Days 17 & 18. So very close...

Days 17 & 18

Apologies for the delayed posts, it's all been a bit hectic between work / juicing / living with a fecking PSYCHO (but thats another story)

So again, the last few days have been pretty straightforward, not many cravings and I've been going without the evening juices (I'm just about forcing down the green juice at lunchtime but 2 in a day is likely to make me fell ill again) I did go with a carrot, apple & ginger yesterday to mix it up a bit and that was really nice (as usual) and added an extra apple to the juice this afternoon to take the edge of a bit.

Although there's been no huge cravings, I did zone out a bit the other day thinking about the steak sandwich I'm going to make myself in a week and a half (fresh-cut crusty bread, med-rare steak,  melted extra-mature cheddar and Jack Daniels BBQ sauce) Win

I'm going to weigh myself again tomorrow morning, I reckon I'll have lost another kg or so but as I've already reached the target I set myself at the start (2 stone) anything after this is a bonus.

My thoughts have been turning to what I'm going to do at the end of these 4 weeks and how I'm going to carry this on. There's no denying I'm going to have a  spike of a few pounds for a few days at the end of this (I'm well prepared for that) but after that, how to carry this on?

The level of commitment I've managed to apply to this, sticking to a normal diet & hitting the gym a few times a week will be a doddle compared to this!

So the juices. I've already covered yesterday (Fruit for breakfast, Carrot apple & ginger for lunch)

Today, Breakfast

3 Apples

1 Grapefruit

Really good. As always

Lunch

3 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

2 apples

1 inch cube Ginger

1/2 lemon

Minging, as usual. Roll on Friday!

Days 15 & 16 - Green-tea-tastic

I've pulled these two days together as frankly, they have been pretty uneventful.

Major event for the weekend? Saturday morning weigh-in:

117.6kg - 18.5stone

Another big loss, I'm guessing this has a fair bit to do with the drop in calorie intake from avoiding any veg juice. I'm still sickened by the smell of it (although I suspect that the suspect smell in the fridge was due to some broccoli which wasn't mine turning a bit brown) Thats in the bin now and the fridge is back to normal, but despite only taking in one juice in the last two days I'm feeling fine (I'm going to grab some vitamin tablets on the way home tomorrow just to keep myself ticking over, I suspect I'm not getting everything I need from green tea!)

I'm aware that only 1 juice sounds like too little, but I didn't wake up till gone 1pm Saturday. Shocking I know but for some reason I really struggled to sleep Friday night & didn't get to sleep till gone 5am. I ended up getting up at 3 (after 2 & 1/2 hours trying to drift off) and sticking the ps3 on till I was ready to pass out!

The Saturday afternoon breakfast fruit juice really got me through the day, some experimenting again but it worked out well this time (I'll come to that in a bit)

Sunday was slightly different. I was up early as I was on call for work all day but as I had to stay in the house (near the laptop incase I had to remote in for anything) I was relaxing and again, sustained on green tea. By the time I thought about having something it was past 8pm and I;m going to bed soon so theres no point! More green tea & water then.

I know that the forums & things state that it takes 3-5 days for your body to adapt but given how little I've felt hungry over the last 5 days I'd say that 10-12 is a closer approximation. It's almost too easy at the minute, so long as I drink plenty of water there's no cravings & no desire for melted cheese (although that's not going to stop me having some once this is over!)

I'm sure that keeping myself distracted is the key at the minute, focusing on Ditch's party and then deciding what to do with myself for a holiday after that. I'm toying with the idea of a mini-tour through the UK to Krakow to Bulgaria and back via London. Or Vegas (but I might put that off to the end of January when the Vegas 7's is on. A week in the States now would almost certainly have me back at my start weight!) 

So my one super-sustaining juice of the weekend :

1/4 Honeydew Melon

3 Kiwis

1 Grapefruit

A slightly odd colour, but nice, and bizarrely tasted a bit like banana (???)

This will be my breakfast on Monday also (as I need to use these fruits up!)

So into the final week, 5 days to go and then PARTY!!!! Woo Hoo! Bring it on :)

14 Days. 2 weeks. 2 Friggin WEEKS!!!

It's midnight Friday, and i feel sick. Funnily enough it's not from hunger, despite my only having 3 juices in the last 2 days. It's that smell. The smell of mashed up vegetables from the juicer in the kitchen is starting to cut right through me and give me a sick feeling in my stomach every time I drink it. I didn't even finish the one I did have for lunch cause it was making my stomach turn. It's not a great sign for the coming week but I'm hoping it'll pass, especially when I'm this close!

I'm gonna go online and see what other recipes I can find which are still healthy but not green juice. Much as I'd love to just switch to fruit juices, the amount of sugar in them totally undermines the whole point of what I'm trying to achieve.

Anyway, to the positives! 2 weeks. Bloody hell. Apart from the insane loathing of the smell of mushed up vegetables, it's all positives. I've not weighed myself in the last few days but I'm hoping it's significant (I missed a bloody good party to stay in tonight, away from the temptation of beer & snacks!) Still, 7 more days and it's PARTY TIME woo hoo. Really looking forward to catching up with everyone back in the mainland (don't tell anyone over here I called it that!) It's gonna be a good weekend, so focusing on that should get me through the next 7 days!

