New Year, New Me!

[bunsofaluminum]

Hey Kirsty

I'm going to be watching your fast. I liked that documentary a LOT...don't you just end up rooting for the big guy, the truck driver... can't remember his name...but I was SO proud of him and rooting for him like anything!

thanks for your many visits to my journal. It's encouraging. Sorry I haven't visited much...not anyone, really. But here I am now, and I'm rooting for YOU!

[blondie]

Hi KirstyKay, your fast sounds interesting -- I'll be looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

[kirstykay]

Buns, yes! The guy's name is Phil (he's the one who came up with the "Mean Green" recipe I made yesterday!) It's a very inspiring movie! Thanks for stopping by. It's nice to see you in my journal.

Blondie-thanks for stopping by my journal! Wow! You're graph looks AWESOME! You are doing really well! I love to see that steady decline! My graph has lots of ups and downs and only recently (this fall) a steady drop. But the important thing is that things are going down now!

I want to hit my 100 pound mark by Thanksgiving...not sure if that's realistic, but that's one of the reasons I'm doing this fast...to see how much I can lose by then. We're having a family portrait done on the day after TG as a Christmas Present for my mom, so I want to be down 100 pounds by then. I guess we'll see how close I get. I've learned that I can never predict what the scale is going to do, so I'm not going to get too concerned about it one way or the other. I'm just going to do as much as I can!

Today is DAY THREE of my 21 day juice fast. I stepped on the scale this morning, just because I was curious...I was down almost a whole pound today! It was fun to see 180! (well, 180.8, but still-I like seeing that big fat 0!!!) I JUST realized that I have LESS than 50 pounds to lose to get to my ultimate goal!!! That is so exciting to me. It seems POSSIBLE!!! I have always felt like I've had SO MUCH weight to lose, that I'd never get there, but that's not true. 45 pounds??? No problem!!! I'm excited.

By next week, I hope I'm in the 170s!!! I can't weigh myself every day because it drives me CRAZY!!!!! So that's why I said I'd weigh once a week-but I may step on my scale a couple times a week, just to check in during this fast...we'll see. It's harder because I have a scale again! I used to only be able to weigh at the gym, but having one in my bedroom, it's harder to stay off of. As long as it's going down, I'm flying high...it's the upswings and the prolonged plateaus that make me nuts. However, I like to see where I'm at so I can make little adjustments to my routine. The trick is just to hold on when it doesn't say what I want, and to trust the process.

So, I found this really GREAT tasting juice yesterday that I had in the afternoon called Sherbet Lemonade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju2zuRlj ... re=related

Soooo simple and so YUMMY!! I drank it over ice, and it tasted like DESSERT!!! This guy, Jason Vale, has other recipes that I'm excited to try...maybe today. Right now I need to get to the gym!

It's going to be another great day!!!

[SactoBob]

Hi KirstyKay,
I've been following your juice fast with interest, and am glad that it is working out so well for you. You've set yourself an ambitious challenge, but one that could really make a difference for you.

Have you read what Jeff Novick has had to say about fasting (in his posts) or Doug Lisle (in his Pleasure Trap book)? IMO, some of the important benefits of the fast are that it really breaks the addiction cycle to bad and SAD foods, and resets your taste so that even the lowest calorie density foods are going to taste delicious.

To me, the test of the fast is how it changes yours eating patterns after the fast. Immediately afterwards is the time to really set the pattern for eating a low calorie density whole plant food diet. As that your plan for after the fast or do you have a different goal in mind? I think of the fast as a prelude to a beneficial change. What are your goals for the fast?

[kirstykay]

That's exactly what I'm hoping for, Bob! Thank you for your comments. You really hit the nail on the head, and I have done some reading that also highlights your point. Both before and after the fast are very important in regards to any long-term benefits. I know my food addictions are deeply ingrained, and I think that's why I've been at this for two years without fully reaching my goals. Although I'm happy to be down nearly 75 pounds from when I started, I am disappointed that I still have close to 50 pounds left to lose after so long. Also, this summer's indulgences showed me that I am still way too attached to food in unhealthy ways. Even this fall, where I have found more success again, has been a mental struggle for me. I have been able to resist non-plan foods, but I still think about them and crave them more than I feel I should. I am hoping to totally break free from my addictions by seeing this fast as a sort of "detox" similar to what an addict would experience in rehab. It's sort of an experiment. I appreciate your interest, and your suggestions to read Jeff's posts about this. I have read Doug Lisle's book, and it was that bok that made me think fasting could be an option for me.

