Master Cleanse Day 7 (evening)

5:56 pm  I just got home from getting Biggs from the vet.  I will never understand how a perfectly fine well visit costs $100, but at least he is healthy and happy, and now on thyroid meds for the rest of his life!  Who knew a dog could have a thyroid condition.  But I did manage to pickup the McDougall book for weight loss.  I have already raced through the first chapter over lunch, and i am excited to read the entire book, and I honestly feel it is the answer to how to eat for me personally.  "The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss" is the name of the book, and I am torn between going to yoga and climbing on the treadmill with this book.  Actually, I am not so torn, I think I am going to climb on that treadmill!  The diet is going well today, as I have not thought much about weight at all, and I am looking forward to walking tonight.  I just need to decide when I am actually going to do my hair...  A subject to which MUCH more time will be devoted I am sure.  I still have a coated tongue, although it is noticeably less coated today.  I just wonder when and if it will go away completely, and how do you know if your body has gained true benefit from doing the cleanse.  The last time I did the cleanse, I stopped on day 7-- granted I had experienced 8 lbs of weight loss, and I was feeling terrific.  It was several months before I put that weight back on, and only when I stopped exercising, and not before.  I was very happy with my results, and I am sure I will do the same this time, only better-- I refuse to let anyone or anything come in between me and my health!!

Master Cleanse Day 7

5:25 am:  I just finished drinking the salt water flush.  As the days go by and my stomach isn't super stretched out, the flush seems harder and harder to take in all at once.  Right now my stomach is bloated, overfull, and I really hope it goes through my system fast!  So no cheating since Day 4, and I can finally say that the results of that are starting to show through.  I also up'ed my water in-take.  I think we take it for granted a little too much that all of my hydration on this cleanse comes from the lemonade.  Not really the case.  I also got a GREAT tip from youtube (my current obsession) on how to lessen the effect of the senna tea.  Now that I am letting the bags steep for long enough, I am experiencing those old familiar cramps in the middle of the night again, and I have found that drinking water directly after the senna tea, and then in the morning if I am awakened by the urge to go-- also pushing some water at that point, has been hugely helpful in lessening the amount of cramping, and in removing waste products from my bowel.  Also, last night, I managed to drag myself to the gym where I was pleasantly surprised to find an 8pm yoga class.  I have never been able to attend this because of having Anneke, however I was able to attend, so I ran out and got my trusty mat out of my car, and had a wonderful yoga class! I then was feeling so good I did 1.5 miles on the treadmill.  I was able to run in 1 min spurts.  I hope I can work my way up again, it felt sooo good to be able to run again.  Minimal ankle pain, and I didn't wear a brace.  So when I stepped on the scale this morning, it read 177.0 lbs.  That is a 5.5 lb weight loss in 7 days of the cleanse. I am actually really happy with that number, and if I just go 10 days on the cleanse, I am ok with this as a starting point for me embracing the McDougall diet.  In fact, before I come off of the master cleanse, I will purchase and read the McDougall book so I can be prepared to start making my own meals again.  I can already see where I was going absolutely wrong with my vegan diet in the past, slathering on the oil because I thought that was the healthy thing to do!
One physical change I can note today is that my skin feels exceptionally soft!  My boobs feel much looser, my stomach doesn't feel bloated anymore, and actually looks a LOT flatter.  /Also, you can start to see the little bones in the back of my hand-- well, the tendons anyway.  This is always a good sign!  I am going to continue with the yoga and walking/running because my body really really misses those things.

Master Cleanse Day 6 (pm)

6:15pm So at work today, I felt the fear that I might run out of my juice, so probably because I panicked at started gulping the juice down-- of course I ran out!  I didn't have any thing from about 3:30pm to 6 pm, and I thought I was going to go wolf down some crackers or something.  I did manage to make it home and finally managed to make some juice.  I weighed myself, however, just before I drank any more juice, and it was the same, 178.5 lbs.  I am receiving great benefits from this cleanse, but weight loss doesn't seem to be one of them!  I suppose I am drinking way too much juice, but I refuse to go hungry-- that is not the point of the cleanse.  Maybe it will take a few days for the effects of me cheating to completely get out of my system.  I also might be holding myself to too high of a standard.  They say you can lose upto 2 lbs per day-- I know that is unhealthy and unreasonable, but the last time I was able to do this cleanse, I did it for 7 days and lost 8 pounds!  I have been on this cleanse for 6 days and only lost 3 pounds.  As far as I am concerned, that is probably water weight!  I am going to head to the gym, however, and put in both a weights workout AND cardio.  I am determined to just no longer be fat!!!