As I said, I've only had 1 juice today. I overslept (forgot to set my alarm last night) so had to rush out without breakfast. I did have one for lunch (which I didn't finish) but I didn't get a pic as I was on the phone and had to drink & run to get back to work. It was another standard green juice though. Blagh!

I may have to treat myself to a can of Pepsi Max tomorrow, just to give my palate a bit of a shock and help get me through the last week. If I was doing a 'detox' juice it would be a no-no but my focus is only weight-loss so a drink with nil calories will be fine. That's my 14 day treat :) Anyway, I've got to go and clean the crap of the juicer without being sick. Night

Day 13 - Easy life

Weighed myself again today (Its becoming a bit of an every 2 days habit now)

120.4kg

More wins. So a total of 10kg / 22.2lbs lost so far and into single figures for the number of days left (woo hoo)

Another relatively easy day if I'm honest. Felt a bit ropey mid afternoon but that soon passed and ended up just having a large cup of green tea for tea rather than a juice so just the two today (plus so sick of green juice I'm avoiding drinking it where I can!)

Its a bit late tonight so I'll keep it short (plus I can't find the cable to upload the pics)

Breakfast :

2 Apples

1 Orange

1 Grapefruit

Really nice, as usual.

Lunch:

4 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

1 Apple

1/2 Lemon

1 inch cube Ginger

Bit minging, as usual

Tomorrows will be more interesting I promise! Night

Day 12. Tempting fate.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I know I'm risking major backlash and tempting fate but...

Today was easy

I've very rarely said that over the last 12 days, I've always been fighting cravings / thinking about how hungry I am / feeling getting really tired etc but today everything went fantastically smoothly. Again it helps that works so busy as it keeps my mind occupied but I've coped without any bother today, I've even been in and started deleting things from the August 31st shopping list (not many things, but some!) It might be the shift in focus to everything I've got planned at the end of the fast now, really looking forward to getting back to the UK and catching up with old friends at Ditch's party and then off on my holibobs after that (still no idea where to go but keeping the options open)

I hope this new-found optimism it's a sign of things to come but after the amount of highs & lows so far I suspect it's just a good day and it'll once again become my very own personal hell quickly enough!

So to the juices

Breakfast

3 Apples

2 Oranges

1 Grapefruit

Again. Really nice, had to add the grapefruit last minute as it was light on juice without it.

Lunch

6 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

1 Apple

2 handfuls Spinach

1 Inch cube Ginger

1/2 Lemon

Very green juice, bit minging but did the job!

Tea

3 Apples

7 Carrots

1 inch cube Ginger

Combination of being sick of green juice & having carrots which needed using up. Again, very good but I may have overdone the ginger a bit. No matter, so long as it's not green juice!

Right, second half of England v Scotland is kicking off. See you tomorrow all!

Day 11 - The Halfway Stage!!

Day 11

After yesterday, I was in major need of a serious boost. So I weighed myself.

122.3kg. 19.5stone

Win.

Not exactly jumping for joy as I've not got the energy for that, but it did give me the motivation I needed to crack on.

Todays been an odd day, not racked with hunger in the same way I was yesterday but still getting bad cravings for melted cheese. Weirdly enough I think my body started haggling towards the end of the day as the cravings switched to wotsits 'ok, no real cheese then. Fine, fake cheese? Can I have some fake cheese then....' They've gone on the list.

Feeling a little better today, not least given that everything from here is downhill! Everything from today onwards is closer to the end than the beginning, which I'm hoping will make the run in a little easier than the last 11 days have been. I'll find out soon enough no doubt.

What's also helped is I'm actually starting to notice the weight loss myself. Clothes are fitting better, theres a few shirts which didn't use to fit which do now and when I was getting my haircut earlier I wasn't embarrassed by my own reflection. I'm slowly starting to recognise the face in the mirror again.

So to todays juices :

Breakfast.

Nice straightforward one

3 Apples

2 Oranges

Very nice.

Lunch

4 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

1 Apple

1/2 lemon

1 inch cube ginger

Bloody veg juice again. Getting sick of this stuff but its only a few more days

Tea

4 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

2 Apples

1/2 lemon

1 inch cube ginger

So bored of veg juice. Back to experimenting!!

Day 10. A slight change of plan

It pains me to say it, but I've been forced into a slight change of plan :S

When I planned this fast for August, it was based on the premise I had nothing planned which involved going anywhere. However yesterday evening a good mate of mines 40th birthday party was sprung on me, and its in the UK in 2 weeks time. Bugger. I'm not sure Aer Lingus do fresh juices, and I'll be buggered if I'm going all the way back to Wolverhampton to catch up with old mates without having a couple of drinks.

So the new plan : 22 Day Juice fast, followed by a week on micronutrient-only food (Fruit, Veg, Nuts & Seeds) while my body re-adjusts to solid food again. Then pizza. So much pizza....