My plan for after my fast isn't completely figured out yet. What I've read about coming off a fast is that it takes several days of eating very simple food, like only fresh fruits and vegetables to keep from shocking your system. That is my plan for the first week after my 21 days, and one of the reasons I'm ending the week before my birthday. One of my ideas for after that first week is to actually follow your plan as it's laid out on your blog, basing my meals on yours very closely. I feel like you've made it so easy to do that with all the pictures and clear step-by-step instructions. One other thought I've had is to do Mary's Mini, but that may be too limiting. A third option I've considered is to continue juicing for two meals a day and then eating a MWL compliant meal with my family for dinner. I am open to thoughts and suggestions. At this point, I feel like I really need to spend my energy focusing on being successful on this fast. Knowing how important it is to come off the fast well, I do need to plan what I'm doing when it's over-it's good to think these things through here.

So far, I am doing very well on just juice. When I am hungry, I drink around 16 oz of freshly juiced fruits and vegetables. I came up with this recipe today. It made a lot! I really liked it, so I decided to name it. It tasted very citrus-y, and I made it in the morning, so that's the name I came up with:

Citrus Sunrise
¼ head cabbage
½ grapefruit
1 broccoli stem
1 c strawberries
1 nectarine
6 Brussels sprouts
1 apple
1 lime

[carollynne]

Hi KirstyKay, I loved that doc to, sick fat and nearly dead! Phil was a true inspiration to me and my oldest son, In fact he thought that the juicing I did all summer was a real life changer for him...
What brand of juicer do you have? I have a jack LaLane, and it is great, but the clean up is a bit much at times. I really think that you can do anything that you choose to, and let the rest of the world, just watch you go do it. I love how you have cured your diabetes too.
Hey good luck and do not give this fast up!!

[blondie]

Congrats on breaking into the 180's! You've come such a long way with your weight loss!

Are you feeling tired from the juice fast or energized?

[sksamboots]

Kirsty,

Look at the true north website. They give lots of information about fasting and how to break it. Of course, they believe in water only fasting but you might find some useful information on their website.

http://www.healthpromoting.com/articles

[kirstykay]

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the comments and encouragement! I'm doing GREAT! Today, my hunger left! From what I've read, I was expecting it to at some point, but I'm really happy it happened already. It makes things much easier.

Carollynne, yes! I was so inspired by Phil! I watched a talk that Joe Cross gave at a Whole Foods store where he said that he was done filming the documentary, and the final editing was being done when Phil called him. He told his crew that they HAD to film Phil's journey before they could complete the movie. And, wow! I'm so glad they did! In fact, Phil wanted to go another 30 days after the 60, but Joe said, no, I can't afford another 30 days! So, that's the only reason he stopped the filming there! It was pretty interesting.

The juicer I use is a pretty inexpensive one when you consider that you can spend $300 or $400 dollars on the top ones. I couldn't put that kind of an investment into this "experiment" of mine. So my dh did some research and found this one that was in our price range and got good reviews from other users:
http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-67 ... B000FHQJ6C

I have been THRILLED with it! It works great, is easy to clean, and does an excellent job of extracting the juice. I feel like I get a lot of juice from things I put in it, even the greens. I would recommend it to people just trying juicing for the first time. If this one gives out ever, I may invest in a Breville, but for now, I'm happy.

Blondie-thanks for the encouragement! So far, I feel really energized. I would say the first day was the hardest, but I think it was the hunger, and just getting used to juicing. In fact, yesterday, I had one of the best workouts I've had in a really long time! I acually ran on the treadmill....me....ran...not fast or anything, and not for very long at all, but I RAN!!! I never thought I would run, ever, anywhere. Now I could picture doing it again! Crazy!

Boots-thanks for that link! I'll look at it! I'd love to be able to afford to go to a place like that, but this will have to do for now!

Today was a wonderful day! I got to see my beautiful daughter's junior flute recital at her college! She did an amazing job! It brought me literally to tears, and I felt so blessed to be there and to be her mom! I thought it would be hard to get through the day with juicing, but it wasn't at all. I really felt PRESENT! I took enough juice with me, and was fine not eating at the restaurant afterward. My focus was really on the experience, and it was wonderful!

[bunsofaluminum]

you are doing TERRIFIC! I'm surprised that your hunger went away. When I did a ten day water-only fast in the springtime, I put maybe 1/4c grapefruit juice in water, and that was all I had for 10 days...and I was hungry ALL the time.

I like the look of your juicer too. If I ever did juicing, I'd go with something inexpensive and convenient. I have a champion, which is the best juicer on the market, but it is HEAVY and a huge paint to assemble and disassemble and put away (too big BY FAR for counter top housing)

anyway, it's looking good so far! keep going yayaayayay

[kirstykay]

Buns! I LOVE that little cheerleader!!! I've thought of her today as I've been sticking with my fast!!! I have the picture of her in my mind, cheering me on!! How cute.

