but I think it’s a great way to kickstart some weight loss!

Pros of 3-Day Refresh

• You will lose weight, even after the 3 days if you continue to eat clean!
• It’s a great way to detox/cleanse your body
• If you are feeling icky from poor nutrition choices, drinking, etc. this is a great way to reset
• You will feel better when you are done!
• You do exclude certain food groups (animal proteins, carbohydrates, dairy) so when you go back to eating a normal diet, even if it’s a clean diet, you feel like you are indulging. I was so happy to have eggs, cheese and rice again!
• In the end, I have to say it was a good idea to do this while having a light cold. I think it flushed out the cold so I felt better in no time and I think the lack of appetite because of the cold kept me from being too hungry. I will have to report back on how it goes doing this while feeling 100%!

Cons of 3-Day Refresh

• The biggest con for me is that most likely your family is not going to join you on this journey so not only are they eating foods that may smell and look tempting, there will be more dishes because you are making separate meals.
• Other than Shakeology, the products don’t taste great, but they do get the job done!

The Jury is still out on whether or not someone like me, who doesn’t do well working out on an empty stomach can do this and continue to workout at a normal intensity!

TIPS

• DRINK FIBER SWEEP FAST! This isn’t meant to be enjoyed slowly.
• If you can, do all the things! The teas, the juice, the broth- they all help to keep you full!
• Definitely plan on having the spinach salad one or more nights since it’s so big!
• When you are done, make sure to continue to eat clean. If you need help with this, I highly recommend ultimate portion fix. I have been on this program almost three years now and have learned so much about nutrition and how to incorporate all food groups in my diet while still eating clean!
• Remember it’s only 3 days… You can do it!!!!

Things I will keep doing on a normal basis

• I have continued to try to have my 8-12oz of water first thing in the morning. As the program guide says, I do believe it does kick start your system first thing in the morning. It is also important to start your day hydrated.
• The spinach salad did not have dressing, however, it did have lemon on it. This is a good way to give flavor to a salad without adding dressing. I was already doing this with lime on taco salads but I am going to continue to use this method with other types of salads.

There is actually a 21 day version of this, however, I am not sure if I am brave enough to try it! My 30 day challenge was hard enough and that at least allowed coffee so I’m not so sure about going 21 days without alcohol, coffee and all the other food groups excluded from these detoxes! Never say never though!

I love talking about this stuff so if you have any questions please make sure to reach out! You can reach me at jennecasais@gmail.com or on my instagram page https://www.instagram.com/workouts_and_wine/.

If I’ve inspired you to try this product, remember that I am a Beachbody coach so I would love to guide you through the process and appreciate anyone who buys the products through my site!

For 3-day Refresh visit: https://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/d/3-day-refresh-shakeology-challenge-pack-3DChallengePack?referringRepID=1763844

For Shakeology visit: https://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/b/shakeology?referringRepID=1763844

For Ultimate Portion Fix: https://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/d/FIXChallengePack?referringRepID=1763844

For our member library with fitness and nutrition programs recipes and more:  https://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/d/BODStandalone?referringRepID=1763844

If you are brave enough to try the 21 day version- Ultimate reset (I would love to hear from you if you do!): https://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/d/ultimate-reset-challenge-pack-URChallengePack?referringRepID=1763844

Thanks for visiting!

-Jenny