Fitness - Pocketful of Joules

My Experience with the 21 Day Fix

Warning upfront: this is not one of those 21 Day Fix/Beachbody posts that show before and after pictures of how I lost 50 pounds. I’m not going to give you a total breakdown of the program or all the foods I ate. I’m not including recipes that are 21 Day Fix compliant. I also am not a Beachbody coach, so I won’t be providing you with a link where you can buy the shakes. Or ask you to buy the shakes. That is your own business.

What this post IS about is MY experience with the 21 Day Fix and my overall thoughts.

Are we all good?
Okay, let’s get into it!

What is the 21 Day Fix?
The 21 Day Fix is a workout and eating program by Autumn Calabrese, with the idea in mind that a habit is formed in 21 days. For the entirety of the program, you are supposed to do one of their 30 minute DVD workouts each day. The DVD has options that range from light weight lifting workouts, some cardio, and even a yoga option for a light day to stretch it all out.

You are also supposed to follow a food plan that uses portion control containers and provides you with a list of foods you should eat. It is also recommended that you use their Beachbody shakes for one shake a day to provide you with ‘the healthiest meal of the day’ in shake form.

Why did I do it?
Reason One: A good friend of mine became a Beachbody coach and I was intrigued by her attitude and her results. Her passion for the program really made me want to commit and try it out. You can find her Facebook page here: LaFit Lifestyle.

Reason Two: I tend to go from eating super healthy to eating like crap, with no in between. I’ve never really been a ‘lunch’ person and I was at a loss on how to choose a lunch for myself that wasn’t purchased from McDonalds or a sushi bar. I am not a ‘salad is a meal’ kind of girl.

Reason Three: Some extra weight creeped back on me and I don’t like it. I ran all summer to prepare for an October race, but with cooler weather coming I knew I’d be couch-bound all winter.

Reason Four: Another friend did the program, lost a significant amount of weight and looks amazing. Also, all those before and after pictures online sucked me in. I want to be an ‘after’ too!!

What I did.
I started my first round of 21 Day Fix on October 19, 2015. I did a Beachbody shake for breakfast (I like the chocolate shake and blend it with water, frozen strawberries and a scoop of peanut butter), coffee, morning snack, healthy lunch, afternoon snack and then tried to make a healthy dinner the three of us could eat together. In the first 21 days I had a few cheat meals and a couple workout skips, but basically followed the program well and lost a few pounds.

Once that program ended, I kind of halfway followed the diet part for breakfast and lunch choices throughout the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I worked out maybe 3 days a week tops, but did really well overall. I kept the weight off and lost a couple more pounds.

I did another round of the 21 Day Fix after the holidays with LeeAnne’s group (co-hosted by Whitney). This one was a little more hard-core in that they asked for daily proof of our commitment and encouraged participation in the Facebook group to keep everyone on track.

This was a GREAT FIT for me. To be ‘forced’ to do daily proof in a quick picture means that I was less likely to be lazy and not do my workout. Here’s my proof with a bunch of sweaty, make-up free selfies:

This time the program was a little harder for me to follow and I wasn’t as strict with the diet. I also ended up getting a stomach bug one weekend, which means I was out of commission for 3 or 4 days. However, as of the beginning of March I’m still down about 6 pounds from where I started in October.

Now, 6 pounds doesn’t sound like much. But keep in mind that it was through the holidays. Usually, I gain a few pounds and instead I lost weight. I also gave up my Starbucks drinks cold turkey back in October and now only have them as a treat maybe 2 – 3 times a month. That in itself has saved me over $200(?!) and a ton of calories!

Also, it’s not all about the pounds. I also lost 6 1/2 inches so far — 1 from my chest, 2 from my waist, 1 1/2 from my hips and 1 from each thigh.

What do I like about the 21 Day Fix program?
I like that even though it is packaged as a short term workout/diet program, it’s more about helping you into an actual lifestyle change. And yes, I get how corny that sounds… but I NEEDED a change.

For me the program was less about dropping 10 – 20 pounds really quick than it was for me to learn new eating habits. Over the course of the program – not just the 21 days, but the 4+ months that I’ve been following it off and on – I learned that by taking a little extra time to prepare my food the night before, I didn’t end up buying a lunch out. Not that there is anything wrong with going out to lunch, but usually I didn’t even enjoy it because I ended up just getting something fast and unhealthy that I didn’t even want in the first place. I realized that I could find time in my day to do a 30 minute workout. Sure, it didn’t always happen… but it’s happening a lot more now than it did before.

