It's 3 years later and I've gained more weight than I ever have before. I'm at 192, actually down from 202, which I've been able to keep off with a keto-based diet. What I did learn from juicing (other than it's unsustainable), is that what you put in your body matters. I felt great while juicing and still incorporate healthy juices/smoothies into my day. I'm now on a journey to lose the weight again and am working with a nutritionist to cut out foods that are processed, full of sugar and unnecessary carbs and continue my journey.
I want to weigh 140 pounds by August 26, which is my 25th wedding anniversary. To do that I plan to follow a keto-based diet, keep to about 1500 calories per day, and exercise at least 30 minutes a day, alternating between yoga, walking, and HIIT workouts. I'm going to post here regularly. Please keep me accountable! Here are my monthly goals
185 January
179 February
173 March
166 April
160 May
153 June
147 July
140 August
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Monday, January 5, 2015
Day 7: Off to a good start
I started the actual juice fast yesterday, and it was tough. I felt hungry and irritable during the first half of the day but better by the end. I decided to eat an egg and some of my hubby's lentil soup, and felt much better. Definitely craving protein!! I'm supposed to add a scoop of protein powder but forgot, so that may have been the reason for the cravings and crabbiness. I've thought about going vegetarian and can definitely attest to how much better I feel eating a plant-based diet the last week--even my back is better (but maybe that's due to losing 9 pounds? Less pressure on my back?)--and I'm beginning to read more about the abhorrent manner that animals are taken care of on farms. California finally phased in a law to prohibit cages so small that animals can't lay down or turn around. It took 5 years to phase it in. Why so long and why would it even be needed? How can anyone decide that inhumane conditions are acceptable for a living being? I don't get it. I do need protein, though, as yesterday clearly pointed out. I may go vegetarian or buy meat from locations that treat their animals humanely (anyone see Portlandia where they go visit the farm to make sure their animals are treated well and end up staying for 5 years at the "compound"? That would be me). Not eating animals wouldn't be enough though; it feels like it would be more helpful to insist on better conditions as a consumer. Something to think about.
Today is the second day of the complete juice fast. So far I feel fine. The kids are back to school so it's just me and my juicer hanging out. I don't go back to teaching for two more weeks, so my plan to is focus completely on my health the next two weeks and then figure out shortcuts for when I go back to work. I'm at Sprouts everyday for cucumbers, kale, and apples, so I'm not sure I'm saving any money, but it's not going towards Starbucks, so I probably am. Randy cooked the last few days while he was off, but I'm going to have to learn to juggle cooking food for others and my juicing. The girls are slowly trying the juices and even took one to school with them today. They see how happy I am, how radiant my skin is becoming, and they're willing to give it a try. That's all I can ask.
Today is the second day of the complete juice fast. So far I feel fine. The kids are back to school so it's just me and my juicer hanging out. I don't go back to teaching for two more weeks, so my plan to is focus completely on my health the next two weeks and then figure out shortcuts for when I go back to work. I'm at Sprouts everyday for cucumbers, kale, and apples, so I'm not sure I'm saving any money, but it's not going towards Starbucks, so I probably am. Randy cooked the last few days while he was off, but I'm going to have to learn to juggle cooking food for others and my juicing. The girls are slowly trying the juices and even took one to school with them today. They see how happy I am, how radiant my skin is becoming, and they're willing to give it a try. That's all I can ask.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Day 5: Last Food Day
We had company for the last two days, which I thought would be challenging, but my brother and sister-in-law were very supportive of what I'm trying to do. The hardest part was getting the juice made because there were clearly better things to do than chop veggies. My husband mentioned my skin was clearer (he's right!) and my oldest mentioned that I seemed happier. I've lost almost 8 pounds and feel in control of my life--so yeah, I'm happy. There are times life gets in the way and I can't get to making the drinks in time and I get shaky and find it hard to concentrate. When I first make the juice/soup/smoothie, I feel completely satisfied, but I need something 2 hours later. I've been trying to drink more water, which has surprisingly helped (I'm going to the bathroom every half hour anyway, so why not?). Why is it so easy to start something healthy, feel great, but then stop doing it? My brother mentioned that they juiced for 6 months and then stopped because it became tedious. I know in the past that even making a salad seemed like too much work, but now it's a part of my day. I want to find a way to keep it in my daily routine and not lose the momentum that's begun. My new juicer came today and it's SOOO fast and actually fun to use, so hopefully that will help. My rings getting looser help as well. My goal is to wear my wedding ring again--I had to use another ring about 20 pounds ago and while I love the new ring (from Randy's aunt, so it's a beautiful antique), it's not MY ring. Putting that back on will be a huge victory in getting my life back.
