stephstear

So I’ve lost 6.6 pounds in six days. Pretty amazing! The book that I’m using is actually called “21 Pounds in 21 Days” and so far that is proving to be pretty accurate. I am still tracking on SparkPeople, so I am aware that my average daily calorie intake is anywhere from 500-700 depending on what I put in my detox smoothies. I can honestly say that I feel great. My fingernails are super strong and are starting to grow! (I am a life-long nail-biter so they’ve always been slow and brittle) My skin looks great (although the ‘healing crisis’ is beginning and my toxins are starting to escape in the form of acne…I know it’s temporary, so it’s ok). I have enough energy, most of the time, to do everything I need to get done each day. So far, I’m really enjoying this losing-weight thing. :)

So, I’ve lost 4.6 pounds in three days. I’d say that’s pretty darn good. I am passing the hunger phase and my body is beginning to get used to having fewer calories and more nutrients. I’m tracking on SparkPeople and the system keeps telling me that I’m not eating enough calories every day and that’s bad because it can cause malnutrition. I’m not that concerned about nutrition because I’m consuming much higher amounts of nutrients every day than I would be on a normal, healthy 1500-calorie diet. The smoothies and juices that I’m drinking are enabling me to consume about 20 servings of vegetables and about 10-12 servings of fruits every day and I’m also receiving all of the fresh enzymes from all of those foods as opposed to eating them DEAD if they were being cooked. I have noticed that I have a bit less energy today than normal. I was outside this morning working in the garden and after about 40 minutes of weed-pulling I felt a little light-headed. So no strenuous exercise for a while, I guess. I’ve still been walking or stair-stepping at least thirty minutes each day and my energy level seems to go up when I do those things. The detox requires a slow, mile-long walk each day. I see why now. But anyway, all in all my weight loss is going well so far.

So, you can check out my first entry for my 21-day detox to see the schedule of what I’m eating/drinking. I’m hoping that my detox will bring some great weight loss as well. I started at 160 pounds and as of this morning I am 156.6, so I’m 3.4 pounds closer to my goal weight of 130lbs. Today, I finally figured out how to make my smoothies and juices taste delicious…the key is lemon juice. I’ve been mixing my smoothies up with strawberries and bananas and I’ve been drinking my fresh juices with apple, carrot, spinach and beet. Both have been tolerable, but not really tasty. So this morning I juiced an apple, a couple strawberries and HALF A LEMON for my smoothie and then blended it with the banana and the green-food-powder and it was so delicious! And then my fresh juice drink was 1 kale leaf, 3 carrots, one apple, 1/4 of a beet root, 1 strawberry and HALF A LEMON. It’s amazing how that half of a lemon makes ALL the difference in how fresh and yummy the juice is. I’m so glad that my drinks will be good from now on. It’ll make this whole process so much easier. I’m also dry-brushing my skin every day because I’ve heard great things about it improving circulation and the appearance of cellulite. We’ll see. :)