Shakeology Cleanse, Day 3

So the first and most obvious downside to finishing the cleanse on the last day of the work week--you're not motivated to do a write-up of it on the weekend!  I've gotta get my thoughts down before I forget the experience though, so here goes.

The hunger on Day 3 was comparable to Day 2, but for whatever reason I wasn't as hungry when I woke up the third day than I was the second.  Sticking to the diet for the third day wasn't significantly challenging, but the guys at work don't offer the best social support.  They opened a box of Girl Scout cookies and insisted that I eat some.  I left the office for a little bit only to find that they saved one for me.  I tucked it away in my desk.  I recognize that one cookie wouldn't make that much of a difference, but that's not the point.  The point is that I can always find a way to justify the things that are easy or instantly gratifying.  Finding reasons to do the hard thing and sticking to one's commitment is the defining characteristic of success.

However, I agreed to meet up with some of the fellas from the office in the evening to say goodbye to our outgoing boss.  Everyone had beers and bar snacks, so I thought a fruit juice would be an acceptable compromise since fruit is not entirely off-limits during the cleanse.  All-in-all, I would say that I had a successful three days.

Now, there is an upside to waiting a few days to write about the last day.  Now I get to write about my post-cleanse experience.  Unfortunately this wasn't as good.

Friday I kept my diet somewhat under control...until dinner.  I really didn't go ridiculously overboard with like a whole pizza and a pint of ice cream or anything, but I did have 1 cup of chicken tikka masala over 2 cups of basmati rice with a side of Na'an bread.  Not the worst possible meal, but certainly not the healthiest way I could have ended the day.  My immediate post-cleanse weight was 171.x, but my weigh-in following my Friday meals jumped back to 174.x.  I did pretty good Saturday too, but I did treat myself to some hot-fresh-now Krispy Kreme original glazed donuts, which I don't get to do very often.  Unfortunately as of Sunday morning's weigh-in, I'm back to my pre-cleanse weight.

So here are my take-aways from this round of the Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse:
--The "cleanse" is really more of a fast, which I will call it from now on.  I didn't have any more frequent trips to the bathroom, nor do I feel any differently than before starting the regimen.
--Speaking of which, I'm dealing with a huge bout of constipation now.  I can't say for sure it's due to the fast or if the fast was contributing to the condition in any way, but no matter how you look at it, the Shakeology fast didn't do me any favors.  One of the alleged benefits of Shakeology in general is that it's supposed to help keep you regular.  In all fairness I understand that fasts in general tend to result in some form of constipation, and suffice it to say that a Shakeology fast seems to be no different.
--The fast is significantly more beneficial the more weight you have to lose.  This might seem like a no-brainer, but I can now confirm it with my own experience.  Last time I started the cleanse at 181.x, got down to around 175, and the subsequent return to normal eating didn't send me right back to my original weight.  That was not my experience this time around.  True, I could have controlled my diet restoration a little more tightly, but I don't assess that I did anything significantly different from the last time I did the cleanse.
--The Shakeology fast doesn't seem to be significantly different from other fasting protocols, or from consistently healthy eating.  I didn't seem to lose significantly more weight from one day to the next on this fast compared from the 24 hour weekend fasts I've done, and the rate of weight loss was only moderately more noticeable than when I'm eating a normal, healthy diet.

Conclusion:  The Shakeology 3-day fast can be an effective tool for enhancing weight loss, especially during an initial weight-loss phase where someone is achieving new standards in body comp.  It is less effective in people who are otherwise eating healthy and are already close to their body comp goals.  Additionally, the Shakeology fast is reasonable to maintain in terms of dealing with hunger; however, recognize that there is nothing significantly different or uniquely beneficial to doing a Shakeology fast vice other fasting protocols.

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this fast, fasting protocols, or any other questions about nutrition.

Shakeology Cleanse, Day 2

Ugh...dealing with the hunger today was definitely a little more difficult.  I made some adjustments from yesterday.  I saved my first shake until 8a so that I could have my last meal at 8p.  I made more ice for today so that I could bulk up each shake a little, but the hunger was still gnawing at me.  It wasn't unbearable, but it was maybe a 3 on a 5-point scale and fairly constant.  When I did have a shake, it would subside the hunger for 45 min to an hour, but that was about it.


