Week 2 Juicefeast: Weightloss and Eating

This weeks's fruit bowl (I've already made a dent in it, it was fuller than this) Also have the fridge full and freezer has frozen mango and berries

Monday's menu

It's Week 2, and despite a blip on Sunday I'm doing fantastic this second week. Sunday was a free day. The first bite of mushrooms and toast was a little strange after six days of nothing but juice and smoothies. I ate a lot less than what I usually would, and was actually craving fruit, rather than cooked food when it was my designated day off. I wasn't having anything too bad until it got to dinner time and we had palak paneer. Oh my.... within 20 minutes my sinuses were blocked, I had to keep blowing my nose and clearing my throat. My tummy did not thank me for the foreign matter and consequently Sunday night wasn't a terrific sleep. Cheese is definitely a no no for me (not that I eat it often as we eat predominantly vegan). After having such clean food clearly dairy is not a substance I should ingest! You would have thought I would have learnt by now I cannot digest dairy, but no! I wonder if I have finally learnt my lesson?

Yesterday was much better, I had 4 litres of juices starting with mango, carrot, and pineapple; then beet, celery, and orange; a smoothie of bananas and greens, and strawberry, blackberry, and pink grapefruit. Today I made my juices, but wasn't hungry until about 11.30 when I had watermelon, orange and beet juice. I did have two cups of green tea when I woke up, but I don't believe in eating if you don't feel hungry, so I didn't. 

Workouts: Quite a lot of the material I've read doesn't recommend intense workouts while juicing. But I feel I have so much energy I really wanted to workout, and since I'm also doing smoothies I didn't think it was a bad thing. I started running again last week after a two week hiatus. I do interval running using Yuri Elkaim's Treadmill Trainer. Yuri's programs are very achievable whatever level fitness you are at and I get results quite quickly. I love having someone in my ear encouraging me the whole way through and watching the time for me. It's like having a personal trainer on your iPod!

Normally when starting after a break I jog the first three phases of increasing intervals at speed 7, and drop to a 6.5 for the last four minute interval (its meant to be light jogging so this is reasonable when you start running again). Last week, first time back on the treadmill and I was running at an 8 the whole way. I wasn't even breathing heavy, and felt like I could do the workout all over again. I didn't, pushing too hard is not a good idea!! The next day I ran at a 9 for the first three phases, and dropped to an 8 for the last phase! I'm not sore, and it felt pretty amazing. Fruit is definitely my optimum fuel, and juicing agrees with me. Beetroot juice two hours before a workout seems to give the best performance. Beetroot juice is supposed to be good for blood flow, maybe that's why?

Weight loss: After two weeks, one eating mainly raw, and last week's juicefeast I have lost exactly 6kg. I've also lost 2 1/2 inches off my bust, and 2 inches off my navel. The Beloved has told me my tummy is looking flatter which is fantastic. Maybe I can get into that bikini again when we have holidays in February :)

Day 5 Juicefeast & A Life Without Kev

As I sit here and type, green juice in hand, I can scarce believe I've made it 5 days without Kev.  I'm not talking about Kevin Rudd here folks (although believe me, with Tony at the helm of our government I'm missing Kev as well) , I'm talking about a cuppa tea. When I planned this juice feast I said to the Beloved "I can't give up tea!" Actually, I didn't really say it, more like wailed it while waving my arms about as if I was guiding a plane to land. The thought of doing without my most beloved of beverages was daunting. But I really wanted to cut out everything to give my body a break and a chance to do some healing. So I bit the bullet, and went cold tofurkey. From everything that I had read about juicefeasting, the third day is supposedly the worst. No, no, no, no, no. The second was the worst for me - I was sleepy, headachey, getting cravings, and where for the love of kale was a bloody cup of tea? I stuck it out with peppermint tea instead, and took a nap. 

The third day was much better, I was feeling clearer, my lips which had been very dry and cracked the previous week due to some dry weather had totally healed up overnight. I can't explain it, they've never healed that quickly before. The pain in my feet which I've been having for the last couple of months when I first get up was about half as bad as usual. By this morning, I could actually walk almost properly instead of hobbling about like a granny for a few minutes.

I've been drinking between 3-4 litres of juice daily, as well as water and herb tea. I made it a point to have each juice a different colour and incorporate as many different fruits and vegetables as possible.  I made the decision that I needed at least one of my 1 litre drinks to be a smoothie rather than just juice as I believe I need the fibre, so I've also been having a banana or two in my green. I started today with a beetroot based juice with watermelon, grapefruit, and orange  - my head feels very clear and I'm off to the gym later for my first run in two weeks. We'll see how that goes as I've just finished a kale, celery, and banana smoothie. I have an avocado and asparagus smoothie with orange juice for after the gym, and I will slurp my mango, carrot, and orange juice tonight while the Beloved has his Friday pizza (he isn't doing this with me).

I'm feeling very proud that I've managed to keep this up all week, AND make the Beloved his dinner without falling into temptation. I think my will is rock hard at this point, so making a pizza isn't going to phase me, as I'm feeling full most of the time, and actually craving my next juice when I'm feeling hungry.

Weightloss? I have lost some, but I'm refraining from jumping on until Monday when I can have a 7 day assessment and get out the tape measure as well. Next week I will phase into mostly smoothies, as I personally think juicefeasting continuously isn't good long term, but it is a great way to jumpstart. We need that fibre!

Anybody else juicefeasted before, or doing one at the moment?