Sunday, July 31, 2011

Update

So today is 2 weeks that we have been on our juice plan.. granted the last week was modified as we did eat a couple of meals.

To date, Chris is down 13 pounds and has lost about 1 1/2 inches in his mid section. I am still only down 3 pounds and lost an inch from my stomach. Although 3 pounds was way less than I wanted I am happy with the inch lost. We can both tell our clothes are fitting better and that's all I could ask for.

In other non-juicing news we are 2 weeks in counting for our Vegas Vacation!!
Can't wait to get out of town! We are planning on seeing Love Cirque du Soleil and a couple of other shows that we will have time for. We are also planning on going to the Hoover Dam. We were going to go on our trip in February but just ran out of time.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Getting Back to Somewhat Normal

So no, we have not fallen off the bandwagon but rather continuing to make modifications.

We are starting to see some of the fruits of our labor. We are both continuing to drop a pound here and there, my joints are feeling better than they have in a long time and my energy is up.

I can be truthfully honest and say that yesterday was not a good day for us. Yesterday morning I went to walk our dog while Chris made the morning brew and as I walked in the house the smell was almost more than I could take. I drank the juice but in all honesty it took all I could to get it down. So that started the tone for the day. I hate to admit that I started letting my thoughts get the best of me but after being on this for 9 days I was in need of serious motivation! Chris helped me push through but we were both contemplating what we were doing and if this was really worth it. That is when we decided that we needed to re-evaluate our plan.

The point of us doing the juice detox in the first place was to kick some of the bad habits we had grown accustomed to and surprisingly create some new addictions.
Kick the habit of drinking at night - Check
Kick the addiction to caffeine - Check
Start the addiction to water - Check
Start craving fruits and vegetables - Check
Losing a few pounds - Check

So all in all in the last 10 days I feel that we have accomplished quiet a bit.

So this leads us to how we move forward and not undo what we have worked hard to accomplish.

I am still continuing to do some research but what we do know is that we still want to continue to juice daily, even 2-3 times a day but just start incorporating better healthy foods in our diet. My idea is to juice B/L and snacks and then for dinner do something sensible. What I don't want to see happen is that we get so sick of juicing that we lose the momentum and give up completely.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Still juicing.. what day is it?

So not too much to report. Our modified diet for the weekend turned out pretty well. We ended up eating out Friday night, Saturday and Sunday night, all while juicing during the day at least 2-3 times per day. I have to admit the food was pretty darn good! I guess I would be lying saying that we didn't enjoy it. But, as I suspected my belly didn't feel too good afterwards. Further letting us know that we can't be 100% "juice heads" until after our vacation.

I have decided that I am not going to weigh in until next Saturday. I'm finding that I get frustrated where one day I'm down a couple pounds and then the next day up a pound. I can't take it!! My mom told me today that she could tell I had lost a little bit of weight. Now, I don't know if she was trying to make me feel better or if she really could see something different. I'm not to the point where my jeans are falling off me but I can tell they fit a little better. There again, could all be in my head..

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Jucing Day 7 (Saturday)


So this morning we were out to find a farmers market so I could compare pricing to see which route is cheaper. Before we headed out we had a an awesome juice to use some of the peaches that were about to go bad. Here are the before and the after. Yeah, I know what you must be thinking that the juice looks horrible but trust me, it was really good!






We tried finding the Oak Ridge Farmer's Market but the GPS lead us to the wrong destination so we ended up at Mickey's Produce in Oak Ridge. Overall we found the prices to be less than the grocery store but they didn't carry everything we needed so we still had to go the store after all but Mickey's selection was definitely fresher and looked way better than the store.

We are trying to decide what to do for dinner. We juiced for lunch and I'm starting to feel hungry. We might try our chicken flat pizza that we get at Papa Murphy's or out for sushi.

So for 7 days we have spent appx $130 and we still had a few items left over. I figure I will keep my receipts for a month to get a better idea of what the overall cost will be.