I had to leave the office today for lunch because two guys brought back A&W.  One guy had chicken strips, and the other guy...well, I don't know because I didn't stay long enough to find out.  It didn't help that there was absolutely NOTHING to do today in the office.  Boredom encourages snacking, which I think everyone knows.  I got a workout in around 2p, so that kept me at least a little distracted.

But you know what?  My morning weigh-in was 173.3 lbs.  I may or may not get below the 170 threshold this time around, and even if I do I'd be surprised if I kept it off.  After all, I know that some of this weight is due to water weight that comes along with carb restriction.  I know that how I come off of this regimen will be critical, so my weekend waffles will have to wait at the very least until Saturday.  Friday has got to be a PN compliant day.  That is if I can make it to Friday!

Shakeology Cleanse, Day 1

So I've decided to do the Shakeology 3-day cleanse...again.  This round was partly planned yet partly spontaneous.  I planned at the outset of this round of P90X to do a Shakeology cleanse between Phases 2 and 3, but when I finally made it to the Phase 2 recovery week, I was no longer sure.  Last time I did the cleanse I was in the low 180s and used the cleanse to effectively get myself below the 180# threshold, and it worked; I haven't been back to 180 since.  However, this time around I'm in the mid 170s and am still gradually losing weight on my diet, so I'm concerned that a cleanse now won't be as worthwhile.

So at the beginning of the week I was no longer sure that I was going to do a cleanse like I had planned, and that's where the spontaneous part comes into play.  I got on the scale this morning and weighed in at 174.x pounds, down from 176.x yesterday, and decided to go for it.  If my weight is on a downward trend, then now is the perfect time to ride that trend out.  Plus starting now gives me two days over the weekend to recover to more normal eating habits.  I learned last time that going straight off of the cleanse into Phase 3 is not a good idea.

At any rate, I'm 3 shakes down into Day 1 of the cleanse, and so far so good.  It's important when doing this regimen to effectively employ your meal timing.  After all, you only get four meals a day (three shakes and a salad), so the spacing of those meals becomes important.  For some reason I wasn't planning properly and was somehow adding in an extra meal.  It wasn't until I put it on paper that I realized what my meal timing needed to be: 7a, 11a, 3p, and 7p.  I'll get to eat my salad in a little less than two hours now, and I've got to say that I'm looking forward to eating some solid food.  I'm also curious to see how satiated that salad will leave me between 7p and when I go to bed three hours later.

I'm not feeling particularly hungry, but the thought of not being able to eat again till 7p is more annoying than anything.  For someone who has been fasting every weekend for 24h, this is not too bad, but again, it's the thought that I "can't" eat something that bothers me the most.  Not that it's hugely different from when I'm eating normally; after all, when I eat at 1p I tell myself I can't eat again until 5p.  Then again, I'm typically not hungry until 5p when eating normally.

I'm modifying from the strictest sense of the cleanse a little--I'm mixing my Shakeology with 1 cup of low-fat milk.  It ups the calorie content a little (though I'm still below 1200 cal/day), but more importantly, it ups the protein content of each meal to almost 30g.  One of the things I want to make sure of is that I don't neglect my daily protein needs.

Other than that, I was concerned about how low my carb intake would be every day--119 g/day.  It's really not that far off from the 130 g/day minimum recommended by the American Dietetic Association, but such a low carb intake might explain why I was feeling the way I was when I did this the first time.

Well, I'll log in tomorrow and write about my Day 2 experience, but so far so good!

13 seconds away from a free lunch...with a three-star admiral!

There I am, lap two around the base, rounding the final bend toward the finish line when the monitor calls out

"Nine minutes!!!"

I can see the finish line in the distance.  If I can get there in 20 seconds, I will have maxed the PRT...a feat that I have never accomplished.  Granted, the standards are lower now in my old age; I only have to do 90-something crunches, 80 push-ups, and run a mile-and-a-half in 9:20 seconds, but I'm flying.  Twenty seconds away.  I can make that!

