ProjectSlimGirl

Or at least not for the duration that I completed of a week.  This past week-after fasting the previous week- has been terrible. I had so many terrible cravings during my fast, and at the time I was so proud of myself for ignoring them and not giving in. I did not come off the fast properly, with soups, fruit or vegetable juices. Within 24 hours of ending the fast I had hamburgers, tacos, honey bbq, and other junky food. This binge lasted 3 days with the following days only slightly less fattening. I have hit all of my favorite restuarants, eaten my top fav dishes, and gained 8 pounds in less than a week. I was doing better at losing the weight before the fast. Instead of resetting my tastebuds and eating habits, I feel like somebody hit the “panic” button. Well, I am embarrassed but thought I’d share this for anyone who thought of fasting. The fast itself was tough, but I didn’t feel so bad until I began to eat again. I’m also feeling stuffy(in my nose) and puffy (bags under eyes and face looking puffy) already. I know this is an effect of the greasy food and all the bread I’ve been consuming. I can feel the mucous building up in my body. I’m slowly transitioning back to more veggies, but it has been hard saying no to my old favorites. updates on a hopefully better change soon.

…but i did it. i did the master cleanse starting last sunday and it all went well. i changed up the recipe substituting the maple syrup for organic black strap molasses as indicated in the recipe as a possibility and it was a nice change. the flavor was definitely not as sweet so i did not drink as often as with the maple syrup. but by day 2 of molasses i was a little sick of it. switched back to syrup and other the few times i forgot to drink i felt fine. i was able to go long stretches without feeling hungry, but then it would hit me all of a sudden and i’d have to drink in order to get rid of the millions of cravings i would get. i was able to be around people without eating without feeling too bad, and i actually feel like i had a better appreciation of the things i was missing and more disgust for things i don’t like to eat druing this week. dreamt about eating and imagined eating  few times during the day and nearly felt the sensation of food in my mouth, like my imagination was in overdrive. i am happy to be returning to eating tomorrow. i had bought about a weeks worth of food before impulsively jumping into the cleanse, and i’m hoping my veggies and fruits are still good. i have been craving salads like crazy and can’t wait to try out some of the recipes i have seen in my new raw cookbook. all in all, i would do it again. maybe in 6 months to a years time, if i were to fall off the wagon as far as i did to kinda reset my eating habits. i did lose a little weight, but surprisingly i was plateua’d for a 3 or 4 day stint in the middle of the week. i was not able to keep up with the saltwater flush as much as i would like because of the nauseating and gagging relex i was having, and the laxative tea was having lots of leftover and delayed results that did not jive with my work schedule. i’m talking what’s supposed to work in 6-8 hours, still working a day after taking it. so that might have to be a weekend thing only if i start that again.

did not do much in the gym this week, not necesarily from feeling weak although i had lost lots of my desire to work out this week. but did work out the first day with no problem, and a half hearted 25  minutes near the end of the week. i felt lots better and energetic when i first started the raw food plan than with the cleanse. so can’t wait to break out a sweat this week.

i will continue to use the lemonade to curb hunger throughout the day as needed if i think i’ve consumed enough calories, as i did like the warming effect the cayenne pepper had on my stomach and appetite, but not as a fast, more as a liquid subsitute/snack averter. i will continue incorporating the fasting tea i found at central market (gourmet/health store) and my green and ginger teas to keep my water intake up and help with digestion, and might do a saltwater flush once a month as maintainence for my colon.

trying to ease back into more raw eating. have been sneaking in meat dishes here and there( there goes the vegetarian lifestyle). decided sunday to fast for the day and switched to the lemonade diet for maybe half a week, or the full week if i can.  never made it past 3 days, so i’m not pushing it. plan on easing back into eating with a day of juices then back to veggies, cooked or raw. bought new raw cook book. going to look through and start with a few simple recipes to supplement the basics i already know. not feeling bad at all as this is day 2 of fasting with the cayenne pepper lemonade. i just bought new bottle of grade b maple syrup. as expensive as that is, i will probably stop fast when that bottle is gone. so that’s about another 2 days or so. wouldn’t say i feel tons of energy or feel extra clear minded as i have read other people claim, but i’m about as physically satsified as if i had eaten regularly today. felt well enough to do 45 minutes cardio and a full 10 hours on the assembly line. i have some slight growling of the stomach as i’m going to bed but not enough to tempt me to eat. drank sea salt water flush mix about 20 minutes ago. going to bed as soon as elimination is done, maybe another 20-30 minutes. then going to down a acidopholus shot first thing in the morning to put some healthy bacteria back in my system. i read somewhere that the saltwater flush cleans all the bacteria out of system, both good and bad. so then follow up with more lemonade throughout the day and maybe 12 oz of water and psyllium husk fiber to bulk up my system and help with elimination. that is the plan.

very bad week. binged at panera’s, cheesecake factory, central market cafe, ihop, and denny’s. if I didn’t get all the cravings out of my system then I don’t know how. very strong urges to eat the particular things i was craving; waffles,  cafe sandwiches, and steak and potatoes (what happened to RAW veggies???), funny thing, other than a the first few bites of steak, there was little else satisfaction.  giving in to the foods i had been craving actually didn’t feel as satisfying as i thought they would.  i was able to leave a lot behind due to this fact, but still felt bad that i wasn’t able to avoid them altogether. as expected i gained 5 lbs in the last week (funny how it packs on so quickly but leaves so slowly). but mentally i feel back on track. i’m ready to get back into more focused eating where i’m conscious of what i’m eating and why and what its going to do for my body.

