Day 26: Down - 2.4/Total Loss -23.4/ 4 DAYS LEFT TO JUICE!

Actually, it's four and half.  Like before, I am going to enjoy not being on a fast.  I like food a lot.  I also like socializing with my friends.  I love cooking and cruising the web for recipes. Some of them I will even try to replicate.  I adore cooking shows.  And I managed to do every single thing I love while juicing.  The only thing I didn't do was eat. 


But, there is a lot I like about being on a juice fast.  I've learned to love the taste of the juice.  The once time a week or so, when I actually put something in my juice (a dash of Louisiana Hot Sauce) you'd think I was diving face first into a whipped cream cake.  I like being in control and not having to worry about what I will be eating for the day.  I won't be eating.  I like the weight loss. And, I love the energy that comes from fasting.  But most importantly, I love the results.


I am a betting woman. I visit Vegas annually, go to local casinos and have been to the track a few times.  If a Vegas bookmaker would have given me a chance to bet on me when I started my first 60 days juice fast, I'd be rich right now.  I would have placed $100 for 100 to 1 odds against me.  Most of my friends would have as well.


But, for some reason, a juice fast  connects with my body and spirit.  It is the easiest weight loss I have ever achieved.  Am I worried about once I get off the fast?  You bet I am.  But this time, I'd place a wager on me to win.


Day 26:  Living on juice/Down .8/Total loss 23. 4/


Quote for the day:  "Nothing is impossible.  The word itself says, I'm possible!" Audrey Hepburn

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

The Silence of the Loons

Resort To Murder

Once Upon a Crime Anthology and more

Day 25: Down - 2.4/Total Loss -22.6/ Off The Rollercoaster

Or at least it feels that way. 2.4 pounds is a heck of a lot of weight to lose in a single day.  It well makes up for the last two days, where I gained.  What I have learned with this plan is to stick with it and eventually it will be okay.


My husband asked me today if the sweater I was wearing was new.  Nope, I told him, it's ten year old.  It's one of the many items I purchased thinking ,"It is so cute. I'll just lose enough weight to eventually  fit into it."  I literally have an entire closet filled with 'eventual' clothes.  It's been fun to finally fit into a few of them.  I feel like I must have been psychic when I predicted correctly I would be wearing them some day.  


I just didn't know it would take me decades to do so.  And in case you're wondering – yes, some of them are floral dresses with shoulder pads wider than a Green Bay Packer's.  It's the look that any Sugarbaker would have been proud to carry off.


(Gosh, I miss Designing Women.  They should bring the show back and call it Designing Seniors.)

Day 24:  Living on juice/Down 2.4/Total loss 22.6

Quote for the day:  ""Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain." Anonymous

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

The Silence of the Loons

Resort To Murder

Once Upon a Crime Anthology and more

Day 24: + .6/Total Loss -20.2/ Oh well.

My weight has gone up, then down and then up again in the last three days.  If you're new to a juice fast, this happens.  I just have to hang in there.  It's only seven days until I eat solid food again.

I remember my last fast when I did sixty days. I didn't know what would happen when I bit into solid food for the first time. I suppose I was expecting heralding trumpets to begin as soon as I tasted the scrambled eggs. I assumed I would swoon in ecstasy as  if Daniel Craig was sitting across my me, wearing nothing but a..wait, a minute. I will leave it at wearing nothing.

But instead?  Absolutely nothing happened, except I was chewing instead of eating.  I didn't jump up and down in excitement.  I didn't call all of my friends and scream, "My mouth is so full and happy!"  I actually kind of lost interest in the dish very quickly.

That really shocked me.  Maybe my body was reminding me food is just food.  It's me who attaches any emotion to it.  And like anything, some emotions are good.  But, some emotions are very destructive.  Frankly, if I could choose,  I'd rather it be a  roller coaster concerning my weight loss, rather than a much scarier ride of emotions.

Day 23:  Living on juice/Up .6/total loss 20.2

Quote for the day:  "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt.

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

The Silence of the Loons

Resort To Murder

Once Upon a Crime Anthology and more

Day 23 .8 pds lost/20.8 total/ Can't fit into an outfit properly!

And this time it is because it is way, way too big.  My trusty black velvet performance ensemble that has seen me through multiple sizes is no longer wearable.  I have lost enough weight that the once tight elastic waistband now droops down on my hips.  If I thought there was a chance I would become a rapper, I'd keep them.  But, as far as I know, there is no interest in hip hop artists who show their grannie panties.

I needed this boost today, as I do every day.  The monotony of my diet is mind-numbing at times.  And there is always temptation lurking around every corner.  Everywhere I look these days, there seems to be food.  Even at the library, someone next to me was quietly munching on a Snickers bar.  If my addiction were alcohol, I'd avoid bars until I could handle being in one.  Facing my addiction to food means confronting the issue everywhere.  There is no escape.  So basically, even morning when I wake up, I  put on my imaginary suit of armor and  'woman-up' to face the world.

