Day 10 - WAHOO!

I did it! I accomplished something amazing. I am feeling pretty pleased with myself right now. There have been times in my life that I would have thought this was impossible. It's not!

I have made the decision to stop, not because I don't think I could continue on, but because I feel like nothing much is happening, like I've hit a plateau. I believe if I kept going, that would change, but due to circumstances, I could only go a few more days and then I'd need to stop anyway, so I don't think it would make much difference. But, I'm already looking towards the future and planning to do a 15 day cleanse, probably in two months.

I have lost 12 pounds! I know some of that is simply due to the fact that my intestines are basically empty, and that will change when I resume eating food, but it gives me the momentum to make dietary changes that will help me continue on a weight loss track.

I figure that if I can accomplish this, anyone with reasonable health can, too. It's such a good feeling. Tomorrow I will enumerate the changes I've noticed and my "ease in" plans.

For now, I'm just going to celebrate a GREAT accomplishment. HOORAY!! YIPPEE!!

Day 9 - Mental Clarity

Before I forget, this is Cristi's husband, Mike. Hi. Pleased to meet you.

I've lost about 12 pounds since starting the cleanse. That really feels great. My wife is saying, "You are so skinny!" As a matter of fact, I have been a little surprised when I look in the mirror. What?!?

I remember years ago knowing a man who lost a lot of weight and kept it off. I know it was great for his health, but I liked the more portly version of him. (I don't miss portly me.)

In the last 6 weeks or so, I've done two other cleanses (Dr. Christopher's 3-day juice cleanse). Between those two cleanses, I lost about 12 pounds, too. So in the last 6 weeks, I've lost almost 25 pounds, or about 4 pounds per week (with spikes up and down).

My energy is up. I have been working out (3 days this week). I don't feel tired or slow. I actually feel a little more effective in my work outs than usual, but I noticed my heart rate was higher than normal doing the treadmill.

Now on to my reason for writing: I wanted to tell you about the mental clarity. It's remarkable. The fog is gone. Normally, I function under a cloud. It is not so much a boost in cognitive skill as it is being more decisive. Being more clear. Under normal circumstances, I weigh my decisions too long. Now, I feel this sort of freedom and elation. I am planning better, thinking things through. It's fun.

I don't know if I have felt this clear-headed since I was a teenager.

I am thinking about extending my cleanse beyond ten days. I have some writing I am planning to do next week, and I am thinking, "Wow, I wonder if this clarity will help me write better." Hmmmmmmm.

I am enjoying the clarity so much, food is not so tempting. Actually, food has not been very tempting for the whole length of my cleanse. I have been surprised by that.

Day 8 - Cruisin' Along

I forgot to mention that yesterday (Day 7) I noticed my tongue was REALLY white. I brushed my teeth several times, scrubbing my tongue and getting some of the gunk off, but then within hours it would all be back. Here's a most lovely photo so I have something to compare to when I've reached my goal. I had read that a white tongue is evidence of major detox going on, and the goal is a pink and clear tongue. I don't know if I'll make it clear to that point on this particular cleanse, but I think I will definitely see improvement. Others have said it would take them 20 days to get a nice pink tongue, but due to life circumstances, I can't go that long right now.

Today has been a "par for the course" day. I think I'm going to try the salt water again tomorrow morning even if it mostly ruins my day. After that I may try just doing the laxative tea in the morning as well as at night.

I went to the health food store to get more tea, and wouldn't you know it, they had samples galore. Even right there at the check-out they had chunks of watermelon and pineapple with toothpicks in them to easily grab. I wasn't tempted, but I still don't enjoy having to look at it and work to push out of my mind what that would taste like right now. Oh, well. I'm still a really lucky girl in not having to prepare or even smell food in my home right now. Woe isn't me.

Day 7 - Things Are Moving

I'm amazed that it's been a whole week since I ate food. Simply amazing!

Things are really starting to move now. I no longer have any real headaches, but I do have plenty of abdominal cramping to make up for it. Last night it all started at 3:45 a.m. - three trips to the bathroom in about 40 minutes. Thankfully I was able to go back to sleep. And I think I've made at least 5 or more trips for more elimination during the day. And it's really good to remember that any pressure in them there parts is NOT "just gas".

I prepared food for a group of people today. I haven't had to do that because my daughter is away for a few weeks and my husband is doing the cleanse as well. It's interesting how I feel fairly detached from the food. Thankfully there weren't any potato chips! But I must admit that I really have had no cravings. That's remarkable and totally unexpected. But I'm grateful. 

Tonight I'm going to drink the tea just as I'm crawling into bed so I can hopefully get a little more sleep before things start mooooooooooving.

I'm ready to hit Day 8, and I hope to go until at least Day 14.

Day 6 - P.S.

P.S.  Tonight I actually feel a little bit thinner. I'm not weighing until I've gone 10 days, but finally something is starting to feel different. Yes!

Day 6 - Modify

I had planned to use the salt water flush again this morning, and then re-evaluate whether to continue with it or not, but the fact that I had "gone" 4 times between 6 and 7 a.m., and my abdomen felt kinda yucky, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. If I'm going to continue on, I need to make that modification, otherwise I would be completely useless the entire day, and feel awful to boot.

So, I'm continuing on sans SWF. And I'm okay about that. Maybe some folks don't end up feeling like they've got an intestinal bug, but that's how I end up feeling. Even with just the senna tea, I don't feel well enough to drink any lemonade until about 11 a.m, and even then I'm kind of forcing it.

Do what you need to do to stay with the program!

Day 5 - 1/2 Way, Baby!

No salt water flush this morning, as I would be attending church and didn't want to have to make multiple runs to the bathroom AND have a stomach ache all morning long. However, I don't seem to be having any trouble "eliminating" plenty just using the senna tea. I'll re-evaluate whether to keep using it starting tomorrow morning or whether the senna is doing enough of a job.

Today the boredom hit - boredom with the absence of all things food-related. I looked at a couple of bags of chips in my daughter's kitchen, and I wasn't tempted to eat them (didn't have to use mega amounts of self control), but I realized I was missing EATING.

I have had a couple of experiences in my life when I simply couldn't eat. One was when a doctor had inadvertently nicked my colon during a fairly minor surgical procedure, and all heck broke lose. I was hospitalized for nearly 3 weeks, and the majority of that time I could not eat a darn thing. A good part of those days I had no appetite and was zoned out on morphine, so it didn't matter much. But when I started to feel a little better and still couldn't eat, that was rough. I distinctly remember my family bringing in a bunch of take out Chinese food and having a feast when I was finally well enough to indulge.

Years later, I went through a very difficult time following a major surgery, where my digestive system seemed to just give up. I'd try to eat, but my body would react very negatively, and finally I had to be put on TPN for nearly 4 months to keep some nutrients flowing through me. That, too, was a really awful period of time where I really couldn't eat.

I have to remind myself that right now I'm CHOOSING not to eat. There's a big difference between making that choice and being too sick to eat. Instead I'm making a choice to be more healthy.

And that's all good!