Our Ultimate Reset Experience

Post updated June 14, 2014 with our final results.

Susan and I decided to take a three-week break from exercising to do Beachbody’s Ultimate Reset.  The Ultimate Reset is a three-phase program designed to rid your body of the toxins that build up over time.  By resetting your body you get yourself healthy on the inside much like an exercise program gets you in shape on the outside.  Over the course of 21 days the program rebalances your body’s pH to a healthier alkaline state, gently cleanses your gastrointestinal tract through the use of natural supplements, and then restores the healthy bacteria to your system to promote improved nutrient absorption.   Benefits of the program include increased energy levels, mental clarity, improved complexion, and reduction of cravings for food.

The program comes with a series of supplements that are taken four times a day as well as a very detailed Nutrition Guide.  The Nutrition Guide tells you what food to buy, what and how much to eat, and how to prepare it for every meal in the 21 days.  Videos are available for most recipes in the guide to teach you how to prepare the food if you are new to cooking.  There is also a “Reset in a Crunch” modular meal plan that includes the meals you can prepare most quickly and easily for people who have limited time.

Here are a few of the other program guidelines:

• Consume (and cook with) distilled water in the amount of 1/2 oz per pound of body weight daily (we each averaged about a gallon a day)
• Choose organic food as much as possible to minimize the amount of pesticides (toxins) you consume (see Organic Food FAQ’s for the basics of organic food)
• No alcohol or caffeine are allowed
• Focus on getting full nights of sleep during the 3 weeks
• Refrain from any vigorous exercise throughout the program; stretching, walking, restorative yoga and Tai Cheng are permitted
• Vegan Shakeology is permitted as a breakfast substitute or a snack; regular Shakeology is not allowed due to its whey (dairy) protein.  We had Shakeology for our afternoon snack nearly every day although I didn’t record it in the daily summaries below.

We documented our 21 days here so you can see what our experiences were.  I also maintained my public food diary on My Fitness Pal from May 24, 2014 – June 13, 2014 so you can see the details (fortunately all the Ultimate Reset recipes are pre-loaded into MFP so maintaining the diary was easy–http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/JT1414).

Week 1:  Reclaim

The first week is about gradually phasing animal proteins out of your diet and transitioning to an all fruit/vegetable/grain diet.

Day 1 May 24:   The hardest thing about our first day was caffeine withdrawal.  I didn’t think we drank alot of coffee but by mid-day we both had withdrawal headaches to the point that we both needed to sleep them off for about an hour.  This was our first day on the supplements.  Mineralize is Himalayan Sea Salt that you mix with your drinking water, Optimize and Soothe are herbal supplements for promoting metabolism and digestive health, and Alkalinize is a grass-based powder for increasing your body’s alkalinity.  Alkalinize is the only supplement that we found hard to take since it tastes like grass.  Day 1 meals were very similar to what we normally eat:  scrambled eggs, kale and toast for breakfast; miso soup and microgreen salad for lunch; and salmon with asparagus and potatoes for dinner.

 

Day 2 May 25:  No headaches today and no need for a mid-day nap.  Breakfast was oatmeal with blueberries, lunch was a Greek salad with chicken, and dinner was a vegetable taco.

Day 3 May 26:  I tried caffeine-free herbal tea today for the first time and loved it.  Celestial Seasonings makes several different flavors but I enjoyed the Raspberry and Blueberry most–going to try to use this to replace coffee.  Scrambled eggs for breakfast is the last time we have eggs.  Lunch was lentil-lime salad and a microgreen salad.  For dinner we made Nori rolls with tempeh and a Japanese cucumber salad.  The Nori rolls and tempeh were a first for us and were actually quite good.

Day 4 May 27:  Finally getting used to the Alkalinize supplement.  The directions clearly say to mix with only 2-3 oz of water so you can down it like a couple of shots–that makes it more palatable.  Breakfast was a fresh fruit plate with plain organic yogurt on the side.  Lunch was Nori rolls with tempeh and lentil lime salad (the plan does a good job of repeating some meals on consecutive days so you only have to prepare them once).  Dinner was stir-fried veggies, cucumber and tomato salad, and quinoa.  The stir-fried veggies were particularly tasty because we added Bragg Liquid Aminos as directed which added flavor and moisture.

Day 5 May 28:  For breakfast we had Farina (Cream of Wheat) with apples, walnuts, and maple syrup.  Lunch was quinoa salad with hummus and raw vegetables.  Dinner was miso soup, stir-fried vegetables, and brown rice.

Day 6 May 29 (we swapped Days 6 & 7 in the book):  Oatmeal with apples and flaxseed for breakfast.  For lunch we had zucchini-cashew soup and a microgreen salad with toasted pumpkin seeds.  Dinner was baked tempeh with steamed broccoli and brown rice.  The zucchini-cashew soup was very good and we will add that to our regular winter soup list.  The baked tempeh was interesting–tempeh is fermented soybeans formed into a block.  It has a meaty texture when cooked and doesn’t taste too bad–we added Bragg Liquid Aminos to it to moisten it up.

