Author: distilledjill

Law school was hard. Anyone who has been through it will tell you that. But for me it wasn't just the studying and exams, it was also a struggle with my health. During law school--a 3-year time period--I gained 40 pounds. (At 5'2'', that's a lot.) I would reward myself by indulging in unhealthy habits, which helped keep my mind motivated but wrecked my body. After law school, studying for the bar exam and preparing for my wedding, I made the decision to commit to my health and fitness by starting a regular exercise routine and healthy eating habits. It helped keep my mind clearer for studying and also helped me lose weight and get healthy. I am happy to report that I have lost all of the weight that I gained in law school! I signed up to be a Team Beachbody coach in January 2014 because a number of Beachbody programs helped transform me. These programs include Focus T25, Insanity, and Insanity the Asylum. My latest journey with health, and the reason why I started this blog, is to document my progress on the Beachbody Ultimate Reset. I hope this information describing my journey is helpful to others and inspires others to push past their perceived limits. If you want more information on the Ultimate Reset, or any other Beachbody program, feel free to contact me.

Day 11 – Guide to Surviving the Reset at a Movie Theater

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Okay, Challenge #4 is done.  Probably the most physically taxing challenge of them all – the Beachbody Ultimate Reset at a 24-hour Oscar-nominated best pictures marathon.

  • Challenge 1 / Week 1:  The Reset at work.
  • Challenge 2 / Week 1:  The Reset at a conference.
  • Challenge 3 / Week 2:  The Reset at a retirement dinner.
  • Challenge 4 / Week 2:  The Reset at a 24-hour Oscar-nominated best pictures marathon (in a movie theater).
  • Challenge 5 / Week 3:  The Reset during mourning and a funeral service.

I did this marathon last year, and it was so much fun!  There was no way that I was going to pass on it simply because I am on the Reset.  I can’t put my life on hold while I’m trying to improve it.  Why torture myself?  So, I proceeded with the marathon, and I’m really proud to report that I stuck to the Reset.

By “stuck to the Reset,” I mean that I consumed only Reset meals, supplements, and distilled water.  I woke up at 8 a.m. on Saturday and did not go to bed until around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.  I’m sure that Beachbody would not approve of the sleep deprivation.  During the Reset, you are supposed to listen to your body and make sure that you are getting enough sleep.  Considering that some people blatantly cheat on their consumption during the Reset (e.g., alcohol, cookies, french fries) and still get great results, I’m sure one night of no sleep will be fine.

Knowing that there would be absolutely nothing sold at the movie theater’s concession stand that would be appropriate for the Reset diet, last night, I prepared all of the meals that my husband and I would need to for the day at the movie theater.  Since you can swap meals throughout the Reset so long as the swapped meal is the same type of meal (e.g., breakfast for breakfast) and within the same week, I modified the meals for this day, day 11.  I modified because I needed to select meals that I thought would hold up well in the theater without refrigeration and would be easy to consume in a dark theater (so, no miso soup).  Last year, when I attended this marathon, I was heavily fueled by coffee and Redbull, refined sugar (ice cream, which is atypical for me), and salty snacks.  This year, I brought the following:

  • Breakfast:  1 cup steamed spinach, 1/4 of a sliced avocado, seasoned mashed chickpeas, and nori gomasio (see day 13).
  • Lunch as schedule for day 11:  quinoa-lentil pilaf, cucumber and tomato salad, and 1/4 of a sliced avocado (see day 11).
  • Dinner:  pinto beans and rice, 1 cup steamed zucchini, and 1 cup string beans with lemon juice and olive oil (see day 8).
  • Snacks:  1 apple and 1 cup of blueberries.  I brought 2 snacks so that I could eat during the middle of the night if needed since I would normally be sleeping.
  • Hydration:  2 gallons of distilled water.

Oddly enough, last year, where I was jacked up on caffeine and sugar, I had a lot less stamina throughout the 24 hours than I did this year.  I remember that last year, I fell in and out of sleep for the last three movies (starting at 3:20 a.m.) and flat-out fell asleep during one of the movies for about 45 minutes.  This year, with no sugar or caffeine, I only had issues staying awake for the last movie, which started at 5:25 a.m.  I was actually pretty wide awake for all of the movies before that one.  I think that healthy snacks and supplements might be key to better stamina.  Another important strategy was to stretch out my meals as long as possible – both in eating them as slowly as possible, and waiting as long to eat the next meal as possible.  Honestly, I had never stayed awake so long without the aid of caffeine in my life.  While the sleep deprivation is not necessarily a healthy accomplishment, I think that this is still an accomplishment in how far I am capable of pushing my body.

