Back to Real Life

Thanks for everyone for keeping me in your prayers during my cleanse! I am so happy that I lasted 21 days. I felt great and learned that I really can eat healthy if I have a plan. I also want to mentioned that 2 of my co-workers are now doing the cleanse and loving it! I think I really learned that eating healthy foods are great fuel for your body! I am going to my best to continue some the habits that I learned throughout this whole process!

I let this past weekend be my splurge weekend and boy, did my body not enjoy that! I had 2 slices of pizza first thing and that was mistake! Needless to say, I slowed down after that. Since I want to continue to have a plan Aaron and I will be starting Weight Watchers soon.

WW is the program I used to lose 30 lbs before my wedding. I also worked out a lot, so both of those things combined turned out to be a success. I am more interested now in maintaining my body weight and really just staying on a good eating plan! The best part of it is that Aaron is doing it with me - what a blessing! I'll have to now keep you up to date on this journey! I'll try to post some recipes that are WW friendly that I enjoy!

Happy Eating!

Day 20 - I can't believe it

I cannot believe I'm already to day 20 of 21. I know everyone probably says this - but now that I'm here, the past few weeks do not seem like cleanse. I have rarely craved desserts and have had no desire for breads or pastas! This week I've been living off of ground turkey made into taco salad...yum! And chicken and rice! I've also had salmon and lots of eggs. I still eat lots of fresh veggies with hummus for snacks and I always have fruit between meals and for dessert. I now take green tea with me in the mornings and it helps to curb my hunger. Oh, and I can't forget the yummy Progressive soups I've had!

Thinking back to day 2/3 I wanted to literally jump through the TV and eat the Wendy's chicken nuggets that I saw advertised! I also almost strangled Aaron in order to get to his chips and queso. Those days were tough, but I have prevailed! I can honestly say that I do want to try to keep this up! I have a new appreciation for eating healthy. It takes a little more work and time, but the rewards are great. I feel better, I feel proud of myself, and I have a little less of a spare tire...yay! Although I can't wait to maybe have some cheese, or maybe even a bite of pizza, I think I can say that I am going to continue to try to give my body the kind of foods that it needs to live strong and healthy.

Oh, and I hope I'm not trying to make this sound easy and care-free. It's not. There were days that I wanted to quit or I just felt tired and run down. But after about Day 7 I had a lot more energy and saw the results happen. Also, I was blessed that Aaron ate a lot of things I did, or he would make sure he ate in another room or before I got home from work if possible. I also forgot to mention that on Day 17 I woke up feeling dizzy and faint and almost passed out. I went to work late and ended up leaving early because the feelings came back. Not sure if that had anything to do with the cleanse or not, but I wanted to tell you the not-so-fun parts as well as the fun parts.

If you are interested in taking part of the 21 day cleanse, I encourage you to check out Dr. Cindy's blog, where I go the idea to do it. She's done it twice the past year and has great recipes.

Anyway, thanks for your prayers! I'll try to post some final thoughts when tomorrow ends! Oh, and starting Feb 1, Aaron and I be attempting start Weight Watchers. It worked for me when I wanted to lose weight for my wedding and we are ready to start eating more in moderation, and Weight Watchers is great for that! I'll keep you posted!

Happy Eating (or Cleansing)

Lauren

Day 17

I cannot believe I am saying this - but I am now on Day 17! Now that I'm here, the cleanse has seemed to fly by. My mom came to visit me this weekend, and it was nice to be able to go out to eat and actually get to order something off the menu. At lunch I had a grilled chicken taco salad. Of course I had no cheese or dressing or tortilla chips, but the salsa made a great dressing. For dinner, we had Mexican food. She is eating healthy too, so we said NO CHIPS! We both had chicken tortilla soup (again no cheese and no tortilla strips) and then we had a platter of fajita chicken with onions and peppers! It was yummy!

This weekend I also discovered that I've lost about 7 pounds. It's exciting, but I'm almost sure I'll gain it back before long, so I'm just going to enjoy while I can and maybe use it as a goal to maintain this weight! I am eating more now that I can have the eggs and lean meat, but I am no longer craving sugar and carbs! The protein has also given me much more energy, so I've been getting back into my running routine and I'm loving it. I'm very sore, but happy to be exercising again!

Yesterday for lunch we had veggie and chicken stir-fry and then eggs and turkey bacon for dinner - love it! They were both very tasty meals! I also went to a baby shower and won a game where the prizes were candy! Haha! That's ironic. But you know what? I wasn't even really tempted! It was kind of nice!

Thanks for all of your prayers - this hasn't been easy, but I'm proud that I've kept it up and this coming Friday will be last day! God bless and Happy Eating!

