Beachbody Ultimate Reset Day 4 - Energy Levels on the Rise

Feeling: Great!
Water Intake: 80oz

I woke up today feeling really energetic! I actually woke up a full HOUR before my alarm went off, but I'm lazy and hung around in bed sleeping on & off until it was time to get up. If you know me, you know I love sleep!

Breakfast was a medley of strawberries, bananas, and grapes. 1 pc of toast. I missed the fact that we could have a serving of yogurt - more on that later. I really didn't think a fruit salad would keep me full until lunch, but it did!

I switched up lunch & dinner today. I wanted to give the sushi rolls another try, so I thought I would save that experiment for dinner. Lunch worked out pretty well though, and is something I could easily do again. Steamed veggies & some quinoa. Perfect.

Dinner I had a second attempt to make a sushi roll. Here we go...

Ta-da! Thanks to my coach Sean Dorsett for the Saran wrap tip!!

Now for my story of the day. I completely read over the fact we were able to have yogurt with breakfast this morning! I don't eat yogurt normally, but I picked up a couple of these at the health store nearby:

When I got home from work, I popped one of these into the freezer and then enjoyed it after work as fro-yo! This plus my herbal coffee Teecinno was the perfect after dinner treat.

I am amazed at how much energy I have right now. I love the way eating these whole foods is making me feel & how much I am appreciating the flavor of everything in its natural state. Another bonus - I weighed myself this morning and I am down 3 pounds!!

Until Friday :)

Beachbody Ultimate Reset Day 2/3 - Attack of the Headache

Day 2
Feeling: Achy, Headache, Nauseous
Water Intake: 88oz

Day 2 was a bit rough for me. I developed a headache during the day that by the time I got home made it almost impossible to do anything. I have only had a headache this bad a few times in my life, and usually just sleep them off. I did what I had to do to make food for dinner / lunch the next day but I struggled. The headache also made me nauseous which obviously didn't help things. I was able to sneak in a nap while some food was cooking and got to bed early.

Oatmeal & Blueberries nothing too fancy :)

Greek Salad - no olives; Substituted baked tempeh for grilled chicken

Day 3
Feeling: Small headache, not great/not terrible
Water Intake: 90oz

Day 3 I woke up and still had a small headache. It has been a dull headache most of the day, but not as debilitating as yesterday. I also feel less groggy and better able to keep my focus today. Nausea is also gone, thank goodness :)

Breakfast was the same as day one. It is so filling, and pretty quick to make! I might have to sneak it in to my regular rotation once the Reset is done! Lunch included this awesome lentil salad

Also for lunch was a microgreen salad like on Day 1. These two salads kept me pretty full, but I did eat a snack because I thought it may be late before I was able to eat dinner. I had 1c of strawberries along with some Almond Dream "yogurt". I've never had the Almond Dream yogurt before, it was awesome!

Dinner was fun to make. I've been craving sushi lately, and although my roll didn't stay together very well, this roll, the salad and the miso soup made me feel like I was eating in my favorite sushi restaurant!

I still have a small headache, so it will be another early night for me. See you all tomorrow!

Beachbody Ultimate Reset Day 1 - The Reset Begins!

Feeling - Good, somewhat tired
Weight - 158.6
Water Intake - 84 oz

Day 1 is in the books! I woke up excited and ready to go. After staring at the supplement guide for what felt like the 100th time, I took my first supplements of the day and got to work making breakfast/getting ready for work.

This is probably the best breakfast I've had in a long time:

Tofu scramble, steamed kale, whole grain bread

Super filling, the wholeness & simpleness of the ingredients was refreshing. I felt like this would give me energy & last me well into lunchtime.

I was most worried about craving coffee today, being that I am in an office full of coffee addicts and I looooove the smell of coffee. I was able to resist the cart of coffee rolled into my 8:30am meeting, and when my co-worker and I made our usual Starbucks run, I opted for green tea. I needed to drink something other than water.

Speaking of which. Water. Lots of water. I used to think I did well to hydrate myself daily, but I am beginning to realize I never came close even to 64oz that is recommended! This afternoon I made some jazzy ice cubes to perk up my water for tomorrow:

Chop up lemons & limes

Add water & freeze!

Dinner was also very yummy. I was surprised at how much flavor the marinade gave this tofu. I wasn't expecting a lot with the ingredients, but I was pleasently surprised.

