21 Day Fix Review

A lot of you have asked me about my experience with the 21 Day Fix and I'm finally here to tell you all about it!  Back in August I decided it was time to do something about the extra baby weight I was having a hard time losing.  I researched all of the diet options (juice cleanses, Advocare, Isagenix, etc) out there and decided that the Beachbody 21 Day Fix was what would work best for me.  I liked the focus on eating real food and exercise. 

The way the program works is that you're given colored containers in various sizes that you fill up with different food groups to eat. 

Here is the breakdown:

Based on a chart that you're given in the 21 Day Fix book I was to eat in the 1200-1499 calorie range everyday which broke down into containers like this:

3 Green
2  Purple
4 Red
2 Yellow
1 Blue
1 Orange

I could also have 2 teaspoons a day of- extra virgin oil olive, extra virgin coconut oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil, pumpkin seed oil, nut butters, seed butters 

There are also free foods you can eat as much as you like: water, lemon/lime juice, vinegar, mustard, herbs, spices (but No salt), garlic, ginger, hot sauce, flavor extracts, 21 day fix seasoning mixes

At first I was like 1200-1499 I'm going to DIE OF STARVATION!!  You have to  remember I've been pregnant or breastfeeding at this point since September 2012 sooo I've been consuming my fair share of calories. I panicked a little but trusted that I could do it.   I decided to do the Shakeology part of the diet too. Not everyone does it but I knew that there are plenty of days where I'm too busy or exhausted for a real meal so I knew the shakes would help keep me in line.  I went with the vegan chocolate and it's delicious!! I prefer vegan protein powders over whey protein.  Nothing wrong with whey  it's just a personal preference.

The next component is exercise.  They provide you with workout DVDs and then which day of the week you are supposed to do the workout.  I sort of did the workouts but I'm not the best with at home DVDs they are just not my thing. Plus at this point I was still working out with my trainer and getting my butt kicked in intense workout sessions so I wasn't super concerned about not doing the DVDs but I know a lot of people love Beachbody's workouts.

So how did I like it and did it work?

I loved it and I lost 7lbs!  I lost 2 inches on my waist, 1 inch on my hips, and 1/2 on each of my thighs.  The one thing I learned about myself is that I do not eat nearly enough protein. I really struggled to fill up the red containers everyday but I was never hungry the whole time!  I was shocked that by adding chicken or ground turkey to my salad at lunch filled me up so much I wasn't snacking on crap just two hours later.   I barely snacked at all on this diet which is huge for me because I snack a lot and most of it is crap. I thought I would struggle with  the low carb part but I didn't at all. I usually saved my carbs for my snacks which was more satisfying to me.  I also learned I could survive without so much cheese and that's one part of the diet I've kept up with really well.  I still love cheese but I don't need to have it all day long. 

What about your sweet tooth???

The chocolate shakes totally took care of my sweet tooth craving!! If I was having a day that  I was just dying for chocolate I would mix up a shake with unsweetened vanilla almond milk or some PB2 and have it as my afternoon snack as a little treat but I honestly rarely craved chocolate when I did the fix which was huge for me. 

Here is an example of one day of the diet:

Breakfast:  Vegan Chocolate shakeology (1 red)
Snack: Wholegrain waffle with 1 tsp almon butter (1 yellow, 2 teaspoon)
Lunch: 2 large eggs, 1/2 english muffin and  raspberries and blueberries (1 red, 1 purple, 1 yellow)
Snack:  1/2 banana with chopped almonds (1 purple, 1 orange)
Dinner: Taco salad with ground turkey with cheese and the 21 fix smoky southwest seasoning (2-3 green, 2 red,  1 blue)

I'm starting another 21 Day Fix next week as I need a little reset, since I've been getting a little indulgent in all things pumpkin ;) I will keep you updated with how the next one goes and this time I'm going to try the workout DVDs.  I will try to share some of my recipes/meal ideas with you as I go but to be honest I'm kind of boring and could eat the same thing all day everyday. 

Have any of you done the 21 day fix?  Did you like it?  Any other diets you love?