Day 9 - Yes, I did decide to extend so I could do it right.

Weight:  183.6

I'm almost done..... And this time with absolutely NO cheating!

The flu has hit our household and, although I've not felt quite normal, I haven't gotten sick.   The Master Cleanse is so easy right now. I have no cravings ever. I do find myself getting pretty hungry if I don't have the lemonade every 2 hours though.

Day 10 (or Day 6......?)

Weight:  185.5

I've been feeling a little down and tired.... Not sure I want to extend another 4 days......

Day 8 (or Day 4 if I started over)

Weight:  186.8

Yeah!!!!

I love this phase of the cleanse. I feel great! I don't have that brain fog feeling. My mind feels crisp and sharp. I have all the energy I need - as long as I am drinking every 2 hours.

My body seems to respond well to having the lemonade every 2 hours. I think I would like to try that with food, post cleanse. Always have something on hand to eat every 2 hours. I feel like that would prevent over-eating and tone down the cravings a bit.

The cleanse seems to be going easier now.  I constantly find myself around foods that smell good - but I have realized that is a good thing.  I will have to withstand a lot of it anyway after the cleanse. It has been good recognize that something DOES smell good, and that it DOES seem like it would be delicious, but it's OK....I don't need to have it.

Day 7... (Or is it Day 3?)

Weight: 188.8

The discouraging part about this is that I am just getting to the weight I started my MC at last time.

Ok, so it's been a few day. I have weighed myself everyday however, and have stayed strong. But I had a breakdown Sunday night, Day 4 and CHEATED :(

I had stayed strong - but because of church missed one of my usual times for the lemonade. When we got home from church, the kids and I made home-made tortillas and had chicken fajitas. It looked and smelled delicious. I did not give in. I sat at the table with my family, sipping my lemonade while they ate.
Later that night I made banana bread to use up some bananas gone bad and to put in the kids' school lunches for the next day.  It was getting to be late, kids were in bed and I was tired. I cut open a loaf of banana bread and I just had a slice, followed by another slice.  The next day I was pretty remorseful and filled with regret.
So far, this has been my only cheat, so I guess that's good. However, the more I read about the MC I realize that it takes 10 days of not eating to fully cleanse and detox. So, I am going back and forth on weather I start again, making Day 5 really be Day 1..... We will see...

I have realized the importance of staying in the moment. Sometimes when I think ahead to how far I still have to go, I get discouraged (like what happened on Sunday night). There can be a lot of self deprivation on the MC and I can only take so much. So, rather than think what day I am on or how much further to go, I have been trying to only focus on how I am doing today.

I find my self doing a lot of food preparation for my family. Yesterday I made rolls, oatmeal cookies, home-made potato chips and pasta. I keep my lemonade on hand and do fine. However, the later it gets the more my cravings kick in. I have decided while I am doing the cleanse, I should not stay up late. Go to bed within 3 hours of having my last lemonade!

The last thing I have learned is to drink the lemonade every 2 hours - no matter what. This helps my body know it can depend on regular nourishment and that it doesn't need to hold on to my weight for dear life. I realize that my body has gone through a fair bit of "life-style-changes" and think it would benefit the boosting of my metabolism post cleanse to eat something every 2 hours.

I have walked a few times in the cold weather. Hope to keep it up.

Day 3

Weight:  191

.......................I have no idea why my body chooses to hold on to my weight despite only having lemonade to drink.........???  I keep telling my self "Long Term" so as not to be devastated by one day of slight weight gain.

Day 2
Weight:  190.6

Urghhh! Can I say how much I hate the salt water flush in the morning?! It does make that first lemonade drink of the day taste heavenly though.

I mixed the lemonade and maple syrup concentrate in 4 bottles, then brought the purified water and cayenne pepper with me and mixed it as I needed it. Apparently that is the correct way (last time I premixed 4-5 drinks in the morning), and I am all about doing it completely correct this time.

I am having to change the way I look at food.  I notice as soon as I come home in the evening, my first instinct is to grab something to eat, or at other times I really crave foods because that is what is in front of me, or I can smell it. It has helped to stop and think about why I really want to eat. I realize the pleasure is in the consumption of the food. I am rarely hungry. So far, it has been sufficient to recognize this and allow myself to indulge in the smell.

I went for a 35 min. walk which felt great. I would have made it longer had it not been for the below freezing temperatures.  I am trying to develop habits I will keep post cleanse.

So far, so good. I felt good today, Alert, no head ache. I feel stronger than the first time I did the cleanse.

I'm back!

I'm back, and bigger than ever. True. Bigger than ever! Surprisingly, I am not devastated - but I am disappointed. There are a myriad of reasons behind my terrible weight gain - not that I am trying to place blame else where. I have had probably one of the most stressful and busiest years of my life. Following my cleanse in May I felt fantastic and ate healthy and controlled meals for quite a while. I even tried Nutrisystem (not worth the money). Then I did something that wasn't the smartest, but also pretty amazing....I trained for and ran a marathon!

I had an amazing group of friends to train with. However, I quickly realized those good habits I had gained post cleanse were not going to sustain me for marathon training. I feel like I jumped into this too fast. My life still remained busy. I even missed weeks of training at a time.....but, the carb loading had begun, and boy, did I have a good time with that!  The whole experience was hard and wonderful, however, I feel I put my not-so-young body under an incredible amount of stress in a short period of time. I was not in shape before I started running and did not train consistently during the marathon preparation.  Post marathon, I stopped training all together, but it was too hard to stop eating like I had during training....so I didn't. And...here I am.

Starting weight:  197.8  (Wow!!!!  Never ever before!)

I did two days of eating 'live' foods. I ate fruits and veggies and peanut butter. It felt good, especially having just gone through the holidays in a "I just don't care anymore" mode. I had intense head aches during this time as my body craved sugar and diet Mountain Dew. I stuck with it and at the end of the two days weighed 193.6

Day 1
I knew what to do and it went well. I felt extremely tired, but part of that was that I just had not had much sleep over the past week.  That evening was New Years Eve, and I thought I did well. I did, however, take a few bites of pizza, chocolate, cookie, and a few sips of Martinelli's sparkling cider. I didn't even feel guilty because I cheated on such a small scale. However, as I thought about it, I realized I wanted this cleanse to truly be a 'cleanse' - not just a weight loss jump starter. I was starting again, and hopefully this time NO cheating.

Day 1
Weight:  191 
It was a good day. I had the day off work and I stayed home all day, reading. I loved it. Occasionally I got a whiff of good food the kids were fixing, but I would just fix another bottle of lemonade and  I would be fine. I sat down at the dinner table with the kids. Creamy potato soup with french garlic bread....Mmmmmmm. I did just that. I smelled the soup up close, pressed the bread up to my nose. Mmmmm. But, I did not eat. I realized that these happy smells were just enjoyable. I was not hungry and would not feel better having consumed the food before me. I was content with my lemonade.
Since I decided I would do this cleanse completely right, I even had some Dandelion tea in the evening.