Tag Archives: weight loss

Apr 16 2014
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Life

2 Day Detox

So I have been MIA recently from not only this blog but from bootcamp, my home, my healthy eating habits..

A few weeks ago I got plantar fasciitis in my left foot.  If you aren’t familiar – it’s basically a pain in the heel of your foot that can extend throughout the foot and up the calf due to inflammation.  I noticed a mild pain in my heel but didn’t know what it was and then went to bootcamp a few days later and ran about a mile and a half and then basically couldn’t walk on my foot anymore.  So I essentially made the problem way worse since I didn’t know what it was to start with and therefore never attempted to fix it.  I ended up taking a break from the work outs and instead spent time icing & stretching my foot as much as I could.  I will admit that I also turned to comfort foods from time to time during my pause from the active world.  Then I had a short trip to California (will blog about that soon) where I had to hobble around but at least I was surrounded by beautiful scenery.  And I did get to do some waterfront yoga one morning (only workout in the past 3 weeks!).  But of course I splurged calorie-wise in Cali too.  So shameful.

All that being said, I decided it was time to attempt the Arden’s Garden 2 Day Detox.  I have considered it for some time now but didn’t want to do it when I was working out and didn’t really want to take two days off from working out.  Well, I had no excuse now that I couldn’t work out.  I like the idea of it mainly because it’s only 2 days!  You can do anything for 2 days!  Right?  Well, it’s easier said than done…at least in my case.  Side note: The day I started (this past Monday) was the first day I woke up with no pain in my foot.  Go figure.  Not that I wanted to jump back out that first day it was feeling better and run but still…just ironic.

From Arden’s Garden website:

What: The 2 Day Detox is a special formulation of fresh juices – grapefruit, orange, and lemon – that helps you cleanse, detoxify, and rejuvenate your body.

How: For two days you give up all foods and in their place, you flood your body with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and other phytonutrients. You drink 8-12 ounces every hour until the total 128 ounces have been consumed. That’s it!

Why: The 2 Day Detox will help you lose weight, detoxify your body, improve your immune system, and boost your energy. The fresh citrus juices supply your body with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that provide more than 100% of the United States Recommended Daily Allowances (USRDA) of the 12 essential vitamins in every serving.

Arden’s Garden stores are only located in Atlanta but you can order the detox to be shipped to you or you can follow their recipe on how to make the detox yourself.

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My breakdown of the past two days:

Day 1

AM – Pour my first glass and feel real motivated and ready to tackle my gallon of juice for the day!  Things aren’t so bad.

As the day goes on I get spurts of hunger but just drink more juice and it fades away.

Around 5PM – I wonder how I am going to make it.  All I can think about it food.  Opening the fridge to pour more juice just pains me – I can see all that foooood in there!

6PM – I cave and eat a handful of mixed nuts.  I regret this move.  BUT for my first time ever detoxing….I’m not thaaat mad about it.

Around 10PM – I give up leaving probably 10 oz in the first gallon.  Mind you, I’m also trying to drink distilled water throughout the day so I feel like I might drown myself and literally cannot take one more sip of liquid.

My husband was scared to come home after work but was surprised with my good spirits…and the fact that I didn’t try to eat his arm off.

Day 2

AM – Woke up and weighed myself and was down 4 lbs from the day before.  Just what I needed to get me excited about this pulpy grapefruit juice. (I hate grapefruit. I hate pulp.)  The juice is made from distilled water, grapefruits, lemons & oranges but all I can taste is the bitter grapefruit.

Midday – Feeling shockingly great!  Today is much easier than yesterday!

PM – Energy kicks in and I go nuts cleaning the house.  I can’t tell you the last time I felt this energized.

I drank what I had leftover from Day 1 plus 98% of the second gallon.  Again, I just couldn’t finish probably the last 8 oz.  Oh well!  At least I didn’t cheat by eating any food today.

PROS:

– I lost 6 lbs when it was all said and done.  I’m sure most of those will be back in the next meal or two but it was motivating to see along the way.

– My energy level soared as time went on.  And with no caffeine?  Awesome.  I’ve read you can do this cleanse for more than 2 days and I’m sure it just gets easier and shows even more benefits.

– I felt as though my skin had a glow.

– By day 2, I was craving nothing but veggies.  Spinach & spaghetti squash in particular.  I wanted nothing to do with bad carbs that I was craving on day 1!

CONS:

– I had a hard time finishing the gallon each day on top of all the distilled water I was consuming (probably at least 32 oz a day).

– I am not a fan of grapefruit or pulp and that’s basically what the juice tastes like.

– The days lasted soooo long!

Overall I think the pros outweighed the cons.  I definitely see myself doing this cleanse in the future.  It’s a great way to kickstart healthy habits or even to shed some quick water weight before an event or vacation.

