5th Day Post Fast

Some of my readers asked for me to post an update after my fast as far as weight loss and what I'm eating so.....here goes......

I have not lost any more weight on the scale but I haven't gained any back in spite of the fact I am eating food and it's only natural to put a few lbs back on post fast, from what I've read.  My juice fast mentor suggested that I start back on foods very carefully because it really has the potential to mess your stomach up if you jump back into whatever you want.
My first day post fast I had no appetite at all and I found it very, very difficult to make myself eat. That day I only ate fruit and raw veggies and drank water (and my first cup of coffee in ages).  I had no discomfort at all with my stomach.
The second day post fast, I wasn't hungry in the morning but by lunch time I was very hungry and ate a really large salad.  The third day I ate fruits and salads and veggies all day.
Last night was the first time I have had meat in quite a while. I had about 3 oz of chicken with some veggies and last night at bedtime I was having some pretty bad cramping in my stomach. It did pass finally and I was able to get some sleep.
This morning is my 5th day post fast and my breakfast this morning was probably one of the most "normal" meals I have had in a while. I made scrambled egg whites with spinach, cherry tomatoes, red onion, 1/8 cup of shredded cheese, and red bell pepper and then had 1/2 an avocado on the side. Calorie count was around 300 calories and I am STUFFED. It will be interesting to see if I even want lunch now.

If you're wondering how I'm feeling, I feel really good. I'm sleeping good at night. I still don't have the energy I was hoping for but I think once I get my calorie count back up where it needs to be, the energy will come. (I'm finding it hard to make myself eat the amount of calories my body requires.) I'm taking it slow. I don't want to overwhelm my digestive system and be miserable because of it. I'm still struggling with acid reflux occasionally and that is a little disappointing. I was hoping to be able to go off my medication for it and I still have hopes it will happen for me

I'm finding it easier to eat healthy things. I can honestly say I haven't craved anything processed or sugary since I ended my fast. I used to love eating burgers and pizza and wings and those things just don't sound good to me at all now. (It's a MIRACLE)
The taste of veggies and simple seasonings like Himalayan pink salt and fresh cracked pepper are incredibly satisfying now. But let's be honest. I'm a food addict. I comfort eat and I eat when I'm bored. So this will be an ongoing battle for me. I know that if I were to eat pizza or fast food or a cupcake right now, I would fall right back into my old habits.

My goal is to go until June without anything to drink other than coffee and water and with no desserts. I also intend to cut back on processed foods as much as possible and I'm not eating bread or pasta until I get to my goal weight. I'm trying to cook my meals from fresh produce instead of eating frozen meals.

Well, friends, there you have it. I'm in a good place and feel healthier, but I have a long road ahead of me. I want to develop the habit of asking myself a question when I buy something or eat something this year "Do I need this?" If I can answer "yes", then I'll know it's ok. If the answer is "no", then I'm praying for the strength of the Lord to pass on it.

I'll try to update on here from time to time on my journey, and I promise to continue to be honest and not sugar coat anything! Here is to a healthy year!

My Honest Juice Fast Thoughts

My juice fast is over!!!!!!!!!!! If you could see me now, you would see a very happy lady drinking a cup of coffee for the first time in 11 days. My 10 day juice fast has been completed in full. I did not quit like I was so tempted to. And that my friends, is what I call success. I weighed this morning and lost .8 lbs so that brings my total weight loss in 10 days to 9.8 lbs. I absolutely cannot believe that I lost that much weight in such a short amount of time.

Before I get to my thoughts on this fast in hindsight, I want to just say.. I started this fast as a way to lose some weight, reset my body, to cleanse myself from the disgusting processed foods I've been gorging on, and to work on my food addiction issues. This was never intended to be a spiritual fast, but when you are a follower of Christ, you cannot ever fast without some sort of spiritual impact.  I definitely was able to finish this fast because of the help from my Comforter, the Holy Spirit. 

Now... on to my thoughts about juice fasting and the way I did things:

Going cold turkey into this type of fast is stupid. That's right. You heard me. I was stupid. My detox and withdrawal symptoms were horrible and it's simply because I didn't have the patience to make small changes over a month's time to prepare my body for this kind of thing. If you are thinking about doing a juice fast, I STRONGLY suggest you make small changes to eliminate things like sugar, caffeine, and processed foods out of your diet prior to juice fasting for a period of time. 