I hope this doesn't come across as a cop out in any capacity, as frankly after the day I've had today I;ve been so close to chucking the towel in on the whole thing that 22 days will still be pretty epic.

Today I've been hungry. Really hungry. Spent-most-of-my-day-at-work-thinking-about-cookies-hungry. I really need to be on my game at work for the next 2 weeks and I'm not sure I can be with this constant hunger pain digging at me.

The walk home was even worse. I visualised myself queuing in Mcdonalds for some of those mozzarella dippers. It was such a weird fantasy as my mind normally wanders into the realms of the sensational, like playing rugby for England or winning the lottery. But no, now it's something I could do. With ease, just by going into McDonalds. I know they're not even that nice but I'm going into melted cheese withdrawal. I don't think I've gone without melted cheese for 10 days as far back as I can remember (which granted would explain a lot with regards to my current state) 

But despite every once of my body (and a good part of my mind) telling me to fold I'm still persevering, down largely in part again to the support I'm getting from everyone. I'm going to do a weighing tomorrow morning and I really need it to go well so fingers crossed.

But enough whittering on, to todays juices:

Breakfast

Something nice & simple today:

3 Apples

2 Oranges

Tried & Tested, very nice 

Lunch

4 Celery sticks

1/2 Cucumber

2 handfuls Spinach

1 Apple

1/2 lemon

1 inch cube Ginger

Again, a standard green juice so not a lot more to add on that one.

Tea

3 Apples

1/2 Cucumber

1 inch cube Ginger

2 Hand fulls Spinach

A bit cobbled together this one as it was getting late and there was something on the telly I wanted to watch. The apples didn't drown out the taste of the spinach like I hoped so it wasn't a great concoction this one. Back to the recipe website I think....

Days 8 & 9. A game of Two Halves

Two, very conflicting, days this weekend.

After the pretty long-winded entry on Saturday, my shopping for the week got delivered and I tried a juice I'd really been looking forward to making : Strawberry, Blueberry & Melon. In my head I was sure this would be really nice, but in reality it was closer to 'ok'. Maybe I'd overhyped it in my own head as strawberries (given how bloody expensive they are) was always going to be a treat rather than a staple this month. Still, I wouldn't go so far as not nice, just not as nice as I'd hoped. The odd thing was that I had it as I wanted to and because it was already afternoon, rather than because I was hungry. What's odder, I didn't want anything else for the rest of the day, I didn't get hungry once so didn't have any other juices that day. Maybe my body is learning to cope and better use the resources available, or maybe its because that was so bloody thick as a juice that I had to force most of it through the sieve. Either way, no other juices Saturday, just water and a few cups of green tea. 

1 punnet Strawberries

1 small punnet Blueberries

1/2 Honeydew Melon

As an added bonus, Saturday I wore a shirt that I actually bought online to take on holiday last year but sadly at the time it didn't fit. I kept it because I liked it, and now it fits, woo hoo!!

So after all good things Saturday, to Sunday. Started off innocuously enough. I was on call at work so up a little earlier than I'd like on a Sunday but otherwise fine. and again I had breakfast as an obligation rather than a need. But then mid afternoon hunger struck. And it didn't go away, even after a green juice. Maybe the Saturday missed meals caught up with me, maybe it's because a big Sunday lunch is one of my favorite meals, but whatever the reason, this afternoon and evening have been a struggle. The '31st August' shopping list got a whole lot longer today (the the way, if anyone has a recipe for mozzarella sticks I'd be grateful! Dominos don't do them over here and I've tried the McDonalds ones prior to this fast - not a fan)

It was made that much harder by Paul getting a takeaway in this evening. Not that I'd begrudge him that (especially with the studying) This is my cross to bare and I'm not expecting anyone around me to change my eating habits, but the smell from that really didn't help. Still, back to the motivators below and I'm still on track for the time being. 

So Sundays juices.

Anther failed experiment for breakfast which on paper should be nice.

2 Grapefruits

1 Orange

2 Kiwi

Too many grapefruits on this one, so very bitter!! After all the sweetness for breakfast of the last week it did make a change, but I may as well have just juiced a pile of lemons. Needs work that one.

So for afternoon / evening (again only 1 juice as felt ok around lunch, it was later the cravings hit) a tried and trusted green juice

4 celery

1/2 cucumber

2 handfuls Spinach

1/2 lemon

1 inch cube ginger

Very standard green juice, the extra spinach didn't really effect the taste but it was a bit darker than usual.

So that was my weekend, back to the grind tomorrow so off for an early night now. Night!

The first week. The long, long, first week.

Firstly, apologies for the lack of a post yesterday, I hope i didn't have anyone worried that I'd pulled the plug on the whole project! I wanted to make sure I had time to properly reflect on the first week with so much having gone on in such a short space of time, and to have my first 'official' weighing since I started 7 days ago (despite actually having weighed myself about 4 times this week!)

I set some ground rules on the weighing to avoid any variations, so its always first thing, after I've been for a 'gypsy's kiss' and sans any clobber.

