Day 60-and Beyond

The finish line! I DID IT! Sixty days of a raw juice fast...YES! I have lost forty-six pounds, I feel GREAT and now I am living the raw vegan lifestyle!
My very first meal (truly a break-fast) was watermelon.-just a tiny bit, I got full really fast.
For lunch I had Romaine lettuce boats filled with cucumber slices, avocado slices, and my own homemade mango salsa. YUM!
Then for dinner, my Sweetie took me to Quintessence to celebrate. Quintessence is a raw vegan restaurant in the East Village here in NYC. WOW!! Deliciousness!!! To start, we ordered chips and dips (raw flax crackers and raw corn chips-wonderful- served with a yummy guacamole and an amazing tomato salsa that had the perfect amount of kick to it.)  Then we shared a seaweed salad-so good! I ordered the zucchini noodles with an olive mushroom sauce and my Honey ordered  the Indian platter. Both were scrumptious. We shared everything and finished off splitting a piece of raw pecan pie that blew our socks off! 
However, I may have overdone it a bit. I am feeling a bit under the weather from all that rich deliciousness today. Nevertheless, I am very glad for the experience! Today will be all light fare--and yes, all raw vegan!

Day 54

SIX DAYS LEFT! I'm down 44.5 pounds! I'm off to the gym!!!

Day 50

It's day FIFTY and I'm still in this thing for the long haul. As of this morning, I have lost 39.5 pounds. I still have plenty of energy to get through my day-which includes at least 30 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of weight training.
Traveling to NH over the holiday weekend was a bit challenging, but I made it through with flying colors. Packing and unpacking my Breville juicer and shopping for vegetables...well, lets just say that I did a little bit of water fasting rather than juice fasting over the weekend -just for convenience sake.
I will eat a mostly raw vegan diet after the fast and I have already begun to build my raw kitchen with a few small purchases of a spiraler and a mandolin. My next big purchase will be a Vitamix and then a little later I will purchase a dehydrator. I've also started to purchase a few small raw goodies at the market whenever I go to get my juicing veggies-just so it's not a whopping bill when I start eating again.
I've purchased some chia seeds, namo shoya, and some nutritional yeast (I know this is not a raw food.)
My next small purchases will be some Raw coconut oil and some raw cacao. Then a bag or so of different kinds of raw nuts whenever I'm shopping.
So what will I eat for my first few meals after 60 days of juice only?
Here are some options:
Day one: a green smoothie in the morning, guacamole with crudites for lunch and maybe a banana at night.
Day Two: juice in the morning, kale salad for lunch, and an avocado at night.
Day three: watermelon in the morning, zucchini pasta with cashew Alfredo sauce for lunch, a green smoothie at night.
Anyway, it all sounds delicious to me and I am really starting to think about eating again as the days wind down...

Day 42

When I stepped on the scale this morning I was down a total of 35 pounds since the start of my juice fast. I was so excited that I grabbed the jeans, that have been to small for over a year now, put them on and ZIPPED THEM UP!!! YAY!

Day 39

Well, I'm still going strong on day 39 of my juice fast, which means I have 21 days left. Tomorrow will be my  2/3 point. I must say that in many ways the time has flown by.
I am down 33 pounds as of this morning. It's funny, that's a lot of weight to have lost in 39 days...and yet  I think I've gotten so used to it that I am wishing it was dropping faster.
I do miss eating. I live in NYC and it's Spring so all the restaurants have their doors and windows open. Believe me when Itell you, it smells amazing. Last night after leaving a wonderful play we walked by so many tantalizing smells. I hadn't juiced since breakfast so I was feeling a bit peckish, to say the very least. Then we stopped by the Columbus Circle Whole Foods Market to pick up a few items and that was yet another test of my willpower. But I passed with flying colors and went home and made my favorite juice to which I added one TBSP of Bragg's Raw live apple cider vinegar. What a delicious treat!
My fiance usually will juice for breakfast and lunch and then eats dinner. Often, I will cook for him, which believe it or not actually helps curb my urge to eat...don't know why.
I'm still feeling great. I'm trying to vary the juices I drink in order to get the most nutrients, but have my favorites and I  find myself wanting those most often.
Well that's all for now...later!

Day 29

It's day 29! Tomorrow will be my halfway point. I am down 24 lbs. and two sizes. That's great, but unfortunately my weight loss seems to be stuck and as I have many more pounds I'd like to wave bye-bye to...
I am attending the gym five days a week for 30 minutes of aerobic exercise--either the elliptical or the recumbent bike (or both). I also do weight training three times per week and I am trying to live by the "take the stairs" rule of thumb as for lifestyle. I feel great! Loads of energy. Not hungry...much! However, food does smell amazingly delicious!
My plan is to follow a  mostly raw, vegan diet after the fast. Then I plan to do another and another fast until I reach my goal weight. I think I will do thirty day fasts in future rather than the sixty.

