Day 18: Down 1 1/4 - Total Loss 18 pds Tips for Staying on Track

Happy New Year!!!!!

Nope, no new resolutions for me. I'm still dealing with last year's resolutions.  Actually, I've accomplished quite a few of them.  You know, the basic lose weight, exercise more, write everyday, be nicer - the same things I'd put on my list for this year, if I needed to.  But by now, they're part of my daily life.  Habit makes a habit. I'll leave perfection for the other person.  I am just happy with doing something, after so many years of not doing anything.

I wanted to share a few things I learned along the way when I am living on juice only.

1)  I always strain my juice at least three times.  I use a fine mess kitchen strainer.  I like the taste a lot better, and I find it easier to swallow.
2)  I always sip it through a straw.  It brings out the kid in me.
3)  I always serve it over ice or chilled.
4)  When my husband sits next to me, like in a movie or while watching TV, he is not allowed to eat.  I told him if  he doesn't want to follow my juicing rules, that's fine.  He could find a new wife. Preferably a slim one, one who wouldn't be on a juice fast.  And yes, we're still married.
5)  If something is uncomfortable, I stop.  I turn off the TV if the food commercials are getting to me. I  click off the internet if I've surfed for food porn long enough that I am beginning to salivate over a dried-looking casserole. I distance myself from social situations if not eating is becoming unbearable.
6)  I drink a variety of herbal teas, everything from blueberry to chai.
7)  If juicing becomes really unbearable, I stop whatever I am doing and do something else.  Just that simple act of changing my focus will usually help to stop me from thinking about breaking the fast.
8) And if all else fails, I will pick up a good book to read.  Something like The Orchard by my friend Theresa Weir or a young adult novel like The Secret diary of Adrian Mole.  Like using a straw, reading a YA novel brings out the kid in me.  The same kid who thought everything was possible.
9)  When I am cleaning now, or putzing around the house, I wear a wireless headset that feeds off my computer.  Instead of being bored while scrubbing and reaching for a snack, I listen to BBC 4 or an audio book from Audible.com.  Nothing will make you feel more guilty about overeating than listening to The Hunger Games.
10) Like Joe did in the movie, I constantly remind myself that I have had a minimum of 68, 985 meals in my lifetime, and skipping 90 of them won't make a difference.  Wait a minute.  I take that back. It will make a big difference.  I will be happier, slimmer, healthier and proud of myself for being focused. Something that before seeing Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, I hadn't been in a long, long time.

Day 16:  Totally juicing/ 1 1.4 pound gain / 18 pounds total loss

Quote for the day:  "You aren't going to get the butt you want by sitting on the one you have."  Unknown

Pat Dennis
Author
Hotdish To Die For
Hotdish Haiku
Who Died In Here?
Stand-Up and Die
Anne Frasier's Deadly Treats 
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