Another good day today. My son went back to school after a very brief Fall Break! It was great to see him, and he's doing very well away at school. Today was busy with lots of running around getting all the things he needed to get him through to Thanksgiving Break!

Juicing today was good. I took enough juice with me to get through the juice and shopping, and then made more when I got home. I find I'm drinking between 32-64 oz./day now. I can tell when I need more. It's not hunger so much as just a feeling that I'm sort of empty and ready for more fuel. This amount of juice keeps my energy up all day. In addition, I drink at least 1/2 gallon of water a day-sometimes more. I also drink herbal tea, because I seem to feel cold most of the time. I don't know if that's because it's fall and the weather is getting colder, or if it's the fast, or just a product of drinking cold juice all day long....interesting. I like my juice over ice, so that could be part of it.

Today's juice was very good, and worth mentioning here:

It's called Super Duper Spicy Tomato, and it's from The Juice Fasting Bible by Sandra A Cabot, MD

Super Duper Spicy Tomato-Juice Fasting Bible
3 ripe tomatoes ( I used heirloom-yum!)
½ green or red pepper
1 celery stick
1 apple
1 wedge onion
1 garlic clove
1 tsp Worcestershire (I used vegan, of course)
3 drops hot sauce (optional-I added this and LOVED it!)

[blondie]

Glad your fast is going well! My daughter is a flute player too, she's a sophomore at University of Missouri majoring in music ed.

[kirstykay]

Blondie-That is so cool! My daughter is a music ed major, too! She's loving it, and beginning to think about what she wants to do when she graduates...we'll see. For now, busy and loving school! It's so exciting to see our kids growing into adults, and finding a purpose and passion for their lives, isn't it??? I LOVE this stage of parenting!

Fast is going well! Today is DAY 9 of my juice fast! I am doing quite well. I have decided not to weigh myself until the fast is over, so I won't be changing my ticker or doing weight updates until the very end. I don't want my issues with the scale to undermine the good things going on in my body with this fast. I know there is deep healing, both physical and psychological, going on.

I will officially go until November 8th, and I will break my fast on November 9th. It feels good to have a whole week under my belt! I don't see any problem with doing two more weeks. I feel light, full of energy, and I can't get over how soft and clear my skin looks and feels. I had to buy some new clothes the other day, and I am in a size 14! Seriously, every pair of size 14 pants I tried on FIT!!! I got some great deals, so I have just enough clothes to get me through Fall now, but I'm hoping to ask for gift certificates as Christmas presents to buy even smaller sizes after the holidays. I actually bought a fall coat in a size MEDIUM!!!!!!! I've gotten lots of compliments on it, and can't believe that it shows off my waist! I was sooooo tired of looking like the staypuff marshmellow man in any coat that fit me! I used to have to buy a 2x or 3x, just to get a coat to zip or button over my FAT!!! This is absolutely thrilling!! I have to go to a work dinner with my husband on November 18th, so I'm going to shop for some kind of a dress when this is all over, and maybe I'll share a picture if I find one I like.

As far as juicing, I've found several juices I like. I can share more recipes if anyone is interested. I'm trying to always include dark leafy greens in each juice, and have started keeping my juices a bit simpler. Sometimes I'll have a juice that is mostly fruit to start off my day. Many people recommend ginger, but I find the taste to be too strong for me unless I use a very little bit...same with garlic or onion...those are never my favorite juices. I'll have them once in a while, but focusing more on juices that I enjoy drinking so this doesn't get too hard.

I've been thinking about and reading a lot about intermittent fasting as a strategy to lose the rest of my weight after I'm finished doing this fast. I've had a couple of excellent discussions with some other members on this board about it, read Lani's posts about it, and Jeffs as well. I've also been online quite a bit researching it...there's lots of differing advice out there, so I need to be careful not to be looking for some "trick" or something, but rather to be finding a way to implement the MWL plan well. I still haven't decided exactly, I just want to be carefult to break my fast well so I'm trying to think ahead.

I bought Dr. Furhman's new book, and plan on reading it over the next couple of weeks. I'm particularly confused about the whole concept of "toxic hunger" that SactoBob has been talking about on his blog. I want to uderstand that better because I know I have not been successfully listnening to my true hunger signals in the past. I am hoping that is one of the things that gets restored on this fast...being in touch with true hunger and fullness, and being able to trust my body's mechanisms to guide me. I have typically eaten for lots of wrong reasons for most of my life, so I feel like I need to learn this all over again. I find I am very vulnerable to the simple power of suggestion! I can get cravings just from watching a commercial on tv! And then end up obsessing about a certain food or kind of food for days, fighting off fierce temptations that feel unbearable at times to me! Hunger has little to do with the why or whens of my eating patterns up until now.

