21 Day Fix - Check - In {Day 4)

Good afternoon. I am sitting here enjoying my new afternoon snack - 10 raw cashews and a hot cup of coffee with maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice. I am sticking to the diet 98%. I refuse to give up some of the real foods that I see benefit in ie: butter and whole milk. I am not going to put skim milk in my coffee and a tablespoon a day of half and half is not going to kill me or cause me to not shed weight on this diet.

In order to not go crazy while on the 21 Day Fix you need to be organized! If you think that organization is not your strongest quality it can still be done but I would recommend eating the same thing every day. It is a lot like when I had to stick to the strict gestational diabetes diet except, thankfully, without the finger pricking! Here is how I stay organized because for my son and husbands sake I am not eating the same thing every day.

 Each color represents a different food category. They are separated similar to pie charts and that tells me how many of each food category I can eat in one day. I chart my water on the side with hashmarks. One of my glasses is 16oz of water. I try to drink 5 a day. I spend a little bit of time each evening planning out my day. Since I am away from home some days it is easier for me to do this so I can plan snacks and water that are portable. I start with dinner because it is our set in stone meal. I mark off the pie pieces I will use up for dinner with a D. Then I plan out breakfast, lunch (usually based on leftovers) and snacks. When I eat the meals I shade them in. This helps me because sometimes I don't actually eat everything I had planned on eating. Like today I had a BLT salad for lunch and had planned to have fruit but I was full so I didn't have the fruit and will likely save it for later.

Here are some overall thoughts so far on the 21 Day Fix:

• I am LOVING the workouts. In the past when I have purchased an at home DVD or gone to the gym I find myself getting bored or too sore to proceed because it requires that you do the same exercises or classes day after day. This is not the case with 21 day Fix. Each day you are working a different part of your body. Starting with the whole body cadio and moving on throughout the week to upper body, lower body, pilates (ick!), another cardio, something called "Dirty 30" and yoga. There is also a 10 minute ab workout that you are supposed to throw in a few times a week. I was very sore the first day but since we switch up workouts I am doing better and I feel great already.
• The workouts give me energy and that is awesome. 
• I am not a huge shake fan. I have never liked protein shakes. I can't get paste the chalky thickness. I have played around with a few recipes and they have gotten a little better but at this point I can say that I am not going to be a lifetime Shakeology user.
• The containers aren't nearly as small as I thought they were. 
• I actually have a hard time eating all my containers for the day. Surprisingly I struggle with fruit. This would probably change if I did the challenge in the summer but I am not going to spend $5 on strawberries that aren't going to taste good ;) so I am working with in season fruit - pears and apples mostly. 
• We have enjoyed normal dinners
• I love hard boiled eggs, a go to snack for me! 
• I miss ice cream and can't wait until day 22 when I treat myself to some ice cream with the hubby to celebrate our 10 year dating anniversary! 
• I think that this could become a lifestyle change with a few treat days thrown in for fun because I can't live my whole life without ever having dessert again or a sweet tea. 

All this to say. I am not very far in to the journey but I am surviving and actually thriving. Can't wait to see what my week one results are. If you are thinking about starting a lifestyle change journey let me know and I can hook you up with an awesome Beachbody coach.