Dirty Dancing and a Juice Cleanse

Good morning! I'm at work bright and early this morning because I wanted to take some time to check in. As I mentioned a few days ago, June is always super busy for me. It seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to find 15 minutes in the day to refocus, but it is truly that busy.

I went with my friend Debi to see Dirty Dancing the musical on Tuesday night. We had an absolute blast! The lead male was a TERRIBLE actor but he was a good dancer. I never really thought of Patrick Swayze as a great actor, but it was clear when this other guy was saying the same lines...Swayze wasn't too bad. It was amazingly nostalgic and I want to go watch the movie right now. That was one of my favorite soundtracks as a kid.

Many years June is a bit of a lost month. Between my birthday, the volleyball trip, and the Jazzercise convention, I wake up and it is the 4th of July. If we have something after the 4th holiday, then it just blends to BFF's birthday at the end of the month and next thing I realize, it is August. I'm typically fat and happy and ready to focus on my health and wellness.

This year I'm trying to be more proactive. My friend Glam did a juice cleanse and had me thinking I might try one. I figured right after 2 weeks of travels, food & drink would be the perfect time. I know myself well enough not to try making them myself. I decided to try the BluePrint Cleanse. It is ridiculously expensive so I thought that would provide extra incentive. Ha!

My reasons for doing the cleanse:

1. To get rid of the carb and sugar cravings
2. To get rid of my bloat and jump start weight loss
3. To show myself that my will power is strong enough to make the sacrifice

I couldn't start the cleanse until Wednesday, so Monday and Tuesday I tracked my food and ate well. To give you an idea of how much I bloat, I lost 4 pounds on Monday and Tuesday alone.

I have 6 juices per day:

1. Green Juice (2) - kale, apple, ginger, romaine, spinach, cucumber, celery, parsley, & lemon.
2. PAM - pineapple, apple, mint.
3. BAC - beet, apple, carrot, lemon, ginger.
4. Spicy Lemonade - lemon, cayenne, agave.
5. Cashew Milk - cashew, vanilla, cinnamon, agave

I started yesterday with a green juice. Honestly, it tasted like liquid salad, heavy on the cucumber. I do like cucumber so that was good. It wasn't great, but it was doable. I also felt like it did give me some satiety for a while.

Two hours later, I had the PAM and it was so delicious. I'm not a huge juice drinker, but this was just tasty. I'm not sure how lasting it was, but I was busy so that helped.

At lunch, I went to the gym to work out. I had to go later than normal so I can't really compare my energy levels. I ran the day before, but yesterday I just walked. I power walked and did hills, but it was still walking.

After working out, I had another green juice. It was totally fine. Again, I didn't LOVE it, but I was able to drink it and be satisfied.

In the late afternoon, I had the spicy lemonade which mostly just tasted like lemonade. It was nice and refreshing, if not necessarily filling.

When I got home from work, I immediately had the BAC. So...beet juice tastes like dirt. That took a little while to get used to, but I managed to get through it.

My last "juice" of the day was the cashew milk. I couldn't do it. It wasn't necessarily that is tasted bad, it just tasted odd to me after all of the fruit and vegetable juices. I couldn't even get the whole thing down.

I wanted to go to CrossFit this morning, but the workout was almost exclusively toes to bar and double unders. I can't do either and would have to seriously modify the workout. On a normal day, that would be fine, but I saw it as a sign. I packed my Jazzercise clothes instead.

I didn't expect to see much change on the scale since I had lost 4 pounds in the two days prior, but this morning, I was down another 3.4 pounds. Sheesh. This girl can retain a whole lot of water.

My friend said that she felt great and had a lot of energy during the cleanse. I can't say that for myself. I'm tired and a little draggy. I'm not as cranky as I expected to be though so that is a plus. I do have this weird reflux-y feeling which is just so odd but hopefully that will fade.

I have two more days, so I will let you know how it goes. My plan post-cleanse is to focus on a paleo diet. One step at a time.

Hugs!