Many of you have asked about my post-cleanse routine, and in addition to juicing and cutting out a number of allergy-inducing foods (soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, corn and pork), I have added some supplements to my daily routine. This is what I'm taking and why:
Co-enzyme Q 10: This is a metabolic stimulant that (allegedly) helps facilitate weight loss-- especially useful when you feel fatigued. 30 mg per day.
Lecithin: To utilize body fats and promote heart health. 1200 mg/day
Chromium Picolinate: To regulate blood sugar swings. 800 mcg per day.
L-Carnitine: To control blood sugar levels and boost metabolism. 1000 mg/day
B-Complex: To metabolize carbs and proteins. 50-100 mg per day.
Zinc: Studies have shown that women who've suffered from eating disorders have been deficient in zinc. It is supposed to help with compulsive eating. 50 mg/day
Wheat Grass: I took this during the Master Cleanse to help suppress my appetite-- and found that it works! It provides a great boost in energy, as well. 5000 mg/day
I've also been experimenting with raw/vegan recipes for the first time ever. I tried this incredible recipe for "Chovocado Pudding" and Fell. In. Love. It's GOOD. Like, "I wanna rub this all over my body and think dirty thoughts," kind of good. Oh yeah. I added some cinnamon to make it a bit more like a Mexican Chocolate dessert. OMG. Major Yum. This is what it looked like when I was all done with mixing and tasting, and tasting some more!
"Chovocado" Pudding
I am so grateful that JP has gotten on the "get healthy" train with me! He has been waking up every morning and juicing for us--- my favorite so far is more vegetable based: kale, carrots, zucchini, apple, pears, lemon, ginger and orange. DELISH! Badmuthafucka even has been going grocery shopping for me while I'm at work and stocking the fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables!
Fruit & Veggie Fridge!
(By the way, we have what we call "The Dengerator" for meat, etc... in our den!)
Workouts have been great this week...I've been alternating between Dance Cardio '08 and Bootcamp Cardio and doing the original Mat DVD almost every day-- (well, more like every OTHER day.) I'm going to be staring the Hamelin D'Abell Method Challenge I starting June 1st. If you want to join in check out my Mistress of the Method 10 Day Challenge on Facebook!
I'm also working on a cleanse of my own for all of you Lovelies and my Edible Heart personal chef clients. It's going to involve eating raw throughout the day and lean protein/veggies at night. There will be delicious juice recipes to start the day and decadent chocolate recipes for snacks and dessert! More on that soon.....
I have been, well, unplugged, shall we say, since my trip to California. It was some much needed time away from the computer, away from Facebook, even away from my phone for a while.... and a couple weeks when JP didn't have to nag me with, "Are you blogging/texting/Facebook messaging/tweeting AGAIN???!"
So here's the lowdown on life post-cleanse and post-vacation...
Let's start with The Bod:
Since I'm a reporter, I won't, uh, bury the lead, as they say....Here are the stats:
During the Master Cleanse, I lost 16 pounds and 9 inches, getting down to my lowest weight in over a year, and 8 pounds away from my goal weight of 145!
Since the beginning of my journey to health, here are the numbers from January to May:
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 176.6 ... 153
Right Thigh: 23 1/2" ... 21"
Left Thigh: 23 1/2" ... 21"
Right Calf: 15 1/2" ... 14"
Left Calf: 15 1/2" ... 14"
Hips: 41 1/2" ... 38"
Waist: 33 1/2" ... 29"
Butt Length: 17" ... 15"
Cheek Height: 9" ... 6 1/2"
Bust: 39" ... 35"
Left Arm: 12" ... 11"
Right Arm: 12" ... 11"
Total Weight Lost: 23.6 pounds Inches Lost: 26.5"
Here are some recent pics to show you my progress. Note the blue pants that I found at a thrift store several months ago. On the day I finished bootcamp, I tried them on and realized they were FAR from fitting...as in, I couldn't even button them up! Fast forward to 2 months of Perfect Design series and 3 weeks of cleansing....and tah-dah!
Too tight pants in February
Perfect Fit in May!