In my case, the weight loss was pretty incredible, but I also didn't drink the recommended amount of juice per day. Why? you ask... Because I hated drinking juice. I hated every minute of this fast. Every single minute. I would have quit but I just don't want to be known as a quitter. And I really wanted to give people an honest view of what this is really like. 

If you have acid reflux or GERD, prepare yourself because juices aggravate acid reflux symptoms at the beginning and you must stay away from citrus in your juices. If you have IBS, prepare yourself. This can cause poop issues. If I didn't have a work from home job, on this past Friday, I would have had to actually leave my job because of the poop issues. 

Now that you've heard the negative, I'll give you the positive. I lost a TON of weight. I feel cleaner. My stomach is flatter. I'm sleeping great at night. (all night without waking up even one time). I'm no longer addicted to caffeine. I am enjoying drinking water. I am craving the taste of fruits and vegetables. I've got a jump start to a more healthy lifestyle. 

So there you have it. That is my summary of my 10 day juice fast. I can't say I will ever do one of these again but I do intent to juice from time to time to help me get in more servings of fruits and veggies. If you have questions about this sort of fast and you want honest answers, comment below with your email and question and I'll get back to you. For those of you that have followed my blog, I appreciate it. It helped me stay on track and accountable. I may try to post updates on my "healthy diet" from time to time.

Adios. I'm off to eat some food. 

Day 10

Day 10 has finally arrived. The final day of my fast. Hallelujah. It's almost over. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I lost another lb!!. I'm down 8.8 lbs in 9 full fast days. That was an exciting surprise this morning.  Yesterday was another not so fun day in regards to the fast. I had a headache pretty much all day and had a few "fun" bathroom visits. I read that those are just more signs that toxins are being rid from the body during this sort of fast. I was unable to stomach much juice yesterday. My taste buds are just OVER juice. I seriously couldn't make myself drink it. I guzzled water yesterday afternoon and took more ibuprofen and was able to actually stay awake and watch a movie with Corey (my husband) last night.

This morning I woke up headache free and with a flat stomach (something I've hardly ever had in my entire life).
I'm so interested to see how much weight I put back on just from eating food and having food in my colon. I have heard to expect at least 3 lbs to go back on, but I'm hoping that as I continue to eat healthy that I will lose more lbs of fat and it will even out at least.

Tomorrow, I will write a summary blog to sum up my experience on the fast, what I've learned, and what I would do differently if I was doing this all over again. I hope that I can provide some helpful insight to those that might be considering a juice fast in the future.

SO- Stay TUNED

Day 9

It's day 9 of my juice fast y'all!!!! I'm down a half lb so my weight loss total so far is 7.8 lbs in 8 full fast days. I was hoping to be down 9 lbs by the end of this thing but I think I probably won't hit that expectation.
Great news is I had no more bad bathroom experiences yesterday!!! I tried to take it easy with what I put in my juices. We stayed pretty busy as a family and that was good because it didn't give me time to think about how much I was still craving food. It made me realize that my battle with food cravings isn't going to just go away because I juice fasted. This is going to be a battle I fight every day. When this thing is over and I go back to eating and chewing food, I'm going to have to find the control over myself and the resolve to decide if I'm eating because I'm bored or sad or happy or if I really need food at that time. Eating when I'm hungry instead of eating because it's "time" for breakfast or lunch or dinner.  Listening to my body and responding when it tells me it's hungry. NOT when it tells me it wants the taste of food.

This morning I woke up with a headache so I took some ibuprofen. I really needed a fruit juice first thing this morning but I didn't have time because we go to the early service and I had to get myself and Jonah ready for church and juicing takes a lot of time. I did drink a bottle of water before we went to church to try to hydrate myself some, but I still was very aware of how weak my body felt during the service without juice in it.
We are home now and I'm drinking a yummy fruit juice while I type this blog.
I juiced:

2 oranges
2 green apples
a bowlful of red seedless grapes
2 carrots
4 small cucumbers

This yielded about 30 oz of juice in my Breville juicer.

I've learned I don't like the taste of celery in my fruit juices but it is delicious in my veggie juices.
I plan on having a veggie juice a little later and heating it up like "soup", which has become one of my favorites. It's a good idea to start the day with fruits and end the day with veggies.

