Making progress... into the 220's!

I meant to make this post last Friday, but between giving my girlfriend much needed attention, and taking care of regular 'life stuff', I couldn't quite get to it.

My progress on the fast has been good. I have unfortunately been suffering from daily sinus headaches (I get them yearly) which I'd hoped would be cured by the fast. I may need to schedule an appointment with the doctor to get it checked out.

The main reason for my post however is to post my progress photo. As of taking the picture, I weighed in around 232lbs. But as of this morning I was an even 226lbs! I haven't been in the 220's for almost an entire year. Exciting stuff!

Anyhoo, that's it for now. 4 more days to go until I'm back on solid food! Can't wait!!

1 week in... feeling good

It's been a pretty busy week! I've been working my normal work schedule, exercised almost every day, and even did a 3 mile run in record time (this year :P). I will admit, yesterday was a really low day for me. I had to make a trip to Sacramento to visit the tech department at another school (sort of a meet n' greet), and on the way back started feeling really hungry and light headed, not unlike the first two days of the fast. Thoughts of fried chicken crossed my mind, chinese food, bacon, and just breaking early in general. I was really feeling hungry, and my juice just wasn't doing it!!

When I got home I made a Papaya, mango, and orange smoothie for my girlfriend and I. Within an hour or so I was pretty much back to normal. I'm not entirely sure what happened or why I was suddenly having such a huge dip in energy and resolve. My only guess is that during the day my juice lost some of the nutrients I needed to keep me full and fresh. It wouldn't explain why it hasn't happened already while at work, but I'm at least feeling 100% again. We'll see how today goes, I'm still feeling some cravings, but I think it's just because I love food so much :P

My toxic life

Breakfast on Day3

It dawned on me today how I got to this point. Funny how slow moving things like kids getting taller, extended family getting older, and weight gain just sneaks up on us. Memories from when I did this as a teenager have been flooding back to me over the past few days, and It amazes me how unaware I was of the 'right' things I was doing during and after my first fast. I'm not a nutritionalist by any means, but my knowledge of food, particularly what my body likes (and doesn't) is far superior now than when it was at 15. But even so, I've let myself get to a point (health wise) where I've often felt unmotivated to do anything. I've of course gone through phases of fitness and small changes to my diet, but nothing to curb the metabolic issues I started creating for myself after moving out 'on my own'. In college it's often called the freshman 20... i.e. the 20 pounds nearly every freshman gains after getting into college because of the sudden food freedom students get after moving out of their parents house. Unlike my college peers though, I went through my 'freshman 20' phase way before college while I was in the military, often eating an entire tray of Nutter Butters or Oreos for dinner while I studied in electronics school (I was still a slim 180lbs). After returning home from military training, I got a full time job which only made it worse.

Day 1 - I'm hungry!

As expected, my body's been flashing red signs, telling me I need to eat. For breakfast I did about 30oz's of the same mango blend juice we did the night before. For work I brought a 30oz container of an apple, carrot, and celery mix... It's only 11am and I'm already half way through it. I think I may need to buy another container and bring more while I'm working next week. It makes me wonder if I should juice the night before, and how much nutrition might be lost between the time I make it and the time I drink it. I can't wait until we're further into this, my body's definitely feeling a little shocked.


As consolation to my occasional pangs, I did some searching on sort of 'what to expect' while detox juicing. Found a relatively informative page here. I also couldn't get to sleep until 1am and was back up at 6:30am which is probably part of why I feel so off right now.

Gotta get back work

The "Before" photos

Tonight we juiced two recipes that I think were hits for both of us. One was a kale, celery, beat and apple concoction that was surprisingly fresh and sweet tasting. The other was a mix of fruits I decided to throw together (Apple, orange, Mangos, and strawberries) that ended up tasting a lot like Orange Julius! I'll admit I snuck in a tiny bit of vanilla (figured it couldn't hurt).

Afterwards, my girlfriend and I took 'before' photos and weighed in. This is the heaviest I've weighed in a long time. Luckily I've never gone over 250lbs, but I've been getting awful close lately. Below are the stats:

The last supper

Tonight we had our last "hoorah" at a nice Italian place I haven't been to in years. It was a good send off, complete with Chocolate Fondant & Cheesecake.

Over the past few days the social implications of what we're about to embark on began to set in. This weekend alone my old roommate wanted to do an all-u-can eat Korean BBQ, my gf's good friend is planning to take her out to a breakfast place we've been dying to go, and the thought has crossed my mind on multiple occasions to postpone our dietary plunge into darkness! But it doesn't take long before I think of reasons not to postpone, least of which the determination it takes to just get to the point where I'm at...there's always a surplus of social occasions, the same can't be said for the desire to fast.

So with the excitement of foodlessness for the future on my mind tonight, food for thought won't be a punny term I'll be using again for at least a few weeks. Instead it'll be juice for thought... The title I should have probably given this blog when I was trying to figure out what to name it. :P

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Taste the rainbow

Friday marks the day we'll be taking the plunge. Once upon a time I thought of myself as a pretty healthy guy. I ate lots of veggies, rarely ate processed foods, had a superman metabolism, & lots of girls crushing on me (unbeknownst to me!). Now I'm starting back at square one, and somehow it's really exciting.

Sheila and I made our first trip today to Costco for various fruits & veggies. As soon as we got home we both thought of the same thing and grabbed our cameras! I forget sometimes how beautiful fresh produce can be when you lay it out next to each other.