Oscar-Nominated Best Pictures Showcase Schedule

Oscars Schedule

It’s appropriate to note here that I have observed generally that my stamina and mental focus have greatly improved on the Reset, while at the same time, my ability to sleep has improved.  This is odd to me in that I feel like I can stay awake as long as I need to and be able to focus pretty well, but when it is time to sleep, I can fall asleep almost as if I am turning off a light switch.  Even if I might not have felt ready for bed 10 minutes ago, as soon as I lay down in the dark and close my eyes, it doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep.  Pre-Reset, falling asleep was definitely something that could take awhile for me because I’m naturally a night owl.  Needless to say, I’m really enjoying this light-switch phenomenom!

Day 10

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Today, I completed Challenge #3!

  • Challenge 1 / Week 1:  The Reset at work.
  • Challenge 2 / Week 1:  The Reset at a conference.
  • Challenge 3 / Week 2:  The Reset at a retirement dinner.
  • Challenge 4 / Week 2:  The Reset at a 24-hour Oscar-nominated best pictures marathon (in a movie theater).
  • Challenge 5 / Week 3:  The Reset during mourning and a funeral service.

(By the way, if you’ve been keeping track of the dates of this blog, you’ll know that I am a little behind on my blog posts (I’m currently on day 12), but I’m going to post as if I’m not.)

This day was a marathon.  Today, I made all of our meals for tomorrow.  Why?  Well, tomorrow, I am attending a 24-hour Oscar-nominated best pictures showcase.   I attended this event last year, and it was so much fun!  It is ill timed this year, as it occurs over the Beachbody Ultimate Reset.  It is great to go to this event and get free refills on large sodas and popcorn with butter, eat other movie-theater goodies like nachos and candy, drink lots of coffee, and walk away feeling like a sleep-deprived gorged zombie.  But, not this year!  I made all of my meals, will bring all of the supplements, and stick to the Reset!  No caffeine!  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Anyway, today was a challenging day on the Reset because I had to modify the Reset schedule to attend an evening dinner event.  I had a plate full of apples, berries, and watermelon for breakfast (not pictured because I’m sure you’re bored of seeing photos of fruit by now).  Lunch was leftover sweet potato and red pepper bisque from last night (glorious even reheated) and a Greek salad (no chicken or pine nuts).  Then things got a little tricky.

Tonight, I was scheduled to attend one of my work colleague’s retirement party, which was an early dinner to be held at an Afghan restaurant.  Not only would finding something to eat at the restaurant be a challenge, but figuring out how to fit this into my Reset schedule was a challenge!  Ultimately, I decided to swap the optional snack with dinner.  So, my day would go as follows:  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack (supplements remaining the same).  This worked rather well!

I was pretty good at dinner.  I am always happy to indulge in a boozy beverage in a social situation where others are drinking.  However this time, I abstained.  We ordered a bunch of appetizers for the table, and I only had about a tablespoon of hummus that I scooped onto a raw tomato.  No dumplings or fried pastries for me!

For dinner, I had the vegetarian platter, which comprised sauteed spinach, eggplant, and pumpkin (no rice).  There is a picture of it below.  I took this photo from someone else, so this is not actually what I ate exactly.  I asked for mine without yogurt since we can’t have it on week 2.  Also, after having a taste of the pumpkin, I asked for a substitute and got more eggplant.  God, do I love the sauteed pumpkin at this restaurant.  Unfortunately, it was really sweet, and after asking the waitress, I learned that it had added sugar in it.  Too bad.  Anyway, the spinach and eggplant was delicious, and I don’t think I deviated from the Reset at all by enjoying these two.  I hope not, anyway.

