I knew I had left my waist somewhere…

DAY SEVENTEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I haven’t been updating as much because a) I have been busy and b) without Thomas my meals have been rolling on repeat. Although I will say that yesterday I actually went out to eat and was able to find something on the menu to order! It’s getting exciting folks! I actually know enough about food to know what to order for myself now!

I had a bison burger, which I was already a fan of before this because of how healthy they are for you. They are leaner than chicken, and it is illegal to add any steroids or chemicals to bison, so you can be sure it’s a free range, organic piece of meet. And you will be shocked at how flavorful they are. I far prefer bison to hamburger. It just really puts hamburger to shame, and you don’t even have to add any spices to it to make it taste delicious.

I had the patty, without the bun of course, and I added avocado as my healthy fat. I had a side salad instead of fries with just a touch of dressing. The dressing was a stretch because of the vinaigrette, but there was literally just a touch on it. And the salad was the healthy greens instead of iceberg lettuce which is pretty much water.The bison patty also falls apart it’s so tender and delicious. Again, this is something I would order again outside of my cleanse diet.

Starting tomorrow I am moving to 3-4 blended meals a day. That could mean a shake, or soup. This portion goes on for only 4 days and to be honest, I’m looking forward to it. With the shakes, I know I’m getting the right portions of everything, and I know it’s going to keep me full, and I know it’s going to be easy. So I don’t mind it at all.

Also on Monday I have to do round two of the Sea Source… yikes.

As for weight loss… I am at 10 lbs lost, which is quite remarkable in just 16 days, but even more, my body is unrecognizable. Even my sis who is not quick to give out the complements told me that I looked really skinny. My waist is much more defined. My stomach is completely flat. You can see my hips clearly again. I don’t look bloated at all. My thighs have also slimmed out, and you can see it in my face. I LOVE IT!! I saw two women yesterday who I had met the day before I began this cleanse, and the second I walked in the room they both said ‘You look fantastic. I can see it in your face!’ I can’t wait to show you guys the before and after pics. And this is all just in time for summer!!

Oh yes… and my skin is completely clear! I can’t remember the last time that happened! I have been hearing that in your late 20’s, women experience a change in hormones and a lot of women start to struggle with acne. That’s me! Well, this has really helped clear all that up thank god!! I can only guess it is because all of my meals are ‘hormonally balanced’ which in turn, would only hormonally balance my body and my skin chemistry. It makes total sense to me.

Over all, I’m almost sad to see it end in another week or so. I will definitely keep at least one shake in my daily routine as much as I can, and I know that I will be eating a lot better. My habits have changed now. And even though I know I’m not supposed to be doing this, according to Ti our nutritionist, I am finding myself judging my husband for his eating habits.

For example, yesterday he ate God knows what for breakfast. He had a beer and a frozen yogurt for lunch. And before and after dinner he had a vanilla shake. I think I might have judged him for that even if I wasn’t on this cleanse, but now… at least I am not falling into these habits along side him. I have to also point out that I have been away from him this last week for work and I just got to see him yesterday for the first time in 7 days. Well, twice I walked to the fridge to get a snack. TWICE!! I have not done that one time in these 17 days and I did it twice when he was home! That really tells me that I have unhealthy habits that I associate with him. Who knows why! But it was really good for me to recognize that. I would have never noticed had I not have been on this cleanse. It was really interesting to me.

Anyway, that’s all I have to report for today. Hope you’re enjoying this journey as much as I am!

9 lbs/13 days

Actually, truth be told… I had lost nine pounds on the 11th day and I haven’t weighed myself again so who can know. I’m wasting away. Mostly I am noticing that my stomach is flat as can be and I’m not bloated or pooching out, which is most of the battle, wouldn’t you say? It’s all very exciting.

As I mentioned, I did have to do the Sea Source cleanse portion (which will be once a week for the next two weeks) two days ago and I have to admit that that was the least fun part of this whole experience. First of all, I’m not used to drinking SO MUCH liquid. And to think that I actually got a head ache from not drinking enough just makes me feel like there is no winning.

With the Paleo and the Sea Source I’m supposed to feel a little hung over, and therefore, I must hydrate more than usual. Well, for me more than usual is drinking ANY water at all so you can bet that I felt pretty shitty… no pun intended…

The Sea Source, like I said, supports the colon so I made sure I had nothing going on that day outside of the house, just in case. Well, I drank the whole thing which took all day (we are supposed to sip it for 8-10 hours) and it tasted like some sort of guava drink. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t unbearable. Usually things that are kind of gross get more gross with time… this was quite the opposite. It actually got easier to drink as the day went on. I think it just takes some getting used to. But don’t get me wrong… I’m glad that I only have to do it once a week.

So I was just waiting for it to all ‘catch up to me’ but nothing happened. Half way through the day, as I mentioned, I got a headache that got worse and worse as the day went on. Drinking water really helped and by the end of the day, it had pretty  much gone away, but it was back in the morning so I did have to cheat and take some meds to get ride of it. I’m kind of a baby when it comes to a head ache. I used to get migraines so I am really sensitive to that sort of pain.

At about 10pm… well, it came. It came and came. About 4 trips to the restroom and it was over however, so it wasn’t even that bad. But it was the first time that I have had to deal with that aspect. I feel like everyone has been waiting for that, so there ya go! It was over and done with in about 45 minutes though… and everything has been fine since so I think I can deal with it.

