A New Challenge

I have neglected this blog for a LONG time.  Oh well.  I am making it public again because I've joined a raw food challenge, and as part of the challenge I've agreed to publicly blog about it.

Week 1: 21 Day Raw Food Cleanse

Day 1:

I'm beginning this cleanse feeling scared but excited.  I know I have weight to lose, and like every other time I begin something kind of extreme I feel both hesitation and thrill.  I was introduced to the raw food movement almost 6 years ago and have dabbled in it a bit over the years.  As a family we've changed a large portion of the type of foods we eat.  We buy very few processed foods, we buy a LOT of fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and we homemake almost everything else we eat.  For the most part we have a really healthy diet as a family, but as an individual I am really addicted to sugar, which has led to weight gain over the years.  I have 4 kids: 8.5 boy, 6.5 boy, 3.5 girl, and 15 month boy.  After the first 2 were born I lost most of the weight, but kept 10 pounds from both pregnancies.  After my 3rd was born I lost all the weight plus some from her.  After my 4th was born I struggled to have the motivation to lose the weight.  4 kids for me was not such a hard transition of numbers--it wasn't harder to take care of another person--but the stress of motherhood (like it always has been for me) made it really easy for me to turn to treats as a relief when the kids were napping or in bed for the night. 

After visiting a friend for a week (my baby was 4.5 months old) I lost 11 lbs eating a really strict diet with her.  Each day was just a piece of fruit for breakfast, LOTS of water, and a salad and strawberry smoothie for lunch and dinner.  That was hard for me, but good incentive to keep going.  Then I went home and decided not to keep going.  :)  Then 2 months before my youngest was 1, I went on a diet with my husband for 2 months and lost another 15 pounds.  That put me at just a couple pounds heavier than after my first was born, so it had been almost 8 years since I had been that weight.  It felt good, but then December came and I wasn't about to go through the holidays without desserts and other foods I loved and only ate during the holidays.  Then December went and I didn't want to stop eating all those treats, they were too good.  I knew, after gaining a couple pounds back, that I needed to do something pretty extreme, so I read about the 21 day raw food cleanse from thegardendiet.com, and after learning that I could earn the program for free just by ordering the program, blogging a before and after picture, giving a testimonial of it, etc. I decided to give it a try.  Let me tell you, there is no incentive for me to follow through with a program than getting my money back for it!

So, here I am.   

Day 1: 155.7 lbs., obviously bloated and tired.

I usually go to the YMCA for my exercise, Kickboxing 3 times a week and a strength and endurance class the other day, so I didn't feel a need to do the exercise videos from the program.  My kids were sick though, so I didn't go to the gym today.  Loved the fresh OJ for breakfast and was surprised at how full I was!  Tabouli for lunch was fine, but would have been awesome without the parsley.  I have never liked fresh parsley.  For dinner: guacamole with jicama.  I love guacamole but I do not like jicama.  The unfortunate thing about this is I still prepare dinner for my family.  This particular night we had the LDS sister missionaries over for dinner, so I made the Cafe Rio Pork Barbequoa burritos for them and the rest of the family.  I resisted, but stinks to be me right now. . .

Day 2: 154.5 lbs.  Still feeling left out from dinner, but committed to the program. Determined to stay the course.   Breakfast: fresh grapefruit juice--yum.  Loved it but had to divide it up between a couple hours, too much volume for one sitting.  Lunch: a simple salad--it was huge and kept me full for the rest of the day so I didn't have room for dinner.  Missed out on the Kale with salsa. . . I'll use this another day. The family had a salad, the simple salad recipe from lunch, since I thought it was so good.  They each had 2 hard-boiled eggs, they smelled so good.  Feeling like I really miss breads and heavy proteins right now. . . what I would give for an egg. . .

Day 3: 153.4 lbs.  Getting excited about the weight loss, but I know it's mostly water and waste weight.  Breakfast: OJ banana smoothie--Oh my, I'm really relearning the sweetness of fruit.  This smoothie was so satisfying as I'm getting used to eating less.  Lunch: Celery Chowder--honestly I was skeptical.  I feel I'm pretty open minded about food, but I've had several raw food dishes that claimed to be just like the cooked food.  They always disappointed and have kind of turned me off to trying new raw food recipes.  But this one was a winner.  I loved it, it really did taste like a chowder and I loved the flavor--really good recipe, definitely a keeper and one to try on the rest of the family another day.  Dinner: apple pie.  I didn't prepare this like a pie, I just food processed it all together and made a sweet, chunky applesauce, really yummy. 

Tonight the family had homemade Chicken paneang.  Man that smells good--really hard to resist this favorite recipe but I will.

Day 4: 152.1 lbs.  Excited at the weight loss and anxious to see tomorrow.  Breakfast: OJ Banana Strawberry smoothie.  Mmmmm, that's good, and I was glad for more fruit since today I did kickboxing for an hour.  Intense class, felt awesome.  Lunch:  Totally disappointed!  It was pate', which in and of itself is a great recipe, I really liked the flavor, but it was only a half cup!  I was SUPER hungry from the intense workout (I would have been anyway), so I added a huge cucumber.  Felt a bit of sadness creep in and deprivation at not having the food I normally eat.  Dinner: Zucchinigetti--I did not like this recipe.  I have had zucchinigetti before, with a different raw food recipe made with sundried tomatoes--really good.  But, I wanted to stick to the plan with exactness to be fair to the program.  I ended up food processing it all together, since it was just a couple ingredients--it turned out to be a salsa consistency.  I was so disappointed, and already feeling upset from lunch.  Half way through I felt full and started gagging so I just swept dinner aside and called it a night.  I made my own fresh limeade sweetened with Stevia in the Raw and went to bed feeling a little relieved.  Felt really left out during dinner, especially sitting at the table eating among them but not with them.  Tonight the family had homemade spinach curry.  Feels hard missing out, but empowering to resist.  I'm learning I have more strength than I give myself credit for. 