Day 10 Dinner (Not Included in Recipe Guide) (No Yogurt Option Not Pictured)

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I’ve been pretty good at avoiding the need for snacks, which you are only supposed to have after lunch if you don’t think you can make it until dinner.  Since I had an early dinner, and went out on this Friday night to attend a concert (I refuse to be a hermit on the Reset!), I had a Reset-approved snack when I got home of corn and blueberries.

Challenge Day

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I am at a 24-hour Oscar-nominated best pictures marathon. Yes, on the Reset. Yes, in a movie theater. Popcorn, nachos, hot dogs, Twizzlers. I prepared all of our meals for today. No sugar or caffeine will be difficult. I do not expect to make it through the entire 24 hours. We’ll see.

Day 9

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Remember those challenges that I mentioned?  Well, I’m starting challenge #3.

  • Challenge 1 / Week 1:  The Reset at work.
  • Challenge 2 / Week 1:  The Reset at a conference.
  • Challenge 3 / Week 2:  The Reset at a retirement dinner.
  • Challenge 4 / Week 2:  The Reset at a 24-hour Oscar-nominated best pictures marathon (in a movie theater).
  • Challenge 5 / Week 3:  The Reset during mourning and a funeral service.

One of my dear colleagues is retiring, so let the festivities begin!  Today, we had a wonderful going-away party for her, full of lots of wonderful meats (prosciutto, capicola,  salami) and cheese (my favorite, goat cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, and more), mac and cheese, pasta salads, soups, deviled eggs, carrot cakes, cookies, brownies – you name it, we had it, and everything looked delicious!  There were probably some things at the party that I could have had (tabbouleh, guacamole, veggie platter), but instead, I stuck with my Ultimate Reset lunch that I brought into work that morning.  After I helped set up the party, I quietly sneaked back to my office, ate my lunch, and then returned to the party on a full stomach and without temptation.  Didn’t have any of it (even though I’m pretty sure I could’ve).  Tomorrow, we are taking our retiree out to dinner, and I have a particular dish in mind from the restaurant’s menu that I am pretty sure is Reset-friendly.  So, I might take a much-needed break from cooking tomorrow afternoon, and let someone else make me something for a change, though I will be careful to stick to the Reset.  Then, Challenge #3 will be complete!

One odd thing that I’ve been experiencing is that I feel like my sense of smell is changing during the Reset.  I first noticed this with the smell of cigarette smoke.  I used to not mind the smell of cigarette smoke at all.  While I wouldn’t say I mind it now, it smells different and less comfortable to me.  Well, it smells like dirty feet and stale popcorn now.  Likewise, at this afternoon’s party, the smell of the room with all of the food in it, with all of the meat and cheese, just smelled kind of sour and unpleasant.  Strange.

Onto things more pleasant…

The breakfast today was a little different.  It was basically hummus minus the tahini.  Seasoned mashed chickpeas with nori gomasio.  Nothing better than raw garlic first thing in the morning!

Day 9 Breakfast

Day 9 Breakfast

Lunch was a half serving of the pinto beans and brown rice that I made for dinner last night.  Always make sure to look ahead to the next couple of days when you do the Reset to ensure that you can double recipes that you will be using again the near future.  The pinto beans were paired with a microgreen salad.  This time, I tried baby arugula for my green, and I must admit, not much of a fan.  It was a little too bitter for me.  Plus, I forgot to add dressing to the salad this morning.

Dinner was frenzied.  We had theater tickets for tonight (thank god, for the cabin fever associated with this Reset has been brutal).  After staying a little late at work, my husband volunteered to go out and pick up enough groceries to get us through the next couple of days, which includes a concert tomorrow night and the 24-hour movie marathon on Saturday (so, a lot of prep work needed).  He also agreed to cook tonight’s dinner.  The dinner for tonight was sweet potato and red pepper bisque and roasted asparagus with slivered almonds.  Roasted asparagus is easy, but a bisque?!  Well, my husband, who pre-Reset could hardly boil Ramen Noodles, whipped up the bisque perfectly.  It was pretty amazing, and I am so proud of him for learning how to cook a couple of things during the Reset.  His other specialty is miso soup.  I think he might have a knack for the soups.  Since we were in a rush to get to the theater, we did not have time to actually roast the asparagus, which was a total bummer to me because I adore them roasted.  Instead, we opted to steam them.  Still pretty good.  Word to the wise – double up on that bisque.  You eat it again for lunch tomorrow!

