Beachbody Ultimate Reset Days 13-18

I’m learning that each week and each day of the Beachbody Ultimate Reset comes with its own set of unique challenges. The first day of Week 3 (Day 15) was almost a euphoric day for me. I’m not sure if it was just the fact that I was starting a new phase, or the fact that I no longer needed to drink the DETOX supplement three times a day. Not that the DETOX supplement was horrible or anything…in fact I was starting to enjoy it a little bit. But drinking this thing three times everyday can get a little tiresome!

During Phase 3 you are basically eating only fruits and vegetables. Three cups of fruit for breakfast and then veggies only the rest of the day. You can have a serving a grains during dinner but it’s listed as “optional”. I remember looking ahead to the meals during Phase 3 and thinking to myself “this is going to be a challenge” and that’s proven to be true!

I do enjoy the fruit for breakfast but it does’t keep me feeling full for very long. I guess I’ve become accustomed to having protein and some healthy fat during breakfast. Like…breakfast on Day 13 consisted of chickpeas with some spices and avocado (I skipped the spinach) which seemed odd but actually tasted pretty good and was filling. But there was a bit of a mishap during dinner…apparently the directions in the book are wrong because it tells you to pour the tahini sauce over your squash BEFORE you bake it in the oven. I don’t recommend doing that because your tahini sauce will get scorched and end up tasting like burnt peanut butter. 🙁 So when you do the Reset and make dinner on Day 13 be sure to pour your tahini sauce over the squash AFTER its been roasted!! Luckily I roasted the entire squash so I just ate that plain along with the roasted vegetables.

My favorite part of Day 14 was the edamame and roasted corn succotash we had for dinner (with steamed kale). I will definitely be making that again! Very simple to throw together and pleasing to both the stomach and the eyes! This was my first time eating edamame and I really liked it! I bought the pre-cooked kind so I just had to pop the beans out of their pods and simply re-heated them when I made the dish. The squash and coconut milk soup we had for lunch was also pretty good but I think I still need to work on my seasonings for that one.

Day 15 (first day of Phase) dinner was pretty good too. Baked sweet potato with garlic veggies. I actually enjoyed this dinner a lot and didn’t feel deprived at all. A serving of quinoa was optional but I omitted that cuz I’m not a big fan of quinoa and the baked potato was very filling on its own.

And then came Day 16…a really hard day for me. I had to say good-bye to Billie Bear, a cat we’ve had in our family since she was 6 weeks old. I won’t go into all the details, but she was only 10 years old (not that old for a cat) and since I work at a vet I played a major role in making sure her final moments were as peaceful as possible. It was definitely a test of my willpower as all my co-workers were offering me sweets and cookies as a way to help me feel better. But I didn’t run to food for comfort like I normally would. In fact I can pretty much guarantee that if I wasn’t doing the Reset I would have ate terrible for the rest of the day and that would have made me feel even worse. Instead, after everything was over I went home and cleaned our house like a mad-woman and just let the sadness pour out on its own. But yeah, luckily I didn’t have to go through that last week during Phase 2 when I was feeling A LOT more fragile!! Dinner that day was only so-so, curry cauliflower. It smelled delicious but only tasted half as a good.

Day 17 will go down in history as carrot day. I’m still not sure I can look at a carrot. For lunch we make a “Moroccan Carrot Salad” which is pretty tasty but involves 1/2 pound shredded carrots over 3 cups of mixed spring greens. Yes, a 1/2 pound of carrots. I recommend NOT eating the entire salad for lunch and saving some for your snack later in the afternoon. I don’t recommend eating a 1/2 pound of carrots at one sitting, ever. Dinner was decent, more roasted squash with steamed green beans and my new favorite…MILLET! The millet tasted so good, I practically licked the bowl.

I’m not so proud of Day 18 but it is what it is. I got called into work on a Saturday so I was caught a little bit by surprise. I had my salad packed for lunch so that really wasn’t a big deal but we had a CRAZY day and the only thing I could think about all day was food. I got home from work and went on a little bit of a snacking binge…some pistachios, some cashews, some grapes, and some whole wheat crackers. Then my husband walked in the door with a turkey grinder from Mancino’s and said, “I have to eat too you know, I was starting to feel a little light-headed working outside in the yard. Do you want some?” UGH!!

So I did it. After two hours of doing nothing but think about the stupid 1/2 grinder that was still sitting in the frig I had two bites. And it didn’t even taste that great. In fact, it made me feel a little bit sick to my stomach. I really think my brain and eyeballs needed the grinder more than my stomach did. I can pretty much guarantee it. I felt guilty for a while, but now I’m actually glad I did it. Cuz it taught me that some things just aren’t as appealing as we think they are.

There’s a section in our nutrition guide that makes a lot of sense to me now that I’m almost done. It talks about re-introducing certain foods and food groups back into your daily routine.

This is when you really have to listen to your body. Pay close attention to how each item makes you feel. Much has changed in the course of your Reset, so you may notice that flavors and foods you enjoyed before no longer appeal to you. Or you might find that your eyes want something familiar, but your body says no. Again, listen to your body. You’ve learned a lot about yourself over these past 3 weeks, and now’s the time to stick with and expand upon what you’ve learned.

So cool! These past few days I’ve been researching a ton of different “clean” and vegetarian recipes, and I can’t wait to try them! I definitely don’t see myself going vegan or giving up grains entirely, but I will be incorporating more meatless and vegans meals during the week. This whole experience has me thinking about food in a whole new way. It’s really hard to explain, but I hope you will be encouraged to one day do the Beachbody Ultimate Reset yourself.

Day 18 Dinner was definitely my least favorite of the entire Reset…roasted fennel. 🙁 I was expecting to hate it but tried it anyway just in case…but yeah, my tastebuds haven’t changed in that department. I ate a few bites and had to throw it away. I don’t like throwing food away (unless it’s fennel). I had miso soup instead and that was really nice and soothing. Another great find thanks to the Reset!

Only three more days to go, and my new journey with food begins!!