Hi friends –
It’s that time of year again, ya’ll! Pools are opening back up, beach season is quickly approaching and you have t-minus six weeks to get into shape fast. I would hope at this point in time, you did not wait until May to start getting back into a healthier lifestyle or workout regimen – rightttt? Ummm.. who am I kidding, this is actually the very first year I can say that I DID NOT wait until the last minute, but I know all too well how easy it is to get caught up in life and watch the months fly by, only to realize that bikini season is right around the corner.. Or in this case, already here!
Although I’ve been doing really well with my fitness and food regimen since January, I still felt like there was this little pouch of inflammation or bloating or who knows what, that I just couldn’t get rid of. It didn’t matter how many crunches I did during the week, I felt like it was barely budging. Thankfully, I knew there was a way I could help to get rid of it – in a completely healthy way – without having to do a million sit-ups or starve myself with an all-juice diet for six days. Enter, the 3-Day Refresh from Beachbody (and no, I am not endorsed in any way by them I just really love their products and programs).
Now let’s get one thing straight with the refresh – it is NOT a fast. On the contrary, you enjoy protein-packed shakes, tasty fiber drinks and an excess of fruits, veggies and healthy fats. These are all designed to help you de-bloat, get rid of sugar cravings and show you how easy it is to incorporate healthier options into your diet. The plan is laid out day-by-day in an extremely easy guide that anyone could follow. Seriously guys, they literally tell you what to eat, when and how much. Doesn’t get much easier than that!
So what do you get in the kit?
The refresh comes with everything you need, aside from fruits and veggies, for the entire three days divided up into each day. For each day you get the following:
- Shakeology Shake
You can choose Vegan or Regular and they have a variety of options including vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and even cafe latte. - Fiber Sweep This sort of has a citrus taste to it. Yes, the texture is a bit strange, but that is just from the psyllium seed husks. Once you mix this with water, it is designed to be immediately consumed, so the fact that it doesn’t have much flavor is irrelevant.
- 2 Vanilla Refresh Shakes
While these can be mixed with fruits throughout the day, I chose to drink them straight up mixed with water. They have a great vanilla flavor and they are surprisingly filling. - 3-Day Refresh Program Guide
This is your go-to booklet throughout the entire three days. Every day is outlined with what you should be eating or drinking and when. It even allows you to fill out your fruits, veggies and healthy fats ahead of time so you can easily plan out your meals. - 3-Day Refresh Maintenance Guide
This is a guide to help you maintain your results after the cleanse is over with healthy recipes and even grocery lists that are packed with the essential food groups you need.
It comes in this super cute box and even has the additional outline of the three days written on the lid. All of your shakes are already pre-portioned out, so it makes it even easier to take everything with you to work, the gym or where ever you might venture to so you don’t miss a meal or snack. I went with the Vegan Barista option this time around, which included one vanilla, one chocolate and one cafe latte shakeology. I personally like the variety, since your other two shakes during the day are both vanilla. I like to mix things up because vanilla can get boring (sorry to anyone who loves it!).
It does mention that while coffee is not recommended, you can have it without creamer and a dash of stevia if you need to. For the full effects, I chose to completely skip coffee for those three days. I was quite surprised that I did not get any headaches during that time. I did miss it, but I just chose to drink hot green tea instead so that I wasn’t totally messing with my digestion. You are also encouraged not to workout or to do some light yoga, if anything. I did work out two of the days during the refresh, but honestly I wish I had skipped it because I didn’t have much energy for the workouts I chose. I think it’s totally up to your discretion whether you want to continue to workout or not and it really doesn’t have any effect on the outcomes of the refresh.
So what were my results?
I have done the 3-Day Refresh maybe two or three other times in my life. Each time I have had different results but overall I have been extremely impressed with how good you can feel in such a short amount of time. It’s awesome! That was really my ultimate goal here – not so much to lose a specific amount of weight, but to feel less bogged down and have more energy.
I ended up losing a total of around four pounds – which was amazing! It helped me get rid of the extra bloat around my lower abdomen, which may or may not be caused by a food intolerance (but that we will save for another blog post!). I also realized through doing the refresh that I need to incorporate more fiber into my diet. I thought I was getting enough for my daily intake, however the refresh packs on the fiber which helps to eliminate waste from your system and help with the bloat, so I’m thinking adding a little bit more to my diet is only going to help!
I will say though that getting through the three days for me was TOUGH! As I mentioned, I have done the 3-Day Refresh before, but for some reason this time around was a bit torturous! And it’s not because I felt starved or anything like that. Actually, I felt completely satisfied the entire three days. I just LOVE to eat, so not being able to eat what I want, when I wanted to, was hard. It didn’t help that my husband wanted me to make hard-boiled eggs and cheeseburgers the very first day for him either. I also made the mistake of scrolling through Pinterest recipes for the entire three days AND I watched food network non-stop. So yeah, that didn’t help! It’s definitely manageable and I do think that three days is probably the max for me, but the results were totally worth the wait. I will definitely be doing it again before I go to the beach to get rid of any excess bloat that I accumulate between now and the end of July!
So if you have an event coming up or maybe you are looking to get rid of a few extra pounds or even just jump start your healthy eating, I would totally recommend doing the refresh. It really does work and surprisingly, I have not gained back any of the weight that I previously lost. I finished the refresh last Thursday, right before going into the dreaded Memorial Day weekend – you know where all you want to eat is hamburgers, hot dogs and macaroni salad? I still feel on track, even with enjoying my share of treats over the weekend. Which just goes to show that moderation is key. I have realized that you don’t have to be perfect in your diet all of the time and you are allowed to treat yourself to the things that you want and crave without fear of messing up your progress.
I’d love to hear other success stories from you guys – please feel free to share in the comments below if any of you have tried the 3-Day Refresh before and what you thought of it!
And as always, have a blessed and healthy week!
XOXO – Brittany
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