End of Week 3

This week was supposed to be more of a normal week for someone who would like to continue eating raw food life long--more nuts/seeds, heavier meals, etc. for maintenance.  We were given an option to either use the prepared menu and recipes, or substitute if we wanted to continue with weight loss.  I have been slowly dropping, but I wanted to lose more weight so I substituted all my meals.  I also did a really intense strength and endurance class last Friday which SHREDDED my thighs.  I was extremely sore.  So sore I could barely walk.  The stairs in our home were a killer.  Even walking up and down a curb made me think twice about whether I should just stay on the street so as not to have to step up. . . seriously, I've never been so sore.  That said, I knew I wasn't going to get my usual exercise, so I opted to have a really light menu each day.

I don't feel the need to write a daily menu plan b/c I had the same thing every day.  Grapefruit juice for breakfast (4 large grapefruits), and 2 days this week I added a couple oranges to it.  Lunch and dinner every day was a really large romaine salad (2-3 heads romaine) with a handful of grape tomatoes, EVOO, and a little balsamic vinegar--no salt and pepper.  I tried to stay away from the sodium to see more weight loss.  I love salads, I really, really do.  But I thought this week would be a lot harder for me than it was.  The week went by quickly, the meals tasted great, and gum kept my appetite at ease.  There were a few nights that I made some great meals (Pioneer woman's Chicken Parmesan and Italian Chicken Soup) that made me want to cry from not having them, but I am satisfied with the weight loss and tone I'm seeing as my body changes.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday workouts were awesome!  I love kick boxing, so Thursday was great.  Friday was hard--strength and endurance--but it was my lowest weight this week so I was really excited to work hard.  Saturday was extreme turbo kick and I couldn't believe the energy I had!  I really felt like I was on fire and gaining more and more energy as the class progressed.  My moves were strong and I felt incredible--I didn't want it to end. 

Having made it through the whole cleanse (with only a few bites here and there of meals I made for my family to taste test them...) I have a new appreciation for myself.  I don't like doing hard things, and this was really hard for me.  I don't like dealing with stress, anger, sadness, or even happiness without food.  I don't like feeling left out when people are eating the food I wish I could have.  But now that it's over I look back with gratitude for the experiences I had and the trials I was able to pass.  More than anything I love the changes I'm seeing in my body as well as the ease of which I am able to move now.  I am lighter, stronger, cleaner, and happier.  I can jump higher, exercise with much more intensity and duration.  I can make a meal and not eat it!  :)  I have never done a cleanse that was SO filling, yet I still lost a really significant amount of weight considering how much I was eating.  There were a few meals in the second week I was unhappy with, but all in all, I felt pretty stuffed the whole time and the numbers dropped--I'm thrilled! 

Would I do this again?  Well, I'm glad it's over but week 1, parts of week 2, and all of week 3 yes.  I don't know how strict I would be--that would depend on my weight.  But seeing as I did this primarily to lose weight this time, it was a really good program for me.  Like I've said over and over, I did miss other food and desserts, but I really was full almost all the time.  I will definitely be making the recipes from week three soon since I didn't get to have them, they look tasty. 

I also see from the trend of my weights that I go up for a few days then drop a few days--as is evident by my last official weigh in.  Overrall though, I'm losing weight steadily so I'm happy.  I haven't weighed this little since the beginning of my first pregnancy, so I can't be anything but happy!

Weights from this week
Day 1: 149.7
Day 2: 150.2
Day 3: 149.2
Day 4: 147.8
Day 5: 146.4
Day 6: 147.2
Day 7: 147.7

Before weight: 155.7
After weight: 147.7 (but my lowest was 146.4)

Before and after front: I don't know why my saddle bags look bigger in the after. . . hmmmmm.

 

Before and after side:  This is the most noticable difference to me--tummy.

 

Before and after turn:

 


Before and after back: The angle is a little different, but you can tell my rump is smaller.

Keep in mind this is only 3 weeks, I feel really happy with progress and feel strongly about continuing a healthy diet and lots of exercise.  I won't do this cleanse every week, but I do want to keep toning and losing weight.  I am only about 5 pounds away from marriage weight but would love to get even lower than that, just as a safe buffer zone.  It also feels good to have completed a winter losing about 22.5 lbs rather than gaining.

End of Week 2

This was the deep cleansing week which I was kind of scared of.  I had some pretty strong reactions to some of the food, but I struggled mostly with my emotions.  I already knew food was such a large part of what makes my existence happy--it's what we do when we're social, we like to have people over for dinner and go to others' homes, we like to celebrate with treats.  We use food in all facets of life--we mourn with food, we celebrate with food, we sustain our lives with it, etc.  When I feel any emotion I turn to food.  This week was particularly hard for me b/c I couldn't do that.  I had to sit through my emotions and just feel them, it was awful!  And it didn't solve any of my problems to feel them and think about them.  I would rather eat!