I've lost my cravings for sweet things and carbs. The bacon this morning was hard to resist--I actually had to leave the house--but I looked at the pasta that Randy made tonight and wasn't even tempted. I also went back to working out and feel energized. I wanted more after dinner, because I'm used to 2 or more servings of everything, but leaving the kitchen for awhile helped.
Tomorrow I leave solid foods behind and only do juice or smoothies, which will be interesting. I've loved the recipes for the plant-based meals, so they'll be hard to leave behind. I may do a dinner once in awhile, but I'm committed to a plant-based lifestyle for the next 30 days or more (32 pounds to go, although I fantasize losing another 10 pounds to reach my ideal weight.) The weight is coming off quickly, but will eventually slow down, so I'm not sure how long it will take. I'm committed, though, and feel I can do this.
I've lost my cravings for sweet things and carbs. The bacon this morning was hard to resist--I actually had to leave the house--but I looked at the pasta that Randy made tonight and wasn't even tempted. I also went back to working out and feel energized. I wanted more after dinner, because I'm used to 2 or more servings of everything, but leaving the kitchen for awhile helped.
Tomorrow I leave solid foods behind and only do juice or smoothies, which will be interesting. I've loved the recipes for the plant-based meals, so they'll be hard to leave behind. I may do a dinner once in awhile, but I'm committed to a plant-based lifestyle for the next 30 days or more (32 pounds to go, although I fantasize losing another 10 pounds to reach my ideal weight.) The weight is coming off quickly, but will eventually slow down, so I'm not sure how long it will take. I'm committed, though, and feel I can do this.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Day 3-A New year
Happy New Year! I'm down 6 pounds, which is a wonderful way to start the new year! I've now backed away from the Obese category to nearly Severely Overweight. I'll take it. The weight is mainly what I gained over the holidays, but considering that weight stayed on the last two years, I'm happy.
I woke up irritable and hungry, but I think mainly because I slept in but hadn't eaten anything since 6 last night. Juicing doesn't make for a quick breakfast either. I should probably chop things up or even make the juice the night before to make the morning easier. It's almost 11 and I've only eaten breakfast, so my body is pretty confused right now. On the plus side, my oldest daughter and hubby joined me making smoothies this morning, which was fun. It feels nice sharing healthier eating habits with them. I made the Get Your Greens smoothie, which consists of celery, kale, apple, cucumber, and banana. It wasn't sweet enough (tasted waaaay too green), so I added a little Stevia (natural sweetner). Man, did that make a difference!! I wanted more. Is it crazy to say I'm looking forward to my next smoothie? I'm feeling a little hungry, probably because by now I should've had a snack, so getting my body clock back on schedule will definitely help.
I woke up irritable and hungry, but I think mainly because I slept in but hadn't eaten anything since 6 last night. Juicing doesn't make for a quick breakfast either. I should probably chop things up or even make the juice the night before to make the morning easier. It's almost 11 and I've only eaten breakfast, so my body is pretty confused right now. On the plus side, my oldest daughter and hubby joined me making smoothies this morning, which was fun. It feels nice sharing healthier eating habits with them. I made the Get Your Greens smoothie, which consists of celery, kale, apple, cucumber, and banana. It wasn't sweet enough (tasted waaaay too green), so I added a little Stevia (natural sweetner). Man, did that make a difference!! I wanted more. Is it crazy to say I'm looking forward to my next smoothie? I'm feeling a little hungry, probably because by now I should've had a snack, so getting my body clock back on schedule will definitely help.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Day 2: Happy and healthy new year
Day 2: We had plans to go to the snow today, so I had to figure out how to be healthy on the go. I managed to make the breakfast with apples again and make a juice to take with me. Celery, cucumbers, and pears are much easier than carrots and make a lot more juice. 6 celery stalks, 2 cucumbers, 2 pears and kale (which doesn't juice very well at all) made about 20 oz of juice. It tasted more like celery than anything else but not bad! I was supposed to have a soup and salad for lunch, but there wasn't time to make it and take it with me. Definitely need to plan ahead more! I was famished by the time I got home, so not bringing more food was a mistake for sure. For dinner I made a soup from every green veggie available. A.maz.ing. Who came up with these recipes??
I'm finding it easy to eat the food because it's so yummy, but feeling a little lethargic (also recovering from the flu). There are times (like now), that I'm hungry and want something else, but I'm not sure what to eat. I messed up the order of things so I may have missed something. I feel like I've spent the entire day chopping and cooking, but that's not a bad thing. It feels very zen. Not sure how someone working full time would handle it without serious organizational skills.