One of the huge benefits to fasting is the loss of my hunger and my cravings. It feels like a big weight has been lifted and I can relax. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this with fasting, or whether it's normal or not, but I have NEVER NOT thought obsessively about food before! I spend a significant part of my day thinking about food and planning what I will eat and feed my family. I pour over recipe blogs and cookbooks constantly. I go to the grocery store several times a week, and have made a habit of socializing around food frequently. I find that one of the ways I love and nurture my family is through my cooking, and one of the things I miss the most is cooking for them. (My husband has graciously takien this task over for the three weeks I'm fasting so I don't have to worry about it). I was unprepared for how much I miss it, and am recognizing a true obsession or emotional attachment to food that only removing food from my life has been able to reveal. I did not anticipate this, but I think it is a key to my lifelong struggle with my weight. I want to learn these important lessons and be healed to live a normal life. I don't know if I can accomplish that in 21 days; I imagine not completely. But it's a step in the right direction. This is one of the reasons I feel like Intermittent fasting would be good for me, to KEEP food in it's proper place in my life once I reintroduce it into my body...we'll see.

Oh yeah, I wanted to reference one particularly helpful website about IF here so I have it in my journal for future use or if anyone else is interested in learning more about it. There is a FREE downloadable PDF book on this site. (I'm too cheap to buy Brad Pilon's ebook for $40, although I've watched his YouTube videos and found them very helpful.)
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/inter ... ng/summary

This is getting long, so I'll stop...lots to process and think about!

[kirstykay]

Thought I'd log in and briefly update my fast. I am more than half way done! I have 9 days left, including today. I'm content with the juices I've been making, and feeling quite comfortable without any cravings or hunger pains. I feel a sort of "empty" feeling when I know it's time for more juice. I'm still having somewhere between 32-64 oz. a day. Mostly various mixes of fruit and leafy greens, but also tomatoes, zucchini, celery, carrots, green peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts.

I have plenty of energy to maintain my normal schedule and to workout for 1 hour every day (except Sunday). Juicing hasn't made me tired or feel like I can't work out. I'm sleeping very well at night, and wake feeling ready to get up.

I DO miss eating, and I look forward to eating again. But I would not say that this has been too hard for me. I am pretty surprised that it hasn't been harder, and hope to use this to my advantage when I resume eating. I have a different attitude about food right now, and I am hoping to draw on that as I lose the rest of my weight on MWL.

Yesterday, I made a meal for a family in my neighborhood (the mom had surgery), and I enjoyed making the meal very much. I made the lasagna from the Fat Free Vegan site, and an apple crisp from the PCRM site, plus a beautiful green salad, and I picked up some whole grain bread from Whole Foods to round out the meal. I really liked planning and preparing the food and thinking about how much they would enjoy this delicious, healthy food (they are not vegan). But, I wasn't at all tempted to lick anything or taste anything because I'm not doing that right now. I'm hoping this translates into the same attitude about off plan foods later...I'm not eating those foods, now or ever. They are not food to me. Fasting has helped me know that it is possible for me to make a committment to myself and keep it. It is very empowering!

I am looking forward to weighing in at the end to see how much weight I've lost. I know I am losing weight; my clothes are looser. So far, I'm happy that I'm doing this, and I may even do it again sometime. For now, I think I will finish well and be happy to eat again with a renewed sense of determination to only fill my body with appropriate foods, and finally reach my goal!

[kirstykay]

I'm changing, I can feel it. My body is changing, but more importantly my mind is changing. I am changing my mind about what is "acceptable" and what is not. Like, this holiday season, I am not baking...not for my family, not for anyone. This will be quite a change for me.The last two years I baked vegan cookies and pies. This year, I'm saying "NO" to those kinds of treats. They have too much of a draw for me. I've also decided that I will not go out to eat when I start eating again. There are two work dinners that I have to go to with dh, but he has pre-arranged our meals with the restaurants, and they will be oil free potatoes and vegetables, made special for us. After that, we will not eat out. I have also decided to get serious about "NO OIL!" I tend to bend on that one when I buy things like jarred maranara sauce. I won't buy it if it has more than 1 g fat, but it does say it has olive oil in it, so that's out! These are little changes that I'm hoping make a big difference.

I'm really missing eating! I have one more week! 7 days, including today, and I know I will make it simply because I've come too far to quit now, and I've made a committment to myself. I know this fast is helping me put food in the proper perspective so I'm happy I'm doing it, but I will be ready to EAT again.