Day 1: 151.3.  I was supposed to have watermelon for breakfast, but I hadn't gone shopping yet so I chose grapefruit juice instead.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of that.  Lunch was a HUGE fruit salad.  It was so big I couldn't finish it, it was delicious.  Dinner was an OJ, banana, blueberry smoothie.  Fantastic!  The only change I made was to add a handful of almonds--advanced kickboxing this morning, needed the extra fuel.  Family had cashew chicken.  I changed the recipe up a bit and added broccoli and baby bok choy.  Man alive it smelled good, family thought it was great.  I'm glad I had a good smoothie for dinner to distract me.  We also found out that my husband lost his job tonight.  We're confident we'll find something else soon, but I wish I could have had some chocolate. . . ever tried the dessert delights chocolate chip mint ice cream gum?  Mmm.  That held me off.  It's worth a try if you like gum!

Day 2:  151.5.  Green juice for breakfast was NOT to my liking.  It is an acquired taste to learn to love kale, cucumbers, celery, apples, and lemon juiced together.  I sucked it down as fast as I could and tried not to breath.  I had to chew gum afterward to relieve me.  I told myself I would be committed to this, so I drank this for health, but I'll never like it as a treat.  I love green smoothies, but green juice isn't something I'll have regularly.  Lunch was a great salad, but it had way too much lemon juice on it (recipe called for a whole lemon, I'd stick to half), so my lips cracked and burned while eating it.  My lips hurt so much I stopped eating and gave the rest to my son when he got home from school.  Kind of a disappointing day at this point, so I wasn't excited for dinner--blended salad.  I thought this was going to taste like V8, but that was not the case.  It had too much lemon as well.  I could only drink about 1 cup of it, put the rest in a jar to try to use for lentil soup Wednesday night.  Family had leftover cashew chicken, feeling hungry for it but not as tempting as last night.  Went to bed early just to get the day over with. 

Day 3:  151.6.  Started the day off right with grapefruit juice.  Thank goodness today came.  :)  Lunch was watermelon juice, which is just watermelon blended up.  It was fine, but I would have rather eaten it in the form of chunks rather than juice.  Dinner was awesome, OJ, banana, berry smoothie.  Family had lentil soup--not as tempting as other meals, but still longing for a hearty meal.

Day 4:  149.2.  Today was supposed to be a water fast, but I chose not to do that b/c I have been going to the gym and today was my favorite turbo kick class--I needed the energy, and like I said above, I wasn't emotionally prepared for this.  Instead I had Grapefruit juice for breakfast, celery chowder for lunch (I really liked the recipe last week), and a Smoothie for dinner.  I was full and satisfied but not overfed.  It felt nice. Family had leftovers, this week was an easy cooking week for me. Not even tempted tonight. . . except maybe the sour cream I put on top.  Mmmm, I remember the yummy tang.  :)

Day 5:  149.8,  Watermelon juice for breakfast--I just cut it up and ate it normally.  Couldn't finish it I was so full (it was just a small watermelon from costco, the size of a cantaloupe).  Lunch was supposed to be coconut, beet, carrot juice, but I didn't have the ingredients, so I just made a berry smoothie.  So satisfying--especially after a really hard, intense workout.  I made pizza for the family for dinner and I almost cried I felt so left out.  I love our pizza.  The dough was perfect so the crust was amazing.  I've been getting carried away with ingredients.  I guess I want to eat them myself so badly that I compensate that desire by adding more for my family, i.e. the pizza was extra cheesy.  Instead of almond milk for dinner I had a big romaine salad with just EVOO and a little balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  It didn't satiate or alleviate my desire to have pizza, even though I was stuffed.  I went to bed sad, but at least I remained committed. 

Day 6:  149.6.  I enjoyed the cantaloupe milk for breakfast, it was smooth and satisfying as promised.  I was supposed to only have sprout salad for lunch (just sprouts and avocado), but I added cauliflower, green onions, and leftover chopped romaine.  VERY filling and quite satisfying.  Family had leftover pizza.  I snitched a bite off the end of one of the pieces, this was my first snitch this entire cleanse.  Although it tasted good I knew it wasn't as good as last night and I felt guilty since I've made it so long!  I won't be snitching again.

Day 7:  149.5.  Breakfast was supposed to be a big fruit salad, but it was fast Sunday for us so I didn't have anything.  Lunch was supposed to be a green smoothie, but instead I had the big fruit salad--too full to finish it all, shared with the kids.  Dinner was supposed to be almond milk, but our family was invited to a friends home for a Cafe Rio dinner, so we accepted.  I did NOT partake, which was painful, but at least I didn't have to cook for my family.  I had a big salad instead.  Much the same as yesterday's lunch.