Today I had some Free Range Ground Turkey meat as my protein in my one meal, so that’s new. It was actually really good and I think I can mix it with a lot of things. I was kind of running out of ideas for the ‘protein’ aspect of my non-shake meals… so I’m glad that I have something new to play with.

Tomorrow I will be half way through the whole program!! Also tomorrow we are stepping it up to 3 shakes a day for a few days, which will be new. Honestly, I’m looking forward to it. The shakes are so easy and they are balanced so I’m not hungry and frankly, I don’t have to cook or think up something good to eat. So I don’t think that that will be very difficult. This will mean that we will be bumping up the Paleo too though, so we will see how I react to that. Always something new!!

Meals a gogo

So, as I mentioned, I have officially added the detoxifying element to my daily regimen. It’s the Paleo cleanse stuff that helps detoxify the liver. I guess the liver gets pretty bogged down over time, and so we need to clean it out. The nutritionist compared it to changing the filter on your AC. I can dig it.

It tastes funny. It’s almost fruity… but not really… kind of chalky… but not really. I can’t REALLY figure it out… but either way, it’s the most flavorful thing in my shakes. I don’t know how that happens.

So we are on day 10 today and I am still adjusting to drinking 2 shakes a day… 1 meal of food. Meals are slowly going away, and eventually will be gone entirely… but I’m finding that the shakes are just so darn easy that I don’t mind so much. If only I could solve this Paleo thing…

I’m also bathrooming slightly more but it’s still not at all what you think when you think ‘cleanse’ so that’s good.

I’ve lost 7 pounds. 10 days. Not too bad… I hope I keep this up!!!

Tomorrow I have to do the SeaSourse cleanse… I’ve been putting it off until I have nothing else to do… it’s just for one day, but it supports the colon. Well, there is only one thing that the colon does so if it’s supporting that… we shall see how it goes is basically what I’m saying to you. I’ve still been told that it won’t be bad, but you just never can tell.

Yesterday I only had time for 2 meals and they were both shakes. My second shake I had to take on the run- yesterday was a crazy, crazy day promoting with Arbonne- and as I was driving very illegally fast up to Yuba City, I took a turn too quickly and my dinner went flying across my car. So a) I lost part of my dinner and b) now not only to I have to drink the Paleo… my car smells like it too. Grand!

That garlic really sticks with you…

DAY EIGHT!!!!!!!!

I am just cruising now. Only 20 days to go! Okay… that sounds like it might as well be 1 million, but oh well. Think of how thin I’ll be. 🙂

So I had my second class last night and I learned two things: I’m not taking enough fiber and I’m not eating enough veggies… otherwise I’m doing great. And I’m not finding myself needed to add the healthy fat’s to my shakes because I’m not feeling hungry between meals, so that is going to increase my weight loss! Very exciting. I think I’m not feeling hungry because I’m too busy!! But either way, I’m pretty sure that that is a good thing. Those Fizzy tabs really do make a difference though, I have to say. I may not go back to my fourth favorite food: Soda. (Yea right!)

So yesterday, I woke up late (love my ‘job’). I am up for a promotion with Arbonne right now so I went straight to my office instead of the kitchen, so I was only able to get in 2 meals before 7 pm, which is when we are supposed to stop eating. Our metabolism, especially women’s, slows down significantly after that.

First meal was my token shake. I added the berries which I am now obsessed with, but I really learned last night that I have to be adding veggies every time as well to get enough throughout the day… which is fine because I can’t even taste them when I do. So today my goal is to up the fiber and the veggie intake!

Also today, we start the Paleo cleanse, which is going to start taking toxins out of the body. It’s basically a powder protein that we add to our shakes. We also now upped our number of shakes to at least 2 per day. The Paleo cleanse is designed to really help support and cleanse the liver, while the Sea Sourse cleanse is designed to support and cleanse the colon. Both are being added today… so it’s been interesting. Still no running to the bathroom issues, but we shall see. I’m actually going to add the Sea Sourse cleanse to my diet tomorrow since we have all week to do so.

So back to yesterday. It was at about noon when I had my shake, and then at 4 ish, Burny and I had another amazing meal. We both have agreed that we are going to continue eating this way after the cleanse. If the food tastes great AND is super good for you, why not. That way we won’t feel so bad eating out on the occasions that we do. I have to say, this whole process has really brought to light my bad eating habits. I really need to keep these tools and maybe even just continue with a vitamin, veggie, balanced shake each day. That would probably improve my diet, weight management and overall health quite a bit.

Our lovely meal consisted of grilled shrimp with garlic and spices and lemon and I made a ‘salsa dressing’. Between the onions in the salsa and the garlic… I’m pretty much a man repellant. That stuff stays with you.

The salsa… well, I intended for it to be actual salsa, but we used a blender instead of a food processor… and well, they are different. So it was liquid salsa, but it made for an amazing dressing. We ate the shrimp and some corn on a bed of spinach with the salsa dressing. Man did it have a kick, but I’m craving it again tonight! Who knew I could accidently create a fat-free, super healthy DRESSING? Plus, I forgot about corn. I LOVE corn!

Then I tried my detox tea, which I am supposed to drink everyday, with some warm almond milk and cinnamon. I just don’t like tea. Any suggestions on how to make tea taste better???

Exciting update: Today, Burny and I went on a hike again and I wore jeans for the first time in about five days. OMG has my body changed. I couldn’t believe all the places these things were loose! I love it!