Master Cleanse Day 6

It is 6:14 am, and I am just sitting here wondering how many more mins I have before I can unchain myself from the toilet area.  I have followed essentially the same routine at night, senna tea, and in the morning-- salt water flush.  This time I actually microwaved the tea bags, and steeped them a bit longer- well, today I had the old familar cramps!!  More solids (lots of solids) came out this morning, with and without the help of the salt water.  I am still amazed at how many days solids stay in my system.  I think I am going to start this McDougall diet I have been reading about online.  I am going to go get the actual book- not quite sure which one yet.  I am so excited to start eating a low fat, lower protein all-vegan diet.  I just think it is going to be great!  Now I am torn as to whether I should continue on with the master cleanse until I see the scale move past where I want it, and maintain using mcdougall, or to switch after I have completed the minimal cleanse part, which would be 4 more days.
The scale showed 178.5 lbs, so a total weight loss of 4 lbs in 6 days-- not too shabby considering the horrendous cheating sessions I have had!  Also, I feel I have been bulking up from my marathon weightlifting sessions in the gym.  I managed to get outside for a walk yesterday, but that was the first time in ages!  I hope to keep that up every single day this week- some sort of cardio.  I am hoping that will show up on the scale.
I am starting to notice a slight amount of mucous in my stool, which if I remember correctly is a good thing- like the next phase of the cleanse.  I am so happy that I am not completely black and crusty on the inside like I felt previously!!  I am happy that I decided to do this cleanse.

Master Cleanse Day 5 (recap of day 4 and cheating!!)

So I have made it to day 5 of the cleanse!!!!  Well, sort of... you see, I cheated, and when I say cheated, I mean totally went crazy eating popcorn and some graham crackers, which are two of the few foods I actually have in my house.  This was the end of day 3.  I decided to quit, then I decided that if I quit, I would still be fat!!  So I reconsidered, and I just did the tea that night, and in the morning I drank the salt water flush, and of course nothing was coming out.  The thing about the salt water flush for me is that it will just fill me up too much, and not go anywhere if I have eaten any solids.  I did my trick with the enema to get things moving, and then it was a show!  Plenty of stuff came out!  I am glad, however, that I actually went ahead and got back on the fast.  I weighed in on day 4 at 179.0, which (sadly) is a weight I haven't been below in a long long time.  March of 2009 I weighed 161, and then I had some very sad things happen in my life, and I packed on weight.  I can honestly say that I felt so good at 161, and I plan on revisiting that weight!!  So back to the present.  I didn't weigh myself this morning, but I am looking forward to weighing myself on tomorrow morning.  I have been averaging 2 jugs of juice, and I have been switching up the juice, substituting lemons and limes to keep things interesting.  Also, sometimes I drink out of a wine glass, and sometimes I drink out of my new coffee cup travel mug.  I love it!  I find that a secret to staying on this thing and not getting that bored is to fill your life with stuff that has nothing to do with food, and to drink the juice out of lovely cups or glasses, anything you really enjoy.  It is like a celebration or something.  Sometimes I drink it warm, but most of the time on ice.  So my other bout with cheating was a few drinks very late on day 4, however I didn't eat anything, and I can say that I made the decision to be flexible enough to not let minor "cheats" derail my progress.  It is exceptionally hard to go in the grocery store-- I am now so sensitive to the smells and the sights!!  I finally feel like I am gaining a little bit of energy.  I was able to go for a walk today, and my ankle is starting to feel a heck of a lot better.  I was even able to run a little!  That was exciting for me.  I am really looking forward to the running, and I hope to even incorporate a little yoga.  I am really using this time to find myself, and to remember who and what I am.  The last time I did this fast successfully, it was for a total of 7 days.  I am hoping that I can go past 7 days.  My throat is now no longer sore, and I can even say that my tongue is starting to clear up a bit!  Not quite as fuzzy and white/greenish anymore.  I did have a strange red/dry patch of skin pop up on my face, which I can't remember having that often in the past, but i am not sure it is related to the fast.  I honestly do feel like I really really needed to do this fast for my digestion.  I think when I do reintroduce solid food, I will do it slow enough to recognize the things that my body can tolerate, and the things that I was eating that were making me feel super sluggish, etc.  I will make a commitment now to update this blog daily while on the cleanse.  Even if I cheat, or am not feeling good about it or want to quit...  I am so proud of myself for staying on this long!  Maybe I can do this for an extended period- who knows.

Day 3 after lunch

Just finished working out, and now I am going to have to go to the store and get more lemons, maple syrup, and some Knot Today for my hair :-).  I have had a very good day overall.  And my throat is beginning to feel a lot better.  I don't feel like I am going to be full blown sick, I just feel like I am passing toxins or something I guess.  My tongue is coated with a white/yellow/green film, and I am still passing a surprising amount of solids considering I haven't eaten anything substantial in days.  I am now thinking that I should just do this fast for the ten days, and afterward amp up my workout routine to include lots more cardio, etc., so that I can eat solid food.  I do miss the comfort of eating really wonderful foods.  I am not having many cravings necessarily, but I am missing that comfort.  Also, my energy is a little low.  I don't want to have to take any pills or anything, however if I continue to feel this low, I just might have to take something to make it through the day.  I just finished my first jug of the day, so I am off now to go make a second jug.  More later.