Day 7 May 30: For breakfast today we had the rest of the baked tempeh from the night before plus avocado and steamed spinach.  Lunch was quinoa salad plus microgreen salad with pumpkin seeds.  Dinner was one of our favorite meals of the week–roasted root vegetables and zucchini-cashew soup.  Roasting vegetables brings out the sweetness in everything.

Week 1 Summary:  The biggest change we experienced in the first week was an increased level of energy, and I am owing that to the elimination of coffee.  I always used to get sleepy every day around 2:00 and often took naps on the weekends.  After the first day this week I never felt drowsy in the afternoon.  I knew sugar would cause you to “rush and crush” in a cycle but apparently coffee can do that too.

The second biggest change was that I lost 4 pounds and Susan lost 3, although we are not doing this program for the weight loss.  One look at my MFP data shows that this meal plan only resulted in an average of 1500 calories a day for me as opposed to my normal daily average of 1970 to maintain my weight.  Despite eating so few calories I never really felt hungry because the foods were quite bulky.  That and we drank alot of distilled water (we consumed 13 one-gallon jugs in 7 days).  You’ll also notice that the protein/fat/carb ratio is skewed away from protein and more in the direction of healthy fats when compared to my typical goal ratio.  There are not many protein sources when on a vegan diet similar to this one which is one reason vegans struggle to add muscle when doing programs like P90X.

Week 2:  Release

Week 2 is a completely vegetable-fruit-whole grain diet.  A new supplement called Detox is added 3 times a day before meals–Detox is a gentle “colon revitalizer” that includes natural ingredients such as chia seed, turmeric, aloe-vera and camu-camu.  They did a pretty good job of blending in lemon juice powder and stevia to give it a sweet lemony flavor.

Day 8 May 31:  Breakfast–fresh fruit plate.  Lunch–microgreen salad with toasted pumpkin seeds and avocado.  Dinner–pinto beans and rice, steamed zucchini, and string beans.

Day 9 June 1:  Interesting breakfast today–mashed chickpeas.  I never would have thought to mash chickpeas and serve them for breakfast, but I guess this is basically what hummus is.  For lunch we had the remaining pinto beans and rice plus a microgreen salad.  Dinner was another great new soup–sweet potato and roasted red pepper bisque (we roasted our own red peppers for the first time for this recipe but you could substitute roasted red peppers from a jar).  Dinner also included roasted asparagus.

Day 10 June 2:  Breakfast–fresh fruit plate.  Lunch–leftover sweet potato and roasted red pepper bisque and a Greek salad.  Dinner–quinoa lentil pilaf and steamed broccoli.  The quinoa lentil pilaf will be good served cold for lunch on Day 11.

Day 11 June 3:  Breakfast–fresh fruit plate.  Lunch–leftover quinoa lentil pilaf and a tomato cucumber salad (which was really good covered in vinegar).  For dinner we had steamed Swiss chard and a very good vegetable miso soup (that we will be making again).  We’re officially over half-way through!

Day 12 June 4:  Fresh fruit plate for breakfast and the remaining vegetable miso soup with a microgreen salad for lunch.  For dinner we had roasted beets for the very first time and they were incredibly sweet after roasting at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.  Dinner also included sautéed collard greens with coconut milk.

Day 13 June 5:  No fruit today 🙁  Today breakfast was masked chickpeas, steamed spinach and avocado.  I was getting used to the mashed chickpeas but this is the last day we will have them.  Lunch was leftover roasted beets and microgreen salad.  We reheated the beets and I think they were better that way than cold.  Dinner tonight was the first time I just couldn’t finish it because of taste–roasted kabocha squash with a tahini (sesame paste) filling.  We may not have cooked the squash enough, or the tahini filling wasn’t done right, but I just couldn’t force this dinner down.

Day 14 June 6:  Fresh fruit plate for breakfast.  For lunch we took the leftover kabocha squash and pureed it into a soup that was actually quite good, and served it with a microgreen salad.  Dinner was an edamame and corn succotash served with lemony kale.

Week 2 Summary:  The Detox supplement that we took all week had a pleasant lemon taste, and we extremely effective but gentle.  I feel it really did help “clean me out” but it was nothing like a pre-colonoscopy cleanse if you have ever gone through that before.  There was no emergency running to the bathroom, everything was quite regular if you know what I mean.

Calories averaged about 1500 per day once again, and that included a daily snack of Chocolate Vegan Shakeology and/or some peanut butter or almonds.  Protein was down to about 15% of calories as we basically followed a vegan diet all week.  I lost another 2 pounds this week for a total of 6 pounds lost, and Susan lost another 3 pounds for a total of 6 pounds as well.  Our bodies feel great–no aches or pains in any muscles or joints, and we feel re-energized.

Week 3:  Restore

Made it to Week 3!  The Restore phase is all about restoring your gut bacteria to a healthy state after the Release phase.  We eliminate all grain from the diet this week and eat solely fruits and vegetables.  The new supplement this week is Revitalize that includes the healthy digestive tract bacteria.