125.8kg. 4.9kg / 11 lbs lighter than this time last week

It's a not insignificant loss, in fact it's a lot more than I was expecting in the first week (its almost 50% of my overall target for the month) but as with so often this week I'm in the grips of a powerful spell of lethargy. It's a little worrying to think that I'm looking at that figure and going 'Meh' as its the sort of loss that could only really normally be achieved by lopping off a limb or 2. But for the time being, apathy rules and I'm thinking about increasing my activity levels to help speed up the process. Nothing too significant for now, as training and desire for pizza have always seemed to go hand in hand so anything too strenuous is likely to push me over the edge, but enough to start putting a bit of definition back in my arms & shoulders.

I'm aware that I'm very much downplaying what's a pretty epic achievement in the timescale, but the reasons for this are twofold.

1) The aforementioned apathy.

2) I'm a moron when it comes to weight loss.

I'll expand on that second point. My weight has always fluctuated and so diets & losing weight are very much a recurring theme in my life. What's also a recurring theme is that as soon as I lose a bit of weight, I start to feel that the job is done and that I can just go back to normal.

I've been seriously battling that feeling again yesterday and today. 'I've lost nearly a stone, I should go back to eating again...' I always judge the weight lost in its own merit, rather than in the context of the total I need to lose. Yeah 11 lbs is loads on its own, but as a percentage of the long-term amount of weight I want to take off its less than 20%. It's important I keep that in mind or I'll drift back into the 'that'll do for now' mentality and I've got way to far to go yet to start thinking like that.

To summarise the last week, it's been a combination of dizzying highs and physically & mentally exhaustive lows. I've played with the idea of quitting a lot, not least last night when I was hit but a huge pizza craving (Both a huge craving for pizza, and a craving for a huge pizza!) so I've introduced a raft of new coping strategies to keep myself motivated:

• Deferring gratification
• Game Life
• Aggressive motivators
• Going public

Deferring gratification.

Pretty straightforward this. It's much easier to cope psychologically with 'I'll have that later' than 'I can't have that ever' So when I get hit with a craving I'm adding it to a shopping list that I'll buy at the end of the month. 'Ah' I hear you say 'but then you'll just put all the weight back on, you're an idiot' Not so, naysayer, say I. Once the end of the month comes the list is likely to be so full of gumpf that 1) I couldn't afford it & 2) I won't want such a huge pile of junk food. However as a coping mechanism it's already working very well.

Game Life

So my love of computer games has been well established, and applying the videogame risk-reward strategy to daily life can be very rewarding as well as fun! Computer games increase in difficulty the further along you progress, however the subsequent rewards for achieving the increased difficulty goals also progress. So apply that strategy in any scenario and you have a great motivator (particularly if you're tuned in to that sort of process by many years spent staying up till stupid o'clock in the morning with the computer gamers mantra 'just one more level. Just this bit then I'll go to bed...') So for completing week one, I will pre order GTA V as a reward. For completion of the 4 weeks, I'll treat myself to a short break (I've already got some holiday time booked off in early September) I'm still pondering the week 2 & 3 rewards but they are likely to involve a nice budget for new (smaller) clothes funded with all the money I've saved by not buying snacks & food when I'm out and about and not having any takeaways.

Aggressive motivators

Not so much fun this one as it requires a certain level of mental fortitude to be able to apply without getting depressed about it or it deteriorating into a serious eating disorder. This involves aggressive reminders when I feel my motivation waning. A great example of this in action is a few days ago when I was surrounded by baking & cupcakes. They smelt and looked amazing so I was severely tempted, but to overcome this I just grabbed a handful of my stomach fat and reminded myself  'this, this is why your juicing, you're fat so no cakes for you' It's an unusual and easily the most brutal of my motivating tools but it's also one of the most effective. Standing side-on in front of the mirror is another one, re-affirming the difference between my perceived self image (what I think I look like) and reality. You'd be surprised how big the gap between those 2 can get.

Going Public

Effectively thats what this blog is. As well as talking to people about it at work, at home & on facebook. When everyone is aware that you're working towards a goal, personally I find it makes you all the more determined to achieve that, regardless of the feedback being positive or negative. Obviously positive is better, as when you've got friends and family in support, you don;t want to let them down. Also, the idea of giving anyone who thought you were going to fail a big 'fuck you' by succeeding can be a great motivator (and ultimately very satisfying)

So thats a roundup of how I've got through the first 7 days, hopefully I'll keep these in mind over the next 3 weeks and be able to push on to completion.

Anyway, enough of me rambling, yesterdays juices.

Breakfast.

So after yesterdays ass-fireworks, a day of gentle, easily palatable juices.

5 Apples

2 Grapefruits

Large portion this one as Katie was up early that morning so thought I'd treat her to breakfast :)

Very nice juice, very sweet and tasted like breakfast.

Lunch

4 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

2 Apples

1 inch cube Ginger

I'm starting to run low on supplies at this point and my shoppings coming tomorrow so apples instead of lemons in this one. Again, nice and sweet but containing stomach-settling celery & ginger

Tea

7 Carrots

2 Apples

1 inch cube Ginger

A recipe from the www.rebootwithjoe.com website this one (prompted by the fat I had a load of carrots I needed to use but no idea what to mix them with) This was really, really good. I can see why it came so highly recommended on there. I'll be making this again.

