Last week I anxiously anticipated my 21-day fix with Shakeology and I admit as I opened the door and subsequently the package, I was nervous. I still am nervous. But before I get much further, let me say to stick with this entry until the end. I think... I suspect that this is headed to a very positive end despite my initial reservations... or shall we say desperation?
My why is not particularly clear. I know that many have strong whys, and I admit that mine is not so strong. I love food (as I've stated). But I know I need to lose weight. I've seen some recent pictures with me in them and thought, I definitely didn't think I was that big. My goal is to retrain my body to reasonable serving sizes and to stop eating out of stress or boredom or social obligation. Most of all, I want Audrey to develop a healthy foundation, and she's seeing that in me.
The package came the week before our scheduled start time. When I open packages, no matter what's inside of them it's always like Christmas to me. So when the shake and containers came, I couldn't wait until today (about 4 days later) to check things out. I opened the package to find the containers, DVD workouts, menus, instructions, information, a Shakeology cup and 30 days worth of Shakeology. I checked with my coach and she said I could go ahead and try the Shakeology and I did. I mixed it with milk and in the days following added cinnamon (my favorite of the things I added), peanut butter, etc. to experiment with the taste. The taste of the shake is okay. It's not fudge or a chocolate chip cookie, but especially with the freedom to add to it, I can drink it daily. I also happen to have a sample pack of other flavors coming, so know the above only relates to the regular chocolate.
Then, I watched some of the videos posted in our group and some of the on-demand videos that came with the kit. The on-demand videos are a lot like most exercise videos I've seen and I saw more of that today. I will admit, I much prefer Zumba, but as I said in my accountability group (and as my dad sometimes joked, I needed a kick in the pants and this does that.
One video on Facebook in particular, however, had me losing all confidence in a moment. "I can't do it like this," I thought. "This isn't what I signed up for." "There's no way I can do this and keep it up." All of these thoughts ran through my head as the coach talked about clean eating, no salt, restrictions, dos and don'ts and exercise and (worst of all for me) meal planning. I am a creative and spontaneous cook, and the recipes I'd seen looked to "diet" to me and lacked... well, the ethnic flare I love.
But I slept on it, determined to make this 21 days work and to find a way to get behind it. This morning I woke up and drank the Shakeology for the first time with water. Tomorrow when I do this, I might blend some fruit and ice with it because the water really blands the taste down (recipes for different ways to blend the shakes also came in the kit). In future days I may alternate using it for breakfast and a morning snack. It can be pretty filling on its own, so I wasn't worried and was actually feeling pretty positive.
Then, an hour or so later, I started the first workout. Audrey is a natural-born encourager and has offered to do a lot of this with me (so I will forgive her for tempting me with chocolate through the day and asking for Dunkin Donuts for breakfast... which we did not do). She came into the bedroom after finishing up in the living room and said, "Okay! Time for your 30-minute workout!" Ouch. Ouch. Can't breathe! Can't breathe! Ouch! Part of it's my own fault. I wouldn't accept the alterations to the exercises as demonstrated, so I only made it 15 minutes before chugging some water (oh yeah, I also have to drink 100 oz of water every day), laying on the couch a few minutes, stretching, giving in and taking a puff of my inhaler and then jumped back in for the rest. Audrey jumped in to stretch and finish the program with me and promised to do the same tomorrow. It's manageable, but it's a challenge as it should be. I wouldn't call it fun, but 30 minutes really isn't a lot to ask and it's necessary.
After the cool-down I was aching and hungry again. Honestly, I'll just go ahead and tell you that my hips down are pretty unsteady even now. I thought I'd try the morning snack by using my one serving of healthy fats and getting some goat cheese, chopping a tomato and sprinkling some lemon pepper and lemon juice over it. Talk about inspired! This was the perfect combination! I felt Italian-ish, it was fresh, juicy, with a bit of substance and zing, and it was just what I needed to hold me until lunch.
Lunch wasn't as inspired, mostly because my curry spices haven't come in the mail yet and my daughter wanted pasta. So I made spaghetti noodles, some salmon and and orange. Afternoon snack was an orange as well.
Dinner was what I waited all day for. I still had two veggie servings, a carb and 2 protein servings left, so I made some tilapia with pepper and 2 servings of a mixed salad and enough rice for the whole family.
So, just a few reflections on today:
1-- the easiest thing is drinking the water. I bought a water filter and two 50 oz bottles of water. After drinking what was in the bottles, I am using the filter so we don't spend as much on water (imo, KC water tastes horrible, but a filter seems to help at least somewhat). The cool thing is most of what can be used to flavor the water is permissable. For my second bottle, I added some lemon and rosemary and that was very very nice.
2-- I am in serious pain. Sitting and standing and everything in between is painful. I'm not sure exactly how working out tomorrow will be possible unless it's some type of therapeutic yoga.
3- The portions were not as small as they look. I think you'll notice just from all that I ate and the pictures, that nothing was particularly skimpy (except maybe carbs and even that amount surprised me a bit). It didn't require all my self-control with the exception of when my daughter ate chocolate chip cookies and my husband came home and grilled steak after I'd already finished out my daily servings. But I can heat the meat for lunch or something tomorrow, and I'll treat myself to a goody on Thursday (I think).
4-- This does take time. This is a good time for me to do it as life is a bit more flexible at the moment, but when I go into travel mode or get crazy busy with school or ministry, it would be hard to keep up. However, I truly believe that I will keep the basics to heart even after the 21 days. That said, I am committed to following the letter of the law for the next 20 days more! No cheats that aren't built into the system!