Saturday check in

Loving the juicer.  Have had a green juice every day since I bought it last week and I swear I am feeling stronger.  I woke up twice during the week at 2 a.m feeling rested.  and had two off the chart circuit training cycles at the gym.  Not 100% sure, but think it may be down to the juice boost. 

slipped up last night by ordering a pizza..... sigh.... old habits are hard to quit - but most of it has been packed up and put in the freezer in small quantities - a small win.

new challenge is to start each day with 50 pushups, 100 sit ups and 200 squats.... started this today..... squats nearly killed me! 

second part of the challenge is to get in an hour workout every day.... two days personal training, 3 days weights and 30mins cardio, and 2 days of 60 mins of cardio.....

Today is 60 minutes of cardio..... heading to the gym now.

Start weight - as of Nov 15 - 253.6 ( weigh in fully clothed, in shoes)

Easing my way into this

Day 3 of juicing today..... I made a carrot and apple juice this morning (5 carrots, 2 apples, 1 peeled lemon, 1 inch ginger) and tonight I made a green juice( handful of kale, 3 apples, 1/2 peeled lemon, 1/2 cucumber, 4 stalks of celery). 

I have to say that I have eaten more fruit and veg in the last 3 days, than I probably ate in most of the last 6 months.  BUT, I don't seem ready to commit to a full juice detox yet.... I am easing my way into this.  I am still recovering from a nasty cold and flu and don't feel 100 % at the moment.  But I am continuing with at least 1 juice a day until the weekend, and then I'll try and up it next week.

Everything else is going ok.  

Is Juicing my answer to weight loss???? hmmmm

This is my grocery shop this morning.... a whole bunch of things that I rarely eat.  Today the experiment starts.  Apples, lemons cucumber, carrots kale, spinach, ginger - Can these ingredients truly be the solution to my lifetime struggle with weight?  After stumbling upon the documentary "fat, sick, and nearly dead"  and subsequently reading quite a bit of info found on the internet, I think I'm ready to give it a go. 

I have heard that quite often overeating is caused by our bodies craving of micronutrients - vitamins and minerals that our body needs to keep it healthy.  When eating a diet that is not rich in these micronutrients, our brain signals us to eat more to try and obtain these nutrients.  Because our (my) diet is relatively either processed, or lacking in nutrient rich foods, I am continually eating trying to satisfy this need.  Not sure how accurate this is but it makes sense to me. 

Now, my problem is that I suffer from IBS type symptoms (not "officially" diagnosed), so basically, much of what I eat, whether its macronutrients or micronutrients, goes through my system very quickly and I am told it's too quick for my body to absorb the nutrients in the food.  Fruit and veg is generally very fibrous which does not lend itself well to my IBS.  Now from what I understand, juicing removes the fibre from the fruit and veg and the remaining juice is immediately absorbed into the bloodstream.

My hope is that finding a way to get these much needed micronutrients into my system will curb my brains signal to eat, eat eat..

Now I'm still going to eat one sensible meal a day, perhaps some protein and a bit of unprocessed carbs (like sweet potatoes).

Many people have tried to talk me out of trying this, saying it's not healthy etc.... but neither is carrying an extra hundred pounds of fat, nor is eating fast food 2 to 3 times per week.  So while I'm sure my path will change as I go, I am feeling hopeful that this may help in getting me on a healthy path. 

Good friends, good food, a lil shopping and juice

Good day today, went for a stroll in a quaint little area in the middle of the big city.  Shopped at a few little shops, had a lovely lunch of pizza and red wine,  and dropped into a another store and found a perfect zebra picture for my living room.   Came home tonight and made my second juice..... it was fantastic.  Sitting here now with my stomach cramping... Hmmmm gonna take a while before my IBS prone self, gets used to the increase in fruits and veg..... but it will.  I am imagining all of the micronutrients rushing into my blood and being carried throughout my body....

It has been a good day.

Picked up my juicer today, came home and was able to make my first juice.... kale, lemon, celery, apple an ginger.. Very nice. 

Going to start my day with a big juice for the next week to get my body used to it, then hopefully will do a 3 or 5 day reboot (fast). 

Pretty happy with this

And on to the next phase

Well its been more than a year since I made a feeble attempt at jumping back on the wagon, setting goals, and making plans to get back on track.... The last year has been a bit of a roller coaster my weight continued to climb from 235 to 250, and then all the way up to 285 as of January 2013.  The good news is I never gave up, I just fell into old patterns and spiraled downward from there.  I am now a couple of days away from the 5 year anniversary of quitting smoking, I've also just signed up for another 9 months of personal training, and I'm looking into the benefits of juicing for weight loss once my juicer arrives in the next few days..... it's all still up in the air, but I want to make the next year of my life count, and I do so much better when I am here and writing down about my life......  till tomorrow.