30 Day Workout Challenge

The vegan Tropical Strawberry Shakeology is supposed to replace one meal a day in order to help you lose weight, feel energized and improve digestion.

This is not based on the 'new and improved' formula. The new and improved formula has more calories (170 calories and 30 calories from fat) and new ingredients. But I drank this stuff and wrote this review many years ago so dangit, I want to share my experience!

Unlike the chocolate Shakeology and greenberry Shakeology reviews, I do not think this will be even close to accurate to the new formula, but maybe commentors can chime in if they feel it hasn't actually changed smell, flavor or texture too much. This is just for posterity.

Nutrition:

Serving size: 1.42 ounces of powder

Calories: 160

Calories from fat: 10

Total fat: 1 g

Sodium: 70 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 20 g

Dietary Fiber: 4 g

Sugars: 10 g

Protein: 15 g

Shakeology touts 70+ healthy ingredients, but what are the Shakeology ingredients exactly?

Ingredients: raw sprouted whole grain brown rice protein, sacha inchi, coconut flower nectar, sprouted chia, sprouted flax, pea fiber, quinoa, amaranth, maca root, astragalus root, ashwagandha root, maitake mushroom, cordyceps, reishi mushroom, holy basil, ginkgo, pomegranate, acerola cherry, bilberry, goji berry, camu-camu, acai, blueberry, citrus bioflavonoid, rose hips, green tea, strawberry, apple pectin, banana, pineapple, papaya, yacon root, lactobacillus sporogenes, spirulina, chlorella, spinach, barley grass, kamut grass, oat grass, wheat grass, protease, amylase, cellulase, MSM, lipase, papain, lactase, bromelain, tapioca, konjac gum, beet juice powder, citric acid, natural sweetener, cinnamon powder, Himalayan salt, Stevia and luo han guo fruit

How I mixed it: 1 cup soy milk, 3 ice cubes, 1 packet tropical strawberry Shakeology powder. Blended thoroughly in the blender.

Review: Upon opening the package you’re hit with the smell of chemicals rather than the 70+ healthy Shakeology ingredients the packaging touts. It’s hard to describe exactly what the smell it, but it’s close to a powdered cleaning product, acrid to the senses and not at all appetizing.

After mixing the Shakeology meal up, it smells like nothing but powdered cinnamon.

Despite being low on the Shakeology ingredients list, cinnamon powder is the most overwhelming flavor of this drink. The cinnamon is incredibly overpowering and leaves the throat feeling dry as parchment paper. And on top of the taste of cinnamon is a chemical-powder taste that would not be blotted out no matter how much soy milk I added to the mixture.

In fact, the cinnamon powder was so overwhelming I couldn’t taste any of the other ingredients at all. There was nothing tropical or strawberry about this drink.

The texture was grainy rather than thick like a meal replacement shake ought to be. It was like the powder just wouldn’t absorb into the milk and I tried up to 14 ounces (2 ounces over the recommended) just to see if that would fix the problem. It didn’t.

Personally, I don’t see this being palatable to anyone except the most die-hard that need additional vitamins and minerals in their diet but can’t drink the chocolate or greenberry flavors due to being vegan. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever had to drink, but it definitely isn’t something I’d take by choice.

As I stated in my greenberry Shakeology close look at, I only used this in the past, many years ago. That was when this review was originally written. Because the ingredients have not changed dramatically, I think this older taste reaction will hopefully still help people decide if they want to go all-in on the Shakeology program.

How I mixed it: 1 cup soy milk, 3 ice cubes, 1 packet greenberry Shakeology powder. Blended thoroughly in the blender.

Review: When you open the package you’ll notice a slight chemical-powder smell, but not much else. This is pretty low on scent compared to both the chocolate and tropical strawberry Shakeology drinks.

After mixing the drink all I could smell was cinnamon, just like with the tropical strawberry Shakeology, but, unlike the tropical strawberry flavor, the texture of the greenberry Shakeology was very creamy and thick.

If it wasn’t for the overwhelming tastes of cinnamon, this would be my favorite Shakeology drink. Though the drink is green, it has a light, fruity flavor. The cinnamon powder near the bottom of the Shakeology ingredients list nearly overpowers this though and many sips just tasted like a mouth full of cinnamon, just like the tropical strawberry Shakeology.

As I disclosed in the close look at article, I used chocolate Shakeology in the past, when this review was originally written, and I did not use Shakeology for a full 30 days. I actually only used each flavor twice in order to do a taste test. Back in the day, this stuff was way too expensive for me and now it's even more expensive so I am not likely to be able to update these reviews to the new Shakeology recipes anytime soon.

My hope is that, outdated or not, my experience in the past will help you decide if trying Shakeology is something you want to do.

How I mixed it: 1 cup soy milk, 3 ice cubes, 1 packet chocolate Shakeology powder. Blended thoroughly in the blender.

