Anyone who knows me isn't surprised that I said "sign me up!!" Roberto is doing it with me and our goal is 10 days.
Day 1
530am. First thought in my head when my alarm went off: Ugh---I gotta hit the gym.
Second thought: And I'm not eating food today. ... So not getting out of this bed.
Sadly, this was all talk.
7am. My morning routine was easy enough after a quick juice, but I attribute this to the fact that I ate some carbs the night before. It's tomorrow morning that I'm dreading.
11am. Stopped myself from reaching for food. Yeah, I'll probably do that about 1,700 more times in the next 9 days.
2pm. Lack of food is officially kicking in. Slightly lightheaded with a grumbling stomach. It's almost angering to think that I won't be crunching down on anything for what will seem like quite awhile.
I feel like I've been standing at the juicer for a lot of this day.
I'm mostly concerned about Roberto. One serving of juice doesn't sustain as long as I was thinking it would and he only took about 2 servings with him to work. Naturally he eats a lot more than I do, most of it carbs and meats, too.
5pm. Took a nap because I was so tired. Dreamt the entire time that I was devouring hot ground beef tacos, spicy BBQ tofu, and crablegs. (You know, things I don't eat/don't exist/have never even had.)
7pm. Waiting for Roberto to come back from the store with my vegetables. We ran out and I wasn't up for the trip. By the time he got home, I was definitely feeling irritable at the world.
830pm. Made a recipe off the Reboot website involving juiced carrot, juiced gingerroot, cayenne pepper, honey, salt, and pureed avocado. It seemed like the most delicious, most substantial meal I was ever grateful for in my life. It really was so good that I'll be adding it to my recipe book!
11pm. Had a cup of SleepyTime tea before bed and again I was so glad to have it! And yes, I got to bed way too late.
6am. I couldn't find it in me to listen to my alarm clock for the first half hour thismorning. But I wasn't hating life like I thought I would! To my pleasant surprise I still made it to the gym.
At first I had trouble dealing with my normal weights, but ended up working out basically as usual. Which surprised me: since I was running late I only had a spoonful of honey and cinnamon before running out the door---which is NOT something that someone with borderline hypotension can normally do. Anyway, I'm encouraged! No food is no fun, but as long as I've got my workouts, this train'll chug on.
1pm. Doing great! I'm finding that any gross combination of vegetables can be made much more tolerable/interesting with pineapple and/or gingerroot. Yes, even broccoli, celery and cucumber. Seriously, YUCK.
5pm. Roberto brought home more fruits and vegetables than I've ever seen in one kitchen in my life. And yet I know we'd be lucky if it lasted the both of us two days.
I'm disappointed to report that I have not experienced the "detox runs". :( A lacto-vegetarian who thrives mostly off of crackers and protein shakes probably just doesn't have too much that needs detoxing.
Day 3
6am. I had the most trouble getting out of bed to go to the gym thismorning. I couldn't wrap my head around the thought of doing reps or getting on an elliptical. But once I was awake I was more than good. I had my pre-breakfast of a spoonful of honey and cinnamon and a glass of OJ, and was back an hour later with a spring in my step.
Also, some good news and some bad news...
It seems like my muscles are atrophying! Before I started the fast I was seeing great results in building muscle. Although I'm alert and energetic, I don't quite have the stamina for what was my current routine---and don't feel my muscles are as capable of responding to it even if I did. I expected the need to decrease physical activity, but it's happening and it makes me sad. :(
My skin was noticeably clearer thismorning.
12pm. Went to lunch with a friend today. Which I've been dreading ever since I planned to start the fast. How can I watch someone eat Thai food on what is supposed to be the most difficult day of the entire fast and not go INSANE? But to my surprise, I was absolutely fine. I felt a little odd bringing out my tupperware bowl of juiced soup, but hey, nobody minded, I didn't cave and order anything (even after pathetically perusing the menu), and I left the restaurant with a full stomach. It is official, I can do anything.
5pm. Chewing isn't an act you'd think you'd particularly miss, but I'm missing it pretty bad right about now.
