Results

Okay, so this is the embarrassing post, but if I'm going to encourage you to do this process, I have to do it myself, too.

Now, with full disclosure, I only measured my left leg and arm. Why? I didn't even think about measuring the right side. So silly.

I have to admit that I'm slightly disappointed by the pictures. I don't necessarily see the results with the pictures. However, I FEEL the results. I said weeks ago that I feel a difference in the way my underwear sits on my body. Looking at the measurements, there's a clear reason why. I feel overall less swollen. I'll be interested to take pictures again in a couple weeks to see how eating clean/vegan and using Shakeology impacts my body.

If only I could post my mother's results here. They are INCREDIBLE!! She lost 20 pounds in this process and it is obvious in her pictures.

I'm also considering starting TurboFire as a new program for weight loss. I've only got a few more months to get my body back to where it was before I got hurt. Let's hope I can do this before the wedding!!!

Day 3--Don't bad things come in threes?

MORNING
[WARNING: Don't read this paragraph if you're not comfortable reading about bowel movements.] I woke up this morning a bit uncomfortable. Since I've started the program, I have noticed an increase in BMs. I believe this can be directly attributed to the water intake and fresh vegetables. However, I hadn't gone since yesterday afternoon, and I clearly felt uncomfortable. I weighed myself, and saw that I went up .6 lbs. I have had a lot of aches, too, but I can't tell if it's due to my period or the "internal workout" I'm getting. Many people note the aches during the process, so I know it's common. The aches in my legs and back I'm sure also come from standing in the kitchen for hours working on food. Anyhow, I drank the remainder of yesterday's gallon of water to see if it would help. I barely finished the water when I finally felt things moving! In the videos, Isabelle mentioned that the color, consistently, and smell might change. Oh boy, was she right! The Alkalinize is green, so as a result....oy! Good morning, Kim!


BREAKFAST
Meal 7 of 63 this morning was 2 scrambled eggs, kale, and 2 slices of whole grain toast. (There is no picture as you've seen it before on Day 1.)

LUNCH
Note: Not hungry.

Meal 8 of 63:

lentil lime salad

microgreen salad with cashews

I tried my very best to eat the lentil salad. I really did! I just couldn't get behind the flavor. The cilantro and the aminos (a low-sodium soy sauce) were just a little too overwhelming in combination with the flavor of the food. I did like the flavor of the dressing when I made it last night, but I couldn't get behind it today. I ate about half the lentils before I gave up. The microgreen salad, however, I finished in its entirety.

I started to get a headache. I don't know what exactly it's from. My gut instinct is that my eyes hurt and it's from staring down at my iPhone. That would also result in a stiffing of my neck, added stress, and would then result in a tension headache. However, it could also be from this cleanse. It is common from the various supplements we are taking. I haven't taken anything for my head because I'm really trying to be strong. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

DINNER
I was actually a bit hungry since I barely ate my lunch. While prepping dinner, I took a moment to check the facebook groups again. A friend from a couple groups offered to email me the reset newsletter because I set it up too late and wouldn't receive the newsletter on the correct dates. I read something that struck a chord with me: "By now your body is starting to release toxins, and it's common to be experiencing strong cravings or even aches and pains. For many people, these can be the most challenging days of the Ultimate Reset™." I have had bad cravings today! I hadn't had cravings the last few days, but today it was wicked!


Okay, so dinner...

I got a boo boo. I need to stay away from knives. That was simply from slicing cucumbers for the cucumber salad. It didn't bleed at first; it just looked a little red. Then all of a sudden it wouldn't stop. If you don't already know, I have had a bad history with knives (I accidentally stabbed myself in the leg--good story), so this just made my day. I quickly snapped a pic and sent it to some friends who would appreciate it.

But as for food!

Meal 9 of 63:

nori rolls with smokey tempeh strip

cucumber salad

miso soup

The cucumber salad and miso soup called for wakame (seaweed). I'm not a fish person and hate the taste and smell of all of it. I decided against using the seaweed for the soup and salad to at least give me the chance at liking it. The only seawood I had was in the nori strip. I tried. I tried really hard. I did like the tempeh, so I'll have to figure out a way to better incorporate that into a meal without the nori. Instead of eating this, I ate leftover beans and rice from yesterday. I did, however, eat the cucumber salad. There aren't any fishy flavors in the way I prepared it, so it's still good for me.

I'm overall very disappointed with today. I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day. Nori rolls are supposed to be lunch tomorrow with the lentil salad. Hah. Yeah, okay. I'll have to figure something out. Maybe more beans and rice tomorrow? I could see how people on the boards talk about wanting to give up. It's very frustrating. I've loaded and unloaded the dishwasher a dozen times already. Even when I prep the food in advance (like today, I made all the rice for the next few days), prep time in the kitchen still lasts hours. I don't know how I'll be able to pull it off over the next two weeks when I have to drive out to work to tutor a kid in To Kill a Mockingbird and Romeo and Juliet.

I look forward to breakfast. THAT will at least be a good meal..

Day 2--It's Only Day 2?