Review: With the package open, the product smells exactly like the chocolatey drink you would hope to get in a meal replacement shake that claims to be chocolate flavored. It doesn’t have a chemical scent to it at all like some other protein powders and meal replacement mixes.

After mixing the chocolate smell is replaced by the smell of cinnamon, though it’s not nearly as overpowering as it is in the tropical strawberry Shakeology.

It’s not as creamy as the packaging advertises, as the taste of cinnamon is too strong to compare it to chocolate milk even when made with soy milk, but it does taste like chocolate. The aftertaste is particularly pleasant with a cinnamon-sweet flavor that’s not overpowering to the senses.

The texture was thick and smooth like a meal replacement shake ought to be.

There was a problem with the mixture settling onto the bottom of the glass when it took over 10 minutes to drink it all. Going for 12 ounces of milk (rather than just 1 cup) lessened this problem significantly, but it was still present and made the last swallow or two a bit uncomfortable.

Greenberry Shakeology is meant to replace one meal a day in order to help you lose weight, feel energized and improve digestion.

As with the chocolate Shakeology ingredient article, I want to make it clear that this is an old article I wrote based on an old Shakeology formula. I did glance over the new ingredients and while they seemed clipped down, they did have most of these ingredients still listed though in abbreviated form sometimes.

While this is not completely accurate to greenberry Shakeology anymore, the facts surrounding these ingredients do not change; let this help you decide if you want to try the new Shakeology formulas or not.

Nutrition:

Serving size: 1.4 ounces of powder

Calories: 140

Calories from fat: 3

Total fat: <0.5g

Cholesterol: 10 mg

Sodium: 95 mg

Total carbohydrate: 19 g

Dietary fiber: 3 g

Sugars: 11 g

Protein: 16 g

Shakeology touts 70+ healthy ingredients, but what are the Shakeology ingredients exactly?

Ingredients: Chlorella, spirulina, Hydrilla, Blue green algae, spinach powder, barley grass, kamut grass, oat grass, wheat grass, acerola powder, camu-camu powder, pomegranate powder, bilberry powder, blueberry powder, goji berry powder, acai powder, maitake powder, citrus bioflavonoid, rose hips powder, maca powder, astragalus powder, ashwagandha powder, cordyceps, reishi powder, schisandra powder, suma powder, ginko powder, banana powder, carrot powder, orange powder, pineapple powder, raspberry powder, strawberry powder, yacon powder, bifodobacterium longum, lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1, lactobacillus bulgaricus, lactobacillus casei, streptococcus thermophilus, sacha inchi, flax seed, chia seed, apple fiber powder, MSM, pea fiber, quinoa, amylase, papain, cellulase, lactase, lipase, protease, bromelain, amaranth, grape seed extract, green tea extract, natural sweetener blend, xanthan gum, guar gum and cinnamon powder

Chocolate Shakeology is meant to replace one meal a day in order to help you lose weight, feel energized and improve digestion.

Full disclosure, this is an old review that I originally posted years ago on a site that is now defunct; back then it was nearly impossible to get the ingredient list of Shakeology without buying some of it – talk about shady. I didn't want all this information to go to waste despite it being outdated, and a quick look at the ingredient list on Amazon shows that the ingredient list has been chopped, but most of the interesting ingredients – the ones we aren't likely to recognize – are the same. And I am not really seeing anything new on the list that looks like it needs a close look.

Take this with a grain of 'it's really, really old', but the facts of these ingredients don't change; they can still help you decide if the newer Shakeology recipes are right for you.

Nutrition:

Serving size: 1.7 ounces of powder

Calories: 150

Calories from fat: 10

Total fat: 1 g

Cholesterol: 15 mg

Sodium: 100 mg

Total carbohydrate: 17 g

Dietary fiber: 3 g

Sugars: 9 g

Protein: 18 g

Shakeology touts 70+ healthy ingredients, but what are the Shakeology ingredients exactly?

Ingredients: Chlorella, spirulina, Hydrilla, Blue green algae, spinach powder, barley grass, kamut grass, oat grass, wheat grass, acerola powder, camu-camu powder, pomegranate powder, bilberry powder, blueberry powder, goji berry powder, acai powder, maitake powder, citrus bioflavonoid, rose hips powder, maca powder, astragalus powder, ashwagandha powder, cordyceps, reishi powder, schisandra powder, suma powder, ginko powder, banana powder, carrot powder, orange powder, pineapple powder, raspberry powder, strawberry powder, yacon powder, bifidobacterium longum, lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1, lactobacillus bulgaricus, lactobacillus casei, streptococcus thermophilus, sacha inchi, flax seed, chia seed, apple fiber powder, MSM, pea fiber, quinoa, amylase, papain, cellulase, lactase, lipase, protease, bromelain, amaranth, grape seed extract, green tea extract, natural sweetener blend, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, chocolate powder, guar gum and cinnamon powder

The FDA recently approved a device called AspireAssist, a pump that will drain your stomach through a valve inserted into the abdominal wall. Want to know more about how this will work? Check out this short instructional; it's a cartoon so nothing graphic is shown.