I really like the support from my coach and also all the other people who doing the Fix with me in the Facebook group. I found the workouts do-able and liked that I had a half-dozen to chose from.

What don’t I like about the program?
Frankly, to follow the diet and exercise program for 21 days PERFECTLY is really hard and I got way too ‘in my head’ and crazy about it when I first tried. I’m not perfect. I slip up frequently and shove a marshmallow in my mouth or opt out of exercising because I’m actually having a good hair day and I don’t want to spit in the face of the good-hair gods. However, for me seeing the 21 Day Fix as a guideline instead of a competition makes all the difference in my success.

Would I do it again?
Yup. In fact, I just started another round of the 21 Day Fix with LeeAnne on Monday. Which brings me to this thought – and I’m not trying to bash anyone at all, just being honest – if you decide that you want to do this program pick your coach wisely. I got really lucky, but there are a ton of coaches out there to choose from that have various levels of experience and various styles of coaching.

Depending on your personality, it may work great for you to do a program with someone you know in real life as a coach. However, for others that may be total hell. I love LeeAnne in real life and I love her coaching style (and no she’s not bribing me to say this) so if you are interested in trying it out I highly recommend her as a Beachbody coach.

So now the fun part… do you have any questions that I can answer for you? Have you tried the 21 Day Fix? If so, what did you think about it? Are you dying to know my favorite easy Fix-approved meals?

Disclosure: This post was not sponsored and I get nothing by recommending LeeAnne as a Beachbody coach.

The Baltimore Team Relay Marathon: I Did It!

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you know that I’ve been running almost every weekend since May in order to train for the Baltimore Team Relay Marathon (#joulesruns). For those of you unfamiliar with the label of Team Marathon, it means that a marathon was split into four pieces so that it can be run by a team of four people.

So much better than running a whole marathon by yourself…

Well, there are four of us Harman kids, so we thought it would be a great race for us to do together!

Here we are before the race with our fabulous Team Harman capes:

I started with the marathon runners by doing the first leg, which ended up being just under 6 miles. It was the shortest, but also the hilliest of the legs with the first three miles being mostly uphill. Luckily, once I entered the zoo it was flat and downhill for the next three miles until I passed off my baton (aka timing sensor) to my sister, Kelsey, who did leg #2. Kelsey ran 7 miles, passed the sensor to Katie (6.3 miles), and then Jason brought us to the finish line with the last 7 miles.

I was really happy with my time and was doing so well that I was totally okay with stopping for a photo with an adoring fan… Here I am at mile 4 in the zoo with an adorable penguin!

I was obviously the slowest on my team (averaging a 12:30 mile for each of the 6 miles), but my brother and sisters are all super fast. In fact, out of 804 teams, we finished 116th!

I never thought I’d be the type of person to say this, but I LOVED the race! As soon as we were done, I was already thinking that we definitely have to do it again as a team next year.

So there you go, each year I’d dismiss the idea of doing the Team Relay because I didn’t think I could possibly run 6 miles, but I did. And it was AWESOME!

Reviewing FabFitFun: the Fall Box & a $10 off code

Back in July I had a promo code for my first FabFitFun box, so I decided to try it out (you can read all about it here). At a price of $49.99, it was a bit more expensive than the subscription boxes I had in the past. However, since it was a quarterly box instead of a monthly box I figured that it would be a nice little treat to usher in each season.

I enjoyed my Summer box so much that I decided to keep my subscription for the fall as a little ‘birthday surprise’ to myself. So, let’s see what I got!

Gold Radiance Luxury Facial Mask with Collagen and Rose Oil – $65
This facial mask by Passport to Beauty is supposed to stimulate circulation, increase enzyme activity and soothe skin. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this month’s box contained TWO of these facial masks, so I can try it out a couple times.

I snickered at the description on the box, “When left on for 20 minutes, this luxurious high performing mask melts into your skin leaving it rejuvenated, restored and giving you an instant radiant glow. With thoughtful openings for eyes, nose, and mouth, the perfectly fitted mask unfolds into a no-mess, no-fuss, on the go 20-minute luxury facial treatment.” Yeah, I’m really glad they THOUGHTFULLY included eyes, nose and mouth openings, because I don’t think I can hold my breath for 20 minutes!

I feel like I would not be doing my job if I didn’t show you a picture of how creepy I looked with the mask on…

Ollie wasn’t impressed. Or scared. Or really much of anything, other than ready to cuddle.