One of the best parts of losing weight is going shopping for new clothes. I definitely have not discarded all of my "fat clothes," but anything above a size 8 has been pushed to the back of the closet! I hit the mall for a few new things....This is what I've added to my wardrobe:
Wrap Dress from Banana Republic
Pencil Skirt with Ruffled Blouse, Banana Republic
Red Patent Leather Belt, Macy's
Red Patent Leather Shoes, DSW
OK, so here's the crazy thing...Not only have I lost weight and inches, I've actually shrunk an entire SHOE SIZE! I've been wearing a size 11 shoe for almost 2 years. All of the sudden, my shoes are too big! The shiny new heels I bought, were a 10! 11 was falling off me! Wild.
The other positive has been my skin--- I swear, this health spree has taken years off my face! This pic was snapped a few days ago and I have minimal make-up on. No blemishes, no visible lines or pores! This old bat is turning 37 in a couple weeks...Not bad, eh?
Noxema Girl Wannabe in a Van at a Gas Station
The Diet:
In California, there was indulgence, indulging and even some over-indulging. I don't regret one moment of the deliciousness! Fortunately, my weight has only fluctuated by 3-5 pounds, even with copious amounts of wine, sushi, tacos and dark chocolate mochas on vacation!
Since coming back to reality, I've been disciplined about sticking to an anti-allergy diet, which cuts out gluten, corn, dairy, soy, eggs and caffeine. I have also permanently cut out pork and drastically reduced my red meat intake.
JP and I have been using our juicer every day....JP is now officially the Juice Pimp. To see this big dude (well, not so big anymore, since he's lost 20 pounds, himself!) standing there juicing pineapple, kale, lemons, carrots and whatever else he throws in there, is truly a sight to behold! JP makes a big batch in the morning for both of us. These are my 2 favorites so far:
Beet, Carrot, Apple, Ginger & Lemon
Kale, Apple, Lemon & Ginger
We both have been sipping on the juice all day and it is amazing how satisfying and energizing it is! JP calls it Juice Crack... Screw coffee and bring on the juice, pimp! Juice really is the new black, bee-atches...try it! And, I love drinking my juice out of a margarita glass because it makes me feel like I'm getting a buzz on healthy.
Now if we can just save up for a Vitamix Blender so we can start doing the real deal-- smoothies with kale, spinach and all sorts of pulpy fruit! JP actually re-juices the pulp to get the most out of it, but it's not quite the same nutritionally speaking.
Here's what a typical day of food is for me:
Breakfast: Veggie/Fruit Juice (continuing to sip it throughout the day)
Mid-Morning: Half-grapefruit
Lunch: Chickpea Salad
Mid-Afternoon: Almonds and a small piece of dark chocolate
Dinner: Lean protein (chicken, shrimp, turkey, fish) with veggies
I still struggle with dinner portions, but it's been helping me to pack up leftovers before I serve dinner, so there's less food to snack on after the first plate is wolfed down! I'm trying to do only minimal tasting during cooking which is still tough, but I'm getting better at it. We have also definitely reduced our weekly wine intake (vacation aside). Gone are the Monday through Sunday wine guzzling sessions! That just leads to empty calories and "eating while buzzed," which should be a felony.
The Workout:
I didn't do much working out on vacation, but have kicked it into high gear since coming home. I'm going old school Tracy--- rocking out her Dance Cardio '08 and the original Mat video. See proof below:
TAM Sweat Fest
On June 1st, I'm going to start the Hamelin D'Abell 3 Week Challenge. Lots of TAM'ers have been "cheating" on Tracy with Hamelin... He has a similar philosophy-- light weights, accessory muscle focus, etc...Here's a sneak peak of his cardio-- it's lower impact than dance cardio, but still effective, from what I can tell. I love that he incorporates light hand weights into the cardio work.
To sum up, lovelies, I feel better now than I have in years....I have more energy, (and positive energy at that!) more confidence, more joie de vivre! Getting healthy has not only improved my life, it has taken my relationship with JP to a whole new level as well. We've been inspiring each other to continue to eat healthy and exercise--- there is more love between us after four years together than I thought possible. We are SO talking babies.