Favorite juice to date: tomato, celery, lemon, kale, beet, parsley, cilantro, cucumber, carrot with a tiny sprinkle of Himalayan pink salt--So YUMMY!!

Worst juice to date: turnip, apple, kale-YUCKY!

I'm not fond of daikon radish either. Although more because of the odor than the taste.
That's all for now--catch you later.

 

Still a Loser

Still juicing--Day 25 and down 24.5 pounds as of this morning. Wahooooo! I'm off to the gym!

Day 18

Feeling GREAT! Down 19.5 pounds and raring to go!

DAY 7

Wow day 7...I've not chewed in 7 days....I'm down 11 lbs and feel fantastic. My pants are falling off me! Day 2 and 3 were not as great. I felt achy and strange. But, I feel great during the days and not as great at night when I get tired.
Yesterday's juice was a bit funky. I added an entire daikon radish and it was a bit smelly...everyone in the office was asking what the funky smell was. Then last night I put 1/2 of a red onion with tomato, cuke, carrot, pepper, parsley and cilantro, trying to achieve a kind of gazpacho affect and the onion was a bit hard on my stomach. So today I am onto something a bit milder. Today's juice is orange, grapefruit, broccoli, carrot, celery and spinach.
I will have to force myself to drink it as I have no appetite whatsoever. But I think I should have something before I go to the gym.
Last night I didn't sleep well. I woke around 3:00AM and could not fall back to sleep for the longest time.
I have managed to go to the gym every day this week and my workouts are better than ever.
My skin feels soft and smooth and I feel bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning without coffee...who'd o' thunk it...

DAY ONE

Here I go...

I woke up at 6:00 AM as planned. I made a conscious decision to go to bed early (10:15 PM) And I had decided last night that I wanted a bit of time in the morning to meditate and time to prepare my juice for the day without the stress of rushing to get to work.
After meditation, I weighed in, took a shower, got dressed and then headed to the kitchen to prepare the first official juice meal of my 60 day juice fast.

Juice for Breakfast and Lunch
-all organic
1 pink grapefruit - rind removed, white pith left on
1 lemon
1 lime
1 orange - rind removed, white pith left on
4 carrots
2 heads romaine lettuce
1 small bunch Italian parsley
2 apples

This juice is delicious but a bit fruitier than I would normally prepare. I didn't have many greens in the house and will go to Whole Foods tonight to prepare for the weekend.
8:00 AM- 8 oz juice and herbal tea
10:00 AM -I felt a little hungry when I arrived at the office so I had another 8 oz juice and another cup of  tea

So how do I feel -- I feel GREAT! I'm not really hungry, but I am definitely aware that I am not eating-It's the habit of eating I'm missing more than the actual food.

Starting weight: CFF (Sorry guys this is nobody elses business but my own and so this is my own personal code.)
Starting B/P: 135/78  (This is a bit high for me. I'm usually around 120/70...hmmmm...)
Mood (1-10): Great :) 8
Hunger(1-10): Somewhat hungry 6

Noon: Herbal Tea
1:00 PM Gym- 40 minutes recumbent bike

My workout was fantastic. I had lots of energy and going to the gym really knocked out any hunger pangs I had before going. I have a slight headache, but otherwise feel great!

2:30 PM 8 oz. juice and large mug Bancha Tea.

PREPARATION

I can't believe after my weight loss following the Weight Watchers plan, I am back to square one. Well, almost-I have not gained all of the weight back. But I have gained a great deal of it back. I blame the stress of newness. The stress of a new relationship, a new city, a new home, a new job-basically an entirely new life. And although I love my new life, I have to say, it's been a little difficult at times-to say the very least.

New good habits were the first to go and all those old bad habits crept right back into place...ARGH!!!

So...

  After viewing the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, I've decided to see what I can do with this juice fasting thing to lose weight, gain back some of my lost vitality, and get rid of many of the nagging side effects of carrying around too much weight.

Besides being overweight I am pretty healthy. My last physical was 6 months ago and everything was normal and healthy other than my weight.

 I go to the gym and do at least 30 minutes of cardio and weight training 3 to 5 days a week and I plan on continuing this through out the juice fast.

I drink way too much coffee, so in  preparation for the juice fast I decided to quit coffee 1 week prior to the fast. My reasoning;  I would rather deal with the negative side effects of caffeine withdrawals first rather than dealing with everything all at once. And side effects there were. I felt really crummy for 3 days with a throbbing headache and severe fatigue. But I got through it and now-one week later I'm feeling wonderfully light and caffeine free.I 'm sleeping better at night and feel less tense during the day. ALL GOOD!

A good quality juicer is very important. So I have purchased a Breville Dual Disc. I've juiced with it a few times now and it's great- extremely efficient and very easy to clean.

To start getting myself used to juicing and fasting, I started juicing one meal per day for a few days, then went to two meals per day until today......DAY ONE...