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

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!