My husband and I just finished week 1 of the Ultimate Reset, which we are doing through Beachbody. I wanted to give you a recap of how this past week went. But before I give you a recap, I wanted to answer questions for any that may be wondering why we are doing this in the first place.
building a house=eat and drink all the things
When we decided to build a house, our entire family moved in with my in-laws. It was a very wonderful, blessed time together but stressful nonetheless. It is hard not having your own space, especially with three little kids. I wrote a blog post talking about the different challenges that arise when building a home, and you can read it here. Essentially, our structure and routine went out the window.
For the past year it has felt like both my husband, Alex, and I have been stretched thin. Between making all of the house decisions and raising the babies, our self-care and eating habits went out the window. Despite trying to stay on track, we resorted to the easy dinners and take out more times than not. Unfortunately with all the decisions that needed to be made for the house, meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking lacked.
letting go of the past, moving on to the future
If I am being completely honest, I feel a little intimidated and self conscious sharing this journey with you all. First of all I just launched this blog and its not entirely about fitness and nutrition (hang tight more home decor coming later this week!) Additionally, sharing difficulties regarding nutrition and the way you look and feel is a vulnerable place. I hope my vulnerability reminds you that we all struggle with health and body image and that it’s okay to embrace each season as it comes.
I think the other thing that makes me feel a little nervous is that I feel like I was just sharing this fitness journey a year or so ago. After I gave birth to our youngest son, I ended up with severe post partum anxiety and depression. It was a long road that I plan to talk about in the future. The only thing that helped me recover was consistent exercise and fueling my body with the nutrients it needed. I literally worked my butt off and my anxiety diminished. An additional plus was at the time, I was in the best shape of my life.
Things were feeling and looking great so of course we threw a curve ball in there and decided, “hey let’s do one of the most stressful things in the world”. We decided to build a house, a custom house. I ate all the things. I drank all the things. Self-care was non existent. We were merely living on pots of coffee, corn dogs and chips and salsa.
workouts + eating healthy
I wish I didn’t have to feel like I was starting from scratch or that I hadn’t gained all the weight I did, but I did. As disappointed I am that it happened, it is just a reality. Life just simply happens sometimes, and that is okay. My husband and I kept working out consistently but noticed nothing really budging or changing. We really didn’t want to change our eating habits, but knew we needed something to get us back on track.
This led me to a discussion with my cousin Beth, who also happens to be a beachbody coach. She and her husband had done the ultimate reset together and had great results, so we thought, alright, why not? I decided right then, I can either keep going the route we’re going, feeling lousy and not myself, or we can commit and change it. I do like to think that since I have been able to fully commit in the past, hopefully my knowledge is helping this go around as well.
ultimate reset
The program itself is 21 days but it is split into 3 week phases We just finished week 1 and I already can feel a complete difference. The reset is to essentially help rid you of all your bad eating habits, and help you transition to cleaner more sustainable food. Each day you have three meals, partnered with supplements that help the digestive track. The reset itself is intense enough that is is actually encouraged NOT to work out. Light walking and yoga is okay but heavy workouts need to wait. To be honest this has been tougher for me than I thought, simply because I love a good sweat session. With that being said, it is really nice to focus all my attention on my clean eating and meal preparation with knowledge work-outs will resume when this is complete.
why I started the reset
Before we started this reset, I won’t lie, I was feeling down right awful. I had minimal energy, was sleeping poorly and my clothes weren’t fitting the way I wanted them to. The most frustrating thing for me was I was constantly dealing with indigestion, heart burn and bloating. I was irregular and felt uncomfortable all the time.
I was sick of feeling groggy and tired. Before the reset, I was taking Benadryl every single night to fall asleep. I would wake up and fuel my exhaustion with coffee and those crutches would repeat themselves day after day. I knew I needed a change, and my husband knew it too. That is why we decided the ultimate rest duo would be perfect. We could do it together.
first week recap
I love the ultimate reset duo because you literally do every single step with your partner. I won’t lie, this reset is hard and I honestly don’t think I could do it alone. It is so helpful having someone by your side going through the same thing, keeping you accountable and cheering you on!
The first day of the reset was the hardest for me because of the caffeine with-drawl headaches. In this reset you are not allowed coffee which was and still is the biggest deal for me! I just miss it. I don’t think I have went without coffee in 10 years. The first day I had the worst possible headache I have ever endured. I broke down at 7 pm and took ibuprofen though they recommend you try not to. I will say, despite how hard this has been, I have not had coffee in 8 days now.
thoughts of “is it over yet?” paired with “OMG…it’s working”
During the first week your diet consists of mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The first two days you have a meal with fish and chicken but that quickly disappears into the later part of the first week. It was a hard transition to eating bigger meals. I had to literally train myself to slow down and enjoy my meal. Any other mamas out there literally inhale your food? I just never seem to have the time to sit down and actually enjoy my meals at this stage in life.
The first few days my mind was definitely filled with thoughts of “is this over yet?” “I can’t wait to eat … again” but then I would realize change happening. Along with a change in my body, I saw a shift in my mindset. We started seeing results within the first couple of days and by day 5 my clothes started fitting again! GLORIOUS DAY!
This past weekend was labor day and it was super tough to be around family and friends and all the good food and not cheat. It is so hard committing to something when your old habits are so much more comfortable.
Day 1 (Left ) | Day 8 (Right)
feeling accomplished…onward
It has not been an easy week, but it has been filled with many accomplishments! We both have went 8 whole days without coffee (miss it so much though, hello PSL!) I have not had to take a Benadryl one time this week and have fallen asleep on my own without any interventions. This is a huge accomplishment for me! My energy is coming back and I am feeling way less groggy and fatigued.
It takes alot of effort to keep going when it is easier to fall back into bad habits. Sometimes we still want to just call it quits. I think this is why it’s so helpful to have a partner rooting you on. We remind each other that the best investment you can ever make is on yourself. I can tell our habits our shifting and that is the ultimate goal. It is always hard to make a change, sometimes having a partner by your side can make the world of difference.
I will plan to update next week after phase 2 is done!
