[/caption]As I'm still learning how to use this blog site, I'm finally figuring out how to post pictures. I thought I'd put up the photo that inspired me to start this journey. It's from early Spring of this year, and those thighs were a big wake-up call. Also, I forgot to post my beginning stats from Day One of the 8-Week Challenge! I can't remember my measurements, but my weight was 194, and my body fat was 38.2% (I think). Yikes! The good news is I'm down nine pounds from the start of this blog, so although the progress is MUCH slower than I would prefer, it's progress nonetheless! Onward...
I'm obsessing about cheeseburgers and Cheez-its! The moment one of those two things pops into my head, which has been constantly the past two days, my salivary glands go into overdrive! Big, fat juicy cheeseburgers on ridiculously thick buns and the salty loveliness of crunching into those little orange crackers - I mean, HELLO! I'm guessing my latest "Junk Food Fantasy" (I have lots of them) is centered around burgers and crackers because I feel like I'm turning into a walking, talking plant. I'm carb-starved, meat-starved and sugar-starved, and I'm surprised I haven't had a complete breakdown. I've discovered the thing about the documentary that prompted this whole drama is that the people in it truly make it look easy. As if downing four 16 oz. glasses of pure vegetable torture a day is not the worst experience one can have, food-wise. Well, I'm here to tell you, it's pretty dang close.
Granted, I don't like vegetables. NOT. ONE. BIT. Even eating a salad is nightmarish for me, and my version of salad usually consists of lettuce, cheese, meat and ranch on the side into which I will virtuously dip the tines of my fork as if I'm saving a million calories. If I'm feeling really healthy, I'll down a low-sodium V8, and that pretty much covers my normal vegetable intake. I guarantee with this juice diet, I've had more vegetables in one day than I've probably had in the past two years. The morning meal is great because the juice is just different fruits and a little something extra like ginger or mint. I've started tossing a couple of handfuls of spinach into them and I can't even taste it. It's the rest of the day's lineup that reminds me I have an overactive gag reflex. For example, here's a dinner juice recipe: 3 large red beets, 2 medium carrots, 2 stalks celery, 4 plum tomatoes, 4 cups parsley, 1 jalapeno, and 12 red radishes. And that's one of the more tolerable concoctions! These vegetables are seriously unappetizing to me on their own, let alone combined together into a room-temperature drink of madness! I've been doing it but it has been extremely difficult - I have to hold my nose and chug water alongside the juice just to get it down! However, I have noticed that I feel pretty great. YES, I'M ADMITTING IT. There's a small possibility it's got something to do with the veggies...
The first few days are definitely sluggish, but I'm now at the end of Day Five and I know my body is changing. My engagement ring keeps slipping around my finger and I swear my wrists have gotten smaller this week! Now, to transfer some of the fat loss from areas I don't worry about to the over-abundance of areas I do worry about! Thighs, belly, etc. - c'mon vegetables, fix me! I did get to the point two days ago where I felt extremely sick and really wanted to quit, but I've been doing some pretty decent workouts while operating on a severe protein shortage. I decided to take Bo's advice and incorporate two eggs in the morning and 4 oz. of chicken or fish at night. I really wanted to be hardcore and just do the juicing, but after feeling so sick, biting into that first plain piece of chicken was like biting into Heaven. A Heaven made of chicken!
The good news is I'm still in. Still sticking to it and not quitting. All I have to do is make it through next Friday and I'm done. It will technically be an 11-day cleanse by then, but I can do it. My kitchen smells like a compost pit and we have more than our fair share of fruit flies meandering about, but so far it really has been worth it. It's expensive and time-consuming to prepare, but today I'm wearing a pair of jeans I haven't fit into since January. It's little victories like that which will keep me chugging 'til I can chug no more!
Six more days. Six more days. Six more days.
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