I have seen the Extreme Transformation and was intimidated by it. "Extreme" brought all kinds of thoughts to my mind. However, I wanted to get back on track and give it a try.
To be honest, I didn't really read the entire book (I bought it digitally). I skimmed it and read some. It was well written in laymen terms and easy to understand. The recipes are laid out easy enough and the aren't too hard to come by. It has various shopping lists, charts, etc that you can print out.
So, I decided to give it a whirl. Today was the end of the 21 day cycle. My review - the first few days were kind of tough. I didn't deter from the eating regimen at all and I felt hungry at night. I am a night owl and that is when I tend to snack. So I had to train myself NOT to snack. It was tough but after the first 3 days or so, I found that I was no longer wanting to snack.
The meals were good and easy to prepare. There were a few that I hate - the salmon. Yuck. I don't like seafood at all and the salmon I can barely stomach. The eggplant curry - no, no, a million times no. I never spit out food. I can typically choke it down - not so with this. I will not make it again. You can substitute and it tells you how. I prefer to stick exactly with the program but I will not be eating the eggplant curry. There were many that I really liked however.
As far as cost. The first couple shopping trips were kind of high. About $30 more than I typically spend, however after that, the costs diminished a little bit because I had the bulk items that I could reuse each week.
There were a couple days that there was no way I could stick to the plan. The plan revolves around carb cycling- high carbs, low carbs and reset. So, if I wasn't home, I tried to stay to low carb. Reset days were my fave! Delicious food that you felt like you were cheating but were still healthy.
The big question - did I see a difference after 21 days?
I did. I decided to give up pop (I drink only diet) and have not even craved one. I tried one the other day and it made me sick. I lost a total of 9 pounds. For my size, the book said I should lose 5 pounds in the 3 weeks. Therefore, 9 is a win! I lost almost 2 inches from my waist. I put on a pair of PJ pants the other night and they didn't fit right so I pulled out the tape measure. I was surprised to see inches lost. The scale can never define us. It only measures weight, not change. Our bodies change and gain muscle and sculpt but often times the weight doesn't change. Don't be discouraged!
So, would I recommend this book/eating plan? Yes, I would. There are 10-20 minute exercises to do each day but I am fairly active and just do my own. There is also inspirational "devotionals" for each day but I didn't read them.
Today was a reset day. Therefore, I reset and am starting it again tomorrow along with my husband. I could see this being a life style for me.
