It’s Day 6 today officially but lets back up 1 day.
Day 5: Thursday. Feeling good! I’m feeling better every day compared to that first horrible day. .5 lbs weight loss but feeling good and rested. I asked my co-worker what she thought I was like. (I had heard that people are really irritable or not so great mood the first 3-4 days). She said I seemed like I was dragging before and actually kind of sad. That seems to sum it up for me. I couldn’t pinpoint how I had been feeling at that time. It was like everything was foggy and dull to me. I think I did mourn the loss of food. It’s funny but I wanted to chomp on something but a really good fruit would be just as amazing as a brownie right now and that is not normal for me! It’s like my brain is re-training how I think because this process is so dramatically different. I gotta say though that I did find it hard to focus all week at work. I was forgetful and unmotivated. I felt all my motivation was the juice and that’s all I could talk about!
Yesterday was much better but I was feeling pretty full. I mean to say I felt good with not being hungry BUT my body said I was getting constipated. Its the blender! I’m drinking too much fiber. Whereas the juicer spits out the pulp, I had been ingesting it. I decided to follow my sister’s advice and strain my juice last night. The kitchen and I became better acquainted when the kids went to bed. We didn’t have a strainer but I found an alternate.
Straining blended food: Using a metal steaming basket (the cheap kind found at the grocery store in kitchen supplies) and putting on a very large pitcher in the sink, I set to work. I scooped out large serving size spoonfuls at a time and slopped them on the basket. The tricked worked but was a constant mess on the basket. After pressing in a bit to get the juice out of it I then chucked it in a large glass nearby. I experimented with a 1/2 recipe of “Mean Green” recipe that I hadn’t tried yet. It looked like I would normally get 2 servings. By the time I finished measuring the liquid it yielded 16 oz! This was much easier to drink and I gulped don an easy 8 oz but still felt too full for a total of 16oz. The fact that I had been drinking the left over pulp was telling my brain to stop. I was full and it made me sick to think about it. I started thinking that I had 4 days of this still in my system. No wonder I was low on weight-loss and felt super full!! So I spend the evening straining the drink already in the fridge and then the ones I made that night. A regular juicer is now on my wish list. Until Mr. Budget says so we’ll be straining. I mixed up a drink last night before bed of a 1/2 cantaloupe and 1/2 pineapple. I figured pineapple was a diuretic so it should help me. Sorry everyone, TMI but hey you wanted to know how this diet is if you are still reading! Since it was now hours (seriously) later I drank 16 oz of the fruity juice and crashed.
Day 6: I woke up this morning feeling grand and saw I’m at a 12.5 lb loss! Okay so 1 pound is better than none. Maybe the 8oz of strained Mean Green was the trick! I gulped down more of my fruity drink and packed my drink for the lunch. The day is not over yet but the one drink last night & lunch, coupled with the two pineapple cantaloupe drinks, have been working. I’m looking forward to seeing the scales in the morning.
My first goal is to make it to 10 days. Based on what happens this weekend I may go for 15 days or longer but I’ll definitely have to get a juicer.
Here is the Mean Green recipe version I did. This is half the normal recipe and extra lemon. Next time I’ll try lime:
1/2 bunch of kale
2-3 stalks of celery
1/2 cucumber
1 granny smith apple
1 lemon (peeled leaving some white)
ginger root (fingertip size, not thumb)
Thanks for tuning in. JUICE ON!