Day 3 (and recap of Day 2)

So on day 1 I weighed myself at 182.5 lbs.  Day 2 was ROUGH, I woke up with a sore throat, and it just kept nagging most of the day.  I realized I hadn't gotten lemons, so while sipping on my salt water flush, I drove myself to walmart, working myself slowly up into a panic thinking I was going to have to run to the bathroom, or have an accident before I made it back home.  I didn't, however, and made my lemonade for the day.  I drank the better part of two full jugs on day 1 in total, and even drank the tea at night.  I weighed in at 180.5 on day 2.  I think that 95% of that was waste stuck in my colon.  This is the first time in a long time I have not felt clogged up inside.  So by the end of day 2, I had only consumed 1 jug, but I was so tired that I fell asleep at 6pm for the night.  I didn't even get to make my tea.  I was just worn out, and the sort throat was kicking my butt.  I was worried I was coming down with a serious cold.   I also know that I was disturbing some seriously old stuff in my colon!  I still feel like I am a lot of times, because it is day 3, and there are still consistently old bits of food, etc, that are flushing out of me.  I mean lots of solid food, and it is over 3 days since I had any serious food!

So officially at the beginning of day 3, I weighed in at 180.5.  I am sure part of that was because I didn't drink enough juice, and also I had a cup of regular tea (no cream or sugar of course), mixed with one of my lemonades to switch things up a bit.  My plan for today is to hit the grocery store for lemons and syrup, and to workout at the gym with weights.  I am happy and excited about seeing myself in the 170s again- I would like to end this fast weighing in the 150s, that would be amazing, and I would be able to pick up my physical activity drastically.  I have also been suffering very mild headaches, but nothing serious, and I just try to make sure I always have some lemonade around.  I am going to be late for work if I don't push it, so I will post another blog entry there.

Master Cleanse Day 1

Trying to complete the first day of this master cleanse. I think the first day is always the toughest because you haven't fully committed until that second salt water flush. That marks the official complete day of cleansing out the system in my mind, so any time before that is dangerous because I am more likely to bail! I have gone all day just polishing off one jug of juice, moving onto my second. I don't mind, however, because This first day I need to push as many fluids as I can get my hands on! The fast began with a rush of emotion last night when I decided that I was really really tired of feeling the way I do, and looking the way I look, when I am trying to eat healthy. I am essentially a vegan. I don't eat dairy, or meat, and I minimize the processed foods as much as possible, however over the past year since going vegetarian (only been vegan for ~` month), I have gained weight! As I read more, I realize this is not uncommon. Also, a month ago I got my stress under control, started going to the gym, and stopped drinking alcohol. I have essentially lost 8 lbs in several months of doing this. I know I haven't been doing lots of cardio, but I twisted my ankle badly, so I am limited in what I can do at the moment. I am actually doing quite well with my ankle and I think I will be back up to 80% in a few weeks. Most importantly, I am not regular! You would think that with all of the veggies and fiber I get, that I would be regular, but I am not-- I am far from it, and I always felt bloated, like I had an intestine full of waste that wouldn't come out. But back to the story of the start of this cleanse.

I decided to do it last night, but I didn't feel like doing the senna tea, and I got really hungry! So I ate a peach, and went to sleep. In the morning I did the salt water flush. I was afraid I was going to gag and throw it back up, but I got it all down with my straw technique-- old trusty method. I then waited, and waited. And waited. Nothing was happening, then an hour or so into it, I felt a small gurgle. But nothing came out-- I sat on the toilet and pushed, and pushed-- still nothing. I then decided that because I didn't do the senna tea, I was plugged up-- I felt soooo bloated because I was full of waste and now a quart of salt water that wanted to make its way down. I then felt like I had to go, but to my dismay, it was only gas! So I turned to an enema. Once I did the enema, a "plug" of solid waste came shooting out (after several minutes of hanging upside down to keep it in), and then the water black fluid started pouring out of me. And pouring. And pouring. I must have gone to the bathroom about twenty times over the course of 3 to 4 hours! I have never seen my insides look this bad and gunked up-- which is weird because I am eating "cleaner" than I ever have in my life. Then again, I am taking vitamin D and iron supplements, along with a multivitamin... Anyway, I finally unchained myself from the bathroom. It is now 4:30 pm, and I am deciding whether or not I want to actually go to a yoga class. I haven't been able to motivate myself to do anything! I am just sitting here really, but I just drank a glass of water, and that made me feel really good! I will check in later just to make sure I am still on track!!!!