So I bit the bullet last month, jumped on the Beachbody bandwagon, and signed up for the 21 Day Fix.
I was feeling bloated and sluggish and blahhh after a long winter hunkered down at home in a vitamin D-deprived fog, from which I emerged about 5 very stubborn pounds heavier then when I started.
I had heard good things about the 21 Day Fix and I’m not gonna lie: some of those before-and-after photos are pretty inspirational and impressive (and, I hope, real). Plus it seemed like a plan I could realistically follow, so I signed up.
Now let me preface this to say I am not a Beachbody coach. I was not compensated in any way for this post. I paid for everything with my own hard-earned money.
But I wanted to share my experience because I found it hard to find an unbiased, neutral review of the 21 Day Fix (or, truthfully, many of the Beachbody programs) that was not written by a coach or someone affiliated with the company. So here is my honest-to-goodness, no-strings-attached experience.
For those not familiar with the 21 Day Fix, it’s the brainchild of celebrity trainer Autumn Calabrese and is pretty simple in theory: portion control and consistent exercise. To make the portion control piece easier, the plan includes handy color-coded plastic containers of various sizes that match up to the core components of healthy eating (green container = vegetables, etc.). You use your weight to determine how many of each container (AKA food group) you should be eating per day.
They also heavily promote the use of Shakeology, Beachbody’s rather pricey plant-based protein powder for shakes and smoothies, although it’s not a mandatory part of the 21 Day Fix. But more to come on that.
The plan also comes with two DVDs containing 7 different 30-minute routines for each day, ranging from cardio to yoga to strength training (plus some bonus ab work), and a schedule so you know which days you should do each workout.
So it’s using the containers and following a schedule of DVD workouts. Easy peasy, right?
And it was.
But I know, I know, you’re wondering, Did it work? I’ll get to that soon, but for now, let me share some of my initial impressions.
Workouts
I am generally not a DVD workout kind of girl, but I really liked these! Autumn seems approachable and not at all preachy or condescending, like a lot of fitness instructions come off on TV. But what I loved most was the folks she had joining her for the workouts, who I believe were all people who had done the 21 Day Fix.
They were a diverse mix that looked, for the most part, like – gasp – normal, fit people. And I loved that the woman showing the modified versions of the moves looked like someone who may be starting this type of program. So many DVDs have what could be a personal trainer showing the modifications, which I bet has to be a bit disheartening to someone just getting started with a workout routine.
And honestly? I kind of missed seeing my 21 Day Fix workout gang once I was done three weeks later. Um, that’s not at all creepy, right?
At first, I rolled my eyes at the idea of a 30 minute workout and assumed it was going to be a piece of cake. Not the case at all. The Total Body Cardio Fix (my personal favorite) and Dirty 30, especially, are TOUGH. Like boot camp-style tough. It was humbling, and I admit to being sore many mornings following my workouts.
One caveat: I tweaked the fitness plan a bit to incorporate my running. While I was okay giving up my gym classes for three weeks, there was no way I was going to give up running, especially with a number of spring races on the calendar. But I was a little nervous, because with the 21 Day Fix there is no break. You’re working out 7 days a week, and I worried how that would work in terms of recovery. So I modified the schedule to the following:
Monday: Total Body Cardio Fix
Tuesday: Running
Wednesday: Upper Body Fix followed by Lower Body Fix (let me say here that having taken Body Pump for five years, which is an hour of upper and lower body strength training, I felt comfortable doing two 30 min DVDs in the same morning. But ideally, you do the Upper Body Fix on Tuesday and Lower Body Fix on Wed.)
Thursday: Running
Friday: Yoga Fix
Saturday: Dirty 30 (Truth? I usually swapped this workout for a long run)
Sunday: Pilates
But here’s where I ran into issues. It took me a week of having some really sub-par, lethargic weekday AM runs to put it all together: I don’t think I was eating enough calories to push me through an early 5-miler. So after a week or so, I decided to add an extra yellow (carbs) container the night before I was going to run, and I noticed a big difference.
Overall grade for workouts: A-
Meal Plan
Based on my weight, I was allowed the following: 4 greens (veggies), 3 reds (protein), 3 purples (fruit), 2 yellow (carbs), 1 blue (healthy fats), and 1 orange (dressings, seeds and oils) .
As a vegetarian, the 4 proteins made me nervous. That’s 2 cups of protein a day. Though thankfully, I read that protein-packed grains like quinoa and beans/legumes like chickpeas can count as one of your proteins, not a yellow container. (Um, whether that was really legit, I don’t know, because I couldn’t find anything about it on the Beachbody website, but I’m going to pretend it was). And I ate a lot of hard-boiled eggs and veggie burgers. Plus, 1 scoop of Shakeology counts as a protein. So surprisingly, this wasn’t as hard as I thought!