Day 9 Dinner

Day 9 Dinner

Day 8 – Let the Detox Begin!

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And thus begins week 2!

I weighed myself this morning.  I lost 2 pounds during the first week of the Beachbody Ultimate Reset.  While 2 lbs. may not seem like much, I am celebrating this for a couple of reasons.  First, the healthy recommended safe weight loss per week is 2 lbs., so that puts me right where I should be.  Second, I am only 5 foot 2 inches.  I’m short.  If I can lose 2 lbs. per week on the Reset, that’s 6 lbs. total, and I would be happy to take that.  Third, the Reset, to me at least, is not all about losing weight.  While losing weight is certainly a side effect of living a healthy life, my main focus is to feel better – better mood, increased energy, more productive sleep – and I am beginning to experience those benefits.  Finally, losing those 2 lbs. finally brought me into a “normal” BMI (24.8!).  I had technically been considered to be “overweight.”  Now, I know, the BMI is criticized a lot for not taking many factors into account (including muscle mass), and that outside of the BMI number, I am a very healthy and active person.  Nevertheless, it really means a lot to me that I was able to break past a weight loss plateau and finally get to a healthy and normal BMI.  I haven’t been there in years.

Week 2 of the Beachbody Ultimate Reset introduces a new supplement into the day – Detox.  Detox, similar to alkalinize, is a powder that you mix into water.  You drink it three times a day – before breakfast, before lunch, and before dinner.  A lot of people find the taste repulsive, but I actually didn’t mind it at all.  It tastes kind of like lemons, though the texture is a little strange (it is grainy).  The detox powder has got a number of ingredients, like chia seed, milk thistle, a camu-camu, that helps remove toxins and waste in the colon.  In the Reset instructional video, it is described as a gentle colon cleanse that won’t leave you parked by the bathroom.  TMI maybe?  Well, get over it.  You’re reading a blog about a detox program – what did you expect?!  While one obvious way to get rid of toxic waste is via the digestive tract, one other way that people experience detox is through our largest organ, the skin, so I am really hoping not to experience breakouts during this week.

Detox Supplement

Detox

In week 2, you completely cut out animal proteins, including dairy.  This isn’t really a drastic change from week 1 if you followed the scheduled meals in the guidebook.  Unless you doubled up on certain recipes, you only have chicken and salmon once in week 1.  You do have yogurt several times for breakfast.  I feel like I’ve been transitioning gradually to this point, and it shouldn’t be too much of a shock.

Breakfast for day 8 was a fresh fruit plate.  One of many fruit plates in store for me in the next 2 weeks (week 3’s breakfasts entirely comprise fruit).  Though I considered my diet pretty healthy before the Reset, I was definitely guilty of not incorporating enough fruit into my diet.  So, the Reset is really helping me get into the habit of eating more fruit.

Day 8 Breakfast

Day 8 Breakfast

Lunch was my old friend, the microgreen salad, but with avocado added to it.

Day 8 Lunch

Day 8 Lunch

Finally, dinner included pinto beans and brown rice, steamed zucchini, and string beans with lemon and olive oil.  It was a lot of food.  Pretty good, though nothing miraculous.  Though I definitely enjoyed how quick and easy this one was to make (relative to other dinners at least).

Day 9 Dinner

Day 8 Dinner

First day of the “Release” phase – Done!

Day 7 – Reclaimed!

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This was my last day of the first week of the Beachbody Ultimate Reset.  I made it 7 days of the 21-day program!  One-third of the way there!  The Reset has been quite a journey so far, and I’m looking forward to the completing the rest of the 21 days!  The Reset hasn’t been as difficult as I expected it to be (so far).

There are a couple of things that I have really come to enjoy during the first 7 days of the Reset.  For one, my love of tempeh.  The tempeh recipes that I’ve learned will be incorporated into my life post-Reset, and I cannot wait to make the nori rolls with smokey tempeh again.  I’ve come to really enjoy pumpkin seeds, and I had no idea that I could purchase them year-round.  The pumpkin seeds are the highlight of the microgreen salad that I make almost every day.  I also love the fact that I’m not wasting produce.  Before the Reset, it seemed that I would always end up wasting so much of the produce that I bought.  On the Reset, I am buying so much produce, and I’m eating it quickly and nothing is going bad.  My husband has enjoyed all of the salt that he gets to consume on the diet, albeit pink Himalayan salt, which is full of minerals that normal salts, not even sea salt, contain.

