Monday Mornin’ Ramblings!

I’m sitting here thinking about last week – the craziness, the PAIN (more on that in a second) and how GOOD I feel today.It’s amazing. I feel like I’m finally “getting my groove back” as they say. 🙂

So, why was the week so nuts?Hectic work week (every week is hectic – but last week felt EXTRA crazy!). It’s still Lent….and I went out to eat TWICE. I wanted dessert SO.BAD. Especially when I saw the first place had crème brûlée. You guys KNOW that is my most favorite dessert of all times right? It pained me to decline. But, in retrospect I feel stronger. I made a goal and I stuck to it – despite temptation! I’ve mentioned a million times before how I feel like I should be rewarded for good behavior with food. I don’t know why I have that attachment – my parents were never in the habit of giving out cookies for quietness etc. This is definitely an adult thing. I guess it ties into “eating your emotions”. Food is a reward, food is a comfort, food is WAS my friend! Until I saw this on the book of faces, and I nearly fell off my chair:

HA! Could that be more perfect? I think not.

I printed it and stuck it at my desk. A good reminder for moments when I feel weak. 🙂

So, I resisted desserts. Awesome. What else did I do? I got 5 servings of fruits and at least 2 veggies every day (sometimes more!). I drank 100 oz. of water every day (more on days when I had barre!) and I only had coffee twice all week. I feel AMAZING. Legit, amazing. I feel strong and alert – I’m not in a haze (like I sometimes am when I opt for a junky breakfast and a Venti coffee). I’ve had juice/smoothies every morning for breakfast (just fruits frozen or fresh- no sugar, no yogurt, no filler). It’s amazing to me how much better your day starts when you’re not eating junk.

Why am I in crazy amounts of pain? Barre n9ne and the gym of course! My schedule last week looks like this:

Monday: barre n9ne

Tuesday / Weds: bouts of cardio when possible

Thursday: barre n9ne

Friday: barre n9ne

Saturday: rest!

Sunday: barre n9ne AND cardio at the gym!

I can feel every muscle in my arms….my legs….my abs….every single tiny muscle! Do you know how many small muscles you have? I don’t…but it feels like 9 million!

I feel so funny saying this but the secret to weight-loss really is eat less, move more. It’s not a magic pill or a quick fix. You have to be committed every day. If you fall off you have to get back on and it’s not always easy.

One of my favorite quotes of all times:

“No one said it was going to be easy ~ they just said it would be worth it”.

It hasn’t been easy to be so “good” and not fall victim to junk – but it will be worth it in the long run. I have to remind myself everyday that little changes yield big results. This week I am focusing on fresh and natural ingredients. Nothing in a box, nothing with preservatives and no coffee. I’m not sure I can do no coffee….but I’m going to try my damnedest. I also have 3 barre classes and 3 gym dates. Go hard or go home right?

I figure I’ve been carrying this same fat around with me for so long – enough is enough! Like I said last post- put up or shut up!

Happy week to all – hope you’re pushing towards a goal, or finding a way to get yourself realigned if you’ve fallen off track.

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (or “To Juice or Not to Juice”)

A friend has been hounding me to watch “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” for weeks. I finally took his advice and watched it on Netflix streaming (love Netflix) Sunday night. Holy mackerel….I think I want to juice!

Watch the trailer: Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

The documentary follows Aussie Joe Cross as he does a 60 day juice fast while driving across America. Seeing the amount of obese, food-obsessed people he encountered made me sad. We really are the fattest nation! During his journey he loses 80 pounds in 60 days and meets a ton of people he gets on the juicing bandwagon. Including a morbidly obese truck driver named Phil who is literally close to death. By the end of the film Phil has lost 202 pounds in 10 months. That’s insane!

I finish the doc and my first question was “Did they keep it off?”

http://www.runningonjuice.com/2011/08/27/sp-what-happened-to-phil-staples-and-joe-cross-after-fat-sick-and-nearly-dead/

I’m a skeptic, so I had to Google for more info. I normally would have phone my BFF Jewels and had her research it (nickname Jewgle) – but it was mid-Oscars and didn’t seem fair to phone a friend. 🙂

So, what did I discover?

Why Juice? (from the website):
Juicing offers us many delicious health benefits including a faster, more efficient way to absorb immune boosting nutrients naturally found in fruits and vegetables. It also provides a way to access digestive enzymes typically locked away in the fiber matrix of whole fruits and vegetables. Most commercial juices are processed and lacking in nutrition compared to freshly juiced fruits and vegetables.

How long do you do it for?
The fast is intended for a 10 days but can be extended up to 60. After the fast you eat a micro-nutrient high diet with protein – severely limiting preservatives, processed crap etc.

Why juice instead of eat just fruits and veggies?
The shot in the movie looked like this:

Eat all this at each meal:

or

Drink this:

You would literally be exhausted trying to eat all that!

Are there any risks? Obviously the detox of coffee, preservatives and the sheer cravings are going to be awful. You guys know I love my coffee. LOVE.  I can’t see any side effects (except the obvious “detox” from a fruit/vegetable based diet. I guess I would end up low on protein? Will have to consider that.

I couldn’t do the whole 60 days shown in the documentary ~ travel commitments would be near impossible. I sorta doubt I could bring a juicer on a plane with me, LOL.  But, I think 10 days would be feasible. Ten days of a juice fast – followed by healthy diet for the rest of Lent. On the website they talk about it as a reboot. Being a (quasi) nerd during the day I know how important computer reboots/resets are. I can see the same parallels with our bodies. You go-go-go and jump into diet after diet – fall off the bandwagon – gain more than you lost – lather, rinse, repeat. You never stop and say” timeout! let’s start fresh”. Unless you contract the bubonic plague and are quarantined for weeks….but I digress!

Whatcha think?  Has anyone tried it before? Results to share?

Juice recipe:
Phil Staples Juice Recipe
✦ 1 Bulk of Kale
✦ 4 celery stalks
✦ 1 cucumber
✦ 2 apples
✦ 1/2 of a lemon
✦ lump of Ginger

Truth be told, the green drink sounds kind of gross. I can’t lie. But. I’m willing to give it a shot. If nothing else I’ll have an interesting story to share on my blog for you guys! 🙂