Day 5- 7lbs down!

It's day 5 and I have now lost 7lbs!  Wowy!

Here is my lovely lunch time smoothy- bananah, strawberrys, natural youghurt and almond milk.  yum!

Day- 4- Still going steady

Not much to report today, but all still going steady.  I bought some more apples and some oranges today.  I have only tried golden delicious so far, so it will be interesting to see how different apples alter the flavour.

Weight: 16 stone 1lb- stayed the same today

Day 3- Weigh in Day

Today is day 3 of the juice and smoothy diet and all is still going well.  I am really enjoying the juices and smoothies.  I feel healthier already and have a lot more energy.  I find them very filling and my blood sugar levels seem to be staying fairly even, so instead of crashing mid morning and afternoon, I feel really good and not hungry.  This is meaning less to no snacking.  When I am snacking it tends to be on nuts or a healthy natural nut based bar.

I also got weighed today; so the moment of truth...

Weight on Wednesday 10th July: 16 stone 7lbs
Weight today: 16 stone 1lbs!

That's a loss of 6lbs!  and I didn't actually begin the juice diet until Monday.  Not bad.

I am very happy with this result and I definitely plan to continue this good work, sticking to a healthy diet of veg, fruit nuts and then healthy proteins in the evening.

Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollywoodplace/6358126097/

Day 2- Tea and a tropical fruity smoothy

I had a delicious healthy tea tonight of king prawns with a lime and chilli dressing, salad and a jacket potatoe.  I was delicious, it is so nice to have something different and healthy for tea and it was so easy to prepare.  Sometimes I get so stuck into making the same things week in week out.  I love healthy food but I don't always have the time, ingredients or imagination to put the meals together.

For dessert I made a tropical smoothy; pineapple, mango, banana, lime and natural yoghurt.  The great thing about my new juicer which is great if you don't like faff and are time poor is that it will take pretty much whole fruits and veg.  There is very little prep work needed.  For the pineapple I only had to cut the pineapple in to large chunk and then juice with the skin on!  It makes juicing so easy and so enjoyable.  This smoothy was delicious and the dash of lime juice gave it an extra kick.  I even managed to get my other half, Phil, to have a glass and he really liked it.  It is difficult to get him to eat veg and fruit at the best of times, so this was a winner!  I will get him to eat his greens one way or another!

Day 2- New Juice

So for lunch I made a new juice.  A green juice that consisted of, cucumber, pear and lime juice, that was then put into a blender with sprigs of mint and ice cubes.  This drink was really refreshing and felt quite summery too.  Yum!

I also made a smoothy to take to work in my flask for my afternoon snack.  It was packed full of banana, strawberry's, blueberrys and natural yoghurt.

Day 2- Glorious carrots

This morning I felt better and my headache had gone.  I did feel a little deflated about the thought of more juices today, but then I thought, I don't have to stick to the recipes provided on the reboot plan, they are really just starting points and I have a whole book of recipes by Jason Vale. So I decided to have the Carrot, Lemon and Apple juice that I had on my first juicer practice run and then at lunch I would try a new recipe.

Weight: 16 stone 2.5lbs (4.5lbs!)

Day 1- Evening

Since lunch although I haven't been hungry at all throughout the day, I have started to develop a headache and I am feeling a little dizzy.  I am not 100% sure if this is due to the amount of ginger I have consumed in 2 of my juices and in the lemon and ginger tea that I have been drinking or if it is hunger.  I have had some nuts to see if that helps, but still feel a little weird.

My snack juice was ok, but I wouldn't say it would be my favourite choice.  I am not that keen on the strong beetroot taste. It did help me feel full again though.  I am surprised that I haven't felt more hungry to be honest.  I have however been craving solid food, and it seems like it is everywhere! The office, TV, restaurants that I pass on my way home...the list goes on! So that has been my biggest challenge.