The past week, we’ve both been sleeping better, which I did not think could actually happen for me.  Pre-Reset, I slept pretty well – nice, long deep sleeps.  My first week of the Reset, I have been sleeping even deeper, and more importantly, I feel more well-rested on less sleep.  Pre-Reset, I would sleep 12 hours (sometimes more) on the weekends to catch up on sleep and even then wake up feeling tired.  The first weekend of the Reset, I didn’t sleep nearly that long.  I’ve never been a morning person.  And while I definitely still not a morning person, on weekdays during the Reset, I am still groggy and annoyed when I wake up, but I feel like I snap out of it a lot faster, and I feel more rested after 6-7 hours of sleep than I used to.  I have also struggled with mental fuzziness  for awhile and lack of energy.  On the Reset, my mental clarity and focus and energy have improved.  I’ve learned that I do not, in fact, need coffee to make it through the day, which for a former Starbucks barista, is a hard truth to swallow.  Finally, I broke a cycle of weekend indulgences, in glorious things like alcohol and brunch and fancy meals.  While I fully expect to indulge post-Reset, I can perhaps do so a bit more consciously and know that I don’t have to every weekend.

Last day of week 1, I bid farewell to animal proteins.  Believe it or not, it wasn’t that bittersweet of a farewell.  I’ve really enjoyed the vegan recipes that I have been eating, and I know there are more good recipes in store for me as I cut out fish, chicken, and yogurt.  I’m looking to the next 2 weeks with optimism.

Breakfast for day 7 was oatmeal with apples and flax seeds with yogurt.  What I’ve come to really appreciate about the breakfasts is that they are all pretty quick and easy (unlike some lunches and dinners).

Day 7 Breakfast

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Lunch was zucchini-cashew soup and microgreens salad.  I made a double batch of zucchini-cashew soup the night before luckily.  Between lunch and dinner, I had a snack.  Snacks are optional during the Reset, and you should only have them if you feel like you cannot make it to dinner.  I was fortunate enough to have a West Wing tour of the White House (how freakin’ cool is that?!) scheduled for this evening, so in an attempt to hold me over until dinner, and as a way to kiss goodbye to animal proteins, I sunk my teeth into a nice hard-boiled egg.

Finally, dinner was one of my new favorites:  tempeh!  The baked tempeh was marinated in Bragg’s, sesame oil, garlic, honey, and apple cider vinegar, served with steamed broccoli and brown rice.  Great way to end week 1.

Day 7 Dinner

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Day 6

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I have fallen in love with tempeh.  As long as tempeh exists, I might never eat chicken again.  

Okay, so that might be a stretch.  Maybe.

Before starting the Beachbody Ultimate Reset, I had never actually tried tempeh before.  Tempeh, for the uninitiated, is a fermented soybean patty.  I know, sounds pretty strange.  But I am loving tempeh in the recipes from the Reset cookbook.  From the smokey tempeh in the nori rolls to the baked tempeh from today’s breakfast, I can’t get enough.  The baked tempeh was delicious.  I marinated it overnight (recipe called for 1 hour) in apple cider vinegar, Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, sesame oil, garlic, and honey (substituted for maple syrup).  It was served with some avocado and steamed kale.

Day 6 Breakfast

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Lunch was quinoa salad (I made a double batch the night before) and the infamous microgreen salad, whose ingredients I think I could recite from memory now.

Day 6 Lunch

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Finally, dinner.  Dinner took forever.  Start this one early.  Zucchini-cashew soup and a roasted root medley.  For the zucchini-cashew soup, you have to soak the cashews in water for 1 hour.  Yikes!  On top of that, the roasted root veggies (we’re not talking easy choppers here – carrots, beets, yams) need to bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes.  I cooked my veggies for 45 minutes.  Being busy with prep work for the next day’s meals, I didn’t check in on the veggies in the oven, and unfortunately, they got a little crisp.  And by “crisp,” I mean burned.  Luckily, I like charred things, so it wasn’t too bad.  But, you may want to check in on these guys around the 30-minute mark.  The zucchini-cashew soup was pretty awesome – nice and thick, creamy even, for zucchini, cashews, and water as the sole ingredients.  I would make this again, but perhaps with garlic in the soup next time.

