Early thoughts on "The 21 Day Fix"

I accidentally came across the program on instagram. And I’m guessing the name appealed to me enough to look it up. I mean, 21 days isn’t too big of a deal. When I looked it up I was pretty in love with the fact “a busy mom” was it’s creator. And I also was super interested in it’s food program -- I felt way too burned out on calories to count them again right now -- this version looked really appealing to me.

So, right now, it’s the middle of the day, on my fourth day, of The 21 Day Fix.

I gotta say, I’m liking it.
The only thing I don’t like about it is: Beachbody (the company who produces it) nonstop tries to up-sell you everything. (Even a little bit during the work outs.) But I’m looking past that and getting results.


I’ve already lost 3 lbs. Blake’s lost 4.
I’ve lost an inch off my natural waist, and almost 2 off my baby-belly-pooch.
Last night, right after our workout, Blake kept telling me how I already look a lot different.
I did not expect such fast results. I’m excited to see what happens by the end.



You can check their website to really see what it is.
(And I’m not getting anything for writing about this. I paid for my stuff.)
But there are 7 different work outs, one for each day of the week. (Repeat 3 times for 21 days.)
And for the food, it’s basically portion control with container, instead of numbers.

It might sound kookie, but it’s right up my alley.
Me and number are not friends. I’m a visual person. This is making a lot more overall impact on how I understand food than calorie counting or point systems ever did -- those only worked for me while I was counting, when I stopped counting I lost all sense of portions. This is visual -- I can imagine being able to use the sense I’m gaining from these containers forever.


They give you a list of what types of things can go in each container, and it always has at least a couple options I can pick from even after removing all the top 8 allergens (plus a couple) from our house. (Maybe that sounds very limited -- but if you’ve never removed all the foods I’ve removed from our diet before, you wouldn’t know that often times we only have a couple of options left. So I’m actually really pleased with how easy it is for me to use this program inside my limits.)

The only food-people (that I know of) who might have a hard time doing this program’s food program are vegans, and hardcore paleo/primal users may have issue with one container.
But I still think they could use the idea, and tweak it.

For vegans the red container may be hard because it’s for protein and it’s mostly meat options in there. And to make it trickier, you get to eat the biggest amount of the red container. But there are these options in there for ya still: Tempeh, tofu, protein powered (hemp, rice and pea), and veggie burger. It also lists yogurt, so I’m guessing you could switch it to a non-dairy yogurt and be fine.
     So maybe it’d be no biggie at all for you. But in my calorie range, I get/am-supposed-to-eat 4 containers of the red a day, so that may be a lot of those few options for you. I don’t know, I’ve never been vegan.
But I’m guessing you could switch out a red container for a extra blue or orange (which include seeds and nuts.) Probably as long as you figure out the calories of each and keep it all within your range, it’d likely be fine.

And the for paleo/primal crowd, the yellow container is carbs. The only things I see on there that you might be willing to eat are sweet potatoes, regular potatoes (although from what I just read online, real paleo doesn’t do potatoes?) or peas. Which I think are also questionable for you. There are also beans. But I think you are supposed to obstain from those too. (But some bloggers say they are fine?) I don’t know, just makes me glad I’m not paleo -- way too much to fight for, I feel.  I’ll stick to my almost as strange, but more understood by me, allergen free eating. (And just so no one freaks out at me -- you aren’t wrong for eating paleo/primal, I don’t mind if you do. Also, no I can’t be paleo, dispite being close already because you guys love to eat nuts and we can’t touch those.  And the way my girls can consume eggs leaves a lot of paleo/primal options off the table. Plus I love my corn tortillas. So we shall be friends with respect to eacother.)
But like I said for vegans, I’m guessing you could figure out the calories of the stuff you wouldn’t eat, and add in those calories into another container to keep it all in your range.

I think every other eater out there would be viewing this diet as extremely healthy. It is clean eating. (The yellow container could be somewhat processed, but doesn’t have to be at all, if you pick your options right.) There is no sugar. And it’s well balanced.

And like I said, even if you have food allergies, or are gluten free, I think you’d be able to make it work pretty seamlessly. (I only say think, because I know some people have even more allergies than us, but even with all ours, this has been easy to work with.)



So what have I been eating on it?