MORNING
I should start off by saying that I fell asleep on the couch last night possibly by 10:30. I'm not sure on the time. I woke up at 1:00, and made my way to my room. My head wasn't on my pillow for more than 10 seconds before I was back to sleep. I only woke up once since 1:00 because I had a nightmare. My head was racing, but I kept my eyes closed and did some deep breathing. Only seconds later, I was back to bed. I sleep until just before 7:00, and I definitely slept like a rock. I had another dream about my tomato plants. Although they are mostly still green right now (2 are red-ish), I dreamed that my tomato plants exploded overnight and held grape tomatoes, roma tomatoes, and just regular large tomatoes. I remember shouting in my dream, "It's because I fed them MiracleGro!"

I weighed myself. Down 2.6 pounds. :) Mom is down 4 pounds this morning. I changed the way I took my supplements this morning by shaking it up more before drinking it which made it go down a lot easier. Yesterday I didn't shake them, and they were way too salty. Today not so bad.

BREAKFAST
Note: Not hungry at all. I'm more thirsty than hungry. But even still...

Meal 4 of 63:

1 cup oatmeal with 1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup plain 0% fat yogurt flavored with organic maple syrup

One thing I really like about this program already is it's goal to remove all processed sugars from your diet. If I had made oatmeal in the past, I would have sweetened it with some type of sugar...Splenda probably because it's "health friendly." It doesn't need it! The blueberries made the oatmeal sweet enough. It was lovely. The yogurt was delicious, too. Normally, flavored yogurt is very sweet. However, adding just a little maple syrup to it made the flavor pop! It was just enough to make the yogurt not so dull. I really appreciate it.

I'm getting used to not drinking water while eating. It makes me appreciate the flavors of the food more. I've been lucky enough to enjoy everything thus far that I haven't had the need to chase it down with something. Well...except for the Alkalinize.... *gag*

LUNCH
Note: Not hungry again.

Meal 5 of 63:

Greek salad with chicken

(romaine lettuce, English cucumber, roma tomato, pine nuts)

Greek dressing

I made extra chicken last night, so even though it was supposed to be grilled chicken, I think it's just fine the way it was. So much food... My younger sister ate pizza. This meal is the last meal I have with animal meat. I will have eggs and yogurt a couple more times, but any "meat" that I eat will be based in soy.

I'm still a bit confused about drinking the water. I am taking supplements 4 times a day--three have 2 pills (Optimize) and the fourth is the green drink of death (Alkalinize). Each time I take a supplement, I'm supposed to put Himalayan salt (Mineralize) into the distilled water along with liquid oxygen (Oxygenize). I just don't know if I'm supposed to put the Mineralize into the distilled water that I drink during the day. People are claiming a ton of different things on the Facebook support pages. My sister informed me that some people who have been drinking the water with Mineralize in it all day have expressed concerns over bloating. I don't want to bloat; I'm bloated enough! Until I find an answer, I'm just reducing the amount of Mineralize I put into the 32 oz of water so I don't overdo it, but I still benefit from the salt. Alison drank the water straight without adding the salt. Hmm... And I just found the answer: use the Mineralize. Starting tomorrow, I'll put the 1/2 tsp Mineralize in my gallon jug like some people have said on the support pages.

MID-AFTERNOON
I figured out how to master the gawd-awful Alkalinize. I put the mix in my shaker with 2 oz of water instead of 4 oz. In a small little bowl, I poured some lemon juice. Before drinking death, I took a sip of the lemon juice to sort of "numb" my mouth to the awful. I then CHUGGED liquid death and took a swig of the remaining lemon juice. The lemon was enough of a chaser to leave very little yuck in my mouth. I did continue to chase it with water, but it was in no way as terrible as it was yesterday. Below is a picture of ick:

DINNER
Note: Not hungry at all. Terrible, frustrating experience. Ughhhhhh!!!

Meal 6 of 63:
black beans and rice with fresh corn
salsa and guacamole
kale with pine nuts

Things that went wrong this evening:

• didn't have the correct brown rice--had to go get the right stuff
• didn't realize the rice needed 50 minutes to cook
• realize after the rice was almost done that the black beans needed an hour to cook (dehydrated beans, not canned)
• rice started to burn
• beans started to burn
• severe thunderstorm warning--possibility of losing power 
• mom forgot her cell phone when she went out to get canned black beans--couldn't communicate

It was just a lot of frustration. To make matters worse, I couldn't get my head around portioning. The recipe for the kale called for half a bunch which is a LOT of kale. Then, the portion of the beans and rice just seemed totally off. I doubled the recipe (thank God because we overcooked the lentils for tomorrow's lunch..ughhh). To make things even more challenging was that I was making 2 batches: one for me and mom (BUR friendly) and one for Steph and Bran. WAY TOO COMPLICATED!!! Math isn't my strong suit to begin with, so having the calculate the conversations to make 4x the amount written in the recipe. I need a break from cooking one night. Dinner has consistently been after 7:00 pm...usually closer to 8:00 pm.  And I thought I prepped well yesterday! 

Not looking forward to making nori rolls tomorrow....

The only thing that made me happy was this:

I never did that before... :)