Juice Diet

        So, last week Dexter and one of his work friends decided to do a juice fast. I jumped on board with the idea a few days later. We decided on a 10-day nothing but juice and water fast. I'll admit - I was extremely nervous about it. I mean who wouldn't be? 10 days of not eating a single item of solid food. I didn't mention it to anyone at work - for fear that I was going to back out before I even started. Dex could tell I was apprehensive and he recommended we watch "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" on Netflix. It's a documentary about a man who does a juice fast for 60 days and then helps another man do the same for 60 days. Joe Cross (one of the guys in the documentary) lost 80 lbs! The other man, Phil Staples, lost 200! What is even more amazing to me is that after almost two and a half years - they've both kept it off. So that motivated me even more. Obviously, the juice diet isn't for everyone, but for me it was the perfect solution to jump start my weight loss and healthier eating habits, as well as test my willpower. I figure, if I can make it through this juice fast then I can have the willpower to avoid fast foods, caffeine, and soda, as well as keep my intake of sweets as a treat and not an all the time thing. So for me, this works. Anyone who is interested in the diet, should check out the documentary. Like I said, it's on Netflix and I'm sure you can find it other places online.

        I started the diet on Monday, weighing myself that morning to get an idea of where I was starting out. My initial weight was 164 lbs. At 5'1, that put my BMI at 31.0. Which put me just barely into the obesity category. That motivated me even more. Originally, I had decided not to weigh myself every day, but come Tuesday morning, I couldn't resist. I stepped on the scale to see I had lost 3 lbs in one day. I was amazed and even more motivated to continue. 

        Tuesday evening, however, I had a big breakdown. I was hungry, tired, and overall miserable. Plus in my juicing experimentation, I had made 2 horrible tasting juices in a row and I was done. Honestly, I was ready to quit at that point. But, Dex convinced me to sleep on it, even saying he'd take care of both of the children's bedtime routines if I just wanted to go to bed at that instant. So I did, and I found myself in bed before 8pm.  

        Wednesday I woke up renewed and made myself a strictly fruit juice for breakfast. At that point, it was less about the nutritiousness of the juice and more about the fact that I had to have a really good tasting one if I was going to continue this thing. I made myself a really healthy lunch juice to take to work, adding in ginger to help the taste. It quickly became my favorite addition to my juices, along with orange. The two flavors meshed perfectly and were able to cover up some of the tastes I was less enthused about with ease. I found myself excited about the diet again and kept it up. 

        Thursday evening, I realized my anniversary ring was about to fall off my finger. Before I continue, a little back story on that. After the birth of my daughter, I was unable to wear my wedding and engagement ring as it was too snug. I had gained 80 pounds with her, and had only lost 30 of it. Being 50 pounds heavier than when the rings were purchased, they no longer fit. But, I was determined to lose the weight and didn't want them resized. Instead, I wore a cheap band until I could get them back on. I was just squeezing back into my rings (albeit not comfortably) when I got pregnant with Tristan. My rings went back into the jewelry box and I was pretty upset about it. For our anniversary that year, Dex surprised me with a beautiful anniversary band, in a size and a half bigger than my wedding ring. The great part about this was that I would be able to wear it on a different finger afterwards, as my ring finger on my right hand tends to a little larger. So, the realization that my anniversary band was about to fall off, had me running to my jewelry box to retrieve my wedding set. Slipping it on, I was almost in tears when I realized it fit again. After only four days, I had accomplished a goal I'd been unable to meet in almost 3 years. This pumped me up to continue on.

        Now, it's the end of day 6, and I feel great. This morning I weighed in at 152.6, almost 12 pounds down from my starting weight on Monday! Even better, this lowered my BMI to 28.9, back down into the overweight category instead of obese. I'm pretty excited and can't wait to see what the end of day 10 will hold for me! I am also finding that I have tons of energy. I am working out every day willingly and I feel pretty good about it. 

        Now, I know I need to adjust my eating habits for afterwards, so that I don't just gain all the weight back. So, for the first 14 days after the fast, I will be eating a raw food diet. I plan to juice every morning for breakfast pretty much permanently, as I've found some pretty tasty combinations for my breakfast juice. I will then be going vegetarian. I will also be cutting out all fast food, all soda, all caffeine, and limiting my sweets intake to once a week. We will also be eliminating all bleached and processed flours and any prepackaged meals. I also plan to continue to work out daily, and have even set a goal of doing a local 5k in October. I want this to be the start to a new, healthier me. So wish me luck on the rest of this diet, and I'll post some before and after pictures at the end of the 10 days. I can already see the difference now, so I can only imagine what it'll be like Wednesday.