I have made it to Day 3 :)

Well, I have made it to Day 3 and I have to say, it has not been that easy.  Day 1 was OK, made it through the day with ease until dinner time rolled around.  By then I was getting hungry, like seriously hungry, and decided to make a tomato based juice thinking it would be heartier. I was so wrong.  It was like bitter tomato water and was awful and made me want to cry, but I drank one cup since I had made it, and then rewarded myself by juicing some watermelon and drinking it over ice, that was super yummy.

Yesterday I had a good start, had a fruit juice for breakfast (apples, carrots, berries, clementines) and a good hearty green juice for lunch.  By dinner, again, I was starving but Ryan was taking Gray to a cub scout thing and promised to bring me a smoothie (no yogurt, no sugar) which I was so excited about since it included the whole fruit which meant it would be more filling, so I held off on making any juice.  They ran late and I was actually in tears when I though the place would be closed, but it wasn't, and I got my smoothie and it was delicious!

Today I have had my tea and I am drinking some straight watermelon juice for breakfast.  I am going to have a salad for lunch (organic greens, carrots, jicama, cucumber and avocado) which I am looking forward to since I want to chew something, and with that I will have a green juice (just one cup, not two like I usually have) and then dinner tonight will be juice based again.  Tomorrow will be the same routine as today.

I am happy with my progress and comfortable with adapting things as needed.  For me, all juice all the time doesn't work so I am adding the salad a day early.  I don't drink enough juice, only about 32 ozs max, so I feel like I need more to keep going and not crash. I also want to be able to chew food, so the addition of the salad will help.  Thankfully, I have come to the point where I am adding stuff back in slowly and will only do straight juice days a few times a week moving forward.

This has been a good journey thus far.  I am down about 7 lbs in the two days, but a lot is probably water weight, we will have to see.  My plan is to switch to a long range eating plan, so the initial weight loss is nice, but just a bonus.

I also have not been extra crabby...big bonus for my family!

God help my family

So I decided that once PT school was over, it was time to attack my lifestyle and make room for exercise, stress relief and better food choices.  We already make a lot of good choices in what we buy, such as organic, local, hormone free, etc, but I want to go a few steps further for myself.  I bought a juicer awhile back and have been experimenting since I planned to do a short juice fast before introducing all the changes.  The juice fast will help reset my body, get rid of toxins and eliminate cravings that can destroy a new diet plan, so that is what I am doing.  I am starting the juice fast today, that means that from today through Wednesday I will only drink juices that I make here at home with good, healthy produce.  I will also have a few cups of green tea a day since it is good for balancing the body, and of course I will be drinking plenty of water.  On Thursday I will introduce some solids in the form of a salad once a day, basically good greens like spinach, cucumber, jicama, avocado and a light dressing made with honey, mustard, olive oil and vinegar.  I will also eat this this Friday and Saturday.  Now come Sunday, which is Mother's Day, I will juice in the morning and at night, but will say screw it around midday since we are going to Maggianos :)  I will try, try, try to eat responsibly, but Mother's Day and my birthday in June are the two "pass" days I gave myself, so I am going to enjoy them!

After Mother's Day, I will do the same schedule that I am doing this week, except next Sunday instead of eating at Maggianos, I will be adding fish to go alongside my salad at dinner along with a good whole grain such as barley, wheatberries or quinoa.

After the two weeks, we will see how it is going.  I anticipate trying to have juice only days two days a week, juice and salad days two days a week and juice and healthy lean protein, healthy carbs and salads three days a week.  Wish me luck, better yet, wish my family luck...notice there is NO coffee on that list!  I will have some on Mother's Day and may allow it on two other days a week after this week, but I am not so sure yet.  Hopefully I can do this for at least the next month, then I will begin to add more food days and less straight juice days to the schedule.  This will be a challenge, I need to make food all day long for my family, but I think I will like how it makes me feel and I am up for the challenge.