Day 6

So I'm pretty much out of produce from the farmer's market...So much for the hope it'd last me until later this week. Now that I have a fairly good idea of just how much I need, I'll make better purchasing decisions going forward.

Produce depleted fridge

Today was the first day of adding protein into the mix. I had a large bag of whey protein I purchased at Costco earlier this year. I took 2 scoops, 1 first thing in the morning, and another about 4:30PM. I think it made a slight difference in terms of hunger. It's kind of nice having something other than juice too - it's chocolate flavored.

I screwed up my right heel running about a week ago and idiotically have kept running on it. It doesn't seem to be fixing itself, so it's elliptical for me until my foot feels better. I hit that up after work and had a pretty good session. I like Planet Fitness, there's all sorts of people there. Young, old, fat, skinny, meat-heads, grandmas, etc. It's a pretty comfortable environment to work out in and it's cheap ($10/month).

Ready for tomorrow

I've been making morning/snack juice the night before so I don't have to wake up and do it, and then clean the machine. It saves me quite a bit of time in the morning. Tomorrow is 1 week into my workplace's 'Biggest Loser' competition. It's been pretty cool so far, there is some friendly trash talking going on around the office in terms of whose going to be victorious. I plan to post my 1 week results in tomorrow night's blog.

Peace

Day 5

Hope everyone had a good weekend...mine was different, in a good way though. One of the benefits of not drinking/eating crap food on Friday/Saturday nights is being able to wake up early and get more stuff done. I did a lot this weekend, it was one of the more productive weekends I've had in awhile.

I realized today I should have purchased more kale at the farmer's market yesterday. Out of all the produce I've been juicing - kale definitely goes the quickest. I guess it's because it's a leafy green rather than a larger solid item (i.e. apple). It takes a lot to get an adequate amount of juice out of it. Next week I'll be stock piling the kale at the market.

Getting prepped

I feel I'm adjusting into this routine pretty well in just 5 days. Tomorrow morning I'm going to start supplementing whey protein into my juice 2x/daily. This will add an additional 280 calories to my daily intake, which is minimal for the benefits I think I'll be receiving.

I'm going to supplement the morning and pre-workout juice with protein. I made this decision because It gives me the time to burn the additional calories. When I take it first thing in the morning, throughout the course of the day - I'll easily burn 140 calories.When I take it pre-workout, It'll be gone after a short period of time on the treadmill or elliptical.

That brings me to another point. Some people I've talked to think this is a 'starvation' diet and it's unhealthy. This is NOT a starvation diet nor is it unhealthy. Sure, I feel hungry at times - but I'm still taking in the calories, vitamins, and nutrients I need. A recommended caloric intake for someone my age/height/weight is between 1600 - 2400 calories. Right now I'm taking in right under 1600 calories, after I add the whey protein I'll be well within that range.

'Mean Green' - Nutritional Information

Pint of Mean Green

Serving(20 oz):

•  Calories: 310
•  Fat: 1.5g
•  Carbs: 57g
•  Protein: 10g

Daily Intake(100oz):

• Calories 1550
• Fat: 7.5g
• Carbs: 285g
• Protein: 50g

Welcome to my new readers up North - the blog is really taking off. Right now we've got readers from 8 different countries actively following.

Adios

Day 4

So...not going out on a Friday night was a change of pace...I'm trying to not put myself in situations where I think I would be tempted to cheat. The social aspect of this is going to be kind of difficult. What do you do when you get together with friends? There is almost ALWAYS food and drink involved. I don't really want to become a hermit but I'm committed to completing the full 60 day cycle.

Jacksonville Farmer's Market

Anyhow, I hit the Jacksonville Farmer's Market this morning. If you are local to Jax, and haven't been there - I strongly recommend checking it out. It's not in a particularly great part of town, but it's well worth the trip. The place is pretty big with 2 open air buildings with vendors lining each side...kind of flea market-esque. They have their bases pretty well covered, tons of various produce of the standard variety and some stuff I didn't even know existed.

