Yesterday I finished my Ultimate Reset. Here's a recap of week three and my overall impression of the program as a whole.

Week 3 Recap

• The first two weeks went pretty fast but this past week went much slower.
• I was definitely sick of microgreen salads. I'm glad there were a couple other salads during week 3, but still main the dreaded microgreen salad.
• This was the first week I felt the need to snack in the afternoon. The first day I had almonds and the rest of the days I had 1/2 serving Tropical Strawberry Shakeology, which tasted exceptionally good.
• I was not able to follow the week 3 meal plan to a "T". We had 3 graduation parties over the weekend (one of which we hosted), so rather than having the official dinners I found myself chowing raw veggies and fruit. These parties were the first time during the 21 days I felt a strong temptation to cheat. Pulled pork, PB cups, cupcakes, hot dogs and pasta salad all did their best to lure me away, but I managed to resist.
• Over the weekend my family wanted to go to SmashBurger. If you don't know what SmashBurger is, it's basically a fast food version of Red Robin. It's very good but not exactly reset-approved. I, as much as I wanted a burger, ended up getting a spinach salad. It had a little goat cheese and probably a fairly sugary dressing, but I definitily could have done much worse.
• Sunday the family wanted to go out for lunch too so we ended up at Subway. I got a veggie chooped salad (no cheese), added avocado and had the balsamic vinaggrette dressing. Again, the dressing was probably sugary, but again, I could have done worse--the meatball sub looked real good!
• The only recipes I really didn't like was the miso soups, so I skipped that this week.
• I enjoyed the fruit plates for breakfast. However, I find it really annoying that the program tells you to buy only "low glycemic" fruit but does not give you a comprehensive list. I had watermelon (which is probably not low glycemic), pears, cantaloupe, green apples, kiwi mainly. But really BeachBody, if you want us to buy only certain fruit give us a list! I would have love a little more variety.
• Today is day 22 and I am not having a salad of any sort. I'm having a burrito for lunch!
• I am extremely grateful for my family for supporting me through this. I definitely couldn't have done it witout their encouragement.
• Overall I lost 19lbs. I'm pretty happy with that. It does bug me that I didn't get an even 20.

My Overall Impression on the Program

Pros

• I lost 19lbs and some inches off my waist. That's definitely a pro.
• I liked almost every recipe, some of which I will most certainly incorporate in my daily meal plans. The Zucchini-Cashew soup, the Squash with Tahini and the Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Bisque were amazing!  Hated any of the miso stuff (except the aforementioned squash recipe that had a little miso paste in it).
• I slept really well and was able to get up with less "snoozes" than before.
• Like I said in last week's recap, I don't know if I felt more energy per se, but I also didn't have any dips in energy. It was definitely balanced.
• This is definitely what I needed to get my daily eating back on track. I plan on not cutting out sugars completely but eating them in moderation (like only 1 serving of ice cream instead of a huge bowl). I will also plan for them.
• I received a lot of supportive comments from friends and family. They noticed a change even after the first weekend (I started on a Wednesday).
• The Facebook support groups were very helpful. It was nice to share successes, failures and temptations with other people going through the same thing. It's funny though, seems like "drink more water" is the answer to everything, even if the question is "I feel like I'm drinking too much water" the answer would be "drink more water". I found that funny.
• I really have been able to pin point when and why I have certain cravings and how they relate to emotions. For instance, I find that mid to late afternoon I get a little bored and with that boredome comes the idea I'm hungry. When I leave work for home every afternoon I found that I seemed hungry but I realized that I used food to pass the time during my commute. During the reset I used a big bottle of water instead of PB cups or Snickers.
• Overall I like the program. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, especially someone that struggles with their weight.

Cons

• To reiterate, give us a list of approved fruit! How difficult can it be!
• I wasted a lot of groceries. I bought a special loaf of bread but only needed 2 pieces. I should have passed it on to the family to use, but I didn't look ahead to see if it was used. I also have a half a can of garbanzo beans that went unused. I think they're still good and I can re-use them, but why not use up all the ingredients?
• Please, for the love of all that's holy, come up with some more salad variations!
• Some of the recipes don't match the photos and some of them don't match the video. I found the cooking video fairly useless. Also we have an electric burner and some of the stove-top cook directions were too high. I learned this early and adapted. Anything that said high heat I ended up using medium.
• Please be more specific with the grocery list. "Miso paste" was not clear enough. There are many kinds of miso paste. I bought the wrong one and ended up wasting it…actually ended up pretty much wasting both since I didnt' care for it anyway.
• Each day there is a "plan ahead" section that tells you to prepare certain things ahead but I found it very inconsistent. Some of the lunches take over an hour to make, which if you pack your lunch like I do you can't really pull that off in the morning. If there is a meal that takes a while, tell us the day before please!

