Post Fast One Month

Almost a month has passed since the juice fast ended.  So far I’ve been able to get to the gym 3 – 5 times a week since I went back on food, and definitely the muscle mass is coming back.  Slowly, but then I didn’t have much to start with

It would be safe to say my energy levels are just now getting back to pre-fast normal.  That was probably the biggest surprise of the whole experiment – how hard it was to keep my energy up.  I’ve been doing protein powder most every day, and back on my normal vitamins, so it feels things are pretty well rounded again.

All that “newfound willpower” I had during the juice fast waned pretty fast however.  Back to the same old grind of struggling to keep my food intake down to reasonable levels.  But since I lost 18 pounds during the fast, now I’m working at a much lower weight than I was before I started.  So that is a huge plus.  It is most pleasing to report that I’ve lost another 3 pounds since the fast ended almost a month ago, so there is proof that you don’t have to gain all that weight back just because you lost it quickly.  I’m now down -41 pounds since I started trying to lose weight 6 months ago.  Not bad!

Best of luck to any of you who chose to undertake a juice fast.  After completing the full cycle, I can say without reservations I’m glad I did it.  And I will do it again one of these days I’m sure.  The positives FAR outweigh any of the small inconvenience.

Good luck, and most important, good health.

–Douglas

Post Fast Day Three

Today is Thanksgiving day.  I’ve so much to be thankful for that’s certain.  Feeling very good now after the third day of reintroducing chewable food.  Not quite as tired as I have been, and not as cold either.  Seems my circulation system is kicking back in again.  And I’ve lost another pound to boot since the juice fast ended on Monday.  Of course I’m not really eating much since it seems my stomach did shrink a lot.  That’s a good thing.

So I think at this point it’s safe to say this has been a wonderfully successful experiment.  I’ll stay on mild food for the rest of the week… mostly just raw fruits and vegetables.  This Sunday night will be my first but long craved sushi dinner, and next Monday my first Power Bar for breakfast.  Woot!

See you back here on the 17^th of December for a final, month after check in.  Thanks for reading.

Post Fast Day Two

Yesterday was a 750 calorie day in total, and I felt full all the time.  I couldn’t believe it.  Today I’m eating about the same, VERY small portions because I’m just plain full after a few bites.  But today I am noticing a bit more hunger between meals.  Overall through I feel even better today, with some more energy slowlyyyyyy coming back.

It’s time for me to focus on the new found concept that one doesn’t have to eat just because you think you might be a bit hungry.

Post Fast Day One

It would be impossible for me to describe the luscious sensation of that first bite of cantaloupe this morning. But I quickly realized my planned breakfast (truly break-fast in this case) of ½ fresh melon and 3 oz. of tofu was way more than I cared to eat in one sitting. So most of the cantaloupe was saved for a mid morning snack. Sweet!

On and off over the past week or so I’ve had slight leg cramps, and yesterday I developed deep muscle aches in both legs. Nothing debilitating but not really very comfortable. Joslyn is a co-worker, friend, health and nutrition guru who because of her own experiences knows more about how food connects with the body than just about anyone else I know. She easily identified my significant lack of potassium as the cause of that, so I’ll boost up my intake this week of bananas, lima beans, tomatoes, fresh apricots (ohhh that last one will be a tough, lol)

Feeling good today, bringing the digestion system back up nice and slow with simple fruit and vegetables and a special mild vegan root veggie soup.

Day Thirty (Final Target)

A royal experiment concludes the first phase.  With a lot of help and support from some great folks, foremost my lovely bride, I made it the full 30 days without any kind of misstep from the strict 3 glasses of juice a day and nothing else.  I’ve lost 18 pounds since I started this juice fast, 38 since I started dieting in July.  I’m proud of that, especially because it wasn’t easy.  Never is I guess.

Other than the first week when I experienced a dramatically heightened sense of smell, I’ve not really noticed any other movement toward Enlightenment.  But having the physical body this much lighter is a pretty interesting feeling in itself.  And who’s to say what kind of healing may have taken place deep on the inside.