Marinated & baked tofu, steamed lemony asparagus & boiled baby potatoes

Right now I am feeling good, tired (but it is 10:45 pm) and I have a small headache. I am sure the caffeine withdrawl will hit soon. As far as the supplements go, I just have two thoughts. I find it interesting we are basically adding salt to all the water we are drinking. Luckily it is not too strong where it feels like you are drinking an ocean. Also, despite my <3 for all things green, Alkalinize gave me some trouble this afternoon. I searched the forums for some tips and tomorrow I'm going to try a supplement shot - lick of Himalayan salt, shot of Alkalinize, suck on a lemon. I hope for the best!

Until tomorrow! Cheers!

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Interested in Beachbody's Ultimate Reset? For more information click here!
http://myultimatereset.com/LauraLou831

Monday Mantra: Jer 29:11

Today's reflection is a bible verse. My small group is studying on the Holy Spirit, and this one of the last verse's in this week's lesson:

Jeremiah 29:11 For  I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Today I would like to remember that even when I feel like I am wandering, I am on a path to God's greater plan. To remember that I can call out to God as Father and as Abba, and that He has given us the Holy Spirit as a comfort in our time of need.

Running in the Rain

Tomorrow starts the 21-day reset - I am so excited! Reading over the program, I think the hardest thing for me will be no caffeine for 21 days. I am not totally dependent on coffee to wake me up in the morning or to give me energy, but I am one of those people that truly enjoys the flavor of coffee. So, today I thought, heck I will treat myself to one last frappuccino before the reset begins. In order to enjoy my treat sans guilt I decided to go run in a small little park/shopping area we have near where I live. I figured I would run for about 20 mins, pick up a frappuccino during Starbucks Happy Hour (I'm cheap!) and then enjoy while I finished up some homework.

Unfortunately while I was driving to the park, it started to rain. I can't stand running in the rain...the puddles annoy me, I feel like I'm going to slip, and I had no running jacket with me. Most days I would just wait on better weather. This frappuccino meant a lot to me though (ok maybe I am addicted!) so you gotta do what you gotta do!

A ray of sunshine in the rain :)

Cheers to one last drink before the Reset & here's to a successfull program!

Special Series: Beachbody Ultimate Reset

Today I finished up shopping for all the food I will need for week 1 of the reset. Yesterday I took a trip to the local health food store, since I knew they sold ingredients like raw agave, miso paste, etc but also because they sell nuts/grains/legumes in bulk. The trip set me back about $85, but a lot of the food I purchased will be used throughout the cleanse.

Check out all this produce!!

I don't think I have ever bought this much produce for a week, and I'm a vegetarian! Looking through the meal plan, I actually thought I would be hungry on some days, but after this trip I am confident all these fruits and veggies will fill me up!

Tomorrow I'm going to try to prep & cook most of my meals, at least what I need through Wednesday. My days tend to get hectic, and our coach reminded us to not put any roadblocks in our way!

Stay positive, and Happy Derby day!

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Interested in Beachbody's Ultimate Reset? For more information click here!
http://myultimatereset.com/LauraLou831

Reset: A New Chapter

I am super excited to say that starting next week I will be taking part in the Beachbody Ultimate Reset. This is a 21 day cleanse split up in 3 phases to help your body RECLAIM and rebalance itself, RELEASE harmful toxic compounds that may be stored within, and RESTORE your system to its maximum health (http://www.ultimatereset.com/). Somewhere along the way of me purchasing Beachbody products I got paired up with a very inspirational coach, Sean. He put this 21-day challenge out to our team, and 4 of us will be making the journey together.

So why reset? And why start blogging again?
The reset caught my attention because it adheres to the principles I believe in. "Let food be thy medicine" - Hippocrates. If you put junk in, you're going to get junk out. And you're going to feel...junky. The reset program is focused around whole foods (mainly vegan) eating - which is something I do already. As most people feel at some point in their life, I feel like I've been in a rut lately.

"Are you tired? Have you been feeling sick?  Run-down? Having trouble with your digestion? Do you have hard time losing weight?" These are questions the reset pose to you. And unfortunately, I can answer "yes" to most of them. I am taking this awesome OPPORTUNITY to get back on track and treat my body right!


I have seem some people do video-logs of their day-to-day experiences on the cleanse. I'm more of a blogger, and this blog is something I've wanted to revive anyways. I have committed to 21-days on the cleanse, and hopefully 21 days of blogging will get me back on track here too!


There you have it. I'll post about the good, the bad, and the ugly. I believe in this system, and even though I expect the ups & downs of any detox program,  I know the results will be worth it. Come along on my journey :)

Photo Credit: http://www.yogafromthehearttx.com/