It allows an obese person to empty 30% of the contents of their stomach directly into the toilet thus immediately dumping 30% of the calories they consumed at their last meal before the body has a chance to process it for nutrients. A clinical trial consisted of 111 patients treated with AspireAssist and appropriate lifestyle therapy, and 60 control patients who received only the lifestyle therapy. One year later, patients using AspireAssist lost an average of 12.1% of their total body weight while the control patients only lost 3.6% percent. The AspireAssist is only intended to be used for people “who have failed to achieve and maintain weight loss through non-surgical weight-loss therapy.”

Daily Break is a website that offers news articles, quizzes, recipes and other bits of information every day. I tend to visit daily because you can get points for viewing the articles or taking the quizzes, which you can then turn into gift cards to Amazon, Walmart and other places. Today I logged in to discover a quiz titled, Which Superfood Should you Try?

Naturally, my mind immediately leapt to this blog and whether anything suggested would potentially be interesting. I've found some yummy recipes through Daily Break before, found some nice exercise apps and even bought a baby gift for a friend that I saw mentioned on there. I figured this should be fun and I might be able to find something new to try.

Just to be upfront, I really hate these 'superfood' trends. Unless the food actually tastes good on its own then I want to see scientific studies backing up its claims of usefulness. And even if it is super tasty, I don't want to be fed potential lies about how it will increase energy or help with weight loss without scientific studies. Just call it tasty and market good food to me.

I took the quiz and my delivered result was:

As an avid gamer, I also saw the benefit and bought the Wii Fit along with a few exercise games many, many years ago. It's been sitting unused for a while now, but when I decided I wanted to get in shape, I pulled it out, blew off the dust and gave it a shot. To me, this seemed the perfect way to start exercising after years of laziness. It could start me off somewhat easy, motivate me with achievements that my gamer self loves and get me accustomed to having an exercise schedule.

I used “EA Sports Active,” specifically the 6 week challenge, which I completed in a little less than a month.

Why did I complete it so early? Well, there are too many rest days. It requires 3 rest days be scheduled before it will let you start the challenge. Because it uses the same schedule each week (instead of working out a certain number of days then resting), this can end up being really strange and ultimately you'll end up being told to rest on days when you're ready to get to business. The game does not stop you from getting in extra days on rest days thankfully. So I ended up taking only one rest day each week.

Each workout is 25 – 30 minutes long.

Peripheral equipment:

Balance board – “EA Sports Active” is compatible with the Wii Fit balance board. It amps up the difficulty of some exercises, such as kick boxing. However, I do think it lessens the difficulty of others, such as rafting or paddling.

Resistance band – The game came with a resistance band, but it might as well be a rubber band for how thin and weak it is, even for someone who hasn't exercised in years. I highly recommend getting a better resistance band, such as the ones by Beach Body, or getting some small weights and getting used to holding them along with the Wiimote and nunchuk.

Weight loss/Aerobics:

I did not lose much weight while doing the 6 week challenge for “EA Sports Active.” My weight fluctuated within the range that one could expect for normal daily changes. I believe this was because there was simply not enough aerobic workouts sprinkled in with the rest of the exercises. Everyday focused very heavily on lots of squats and seemed to end with some ab work. While there were a few aerobic days that were quite intense, they were few and far between; definitely not enough to help with taking pounds off.

Let's take a look.

Vitamin B6 aids in the synthesis of hemoglobin and enhances oxygen binding to hemoglobin. Toxic doses of dietary supplement Vitamin B6 for extended periods of time can result in neurological issues. As such this should not be taken with any Vitamin B complexes for additional Vitamin B6 supplements.

It won't help you lose weight, but in the levels present in the Fat Loss Formula there will not be any negative side effects – except very potently scented urine and possibly sweat.

Iodine (from kelp) serves an important role in helping regulate the thyroid. Most people struggling to lose weight probably know the importance of the thyroid in managing weight to a certain extent. In developed countries iodine is added to table salt and while this has reduced problems iodine deficiency is still a problem. This may be even more of a problem for people who are dieting as they avoid salt and may not know what foods are high in iodine – or even that they need foods high in it.

This will not help someone lose weight, but getting enough iodine into the diet in important to stave off physical and mental illnesses which can cause weight gain. Iodine toxicity is a problem though, especially in selenium deficient people – which this supplement contains none of.

Chromium(III) picolinate is necessary for glucose to be used properly in the body, however, deficiency is rare. The human body already process glucose properly and if it is not, doctor's intervention is needed, not a non-FDA approved supplement. In addition the EvolutionSix packaging warns not to take this supplement with other supplements due to chromium toxicity concerns. Studies on the toxicity of chromium(III) are variable but seem to point to poor absorption of the substance meaning it's really, really hard to overdose on it.

A poorly studied addition to this supplement that probably offers no benefits your body isn't already accomplishing on its own and may be dangerous to one's health.