Okay so to pick up where I left off, I have stopped being raw for the most part. Half of that I blame on influences of my DH who does understand the benefits of eating the way I do but coming from a poor upbringing cringes at the amount of money I spend on my “special diet foods”. So I had a salad today and some chopped up celery and on the one hand I felt good to be eating fresh again, but I think I have to get back in the groove of things so to speak. I didn’t feel satiated and I had other food cravings all day. I think I may have to start all over again, which means going through the cravings, withdrawals, the weakness, and then the breakthrough of clarity and energy. I thing it took about 2-3 weeks for me to “get over” my old food crushes before. It will probably be until the new year that I can return to this lifestyle since I have agreed with DH to follow a temporary budget so that we can accomplish some other things. I was just thinking though, it was soooo easy to lose weight when I was eating that way.I am not so much at a plateau now, as things are just very slow and slightly boomerang-ish (gain a couple, lose a couple). I figure if I’m making steady progress with my gym routine and calorie monitoring now, I’ll be much better off when I go back raw. January 1, 2010 its on!

Its been about a month and a half if not 2 months that I have stopped being a raw foodie. The biggest part of that came from my husband moving in. After a 3 1/2 year wait of red tape with immigration, he was able to come to the u.s. to live. Big load lifted from me, being a single mom to our 3 year old and just good to have him back. This has been a big challenge as far as keeping up my raw diet. He is from central america and he’s never heard of a raw diet, and most people are not vegetarians. Lots of rice and beans, yes, but also lots of stewed chicken, barbecued meats, and pork and beef for meals. A meal just is not complete as far as he is concerned without meat. So I have begun to incorporate a lot of foods into the menu (just about everything I had overhauled just months before) to accomodate his cultural habits. For the most part I eat a separate menu from what I cook for him, but little by little I am eating more cooked foods. 

One example is breakfast: a couple of fried or scrambled eggs, about a cup of beans (refried, red, black, pinto, or ranch style) and sliced tomato on the side. A decent combo of protein, fiber, and carbs but mostly cooked. I’m also dissapointed to see our 3 year old, who was previously content with a breakfast of sliced melon, strawberries, or fruit smoothies to now chow down on greasy eggs (compared to my slightly greased pan fried eggs), fried sausage or bacon, fried beans (as opposed to just heated in its own juice or with water) and LOTS of toast with mayonaise or some type of cream that’s consumed on the side (looks like sour cream). In a nutshell a very high fat meal that’s cooked and not fresh. So as not to break the bond that he’s creating with her after being gone for so long, I try to keep my criticisms of his unhealthy eating with her to a minium, but it is very very hard. But back to me…

 I am still losing the weight little by little, but I am missing the fresh flavors and crunchiness of my raw foods. Missing the experimenting in the kitchen with the various recipes I find on Youtube, and missing the overall lightness and energy I felt with a high raw diet. The other half of my slipping away from it is the cost. For myself it was not a big deal to spend $200 at the whole foods market or $65 at the farmer’s market for a bounty of organic produce, then add the supplementals for my older kids at home (no matter how I tried they didn’t really get into it). But with my husband here, he was shocked to say the least and appalled at the amount I was spending on “my special foods”. I didn’t like what he had to say, but he did have a point about the enormous amount of money that was being spent on food alone. So I’ve come to a compromise on how much I spend on organic, and fruits and veggies altogether. I can easily buy a week’s worth of vegetarian meals for myself, but trying to buy for two different eating styles is impossible without breaking the bank. I’m at a crossroads. I do not want to go back to my old eating habits, as easy and as cheap as it would be.  I think things may change shortly. My DH doesn’t have his working papers yet, but he promises that when he gets them and is able to contribute financially I can go back to shopping at my “rich peoples’ supermarket again”. I’m really biting my tongue on that one. If he could just understand what I’m trying to do for my body and my health…*sigh*

