So I didn't post for the last few days as we were having some computer problems, but I did manage to almost finish the juice fast. I say almost, because I didn't make the last juice on the last day of the fast. The juicer decided to malfunction, I think the computer started a rebellion. LOL!!
Thank goodness Costco has such a great return policy.

On day 4 I ended up having Sunny Citrus Beet juice and Kissed By the Sun juice. The Kissed By the Sun juice was not too bad, but the Sunny Citrus Beet juice was not good. It was so sour that it made me feel sick before I had even finished it. I ended up juicing some apples and carrots to add to it so I could stomach it.

On Day 5 I had the Spiced Apple and Carrot juice, and I enjoyed that one a lot. For these 5 days I lost absolutely no weight, I was doing better before the juice fast. I also didn't notice any of the other benefits that people were talking about. Since the juicer broke I decided not to replace it. It was more work for me, having to make juice for me and then a meal for everyone else. So I have decided to go back to what I was doing.

Back to just healthy eating. I am planning to make some muesli for breakfast, if it works out I will post the recipe.

Cheers!

Yesterday was day 2 of my juice fast and it went really well. I did have the Morning Tang juice again(and I made it right this time), and the Green Juice for Weight Loss.  The Morning Tang juice is really good when it is made correctly. LOL!! The Green Juice for Weight Loss was way too sour for me, but my daughter loved it. I think next time I would only use half a lemon in this one.

Today was day 3 and it went pretty good. I had a headache for part of the day and felt a bit run down. So hopefully tomorrow will be better. The juices I did today are Rainbow Summer juice and Sweet Blueberry Blast. I managed to follow the recipes for these without forgetting anything too. Yay me!!

The Rainbow Summer juice was alright, but if I did decide to make it again I think I would leave out the peach(it didn't seem to add much) and I would add a whole orange instead of half. The Sweet Blueberry Blast, on the other hand, was amazing!! It was delicious!!!  I will definitely be making it again.

For tomorrow, beets will be on the menu! A friend brought some by today for me to try. So, I am off to look through the recipes for a juice with  beets that tickles my fancy!

Cheers!!

Juice Fast

I have decided to do a juice fast!!!

So I signed up for the 5 day juice challenge on Joe Cross's site. The juice fast started on Monday but I started a day later because I didn't receive my juicer until Monday afternoon. I choose to do juicing for breakfast and lunch and then to eat a healthy supper. I was considering doing just juicing for the 5 days but since I have never attempted any kind of cleanse or fast before I thought this would be a bit easier on me.

So today was my first day of juicing and I made Stars and Stripes juice, yummy, plums and blueberries. It was delicious, but I think next time I will put less ginger in and I could probably add more greens because the fruit was really sweet. I also made Morning Tang juice, it was pretty good but I forgot to add the lemon, so I will be trying it again.

I thought I would feel really hungry through the day or maybe have a headache but I actually felt pretty good today. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good or better.

I think tomorrow I will try the Morning Tang juice again(and make it right this time), and the Green Juice for Weight Loss.

Cheers!!

First Weigh-in

So in June when I went in for my physical I weighed in and was 350lbs. I almost cried. I needed to fix this NOW!!!

I decided to start with small changes. Ones that I knew I could manage and I would wait for a few weeks between each change, so that I could make sure it had become a habit.

First change was to pay attention when I was eating, eat slowly, stop when I am done. Sounds easy enough, but to someone who was used to eating quickly and was taught to clean the plate, it was alot harder than it sounds.

As a mother of  5,  I was always rushing my meals so that I could deal with feeding the kids or getting them into the bath, or off to bed, school, etc,etc. I worked in a factory type job and I had a half hour in which to eat my lunch, change clothes, check-in with the sitter, etc, etc. Clearing the table and the kids left food on their plate and you eat those too, because you don't want to waste food, and it is only a bite.

It was hard and I had to be very intentional about it. I had to constantly remind myself to chew slowly, I used my left hand instead of my right for awhile(very awkward which = slow). I left at least one bite on my plate at every meal. After a couple weeks it became easier so I moved onto my next change.

Second change was to cut back on my sugar intake. I didn't eat a lot of junk food to begin with so I was looking for where the sugar might be hiding in my everyday meals, which meant reading a lot of labels.

We discovered that our regular tomato sauce had both sugar and salt added, so we switched to plain tomato paste. Bread, buns, wraps and pasta we switched to whole grain varieties. Not whole wheat but whole grain. We only bought granola type cereals but when we read those labels, we discovered more sugar, so we switched to oatmeal topped with fruit.

This change is going to be on going, I can't believe all the hiding places sugar has.

Last week I started working on adding more fruit and veggies. So far so good!!

Now to the weigh-in......................................

 335lbs

I have lost 15lbs this summer!!!

A New Beginning

I have struggled with my weight since I was in my twenties. It was just a slow gain, a bit more every year and every pregnancy.

Just before I turned 30 I weighed in at 220lbs, I decided I needed to get serious and get into shape. So I started working out and managed to lose 40 lbs. Woohoo!!

Then I found out I was pregnant again. I was thrilled!! During that pregnancy I gained back all the weight I had lost. I wasn't too upset because I had a beautiful baby girl to cuddle.

A few months later I started working out again, but the weight didn't seem to be coming off this time. I was extremely frustrated so I went to my doctor to see if we could figure out what was going on.

After a complete physical and lots of bloodwork they discovered my thyroid was the issue. It turns out I had Grave's Disease or an overactive thyroid. When the doctor told me I looked at him like he was crazy and said, "Umm, I think you are mistaken, I mean, HELLOOO, I'm fat." The doctor laughed at that, and then proceeded to inform me how that in a small percentage of people with Grave's Disease they will gain weight instead of losing it. WELL THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!

So over the next year they monitored my bloodwork and I continued to gain weight. The doctor finally decided that they needed to get rid of my thyroid, and they scheduled me to have the radiation treatment to kill it off. And I continued to gain weight.

After my thyroid was gone I really started to gain weight. This continued over the next few years while they tried to figure out the proper dosage was for thyroid replacement meds. Every three months I would get more bloodwork and then they would raise my dosage a little bit more.

 This year when I had my physical they adjusted the meds again, but they also discovered that my liver wasn't working properly. The liver problems are a direct result of all the weight I have gained.

I need to fix my health and that starts with losing weight.