After getting home tonight I still felt quite ill and light headed, so I decided that I would have some solid food for tea.  I had a small jacket potatoe, with baked beans.  I now feel much better.  I don't feel that I can go 100% without solid food, so I am going to begin the diet I plan to continue with now rather than doing the full 3 day juice fast.  It is still very healthy, and will still enable me to lose weight as long as I have a filling and healthy evening meal to go with my two shakes a day.

Overall I feel very happy, I am excited to try some new juices tomorrow.

Day 1- afternoon snack

 
Here is my afternoon snack- "Un-beet-able" juice! Beetroot, apple, carrots, ginger.  All ready in my flask to take back to work with me. I had a sip...interesting!

Day 1- Lunch

 
Lunch was my first experience of a "Green" juice, I had a "Garden Variety" juice, which was cucumber, kale, apple and parsley.  It was actually quite nice, the apple gives it a bit of interest, else I think it could be a little bland.

As well as the juices for the next three days I am also allowed to drink water and hot fruit teas.  I have had a lot of water today so far, which is good as I never drink enough water, especially whilst I am at work! It also helps keep the hunger at bay. I am also allowed to eat nuts if I like. I have tried to avoid it so far as I think any kind of food will make me hungry.

Day 1- Here we go

Today is day one of the 3 day juice fast and my juicing healthy diet.  For breakfast I had a carrot, apple and ginger juice, aptly named "Carrot- Apple-Ginger"!  It is quite tasty and the apple makes it quite sweet, so nice and refreshing for the morning.

Weight: 16 stone 3.5lb

Preparation for a Juicy Adventure!

I have been struggling with my weight for a few years now.  I have been doing Weight Watchers off and on for few years now.  At my best I lost 1 stone 1/2, but have since put it all back on and more and cannot seem to get my mojo back.

I recently watched a TV program called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" about an Aussie guy called Joe, who was

very over weight and had a serious autoimmune condition that was really effecting his life.  After trying lots of things he finally turned to juicing to help him retrain his taste buds, shrink his stomach, lose weight and get his body back into a healthy condition.  To do this he did a juicing fast for 60 days! That meant doing nothing but drinking juices, water, hot fruit teas for 60 days! He lost so much weight and became so healthy that he n o longer has to take all of the tablets prescribed for his condition and doesn't suffer from the old symptoms at all.  He has also since taken up a health exercise routine as well. Along the way he also inspired another man with the exact same issues to do the juice fast and he is also well on his way to healthy weight and living.

The whole thing was very inspirational and informative.  I have heard about the benefits of juicing before and always wondered whether it would be worth looking into, but h ave never quite taken that step until now...

I am NOT going to be doing a 30 or 60 day juice fast, but I am doing a 3 days juice fast to help kick start my metabolism, shrink my stomach and to get some very healthy nutrients into my body to help it begin to repair. I have recently looked into a very expensive milkshake based diet where you have a shake for breakfast and dinner, but I cannot justify the spend.So I thought "Why not have a juice or smoothy for breakfast and then a normal healthy meal in the evening?".

It will save me money, is healthy and also ensures that I get my 5 a day of fruit and veg which I often struggle to get into my diet, I like veg and salad and I do like fruit but fruit is always the last think I reach for.

So this weekend I did some reading up on Joe's website Reboot with Joe about juicing, researched juicers and went out and got one, a Philips model, (it wasn't cheap, but came highly recommended and will pay for it's self in the log run). Then I went armed with my shopping list and got all my fruit and veg.  I have never seen so much veg in one trolly! It will be quite a lot this week due to the 3 day fast, but after that I will use less, so not too bad.

I have also had a practice with both the juicer and blender and made some of the recipes.  I was pleasantly surprised with the carrot, apple and lemon recipe I tried first, it was really lovely and refreshing, even my other half liked it! I haven't tried a veggie one yet but I am optimistic that they won't be too bad either.

As a little record I am goig to track my progress as I go.

Starting Weight: 16 stone 7lb
UK Dress Size: 16/18