I found each of the items I needed while scouting out the vendors and prices. I talked to a few people beforehand and they advised me that the vendors entertain haggling and be able to produce exact change. I brought 40 bucks in one dollar bills and 5 dollars worth of quarters figuring I would be able to stock up with that amount. I made out like a bandit, and only spent 20 bucks (see below). I think I'm going to hit this every Saturday. That way I can likely make it till Wednesday/Thursday and only have to pay the Publix premium for 2 days or so until I can make it back to the market. I've never considered myself to be 'thrifty', however I'm mowing through produce - and it's not exactly cheap.

$20 worth of Produce

A few examples of savings below - the only thing I wasn't pleased with was the price of apples. However, they are larger than the ones I purchased at Publix - so I'll only have to use 1 per batch instead of 2.

Item	Publix	Market
Cucumbers	8/$5.16	10/$3
Ginger Root	1/$7.01	1/$1
Kale	3 bunches/$5.07	6 bunches/$5
Apples	2 small bags/$9.98	8 large/$6
Celery	2 bags/$3.78	2 bags/$3
Item	Costco	Market
Lemons	20/$7.49	8/$2

Cost Comparison

The Gators won today, I celebrated with a tall glass of mean green. Jags need to bring it tomorrow and i'll be happy. I re-added NFL Redzone to my TV package and will be managing my 3 fantasy teams tomorrow - pretty excited about it - HA!

Shout out to my new readers from Australia and India....pretty cool - thanks for checking in.

Until next time.

Day 3

So I've been on THE JUICE for 3 straight days now and feel pretty good. The water is really helping in terms of any hunger. I actually wasn't even hungry when it came time for the afternoon helping. I couldn't even finish everything I packed before I left work for the night.  I drank the rest on my way home. 

I talked to a few people at work today and decided to hit the Beaver Street farmer's market tomorrow morning. Apparently, they have a pretty good selection....so i'll see what I can stock up on. Hopefully it'll be cheaper than Costco and Publix. The only item I haven't had to re-up on so far has been lemons - since I bought a huge bag and it's only 1-2 lemons each time I make it depending on the batch size.

Prepping dinner

I took it pretty easy at the gym today, opting for the elliptical rather than running again - pretty sore from the last 2 days. Going forward, I think I'll rotate daily between running and elliptical. I definitely need to up my running game though since I committed to the Gate River Run last weekend. I can do about 4 miles now before I feel like I'm going to die, so I need to add 5 more to that by March. Slow and steady...

I'm finally getting my windows tinted tomorrow afternoon. I've been meaning to do this since I purchased the vehicle. Having a black car with black leather interior makes for a pretty warm environment after it's been sitting in the Florida heat during summer. Anyhow, I'm pretty excited about it...should look pretty nice too.

Have a good weekend!

Day 2

I made juice last night in preparation for this morning's breakfast and mid-morning snack. It was nice just being able to wake up, drink it and go. Thus far, cleaning the juicer is my least favorite part. If you don't clean it immediately after use, the fibers from the fruits/vegetables harden on and make it a pain for when you eventually DO clean it. It's not particularly difficult, just takes another 10 minutes or so.

The amount of pulp in the catcher is pretty crazy, it definitely fills up. If I had a pet rabbit or perhaps a compost pile, I could make use of the pulp. However, I do not. So I've just been chucking it in the trash can.  I learned another lesson today - don't leave pulp in the trash can, take it out immediately. I came home for lunch and my apartment reeked. I thought it was the garbage disposal again, so I bleached the hell out of it and threw some ice/lemons down there with the disposal on. When that didn't clear it up, I checked the trash can - BINGO...I'm gonna blame it on the kale, since it's my least favorite and strongest tasting.