Then, since I was stuck lying down for 20 minutes – otherwise the heavy, gelatinous mask would start slipping down my face – I made a video. Because, that’s how I roll.

A video posted by pocketfulofjoules (@pocketfulofjoules) on Oct 5, 2015 at 12:42pm PDT

#sexyandiknowit

I have to say that the mask felt pretty gross while it was on – kind of like a slimy and cold piece of thick jello that you have to stick to your face for 20 minutes. However, after I removed it there was absolutely a noticeable difference in smoothness and all-over brightness in my skin. I’m glad I took the time to try it out the day before I got my new headshots taken at work!

Lucky Lip Stain by Manna Kadar Cosmetics – $24
This 3-in-1 product works as a primer, lip gloss and lip stain. It goes on with a wand and feels like a thicker kind of lip gloss. Unfortunately, it’s almost exactly the color of my lips… so it just looks like gloss on me. If I’m not getting a color out of it, I’ll just stick to my handy ol’ chapstick.

Flawless Skin Fluid by Doctor D. Schwab – $39
According to the description, this lightweight moisturizer has all natural ingredients, including grape stem cell extract and powerful peptides to help balance and bright skin and give it a youthful-looking flawless glow. Initially I was going to add it to my giveaway pile, since I prefer a heavier moisturizer with SPF year-round. But then I read some other reviews that said this moisturizer has some subtle sparkle to it to give you a bit of a glow, so now I can’t wait to try it out!

FabFitFun x Tappan Collective Umbrella – $32
Talk about great timing, this umbrella was delivered to my house the day before Hurricane Joaquin brought a week of rain. I have a larger umbrella, but this one fits nicely in my purse. It also has a really cute ‘Rain, Rain Go Away’ typography design all over it.

Purple Purse Charm by Allstate Foundation Purple Purse – No price
In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month, FabFitFun has joined forces with the Allstate Foundation Purple Purse to help spread awareness for the cause. By attaching the purple charm on your purse or keychain you can help support women in need and join the fight against domestic violence and financial abuse. I love that this was included in the fall box, because I was not familiar with this cause or the meaning of the purple charm.

HISY Battery Pack – $24.99
This portable battery pack can pair with the iPhone and other devices to give you a quick charge on the go. I love battery pack chargers and probably already have 5 of them around the house from blogging conferences… so I really don’t need another one. If you don’t have one though, this little gadget is pretty awesome.

Strength Tubing Ankle & Total Body Tone with Tubing and DVD by Merrithrew – $33
So here is the “Fit” portion of this season’s FabFitFun box, an ankle strength tube and DVD to show you how to work your lower body and core. I work out at home by running outside or using my elliptical, so something like this will be useful in the winter to break me out of my elliptical rut.

Glass Crystal Bead Bracelet by Tribe Alive – $49
At first glance, I was shocked that this bracelet is valued at $49. However, after reading more about how Tribe Alive partners with artisans all over the world to employ impoverished women I was really impressed. This bracelet was hand-crafted by women in Honduras, a country which suffers from an extraordinarily unequal distribution of wealth. By learning and mastering the art of making jewelry these women are able to feed their families and develop the skills they need to cultivate a brighter future.

This is my absolute favorite item from this quarter’s box and I will wear it with pride. You can find my exact bracelet here and while you are there be sure to check out all the other amazing artisan created products.

Gift Card by Jeweler’s Wife – $15
The Jeweler’s Wife is an online jewelry company that features tons of designers such as Alex and Ani, Kendra Scott and more. This $15 gift card can be used towards anything on the website and shipping is free, so I think I’ll keep it around for buying Christmas gifts in a couple months.

Gift Card by Picture it On Canvas – $75
For the second gift card in the box, they gave us $75 to spend on anything on the Picture it on Canvas website, which includes coasters, canvas prints, phone cases and more. I love putting family pictures on canvases, so I can’t wait to check the website out and order something for our home.

The total value of everything in the Fall FabFitFun box is: $357, which is even more than the summer box! Out of everything in the box, my absolute favorites were the bracelet and facial mask. All in all, I was really impressed at the variety in this month’s box and the value of all the products. I can’t wait to see what they send me in the winter box!

Do you want to try out the FabFitFun box? I have a special code that will give you $10 off your first box, just use this link.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post and FabFitFun did not pay for me to review their products on my blog. If you decide that you would like to sign up for your own subscription and use my link, I will receive referral credits on my account and you will receive $10 off your first box.