I'm starting to get a bit bored with the green juice despite knowing how good it is for weight loss so I'll be varying the juices a bit more next week, look out for the bruschetta juice I've found a recipe for, that should be an interesting one. 

Have a great weekend all!

Day 6 - The veg's revenge!

Ok, so after yesterdays dizzying highs, it's back to reality today and starting the day exhausted again (although it would have helped if I'd been in bed before midnight instead of up listening to old-school Feeder cause I was buzzing from the weight loss)

Still feeling motivated, more experimenting with the morning juice which was really nice but a bit short on portions which I think links in to my being so hungry for the rest of today.

This morning wasn't too bad but after midday-ish I got really hungry and it's not really gone away all day which is kind of annoying. Not nearly as annoying as the veg revenge which has plagued me this evening though. So one of the major issues with this process has revealed itself to me out of nowhere, I'm going to call it 'digestive unpredictability' which I suspect has been brought on by the inclusion of a large amount of broccoli stalks in my evening juice. Research on the forums suggest it should pass pretty quickly but if it doesn't then I may have to pull the plug on this whole process :( My work are very understanding with all matters health, they have made major adjustments to accommodate my back and the fact that I rock up to work sweating buckets after the walk in and in shorts. However, soiling myself at my desk my be pushing my luck a bit. I made it in time this evening but if I was on a call at work I don't suspect I would have been so lucky. Mild, fruit based juices and lay off the green tea tomorrow I think.

Also, a couple of the guys were over from London and were all off for a drink after work. I really, really wanted to go but I know if I went anywhere near a pint then its straight to being sprawled out on the floor  at 3am surrounded by piles of empty pizza boxes. Must. Stay. Focused. 

Breakfast:

1/4 Melon

2 Apples

4 Kiwis

Really nice, not too sweet or as taught as the last few breakfasts. Just not enough of it so more fruit in that one next time.

Lunch

4 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

2 Apples

1/2 Lemon

1 Inch Cube Ginger

Really nice. The apples gave it a sweetness which really took the edge of the veg but made me slightly conscious of the amount of fruit I'd put in for what should have been a veg juice. Its sounds ridiculous I know but after all that I've put myself through to get this far I don't want to cock it up by o/d-ing on fruit juices.

Tea

4 Celery

2 Apples

Large Broccoli Stalk

1/2 Lemon

1 Inch cube Ginger

So I decided that I'd mix it up a bit and swap the cucumber for broccoli stalks. Mistake. It wasn't till after the 'incident' that I checked out the forums and found out to avoid broccoli. Noted. So very noted.

Day 5 - PROGRESS!!

Ok, so it's fair to say that yesterday's entry reflected a bad day. Off the back of that I was in bed by 9, put in a mighty amount of sleep and it properly paid off as today was a big win :)

I really needed a bit of a boost off the back of yesterday so I stumbled groggily into the bathroom and did something I had been avoiding for the last 5 day - I weighed myself.

127.4kg, a loss of half a stone which puts me within a whisker of my first major milestone.

Now, for the non terminally-overweight amongst you, getting under 20 stone may not seem like a milestone but please indulge me and let me give it some context. I've not been below (or frankly, even close to) 20 stone since well before the spinal surgery, and this always used to be my warning weight at which point I would take action and get my weight back under control when it was running away a bit. That was until I was incapacitated for over 12 months and put on a great deal of weight due to a combination of epic comfort eating (I single-handedly kept a few of the takeaways in Wolverhampton afloat around then) and a level of activity that would make a slough blush. +5 stone for Nazrill.

Since the surgery to correct it I've been slowly working on getting back down from the 23 stone 'easily the worst shape of my life' to 'still in bad shape but at a level that I've previously managed to deal with' so this really is a huge step. All my weight targets feel achievable again! 18 stone? Easy. 15? Give it another year and yeah I reckon so. I've done it before so I can do it again, I'm back into the realms of achievable rather than fanciful or delusional!

Funnily enough a lot of this has only really dawned on me as I've been writing this, but finally hitting that mark put me in a great mood this morning and I've been bouncing all day. Spoke to the guys at work I was worried I'd upset yesterday and got everything straightened out, tore through a lot of my workload and a really enjoyed the walks to and from work (the sun was out as well which helped!) Good day.

So I attacked the juices today with a renewed vigor, more experimenting for breakfast:

Breakfast

2 Kiwis

1/4 melon

1 Grapefruit

1 Small punnet Blueberries

I was hoping the Kiwi would make it slightly sweeter that yesterday but their main impact was to make me slighter later than usual setting off for work (However thanks Auntie Pat for the kiwi-peeling tip on Facebook, if I never peel another kiwi again it will be to soon!)

Lunch

4 Celery

1/2 cucumber

1 Lemon

1 & 1/2 inch square Ginger

So I upped the lemon & ginger content on this one to try and compensate for the lack of an apple to take the edge off the 'vegtableiness' of the juice but it didn't really work. I couldn't taste any ginger in the drink but it did give an aftertaste, which was weird.

