Day 16

I survived my first social outing! It was hard and weird but it went well! I was super prepared for this and I knew I would not break a sweat.

We went to the Beard and Mustache National Championship in Austin, Texas last night. Before we had left I made sure I stuffed myself with juice. I also pre-juiced and packed my juice and water for my to have before we went in. When we arrived at 6pm I was still stuffed. We walked around and long and behold I found a pizza place called " Hoboken Pizza". We all know NJ/NY has the best pizza. I have yet to find a place down here that the pizza doesn't taste like cardboard. Well this pizza place was from Hoboken, NJ. Wow! I went in just to look and smell. I asked the guy behind the counter why is it called Hoboken Pizza and he said that the owners are from Hoboken NJ. He then offered me a slice. My mouth was watering. I said I was just looking. The pizza looked great. On the way out, I caught a glimpse of a sign that offered Vegan Pizza as well there... hmm... that sparked my interest as well.

We walked to the place that the competition was taking place. My boyfriend and room mate has a beer. I had water. The beer did not smell or look good to me which I was happy about, however, the guy sitting next to us at a table was eating a delicious looking and smelling burger. My sense of smell now is out of this world. I can smell ingredients in everything. It was 730 now and the hunger pain had strikes. Wow, I was starving. I asked the boys if we could go to the car so I could have my dinner. They are so supportive these two, its amazing. Every time they eat they say you don't want this, it isn't as great as it looks. We went to the car immediately and I began to drink my green juice. The security of the parking lot was strolling around ad I was scared they were going to think I was drinking liquor. I decided if they wanted to smell it they were more welcome, heck they could try it too! Get them on the juice train. They didn't ask though. After that we went into the competition and had a blast.

I realized in any social gathering, there is food involved. No matter what! Think about every single time you get together with people. You eat. Even if you invite people over to watch a movie, guaranteed someone will have a drink in their hand or something they are eating while watching the movie. I was glad I prepared for that outing.

Tonight we are having friends over for a game night and a BBQ. Yup, I will not be eating. I feel more powerful and more disciplined then ever before. I have control over what I am eating and what I decide to put into my body. I am in control. I win. It feels great. We or they are having BBQ chicken and burgers with mash potato and corn. I am having Mean Green with a side of... Mean Green. My friend said " I wish you could eat with us" I said, " I am eating with you, just in liquid form." You just cant give in to social pressures of food. If it is there, you do not have to eat it. No one is making you eat mozzarella sticks or pizza because everyone else is eating it. You make the choice. It is your body.

My moon has been interfering with this detox for sure. I am STARVING all day. I need a lot of juice to keep me satisfied and I realize this is only temporary. I am having a hard time with the OJ in the morning during this time. I have OJ every morning but during this time it is spiking my sugar levels then dropping them dramatically. I think I may have to lay off the OJ until my moon is over. I am trying to juice  ton of Kale to keep my iron up because I am feeling anemic. All of the research I have done says you have less cramping and all of this other stuff. Not for me. the cramps are beyond comparison of other months. I am getting 10-11 hours a sleep a night and I am just not a happy camper. This is temporary and shall pass. I will not let this time slow me down or let me give up.

I cannot believe I went 17 days so far. I am so proud of myself. This is something I knew I could do but it actually feels amazing to have done it.

As I have mentioned I am not weighing myself this week as it is inaccurate and I don't want to be discouraged! I will weigh myself starting next Saturday again.
Happy Juicing xoxo-Nicole

Day 15

I've been on an orange kick lately. Craving oranges all day and night. Today is my halfway mark!!!!! 15 more days! Im pumped I made it this far. Today I am lounging around. We are heading to Austin soon and I plan on packing my juice to bring. If the guys want to stop and eat Im cool with it. I can now be around people eating and it doesn't bother me however,the smell of food is intense. I can smell ingredients in condiments. Its insane. I am excited to be able to eat solids again. I think ny taste buds are more geared to vegetables now. I think anything with flour will taste like cardboard.  Last night my boyfriend had cookies and cupcakes and I had 0 interest in them. Today my juicing has been off. Its girl time so I am being affected differently although I had no food cravings before it (which I always have and eat. One time a are 1 candy bar everyday for 5 days) true story. gross. I have had hardly any cramps but im tired. surprise surprise. Juicibg is now just a part of life. I won't weigh myself right now because its not accurate so I will weigh again in a couple days. My cravings have been salad with turkey and cheese chunks avacado bacon tomato cucumbers and ranch dressing. Maybe paired with soup.
Happy Juicing!!

