Week 1: Picture-by-Picture Progress

Before

After

Even though I haven't been weighing myself, mostly because I think that getting obsessed with numbers is silly, but I have taken a picture of myself before and after my first week. I got to say, the progress is kind of ridiculously awesome! I sleep more soundly, have more energy during the day, and my clothes are all looser! See the difference in how much smoother my back is:

Day 7: Last Day of the First Week!

For the past few days at work, I've been handling a lot of shipping and doing things like moving boxes, loading and wrapping pallets, and whatnot. It's been stressful, but at least it's a workout!

Anyways, here's what I've been eating:

Monday

Breakfast: Kashi, milk, strawberries, and my spiffy raspberry-lemon green tea
Lunch: 2 veggie burgers, glass of milk, spoonful of peanut butter
Dinner: Homemade meatballs with marinara sauce served over lightly fried mixed veggies and sauteed onions and topped with shredded mozarella

Plus a TON of water all day -- I peed a lot...

Oh, and since the man in my life isn't making all of these lovely lifestyle changes that I'm making, I decided to make up a ton of whole-grain pasta, (after all, he can make SOME little changes,) and served him up half a plate with pasta, and half with veggies. After all, my cooking is literally what made him fall in love with me, so I think it's wise to keep it up!

Don't they both look yummy???

Oh, and I idiotically decided to try pilates after a long day of moving boxes, and today I'm so sore!

First Low-Glycemic Content Weekend!

Over the weekend, I enjoyed a lot of really awesome food, and even made up a big batch of iced cranberry-pomegranate green tea with raspberries and lemons! I did go out on Saturday, and even though I'm fairly certain that wings and ribs coated in heavy barbecue sauce wasn't the most healthy choice that I could have made, I did substitute the standard greasy sides for some veggies and sweet potato fries. :-)

Saturday:
Fresh pineapple and berries for breakfast, with green tea as usual
Shrimp and veggie stir-fry with olive oil, lots of spices, and soy sauce with 1% milk for lunch
More green tea, which I decided to make a lot of and boiled lemon juice and raspberries in it for a big pitcher of iced tea
T.G.I.Friday's barbecue wings, Jack Daniels ribs, sweet potato fries, and slaw for dinner

Sunday:
Greek yogurt, fruit, and Kashi Go Lean Crunch for breakfast
Leftover ribs and sweet potato fried with a bunch of spicy mixed veggies with milk for lunch
Spicy salsa-queso chicken pan-fried in olive oil with onions and peppers, served over baby spinach and cucumbers (I was craving nachos, and came up with this alternative)

Now, a couple of hours after dinner, I felt starving again, so I let myself have some more pineapple, a spoonful of nutella, and a piece of cheese. Unfortunately, I was still wicked hungry, so I had carrots dipped in pesto hummus. I'm aware that it's a lot of food, but I'm still proud of myself for not making nachos!

Day 4

Yesterday was a very, well, interesting day. One the one hand, I had officially lasted through 72 hours with nothing more than produce, green tea, and water, and now had the option to re-introduce protein and low-glycemic carbs. On the other hand, I also had an EXTREMELY physically challenging day full of moving boxes and loading pallets at my company's storage space.

Fortunately, I was able to get the energy that I needed without going crazy, but I did have a few unorthodox items in my "lunch" mid-day.

Here it is:

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, blackberries and raspberries, small handful of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, plus green tea and juice

Snack: Apple

Lunch: 2 Reese's peanut butter cups, Chocolate protein bar, 1 liter of gatorade

Dinner: Chipotle salad with lettuce, beef, grilled peppers and onions, tomato, hot sauce, sour cream, and a glass of 1% milk

AMAZING fun-fact: I felt like I could run a MARATHON after breakfast, and in spite of moving boxes and pallets and such all day, I STILL had energy leftover after dinner. :-)

Day 3

Strangely enough, I actually wasn't very hungry this morning, and I mainly just wanted to sleep more. Unfortunately, since I'm a grown-up with a job to do and bills to pay, going back to bed just because I wanted to wasn't really an option. (For the record, I'm pouting like a small child while talking about being a grown-up, and I'm resentful of it right now.)

So, this morning, I just had green tea and a little bit of cucumber, and then nothing until about 10:30 while I was at work. That is, of course, with the exception of an enormous amount of water, which is helping my stomach stay occupied during this cleansing phase.

Snack: Apple, green tea

Lunch: Carrots and hummus

Snack: Eggplant, veggie burger, and tomato with seasonings, also some iced green tea with juice
"Dessert": Pineapple

Dinner: Red bell pepper slices dipped in hummus, veggie burger with spinach and peppers

Also, as a lovely alternative to tons of water and green tea, I started drinking sparkling water with lemon a LOT this afternoon and evening. Not too bad!

Oh, and as a side note, I've actually gotten some really quality sleep the past couple of nights, so my body is either working really hard and needing that much more rest, or it's grateful for the wide variety of produce it's received lately and is rewarding me with great sleep. Either way, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth...

Day 2

So, as a commentary to anyone considering doing an all-produce cleanse at any point in time:

DO IT WHEN YOU CAN ACCESS A BATHROOM FREQUENTLY!!!

Seriously, I didn't know a person could even HAVE this much poop in them... oh my goodness... that's what pure fiber gets you!

Anyways...

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast:
Green tea with juice over ice
Small bowl of raspberries and blackberries

Lunch:
Baby spinach, tomato, and cucumber salad with black pepper, basil, red wine vinegar, and lemon juice as a salad, with a side of raw carrots

Green tea

Dinner:
Veggie burger patties, portabello mushroom, and tomato served on a bed of eggplant slices with an abundance of garlic and basil

Oh yeah, and I have a pink kitchen, so there's going to be a lot of awesome pink stuff in the background of my pictures!

:-)

Day 1

Yesterday was my first day of this cleanse, where I have unlimited amounts of vegetables, three servings of fruit, and a LOT of water and green tea. Even though I wanted coffee with cream and sugar and lots of butter-coated carbs, this is what I ate:

Breakfast:
Green tea infused with pomegranate, mixed with fruit juice and served over ice
Apple
Water with lemon

Lunch:
Water
Carrots dipped in sweet tomato and basil hummus

More green tea

Dinner:
Tons of cucumber slices
Veggie burgers with fat slices of tomato, grilled together with basil and fresh ground pepper

New Beginnings

Here's the thing: I absolutely LOVE food. I mean, I savor every flavor on my plate and try to find the perfect combination of the best parts of my meal to make a "perfect bite" as the very last thing to touch my tongue when I'm finished. When I taste an extra juicy piece of steak or a warm chocolate souffle, I have a tendency to moan. Sometimes, although it's a bit embarrassing to admit it, I intentionally "forget" to brush my teeth after an incredible meal -- because I want to keep tasting it!

Now, as a foodie, why in the world would I willingly give up butter, wine, bread, and chocolate for any length of time? Well, to be honest, I really just want to enjoy food for all of my life, and if I don't want to follow in my family's footsteps of being severely overweight and struggling with health problems every day, then I need to change some of my habits. If I can live to be a hundred years old, then that's a LOT of recipes to try!

So, here I am, working with an exercise and diet coach, consuming nothing but produce and green tea as a cleanse... 

...how tasty can I make it???