Your Turn!

 If you're serious about losing weight and want to get your eating right, why not give the Ultimate Reset™ a try.

Two weeks have passed since I started Beachbody's Ultimate Reset™. Here's a quick recap of week 2 (you can read my week 1 recap here):

• Most of the negatives I've read on week 2 is the detox mixture you drink 3 times a day. After reading all the comments I was definitely nervous about having to drink such a horrible thing 3 times a day. I was shocked the first day to find out that it's not that bad. It takes like lemon tea to me. I would agree the texture isn't that great but I found I actually liked drinking them.
• I have liked all the recipes so far except the miso soups. I'm just not a fan. There were 2 recipes that I definitely will be making in the future though. The acorn squash recipe (and soup) was amazing. I also really liked the Roasted Red Pepper Sweet Potato bisque.
• I had beets for the first time ever this week. I thought they were ok. I can't see myself ever saying, "Man, I sure feel like a beet" though.
• I am sick of microgreen salads though. There seriously has to be more than just 2 salads for lunch. Please come up with some more.
• As far as energy goes, I would say that I probably do notice an increase, or at least I don't notice as many ups and downs during the day.
• I've been sleeping great. Having a much easier time getting up in the morning too. Before the reset I would hit the snooze 5 or 6 times. Now I'm now snoozing twice.
• I still really have not have a great deal of tempation--until yesterday. I went to Walgreen's to get herbal tea and at the checkout there was an employee giving out samples of ice cream. Seriously? First, since when does Walgreen's hand out samples, and second, ice cream? Really? Also the boys track awards night was last night at a park. It was a dessert potluck! Ridiculous! I never cheated though.
• I do miss coffee but can make it through the next week. When we reunite next Wednesday it will be beautiful!
• Did I mention I'm sick of microgreen salads?
• I'm also tired of cutting cucumbers.
• I have lost a total of 16lbs over the past 2 weeks. I'm pretty happy about that. I'm looking forward to getting back to the wonderful world of Insanity to burn off the rest of the weight.
• That's about it!

Overall I really have had a pretty good experience and the time seems to be flying. I am hoping this next week will go just as fast. Even though it's been going smooth I am ready to be done.

Today I start the 2nd week of Beachbody's Ultimate Reset™. Here's a brief recap of my first week:

• Day 1 was pretty bad, I won't lie. It started off ok but by the time I got to dinner I had a huge caffeine withdrawal headache and had a very difficult time eating the salmon (which tasted great). After dinner it went down hill. My stomach was giving me all sorts of issues. I'll spare you the details, but it was not good!
• The 2nd day went better although I was still having some stomach issues, but not nearly as bad as day 1. I had a really hard time eating anything.
• Realized on day 3 that I had forgotten to take a supplement that before dinner, that, guess what, was specifically to "soothe" your digestion. Dang! I started taking it on day 3 and since then it's been smooth sailing. I've felt great.
• I haven't had any real temptations. I've been making Amy coffee every morning and that hasn't bothered me a bit. On Saturday I took Amy to Starbucks...no problem. Bought the family Wendy's for dinner on Saturday...still no big deal. Arby's for Drew on Sunday...no sweat.
• Monday was tough. It was our boys' track sectionals which meant I was away from the house for 8 hours. I had to modify that day but was able to not "cheat".
• I have yet to have a recipe I haven't liked. The 1st night salmon was amazing. I made it for the whole family and they all loved it. I've liked the tempeh recipes. The only thing I can say about the recipes is that I'm sick of cutting cucumbers.
• I've been a little frustrated with a few of the recipes though. I wish it would tell you exactly how long the prep time and cook time was. A couple days I went to make a recipe only to find out that something had to marinate for an hour or cook for 45min. Also there are inconsistencies with some of the recipes, I've been able to figure them out though.
• The shopping list is
  • Vague. It does not specify what kind of miso paste to buy for instance. I bought the wrong one.
  • Expensive! It took a trip to St. Louis (1-1/2 hrs way) to get most of the stuff, I probably spent 200-250 on groceries for the first week. A lot of that was enough to cover the whole 21 days, but produce is expensive and I'm pretty much going every day to get something for the next day.
• Managing the water is a pain. I've been buying 2-3 gallons of distilled water every other day. The cheapest I can find is Walmart at $.88 a jug. Also, it doesn't seem very "green" to keep buying all these jugs.
• My family has been very supportive, although one of the things that is weighing on me the most so far emotionally is that I feel like I'm inconveniencing them, especially regarding the amount of money this is taking.
• Overall, I am very please with my first week. I lost 12lbs (ok, 11.8 to be exact) and feel great entering week 2.