Tea

So before tea, another major milestone. Navigating the shops. I needed some apples as the extra other stuff at lunch didn't help, and I'd run out of ginger as well so couldn#t put if off any longer.

I came through remarkable unscathed in the end. I did find myself gravitating towards the frozen pizza section for a second after I'd switched off while looking at the dvds, and actually did the whole 'snap out of it' head shake thing that people who have been hypnotised in films do when they wake up. I am now the nutcase in the supermarket! Bought a couple of cucumbers as well but they didn't fit in my canvas man-bag so stuck out of the top (for the non-Irish among you, carrier bags over here cost 22c. 22C!! So everyone just takes their own bag)  I got some suspicious looks on the way home for that one "What does he need 2 cucumbers for? Unless...." 

Anyway, Tea

4 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

1 Apple

1/2 lemon

1 Inch cube Ginger

Thats better! The difference that one apple makes is huge so it's back to a neutral flavour which is much more manageable than the 'greens' heavy alternative. Just time for a cup or green tea then off to bed, can't let the sloths have it all to themselves :) NN all!

Day 4 - Juice Rage

So today was a bad day :(

Last night I dreamt about going to Tesco (which was unusually specific for a dream) and buying a sandwich.

I did manage to get up this morning without too much bother and I've adjusted my walk to work so I don't go past any shops or fast food places, but I spent the day quite badly craving food. And not just the usual stuff I like either, weird stuff that I've not eaten in years like fruit gums?? No idea where that one came from but still...

The worst of it though is that it appears that juicing makes me quite short tempered. I didn't really pick up on it till towards the end of the day but I've not exactly been patient with anyone today, I even managed to upset not 1 but 2 of the people I get on really well with at work in the Newcastle office (apologies on the off chance either of you are reading this!) At this rate I'm gonna be thinner but jobless.

I don't know if its a general frustration with the situation, that I don't respond well to denying myself, ifs its linked to change in my chemical balance linked to the change in diet or some other factor but I've just been really annoyed today. I've got a load of angry but nothing to direct it at which is really not like me so I'm baffled as to where it's coming from. Maybe that's why steroids share the phrase 'juicing'? Carrot rage!

If it's going to be a choice of fat and happy or thin and miserable then I may as well pack this in now because for me thats a no brainer!

Still, despite all this I'm persevering (for the time being anyway) and below are todays drinks, it's all a bit downhill after breakfast...

Breakfast:

More experimenting

1/4 Cantaloupe Melon

1 Grapefruit

1 Small Punnet Blueberries

Quite taute compared to the rest of the fruit juices I've had so far but still good!

Lunch:

1 Cucumber

1 Hand full Spinach

4 Celery sticks

1/2 lemon

1 inch cube ginger

Thought I'd use a whole cucumber as it was a work day and I wouldn't be home for a while. That was a mistake though, it drowned out all the other flavours and made it a bit minging.

Tea

1/2 Cucumber

4 Sticks Celery

2 Handfuls of Spinach

1/2 lemon

1 inch cube Ginger

Not as strong a cucumber taste as lunch but still a bit heavy on the veg flavours. Really need to buy some more apples to take the edge off the bitterness in this juice, will have to see how I feel tomorrow and if I can trust myself in the shop!

End of Day 3

End of the 3rd day and still going strong (ish)

10% of the way through already, this should be a breeze. A few hunger pangs again through the day but nothing major, until this evening anyway.

Katie & Jordan have spent the evening baking which has been the first major test of my resolve, a tray of epic chocolate cupcakes which smelt AWESOME!

I've managed to resist these so everything else after this should be a breeze! I just sat chain drinking green tea with cranberries to cope with the sweetness craving.

Tomorrow's going to be a struggle, back into the real world and having to go through a normal working day, will be interesting trying to deal with the lack of coffee but I suspect it will be so busy for the next few days I'll be distracted. Thankfully I'm within walking distance from work so will be nipping back each day for lunch, and I'm adjusting the way I walk so I'm not going past any fast food places or shops on the way back.

I'll be getting up early so I've got time to clean the juicer before I leave in the morning, given I've been sleeping till gone 10 every day since I started this the early start is going to be a shock to the system!

Anyway, todays juices :

Lunch

4 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

2 Handfuls of Spinach

2 small Apples

1/2 Lemon

1 inch Square Ginger

Another classic green juice concoction based on the mean green juice, ok but if I'm honest I prefer the fruit based juices. Thats not a shock really given they're much sweeter and easier on the palate, but given all the sugars I'll need to be keeping them to a minimum.

Tea :

3 Oranges

3 Small Apples

4 Carrots

Again, very simple and nice and sweet. I'll need to be careful if I have this again in the future though as again it gave me a carrot tash which I didn't notice, will need to keep an eye on those (I'll drop a photo on if it happens again....)

Day 3 - Morning

Well it's taken a few days, but my body finally decided to give me something a little more than a nudge towards putting some food in me last night.