Day 6 Dinner

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Day 5

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Everything that I’ve been hearing and reading about the Beachbody Ultimate Reset says that days 3 through 5 are the most challenging.  Beachbody recommends starting the Reset on a Wednesday specifically so that you can avoid these difficult days falling on work days (Monday through Friday for most folks). 

I am almost done with day 5 and have not really felt particularly challenged yet.  I went into the Reset knowing that I would be saying no to drugs and alcohol for 21 days (drugs = caffeine. Why, what were you thinking?!).  Resisting caffeine and alcohol is more of a psychological shift than a physiological pain for me.  Despite the fact that I would drink at least one cup of coffee during work days and pump up on Redbull on the weekends, I haven’t really experienced any caffeine withdrawal.  While I would like to be drinking alcohol on Friday and Saturday nights (especially outside on nice days like we’ve had in DC this weekend), I can resist it.  I think that days 3 through 5 might be really hard for people who are coming into the Reset with real addictions to things like caffeine and sugar, and for people who are making drastic dietary changes.  Pre-Reset, I normally ate things like quinoa and seaweed (think: sushi, miso soup), and stayed away from sugar and fast food.  So, I’m lucky in that this isn’t that hard (so far!).  The hardest part for me has really been the planning.  

Day 5 breakfast was supposed to include farina with walnuts, apples, and maple syrup.  Now, when I went grocery shopping according to the grocery list the Beachbody compiled for week 1, “rice cereal” was on the list but “farina” was not.  As a result, I ended up buying a hot brown rice grits-type cereal, not actual farina.  I doubt it’s a big deal.  Also, instead of maple syrup, I used raw agave nectar because I opted not to spend the money on maple syrup that it didn’t seem like we really used that much throughout the program.  It turns out maple syrup is used a lot more than agave nectar, so I am kind of regretting that choice.  But, boy, is agave nectar delicious!  Can’t say I mind much.

Day 5 Breakfast

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Lunch included a quinoa salad and hummus and raw veggies.  I love hummus, so I was very happy to see that the recipe called for a whopping 1/2 cup of hummus!  I was a pretty happy girl for lunch.

Day 5 Lunch

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The Reset recipes are slowly taking out animal proteins.  In retrospect, I don’t think that I had any today (unless there was something in the hummus).  It’s really amazing how veggies can fill you up until dinner time, which I will be having soon.

Today was another beautiful day in the District, so my husband and I went out for a couple of nice long walks.  You are not permitted to do strenuous workouts during the Reset – only walking, yoga, tai chi, or stretching.  Since I am used to doing high-intensity cardio workouts (Insanity is one of my favorites) in mornings before heading into the office, this is a big change for me.  On day 1, I tried the Tai Cheng sample workout that comes with the Reset DVDs.  Tai Cheng is basically a low-impact Tai Chi program developed by Dr. Mark Cheng.  While I could see the value of the workout, it was really putting me to sleep first thing in the morning, and I preferred the 20-minute yoga workout that I did the following day.  The sun salutations really helped wake me up a little bit in the morning, and since I perpetually drag early in the day, that’s essential for me in a morning exercise routine.  Did I sweat?  No.  Did my heart rate go up?  No, not really.  I can’t wait to go back to my normal exercise routines after the Reset.  My goal is to begin with Focus T25, then do Insanity, and then Insanity the Asylum.  I already own and have completed each of these, but I feel like I will really get the most benefit out of them doing them in sequence again after the Reset.  I’d say the next 5 months are pretty well planned.  Can’t wait!

The final meal of today is miso soup (my husband’s specialty!), stir-fried veggies, brown rice, and nori gomasio.  I made an extra batch of stir-fried veggies last night, have a big batch of brown rice in the fridge, and a bunch of nori gomasio, so my evening looks pretty easy!  I’m going to go start prepping for tomorrow now.  No rest in the Reset.

Day 4

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This is the winter of the polar vortex.  The winter of cold, depressing, climate zeniths, of crisp, painful winds, treacherous ice, burdensome snow, and hibernation. 