Day 12 and 13

As you have noticed I have begun to blog every other day. I have a busy bee and hadn't had a chance to blog anything yesterday. Everything has been working great and I feel great too! I have worked out a juicing schedule that works like I am teaching. I have noticed I cannot have too many carrots or pineapple, it really messes my stomach up. I love pineapple juice for sure but I guess it is to harsh on my stomach because of the sugars in it. I have to juice leafy veggies in order to feel full.

Since juicing can be pricey, I have set a budget of 30 bucks at Sam Club for the week. This is going to be really difficult but I know I can do it. I do not want to stop juicing before the 30 days because of money so I will make this work.

Juicing has interrupted my social life for sure. I cannot eat solids or drink alchol so I can not attend any BBQs or go out with friends right now. It stinks but they all understand and Id rather not be the party pooper at events. The new skinny me will join them afterwords.

Today I weighed myself and I was a half pound up because it is the time of the month. It was sad but I know it is just water retention. It's enviable. I decided not to weigh myself again until a week before I am done juicing so I don't get sad when I see my weight go up and down. I want consistency.

I have noticed I have been tired on this detox. I have heard of a lot of people saying they have energy but I believe it is all in how your eating habits were prior to this detox. I ate low carb and was a relatively healthy eater. This fat I am loosing is previous stubborn fat I needed gone. I think the people who get energy are the ones who eat garbage and switched to this. I'm not sure though. I get about 10 hours of sleep a night! Ahhh~ well... 17 more days!!

Current Weight- 190 lbs
Weight lost- 13.8 lbs
Craving- Chinese food
Mood- tired

Days 10 and 11

Sorry I did not get to post yesterday. I had a very busy day and before I knew it, I was in bed.

Yesterday was day 10! I cant believe I ave made it this far!! I had my normal Mean Green for the day and I lost another 1.4 lbs!

Today is day 11. I woke up today feeling energetic. I woke up before my alarm. I took a nice hot shower. I juiced my OJ for my morning drive and had a great morning. Today's juice was terrible but I drank it anyway. You know when you have just leftovers and you throw them together to make a meal? That was my juice for the day. I had a mixture of everything. It wasn't that great. I have been having OJ in the morning, green juice for mid morning and lunch and a fruit at night. I know  shouldn't have the fruit at night but it is helping me get through this. I haven't gained or stopped loosing any weight from it, so I think it is ok. I lost another pound today. I am a total of 12.6 lbs today. Its unreal how the weight just drops off. I am going to start running tomorrow. I was supposed to start yesterday but this week has been hectic. I am staring to slim out. I have had many people tell me and I can tell in the mirror, however, I feel like everything is slimming into my mid section. The flat tire expression is holding true in my midsection. I feel that was there the whole time but was covered by other fat so I didn't notice it as much. I hope that is next to go! I started a new thing that when I see food I ask myself " Does this have nutritional value?" If yes, then I can eat it. If not, then I will find something else. For example, mac n cheese..no value. Salad... value.

Today I put on  a pair of comfy pants that were tight on me and not flattering. Today they are loose and my butt actually has room to breathe in them! It is nice to have a boost of confidence and feel like I am making progress! I have been looking up recipes for when I get ff of this detox and I have found substitutions for food that I would make once in a while. For example, cauliflower for pizza crust. It is a long process to make the "crust" bu it will be worth it. I will mostly be eating salads, fruits, and vegetable for sure.  I look forward to buying another size down jeans soon!

Happy Juicing!

Current Weight- 191.4lbs
Weight lost- 12.6 lbs
Mood- Happy, confident
Cravings- Mexican food

Day 9

Sometimes on this detox you have your up days and you have your down days. Today, was a down day for me. I have been wanting solid food all day long. I have been grouchy, irritable, and starving. I have thought about a nice turkey and cheese sandwich with spicy mayo with lettuce and tomato. I have thought about home baked macaroni and cheese. The kind you put in an oven. I have though about how today is Sunday. It is like national food day because everyone is all cozy on Sundays with loved ones eating food. Here I am drinking juice, pity party for table of 1 please. I cleaned out the cabinets today to get my mind off everything. I reorganized it and it didn't bother me to see all the food. I then did the fridge. I got rid of all the condiments but once I stared seeing BBQ sauce and my favorite mustard, I was in a stink. I started questioning myself to why I started this or why I feel like I have no self control. I have proven to myself that  I do have self control and now I am making the association between wanting food or being actually hungry. I blame it on being Sunday and being bored. During the week I am fine because I am at work and have no time to think about it because I am busy with the kids. On the weekends I enjoy every second relaxing and doing nothing. However, I think I am going to start being busy. I sat outside today and read, I watched movies, I watched my room mate empty oil out of his pan ( yes I was that desperate to keep entertained), I complained and complain and complained about being hungry to my boyfriend. I did all of this to keep my mind off of food. I juiced my normal 4 glasses today and this is what I blame it on. PMS.