Tomorrow is the LAST FULL DAY of this juice fast. I cannot believe it is finally here. My coach said I should keep going but my answer to that was NOOOOOO WAAAAAAAY.
I'll fill you guys in tomorrow on what my plans are diet wise after this juice fast is over.  So stay tuned.

Day 8

It's the morning of day 8 in my juice fast. I am finding it hard to believe that at the end of today I will have gone 8 days of my life.... in a row... on just juice and water. That in itself is a miracle. Even on my cleanses that I've done in the past I've only ever done a water fast for one day at a time.
Day 7 of my fast went well for the first part of the day and started with lots of energy and no hunger. Then 2 o'clock rolled around and the diarrhea started. TMI right? Well, I promised an honest fasting blog and here it is. I went about 12 times yesterday. Liquid. Completely. No stomach pain. Every time I would drink something, 10 minutes later I would be in the bathroom. It made it very very very hard to do my work and I had a haircut scheduled last night so I was in a panic about what to do. It did seem that as long as I didn't drink anything, I wouldn't go. So that's how I spent a couple of hours.. just not ingesting anything. Last night when I came home, I made another juice with some fruits in it to try to rehydrate myself. And I decided that if I was still having diarrhea today I would have to stop just for health and sanity sake.

This morning, so far, no trips to the bathroom. Hallelujah. I did not lose anymore weight which is super surprising since I went to the bathroom so much! I did wake up with a slight headache, probably from being dehydrated so I'm going to drink a big ol juice here in a minute. Hopefully no trips to the bathroom will start after that juice!! It's made me nervous. HAHA


I bet you had no idea you were going to be reading a bathroom blog today. Well surprise and Happy Saturday. :) Stay tuned for more honest blogs to come.....

Day 7

Day 7 of my juice fast is here! I am getting closer and closer to the end and I'm finally officially over halfway finished. Yesterday was a really great day. I had a lot of energy for the first time in this fast. I was able to actually do my housework that had been piling up. I crashed about 6 pm last night and thought I was going to fall asleep for the night but I rallied and made it til 10pm before I was asleep.

I had some massive bloating happen yesterday with some stomach discomfort but it was just part of the process. When I woke up this morning, my stomach was so flat I was in shock. My pants are actually falling off  me today and I am down 1 more lb!!! 7.2 lbs down in my first 6 full fast days. That's pretty insane. Of course, when your intestines have NO FOOD IN THEM, there's nothing to bulk up your abdomen I guess.

Also, I'm not hungry at all. I had to make myself drink my juice yesterday and I probably didn't drink as much as I should have nutritionally, but my coach told me before I started to listen to my body. Drink when I'm hungry and if I feel like I don't want it, I don't have to have it. This fast really does teach you how to listen to your body. I feel much  more in tune with what it's telling me and I really want to keep that practice up even when I finish this fast.

I'm feeling motivated to continue healthy practices and I've been stalking pinterest and pinning tons of healthy ideas. It's kind of amazing how time consuming juicing is if you juice for every meal like I do. The whole process takes about 20 minutes every time I juice. There is the cutting up the fruit and vegetables and peeling what needs to be peeled. Then the juicing process. Then you have to clean your juicer every time, obviously. So, because of that, it really has shown me that I have time to cook during the day since I have had time to juice. That means more fresh foods in my diet instead of the processed junk I've been consuming for years.

Juicing is not for forever. It's a springboard for a healthy lifestyle and this is where I've struggled in the past. I can get through my fast or cleanse but I can't stick with making good food decisions afterwards. I'm praying for a real deliverance in my life in this area and I know that this is going to be a year of change for me in this area.

So I've rambled on long enough in this blog today, but I'm looking forward to what the last few days are going to bring.  Stay tuned.........

Day 6

It's the morning of day 6 of my juice fast. It's getting closer to the end. Actually technically I guess I'm halfway since it's the morning of day 6, but it helps me feel more excited by thinking I'm on the downside of the fast now. No weight loss from yesterday so still holding steady at 6.2 lbs lost.
I honestly don't have a ton to say about yesterday. I drank my juices and semi enjoyed them. (Which is better than the first four days of the fast). I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms or obvious signs of detoxing. My main issue was just cravings for food. Any food. Any taste of food.