Day 15 June 7:  Back to the old fresh fruit plate again.  I never thought I would look forward to eating fruit but I am starting to really enjoy the sweetness of the melons, berries and peaches that we have been eating.  Lunch was a new salad today, an Asian cabbage salad, served with miso soup and some avocado on the side.  Dinner was a big plate of sautéed vegetables and a whole baked sweet potato.  The vegetables and sweet potato were alot more than we are used to eating at one time but without meat as a main course it was easy to consume it all.

Day 16 June 8:  Fresh fruit plate for breakfast, very good.  Microgreen salad with creamy garlic dressing for lunch.  Dinner was a new one for us–roasted curried cauliflower and lemon-pepper kale.  I’m not a big cauliflower fan but this recipe was so good we marked it to make it again in the future.

Day 17 June 9:  Fresh fruit for breakfast, Moroccan carrot salad over microgreens for lunch, and roasted butternut squash with green beans and lemon for dinner.  The meal plan calls for delicata squash which we could not find, so we used our old stand by butternut squash.

Day 18 June 10:  Fresh fruit for breakfast, spinach salad and a whole baked sweet potato on the side for lunch.  Roasted fennel with asparagus and broccoli for dinner–roasting fennel cuts the bite and makes it a really nice side vegetable.  Today I also noticed my average daily calorie intake this week was down in the 1200-1300 range, so I added some natural peanut butter to my snacks along with Vegan Shakeology.  The scale this morning said 154 so I think I’m going to crack the 153’s tomorrow for the first time since college.

Day 19 June 11:  Fresh fruit for breakfast, vegetable miso soup and microgreen salad for lunch.  Dinner saw a return of baked tempeh served with collards and roasted beets–the tempeh was a nice change of pace from the 100% vegetables we have been eating for dinner.

Day 20 June 12:  Fresh fruit for breakfast and a jicama-avocado salad with microgreen salad for lunch.  Dinner today was Asian stir-fry with braised kale on the side.  Only one more day to go!

Day 21 June 13:  This is the final day for the structured meal plan.  Breakfast was (of course) a fresh fruit plate, lunch was a microgreen salad with a carrot-edamame salad on the side, and dinner was cold avocado-cucumber soup with roasted vegetables on the side.  The carrot-edamame salad for lunch was very good and we’ll be making that again for sure–it would make a great side dish.

Week 3 Summary:  This was the lowest calorie week by far, I ate 1000 fewer calories than I did in Week 2 mostly because of the nearly 100% shift to fruit and vegetables this week.  Average daily calories this week was only 1305 (funny how I tell clients that men should never dip below 1600 and women should never go below 1200).  The protein/carb/fat ratio was surprisingly exactly the same as Week 2 with only 15% protein.  This week I did continue to drink Vegan Shakeology pretty much every day for an afternoon snack, and I also snacked on natural un-salted peanut butter.  The peanut butter isn’t really allowed in Weeks 2 & 3 but I needed the extra calories!  And without really trying I lost another two and a half pounds this week, and Susan lost another pound and a half.

It was hard to tell if the Revitalize supplement made any difference, but since it is about gut bacteria I’m not sure I would ever be able to tell if it did.  Bowel movements were regular and normal (sorry if that’s TMI but it’s part of the program).

Overall Summary

Overall we were very happy with the results from the program.  Specifically here’s my assessment against some of the benefits that the program advertises:

• Weight Loss:  We did not go into this trying to lose weight, but by following the meal plan I lost a total of 8.4 lbs, and right now I am lighter than I have been since college (153 lbs).  Susan lost 7.4 lbs and is at her early high school weight (128 lbs). I’m sure we lost some muscle in addition to fat, and some of that weight will come back as soon as we start working out again and eating a more balanced diet.
• Measurements:  I lost about a half-inch everywhere (waist, hips, biceps, and thighs).  Susan lost 1.5 inches on her waist, and about a half-inch everywhere else.
• Bowel Movements:  I was pretty regular before and continue to go once a day, but the movements have been easier, cleaner, and complete.  Susan is better too.
• Sleep:  My sleep improved to where I now wake up feeling refreshed.  Due to all the water, we had to get up once or twice a night for the bathroom.
• Caffeine:  We stopped drinking coffee and had withdrawal symptoms the very first day, and then none after that.  We plan to stay off coffee for as long as we can.  We started drinking caffeine-free herbal tea and plan to stick with it.
• Energy Level:  Improved–We used to get sluggish and drowsy in the afternoons before our Shakeology snacks but for the last 3 weeks we have not felt that way.  We feel more productive by the end of the day.
• Skin Complexion:  No changes for either of us.

Meal preparation is rather time-consuming, Susan stated she felt like she was constantly planning, chopping, and preparing something all day long.  It would be difficult but not impossible to do this working full-time, you just have to plan ahead.  The program comes with a “Reset in a Crunch” option that includes the meals that are the quickest to prepare for people on the go.  The program also dictates your diet in the next 4 weeks after the 21 days–in the first two weeks you re-introduce grains and beans slowly, and in the third and fourth weeks you slowly re-introduce animal products like eggs, dairy and eventually meat.  You can resume light exercise the first week after the 21 days and resume full exercise in the second week.

We had a great experience, enjoyed some new foods that we will make again, and feel great.  I recommend the program for anyone who is looking to achieve the same benefits.