Yes. the dreaded PMS. Now, if your a guy reading this, feel free to exit and wait until tomorrow's post. Ill see you then. .... Ok, now since the guys are outta here, let me continue. So every woman knows PMS stinks sucks. During this time, I want food. A lot of it. I want sweets and when I want it. I can house tacos like you've never seen during this time. I am like a freight train barrelling down at 100mph with steam blowing out of my engines and I'm ready to plow anything in my path. I remember when I was 10 my friends mom always wore this shirt that said "I got PMS and a hand gun. Any questions?" I never knew at a young age what that meant. Now I need to borrow that shirt. My hormones are out of control and I want solids. I thought Valentines Day was hard, think again. This will be the hardest week thus far. I can feel it already. I was so close to saying "Just a little lunch meat wont hurt" YA RIGHT. I just needed to go away from the kitchen.

I have done some research and apparently, if you have bad cramping usually, while you are fasting there are no cramps. Ill report that to you and let you know.

Well today is a wrap. I want a hot shower and bed. It's 6pm. Remember you have ups and downs. Not everything is always gravy. They didn't say it was going to be easy, they just said it was going to be worth it.

Week 1 Photos

Here is Week 1 of my Face Photos! On the left is day 1 and on the right is day 8. I look miserable on day 1 because I was. ( excuse my unde eye baggage and tiredness) I will reveal body photos on day 30 but will do other photos every week! Keep coming back to check for inspiration!

Day 8

4"Let the food by thy medicine"- Hippocrates

Phew! The past 2 days were rough! The stomach bug took a lot from me. I really wanted crackers or soup but I knew I couldn't do it. That was really hard fighting through that with just juice. I did it though. I just told myself I had no choice.

Now that the bug is gone, today I have lost yet another pound! I know that I will not lose as much as time goes on, I think it will start to slow soon. Some of the research I looked into, the people lost a pound everyday but they were much heavier so I guess we will see how many I can lose. My goal is 30. I figure 10 lbs is water and the 20lbs will be fat.  The fear I have is that I will stop this detox and begin to eat (healthy) and I will gain everything back. If I eat super healthy and really watch what I am putting in my body I believe I will gain only 10lbs back (which will be water)

Today we went to the food store. I wanted to try a new beet recipe a friend had given me. Thanks Diane! In the food store, I actually felt overwhelmed by the food that was out. I have never felt this way before! I just felt consumed by meat, bread, sweets, cheese and sushi. We did go to a bigger store with a great selection of produce but I felt like an alcholic in a liquor store. I am still not sure why I feel this way.

Today for lunch I juiced beets,apples,celery and cucumber. ( recipe at bottom) It was good. I love beets from a can but they have so much sodium in them. I used to eat boiled egg whites and beets as a snack thinking I was healthy. The carb count and sodium count is terrible.  I do like the recipe. It is sweet. I heard the beets are cleansers so be careful how much beets you use. They also turn your pee red.

I took pictures of me on Day 1 and Day 8 to see my progress in a bikini. You can defiantly see a difference. At the end of this blog I will post my day 1 picture and my day 30 picture. I also measured myself and I am down 2 inches in my thighs, my waist and 1.5 inches around my calf. I hated my calfs. If I can get those where I want them I will be happy. I haven't been working out because I did not want to overdue myself at first but starting this week I will be do running and some light lifting.

I am no longer craving a bunch of food but I am still craving meat. I suppose I am a meat eater at heart but I guess we will see how I feel at day 30. If at Day 30 I want meat, I will go back to eating low carb. If I have no interest in meat, well I guess this girl is becoming a vegetarian. I never thought I would say that but I could give it a try. I do love veggies!

My sense of smell is ridiculous now with food. My boyfriend was cooking rice last night and I mentioned how good it smelt and he said he couldn't even smell it. Today he made coffee and I could smell the beans. He also made bacon and it smelt divine but he said he couldn't smell it either. I believe it is because he is used to eating these things on an everyday basis. Since I took everything out of my diet my sense of smell heightened.

I have had a lot of people interested in juicing and also a alot of people saying they want to do it but rather make excuses to why they cannot. It is so silly. I used to do the same thing though but I suppose those people don't know how strong they really are.

Current Weight- 194.2lbs
Total lost- 9.6 lbs
Mood- content
Craving- Chefs Salad with ranch dressing
Recipes USed:

Just Beet It ( I made this title up)
1/2 beet
4 beet leaves
4 inch cucumber
1 small red apple
3 celery stalks