There’s a documentary that’s been out for a while called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead that focuses on someone going on a juice diet to both lose weight and improve their health. Oddly enough, I haven’t seen this film, but since I decided to go on this juice diet a couple weeks back, it’s popped into my view. Funny how that happens.
I bring this up because it seems this “Juice Fast” seems to be a bit of a trend and I got here without be aware of it. I got here by thinking about what I needed to change about my diet and what I thought would be effective for me. So this isn’t a “Juice Fast” or anyone’s prescribed diet I’m doing here. Anyone reading this that’s following such diets may judge what I’m doing to be “wrong” or cheating. But, as I said, this is my diet and it’s only wrong if it doesn’t work.
I’ve never dieted before. I’ve changed my diet. I’ve improved the quality of the foods I eat over the years. But I’ve never set out on a calculated path to severely alter my diet to the edge of my comfort zone. This should be interesting.
Day One (April 18th, Wednesday)
My first official day on this diet. Official because it’s my first full day holding to the diet. Not knowing how I’d feel about the diet, I tried to ease myself into this over several days. Saturday the 14th I had a large bowl of Grape Nuts and juice the rest of the day, with a plain salad at dinnertime. One thing I’m allowing myself during this diet is the occasional fresh vegetable or fruit to cover my desire to chew and to be comfortably social during meals with the family. The 15th was juice all day with a cup of split pea soup at dinner. The same for the 16th. Tuesday the 17th was all day juice, salad at dinner with a moderate piece of chicken breast.
Day One went okay. I’ve pre-made a lot of juice (more of a smoothie) so I don’t have to wait if I get hungry. I screwed up a bit because I brought enough juice to get me through a day at work but work asked me to stay late and I had to limit the extension to 8 o’clock, because I knew I would hit the wall shortly thereafter. Did I mention they had ordered in pizza for everyone? yeah, I had to get out of there.
Got home. Got juice. Okay.
Day Two
This day was 50% ass. About 10am I was feeling more tired than usual. A little headachey. I took note of it and figured I’d keep an eye on it. As the day pushed on, I felt worse and worse. Fatigued and short-tempered. Seriously hitting the wall around 2pm. Short-tempered isn’t quite right. I was borderline angry and weary in my bones. Thinking about what I needed to do, I considered lying down for a short rest, but an idea came to me. Bing! I poured myself a large glass of ice water and proceeded to down half of it in one go. The fire in my brain went out. Over the next few minutes, I sipped another 20 ounces or so of water and within moments the fatigue in my bones was gone.
Dehydration.
Not thinking, for the last 24+ hours I had been consuming too high a juice-to-water ratio. The act of drinking juice all day was masking the fact that I wasn’t getting extra water in me. Adding more water to the juice mix and remembering to supplement with straight water, will kee this from happening again.
Day Three
Smooth sailing today for the most part. One very clear observation, though. When driving down Lakeshore Avenue, the smell of the burger joint mid-block was much more alluring than it’s ever been. I never really even notice the place most days! Yeah, I’m a carnivore.
Day Four
First real workout since starting the diet. I’ve been biking to work as always, but not riding hard or hitting the gym. I wanted to let my body deal with the diet intake on it’s own before getting back to my regular workout routine.
My workout is a modified version of the P90X routine. Modified because the P90X workout emphasizes size a bit more than I need. I’m naturally big and strong and I’ve learned over the years that I can gain muscle volume and strength fairly quickly, but that’s not my goal. So when I did the standard X workout, I didn’t lose the weight I was looking for. I got stronger, trimmed A BIT, and improved my conditioning for certain, but the net results weren’t what I was looking for. So, I alter the balance of reps vs. weights and switched the format around to better fit my lean/mean target.
Otherwise eventful day.
Day Five
Getting into a nice little zone. Feeling pretty comfortable. The first few days I had pre-made these large batches of juice to keep a supply going, but I’m finding it unnecessary. Very rarely do I feel hungry. It’s an odd sensation, actually. I keep a sports drink container (the shaker-type you’d mix a protein shake in) with me at all times and sip steadily throughout the day. Basically grazing. I think since the juice has so much in it (fiber, pulp, remember it’s more of a smoothie) my digestive system just chugs away it it continually and I never get that feeling of emptiness.
Another workout day, plus biking to/from gym.
Day Six
I’ve decided I’ll keep this log going on a daily basis but unless there is a particular change or insight for the day, I’ll just check off the day.
I neglected to note that I have had a bite of regular food here and there over the last couple days. Making lunch for a seven year old occasionally requires taste-testing and I’m trying not to be a fiend about this diet. I figure holding to this diet 99% of the time is still 1000x better than my old diet, so I let these indiscretions pass without guilt.
Day Seven
Major workout day. In the zone. Feeling free to push it a bit.
Biked to the gym (2.5 miles) and got the extra exercise of walking angrily home after the bike was stolen from in front of the 24hr Fitness.
End of Week 1.
