Saturday, November 8, 2014

Final weigh in & Cleanse review

It has been a long journey, friends! The last four weeks have been full of resisted urges and indulgences. They have been full of thousands of steps, lunges, squats, jumps, pounds lifted, miles walked, calories burned. And ultimately, they have led to the best shape I have ever been in in my entire life.

Let's start with the bad news: I didn't make goal weight of 139.6 by Tuesday, November 4. I weighed in at 141.4 -- just shy!

Here's the amazing news: following my three day juice cleanse,  as of today I am down to:

138.2!
Meaning that I've lost 7.2 lbs in the last 4 weeks. This is the least I've weighed in 8 years or more.

Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

In 2012, when I first began this journey post grad-school, I weighed around 165lbs. By mid 2012, I was down to 155ish and measuring at 32" W, 38" B, 45" H.

When I moved to NC in 2013, i was down to 150 and had whittled down to 31" W, 38" B, 43" H.

Today,  at the tail end of 2014, I weigh 138.2 and measure in at 28.5" W, 36" B, 40" H.

For you math-minded folks, that means I've lost a total of: 26.2lbs, 3.5" in my waist, 2" in my bust, and 5" in my hips. 

I also have gone from a size 12 to a size 8/10

Of course, this blog wouldn't be this blog without progress photos!

Taken at the end of September -- start of my shred

Today!


Oh hey, abs! Nice to see you again!



 The guidelines I laid out for my diet were: no coffee (due to sweetener), no simple carbs, less sugar, no eating after nine.

I followed these rules most of the time. I also increased my exercise and the intensity of my workouts. I met my 5 mile step goal every single day.

The icing on the top of the cake was the Jus by Julie cleanse

I drank only juice for 3 days with the exception of water, unsweetened tea, egg whites, steamed veggies.

I drank approx 6 juices a day (and they were all delicious, surprisingly enough). I drank one whenever I felt hungry and honestly, they kept me satisfied enough that I never felt hungry and I never really craved any food.

For "dinner" every night, I steamed zucchini and squash and onions and mixed in two egg whites.

By day 2, I felt incredibly energized and light. I did an hour long trampoline air-obics class that night and was worried I hadn't consumed enough calories to not want to die. But I felt AMAZING.

I couldn't even bring myself to drink all of the 6 juices every day, so I now have about 5 bottles left over and am extending the cleanse a bit. Will do 2 juices today and then an early dinner and will detox on Monday with 3 bottles until dinner.

I definitely recommend doing it over the week rather than the weekend. The week days are more structured and full of less temptation.
My JUS menu for the last three days
I love this cleanse so much, I plan to do it again. It is a bit pricey but I feel SO good that I think it's worth it.  I also found a 5 day "JUS til dinner" package for $125 (versus the $150 I paid for 3 days), so I think I will try that one out next time, since that's pretty much what I ended up doing anyway.

And while I know I will likely gain some weight back once I start eating normally again, I do think it was a good jump start. I had been stuck around 142 for a while during my diet bet and this gave me the extra edge to get ahead.

I also have a post-cleanse diet planned out, consisting of rich fibers, steamed veggies, and lean protein.

I am looking forward to this continued journey and even though I lost $30 in the diet bet, I gained so much more in confidence, strength, fitness, and health, that it was totally worth it.