1 Week In

1 week ago this evening I ate my last "solid" meal. I don't even remember what it was, or if it was delicious, because I wasn't intending at all to start a juice fast. I'd hoped to get another series of "work in progress" pictures to compare to my "before" pictures today, but it wasn't in the cards. Hopefully I'll have some tomorrow and I'm actually excited about these, because although I know I still have work to do, I have definitely noticed a difference in my body and can't wait to compare the two!

I took another trip to EarthFare this morning where I ran into a new friend, Lindsay, the mother of one of our kids here at the school. She's dusted off her juicer and has started getting creative and venturing outside the "fruity juice" box. I was happy when she texted me later today to let me know that she went with my suggestion to try Swiss Chard instead of kale in her juices, because she was having a really hard time with the taste. Another friend, Kathy, is buying her juicer soon and will start the "Reboot" plan next month. I'm excited that my positive results have spurred others to make healthier changes in their lives! A juice fast is NOT for everyone, but there are plenty of ways to be healthy other than doing something on the extreme side like this. (PS- my bill at EarthFare was $70 this time, and I probably ended up getting another 5 days or so again even though I said I wouldn't!)

This evening, after a full day of drinking juices and water, I stepped on the scale and it read 157. This is the lowest number I've weighed in recent memory, and I got there by cutting water weight for a fight. It's probably been a good 6 years since I've naturally been in the 150's, so I'm pretty pumped. All in all that makes 11.8 pounds I've lost since beginning a plant-focused diet 21 days ago, and 8.3 pounds since I began my juice fast 7 days ago. Alvaro asked me tonight if these were the results I expected when we began 3 weeks ago and it's very easy for me to say NO! This is FAR beyond the results I expected. Part of it is because I really didn't have any solid expectations or goals, which I think has helped. My 5 day fast turned into another 5. My 5 pounds lost started a goal of another 5.

I'm constantly adjusting my goals based on reality, which is the first time I've done that, and it's working really well for me. I've only got 3 days until I hit my new goal of a 10 day fast, and my body is still loving it. Although I am having some small cravings here & there, my body is not asking me to eat a salad, or a piece of chicken or fish, or a burger or ice cream. My body is really happy continuing to accept the juice as my only form of nourishment, so I will continue until that changes. My guess is when I get to 10 days I will likely make a goal of going for another 10. I can tell you I will not go more than 40 days, but other than that, your guess is as good as mine in terms of how long this will last!

When I got to 158 yesterday Alvaro and I set the next goal to 148. I'm already making progress and have 9 pounds to go. Jeremy said last night he feels I can get to 135, which prompted me to laugh out loud. It's probably been 8 years since I was in the 140's, and closer to 10 since I last saw the 130's. The 130's seem like such an unattainable goal, but after thinking about it, and talking to Alvaro, and doing some research on other female athletes who are around my height and 135lb, there really is no reason I can't attain that weight, (except for telling myself that it's unattainable!). We're making this a long term, "end of the year" goal, and I think it's a good goal to have in the big picture. But for now, I'm focused on breaking into the 140's!

Another great milestone happened today- I had my first relatively intense workout since beginning my fast, and really, since beginning my plant-based diet all together. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven't been running for a few months now. Today I did something I've talked about doing for over a year and ran from home to our school! I thought it would be 3 miles and it ended up only being a shade over 2.5. I walked the first 5 minutes, and took a 3 minute walk break in the middle, but otherwise ran the rest of it. My time was 30 minutes and 14 seconds. I won't be winning any races, but I'm happy with the fact that I ran the vast majority of the distance for my first run in months. I'm going to try my best to run to work 3 times a week. Energy wise I felt fantastic- when I walked it was a lack of cardio conditioning thing, not a lack of energy or muscle fatigue thing. I picked up my pace towards the end and really felt great!

Yet one more awesome occurrence- I stumbled upon a BMI (body mass index) calculator today for athletically built women. For years now my BMI has put me in the "overweight" category, at times coming very close to the "slightly obese" category. Today, I am firmly in the "average" category... towards the top, but well under the limit. BMI is something I don't pay a whole lot of attention to, because every person is unique, but it's good to see the differences I'm seeing and feeling also translate in a mathematical sense!

To close, here are the juices I shopped for and am digging this week: Peachy Green Juice (seriously can't get enough of this one!), Sunset Blend Juice (note to self- scrub the damn sweet potato first!), still my first place juice in the category of AWESOME, the Tabbouleh Juice, the V28, which I'm not too enamored with, and then my standby Carrot, Apple, Ginger Juice and lastly Green Lemonade