8pm. I definitely find evenings to be the easiest.
Day 4
6am. Getting to the gym was even harden then yesterday. After each rep, I wanted to yell This is BS!!! Not happy with not being happy with my gym life, not happy at all. I'll try getting to bed earlier tonight and having more for breakfast tomorrow to see if that doesn't help.
9am. I was practically useless. Had to take a nap.
8pm. Had a bowl of raw spinach with coconut oil for dinner, one of the foods that are optionally allowed for the 10-day Reboot program. I didn't do it out of caving, I did it in attempt to improve my current unacceptably lousy workout potential, 'cause the workouts come way first. Anyway, a bowl of spinach never tasted so good. It was so good to chew!
9am. Oops... I may have slept in. No gym today. So much for yesterday's dietary exception!
11pm. Got so wrapped up in doing stuff for the move that I waited way too long till my next juice. My hands were shaking so bad that I had trouble juicing. Let's not do that again!
1pm. I've been so busy cleaning, packing, thinking, and running errands that this is starting to get annoying...
5pm. What's better than raw onion, broccoli, beets and celery? JUICED raw onion, broccoli, beets and celery. Now if that doesn't make you wanna buy a juicer.
Day 6
Worked out in the afternoon instead of the morning and had more stamina than I can remember having ever. This tells me that I need to stop complaining about juicing and get an actual juice in before my workout! Duh moment.
Caught my reflection in a mirror today and did a double take. I'm looking as good as I feel!
My juice buddy had to curtail his fast to go to Chicago. He comes home tonight and I face the new challenge of making him food/watching him eat.
Day 7
Thismorning I was low on sweet stuff to counteract the gross stuff, and we were also late for church. This meant chugging the most disgusting juice I've had yet. And I can't chug like Roberto can. He'd drink the whole thing in one breath, where it takes me a good 20 swallows over 30 minutes or else I feel sick. And so I went feeling a little gross and a little hungry. On top of which, our plans kept us out four hours (shopping hungry at Whole Foods = no, no no no no) so I ended up cheating. I wanted to buy fresh squeezed juice, but of course Whole Foods wanted $7 for about 6oz. Haaaaaaaa! So I had to buy carob spirulana protein chunks and ate a few of those.
The rest of the day was filled with packing, cleaning, organizing, and cooking for Roberto. (He would have gladly cooked for himself considering, but he wasn't feeling good.) I wanted to punch juice fasting in the face.
Day 8
Word of the day: creatine. I found some while I was packing the kitchen and added some to my OJ thismorning. I can't assess it's performance just yet because I didn't stick to my normal free weight routine; I spent all my time on the stairmaster. But I kicked my butt.
Stepped on the scale at the gym today and I'm down over 2lbs from when I started the fast! Considering I've been building muscle mass (or trying to anyway) and have probably increased water retention, I'm impressed.
Ran into a slight problem today. We forgot to pick up more juicing fuel at the store yesterday---leaving me out of stock by 11am. Since we recently sold our second car and Roberto was at work, this was a problem. To be honest, I was a little relieved: I feel like juicing takes so much time. So much time to clean and cut; so much time fighting with my Prima Donna juicer; so much time cleaning the juicer and the 360* radius around it where juice had been splattered and pulp had been flung; so much time taking it apart and cleaning each piece between every juice; so much time doing it all again in an hour and fifteen minutes because it just doesn't go far, even for a snacker like me. On top of which, Roberto tells me he wants us to be out of the apartment three days earlier than I thought (in two days!!). Then he has the nerve to render himself useless by catching a stomach bug, poor guy. Not even going to mention the fact that my accelerated Calculus class started today. So all things considered, (and then re-considered, and then assured by Roberto that it's for the best and it doesn't make me a quitter), juice-fast, I think I'm going to call you a 7-day. I only picked 10 because it was more than 5 anyway.
After this week, I feel confident I could do a 30-day if I wanted to. But they say timing is everything, and in that area I was definitely off! But yay for my first juice fast!!
