Day 19: Up 1/4 pd - Struggled today to stay on track

I seem to be okay now, but today was a struggle from the moment I woke up.  Wanting to quit this 30 day juice fast had nothing to do with my weight gain.  I'm wise enough to know that it just my body adjusting.  Or Mrs. Feeley (my scale) teaching me a lesson in patience again.

I just want to crunch something something besides chipped ice.  Or I'd like to bite into something spongy like an Angel Food Cake.  How great would that be?  And the thing is, when I am not fasting and I can eat anything I want, I've never bought or made an Angel Food Cake on my own.  Right now it's all I can think about.

I just want to stop being the good girl, following the rules and believing in what I have been told about juicing.  Being a good girl is not easy for me.  Except for being a semi-good wife, it's not something I am use to being.  I have always been a rebel, needing to make up my own mind about every single thing.  I set my own rules.  And like the history of attempts to diet, that has rarely been successful and often filled with regrets. Yet, by now I know that I am just being me.

Maybe that is why this plan is working for me.  I decided to set me aside, and listen completely to someone else.  I owe both Joe Cross and Phil Staples from Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead big time. I became such a fan of both men, that I allowed myself to actually listen for a change.  I'd  heard about juice fasting for a long time.  We've owned a Champion juicer for 20 years and a Breville juicer for three.  We used each about once a year.  But I needed to watch someone achieve spectacular results from juicing. For me, seeing is believing.

And now amazingly, I believe in myself. Even on the rough days with a gain.

Day 18: juicing like a political independent/ .2 pound gain/ 17 .8 pounds lost

Quote for the day:  "Before you quit, try." Ernest Hemingway.

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 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 
and more

Day 17: Gained .4 pounds! And guess what? No big deal

It really isn't.  During my previous JF I had several days when I gained weight, and many days when I platued.  My body is just adjusting and for some reason decided to maintain some of the 84 ounces of juice I drink daily.  The amount I consume is pretty darn close to a gallon of liquid, which weighs 8 pounds. I am just happy the scale didn't register more.

I have not alway been this rational about a weight gain, especially while dieting.  Normally, I'd take it as a sign that the diet isn't working. Especially if I'd been on it as long as say, 24 hours.  Even a 2 ounce gain would move me to tears. I would start sputtering on the unfairness of life, why is it that other people can eat whatever they want, and yada, yada, yada.

What happens when I am not on any sort of a weight loss program?  I'd often be thrilled with only a  2 ounce gain when I'd finally found the courage to step on the scale. Or even if it were a three or four pound gain, I'd be relieved it wasn't more. In fact, I would be so relieved, I wouldn't bother to do anything about the weight gain.  In fact, I'd usually celebrate by going out to eat.

Maybe I am just too old now to create drama around my weight issues.  Or maybe at this late age, I have finally grown up.  Whatever the reason, I am so glad I am not freaking out over a couple of crummy ounces.  They will be gone, soon enough.  And the last time I checked my mailbox Playboy hadn't written, asking me to pose.  Besides, tomorrow is not only a new day but a new year.  It doesn't get better than that.

Day 16:  Totally juicing/ .4 pound gain / 16.6 total loss

Quote for the day:  "Life isn't about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself."  George Bernard Shaw

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 16: Lost .6 -Total Loss of 17 pounds so far

If you copy and paste the following link in your web browser - you will a photo and recipe of a dish I have been salivating over for two days ...

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/11/the_best_brocco.html

Yep, that's what juice fasting  reduces  you to...a craving for roasted broccoli and baked sweet potato fries.  I am noticing that, unlike the last fast, I am searching the web for healthy recipes.  When I do allow myself to think about food, I think how nice it would be to have a steaming bowl of squash soup. Or a salad of spinach topped with fresh strawberries.  When my  latest order from Amazon arrived today - a Wilton Nonstick 6-cavity Donut pan for baking donuts, not frying them - I  squealed in delight when the UPS driver handed the package to me.  And tonight, after finishing the blog, I will start to collect recipes for making sugar-free, fat-free, baked donuts.  Sure, they won't taste like the real thing, but they'll look like the real thing.  And sometimes that's good enough.

For instance, I'd love to have a big diamond ring, but I'd lose it.  I lose everything (except weight for most of my life). There's not a day that goes by that I don't spend at least a half-hour looking for something.  If I ever write a memoir, it will be titled "A Life Spent Looking for Car Keys", not very catchy but totally accurate.  So instead of a massive diamond, I have an even bigger zirconia  When I look at it, it makes me smile. I feel like the poor man's Elizabeth Taylor. But more important, I don't have to worry about it.  I am sure I will have the same reaction to the baked donut.  It may not be the real thing, but I won't have to worry about eating it.

And for a compulsive overeater - stress free eating  is better than anything fried.