Anyhow, I've been destroying some produce. I'm saving all my receipts and inputting costs into a spreadsheet. Once I hit a week, It will be interesting to do a cost analysis and try to predict the total 60 day cost. Since Monday, I've gone to Costco once and Publix 3 times...definitely need to start buying more bulk. I didn't realize how much produce I'd actually be going through. I'm thinking of hitting a farmer's market this weekend to try and get some deals.

Today went pretty well. I upped my water intake and that staved off the minor hunger I experienced yesterday. I have plenty of energy and am not experiencing any of the start-up side effects. I'll probably start incorporating whey protein into my morning juice sometime next week.

I met up with my buddy Ethan after work tonight and  did a 5k run down 2nd street in Jax Beach. I typically take a day off between running days to let the legs rest....definitely should have taken today off. It was kind of tough, I don't know if it's because I ran yesterday or the fact I've been doing mostly indoor treadmill running the past few weeks. We completed it, but I wasn't really happy with my pace or stamina.

The weekend starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to football, though it will be different. Go JAGS. Go Gators.

Godspeed.

Day 1

Trial Run

Last night I figured I had better do a trial run using the new juicer and see what this stuff tasted like, so I gave it a whirl.

I took 2 cored apples, a few stalks of celery, 2 mini cucumbers, a good size ginger root, a WHOLE lemon (TOO MUCH), and about 2 cups of Kale greens. It was a ton of produce, an amount I probably hadn't eaten in the past few weeks alone - never mind one sitting. See the picture below for a visual on the amount that goes into making a serving of juice.

The first item I tried to juice was some of the kale greens. I bunched them up tightly into a ball and fed them into the juicer. I then took the plunger to help feed the greens in and managed to put it in backwards. I ended up having to get a hammer and screwdriver to dislodge the feeder from the juicer....not a very strong first attempt.

After that it went pretty smoothly....I got almost 20oz out of the ingredients pictured above. It comes out rather frothy, and needs a quick stir to dissipate the froth on top. I did put far too much lemon in it...supposed to do 1/2 lemon per serving. However, the lemon and apples do provide some relief to the strong taste of the kale. It's not the best tasting thing in the world - but I've had worse....I can definitely stomach this.

Today

After ironing out the kinks last night, I woke up this morning at 6AM and prepared breakfast and a snack for work. I noticed this time there is an arrow clearly telling the operator which way to insert the plunger (doh!). I made 2 servings (close to 40oz). I drank 20oz and packed the remaining in a Nalgene to consume mid-morning. I felt pretty good after drinking it. I'm not sure if it's in my head or not - but did feel more alert and refreshed within a few minutes after consuming it.

I drank the 2nd 20oz mid morning....I'd say about 10:30AM. There's a pretty good mixture of people at work who are intrigued by it, encouraging towards me, or just think I'm batshit crazy. So that makes it kinda fun...I did find myself hungry leading up to lunch. I think upping my water intake should start helping with the mild hunger until I get used to it. I broke for lunch at noon and juiced up lunch and a snack for later. I took down lunch and then the snack juice at around 3PM.

I hit the gym this evening and ran my usual 3.5 miles. I didn't feel any weaker than normal or struggle to complete the run. I felt pretty good, although I was hungry. I hit my last juice of the day as I was writing this around 8PM. 

Overall, pretty successful day. I think I can adapt and get used to this after a few days...Resisting the temptation to drink a few beers and eat chicken wings on the weekends WILL be difficult - especially with football season in full swing. But i'll do it...

Until next time.

And so it begins....

Juice Fasting

 

A fasting diet where the dieter takes in nothing but fresh squeezed vegetable and fruit juice in place of solid foods. It is thought to be a cleansing process to clear out all the processed foods and junk from our regular diets. The fast can go on from 3-90 days depending on the desired results of the dieter. For this particular fast, I will be doing 60 days - starting tomorrow 9/5/12. 