I encourage you to give it a shot. I bet most of you are saying (I know because most of you have told me this), "there's no way I could give up..." and usually coffee is the noun that follows. I understand. Believe me, I understand. I love coffee! I come from a long line of coffee lovers and the thing that made me most nervous was giving coffee up. However, other than the headache day 1 I have not missed it at all. I know that in 21 days I will be reunited with my black beauty so I look forward to that day.

I will say this: when you start off any challenge with the word "can't" or "try" you will more than likely fail. But when you change "try" and "can't" to "will" and "can" then you will succeed. Remove all the doubt up front and you will be amazed at the outcome!

If you want to give it a shot, here's the link.

One of my goals for my 39^th year is to get ripped. I decided to do Beachbody's 21-day Ultimate Reset™ to give me a kick-start. My goal for the Reset is to re-train myself to eat clean and hopefully drop a few pounds of fat along the way.

My Reset kit is in hand, the groceries have been purchased for week 1 (although it was quite painful finding all the stuff...it took a 2-hour trip to Whole Foods to find all the stuff) and I've prepped myself both physically and mentally for the challenge. I don't think it will be easy, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's always good to stretch yourself.

If you're curious about the Ultimate Reset, here's a brief introduction. If you'd like to find out more information or if you'd like to give it a shot, you can find out more on my Beachbody Ultimate Reset™ site.

If you're interested in how things are going, I'll be checking in here from time to time during the Reset so make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed or keep checking back here for updates.

Today I turn [gulp][deep breath]... 39. That means I have 1 year left before the big 40 (that really hurts to type) which means, as the Dr. told Aunt Bea in an Andy Griffith episode, "I'm no spring chicken."

There's nothing I can do about either of those facts, but there are things I can do, so I've decided to set 4 goals for this next year.

So without further ado, here they are in no particular order:

I'm gonna get ripped

About nine years ago I lost over 100lbs (110 to be exact). I've kept it off for the most part but there are certain things I regret. I got lazy and didn't go as far fitness-wise as I would have liked. I never had a fully visible 6-pack. My lowest body fat % was around 9%. I understand this seems completely superficial and you're probably somewhat correct. There are specific parts of my body I don't like (hips...ugh). I want to see if I can fix these issues before the big 4-0. Besides the aesthetics of the goal, I want to get in the best shape possible so that I can do everything within my power to be around for as long as possible for Amy and my boys. I understand there are things outside my control, but I want to do everything I can. Visible abs and no hips hopefully will be the side effects of the hard work.

I'm gonna dunk a basketball (official size ball on 10' rim)

I'm in the 6'-1"-6'-2" range. Ever since high school I have been really, really close to dunking. Each year over the past few years my vertical has slowly deteriorated due to an ACL surgery and just getting older. I still regret never being able to, so by 40, I will. Goal number 1 will definitely help with one.

I'm gonna get better spending more quality time with my family

Phones, TV, video games, sporting events all interfere with life. I have a bad habit of getting home at 6 and pretty much just collapsing in front of the TV. And on the weekends, when I should be spending time with Amy & the boys, I find myself in front of the TV or computer vegging out. I'm going to do better! I have such an awesome and beautiful wife and three unbelievable boys that I have to start enjoying them before gets to be too late.

I'm gonna get more in tune with my Savior

As a Christian I have been called to Love God and Love People. I do a pretty sucky job at this. There are so many opportunities I miss to serve someone else. I'm going to pray that God will open my eyes to those in need and I'm going to pray that I will act when my eyes are opened. I also am going to start depending on God more. I say I have faith and yet I try to fix stuff on my own. God has promised He will provide us with our needs. In my 39 years I have yet to go hungry and yet I still doubt.

There are new things on the horizon. Check back soon to find out all about them!