After I finish this 30 day fast, I will own up to how much more I would like to lose, and how much I lost on both juice fasts.  I feel bad that I haven't posted before and midway after pictures, but I am waiting until the end.  When I fasted the first time, I found many YouTube videos of folks who followed Joe and Phil's example and were doing a 60 day fast. They uploaded daily, and I watched them every single day.  For a change, I really believed them when they inevitably said, "If I can do this, anybody can this."

And believe me when I say this :  If I can do this fast two times, much less doing it once, anyone can do it.  In fact, anyone can do almost anything.

Day 22: still juicing/ .8 pds lost today/ 20.8 pds total

Quote for the day:  "All our dreams come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." Walt Disney.

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

The Silence of the Loons

Resort To Murder

Once Upon a Crime Anthology and more

DAY 22: 1.2 Pds Lost/20 Total!!!/ Feeling Great

I am psyched that I hit the 20 pound weight loss.  My mood is high, even though today was a stressful day filled with appointments. My glee may be because of a last minute comedy show offered to me for next Friday evening.  The last night of my fast I will not be worrying about being able to stay on the plan until the stroke of midnight.  Instead, I will be worrying about making people laugh.  Trust me on this. Comedy is hard, but juicing is harder.

I like doing these last minute shows.  It's kind of like the entertainment committee couldn't make up their mind between paying for another cheese tray or hiring a comic.  I don't feel as pressured to be funny, because I haven't had months to mull the upcoming show over.  Many of my performance contracts are a year in advance.  For a chronic worrier, that is hell.

I think my worrying was one of the reasons I gained so much weight.  I needed something to ease the anxiety I was always feeling.  Even as a young child, I fretted and feared. I didn't need a horror story to scare me. I scared me.  But one of the things that I have liked about this juice fasting is that I am not worried at all about my weight loss.  I know it will happen.  Just like I knew as a kid not to go into the basement.

Day 21:  juicing with a smile/ Lost 1.2 /total loss 20 pds

Quote for the day:  "Sometimes you just need to take a nap and get over it." Maura Stuard, Age 8

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

The Silence of the Loons

Resort To Murder

Once Upon a Crime Anthology and more

Day 21: Zero weight Loss/Too blase' to care/18.8pds total lost

I could have invented the phrase, "whatever".  I often found myself shutting down emotionally while lifting up my hand in the air and muttering that term even before it became popular.  Today my ultra-bored dismissal and wrist-waving concerns my plateau.


There's nothing I can do about it.  If I decide to beat up the person that is "doing it to me" then I would be beating up my own body.  Complaining about it would take too much energy.  And even I am tired of my blog at times, and its constant emphasis on my juice fast and the progress I have made. 


My juice fast ends in "two garbage days" from now. Garbage day is a big deal in this house.  Our trash is picked up every Friday morning at 7:30 a.m.  Twenty-five percent of the time, we forget to put it out.  At 7:28 a.m., when we hear the rumble of the truck heading our way, one of us rushes outside and rolls the can down our long driveway, swearing the entire time.  Our garbage men have seen me in my nightie  more than the men I dated in college.


Afterwards,when we watch the truck pull away  my spouse and I always exclaim, "Garbage day comes so quickly."


Right now, with this juicing, I need all the help I can get to make me think it will end soon.  And "two garbage days" works for me.


Day 20:  still living on juice/ stayed the same/total loss 18.8

Quote for the day:  "Help Us Accept The Things The Salon Cannot Change"  Naughty Betty, writer of greeting cards, etc.

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

Day 20: 1 pd loss/18.8 pds total lost/ Laughing vs Eating

Today I decided I needed to have fun, so I met with my friend Todd Jay, a  buddy and a great comedian.  Todd is single and lives in the swinging part of the city.  Trust me, except for our friendship, he has little interest in being dragged to the suburbs to go to Costco.  But going grocery shopping alone is getting more strenuous day by day, without being able to buy or taste any of the tantalizing products I see.  Once again I brought a proxy eater, Todd.  I graciously offered to buy him lunch, knowing full well it wouldn't cost over 3 bucks.  It didn't.  A humongous slice of pizza and a 20 oz coke came in at $2.77 cents.  I sat there watching him eat, sipping on my juice that I smuggled into the store.


After that we roamed the aisles, and Todd ate every sample that I demanded he eat.  The best part of the day?  When we walked by a sample lady who yelled at us, "Dried fruit and nuts?"  After we stopped laughing, we almost answered "Why yes, we are." Todd is gay, I am aging and drying up, and frankly, we're both a little nuts.  


It was fun being in a social situation where I controlled my eating.  And I found I could focus on the other person, not on what was on my plate or what was being served next.   Plus, I wasn't tempted to eat a single bite mainly because I was laughing too hard.  


Maybe that's what we all need when any addiction starts.  A good friend that makes you laugh, and will  listen to you when you need to cry.


Day 19:  still living on juice/ .1 pound loss/total loss 18.8

Quote for the day:  "It always seems impossible until it is done." Nelson Mandela

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