And last night when I made Jonah's dinner he left three small bites of food on his plate. They called my name and I was home all alone and I ate them. It was probably food the amount of an ounce in weight but all the same, I caved. It was heavenly and terrible all at the same time. Honestly, it wasn't enough to destroy my fast but I was disappointed in myself. But I'm learning that it's all about getting back on the wagon. Today is a new day. You shrug your shoulders, shake it off, and press on.
Hopefully, now that I got that out of my system I can move on with even more resolve.


Off to juice, stay tuned.

Day 5

It's the morning of Day 5 of my juice fast. I'm down 6.4 lbs as of today. (that's after 4 full days of fasting)

Yesterday about 3 in the afternoon I started experiencing some lightheadedness. I think I can contribute that to the fast along with some hormonal things going on due to being a female (enough said). It sort of worried me because I've been drinking plenty of juice with plenty of greens in them and crushing the water drinking so, I don't think I've done anything wrong when it comes to the fast and what I'm consuming.  The lightheadedness went away but then last night I started having severe acid reflux and stomach cramps. The stomach cramps felt like a muscle cramping in my actual stomach. Not in my intestines. It was where my actual stomach is located. It was pretty painful but I drank some water and it settled down some.  I think I"m going to have to scale back on the citrus in my juices and also no more red cabbage for me. My stomach just doesn't like those fruits and vegetables. My brain still feels foggy and I have to reread what I'm typing about 10 times to make sure I'm even making sense.

I can't say that I'm consumed with a ton of energy this morning, but I have hopes that it is coming. Most detox symptoms are supposed to settle down by day 5, per what I've read. I obviously must have been pretty toxic.. LOL

On the spiritual side of this fast, I read a perfect verse yesterday that became my prayer for the day and night.

Psalm 40:17 The Passion Translation
"Lord, in my place of weakness and need, I ask again : Will you come and help me? I know I'm always in your thoughts. You are my true Savior and Hero, so don't delay to deliver me now for you are my God."

I prayed that prayer a lot yesterday. "Lord, will you come and help me?". And guess what? He did. Just like he always does. He gives strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. I'm trusting that He will give me the strength to finish what I started. He is always where my strength comes from. Because believe me.. when it comes to food I AM WEAK.

Stay tuned.. I'm believing for greater things on the other half of this fast.

Day 4

Today is the beginning of day 4 of my juice fast. I was down more weight this morning. I'm down a total of 5.2 lbs in 3 days. My pants are looser today so that's exciting! I slept amazing last night and woke up before my alarm went off. I feel like normal this morning. A little sleepy because I'm not drinking my usual morning coffee anymore, but I've pushed through the withdrawal phase pretty well (but I never would have made it without my support crew.. you all know who you are!! )

I'm currently drinking my morning green juice :

1 bunch of spinach
2 green apples
1/3 of a pineapple
1 long stalk of celery
1 small cucumber
and a hand full of purple grapes

Probably my favorite green juice so far but I still don't love the aftertaste of celery.

To fill you in on how the rest of day 3 went yesterday, I had a breakthrough about midday. I ended up breaking down and taking a 1/2 of a caffeine pill so I could make it through my work day. No kidding, 20 minutes after I took that caffeine pill, my headaches were gone. I felt like I could run a marathon. I know, I know.. some of you are thinking I cheated by taking that. Well.. I'm ok with that. I haven't had anything to eat at all and nothing to drink except my juices and water. So I feel ok with my decision.
I also had just a great day of spiritual refreshing. I feel like without the distraction of food in my life, it is bring a spiritual clarity that I haven't had in a while. More on that at the end of my fast though! I have a feeling I will have a lot more to say then
However, I will share the verse the Lord gave to me yesterday which was so symbolic because of the physical breakthrough I was experiencing as my hunger and withdrawal symptoms were easing.
Psalm 40:3 The Passion Translation
"A new song for a new day rises up in me every time I think about how he breaks through for me! Ecstatic praise pours out of my mouth until everyone hears how God has set me free. Many will see his miracles and they'll stand in awe of God and fall in love with him!"

I loved that so much. I really felt like he was putting a new song in my mouth for this new day as he was breaking through for me.

I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes today and pushing on through this process. 6 more days to go after today .. YAAAAAAAAY!!

Stay tuned...................

Day 3

Ugh. That word pretty much sums up how I feel. Quite frankly I'm tired of drinking juice already. Last night I was almost in tears. I wanted to quit. And I don't think I've been at that point in a fast/cleanse in a long time. So I reached out to my mom and some of my friends for encouragement. 

