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Like most women, I have a love-hate relationship with my body. I have been “on a diet” on and off since I can remember. I’ve been envious of my skinny friends who eat whatever they want and their idea of cardio is a stroll in the park. Meanwhile I’ve been found counting my points (hi WW) eating salads and at a 8am Saturday morning Barry’s class more times than I can count. However, I’m also the first person to self-sabotage myself by having an indulgent meal, blaming other people for being a bad “food influence” when a friend visits from out of town and wants to go to Artichoke pizza at midnight on a Wednesday.
So, typically, after a weekend of birthday celebrations for my sister with my family, it was time to reevaluate and get serious. I felt fat, bloated and unhappy. Then, by chance I stumbled across Cassey Ho’s video on doing a juice cleanse and I was intrigued. I mean, she lost almost 6.5 lbs in 3 days! This was just the motivation I needed. I have heard negative things about juice cleanses for years: you’ll be starving, you’ll gain all the weight back as soon as the cleanse is over, etc. However, after seeing Cassey only gained back .08 lbs a week after the cleanse I figured I would give it a try. I even convinced my boyfriend to do it for one day (he made it!). Monday night I went with my sister to get the goods. I decided to copy Cassey and do Pressed Juicery’s 3- Day Cleanse. I was slightly overwhelmed when the employee piled 18 juices, 3 aloe waters and 3 chlorophyll waters into 2 bags that I lugged into a cab home, but determined to succeed.
A Summary of the Next Few Days:
Day 1 I was excited to begin but nervous for what the day had in store. I found myself thinking about when to drink my next juice and worried about how long to wait so that I wouldn’t be starving at the end of the day with no juice left (literally and figuratively). A coworker was eating french fries, the greasy scent wafting over to my desk, but I had tunnel vision and persevered sipping on my Greens 3. Day 2 proved to be more of an emotional turmoil. Difficult situations at work were made even more intolerable by the hunger pains gnawing at my stomach throughout the day. I saw a coworker walk by with a Fedex box and thought it was a pizza box. I decided I was losing my mind. However, I was over halfway through and needed to keep going- I couldn’t stop now.
Day 3 I was down 1.8 pounds that morning. I expected to be down at least 3 or 4 but once again, it’s extremely difficult for me to lose weight so I chalked it up to that. A lot of people say their skin is glowing on a juice cleanse, however, my skin has been generally good lately (thanks to my derm) so I didn’t really notice any changes there. I was not as ravenous as Day 2, but getting really sick of not chewing, and also beginning to notice just now sugary each juice is. I mean, Citrus 2 has 48 grams of sugar in a bottle (!).
Takeaways:
Overall, I was extremely surprised that I actually made it three whole days without eating. Would I do it again? I can’t say I would. But I actually woke up on Day 4 feeling refreshed, not bloated and down 2.4 lbs total. I think it’s important to challenge ourselves sometimes, to realize that we’re capable of more than we expect, and to always prioritize our health and mental well-being over comparing ourselves to others and staying true to our own journey.
