Interested? Want to learn more?

It has been a little more than a week since I've finished my reset. You have seen my progress over the last month.

Here's a basic run down of how I've been during my first post-reset week:

• I've continued to eat clean and vegan since the reset ended
• I've started to reintroduce some basic grains into my diet (quinoa, brown rice).
• I've started to reintroduce legumes back into my diet (lentil, pinto beans).
• I began drinking the Vegan Chocolate Shakeology for breakfast each morning with the addition of some fruit.
• I began working out again.

I do see my appetite coming back to me now that I've finished the reset and have started to reintroduce things back into my diet. I have struggled a bit to keep up with my water supply, and I know I will continue to struggle as the school year starts in September and frequent potty breaks will have to stop.

On Day 1 Post-Reset, I decided to put in that Rockin' Body DVD that I bought way at the beginning of my Beachbody experience. I amazingly had enough energy to get through it for a few days. During the first week of the reset, I did complain about my right calf muscle cramping. That cramp did become more severe while working out, so I've been forced to take a few days off to let the muscle heal on its own. However, I feel it getting back to normal, and I look forward to working out again.

With the encouragement of my sister and coach, I have decided to become an Independent Beachbody Coach. What does that mean? That means that I can help YOU on your journey to improve your life through diet and fitness. I know my journey is only just beginning. If you have found that through reading this, you are intrigued enough to ask a few questions, ASK ME! I'm now officially here to help YOU!

Here are a few suggested links you can follow:

If you are interested in learning more about the Beachbody Ultimate Reset, click here.

If you are interested in learning more about Shakeology (both vegan and non-vegan), click here.

If you are interested in learning more about Beachbody products in general (such as P90X, Instanity, etc), click here.

I would love nothing more to help you achieve your own success. Why not start today?

Who said I can't celebrate??

As a congratulations for finishing the reset, Alison bought me and my mom a gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan cake to celebrate the end of the reset.

Super yummy!!! It was a very dense cake, but it was super delicious. The raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries was amazing in the cake. Mmmm.... a nice treat after a grueling 3 weeks!

Results

Okay, so this is the embarrassing post, but if I'm going to encourage you to do this process, I have to do it myself, too.

Now, with full disclosure, I only measured my left leg and arm. Why? I didn't even think about measuring the right side. So silly.

I have to admit that I'm slightly disappointed by the pictures. I don't necessarily see the results with the pictures. However, I FEEL the results. I said weeks ago that I feel a difference in the way my underwear sits on my body. Looking at the measurements, there's a clear reason why. I feel overall less swollen. I'll be interested to take pictures again in a couple weeks to see how eating clean/vegan and using Shakeology impacts my body.

If only I could post my mother's results here. They are INCREDIBLE!! She lost 20 pounds in this process and it is obvious in her pictures.

I'm also considering starting TurboFire as a new program for weight loss. I've only got a few more months to get my body back to where it was before I got hurt. Let's hope I can do this before the wedding!!!

Day 21--And you didn't think I could do it!!

This has been a wonderful day! I feel like I've really accomplished something. Tomorrow I'll take my final measurements to see how I've done. But for now, here's an overview of the day's work:

BREAKFAST
As per usual, I had my wonderful, tasty fruit plate. Super yum.

LUNCH

Meal 62 of 63:

carrot-seaweed medley

microgreen salad

creamy garlic dressing

This was so tasty! I've never had edamame before this experience, and I find it to be super delicious. Of course, since I don't enjoy any flavors that come from the ocean, I modified the recipe a bit and removed the seaweed.

MID-AFTERNOON

HOORAY!!! THE VERY LAST ALKALINIZE BLECH! The final death drink. No more after this. Ick. What a happy day!!! (Like my cup? Circa 1992? Mhmm.. you know how I do.)

DINNER

Meal 63 of 63:

roasted veggies

avocado-cucumber soup

Okay, the roasted vegetables were fabulous. Loved it. The soup sounded yummy, and I even really did enjoy the process of making it. However, this soup is meant to be served chilled. Great in theory, but terrible in practice. I believe I took about 5 spoonfuls of soup before I realized I really couldn't handle it. There wasn't really anything much leftover to eat. I ate all the roasted veggies, waited a half hour, and chugged some water. Brandon I think pretended to like it. He said he'd finish my bowl. I don't see the soup anywhere, so I wonder what actually happened to it...