Just a word to anyone who is looking to do this for the first time, you MUST, and I repeat- MUST, have friends or a mentor or a coach or someone that can encourage you through the hard parts. Unless you have resolve of steel, you will quit. I would have quit last night if I hadn't had people to talk to and to talk me down and pray for me and speak truth into my life and situation.

 So, how do I feel today on the morning of Day 3? The Nausea is gone. I still have a headache and just took some ibuprofen for that this morning. I feel very foggy in my brain. I'm currently drinking my green juice. I am down another half a lb. So total weight loss for me in 2 days is 4.5 lbs. (all water weight of course). I would guess any weight loss from here on out is probably real weight loss. I had a real special moment with the Lord last night during a very weak moment. A friend gave me a word that came directly from the Holy Spirit because it spoke to me and shook me out of my pity party and complaining and grumbling. I think I'll share more about this later as God continues to speak to me during this fast, but I am meditating on one scripture now for this entire fast and I have it written on my calendar to look at while I'm working.

 John 6:35 "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. " Stay tuned......

Day 2

So .... before I get into how my morning started today for Day 2, I must fill in the rest of day one and how it went. To start with, I didn't get hungry until about 5 or 6pm yesterday. So 8 or so hours of juicing before the starving started. But the urge to put food in my mouth even when I wasn't hungry was insane. I would go by the pantry and open the door out of habit and then remember I'm juicing so no food for me. Then I would shuffle away disappointed and silently cursing myself for deciding to juice fast. I drank most of my juices in the morning or first half of the day yesterday and I think that I probably should have spaced them out some. Also, my lunch juice was a total fail. It was so disgusting I ended up having to chug it just to get it down. Lesson learned, not a fan of beets that are not pickled. I did drink a little bit of apple cider vinegar to help with my cravings. That has always worked for me in the past and it helped yesterday.

 This morning, I woke up with a headache and severe nausea. I managed to get myself to the bathroom and use the toilet then get on the scale. I was shocked and completely excited to see that I had lost 4 lbs in one day. Obviously, all water weight, but 4 lbs nonetheless. I called my mother to get some moral support and told her at least twice I wish I hadn't decided to juice fast. I sent some desperate texts to some friends asking for prayers to make it through this day. I ended up having to take some zofran and ibuprofen to manage the nausea and headache. The zofran worked so well and got rid of the nausea. The ibuprofen lessened the headache to where it is bearable. My brain feels foggy and I'm sure I'll have to come back and edit this when I'm thinking clearly again. My apologies for any rambling and misspellings. I've had one green juice this morning that was ok. I think I went overboard on the celery. I'm learning that it's trial and error on these juice fasts. Just because the recipe is on pinterest or in a juice book doesn't mean I will like the way it tastes. I will say that I'm not hungry at all today. The constant food postings on Facebook aren't even getting to me like they usually do when I diet. (And with the big 2017 Snow, there are TONS of food postings)

 I wrote down all the produce that I juiced yesterday and it was crazy. Here it is: 1 lb bag of kale whole pineapple 1 green apple 5 stalks of celery 2 large cucumbers 1 beet (including the greens attached) 1 bunch of spinach 13 carrots 3 medium sized tomatoes 1 inch of ginger root 1 lemon 2 oranges I also drank about 2 1/2 liters of water It's amazing how if you can just push through, you can accomplish things you never dreamed you were capable of. 9 more days to go. I can't wait to see what I feel like at the end of this journey.

Day 1

It's January 7, 2017 and it's day one of my very first juice fast. It's a Saturday and after much research and learning how crappy I'm going to feel, I decide to start on a weekend when we had a big snow and I could lay around the entire weekend if I needed to. I have read sooooooo much information and talked to friends that juice so I feel semi prepared for just how hard this is going to be. I'm using a breville juicer and used it for the first time today. I sort of made my own recipe and just went for it: A whole pineapple An entire bag of kale 2 celery stalks A large cucumber A medium geeen apple This yielded about 40 oz of juice The pineapple made it super tart and I have bad acid reflux and it burns a little. Hindsight made just half a pineapple next time. I was shocked at how little juice I got from the kale. The pineapple and the cucumber yielded the most liquid. So, I'm 16 oz in to my juice fast. My goal will be 5 16oz juice servings a day plus water. I can't wait to blog my updates. Stay tuned