I woke up at about half 1 with a mild stomach cramp and a rumbling which would historically have had me reaching for the laptop to order a late-night pizza feast! However I persevered (helped largely by the fact that I was bloody knackered and just wanted to go back to sleep) and when I woke up today I was fine. Better than fine even, once I got up I didn't feel the need to grab a juice first thing. I had a cup of green tea then decided to make some breakfast a few hours later, by which time it was nearly noon! I'm not looking forward to getting up at a normal time for work tomorrow, when the alarm went off this morning (because I'm a numptard and forgot to turn it off for the bank holiday) I was absolutely shattered!

More ingredient experimenting this morning and I've learned a few more lessons worth remembering :

1) Kiwis are a pain the the arse to peel.

2) Trying to juice a passion fruit is a futile gesture.

I was going to just throw the whole kiwi in but the sieve wouldn't catch the hairs from the skin.

Hairy juice? I'll pass on that one thanks

As for the passion fruit, much as I love the flavour I've never bought them just as fruit so had no idea how little fruit there actually is. I'll pass on them next time.

Still, despite these minor setbacks it was a nice juice :

Breakfast:

3 Oranges

4 Kiwis

2 Passion Fruit

You're always safe with Orange juice and the kiwi gave it a bit more bite as well as thickening it up nicely.

Now to clean that bloody juicer again...

End of Day 2

Day 2

2 days down, starting to feel the hunger more this evening. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm actually in pain, but I'm more aware of the fact that I've not eaten now for 2 days (my stomach is reminding me with the odd rumble)

It's fair to say that it doesn't help that my room is very close to the kitchen so whenever anyone is cooking the smell drifts across, I've started having to clear the lounge of my housemates empty plates / crisp packets etc before I can sit in there. Not that they're complaining about that you understand, I hope they don't get used to it though because as soon as I'm through the first few days of this they can go back to cleaning up after themselves!

Speaking of cleaning, the constant scrubbing and re-scrubbing of the juicer is starting to grate on me a little now. Its not like I can leave it long either as mushed up fruit and vegetable are a fly's wet dream. The bloody things are everywhere! I've taken to keeping the fresh ginger in the fridge after I found a swarm of them living in a piece of it (I wondered why it smelt a bit funky)

Anyway, today lunch & tea were pretty much identical (apart from in volume) I got a bit carried away at lunchtime and ended up with over a pint of the stuff after most of a portion of celery went in one juice.

That does quickly bring me on to a couple of other things I've learned today;

1) Irish celery is like normal celery, just muddier

2) Irish cucumbers are fucking MASSIVE! After that shopping was delivered I could barely shut the fridge anyway, but every time I tried to one of those things was propping the bloody door open! I'll tag a pic on tomorrow but it's to late to go rummaging through there now just to demonstrate a point.

So, todays lunch & tea

Lunch

8 Celery

1/2 (very) large cucumber

2 small apples

1/2 lemon

1 inch cube Ginger (the flyless one delivered today)

Pretty much as you would expect given the ingredients, one of the great things about celery & cucumber juice is that they don't have very strong flavours. Just pop a small amount of lemon, ginger and ice in there and it becomes a palatable cold drink without all the sugars of a fruit-based juice.

Tea:

4 Celery

1/2 Cucumber

A Hand-full of Spinach

2 small apples

1/2 lemon

1 inch cube Ginger

The fact that I managed to photograph this one is a sign of progress I imagine, I tried adding some spinach for a bit of variation and although it juiced quite well considering its just leaves (compared to kale, which just produces dust) it didn't impact on the taste so will be using that a lot me from now on.

Feeling pretty groggy now and starting to get a few more hunger pangs so off to bed and then an elaborate fruit-based breakfast juice planned given its a bank holiday and I've finally got a decent amount of ingredients to experiment with. Night all!

Day 2 - Morning

Day 2

I'm expecting a tricky day.
I'm guessing sometime today is the point at which my body will get a bit radgie with the lack of substance to my meals and start throwing a few hunger pains my way (although it's behaving itself so far)

Woke up at half 10 so another late start this morning. I'm putting it down to the juice fast as I'm confident it has nothing to do with staying up till 2 playing Skyrim.....ahem.

The shopping came today, I can say with confidence that I've never owned so many fruits and vegetables at the same time in my whole life.

One of the downsides of living in a shared house is the limited fridge space, but on the plus side all those years of playing Tetris have finally found a practical application!

Breakfast today was made up of the few things I had in the fridge while waiting for the above shopping but worked remarkably well!

2 Pears
2 Oranges
2 Carrots
Ice

Again, the pears made this really sweet so it was a good starter for the day. The only downside is that about an hour later I realised I'd ended up with a milk-style 'tash made of frothy carrots. Got Veg?

End of Day 1

Ok, one day down and I'm still alive and not yet so crippled by hunger pain that I can't type. Had a bit of a moment around 9pm but a quick evening juice sorted that out (although I did drink it so quickly I didn't get time to take a photo!)