Thus far I’ve been eating something like this:

Breakfast:
2 poached eggs (I just learned how to do that this week -- its fabulous!)
1/2 a banana
teaspoon of sun butter

Couple hours later snack:
10 baby carrots
Hummus

Lunch:
Two corn tortillas
Red container of meat on them
And I throw part of a veggie container on there like some peppers and lettuce


Snack:
A fruit (like: an apple, or half a banana, or a purple container of berries or something)
And an orange container of shredded unsweetened coconut
teaspoon of sunbutter

Dinner:
Two corn tortillas
Red container of meat on them
And I throw part of a veggie container on there like some peppers and lettuce
And I eat up the rest of my veggie portions in a side or a salad

(I told you I’m obsessed with tacos!)


It’s not terrible.
The portions are small. But its doable.
Day two was kinda a stretch for me, because it was kinda kicking in both physically and emotionally. And the end of day three was hard, because I wanted to try and skip my last snack in favor of a really filling dinner.
But today I think I feel kinda in the swing of it all. (I hope.)

And working within the confines of the options has already forced me to figure out a couple things.
1) I can drink black coffee…and I think I might like it.
     I did some tweaking today and used some coconut milk in my coffee (taking away a bit of my snack from the blue container) and found that after 3 days of black coffee, I actually was almost put off by the coconut milk in there. hmm.  I was telling Blake that drinking black coffee makes me a grown up…having babies really didn’t, but that drinking black coffee does. :)
2)I can make tuna salad or chicken salad without dairy or eggs( my girls can’t have either) by using coconut milk. I had a FANTASTIC chicken salad on lettuce for dinner last night!

Chicken breast, coconut milk, ground ginger, garlic powder and red pepper flakes, on a salad

Probably would have never of thought of that one if I wasn’t stuck starting at those particular items.
3) Black bean hummus might be more delicious than regular hummus. (I didn’t have any chick pea beans…so I tried this recipe -- sold! It’s awesome.)

I’m also learning how to work ahead in the kitchen better (Because I don’t wanna starve to death. Cooking while famished is not fun.)
And somehow with all this routine getting put in my day through the cooking and the working out, I’m actually feeling rather on top of things I normally am very not -- like dishes.

Sadly though, I don’t think I’m gonna get much of anything done on the house for these three weeks, because by the time I get the kids in bed, the work out done and blake’s lunch put together, I’m way to tired to bust out any paint.
(So no one freak out if they don’t see any more reveals till May.)
I’m hoping to get in the swing of it better and still get something done in the hosue, but I keep telling myself, if I can’t... it’s only for 3 weeks. (I don’t plan on getting off the healthy train then -- but I think I’ll have more ability to accomplish when I’m not so strict with the stuff.)


Anyway, the work outs…. I’ve only done 3 so far. (There are 7 different ones, you do a different one each day. )They are both very hard, but also very do-able. I get scared every time I start one, but after I’ve done one I usually think something like “wow that one part (or 2, maybe 3, depending)  was super challenging but overall that wasn’t too bad.” (I think that’s the happy endorphins talking though -- it is hard.) I’m sore like crazy though. It hurts to laugh.
But like I said, I’ve already lost almost two inches off my where-the-babies-used-to-live spot I had been sporting more than I’d like to lately -- in three days!! That's huge.

So yeah.
I’m really liking it.

I know a couple just-had-a-baby  or about-to-have-a-baby mommas out there might be reading this. I can’t really say for sure what is right for you. Use your best judgement. There might be a bit around the internet on it, I don’t know.
I’m still nursing my toddler and it’s not messed with my milk supply at all. But then again, I wasn’t afraid that it might because my kid’s totally old enough to be weaned if need be.
You could always add in your 500 calories to the formula they give you and see what happens (if you and your doctor/midwife think it’s safe.)
The work out’s are pretty intense, so you’d want to wait till your body is really feeling 100% before trying this.
I read how the creator of 21 Day Fix lost here baby weight here. She said , “I gained 36 lbs. during my pregnancy. I worked out every day, but I had days where I didn’t always eat perfect. I had a C-section, but I was determined to lose the baby weight in 12 weeks or less. I would always read in magazines about how a celebrity lost the baby weight in 12 weeks, so that was my goal. As soon as I was cleared to exercise I started taking Dominic for 2 walks a day (each walk was 3 miles), then I started jogging, then I added in the weights. The weight came off in 11 weeks and 4 days.”
So basically she just went really easy at first and then stayed really determined. I don’t think she’s saying this is how everyone should do it (neither am I) or how fast everyone can do it. (I know I didn’t do it that fast.)
Just thought I’d throw that out there, incase any mommas try to ask me.
I actually don’t know.
It’d be better to ask her (I’ve seen her respond on instagram about doing her program while pregnant)
or to ask your provider.

Anyway. I’ll be sure to let you know how it went, or maybe check in about it again before the end.