Day 15:  Still managing to juice fast but hanging on by a poorly painted fingernail:  17 pounds lost.

Quote for the day:  "We are constantly invited to be what we are..." Henry David Thoreau

Pat Dennis
Author
Hotdish To Die For
Hotdish Haiku
Who Died In Here?
Stand-Up and Die
and more

Day 15: down another .4 Way to go me!

The scale came though for me today.  It showed a loss, releasing me from yesterday's plateau.  Of course, I have no idea what it will not say tomorrow.  But one thing I know, it will not say the same as when I started this second juice fast.  Not even I could gain 16.4 pounds overnight.

A close friend tried to offer me a friendly suggestion today about my fast.   He suggested it wouldn't harm me if I had only one meal for New Year's Eve and immediately go back on the fast.   Poor guy.  For the next twenty minutes he had to listen to my diatribe on how I can't break this fast, even for one second.  Not a grape, nor a raisin, nor a shred of lettuce will cross my lips.  Why?  Because I have done that all of my life.  I am notorious for drifting off course,  ending up worlds away from my original destination.  In fact, I am convinced the diet industry teaches us it's okay to "break your diet" every once in while, just to keep us caught hopelessly in a cycle of gaining and dieting.

Maybe some people could have a meal and immediately begin to juice again.  Not me.  More than likely, this is what would happen.  I'd have the meal.  Then I would ask the waiter to give me a box to take the small portion I hadn't scarfed down home.  At home, I  would say, "Well, this probably doesn't freeze well".  The next thought would be, "You know a piece of buttered bread would go really good with this."  Followed by, "Well, I could consider the entire evening one continuous meal.  Maybe I could add a little..." etc., etc., etc.

It's far easier to give up a New Year's Eve dinner then it would be to start the fast over again.  I'd love to celebrate the holiday at a fancy restaurant.  But instead, I will be sitting in my basement family room, watching DVDs with my husband, knowing I am taking care of myself.  Which actually isn't a bad way to start the New Year.

But next New Year's Eve? The sky's the limit. And that sky will probably be in Las Vegas.

Day 14: Still Juicing/16.4 pounds lost

Quote for the day:  "If  you want to feel rich, just count all the gifts you have that money can't buy."

Pat Dennis
Author
Hotdish To Die For
Hotdish Haiku
Who Died In Here?
Stand-Up and Die
and more

Day 14: Zero weight loss today! Stalls Happen!

Okay, it was bound to happen -  a day when the scale didn't show me how wonderful I was becoming.  Instead, Mrs. Feeley told me that my body needed to take a breather from the stress of losing weight. (Yes, I named my scale.  Why? Because it's harder to hate someone or something that you've personalized.  Mrs. Feeley was my favorite grade school teacher.  She once told me I had beautiful brown cow eyes, right before sending me out to stand in the hallway for talking too much in class.)

And because Mrs. Feeley is a digital scale, I didn't jump up and down on it in disgust.  I didn't hold it in the air and shake it. I just accepted it as "No big deal".  I am still going to continue juice fasting for two more weeks and two days.  I am still going to be positive.  And just like in school, I will forget what Mrs. Feeley said in a matter of minutes.  I use to be intimidated by the scale and getting on it could depress me for an entire day. But now that I've named it,  it doesn't bother me as much.  It's become a person to me.  And a person can disappoint, help, love or encourage you.  But in the end, it is how you keep your end of the bargain with that person that counts.  Right now I am fasting to lose weight.  Eventually, Mrs. Feeley will have to agree.

But if this stall lasts too long, I just may set an apple on top of her.  Just in case.

Day 14: Still Juicing/16 pounds lost

Quote for the day:  "What if The Hokey Pokey Is All It Really is About?" Jimmy Buffet

Pat Dennis
Author
Hotdish To Die For
Hotdish Haiku
Who Died In Here?
Stand-Up and Die
and more

Day 13: Down .4 but sick of only having juice

Actually, I think I am just simply tired.  Two nights with little sleep leaves me wanting nothing more than a trip to the French bakery.  Or brewing a thick cup of espresso (I am also off caffeine for the duration of the juice fast.)  Before I started fasting I would often eat for energy when I was hungry.   When exhausted, I would drift towards potato chips or french fries.  I craved salt constantly.  Even when I had it all day long. That alone could explain the quick weight loss in my first few days of having only juice made only from fresh fruits and juice. 

I am sure, when I wake up in the morning, I will feel more alive and positive. We all have these bad days. But for now, I am going to spend the evening moping and whining. Not as exciting as wining and dining, but a whole lot less calories.

Day 13:  living on juices/16 pounds lost

Quote for the day:  "You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one."

Pat Dennis
Author
Hotdish To Die For
Hotdish Haiku
Who Died In Here?
Stand-Up and Die
and more