Except Day 4 of the Beachbody Ultimate Reset, which was a beautiful, glorious Saturday.  Sunny and warm, with not a cloud in the sky.  If I were not on the Ultimate Reset, I could tell you exactly where I would have been.  I would have been enjoying an al fresco brunch, soaking up the sun, breathing in the fresh air, feasting on eggs benedict and all-you-can-drink mimosas, happy to be alive on a wonderful weekend.

Did I get to enjoy the nice weather?  Sure.  Though, it was mostly walking to and from the grocery store, which was followed by hours spent in the kitchen preparing meals.  Sigh.  It took every bit of strength to remind myself that these 21 days will change my life.  It’s okay.  There will be other sunny brunch days in the future.

Anyway, day 4 was another delicious day.  I have thoroughly enjoyed every meal so far from the Ultimate Reset recipe book, and day 4 was no exception.

The breakfast included a fresh fruit plate with yogurt.  Flipping ahead in the Reset recipe book, I see that the breakfasts for the last week of the Reset are solely comprised of fruit.  No eggs, no grains, no yogurt (animal product) – just fruit.  Knowing that is what lies ahead of me, I am a little nervous about whether I will be satiated until lunch, but that is a hurdle I will have to face when i get there.

Day 4 Breakfast

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Yeah.  I’m guilty.  I try to make these dishes look pretty for you, dear ready.  Enjoy!

Lunch.  I was so excited to make lunch because the recipes are fairly quick and simple:  nori rolls and lentil-lime salad.  I had made a big batch of brown rice a couple of days ago, so I wouldn’t have to wait the 30 minutes to cook the rice in order to make the nori rolls.  Well, I had my smokey tempeh cooked and I was ready to roll, then I realized I was out of brown rice!  Always make double, triple, heck, even quad batches of your grains, and when you are out, make more ASAP.  Lesson learned.  I fought the grains, and I won.  Too bad these will probably only last us a day or two.

Quinoa and Brown Rice Reserves

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I have come to the conclusion that the nori rolls with smokey tempeh and veggies is my absolute favorite meal thus far in the Reset.  I’m really digging the smokey tempeh, even craving it, and kind of sad that I don’t see it further in the recipe book.  I will definitely be making these post-Reset.  The nori rolls were accompanied by the lentil-lime salad that I had earlier this week.

Day 4 Lunch

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Finally, dinner included stir-fried veggies, a cucumber and tomato salad, quinoa, and nori gomasio.  Nori gomasio is essentially a seasoning that you make for some of the Asian-inspired dishes that involves grinding up a toasted nori sheet (which I did on the stove), some Himalayan salt, and a bunch of sesame seeds.  It really made the stir-fried veggies.

Day 4 Dinner

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Days 2 and 3

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Challenges

I’ve observed that throughout the Beachbody Ultimate Reset, I am going to be presented with a number of challenges to test my commitment, each challenge getting harder than the one before:

  • Challenge 1 / Week 1:  The Reset at work.
  • Challenge 2 / Week 1:  The Reset at a conference.
  • Challenge 3 / Week 2:  The Reset at a retirement dinner.
  • Challenge 4 / Week 2:  The Reset at a 24-hour Oscar-nominated best pictures marathon (in a movie theater).
  • Challenge 5 / Week 3:  The Reset during mourning and a funeral service.

Day 2

Day 2 of the Reset was my first day taking the Reset to my 9-to-5 job.  The experience was surprisingly easy, though the preparation the night before was a little trying.  I am going to be preparing my lunches the night before, and as much of breakfast the night before as possible.  I hate mornings (which is something I hope will improve during the Reset), and really don’t want to set my alarm any earlier that I already do, so I’m trying to do as much prep work the night before as possible.

You are only supposed to drink distilled water (mineralize supplement added) throughout the Ultimate Reset.  I normally keep a Brita in my office, but since that doesn’t suffice, I was on the hunt for a jug of distilled water to bring into work to keep in my office to drink throughout the day.  Luckily, a CVS drug store is right across the street from my office building, and they carry gallon jugs of distilled water (unlike my local Whole Foods)!  I will probably be stopping into CVS each morning to grab my water for the day.