I'm headed to bed now, just a little hungry, but I'm okay with that. I haven't cheated during this process. I look forward to seeing my final results tomorrow.

Day 20--So close!

MORNING
I felt really great when I woke up this morning. I weighed myself just to see what happened with not really eating yesterday. As of this morning, I am down 13.2 pounds from the start of the reset. I often think about this weight that I'm losing. If I had just gone to the gym and worked hard, would I have ever lost this weight? Granted, it isn't necessarily normal to lose 13 pounds in 20 days (or like some other people who lost between 20-30 pounds in the process). But would this weight have ever come off just by going to the gym? I tend to think it wouldn't have. I think that if had I just worked really hard at the gym, I would have lost weight, sure, but these 13+ pounds would have remained in my system until I finally did something about it.

BREAKFAST
Like always, I had my fruit breakfast this morning.

Meal 58 of 63

LUNCH
I didn't necessarily want to eat this for lunch today because I really just wanted to eat my soup. But since my mom started prepping it and didn't really want it, she gave it to me and I felt obligated to try it out.

Meal 59 of 63:

jicama-avocado salad

I ate this while sitting outside. The bloodwork I got pre-BUR mentioned that I do have a kind of severe Vit-D deficiency. What can I say? I hate going out in the humidity in the summer. Maybe I need to move to San Diego... Anyway, I set up a blanket, my iPhone and a player, and my copy of Catching Fire (to reread), and I sat outside for about 2.5 hours. Hopefully I was able to get my day's worth of Vit-D.

The salad was pretty good. The avocado I used seemed to be a little too ripe for this purpose. It would have been great in guacamole, but maybe not this salad. Next time, I need to make sure the avocado is a little less ripe so that it still maintains its consistency after marinading. The jicama was as yummy as ever. I wasn't overwhelmed by either the cilantro or the lime juice. I found it just right.

DINNER

Meal 60 of 63:

Asian stir-fry

braised Swiss chard

This dinner was lovely. The ginger was subtle, but strong enough to give a great kick to the flavor. I don't often like using the Aminos in my food, but it was totally appropriate here. The carrots and broccoli were my favorite because they kept all the flavor, but I loved the bok choy for the crunch. It is definitely added to the awesome column.

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So there's only one day left. In preparation, mom and I established the lunch and dinner menus for the next week. We are sticking to the plan the way it's meant to be. During the first week post-reset, we are to continue eating the foods from this week while we slowly reintroduce some of grains back into our diet. We decided that Wednesday and Friday we will reintroduce quinoa and brown rice. After that, we are supposed to start introducing legumes back into our diet. We will be doing this Sunday and Tuesday. During this process, we are supposed to really listen to our bodies to determine how we are reacting to the new foods. If our body reacts badly to it (bloating, stomach ache, etc), we need to be able to identify it and consider removing it from our diet completely.

Mom reflected that she's excited to have yogurt and oatmeal again. I was honest with her and said that I don't intend to reintroduce dairy, and in fact, I don't plan on reintroducing meat products. I like the way I feel eating vegan. I like who I am. There is plenty I have to learn, and I've already bought a few books to help me process everything. It's a good thing I know vegans who can help me with the process. I'm just so very grateful for this program because it showed me exactly what I need and don't need in my diet. I'm excited for my journey ahead. Mom ackowledged for herself, too, that she doesn't need meat. She's actually grown accustomed to eating vegan.

Here's to the last day!

Day 19--Bad Day

This has been a terrible day. It started out okay, but it ended terribly.

BREAKFAST
As per the usual, I enjoyed my fruit bowl.

LUNCH
Lunch today was supposed to be hearty vegetable-miso soup. I cooked some of it, but was missing half of the ingredients. Mom planned to go to the store to pick up the missing ingredients for the soup, the basic shopping that we couldn't do yesterday, and to pick up some food for dinner.