I was hoping to blog before my California vacation about my post-cleanse status, my fabulously "clean" bod and post some new pics.....but I got distracted and tied up with all of the planning that goes into vacation preps--- from getting the dogs boarded to resetting my house alarm!
Much more to come after my trip....in the meantime, this is the view I'm enjoying from Malibu today. Not bad, eh?
I have been paying very close attention to my body during this entire cleansing process, and yesterday, this is what my body said to me: "Bitch, it's time to stop cleansing. If you try to drown me in 4 more days of lemons and cayenne pepper, I'm going to make sure that cellulite sticks to your ass for the next 50 years."
OK! OK! I hear ya, sister!
I felt really out of it yesterday-- I haven't felt that bad since the worst part of my detox on Days 2 & 3. I had a gnawing headache and was extremely low on patience. I made a careless error in my story that my editor caught, but it was definitely due to being distracted by feeling so crappy. I literally read and re-read through my work afterwards because I got paranoid that I'd forgotten something major!
By the time I got home, I knew I was done. It was time. I consider it a total victory to have gotten through 16 whole days!
So, today, Day 17, I slowly started my ease out of the lemonade fast. That meant a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice...Sweet Jesus. It tasted like Nectar of the Gods, it was so sweet and rich! I squeezed two oranges and tried to just sip it. (Notice from the pic how little juice there actually was, but it was worth every drop.) Gone in about 6 seconds flat. I also squeezed a grapefruit and had some of the pulp as a snack around noon. That was almost as divine as the orange! Tonight, a little more orange juice and pulp. Here's the pic I snapped when I unpacked my breakfast and lunch at work. It's crazy how much this little bit of sustenance filled my belly up! I have truly, recalibrated my appetite and my cravings.
Fresh Squeezed OJ Breakfast and Grapefruit Lunch
On a normal 10 day cycle of the Master Cleanse, the second ease out day would involve vegetable soup, but since I went a week longer, I will do another day of orange and grapefruit juice tomorrow and then make a veggie soup the following day.
Mister Master Cleanse decided he'd had enough too, but instead of opting for orange juice, he decided to make guacamole and stuff rotisserie chicken into corn tortillas. Dude lost 9 pounds in 5 days! I wanted to lick his plate, it looked so damn good. I was kind of hating on him for eating before I could, but who could blame him? He lasted way longer than I thought he would. It was fun to bond over our lemonade and tea each day!
As good as his post-cleanse meal looked, to be honest, I really haven't been craving meat at all--- in fact, it's very bizarre, but the two things I have consistently been thinking about, especially this last week are (get ready for this strange combo) garbanzo beans and sweet green peas! Weird, huh? We went to Whole Foods last night and the selection was a little overwhelming, so I made a bee-line for the canned vegetable/bean section and bought 2 cans of each. I know, I know, you're all probably thinking, "17 days of no food and now you want canned peas? Gross!" I'm not sure how to explain it!
Mistress of Many Peas: Chick Peas and Sweet Peas
So, I'm down 17 pounds! I'm so excited! While the BF was noshing on his guac, I decided to try on everything in my closet. Everything. I don't know about how it is in your closet, but I have the fat jeans, the skinny jeans....and then there are the REALLY SKINNY jeans. I pulled out the REALLY SKINNY jeans. Just to remind myself why I shouldn't tear into a corn tortilla at that very moment.
Holy Skinny. THEY FIT! Did ya hear that???? THEY FIT!!!!!
Not like, slipping into loose pants, kind of fit, but they buttoned up just fine and I didn't need to grease up my legs to try to slide into them....(learned that trick in Jr. High!) Miss Muffin Top and her nasty ass sister, Gutty McFatty were NOWHERE in sight. It was a beautiful thing.
I promise, I will take pics this weekend to prove it!
I will leave you tonight with an absolutely hilarious video about the Master Cleanse from the website www.funnyordie.com, one of my favorite comedy sources!