It's New Years and I feel good about focusing on my health for the new year. I really really want to make a change rather than a resolution.Peace!
I'm finding it easy to eat the food because it's so yummy, but feeling a little lethargic (also recovering from the flu). There are times (like now), that I'm hungry and want something else, but I'm not sure what to eat. I messed up the order of things so I may have missed something. I feel like I've spent the entire day chopping and cooking, but that's not a bad thing. It feels very zen. Not sure how someone working full time would handle it without serious organizational skills.
It's New Years and I feel good about focusing on my health for the new year. I really really want to make a change rather than a resolution.Peace!
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Reboot Day 1
I'm 40 pounds overweight and scared about the future. I've tried several diets/lifestyle changes that have worked in the past, but not this time around. I've always gone up and down with my weight (who really wants to eat all those salads?!?), but I've never been this heavy, and actually just tipped into the obese category on the scale. Ouch. When I try to exercise more than 30 minutes, I get kickback from my knees and back, which are screaming at me for putting on so much weight. I'm reaching a point where I don't want to meet with friends or others who may judge me for the weight I've put on. I can't take my daughter ice skating, can't hike with the older one, etc. I'm no longer living my life and that terrifies me even more. My mother died from cancer at 54, and I'll never know if her diet and extra weight contributed to the cancer, but it didn't help with the fight.
I found two documentaries that have caused me to think about what I'm doing to my body and given me a plan to focus on getting healthier. I decided to blog about it so that I can track (I hope) my progress, and make me more accountable.
The first documentary (both available on Netflix or Hulu), Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead , inspired me to start thinking about what I was putting into my body, and a possible way to change. Joe Cross chronicles his journey to lose 100 pounds and rid himself of an autoimmune disease that created a painful rash all over his body. He decides to go on a juice fast for 60 days, which seems extreme, I know. But by juicing, he means primarily eating veggies and fruit chomped up and spit out as juice (no added sugar). One juice has 6-8 servings of veggies/fruit, which is amazing. There's no way you could eat all of that in one sitting, but it's easy to sip. Other than prepping the food, nothing else is required. At one point he goes and buys veggies at a farmer's stand and juices it from a juicer in the back of his car. Talk about farm to table (in this case, farm to cup). I'm intrigued, I have to admit. I don't eat a lot of fast food, per se, but I do eat convenience foods--frozen meals, bars, etc. They're supposed to be healthy, but I'm always snacking and hungry for more. Maybe focusing on a plant-based diet wouldn't be so bad for a month or so. If you want to to know more, you can check out his website, www.rebootwithjoe.com.
The second documentary, Hungry for Change, is more scientific, and goes through why we are obese as a nation, but starving ourselves nutritionally. Our foods are high in calories, but have very little nutrients to nurture our cells. Our bodies go looking for more nutrition and end up craving more of what we give it, which is often high in sugar and low in everything else. I forget the unit of measure, but one guy shared that in 1900, the average person ate 15mg(?) of sugar a day. We now eat 20-60, with some teens consuming up to 150 mg a day. Yikes! Processed foods are manufactured with the focus being on shelf life rather than nutrients and leave us less than satisfied. Our bodies crave more nutrients, but if they only know the high calorie/low nutrient stuff, then that's what they want more of, hoping that the nutrients show up this time. Only they don't.
Enough scientific mumbo jumbo! I know that eating processed foods isn't working, and I'm not going back to work until January 20th, so I have time right now to chop and juice to my heart's content. I started today, and so far, it's been fine. Joe's website lists possible side effects, such as irritability, lethargy, etc., but it only lasts for a few days while the unhealthy stuff leaves the system. The hard part will be not eating the other food that's lying around the house, but I'm committed to making this change.
For today I had an apple/berry combo with cinnamon and nutmeg cooked in the oven. Seriously simple and yummy. For a snack I had a carrot/ginger/apple juice from Nektar. Lunch was a huge salad and sweet potato fries. I could get used to this. The roughage in the salad always upsets my stomach but I hope that will go away. I'm not hungry, but I'm restless, like I want to find something to eat. That's the mental part I need to struggle with. My snack is supposed to be another juice (wish I had paid attention to that and just got double at Nektar), so I'm off to make my first juice. I ordered a juicer, but it hasn't come yet, so hopefully the carrots won't break my blender.
I'm back. We don't have a working blender--just a small, hand held one that can barely do anything. After going through bits of pieces of the blender and 2 Magic Bullets, I want to pull my hair out. I'm getting seriously hungry. I try the chopper, which makes fine little pieces but no juice. Now what?!!? My husband shows up and points me to an old juicer his aunt gave him, tucked way in the back. It's slow, messy, and loud, but an hour and a half after I started this damn process, I have my first cup of juice! It's incredibly delish and has 4 carrots, 2 apples, and a slice of ginger. Soooo good.
