Arbonne 30: Week 1 Breakdown and Results

I don't think I'm an especially unhealthy person; under regular circumstances I walk 5 miles and drink 80 oz of water each day on average. I maintain healthy habits as much as possible but I do enjoy eating actual food: the thought of shakes as a meal repels me, and I think having dessert after a healthy meal shouldn't be forbidden.

Still, it's clear what I've been doing hasn't been enough to impact my weight so I'm trusting a brand I love to help me get on the right track. I'm an enthusiastic consumer of all things Arbonne and was also a consultant with them for 3 years. I've seen what their 30 day challenge has done for many people I know and I hope I can stick to it to see similar results. The program relies on Arbonne products and clean eating to remove toxins from the body. Weight loss tends to be a nice side effect.

I'm not a morning person, so I have to prep a lot to ensure I have everything ready in order to not fall back on other options. You'll notice my meals looked pretty redundant this week, but it's what I knew I needed to stick to the plan. I noticed plenty of fancy dinners from other participants, so there are certainly options, but now that I've got week 1 down, here's what it looked like for me:

Day 1

Every day begins with digestion plus (probiotics); I decided to keep it by my bed since they are supposed to be the first step of the day and taken before eating. I pop it in a small amount of water and drink immediately.

Breakfast: Vanilla protein shake blended with fiber, greens, 9 oz almond milk, avocado oil, and 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries. It was a little thick for my liking, so tomorrow I will use water in place of almond milk and probably 10-12 oz.

Lunch: I prepped lunches for the week with an organic rotisserie chicken, 1/2 cup organic brown rice (or rice/quinoa blend as pictured), and 1 cup organic veggies - mixed or green beans.

containers

My sweet tooth reared in immediately after lunch and showed no signs of calming down, so I had a rare second fizz to calm things down :)

Snack: 12 raw almonds

Dinner: Chocolate protein shake with greens and almond butter

Snack: Hummus with raw broccoli/carrots, detox tea

Day 2

Sean has been sick for the past week or so and despite guzzling Airborne to avoid it, I woke up to a throat feeling like razor blades :( After my digestion plus, I started sipping on a hot detox tea to soothe it.

Breakfast: vanilla protein shake with greens, fiber, avocado oil, berries, and less almond milk/more water. I like the consistency much better!

Lunch: Prepped chicken with brown rice and green beans

Snack: green apple with crunchy almond butter

Dinner: Chocolate protein shake with greens and almond butter

Snack: Broccoli and carrots with hummus

Day 3

Breakfast: vanilla protein shake with greens, fiber, avocado oil, and berries

Snack: Green apple with crunchy almond butter

Lunch: We had a catered post-holiday party at work, but I stuck to a chicken breast and salad with a few strawberry garnishes from the dessert tray for my own dessert (it encouraged me when I noticed a coworker did the same)

Snack: I was really feeling all the cravings and hunger today. I had a pre-made arbonne protein bar and another green apple with crunchy almond butter. I wanted all things crunchy (chips, crackers, etc.) so I'm going to check in with my coach about some options I can keep on hand.

Dinner: Since I had 2 snacks this afternoon, I had my chocolate shake plain with just almond milk.

Day 4

Breakfast: vanilla protein shake with greens, fiber, avocado oil, and berries

Lunch: Rotisserie chicken with a garlic rice/quinoa blend and mixed steamed veggies

Snack: protein square, veggies and hummus

Dinner: Skipped. I should have had a second shake according to the plan but wasn't hungry until almost bedtime.

Day 5

Breakfast: vanilla protein shake with greens, fiber, avocado oil, and berries

Lunch: Rotisserie chicken with a garlic rice/quinoa blend and mixed steamed veggies

Snack: Fresh mixed berries

Dinner: Chocolate shake with coconut and almond butter

Snack: boiled egg

Day 6

Breakfast: vanilla protein shake with greens, fiber, and berries. I realized a little late that I forgot the avo oil. Whoops!

Snack: hard boiled egg. Does that make up for the missing fat in the shake? I've finally realized that I've been looking at fat and protein as the same thing, but the macros on my Fitbit app (I've been tracking everything this week) have given me a clearer picture of what's going on.

Lunch: We had a lot of errands to run so I stopped at Chick Fil A for my guess at a compliant option: grilled nuggets and a side salad (no cheese).

Snack: protein square.

Dinner: Chocolate shake with almond butter, greens, and coconut.

Snack: We had a get together at a neighbor's house so I brought fresh veggies and hummus for all the dieters to munch on throughout the evening.

Day 7

I slept in and was prepping for my mother in law's birthday dinner, so this was more of a brunch/dinner day.

Brunch: vanilla protein shake with greens, fiber, berries, and I remembered the avocado oil!

Snack: Brown rice cake with almond butter, 1/4 cup blueberries

Dinner: I made compliant crock pot chicken tacos and just had my chicken on top of mixed greens instead of a tortilla with some compliant guac and salsa.

Snack: Her birthday dessert was angel food cake with whipped cream and mixed berries. I just had a cup of the berries.

At this point it was pretty late and I wasn't hungry, so it was another one shake day.

Overall, I drank at least 100 oz of water a day, and to keep to a routine, I had my fizz stick as my second "serving" of water each morning (I drink from a 24 oz. tervis at my desk, so it's easy to keep track). On days like day 2 where my sweet tooth was especially active, I'd go for a second fizz. My sweet tooth is also why I do chocolate shakes in the evenings as I tend to crave sweets the most after noon. I tried to drink one detox tea a day (day 3 was crazy so I missed it), usually in the evening.

Results

I tacked my progress all week via my Fitbit app (logging food, water, weight, and activity) which syncs up to this affordable bluetooth scale to track my weight.  By day 4, my barely buttonable jeans were fitting just fine and I've been feeling great! On day 6,  I was looking at my Fitbit app and noticed another unintended side effect: my resting heart rate is about 10 bpm lower! I always felt it was high, so this was a nice thing to see.

Onto the numbers you're probably wanting to see...

At the end of week 1, I lost 8.4 lbs. and a total of 7 inches! I'm thrilled with how this is going and will likely be signing on to do a second month. Can't wait to see what 30 days will have in store if this is only 7!

I've been getting lots of questions about this and I'm happy to help - let me know!