Hieee! It’s only day 6 of the Ultimate Reset, but I wanted to check in with an update! I’m feeling great today, but it was definitely an adventure of a week. If you missed my Day 0 post about what the Reset is and why I’m doing it, check it out here!
Overall, I’m actually really enjoying this process and feeling amazing (now that I’ve survived the first few days). I was a little afraid of this program because I’ve read reviews from a lot of people saying it’s the hardest thing they’ve ever done, which was kindof off-putting to me. I’m honestly not really feeling like that. If anything, coming to the end of week one I’m a little bored with it just because I love bad food and I want to do things with my life other than cook all the time. Then again, that may just be the flavor of the day. I change my mind frequently. That being said, I think this program will definitely give me a better sense of balance between eating clean and splurging going forward, which is exactly what I need.
The Food!
I have been pleasantly surprised at the food options. I’ve liked just about everything I’ve tried. It’s a lot of salad for lunch, which I must admit I’m getting a little bored with, but it’s not bad. I’ve also made a ton of really delicious recipes, including tempeh sushi rolls, stir fried veggies, salmon with asparagus and potatoes, and veggie tacos (tacos on a cleanse, whaaat?!). I’ve had fun with things like keeping fresh herbs in my kitchen and I learned this week that there’s such a thing as purple potatoes!
I will say I have spent a LOT of time cooking this week. I don’t really like to cook, so that’s not my favorite part. It has been good for me in a way though because I’m realizing that cooking isn’t so terrible or overwhelming, and I am actually capable of making something that doesn’t suck when I have a good recipe. The part I don’t like is that it’s basically all I do when I get home from work. I come home, relax for a few, cook dinner, eat dinner, and then prep my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. By the time I’m done with all that I’m usually ready to snuggle up with A and Netflix and pass out. The good news is, my sweetie jumped in and started doing this with me on day 3, so now I have some cooking help and even more support! Yay! For week 2 I’m going to work on prepping more. I think I can definitely have my breakfasts ready to go each day, and probably most of my lunches too. Tomorrow will be a shop and prep day for sure!
Week One Physically + Emotionally
While this isn’t as hard as I expected, it hasn’t been a walk in the park by any means. I went cold turkey on processed foods, caffeine, and alcohol. Holy hell the headache I had on day 1 from no coffee, I thought I would die. I felt crappy and hungry all day and just mentally foggy. I did realize that I was more mentally hungry than anything, because I was just salty that I was eating things that were actually good for me instead of grabbing coffee and a bagel for breakfast.
Day two was kindof a blur. My headache was better and I wasn’t starving, but I was still foggy and just going through the motions. I did find that even in the midst of all this I wasn’t having a hard time avoiding all the snacks and junk that sits around work all day. I want to reach for it habitually, but once I make a conscious choice that I’m not going to eat it and just walk away, it’s not really a big deal. It has been interesting to see how much of what I put into my body is out of habit or just because it’s there.
Day three I thought I was going to die. I woke up feeling great. No headache, more mental clarity, more energy. I thought life was good. Then about halfway through the day, I got a teeny headache and my joints started to ache. My hips and knees felt like what I imagine terrible arthritis must feel like. By the time I got home, I was in so much pain I couldn’t get comfortable. I tried to stretch, lay down, move around, nothing helped. On top of all that, I got the worst migraine I’ve had in a long time. It was so bad I sat in my bathroom and cried. I got into the bath, sucked on some ice cubes (this helps my migraines, not sure why), wallowed in self pity, then forced myself to eat and went to bed. It was awful. Fortunately, I knew this was part of the process. My body is working hard internally to get rid of all the toxins it’s built up, and feeling like this is totally normal. I didn’t give up, I just slept.
Since day 4 I’ve felt pretty good. I still had some achey/soreness on day 4, but I stopped to get some Epsom salts after work and soaked all my troubles away. Epsom salts and bath bombs are life this week.
I wake up feeling awake and alert without my coffee. I’m not starving and some days I don’t even eat all of the food that the program tells me to. I can definitely tell that my body is changing. I feel like the inflammation has decreased significantly, I’m not bloated, and my clothes are fitting better. I didn’t weigh myself at the beginning of this, and I probably won’t, but I did take before photos which I’ll share at the end. I’m just overall feeling fresh and healthy, which is nice. I don’t really miss coffee that much. I do miss wine, but I think after this I’ll be much more likely to stick to the one glass while I’m cooking/with dinner rather than the multiple glasses until I fall asleep and wake up with a headache. I certainly don’t miss that.
Week One Takeaways
I’ve learned a lot about myself and my habits this week. Being more conscious about my eating has definitely made me realize how much I’m eating just because someone offers it to me or it’s in front of me. Half the time I’m not even hungry. It’s actually been empowering in a way this week to say no to all of that. I’m proving a point to myself that I can do that, while simultaneously improving my awareness of my eating habits. When I’m actually hungry, I have no problem reaching for the healthy stuff.
I’m also starting to see how much of my life revolves around food. Before this cleanse, I would come home from work every night and immediately ask what we were doing for dinner. Not because I was hungry. Just because that’s what we do to hang out. On Friday I was a little bummed that we couldn’t have pizza and wings and beer. It would have literally been no different than what we were doing because we can’t go out right now, but it still messed with my head. Over the next couple of weeks I hope to reflect on how to change this habit so that I’m using food as my fuel, but it’s not the centerpiece of everything I do, especially when it comes to socializing and spending time with friends and family.
I’ll keep updating as this adventure continues! If you want to keep up with my cleanse, and all the other fun things I come up with, drop your email below!
Find out how the rest of the Ultimate Reset went and read my final review HERE!
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