21 Day Fix Recap: Week 1

I bit the bullet and purchased the 21 Day Fix Extreme last week. I just needed a kick in the booty. I had been going back and forth on buying this for so long that I finally decided to just do it. It's the first Beachbody program I've ever purchased and I'm so glad I did.

Sunday I meal prepped. We made chicken fajitas so we would have lunches for the next few days (1 yellow, 1 red and 1 green).

I hard boiled eggs so I could take two peeled eggs for my afternoon snack (1 red).

I ate two eggs (1 red) with a cup of spinach (1 green) after my workout in the morning. The above picture is what I pack for a typical day of work. 2 small tortillas (1 yellow), a large apple (2 purple), peppers and spinach for the fajitas (1 green), frozen mango that thawed by mid morning (1 purple), 2 hard boiled eggs (1 red), and chicken for the fajitas (one red). It works for me since I hadn't gone grocery shopping yet. It may be too many eggs? I finally grabbed cottage cheese so I'm not eating eggs for breakfast AND snack. But it's so good! I heart eggs.

I didn't purchase Shakeology because it was really expensive and I like G's whey protein just fine. I do one scoop protein powder (1 red) or sometimes just half a scoop (1/2 red), one cup spinach (1 green), two cups ice, and half a cup of black coffee. It is delicious! 

My breakfasts have been either 2 eggs in a mug with spinach (1 red and 1 green) or 2 eggs in a mug with spinach, cheddar cheese and a slice of bread (1 red, 1 green, 1 blue and 1 yellow). It's a bit of a splurge but it's so good!

With a side of strawberries to switch it up. I bought a huge bag of frozen strawberries at Sam's and just threw them in the purple container before leaving for work and by 10 they are thawed and delicious.

Lunches and a few dinners this week have been one grilled brat (1 red) with a cup or two of Brussels or asparagus (1 to 2 green). If I have a yellow container left I'll use half a bun for one yellow.

I have also been eating chicken chili with corn, chickpeas, and black beans with a side of Brussels (1 yellow, 1 red and 1 green) for lunch or dinner. Please note: That is a lot of food! I haven't felt deprived at all. I don't love that corn and beans are a yellow container, but I'm making it work. I love chickpeas enough to make it worth it to me.

My snacks have switched up to cottage cheese. I heart cottage cheese.

I usually eat three tacos so going down to two was an adjustment but I get to really fill up my lean beef into those tacos and they become quite hardy. I didn't even miss the third taco! Also? Greek yogurt as a protein? BEST thing ever. I save half of my red for Greek yogurt and use it as my sour cream with tacos. Amazing! Super filling and it really tastes just like the low fat sour cream I used to use. Even G enjoyed the 90% lean ground beef. He isn't a fan of ground turkey so this is a great alternative. And I could not find 95% lean ground turkey anywhere by the way so I think 90% is a good compromise. 

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Lets talk about La Croix. I had no problem giving up pop. I have been trying to give it up for awhile and I don't miss it. I love water and drink a lot of it all day so this wasn't much of an adjustment. But I did like a diet coke or glass of wine after work with dinner so I had to break that habit and after drinking water all day I needed something different. Insert La Croix. I'm not going to lie. The first time I tried it I was surprised at how bitter it was. I tried the coconut. But after drinking it for a few days it really grew on me and I looked forward to it after work each day. I didn't miss wine at all. Did I just say that? Who am I?! I'm excited to try new flavors! What's your fave?

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Everyone I have talked to that has done the 21 Day Fix said how full they always were. How much food you get to eat. I just didn't buy it. Especially after I saw the sizes of the containers! But it's true. I was never hungry! I felt like I got so much food. Good food. Nutritious, unprocessed foods. I felt amazing! I still feel amazing. I have more energy. My skin is better. I haven't had a headache since I started. YAY!

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It was tough to get out of the habit of counting calories. I've counted calories for so long now that it was hard to break out of it. It was an adjustment to get used to a new way of measuring food and eating. But I love it. It really is easy to follow once you get the hang of it.  And having a well stock fridge and freezer makes everything a million times easier. I love eating real food. I love that this program helps me manage portions because portions has always been my biggest struggle. The lack of dairy and carbs is an adjustment but it hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. My sweet friend and coworker has taught me tricks on how to split up your blue and yellow containers to really make them last and it's helped a bunch. 

The workouts! I love the workouts! Autumn is so skinny and pretty and PERFECT and I want to not like it but I just can't. I love her. She is so stinkin' kind and motivating and sweet. I adore her!

Plyo Fix Extreme - Weighted jumping. You all know how much I love to jump with weights. And I'm not even being sarcastic. I really do love it.

Upper Fix Extreme - I could barely life my arms the next day. Or even two days later for that matter. I thought my arms were going to fall off after Jillian arm workouts and this was even more intense (which I didn't think was possible). Autumn uses five and ten pound weights and I hadn't lifted ten pound weights in YEARS so it was extremely hard in a good way.

Pilates Fix Extreme - I thought this would be a nice "break" since my arms and legs were sore but it was intense. My abs were hurting and my sides were so sore after. I don't think my sides have ever been sore before. I didn't know I had muscles there. Ouch.

Lower Fix Extreme - Tough! But so much fun. She is a little goofier in this one with everyone and it just makes it more fun. The moves are hard and I was so sore after but I enjoyed the moves. I was also dripping in sweat after and that is always a sign of a great workout.

I still have to try Cardio Fix, Dirty 30 and Pilates so I'll give a review of those next week during the Week 2 Recap.This got really long, sorry.

I'm still debating if I should weigh in each week or at the end of the 21 days. I did take measurements and weighed in on Monday when I started. What do you think? 

Have you tried the program before? What were your results like? What was your favorite workout? Favorite recipe? 

I'm looking forward to another week even though I know the weekend will be hard.Getting out of the routine I established over the last 5 days will make it tough but I'm determined to do this thing. Follow it exactly at least for the 21 days and see how I feel. How I look. How it goes. Then I can decide if I want to modify the next round of 21 days.