Oh and if you want to make this detox on your own, here is the recipe:

What You Will Need For The Two Days:

48 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
32 oz. fresh orange juice
16 oz. fresh lemon juice
160 oz. quality steam-distilled water
Empty 1 gal. jug for mixing
Funnel (optional)

What To Do:

Mix together for each gallon:

24 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
16 oz. fresh orange juice
8 oz. fresh lemon juice and
80 oz. distilled water

Each day, drink 8 oz. every hour until the total 128 oz. have been consumed and that’s it.  And no food!!

Would love to hear your experiences with detoxing in the comments!

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Mar 23 2014
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Life

Losing is winning

So the weight loss challenge (mentioned in a previous post) ended yesterday.  Before I talk about the final weigh-in, let me just recap how the whole journey went.  This was a 7 week “biggest loser” challenge that my bootcamp instructor organized.  By week two, I lost about 7 lbs.  About 5 of those pounds quickly came back.  I had been eating “healthy” and going to bootcamp 2-3 times a week along with a pure barre class once a week.  I didn’t understand why I wasn’t losing more and was even gaining some back.  It was time for a reality check.  Food was the problem.  I wasn’t actually eating healthy at all.  My bootcamp instructor asked me one day “What did you eat for breakfast today?”  A hard boiled egg…just the white.  “ONE egg?  That’s it?!”  He told me to eat at least 2 egg whites, two slices of turkey bacon and an apple.  He also told me to eat a lean meat or fish for lunch along with a veggie.  Tuna alone wasn’t going to cut it.  My body was going into starvation mode because I wasn’t eating enough and therefore was retaining any and all fat it could.  My other problem?  Snacking.  Of course I didn’t admit this to him but deep down I knew it was a big reason why I wasn’t losing weight.  A few pita chips here and there or eating some pretzels while watching tv at night…it had to stop.  I also have cut back on alcohol.  A few glasses of red wine a night used to be pretty normal for me.  I try to completely avoid drinking during the week now.  If anything I will have a small glass of red once or twice a week.  I drink more on the weekends but stick to light beer or wine for the most part.

This past week I made a decision to stop the senseless snacking completely.  Veggies & fruits were allowed and some nuts (1/4 cup a day if hunger struck sometime before dinner) but that was it.  It definitely made a huge difference.  I ended up losing a total of 5lbs at the final weigh-in.  Would have liked to see a number more like 10 but I was just proud that I was able to drive that number back down from what I re-gained in the early weeks.  I also just felt a lot better and I even noticed my clothes fitting better this week.  So why didn’t I lose more?  Because that theory I was hoping was true actually was true – “it’s because it’s turning into muscle”.  He also tracked our body fat percentage at our initial weigh-in.  At the final weigh in my body fat was down 3%.  I’m going to get discouraged by the scale every now and then because of that but need to push through.  Ideally I want to be down 4 more percent.  I plan on having him check my body fat % again in a month to ensure it keeps going down.

Things that have worked for me:

– Eating more for breakfast & lunch.

– Avoiding bread & cheese as much as possible.  Focusing more on lean meats, fish, and vegetables.

– Completely avoiding sweets & salty snacks.  After a week of doing this, I have no interest in eating these foods that I used to crave.  I’m not saying that I won’t indulge here and there but I don’t plan on doing so until I am maintaining my goal and I have still have awhile before I get there.

– Tracking every single thing I eat & drink.  I love the weight watchers online program for this.  I have the app on my phone which makes it even easier to track.

– Brushing my teeth around 8pm to help me not want to snack or eat late night.

– Going to bed before 10pm (can’t eat when you are sleeping).

– Going to bootcamp 3 times a week as opposed to only 2 times.  This bootcamp is 55 minutes of strength training mixed with cardio.  It’s different every day.  No class is ever easy but I also can keep up (most of the time) and feel I accomplished a good challenge every time I leave.

– Doing 10-15 minutes of ab work before bed.  This is the current routine I am loving.  I have added some extra ab work on to the end too.

– Looking at cheesy motivation photos and quotes any time I want to skip a workout.

– I hung some dresses in plain sight in my bedroom that I would love to wear (and feel good wearing).

– Having a partner throughout the process.  My husband did this challenge with me and has been a great support system.  He pushes me to go to bootcamp when I am not feeling it and he appreciates the help I have given him with eating healthier.  (Side note: he came in 2nd place for men in the challenge!  Down 9 lbs!)

– Envisioning my upcoming trip to Aruba.  I just keep telling myself “bikini, bikini, bikini”.

– Blogging about it for the world (or my followers) to read.  This helps hold me accountable.  (You told them you were going to lose weight – can’t go back on your word!)

Just because this organized challenge is over doesn’t mean my personal challenge is.  As of this morning I still have 15 lbs to go until I reach my ultimate goal weight.  That number might change a bit based on muscle/fat ratio.  I want to be realistic and make sure I am at the healthiest weight for me.  Now that I fully accept that my diet is just as important (if not more important) than working out, I have a lot more confidence in actually attaining my goal.  Pretty sure I always knew this fact but just chose to ignore it.

I look forward to posting an update in a month or so.

What are some weight loss tips that work for you?  Comments appreciated.

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(one of those cheesy motivation photos I was talking about)

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