Juice Fast: Day 7

I want cookies. And a chicken pita combo from Greek Souvlaki. And a hotdog from the Broadway.

And yet, I have juice. Oi.

Juice Fast: Day 7

Lost: 1.3

Total Lost: 7.7

Loss Percentage: 12.36%

Remaining: 54.6

Juice Fast: Day 5

I'm starting to not like juice. Well, I guess I never liked it. It always seemed artificial and like empty calories (and I still think processed juice is both of those things). But I'm starting to feel the same about the fresh juice I'm drinking, even though it isn't empty and those calories are keeping me alive right now.

Juicing in the morning is lame. I time my mornings just right so I can get every minute of sleep - cutting up fruit, juicing, and then cleaning the stupid juicer really cuts into that time. Juice fasting must me meant for people without jobs, although I doubt I'd get through it if I didn't have work distracting me all day long. And then errands and school and life to distract me at night. I have been remarkable productive since I started this fast, but now I'm starting to feel sluggish in a way juice and/or caffeine are not able to fix. Maybe I just need more calories from the juice? Maybe I need some spirulina? We'll see. I do think I need to force myself to drink some juice in the morning and when I get home, because I was tired all night (until my second wind at 11 PM) and hungry after 10 PM last night.

PS. Someone just told me I look good. They said they weren't sure if I lost weight or if I'm just wearing more flattering clothes, but that's cool. Maybe I should take those measurements and pictures before I make too much progress. I'm always a sucker for impressive before/after shots.

Juice Fast: Day 5

Lost: 1.1
Total Lost: 6.6
Loss Percentage: 10.5%
Remaining: 55.7

PS. These are totals, not from one day to the next.

Juice Fast: Day 4

Today, a bunch of people from work went to Cafe Rio to celebrate Karen's visit. Cafe Rio is delicious and I love it. Alas, I did not eat it, even though I do look forward to eating it once this fast is over. I don't enjoy that I have to lie to people about not eating - but I also wouldn't enjoy everyone thinking I'm a psycho hippie freak.

56 days left! (ha, shoot me now)

Juice Fast: Day 4

Woot!

Lost: 5.5

Remaining: 56.8

juice Fast: Day 3

Also, What Not to Wear is a very good replacement for the Food Network (oh, channel, how I will miss you this fall).

Juice Fast: Day 3

Today was my first day at work without food - and it went really well, surprisingly. Not eating (or thinking about eating) really frees up a lot of time. Today, I got a bunch of work done, sat through lunch with my mom and Chris (it was disturbingly easy), worked some more, drove her to the airport (bye, mom! sadface), and then went back to work! I finished the catalog edits (getting a head start for tomorrow), reposted the condo on KSL, printed and stapled 8 sets of condo rules and 16 applications, paid all our bills, ordered my textbooks for this semester, updated my planner, filled out some applications for Chris, dropped the paperwork off at the condo, went to the grocery store, checked/processed the mail, and juiced up some fruit for dinner.

My mom is the best - she bought me fruit and stocked my house. If she didn't, I would probably continue to live on diet soda. Mmm diet root beer, you are delicious.

Grapefruit travesty? You, sir, are not delicious.

Tonight, I had a juice made of a bowl-full (great measurement, right?) of red grapes and two pears. Mmmm. Delicious. Although the juicier started turning the grapes into goo instead of juice. Bah!

On the upside, the Wii said I've lost two pounds today. That best be true, after this morning's horrid weigh-in. Only time will tell.

Bottoms up!

Juice Fast: Day 3

Lame.

Lost: 3.1

Remaining: 59.2

Juice Fast: Day 2

PS. Cleaning out a juicer 3 times a day is awful.

Juice Fast: Day 2

I still haven't eaten anything. It's shocking, I know. I've followed through for 2 whole days. I have to say that as terrible as Day 1 was, Day 2 was really easy. I still feel woozy and disconnected sometimes, but I'm not hungry. I feel calmer and flatter (emotionally) and I imagine I'm not as quick as I would be ordinarily, but it's not too bad. Especially for Day 2. Although, I do have a sneaking suspicion that I need 15 hours of sleep a night and 2 gallons of diet soda a day to get through this.

Right now, I'm just taking it one day at a time. If I only get through these 2 days, cool. If I get through 10, awesome. I'm not willing to think about 30, much less 60 at this point.

This morning I had the Pear Basic, because I was going to be late for my interview, I had the stuff on hand, and I knew it was a good, easy juice. After that, I subsisted on diet soda only. Sigh. Interview went alright, though. Seriously, I may end up just being anorexic living off of diet soda at this rate. Maybe I should start taking a multivitamin, regardless.

One thing I'm finding interesting, though, is that I'm not hungry. I can feel the tired, boring breaks during the day when I'd like to eat some food, but food itself really isn't the issue. I'm just bored and I love both the act of eating and food itself. So I'm not really happy, per se, but I'm not suffering from a lack of solid food, either. Maybe this will end up being more about an addiction to food and eating than about weight loss. It's be interesting... I can't picture a version of myself that wouldn't welcome the idea of pigging out. Sad, huh?