One of the benefits I will add of juicing, is the dishes. There are none except the 2 glasses we use and the juicer! It's the little things in life that make me happy :)

Juicing Day 6 (Friday)

Chris had to be up super early for work so we were rushed when we made our breakfast so I wasn't able to take any pics. Chris was able to juice this morning and then for lunch, since he was with a client, he was able to eat a salad. I mainly juiced all day with a handful of nuts and raisins and of course plenty of water.

One of the issues we have been discussing is our upcoming vacation. We are going to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks and juicing won't be an option while we are gone (and to be honest isn't the best thing about vacation the food??). Our original plan was to juice up until the week before we leave and then incorporate solid foods to get our systems used to food again. However, after much discussion we decided to modify our original plan just a tad.

Too be honest I did feel guilty because we had put a plan in place and I didn't want to think that one night off would kick us off the bandwagon. We have decided that juicing will be a normal part of our eating routine and so we decided to incorporate that now. I think the plan we have come up with will work and and is a good combination of both foods and juice. Our new plan is to juice breakfast/lunch 6-7 days a week and then weekend dinners will be in moderation.

So for dinner we decided to go to Tomato Head and eat something vegetarian. I had a great salad and the Lucy which is a vegetarian pita with mushrooms, carrots, hummus, onions and a little bit cheese. We were talking to the waitress about tofu and that I had never had it so she brought us a sample to try. The texture was definitely different but the overall taste was pretty good. Chris had the Jose Jose Burrito which was awesome as well.

After we ate we went to the movies to see Tree of Life and while I should save that for another blog, I noticed I was getting a headache and my stomach was feeling a little nauseous. I'm assuming this was my body trying to figure out what the heck is going on. I guess all in all it's a good thing we are introducing some food so our vacation won't be completely miserable.

So to date Chris is down 10 pounds and I'm down 5. Headaches for me are pretty much gone and again I noticed that when I woke up this morning I wasn't stiff. Which is a huge bonus!!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Juicing Day 5

Here is a pic of our breakfast concoction: consisted primarily of fruits but we try to sneak in a few vegi's when we can..


We also went ahead and made our lunch juice which is the Mean Green. This is the most talked about in the movie but I think we botched it up a little. The recipe didn't really define what a "piece" of ginger was so we put in almost the whole root. It wasn't awful but it was way too much.. lesson learned!


To date, Chris is down 9 pounds and I'm down 3.5. My headaches have gotten better and I suspect another a day or two they will be gone. I did seem to notice that I haven't been quite as stiff today. Usually when I get up in the morning I'm hobbling down the hall but now that I think about it wasn't that bad this morning. Could this stuff really be working?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Juice - Day 4

So day 4 Breakfast and Lunch consisted of more of the green variety. It was decent but not one of my favorites. I still prefer all the fruity drinks but I have to be careful to keep my protein up. For lunch I bought some hummus and ate that along with some vegi's and then as an afternoon snack had another serving of this green juice.

Chris had to work late so I created a juice with honeydew, an apple, orange, cucumbers and a tomatoe.. Pleasantly surprised.

As far as weight loss, Chris cheated and weighed this morning and is down 7 pounds. I'm interested to see when he get home tonight if he has lost anymore. I am down 3 pounds so I'll take what I can get.

Today I still have a headache which sucks but I'm hoping this will go away for good. I am 4 days with 0 caffeine so I'm wondering how much linger this will last. My energy level is up and at times I'm actually shocked with how good I feel.

So all in all I'm happy we decided to embark on this journey. I think we could safely say that even when we are finished with the reboot that we will keep this as a part of our overall way of eating.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Juice Fast Day 3

So we are Day 3 into ramping up for our juice fast. The last 3 days have consisted of vegetable soup, salad and juices.

This morning our breakfast juice was a mixture of:
apples
strawberries
carrots
spinach
lemon
honey dew

It was actually pretty sweet so I marked this one as one of my favorites so far. We have a whole slew of recipes but sometimes we just mix a bunch of stuff together and hope for the best.

As far as results we weighed and measured last night and while I won't give away our dirty secrets I'll have you all know that Chris is down 5 pounds today and I'm down 1.