The containers definitely made the whole portion control thing that much easier, and eventually I got pretty good at eyeballing what was “a purple” and what was “a green.” It also helped me realize I eat too many fruits, not enough veggies, and not enough protein.
I admit there were some days when I was REALLY hungry (hangry is probably more like it) but overall I didn’t feel like I was being starved or deprived too much. And I really loved the focus on clean eating and whole foods. There’s no container for processed junk (although you are allowed little cheats and — gasp — a teeny but of wine, but you have to plan ahead). And there are lots of websites and blogs with specially designed 21 Day Fix recipes that are pretty good and tell you the number of containers in each serving.
I swear, I never ate so many eggs while on the Fix, and it’s funny: even though I continue to loosely follow it now, I’m still obsessed with hardboiled eggs. And plain Greek yogurt — another protein source. My favorite afternoon snack involves a container of Fage nonfat plain Greek yogurt mixed with a green container of canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie puree), some pumpkin pie spice, and a little agave syrup. It’s like eating the inside of a pumpkin pie (and counts as one “green” and one “red”).
Overall grade for meal plan: B+
Shakeology
Here’s my confession. I originally both the vegan chocolate flavor, but then one of my gym instructors offered to give me her vanilla Shakeology mix — which I found I preferred far more than the vegan chocolate (which was just kind of mehh and had that protein shake taste, if you know what I mean).
The vanilla flavor, on the other hand, kind of reminded me of birthday cake.
I found I loved my shakes for breakfast and I know this sounds like such a cliche, but they were actually quite filling. My favorite Shakeology concoction included the vanilla Shakeolgy, a purple container of pineapple (fresh or frozen), 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/2 cup water, and the teeniest sprinkle of unsweetened coconut flakes. Very refreshing and tropical (all I need is an umbrella … and some rum).
Personally,my biggest issue with Shakeology is the cost. When you buy it as part of your 21 Day Fix intro package, you can get it at a lower cost. But if you like it and want to keep using it, you’re looking at about $130 for a 31-day supply. I’m sorry, that’s just crazy.
Overall grade for Shakeology: B+
Results
Sorry, friends, no before-and-after photos. But I did have both scale and non-scale victories — albeit minor ones — during my time on the 21 Day Fox.
Overall, I lost about 3 lbs, which I know is great, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find that a teeny bit disappointing after hearing people’s stories about dropping double-digits while following the Fix. But I guess I chalk that up to a few things:
(1) I followed the plan religiously about 80% of the time, but I did have to deal with 4 days in Ottawa, during which I tried to follow the Fix while also enjoying my vacation.
(2) I didn’t have a ton to lose, I was already working out 4-5 times a week, and I already kind of eat along the same lines as the Fix (though just in fewer quantities).
On the NSV side, Beachbody encourages you to take your body measurements before and after, and I wish I had done that so I could give you some real numbers. But I noticed my stomach was not as bloated as it had been in the weeks leading up to the 21 Day Fix, I slept like a champ during these three weeks, and overall I just felt leaner. Win!
Final Verdict
Again, this is based on my personal experience, but for me, I’d give the 21 Day Fix 8 stars out of 10. I liked that it recalibrated my notion of what’s an appropriate portion (which had definitely gotten skewed), helped me incorporate more protein into my diet, and introduced me to a series of workout DVDs I actually don’t mind doing at home — something that’s key, given the frequency with which Dr. G. travels for work, meaning I can’t get to the gym in the morning.
I think the starter pack price (sans Shakeology) is pretty reasonable at well under $100, but I do find the price of Shakeology to be pretty ridiculous. As much as I like it, I have to say that once my vanilla supply runs out, I’ll likely switch over to a more economically-friendly plant-based vanilla protein powder.
It’s been a few weeks now since my 21 Day Fix ended, and I continue to loosely follow it — especially during the week. But I think it’s important to keep in mind that, as the name implies, it is a “fix”. I don’t think eating like this is sustainable long-term (and, sorry, I like more than a teeny-tiny glass of wine on the weekends.) But I think it has all the right components for someone looking to incorporate regular exercise into their routine and who is looking for a meal plan that focuses on portions and “real food”, not counting points calories or stocking up on fat-free processed “diet food.”
So there you have it. Have you ever done the 21 Day Fix or another Beachbody regimen?