Day 5: 151.9 lbs.  I didn't expect a huge drop, but I'm still excited to see a drop at all!  Brealfast: Orange-Grapefruit juice--Yes please and thank you!  It's my all time favorite combination.  Such a filler too.  Lunch:  Almond milk.  I am still nursing my almost 15 month old baby, and having gone through this week without all the foods I love and yearn for, and after having feelings of sadness dealing with myself without the sugar, I ended up adding strawberries to the almond milk.  I just wanted something more substantial and didn't feel bad adding strawberries to it.  Dinner: Bok Choy and dip--but I didn't have this, I somehow mixed up the recipes for day 5 and 6, so I had cabbage and pineapple.  I knew I wouldn't like the slaw recipe so instead of cabbage, carrot, and pineapple shredded together I had cabbage with a drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper, pineapple on the side.  Family had homemade spaghetti sauce with meatballs and salad.  Smells SO good and I really hated that I committed to a 21 day program, but I didn't break for this.  Another day, another time. . . I stayed strong. 

Day 6:  152.1 lbs.  Really?!  Not happy about the gain, not quite sure why either.  I've drunk a lot of water this week, haven't snacked on anything between meals. . . hmmm.  Went to the gym for turbokick.  Man that felt good.  Hoping for a great weight loss tomorrow.  Not a lot, just expecting the numbers to drop some.  Breakfast: Orange-Grapefruit juice, since I didn't have Manderin Oranges.  Kept me alive during the workout!  :)  Lunch: I had some left over cabbage and pineapple from last night's dinner so I finished that off, plus made the salad for the day.  My watercress was filled with snails and half of everything was eaten away by the critters--I was grossed out so I threw that out.  I had romaine and bok choy instead.  Started feeling a little sick to my stomach and couldn't finish the salad.  Dinner: Since I already had the slaw the night before, and since my stomach was still upset from lunch, I just had a green smoothie: water, spinach, strawberries, and half the pineapple core from cutting the pineapple from the previous night.  I was hungry so I drank it, but went to bed feeling really bad--nauseous.  Our whole family went to the blue and gold banquet for scouts, so they all ate dinner while I sat at the table.  Kind of embarrassing to not eat, got some attention for it.  I like making healthy choices, but feel really left out in public.  For dessert they had icecream with chocolate sauce and cookies galore!  I loved smelling the sugar--the weird thing was I wanted to watch and smell as my husband ate them.  I kept asking him to eat more just so I could smell what he was tasting.  I was disappointed when he said he had had enough.  bummer.  After the kids were in bed my husband went out with his brother while I watched a movie to forget life for a while.  I was distracted by the movie and that felt nice. . . although I missed the popcorn.  Is there such thing as "raw food popcorn?" :)

Day 7: 153.3 lbs.  SERIOUSLY?!  I was upset and shocked by that number for 2 reasons.  1. I exercised really hard saturday and drank a lot of water. 2. I felt sick most of the day, so I didn't eat much, certainly not the amount of food given in the recipes!  Totally bummed out by that number.  Still feeling sick today and breakfast was orange-manderin juice.  I didn't have manderins, so I decided to use 4 oranges and 1 banana instead.  My stomach did NOT agree with that so after a few sips I gave the rest to my kids.  Lunch:  Still feeling nauseous and starting to bloat in my stomach, but hungry.  I was supposed to have Gaspacho today, which prior to feeling this way sounded really good, I was really looking forward to this meal.  I couldn't stomach the thought of eating it, so I made homemade guacamole instead: avacado, red onion, lemon juice, a little salt and pepper.  Just ate it by the spoonful but my stomach was really twisting and I started gagging so I quit eating.  Tried to take a nap but stomach felt so bad I couldn't sleep.  I haven't eaten much the past 2 days and yet my stomach is really bloated, weird.  I was supposed to eat another simple salad for dinner, but feeling the way I did I couldn't imagine eating salad.  I had 1 apple instead.  The family ate homemade garlic bread and salad: romaine, craisins, avacado, apple, and a choice of either feta or cheddar cheese.  Smelled so good, and since I was nauseous I was really envious of the garlic bread.  Whenever I'm sick I rely on bread to get me through, it's calming to my stomach, but I didn't cave.  Staying the course because I committed to.  I also went to a scout meeting where they served brownies.  I collected 2 and brought them home to my husband.  He says I have nerves of steel, but like last night I just want to watch and smell as he eats them.  That's weird behavior right?

So, I'm on to week 2 tomorrow.  As bloated as I feel I am scared that I'll weigh more tomorrow, which doesn't seem right or fair for having eaten so little and resisting all the food I make for my family.  I haven't cheated even once this week, which is empowering, but frustrating when the numbers don't show it.  I have kickboxing tomorrow morning and I plan to step it up at the gym the rest of the week.  My kids are healthy so I'm able to go again.  I better lose a few lbs. this week!  I won't cave for anything!