As far as how we are feeling.. last night I had a horrible headache which I'm sure is caused from the caffeine withdrawls and we were both in bed by 9:45. Chris didn't complain of a headache, or at least not to me. We both experienced a feeling of fatigue but that is normal as our body detoxes.

Since we had made enough of our morning juice to last throughout the day we decided to east a salad instead. We also had some hummus we snacked on that was pretty decent for a grocery store. It's 9:50 and we are going to bed... another evening of fatigue.
While my headache is not nearly as bad as last night I still have a slight one and Chris complained about having one as well.

I'll be honest it's not the easiest/convenient/cheapest thing to do but we are determined to stick it through for the next 2 1/2 weeks.

Stay tuned for another update.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

To Juice or Not to Juice

So the other night we happened on a documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.

This starts with Joe, a guy in Australia who has a strange disease and is about 350 pounds. Basically he was sick of taking all the medications so he started doing a juice fast. Yes, juice day in and day out.

The cool part about the movie is that he meets a guy here in the US that happens to have the same illness and he has and also starts the plan as well. This guy was 6'1 and almost 400 pounds. I won't give the movie away but just to say that in a matter of days he was dropping weight and his skin looked amazing.

So after watching the move Chris and I have decided to give it a whirl. This week we will be ramping up on a vegetarian diet and then next Saturday we will start the reboot which will consist of a juice fast. I know it sounds crazy and I'm sure once we start there will be days that we will want to quit but we have dedicated that we are going to stick with it for 15 days.

Basically this is a jump start to changing how we eat/drink/live. We have gotten into a rut where we come home from work, spend an hour or so cooking, have a beer or two and then we hit the couch to either work a little bit more or watch an hour or so of TV before we go to bed and do it all again. Part of the pro's of the reboot is obvious weight loss but it is also good for helping joint issues, mental clarity, energy and a host of other things.

To get started I purposely did not get the cash out that we normally would for our eating out budget. This way we would be forced to eat/juice at home for the next 15 days. Next I went to the store today and loaded up on a ton of fruits and vegi's. I looked like a walking farmer's market. Which now I'm wondering where is the cheapest place to buy fresh produce. Do you do better at a grocery store or at stands around town?

For dinner we are eating home made vegetable soup that I have had in the crock pot all day. This will get us through today/tomorrow and we will try a juice tonight to see how this works. I have several recipes to try but one of the ones we will try tonight is:

Carrots
Apples
Celery
Lemons

So wish us luck. I hope to be able to blog nightly of our daily meals/juices and track how we are feeling.

Friday, April 8, 2011

January 2011 - May 2011

Well, here I am again... promising that I am to better with keeping up with my diary but it's been months. Why is that? Well, I guess because I'm a working gal and I just generally have a lot going on.

I'm still at In10sity. Still doing account managing but now with a little accounting under my belt. So far I enjoy it plus I'm learning new skills.







In February we took a little vacation to viva Las Vegas. My mom's side of the family met us there and we celebrated my cousin's 21st birthday in style. Chris and I had never been to Vegas so we took advantage of the free stuff while in the Casino's. We enjoyed seeing all the different hotels and have already thought about our next trip back



I think we have decided we would stay at either the Cosmopolitan - or at Caesers Palace.LinkBoth were so amazing and were right in the heart of the strip. It was a great time all around and we made some great family memories.








Valentines this day was a lot of fun. We went to a Chinese restaurant that is nearby where there was an Elvis impersonator complete with lais. We had some great food, great drinks and even better laughs.

February also brought a new baby for my bff. He is such a cutie and looks just like his daddy. My BFF is a great person and I know she is even a better person because of him.

In April Chris had to have eye surgery for a detached retina. I was so nervous for him but he came through the surgery just fine. He gets to wear a nifty green bracelet for a while because his eye has this gas bubble in place. I was glad to play nurse but am glad that he his getting back to normal.

I have more to write for the month of May. I took a trip to Texas and have some great photos to share.

Until then.... cheers