I have ventured away from the cardo machines and incorporated some terra firma to my routine, started walking to the walmart that’s a couple blocks away, library, etc. Also went swimming this week. Half hour of doggy paddling is all, but I was winded. A little dissappointed to find out later, when I was trying to calculate calories spent) that swimming isn’t the ideal excercise for losing weight. But that’s ok because I still am working my cardiovascular system and if I can get my heart and lungs strengthened with swimming, I figure I’ll be able to endure longer sessions on the machines, or in a group excercise when I find the time to join one. Still trying to balance out my sleep schedule with the operating hours of the kids club at the gym and group classes. I’m dissapointed that the biggest slot of empty time is in the afternoon for several hours, which for me is the best time to go. But I’m still moving forward. I made up for a day missed at the gym, or rather I didn’t go because I deep cleaned my bedroom and closets for 6 hours this week. I might not have peaked my fat burning heart rate range, but I was nonstop during that time so I know some calories got burned. Also, I’m keeping an eye on my water intake and trying to remember to take  my fat burning pills (24 hour fitness brand), I don’t know if they are even working, but I’m going to finish the 30 day supply and maybe try only one other brand, maybe hydroxycut before leaving all the supplementation alone and just focusing on diet and excercise.  I like the idea of getting an extra boost to help burn fat since I’m doing so much on my own, but after reading up on them I keep coming across articles saying that they don’t really work and their a waste of money. So, like I said I’ll give it another shot with another product after the Apex fat burners and see if its a deal or dud.  Somewhat keeping an eye on calories, just enough to mentally compare if I’m burning more than consumed. Raw food been hit or miss lately, the more I cook for family (When I began 3 months ago they were somewhat on their own as far as cooking was concerned), but I’m still pretty high raw and I do have less cravings for junky food, and more for fresh veggies and fruits. One obstacle to this is trying to stay on budget. I was spending upwards to $200 between the farmers market and whole foods and “gourmet” stores. So this compromise for stocking up on the top health foods has been offset by jsust eating smaller portions of the so-so good foods and more excercise.

Just to get that out of my system.  I’ts funny, but when I’m at work or at home I have the urge to work out sometimes, but when I’m actually going through the door at the gym I’m not all that excited anymore. I’ve worked my way up to 30 minutes on the elliptical, tread ,and bike. But I can still only make it through about 15 minutes at a time on that darn stairmaster. Its so tough! I took a quick break today and added an extra ten after a while,so that’s something. In a nutshell, I do not like cardio, but I love how its trimming off the fat and making me feel afterwards. Yay me!

After about a 2 week plateau I have started losing a bit more. I had not been drinking my water as I had been in the beginning and I got really undisciplined for a while as far as eating, but I slowly got back into my routine. I had to switch up my workout routine. I’m not going after work anymore. I go straight to sleep and get up around 1030/11 and while the kids center is still open I take my preschooler to the kids’ center. So I get a twofold blessing: workout time for me without feeling too sleepy and some playtime for the little one. I’m doing more cardio now than strength training as per some advice someone gave me. I will probably start up with the weights when I’m about 20 lbs lighter than now, just as a point of reference. I’m hit or miss with being raw, but I still consider my diet high raw. I’m starting to steam some of the bulkier greens.

I’ve taken all my jeans to the tailor and they have a nice fit after being taken in on the sides. They needed to be taken in the back anyways because I size my jeans by my hips, but my waist is small so I always have a big gap in the back showing my undies. I had the tailor make them  a little snug so that I can both feel when I lose more and if I start to gain a little. They are stretch jeans, so even though they are 18s they can stretch to 20s I’m thinking. Hopefully the fit is more like a 16 now. When they get even looser (so much so that wearing a belt makes them bunch up), then I know its time to get some new ones which will be my treat. I have seen jeans in the mall that have “butt lifting” qualities. The biggest size they come in is 14, so that will be a short term goal for me to achieve.  If I can stay focused and dedicated with the cardio hopefully I can make that dream come true by the New Year.

***One thing I have noticed in the past couple weeks is craving attacks. Out of nowhere and in the middle of work, I get the desire for a particular item so bad that I can literally smell it and my mouth starts watering. Items have included flat crust pizza, cornflake chocolate chip cookies, graham crackers and milk, and mcdonald’s cheeseburgers. I actually gave in to the pizza craving after a 2 day wait and I felt both satisfied for eating it,and happy that I could at least delay the gratification.

No current weight loss  to update. I did gain 4 lbs and that is just now back off.  I missed two days working out. I had a headlamp out and went straight home after workuntil it could be fixed. Also been looking at ladies muscle and fitness mag for some ideas on how to change up my routine. I’m feeling pretty confident on the machines but it gives me more motivation looking at the hard bodies in the mag and trying some of the things. So I’m definitely feeling stronger. I know that muscle weighs more than fat, so that if I keep this up I probably won’t see a drop on the scale for a minute.  Keeping the raw diet, and my superfood smoothie in the morning. At this point nothing to it but to do it.

On a side note I have been hit by cravings out of the blue for example when I was at work and saw a girl eating a slice of chocolate cake I mostly ignored it, but for the rest of the evening I kept thinking about it to the point that my mouth was watering. Then I started thinking about sandwiches from Panera. I even mentally satisfied my cravings with the promise that if I lose 8 pounds (my initial thought that I shared with my coworker was 5, but he told me I would proably gain 5 back just eating there, so I finally negotiated up to 8). I know that sounds funny, and with any hope and discipline I won’t even take myself up on the offer but sometimes I just have to placade myself with a thought to get through the moment. So for now I’m fired up for a few minutes of cardio or extra reps on the strenght machines at the gym, but hopefully when I get to that goal I will be over the craving. Let’s see.