For dinner I had a salad with homemade vinaigrette (oil, balsamic vinegar, honey and basil), avocados, tomatoes, kale, and red cabbage. The vinaigrette makes it sweet--I don't usually like straight kale. Throw in some more sweet potato fries and I'm stuffed. I finish the night with a ginger tea. By 10:30 I feel hungry and want to raid the fridge, but I'm ready to see where this takes me. My husband is watching an Anthony Bourdain show (seriously?), so I'm keeping busy by typing here and then going to read a book.
I found two documentaries that have caused me to think about what I'm doing to my body and given me a plan to focus on getting healthier. I decided to blog about it so that I can track (I hope) my progress, and make me more accountable.
The first documentary (both available on Netflix or Hulu), Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead , inspired me to start thinking about what I was putting into my body, and a possible way to change. Joe Cross chronicles his journey to lose 100 pounds and rid himself of an autoimmune disease that created a painful rash all over his body. He decides to go on a juice fast for 60 days, which seems extreme, I know. But by juicing, he means primarily eating veggies and fruit chomped up and spit out as juice (no added sugar). One juice has 6-8 servings of veggies/fruit, which is amazing. There's no way you could eat all of that in one sitting, but it's easy to sip. Other than prepping the food, nothing else is required. At one point he goes and buys veggies at a farmer's stand and juices it from a juicer in the back of his car. Talk about farm to table (in this case, farm to cup). I'm intrigued, I have to admit. I don't eat a lot of fast food, per se, but I do eat convenience foods--frozen meals, bars, etc. They're supposed to be healthy, but I'm always snacking and hungry for more. Maybe focusing on a plant-based diet wouldn't be so bad for a month or so. If you want to to know more, you can check out his website, www.rebootwithjoe.com.
The second documentary, Hungry for Change, is more scientific, and goes through why we are obese as a nation, but starving ourselves nutritionally. Our foods are high in calories, but have very little nutrients to nurture our cells. Our bodies go looking for more nutrition and end up craving more of what we give it, which is often high in sugar and low in everything else. I forget the unit of measure, but one guy shared that in 1900, the average person ate 15mg(?) of sugar a day. We now eat 20-60, with some teens consuming up to 150 mg a day. Yikes! Processed foods are manufactured with the focus being on shelf life rather than nutrients and leave us less than satisfied. Our bodies crave more nutrients, but if they only know the high calorie/low nutrient stuff, then that's what they want more of, hoping that the nutrients show up this time. Only they don't.
Enough scientific mumbo jumbo! I know that eating processed foods isn't working, and I'm not going back to work until January 20th, so I have time right now to chop and juice to my heart's content. I started today, and so far, it's been fine. Joe's website lists possible side effects, such as irritability, lethargy, etc., but it only lasts for a few days while the unhealthy stuff leaves the system. The hard part will be not eating the other food that's lying around the house, but I'm committed to making this change.
For today I had an apple/berry combo with cinnamon and nutmeg cooked in the oven. Seriously simple and yummy. For a snack I had a carrot/ginger/apple juice from Nektar. Lunch was a huge salad and sweet potato fries. I could get used to this. The roughage in the salad always upsets my stomach but I hope that will go away. I'm not hungry, but I'm restless, like I want to find something to eat. That's the mental part I need to struggle with. My snack is supposed to be another juice (wish I had paid attention to that and just got double at Nektar), so I'm off to make my first juice. I ordered a juicer, but it hasn't come yet, so hopefully the carrots won't break my blender.
I'm back. We don't have a working blender--just a small, hand held one that can barely do anything. After going through bits of pieces of the blender and 2 Magic Bullets, I want to pull my hair out. I'm getting seriously hungry. I try the chopper, which makes fine little pieces but no juice. Now what?!!? My husband shows up and points me to an old juicer his aunt gave him, tucked way in the back. It's slow, messy, and loud, but an hour and a half after I started this damn process, I have my first cup of juice! It's incredibly delish and has 4 carrots, 2 apples, and a slice of ginger. Soooo good.
For dinner I had a salad with homemade vinaigrette (oil, balsamic vinegar, honey and basil), avocados, tomatoes, kale, and red cabbage. The vinaigrette makes it sweet--I don't usually like straight kale. Throw in some more sweet potato fries and I'm stuffed. I finish the night with a ginger tea. By 10:30 I feel hungry and want to raid the fridge, but I'm ready to see where this takes me. My husband is watching an Anthony Bourdain show (seriously?), so I'm keeping busy by typing here and then going to read a book.
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