1 apple

3 oranges

1/2 punnet of grapes

2 pears

Again, very nice but then thats to be expected with all fruit. Over the course of the month I'm only planning to have fruit-based juices at the start of the day but I've got some grapes / pears that I've had for a few days that need using up (I'm trying to lose weight but I'm still just as cheap as before, I'm not throwing away perfectly useable fruit because I can't find a recipe for it!) I'm going to experiment a fair bit with different concoctions but I don't think carrot & pear will work. Only 1 way to find out but the last time I took that attitude I made a leek-based juice which nearly made me throw up the second it hit the back of my throat (up to this point its still the only juice I've thrown away!)

Still feeling pretty good, at 11pm I was bouncing about my room putting clothes away, heedbanging and singing along to some old-school Aerosmith (sugar rush from the above juice I think) so I'm getting some energy from somewhere!

Got quite tired this afternoon but not so bad that I felt the need to take a nap (wanted to stay awake & keep an eye on the Leicester game. Worth it to, started the season with a good away win at 'Borogh. COYB!!)

Going to order a few bits from tesco for delivery then off to sleep. Its only about a 15 min walk from there to here but I don't trust myself to go into the shop and not come out with a pile of pizzas and biscuits as yet.

Heres to an equally successful day tomorrow!

Right, lunchtime.

It'll come as little surprise at this point that I'm starting to crave a sandwich. Its very early days yet, and I'm well aware it's going to get tougher but I have already learned an important lesson;

Don't put your juicer in the dishwasher anytime before you're likely to need it.

I started getting peckish around 5 this afternoon (I got up pretty late today so 'Breakfast' was at about noon) but all the juicer parts were mid-rinse in the washer. 1st World problems. Tested the resolve very slightly waiting for it to finish but once it did, lunch.

Lunchtime

1 Apple

1 Cucumber

1/2 bunch of Celery

2 Large Carrots

1/4 Lemon

1 inch cube of ginger

Slightly experimental one this, but modeled closely on the 'Mean Green Juice' used by Joe Cross in  except that I've swapped added carrots and taken out kale because it is FECKING IMPOSSIBLE TO JUICE!! I've found from experience that a whole bag of kale produces less than a thimbleful of juice so regardless of how good it is for you, its out and carrots are in

Anyway, lunchtime juice is also good, the addition of the lemon & ginger makes a massive difference in veg juices so I'm going to stay well stocked on them!

30 Days. No food. Just Juice.

Ok so here goes. Firstly, if I'm honest I'm not a fan of blogs and blogging. Historically if you wanted something published it had to meet a quality minimum standard (or at least not be complete bollocks) but now any old numptard can publish their nonsensical ramblings to an audience of billions online. Speaking of which...

So as the title suggests, I'm quite a big bloke, although that's not always been the case. My weight has fluctuated pretty significantly for most of my life but (as a rule) it remained reasonably under control. That was until a pretty catastrophic back injury a few years ago. For just over 13 months I could barely move, and from a combination of that inactivity and a circus freak-show amount of comfort eating I put on close to 5 stone. Not good.

Spinal surgery fixed the damage, and after 6 months of intensive physio I was finally back up and about again. Since then I've been trying to take that weight back off again, but the fear of damaging my back again combined with a love of Dominos & Playstation has kept me on the sofa.

This is a massive simplification of the past 5 years of my life, but that's not what this blog is about. Its about the juice fast I'm going on to get me back into a position where I can be active again without putting so much stain on my back and finally take this weight of for good. The juice fast idea was put to me a while ago by a friend of mine (Namecheck @ Danny Graham) who put me on to the documentary 'Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead' by Joe Cross (You can view the full movie here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o0pSnp0Xs8)

I've thought doing a juice fast a lot over the last 6 months, and found that just swapping a few meals for juices made a big difference to my energy levels and helped my weight come down. I didn't follow any recipes at first, and although I don't doubt the juices were packed full of healthy goodness, they were disgusting. I mean properly disgusting. A broccoli, kale, carrot, celery, tomato, apple and cucumber juice drink tastes as good as it sounds.

So this time I'm doing it properly. I'm using the resources and recipes on the Joe Cross (http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/) and Jason Vale (http://www.juicemaster.com/) websites and as you may have noticed if you've read this far, I'm also writing a blog about it. I don't expect that many people, if anyone, will read this, but it's more to allow me to track my journey and also get the thoughts into some semblance of order through the next 30 days. 

The Build-up

So for the last 5 days I've been eating almost only micro-nutrient foods. Fruit, Nuts, Vegetables, Salads. But I did allow myself a final Dominos Texas BBQ pizza before I started (not conducive to the whole weight loss project I know but it was akin to visiting an old friend before you go away for a while) For the first time in my life, pizza and bacon are the enemy.

I'm going to avoid the temptation to weigh myself daily, instead opting for a weigh-in once a week.

My start-weight? 130.7kg (20 & 1/2 stone in old money)

My long-term target is to get down to 13 stone, but for this month I'm hoping for a loss of around 2 stone

Day 1

The journey begins.

Its going to take around 3 days for my body to adjust to converting the 'long term energy store' (my fat ass) into usable energy, so I've deliberately started my fast on a long weekend.

So for breakfast, fruit juice.

3 Apples, 2 Oranges and half a punnet of grapes.

Delicious