Master Cleanse Results

These were my final numbers after the 10-day master cleanse:

Weight: 121.5 lbs (lost 10 pounds)
Waist: 26 " (lost 1 inch)
Hips: 38 " (lost 1 inch)
Thighs: 21 " (lost 1 inch)
Chest: 31.5 " (lost 0.5 inch)
Biceps: 9.5 " (lost 0.5 inch)

Blood pressure: 114/74 and resting heart rate: 63 beats per minute. (Went down a bit, not too significant)

Day 5 was pretty good. Not as great as the day before (day 4 was the day I felt best throughout the whole process) but good nonetheless and very productive. I started thinking about food, not because I was hungry (I was not) but because I simply felt like eating and chewing.

Day 6 was OK. My face started breaking out in an itchy rash, which lasted for the next 4 days. TMI warning! I started to pass some foul smelling dark mucus with my morning eliminations. Amazing the stuff that gets stuck inside the body during years of eating junk. It felt great to know I was clearing my colon of that gunk.

Day 7 was good, but not eating began to get boring... I started to dream about food, and pretty much spent a good portion of the day thinking about it.

On day 8 my face started to clear, and my morning eliminations (right after drinking the salt water) went back to clear and all liquid. No more weird stuff coming out of my body! A very good feeling overall, high energy, high self esteem, good mood.

Day 9 was kind of a "down" day. I felt tired and slept a lot. Basically could not wait until I was able to eat again.

Day 10 was really good. I was happy it was the last day, plus I felt pretty good. Face is clear, poop is clear, my tongue is pink, I feel clean and detoxed. Yay me!

Closing thoughts: I broke the fast slowly over the next two days, starting with orange juice on the first day and vegetable broth the next. It is now 5 days since the end of the cleanse and I have not regained any of the weight I lost.

This is definitely something that I will do again, possibly two or three times a year. I felt like hell the first two days due to caffeine withdrawal, but after that felt stronger and better each day. The overall result was nothing short of amazing. My clothes fit better, I feel better, and I'm much more motivated to eat the right things. I've adjusted my eating since going off the fast (doing Tim Ferriss' Slow Carb diet), but that is something I will discuss in more detail next time I post.

My First 4 Days on the Master Cleanse

I actually weighed in at a whopping 131.5 pounds the morning I started the Master Cleanse! The day before was a binge complete with a whole DiGiorno Rising Crust pizza several packs of sugar-free peeps and sugar-free chocolate. I was sick by the time I went to bed.

These were my starting numbers on the morning of Thursday the 28th of April, day 1 of my cleanse:

Weight: 131.5 lbs
Waist: 27 "
Hips: 39 "
Thighs: 22 "
Chest: 32 "
Biceps: 10 "

Blood pressure: 117/75 and resting heart rate: 69 beats per minute.

Day 1 was absolutely horrible. I was sick from the binge the day before, cranky, tired, hungry and craving all sorts of things. My head hurt all day from not having any caffeine. I threw up at the end of the day just after drinking my 5th lemonade of the day. I was so sick I thought about giving up already!

Day 2 was pretty miserable. I started the day throwing up just after drinking my morning salt water flush (32 oz of water with 2 TSP of sea salt) and thought maybe this fast was REALLY a bad idea. I went on with it, however, and went the whole day with a massive caffeine withdrawal headache, and called my sister at the end of the day (she's doing this with me) desperately needing "a good reason to continue". She was feeling just as bad, and couldn't give me a reason, but we persisted. Weight: 128.5 lb.

Day 3 saw my headache start to lift. I felt OK to exercise (went rollerblading with my husband), talked with friends on the phone, got some things done around the house. Started to feel a bit better, realized it might not be all horrible like days 1 and 2 were. Weight: 127.5 lb.

Today is day 4, and I am feeling very good! I cleaned the house, cleared the cupboards of old stale food, went shopping for healthy stuff for once I'm off the fast, spent some time in the sun, and had some good laughs with my husband. Life is good again. This morning I was down to 126.5 pounds, so a 5-pound loss for the first 3 days.