Tonight, I tried the Bleeding Grapefruit from The Big Book of Juices. It's number 048 on page 115. It has plenty of good vitamins and minerals and everything, but it doesn't matter. It's utterly impossible to drink. I'd really rather stick with water or diet soda than that crap. Dear god, was it awful.

I threw it all out (after gagging my way through a few sips) and made a new batch with 4 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 1 apple, and 1tsp of spirulina for protein. Not delicious, but at least it doesn't make me gag. Like I said, I'm really worried this will just devolve into me just not eating and living off of diet soda and vitamins like a crazy person. We'll see.

Bottoms up!

Juice Fast: Day 2

Still no solid food. I alternate between feeling normal (I'm always vaguely tired anyway) and feeling like I have a cold (woozy is probably the best description for it). I think I'm going to go to the interview without any food - wish me luck!

Lost: 2.9

Remaining: 59.4

Juice Fast: Day 1

Today blew. It really, really blew. I honestly do not believe a juice fast is the way to go - in theory, sure. In actuality, stupidest idea ever. That being said, I have not taken in anything but veggie/fruit juice and diet soda. I am also barely alive and I have an important interview tomorrow. If I am feeling AT ALL slow or shitty tomorrow morning, I will eat. I might revisit the idea of a juice fast at that point, but probably not. Probably never.

I have lost 1.5lbs since this morning, but that's all water, obviously.

Lost: 1.5

Remaining: 60.8

Juice Fast: Day 1

For breakfast, we tried the Green Lemonade recipe from the Raw Detox book. I like it, but I tasted lemon for hours. My mom hated it.

After that, I couldn't get off the couch for a few hours. Caffeine is my friend.

The second recipe we tried from The Big Book of Juices was Pear Basic. It's number 103 on page 207. It has beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and sulphur. It's a 4-star for energy, a 3-star for detox, a 3-star for immunity, a 2-star for digestion, and a 3-star for skin. It was good - just tasted like carrot apple juice, not much hint of pear. I'm pretty concerned about just drinking fruit juices (too much sugar, not enough nutrients), but we were both running on empty and talking about abandoning the fast so I thought a good boost of sugar would help us.

I am also convinced that I will need to rely on diet soda to get through this thing for any amount of time. Also, 60 days sounds ridiculous now. We'll see if I can make it 2. The only thing that is getting me through it at this point is repeating "the food will still be there after the fast is over." However, it may still be over way before I was planning. We'll see.

Bottoms up!

Juice Fast: Day 1

This blows.

Juice Fast: The Beginning

So, I'm going to start a 60-day juice fast. I've gained a lot of weight in the last year (since my wedding) because of change, stress, and a lack of time/attention to my health. My mom is going to join me until September 8th (Day 19), when she goes to Hawaii for vacation. She says she just wants to do it to lose 10lbs, but I know she's really doing it to keep me on track (I don't have a great record with these kinds of things). My fast will begin August 21, 2011 and will end (hopefully) on October 19, 2011, which also happens to be my 26th birthday (completely coincidentally).

To start the juice fast, my mom and I went to Sunflower Market to buy some produce (mostly organic, but not completely) and some spirulina (which looks and smells like death). We decided to make a juice tonight to get started off on the right foot. The first recipe we tried was Ocean Deep from The Big Book of Juices, which we split. It's number 003 on page 42. It has beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and C, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, protein, essential fatty acids. It's a 4-star for energy, a 4-star for detox, a 3-star for immunity, a 2-star for digestion, and a 4-star for skin. It was good - just tasted like really fresh, clean apple juice.

I'll try to juice fast for 60 days altogether, but I'm going to break it down into 10 days, 30 days, 45 days, and 60 days for easier goals. Every time I lose 10lbs, I will give myself a present (probably a new pair of pants, ha!). I will only drink water and juice, although I will still take aspirin, melatonin, etc as I need it. I will also not cut out cosmetics. For the next week or so, I will continue to drink diet soda as to avoid caffeine withdrawals (I have an interview on Monday and a busy day on Tuesday, so I want to save those withdrawals for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday - I start class on Saturday).

I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning before drinking any juice or water and note the number of pounds lost on this blog, although I will not list my actual weight. For sanity's sake. My goal is to lose 60lbs, since most people are able to lose one pound a day when juice fasting. It'd be great if I lost more than that, but 60 would be amazing regardless. I'll try to update my weight loss, reactions, emotions, etc every day. I'll try to update my inches lost each week, but I may or may not remember to take those measurements.

Well, wish me luck. Hopefully, as of my 26th birthday, I will be 60lbs lighter, 60lbs happier, and 60lbs healthier!

Bottoms up!