Juice fasting has been around for a while. It recently had a resurgence of popularity due to the movie, "Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead"(on Netflix now) in which a fat Aussie juice fasts while traveling the U.S. He has some pretty remarkable results dropping weight, healing a skin disease, and eventually ceasing the intake of  many prescription medications. If you haven't yet seen the documentary, I would strongly recommend checking it out. Pretty inspirational shit.

The Plan

For the next 60 days, I will be consuming 80-100oz of fresh juice a day. I plan to adjust accordingly once I'm a few days in and see what my demands are. Along with the juice, I will be keeping well hydrated with water. These are the only items I will be consuming. No beer, no liquor.... :(

The recipe I decided on is called the 'Mean Green' and is a  green vegetable based juice. I will make my breakfast and snack the morning before work. I will come home from work and make lunch/snack for the afternoon. I purchased several BPA free Nalgene bottles to transport my 'snack' juices to work. During the fast, I will continue with cardiovascular exercise (running) but will discontinue weight lifting at my doctor's advise. I may supplement my diet with whey protein powder if deemed necessary, since there is an extremely low amount of protein in the fruits/vegetables i'll be consuming.

Mean Green Recipe

Mean Green Ingredients

• 6 Kale Leaves
• 1 Cucumber
• 4 Celery Stalks
• 2 Green Apples
• 1/2 Lemon
• 1 piece of ginger

Why are you doing this?

1) Let me go back in time for a minute here. It was December 2011...I was sitting at my desk in my former employer's office and couldn't get comfortable. I kept shifting one way in the seat and then readjusting another way. THAT was my wake up call, I was too fat to comfortably sit in a chair....

Immediately after I finished college, I obtained a position at a software development company in Jacksonville Beach, FL. It was my first desk job and I continued the sedentary life style I had begun in college. I ordered fast food every day and typically ate at my desk. I ballooned up to my heaviest weight and was out of control. I had tried dieting unsuccessfully several times in the past. But this time I told myself I was actually going to FOLLOW THROUGH. I didn't want to diet through the holidays (HA) so I started dieting a few days after new years.

I dropped about 40 lbs from January 2012 - July 2012 through mostly diet. Since July I've been stuck in this rut from 198-210 lbs. I've been eating pretty clean, and started exercising regularly for the past 4 months. It's just not moving fast enough for my liking. I feel like this fast can break the plateau to make me reach my goal faster. After the fast, I plan to reintroduce proteins, carbohydrates, and alcohol back into my diet in moderation while ramping up my exercise routine to keep the weight off.

2)The other reason I've decided to start this juice fast has to do with a competition at my workplace. About 20 people are in the office's version of 'The Biggest Loser'. Our official weigh-in was today, 9/4/12 and the competition will last 60 days. I don't particularly like losing and there is a cash prize to the contestant that loses the largest percentage. A few people have also made side bets on me to fail, so I'm feeling especially motivated to prove them wrong.

Grand Prize

$3.00 per % loss per contestant to winner

Example - winner loses 10% - $30 from each contestant

Side Bets

1. $10 - I will break down and eat solids prior to Nov. 4th
2. $10 - I will not lose more % than a certain co-worker
3. $30 - I will not lose more than 30 pounds 

The Weigh in

Over the weekend I absolutely gorged out in preparation for the weigh in on Tuesday. I needed to put on as much fluff weight before the weigh in since I'm going up against others with more the lose than me. Gain to lose baby...This was the first time I've deliberately tried to gain weight in my life....I gained 9 lbs from Friday to Tuesday. I was supplemented by chicken, ribs, subs, pizza, chocolate, and my last meal consisted of an Italian buffet for lunch today. After lunch and chugging about a gallon of water....I weighed in at 214.2 after lunch today!

My goal weight is to reach 180lbs after 2 months of fasting. That is a loss of 34.2 lbs in 8 weeks.Let's see what happens. I start tomorrow. No solids, no booze, just juice. 

I'll be updating the blog daily, please check back often.