Beachbody 3-Day Refresh Prep

On Tuesday I will be starting the 3-Day Refresh by Beachbody. The 3-Day Refresh is great when you want a fast, clean break - to drop a few pounds in a hurry or break some bad habits. After this 4 day weekend and Thanksgiving holiday I'm not feeling my best. I tried really hard to be healthier than I normally am, but I'm not sure if I was 100% on track with my usual eating. Due to the change in my usual routine I'm feeling a bit more sluggish and my stomach isn't feeling too great. That is why I will be starting the 3-Day Refresh this week during my "rest" week in P90X3. 

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The 3-Day Refresh consists of 3 daily shakes, a fiber drink, plenty of filtered water, plus a wide array of fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats throughout the day to keep your energy and metabolism going. The meal plan that comes with the 3-Day Refresh is simple, but it offers many alternatives, including some creative ways to prepare your meals so that you can actually enjoy eating healthy food without having to season it in ways that can damage your health and undermine your weight-loss goals. This is also great because it's a cleanse without the starvation feeling you get with most of the other cleanses out there.

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I like to make sure I do things exactly right, so before starting out I decided to lay out my menu plan for the 3 days ahead. I also wanted to make sure that I'd have time to grocery shop and prep for the refresh. I work a full-time job away from home so I don't have the time to prep as I go. I want to be able to leave for work in the morning and have everything I need to stay on track with my refresh. I am also hoping that if I am fully sticking to the plan that I can get the optimum results. Below you can see how my 3 days will go according to my schedule of each day between waking and sleeping.

I finally got my groceries today so I just need to do a little bit of meal prep then I'll be all set for the next 3 days. It'll be easy peasy after the prepping!

Here's a short video that explains more about the 3-Day Refresh. If you're interested let me know and I can help you get started. Who wants to lose a few pounds in the next 3 days?

P90X3 Block 1 Complete

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I'm a little late posting this due to unforeseen circumstances this last week, but my husband and I have officially finished Block 1 of P90X3. Overall, I have to say it was pretty easy to stick to the program just because it's only 30 minute videos. That doesn't mean they were easy videos in anyway, but they are more manageable to fit into busy schedules just because of how short they are. The only issue I had during Block 1 was caused by me wearing incorrect shoes. My ankle swelled so much from the sprain that you couldn't even see the bone anymore. Due to how bad the sprain was I had to take a few days off working out and use crutches to get around. That alone coupled with the pain of spraining my ankle taught me the lesson of the importance of WEARING THE RIGHT SHOES. Tony Horton says in every video not to wear running shoes and now I definitely do not.

Eventually my ankle did heal and I was able to walk again. I'm still not 100% back to normal and I still wear an ankle brace, but it's doing much better. If needed I will modify my workouts to account for the issues with my ankle. My husband told me that it took him 6 months for his ankle to fully go back to normal size. 

But now that I have finished Block 1 my husband and I took the Progress pictures that are required and weighed ourselves. I am down 10 lbs from when we first started P90X3 and here are my before pictures next to my progress pictures.

SIDE VIEW

FRONT VIEW

Looking at the pictures I can definitely tell the difference that a month of working out and eating healthier has made. If this is only one month of doing P90X3 then I can't wait to see what I look like after doing 3 months of P90X3. 

As a side note....I started drinking Shakeology during my last week of Block 1 and will continue drinking it throughout the whole process. You always hear that abs are made in the kitchen and I believe it to be true. That is why I will be supplementing Shakeology in to make breakfast my healthiest meal of the day.

<3 Kelly Jean

Shakeology Review

Well, I've now been drinking Shakeology for almost two weeks and I love it. I went with the Vanilla Shakeology to start out with a pretty basic flavor. I figured I'd start out there and try a lot of different recipes with it, then go from there experimenting the other tastes. So far I've tried the Iced Mocha, Peaches and Cream, Neapolitan Strawberry, Pumpkin Spice, Strawberry Banana, and Pina Colada. [I linked the flavors to the recipe site so that you can see calorie count if you're curious].