I will continue to report on my progress during this fast and of course will share my final results when I'm done on Sunday. I will then get back to my original weight tracking that started this blog. It's going on 1 year!

An Act of Desperation: The Lemonade Fast

If it seems I am always trying something different in order to lose weight it is because I am desperate. I have found a few things that work, such as the ChaLean Extreme exercise program, for instance (see the sidebar on the right for other tools I use). But I still struggle with binging and yo-yoing quite frequently. After yet another family visit trip to NY during which I gained 4 pounds, I now decided to try the Master Cleanse to kick start some weight loss and get me back to where I was before the trip.

The Master Cleanse (also known as Lemonade Diet, Maple Syrup Fast, Lemon Detox) consists of drinking nothing but fresh lemonade with maple syrup and cayenne pepper. It also includes salt water in the morning and herbal laxative tea at night. This is done for 10 days during which your system is cleansed and detoxed. I start tomorrow, Thursday the 28th of April. I will run separate stats for the detox, and will continue with my usual stats after that.

Month 11 Stats

Another month! The pills I bought last month (Hoodia Ultra 2000 Time Release) are great for killing hunger, but I am still struggling as hunger is not the main reason I eat. I need something that would work on my brain to make me STOP THINKING ABOUT FOOD! (Any suggestions??)

Here are the stats for the last month, and running total:

Weight: 126lb (no change)*
Body Fat: 26% (no change)*
Chest: 32" (no change)*
Waist: 26" (no change)*
Hips: 38" (no change)*
Thighs: 21" (no change)*
* from last month

Cumulative total: down 11lb, 8% body fat, 10"**
**in the last 10 months

Apparently I need to step things up a bit, I seem to have reached a plateau. I want to get back to running marathons, so I should start aiming for a half around August or September. I need to ramp up my mileage for that.

Yikes!

Unfortunately since I last wrote a couple of days ago my eating has completely spiraled out of control! This is what my SparkPeople Calorie Differential looks like for the past 8 days:

I just had 1,400 calories for dinner and I feel awful. I need to shop for groceries. I don't have anything in the house so I keep going to 7-Eleven for every meal! My goal is to go shopping tomorrow, and stock up on good, healthy stuff for the week.

Month 10 Stats

Wow, it wasn't as bad as I had thought. Mostly no change (I seriously thought I had gained at least 2 pounds) with a 1% loss in body fat and only a 0.5" gain on my hips. I'm not stressing over that.

The past two weeks have been good, I haven't missed one weight training workout, went running a couple of times and used my trampoline. I still need to be more consistent with my cardio workouts, so this will be my goal for this month.

I'm trying a new product, Hoodia Ultra 2000 Time Release, so I'll report on it next month. I just received my shipment, I'm looking forward to trying it (and to it working, of course!). Working from home I find any excuse to tell myself I'm hungry and should eat, but if I'm REALLY not hungry I will hopefully focus on work instead of food.

Here are the stats for the last month, and running total:

Weight: 126lb (no change)*
Body Fat: 26% (down 1%)*
Chest: 32" (no change)*
Waist: 26" (no change)*
Hips: 38" (up 0.5")*
Thighs: 21" (no change)*
* from last month

Cumulative total: down 11lb, 8% body fat, 10"**
**in the last 10 months

At Least I'm Still Sugar Free!

As I wrote last week I've been having a hard time. I've been eating more than normal, and sort of fell off the steady exercise wagon. I'm happy to still be sugar free, though. I think if I were eating sugar and high-fructose corn syrup I'd be REALLY gaining weight, and it would certainly be out of control!

I feel so much better since eliminating these two items from my diet, so even though I've been eating more lately, I don't feel like I've completely failed. I still haven't hopped on the scale, but I know I've gained some (hopefully not a lot!) I will weigh myself next week.