Day 13

Well, these last few days have been much easier to handle. I have never enjoyed lean meat and eggs like I have these past few days! I've had an egg and fruit every morning for breakfast and I am still not tired of it! I'm still snacking on veggies with humus...love it! I actually have been craving tomatoes and cucumbers! Also, I've really enjoyed getting to have taco salad with ground turkey, salsa, and avocado! I've also been enjoying Organic Soups and I've enjoying some Progresso Chicken soups with no msg added!

On day one of getting to eat chicken, Aaron made me some grilled chicken that I've had with organic pasta sauce and brown rice and it has been delicious! I haven't craved breads or pasta at all, and my sweet cravings now subside once I have strawberries or apples! The only thing I'm still craving is cheese, but it's not as bad as it once was. I am enjoying having my protein back and I've started my running at night again! yay! I can't believe I only have 8 more days left. It actually doesn't even feel like a cleanse anymore! Thanks everyone for your support! I'll continue to keep you posted!

Day 11 is finally here!

Hello Everyone. I'm living on Cloud 9 today! As you might have guessed, I can finally have lean meat and eggs...yay! I was finally getting used to the no-meat thing, but am happy to welcome chicken back into my diet. I woke up early to make myself some eggs...so good, and then had a chicken and rice dish for lunch. So wonderful! I know I missed blogging about a few of my days, but I did have some other great meals to tell you about. First, Amy's Organic Soups has a Lentil and Veggie soup. I was dreading lentils again, but I opened up the can and it was so good that I ate the entire thing! Yum! I also was able to handle going to a restaurant on Saturday, but just had to make it Jason's deli. There veggie soup is great, but I had to skip on the noodles that it included. I do enjoy their salad bar that is full of choices and most of it is organic! I am happy to say that I am half way through the cleanse now!

I could tell a few days a go that my clothes were fitting a lot looser and that was a good feeling. I could also tell that my stomach had shrunk. After eating 2 eggs I felt so stuffed, but ate them all anyway. And today I was so excited to have my chicken and rice that I ate the whole piece of chicken and now I am so stuffed! I guess I need to start listening to my stomach when it says it's full, but I am overjoyed to be able to expand my menu now! Also, this past weekend I finally started running again. I'm not going as great as I once was, but I finally have the energy to do it! Thanks for all your prayers! I'm exciting to see this thing through to the end, but will rejoice again on January 30 when I can indulge in some cheese!

Day 7

I cannot believe I've gone one week without meat. Actually, the meat doesn't even seem to be the big deal. I did one week vegetarian before Christmas, but at the time I lived off of mac and cheese, veggie subs, and PB&J. I also snacked in healthy things here and there, but nothing was as hard-core as this week has been! But one week down, I can't believe it and I have to say that I'm proud of myself! I'll try not to get too ahead of myself, since I have 2 weeks left! I can tell that my clothes are fitting a little bit looser, but I didn't weight before I did this, so not sure if I'm losing any weight or not - which is fine, that's not why I chose this! Today for breakfast I stuck with stawberries and blackberries and for lunch I had some great veggie soup. I also snacked on carrots, tomatoes, and apples. I'm running out of quick meals, so tonight I might try to create something yummy...we'll see, wish me luck! Tomorrow I'm excited to try some veggie soup from Jason's deli - one place I can eat at and enjoy!

I guess I've hopefully disproven the statement - "7 days without meat makes one weak". I guess you could say "7 days without meat sucks, but it can be done1"...put that on a bumpersticker!

Day 6

I was very worried last night about my first trip to a restaurant, but to describe the experience in one word - heaven. I wined and dined...well just dined at Restaurant Jezebel off of Congress in Austin. I was very fortunate that they had a vegan dish. Maybe it was the fact that it was the first restaurant food that I've had since I started this crazy cleanse, or it could have been the fact that the chef was amazing, but I swear that food was the best food I've ever had! I was able to get Risotto of seasonal veggies over brown rice, an all vegan dish, and it was wonderful! I also had a salad, no dressing and cheese. I am so blessed to live in Austin, where there are lots of places that offer Vegan friendly dishes! I swear, my stomach has shrunk though, as I finished about 2/3 of my meal and I was stuffed! So I give a shout out to Restaurant Jezebel for being the highlight of my week!

I feel like I'm on a role now and I am no longer craving meats and bread and dessert...ok, so maybe I'm still craving them, just not as much! I am, however, fresh out of any fruit I bought last week. On this cleanse, I've realized that I go through fruit and veggies super fast! I'm still waiting for Aaron to eat all the junk out of the fridge so I am not tempted to eat that cold pizza! Four more days until I get lean meats and eggs...can't wait!