To make the Pina Colada Shakeology I mixed in my Ninja blender 1 scoop of Vanilla Shakeology, 1/2 cup of Skim Milk, 1/2 cup of Pineapple Chunks, 1/2 tsp of Coconut flakes, and 1 handful of ice. It was delicious. It tasted exactly like a Pina Colada just with half the calories and no alcohol. It worked great to start my morning off right as I went out to run errands.

For my Neapolitan Shakeology I mixed in my Ninja blender 1 scoop of Vanilla Shakeology, 1/2 cup of Skim Milk, 1/2 cup of Frozen Strawberries, 1 tsp of Cocoa Powder. This was another hit in my book. I have really contemplated making some extra and freezing it for an after dinner treat of Shakeology Neapolitan Ice Cream. Yum!

On Halloween morning before I headed off to work I made a Pumpkin Spice Shakeology. This was probably the main reason I went with Vanilla Shakeology first was so that I could try the Pumpkin Spice flavor. Ever since Fall started here in Georgia I've been obsessed with trying everything Pumpkin Spice that I can. Therefore, why not make a Shakeology breakfast shake with the Pumpkin Spice flavor? To make this amazing drink I mixed in my Ninja blender 1 scoop of Vanilla Shakeology, 1/2 cup of Skim Milk, 1/2 cup of canned Pumpkin Puree, 1 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice, 1 tsp of Cinnamon, and 1 handful of ice. It was delicious! I won't say it tasted exactly like a Pumpkin Spice Frappucino, but it was pretty close and it has way less calories.

Another favorite of mine with Shakeology is any fruity flavored shake. I've been switching out my fruits I throw in. Some mornings I had peaches, some mornings orange slices, and some mornings I go the route of strawberry banana. My favorite yogurt flavor is strawberry banana so I made a shake that tasted exactly the same. This one was pretty simple to make as well. I mixed in my Ninja blender 1 scoop of Vanilla Shakeology, 1/2 cup of Frozen Strawberries, 1/2 cup of Skim Milk, and 1/2 a banana. It was yummy!

I'm pretty sure so far the only flavor I haven't liked is the Iced Mocha. I'm not sure if it's my iced coffee I'm adding in, but it turns out pretty bland. I've been using the Starbucks unsweetened Iced Coffee you can buy in the dairy section and it's just not giving it the right taste that I'm looking for. I only go for this drink on mornings when I'm really tired and dragging and need the extra pick me up from coffee.

I recommend Shakeology to anyone that has trouble eating their recommended daily dose of fruits and vegetables. Apparently you are supposed to have 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Do you get that? Do you even like vegetables? If you answered no to either of those you should try Shakeology. This last week I lost my mother-in-law suddenly and tragically. During that week while dealing with the loss and doing everything we can to help out my father-in-law, my husband and I just didn't have the time to workout. We barely had the time to sleep, let alone fit in working out since we were getting home by 10pm or later and still had to be up early the next day. However, during the week I never stopped drinking Shakeology. I had it every single morning for my breakfast. You know what happened after a week of not working out and still drinking Shakeology? I lost around 2-3 pounds that week. I've noticed with loss you are provided with LOTS of bad food. I did my best to still control myself and not over-indulge, but I can't say that I didn't allow myself a donut or piece of cake when provided. However, I did make sure that everyday I had my Shakeology. There's no need to miss the healthiest meal of the day, especially when it tastes so good.

<3 Kelly Jean

A Sunday Hike

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Recently my fiancè and I had our engagement pictures taken at the Roswell Mill in Georgia. I believe most people know it for it's covered bridge. Both times I've gone there I have seen at least 3-4 groups of people with professional photographers taking pictures there. We were no different since we had a few taken on this very same bridge....

It was such a beautiful place so we were determined to go back and hike it. Today we finally got the chance. It was a wonderful day for hiking. Most of the trails are covered by trees so even on a warm day it still feels pretty nice. I think also being by the waterfalls created a nice breeze to make it quite enjoyable. Plus I have to say the views weren't too bad either.. If you're ever in the area I definitely recommend hiking the trails at the Roswell Mill.

<3 Kelly Jean