Arbonne 30 Days to Healthy Living and Beyond: Week Four (Done!)

I made it! Four weeks later and I'm done the program. I'll admit, it was a struggle at times. Not with sticking to the shakes and food restrictions, but with the slow progress I made. Now that it's over, I can say that I AM GLAD I did it - mentally and physically.

Week four was honestly quite easy. I was done with the 7 Day Cleanse, I knew what I was doing when it came to shakes and food, and the end was in sight. My breakfasts all week were smoothie bowls which I'm now obsessed with. I will definatley share some recipes on the blog next month. My lunches were the same (chocolate shake with almond/coconut milk blend) and my suppers were basically the same as previous weeks, with the exception of a recipe I loosely based on my friend's Facebook post (thanks Sara!). It included chicken breast, asparagus, broccoli, black beans, garlic, onion, and Keg steak spice. Yum!

Looking in the mirror, I do see significant changes. My muffin top is all but gone (so nice to be more comfortable in my clothes), I have a waistline again, and my face looks slimmer too. Week 4 saw a dip in the scale again (2.5 lbs) bringing my total weight loss for the program to five pounds. To me, it looks like more than five pounds, and I've probably got five or six more pounds to go before I'm back to my ideal maintainable size.

My SI joints were still bugging me a bit (no burpees or early morning workouts) but I was able to get some exercise in most evenings.  I did lots of stability ball wall squats, push ups, planks, abs, treadmill walking, and lunges.

What I think is most important is the way it seems to have changed my relationship with food.  For the past few years, I've been eating more and making poor food choices because I was any combination of bored, cranky, craving a sugar rush, lazy, or ill-prepared. I was mindlessly snacking, having no clue of how many calories I was actually taking in. Now I find I'm asking myself questions like, "Is this going to give me energy/fill me up/contribute to my health?" and "Am I eating this because it's in front of me and I'll feel like I'm missing out if I don't?" I have no plans on denying myself of foods I like to eat, but I'll be eating small amounts of empty calories instead of big amounts.

My first day off the program looked like this:
Breakfast: Greek yogurt with strawberries and a clementine
Lunch: Tomato soup and leftover ground chicken and rice
Supper (At the Five Fisherman): House salad (so good!) with grilled chicken on top and a small banana nutella crepe for dessert.
Evening snack: Small glass of white wine (oh how I missed you)

I was thrilled that my stomach handled the variety of food - no issues at all.

My parents made a veggie side dish that was delicious and almost fit with the program with the exception of white potatoes.

You can see the rest of my weekly updates here:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

XOXO
Glitterary Girl