"Nine thirty-one.  Nine thirty-two.  Nine thirty-three!  Way to go!!!"

"Damn it!!!!!"

Okay, so I'm not all that hot and bothered about not having the Admiral pick up my lunch.  It's just that I've never been 13 seconds away from maxing the PRT.  However, putting it all into perspective, last time I ran the PRT was April 19th.  I think I was one month into my first round of P90X at the time, weighed 187 lbs, and scored an overall "Excellent High," doing 101 crunches, 66 push-ups, and a mile-and-a-half time that was over 10 minutes.  In six months of doing P90X and Insanity, I managed to max both push-ups and crunches and shaved easily over 30 seconds off of my run!  I might not be rocking a six-pack yet, but I can honestly say that between P90X, Insanity, and Precision Nutrition, I am in the best shape of my life!

(Oh, and since I ran the make-up PRT, I was running with a very small group of like 6 or so people.  So, yeah, I got the #1 card on the run.  I've never taken first place on the run before either!)

Done--PN Certified!!!

I realize that it has been forever since I've written anything, but hey!  We all get busy, right?  Well, one of the things that has been keeping me busy is Precision Nutrition Level 1 certification, and I've gotta say that I'm glad to be done!

I haven't written about it yet, but Precision Nutrition has significantly impacted my life ever since I learned about it back in the middle of the year.  I learned about it as I was researching recovery drinks for the workout group I was involved with during my first round of P90X, and I just got sucked into the articles.  The PN website has a wealth of absolutely free articles that address the gamut of health and fitness.  In fact, you could probably learn just about everything there is to know about the PN system for free just by reading all of the articles.  But that would take forever, and I wanted a more concise and structured presentation of the fundamentals of the system, so I ordered the Precision Nutrition System, and down the rabbit hole I went.


I've got to be honest, I was skeptical at first.  The product information website did that whole "flood the potential customer with information" thing that I've seen in other, less reputable products.  The price offer even does that "display the retail price and markdown" thing and the "post the availability status" thing to generate a sense of limited availability.  I knew that what I read online was quality material, and the materials that were advertised to come with the system seemed worthwhile, but I remember being a little put-off by the presentation of the system.  Still, I figured that I've made $100 mistakes before, and while this could have been another, it turned out to be well worth it.

There are a number of successful nutritional models and programs out there, of which PN is just one of them.  However, the system focuses on eating healthy, whole foods and minimizing supplements.  It teaches healthy eating habits over systems and points and really codifies what good nutrition is in a sea full of conflicting guidance.  As far as I can tell, Precision Nutrition is perhaps the most comprehensive and practical nutrition system out there, and I say that from experience.  Thanks to Precision Nutrition, I've improved my diet, streamlined my supplementation, and have maintained my weight in the mid-170s ever since finishing my first round of P90X four months ago.

With a program as amazing as Precision Nutrition, naturally I wanted to share what I've learned with others.  There was only one problem: PN teaches you the foundation of good nutrition and how to customize your nutrition if you so desire, but the system is not really geared toward teaching others.  Sure, I could tell people what the system says, but then I'm giving nutritional advice, and I didn't exactly feel qualified to do that.  But then I saw that PN would be offering a certification course toward the end of this year.  The way I saw it was pretty simple: the PN system teaches you how to eat better, and PN certification would teach me how to teach others.

The program was VERY comprehensive.  The text was seventeen chapters long, half of which was devoted to biological function and the other half to PN coaching.  I learned more than I ever though I would about mitochondrial function, Krebs Cycle, transport proteins, and metabolic pathways.  By the time I got through all of the material, I felt ready to take the exam.  After years of short-answer exams, I figured a 100 question multiple-guess exam would be cake.  When the very first question asked me to identify which chemical was "cardioprotective," I knew I was wrong to underestimate the exam.  They weren't kidding when they said that this would be equivalent to a masters course in sports nutrition!

But all that's behind me now, and I have the "omini-domini" from Precision Nutrition to go forth and teach.  I plan to offer my services to any of my customers on TeamBeachbody.  And if anyone reading this wants my help to improve their overall nutrition, let me know.  I'm sure we can work something out!