Due to some drama, I ended up not eating lunch. I took my supplements as scheduled, though.

DINNER
Since mom and I did not really want to have another go at baked tempeh, we did something different. Strictly speaking, it isn't on the plan. We really shouldn't have eaten it since there was gluten in it and this week we are supposed to be eating gluten and grain free. Yet since mom made the effort to get them to appease people, we decided to eat it.

Meal 57 of 63:

Mediterranean roasted beets

baked tempeh

coconut collard greens

vegan veggie burger

salsa, avocado, tomato, and lettuce

It was delicious. That veggie burger was amazing. I made a little pocket out of the lettuce, and it was fabulous. I easily could have eaten another--all too easily. After scarfing it down, however, I was still hungry. Stephanie had been trying to get me to eat all afternoon, but I couldn't. She had a great idea, however, to eat a little of the vegetable-miso soup to top off my dinner. Seeing this was an excellent idea, I did that, and it was just enough. When 30 minutes passed, I drank some water and was content.

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Like yesterday, this day has been emotionally draining. I had an acorn squash thrown at me, and it hit my hip in the right spot. Don't ask because the story isn't worth rehashing yet again. It hurts to walk, and I can't put pressure on my left side. As I've been walking all afternoon and evening, I started favoring my right side, and now I have a splitting pain on the top side of my arch on my right foot.

Thank you, Brandon, for helping me see the humor in "getting squashed" today.

This was a lousy weekend, and I know that this will be a lousy week. The intentions I had for this week have changed, and now I don't exactly know what to do. Looks like I have more free time now.

Only two days left, and I already know I'm going to miss this.

Day 18--IKEA food? Nahh.. I've got my greens.

This has been a tough day. In talking with Brandon recently, we decided that we wanted to make a trip out to IKEA. I needed to buy a bookcase for work that actually fit my standards, and I knew that IKEA would have what I wanted. We had been planning this trip for about a week. I knew this would be a bit problematic for me, but the day went pretty well.

MORNING
I ate my regular fruit bowl and enjoyed it, naturally. I put it off until a little later in the morning to give me the ability to eat lunch a little later and not be starving.

LUNCH
I had to pack my lunch and bring it with me to IKEA. I packed my Vera Bradley bag and stuffed it with my lunchbag, a half gallon of water, and my supplements. Try lugging that around the building.

Meal 52 of 63:

jicama, cucumber, and tomato on spinach greens

I will say it was challenging to watch Brandon and my friend Michele eat the IKEA food, but I enjoyed eating my salad. Michele keeps making comments like, "I don't know how you're eating like a rabbit and surviving." The funny thing is although I know I'm only eating fruit and vegetables, I don't feel like I'm eating like a rabbit. I feel satisfied. I feel good. I have a great amount of energy.

And let me just say that I love jicama (pronounced hic-ama).

Because I ate lunch so late, I didn't even get to drink my Alkalinize until about 4:00 after we got back from IKEA. I threw me off for an entire hour.

DINNER
On our way home, we stopped by the market to find fennel for dinner, but we had no luck. Instead, we substituted a bit.

Meal 53 of 63:

roasted fennel baked sweet potato 

lemony broccoli and asparagus

I can't get enough of it. So yummy.

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This day has been tough. We ended up putting our 18 year old cat down today. It was really difficult for mom and Stephanie. Stephanie has such a sweet soul, and she can be emotionally affected by anything and everything. Stephanie loves everyone and everything. Death isn't easy for her to process which is understandable because she was only 8 when our father passed away. I've seen Sashie fading away for a couple months, but her condition worsened significantly within the last week or so. I've had the time to process Sashie leaving us, so Saturday wasn't so challenging for me to go through. It was extremely difficult to watch Sashie try and walk or even simply lay down. I spent my morning today helping her eat and drink. she drank her water, but she couldn't even hold herself up. She was no longer eating her food, but she chose to simply lick it. She always loved going outside, so we had her stay outside this morning as long as possible. She was ready to give up--laying beneath the stairs, hiding underneath the fireplace...She was ready to go. It has just been an extremely difficult day. Goodbye, Sashie girl.

Here's to tomorrow.