A Reset Recap

I made it. 21 days, no coffee, no working out. Whew! If you want to read more about and why I started you can do that here. And you can find my week 2 update here. But now that I’ve finished it all I thought I’d give you a little recap – the results, what I liked, if I cheated, if I would do it again, etc. So here we go!

The Results

Let me just start by saying that this program in no way guarantees any level of results. I knew that going into it and I was curious to see if anything would happen other than me being hangry for three weeks. I have been really, really good at working out. But really really bad at eating what I know is good for me. During the program they recommend no working out – if anything, some light restorative yoga or tai cheng or walking – and that was really hard at first. But here are the final results, with 3 weeks of super clean eating.

• Weight lost: 11.8 pounds
• Inches lost: 12.5

WHAT?!

Disclaimer – I desperately need a hair cut in those after photos. It’s bad. I’m sorry for the mullet issues.

In other non-scale victories, my complexion is a lot clearer, I feel mentally strong, my confidence is higher, I’ve gotten more sleep in the last 3 weeks than in the last year, and my daughter is starting to make healthier snack choices because she’s watching what I’m eating.

What I Liked

I actually didn’t mind giving up coffee for 3 weeks, but I was pretty happy to have a cup when it was all over! I also liked making the food – it’s a ton of prep work in the kitchen but it actually turned into a great time for me to refocus and pray and decompress.

After the first week I also really liked the break from working out and the added sleep. I realized that I’d been going at a million miles an hour for so long that I hadn’t realized when burn out set in. I was saying “yes” to everything – all the workouts, all the invitations, all the stress, all the obligations. So when this reset forced me to say “no” to some things, it felt like permission to say “no” to some other things, too.

 Did I Cheat? 

So here’s the deal. It’s 21 straight days of no coffee, no sugar, very very limited protein (by the end), and a gazillion gallons of water.

Yeah, I cheated.

I made it all the way to day 15 before I did though, so I’m proud of that – and actually I really am proud of what I accomplished because those few tiny cheats didn’t ruin my results (but they did, in fact, make me more pleasant to be around for my family). Wondering what I cheated with?

A 90 calorie pack of Brookside dark chocolate acai & blueberry snacks and a small scoop of salted caramel ice cream after mini golf.

Would I do it Again?

I honestly think I would (though this detox is pretty intense so you should wait several months before you start again). I love how I feel right now, I love how I’ve been sleeping, and I feel really settled. I am VERY excited to start working out again, but I plan to stick to the majority of this eating program, with more protein added in. Listen. I miss bacon almost more than coffee and chocolate.

If you’re thinking of starting it I definitely recommend ordering your kit and giving yourself time to read and review everything. Get really used to using a food processor and shopping in parts of the grocery store you’ve probably never looked in before. You’ll buy more fruits and vegetables than you actually think is possible to eat, so don’t shop for the entire week’s worth of meals at once or some things will go bad. Shop on Amazon for the items you can’t find locally and decide at the beginning that you WILL do it. Trust the process on the hard days and celebrate the victories on the great days.

You can or feel free to ask me any questions I didn’t answer in the post!