As you may have read in an earlier post, due to technical difficulties associated with day 1, I had to switch the recipes for days 2 and 3.  No big deal.  On the Reset, you can swap meals throughout the program so long as they are the same type of meals (e.g., swapping a day 1 breakfast for a day 2 breakfast) and in the same week.

So, on my day 2, I had the same breakfast as day 1 (2 scrambled eggs, steamed spinach, and toast – pictured in the “Day 1” post).  My lunch was a lentil-lime salad, which was easy to prepare; the rest of the microgreens salad from day 1 with toasted pumpkins seeds; and a dressing of choice.  I chose to make a batch of the Creamy Garlic Dressing to use for salads.  It is really good.  Next time I make it, though, I might add a couple of extra cloves of garlic because I can never get enough garlic.  My day 2 dinner was comprised of nori rolls with tempeh and veggies; a Japanese cucumber salad; and miso soup.

Notes on Dinner:  The nori rolls with tempeh and veggies are essentially sushi.  You are rolling your own sushi minus the raw fish.  Luckily, I’ve taken a sushi-rolling class before, so this was not a big deal for me, but for folks who have never rolled sushi before, I suggest watching a Youtube video on how to roll sushi before attempting this.  The nori rolls were excellent.  I had actually never had tempeh before (that I know of) let alone smokey tempeh.  I think smokey tempeh is supposed to be a vegetarian substitute for bacon.  And while I think that comparison is a bit of a stretch, the smokey tempeh was surprisingly delicious.  Though my sushi rolls did not turn out pretty (notice I’ve taken no picture of them!), the meal was really good, and I look forward to having them for lunch today.  I will try to roll them better today so they can be photographed.  I loved the Japanese cucumber salad recipe, and the miso soup is solid.

Day 3

Day 3 was my second challenge throughout the Reset:  The Reset at a conference.  This day, I attended a conference at a Ritz Carlton Hotel for work.  It started at 8 a.m., and we weren’t scheduled to have lunch until 12:45 p.m. — a pretty long interval.  Before I left home for the conference, I had my breakfast, which was pretty easy to make in a time pinch in the morning.  Breakfast was oatmeal with blueberries, and plain organic yogurt.  The recipe book called for the yogurt to be sweetened with either pure maple syrup or stevia, but seeing the price of maple syrup, which I would only use sparingly throughout the program and don’t really otherwise use in my non-Reset life, I opted only to purchase raw agave nectar to sweeten things.  I don’t know if I’ve ever had agave nectar before (outside of a cocktail), and I really liked it!  Better than honey, actually, and I think I will keep using this for my few-and-far-between sweetening needs post-Reset (as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth).

The night before the conference, I prepared lunch – a Greek salad with chicken and pine nuts.  At the conference, while everyone enjoying a nice fancy Ritz luncheon, I ate my Greek salad in the hotel lobby bar.  I got to do some work during lunch, so that was fine.

Since this was Friday night, and I normally stay up much later on the weekends than I do during the week, I really spread my meals out throughout the day.  Breakfast was around 7 a.m., lunch wasn’t until 1 p.m. (due to the conference schedule), I had my afternoon supplements (i.e., alkalinize and mineralize) around 5:30 p.m., had a snack of 1 cup of shelled edamame around 6 p.m., and the dinner was around 9 p.m.  

Dinner was a southwestern veggie taco.  So far, this was the quickest, easiest dinner I have made on the Reset.  Many of the other dinners comprise several dishes (soup, salad, sushi).  This was just one thing – a taco.  

A Note on Portions:  The portions throughout the Reset (week 1 at least) have been out of control.  I have been following the recipe guide’s portions, and some of the meals are just huge.  The southwestern veggie taco was huge.  You are instructed to only use one 6-inch corn tortilla (think: small), and then proceed to stuff this solitary 6-inch corn tortilla with 1 1/4 cup black beans and brown rice and 1/4 cup of corn kernels.  Impossible.  I’m not complaining, though.  I had plenty of the mixture of black beans, brown rice, and corn on the side, which made me very happy to eat after I devoured the taco.  I took a picture of this one, which I understand does not look very appetizing, but believe me, it was good!  Keep in mind all of the extra black beans, brown rice, and corn mixture is not pictured, so there is a lot more food in this meal that you see here.

Day 3 Dinner

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