After reading as many accounts about others doing this same thing, I was surprised how hard the juice fast was.  I never felt it gave me more energy, in fact was fairly tired most days.  I rarely felt the absence of hunger, although it did come and go and lots of times when it really wasn’t an issue.  But it was there far more than I expected. 

Have you ever stayed up all night, and then noticed how the next day you feel detached from the world because you are in a different place emotionally?  I had similar feelings a lot this month… that was maybe the most interesting thing for me to be aware of.  When you don’t eat in this society, you definitely are in a different place.

At the beginning of this post I called this the end of phase one.  Phase two will be watching my reentry the next few days back into the world of Those Who Chew Food.  For the upcoming three days I’ll blog that so you can see how it goes.

And the third phase – probably the most important – where will I be a month from now.  There is no question some of this weight loss is muscle tone that will come back as I eat and go to the gym.  But the bigger concern is can I use this newfound willpower to keep from falling back into bad eating habits and maintain or even lose some more weight in a more traditional fashion.  If you’re interested, after the post-fast entries I’ll do through Thursday this week, come back in a month (17 December) and I promise I’ll do one final update to this blog to let you know.

Seems a person can do almost anything if they just set their mind to it!

Day Twenty Nine

When this is over, and my body has fully readjusted to the eating, chewing, and digesting world, the first regular meal I am going to have is sushi.  If there is any food I’ve been craving for most of this whole fast, its sushi.  And as odd as this is, the other food I miss as much as anything is my morning PowerBar.  I love those things.  You know me and Lance Armstrong are close like that.

Tomorrow is the last day.. WOOT!

Day Twenty Eight

Early on I read that citrus is some of the hardest juice for the body to process.  So other than that ¼ lime I toss into so many juices, and a brief experiment with pumellos (mercy those things are odd) I’ve avoided all other types of citrus.  Carrots seem to have the nod as the highest sugar content of all the vegetables, so I use them only once in a while to fill up the juice glass.  Everyone agrees that apples and bananas are the two sugar baddies from the fruit world, so for me they stay in the store’s produce section.  Unloved, untouched, and unwanted….poor things.

Day Twenty Seven

One thing I had no idea starting out was the quality of produce needed to make 16 oz. of juice.  Certainly it varies by what kind of juicer you have, size and ripeness of the fruit and vegetables, etc.  But here are some recipes I’ve done that gave me about a full glass:

_{+++++++++++++++++++++}
1 sweet potato
3 green onions
¼ squash

_{+++++++++++++++++++++}
½ cantaloupe
3 small plums
14 small mango strips

_{+++++++++++++++++++++}
handful of spinach
4 carrots
2 sweet potatoes
1 small tomato

_{+++++++++++++++++++++}
1 rutabaga
1 sweet potato
cup of broccoli
handful of chopped onions

_{+++++++++++++++++++++}
small colander of spinach
cup of broccoli
1 heart of romaine
1 bell pepper
3 green onions

_{+++++++++++++++++++++}
2 peeled pomegranates (arils only)
cup of grapes

Day Twenty Six

Funny how things like your taste buds change after a fast like this.  Today I had pears and grapes (juice of course) for breakfast.  It was so sweet I didn’t really enjoy it.  And this from a guy who three weeks ago could have wolfed down a King Size Hershey Bar without giving it a second thought????  Sadly I’m sure those cravings will return when normal food does.  But for now I think I’ll stick with cantaloupe and other less sweet fruits in the morning.

Better energy this week, although I still go to bed early.  That idea of getting a few hours of sleep a night could catch on… I wonder if anyone else has tried it. 

Day Twenty Five

One change I wasn’t expecting was the major shift in my body temperature comfort level.  I’ve always been the “hot water bottle” of the family, but now I’m cold so much of the time.  It could be because I’ve been peeling off layers of insulating fat.  Or it could be with the reduced calories my circulation has slowed down as well.  Will be able to tell more after I go back to eating.

But for now, Carol just smiles when I pull on my huge wool socks before I crawl into bed, then tucks me in with an extra blanket.