Update on Master Cleanse - 7 lbs down!

In the last post I told you I started the The Master Cleanse. It has been one week and I usually weigh on Tuesdays, so yesterday I took a peek to see if in addition to getting rid of toxins and colon crud, if I lost weight. Now, I have also been using my treadmill 6 days a week, because I don't want to lose valuable muscle tone, and I did some simple exercises using light weights for my upper body. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see I had lost 7 lbs! Sure enough, all my clothes are fitting again. Yea!

I still have one more day on the cleanse, but I can definitely recommend this as a great jump start to a new diet. Aside from detoxing and weight loss, the cleanse serves the purpose of getting my everyday "diet" back to healthy and clean. I've broken my sugar cravings, cleaned out my liver of toxins, including a glass of wine (or two) I enjoy on most evenings (no alcohol on the master cleanse, though, remember), and reminds me that food is for nutrition and sustenance primarily, and pleasure secondarily. After all, I have had nothing but the maple lemonade on the cleanse all week and still alive and feeling good - so all my cravings have just been psychological, not a physical need  (I'm talking to stay alive not getting all the vitamins and minerals I need for long-term eating - just making a point here.)  I like getting that in perspective once in a while because I can come up with some crazy good arguments for dashing to Patrick's Grill in Pierz for some of their soooooo delicious chicken wings in a heartbeat.

You know, living on nothing but the The Master Cleanse for ten days can test your discipline, but if you think about it, it also challenges any food addictions you have developed. I think this would be a good option for fasting and prayer, when not eating at all is more than you are ready for. I can tell you that it became a labor of love to plan delicious, and healthy, meals for the rest of my family, when I wasn't eating. But, I really enjoyed the way the food smelled so good, and I even seemed more creative (or maybe everything seemed better to me because I wasn't getting any of it!) I did freeze portions of the food that seemed the yummiest so I can have some next week!

End of story? If you can stick it out, it works. Sure I had days that stretched my will power (Mon and Tue) but I kept telling myself I can eat anything I want in the world, but just not TODAY. It's temporary. The hardest days were the ones my husband was home, but lucky for me he cooked dinner one day. He was really supportive of my plan and tried not to suggest anything tempting to me. At the end of the day, I had to decide to shove away temptation, (put it on a list of things you are going to eat next week) and push on, or give up and feel like a big, fat looooser. (That's just my self-talk - you can come up with your own.)

Now, I can't see inside my body to know the detox results, but for weight loss alone - worth it. Just make sure you drink plenty of water, so you're not only mainly water weight, and do some kind of load-bearing exercise (even walking is good as it strengthens and tones your whole body) so you do not lose valuable muscle instead of compacted colon gunk and fat.