Days 11-16:: Stephy the Slacker

So I haven't been posting everyday.

Apologies!

So what have I been doing?

• Catching up on cleaning
• Running
• Hanging with family
• Getting a second job.

And dum dum dummmm Having a cheat meal!

I know I know, but I was surprised by my wonderful boyfriend after work last Saturday and didn't bring juice with me.  And as a meal what did I get? Pizza.  Like I said I wouldn't.  So big fail on my part.

But let's spin it::

It was an experiment so I could prove what I said in This Post right.  Pizza is not a good break the fast meal...It made me very sick.  And happy to be back on the juice and where I should be the next day. 

This last week has brought me three Juice Fast tips::

1. Definitely don't eat bad food when you're used to eating good food.
2. Always be prepared with some juice made ahead of time.
3. In fact, always make big pitchers of juice at a time. 

That last one comes from me just making huge pitchers of juice all week.  I feel like it saves a bit of money because the more veggies and fruits sit in bags or on top of each other, the quicker they rot.  You have to be a little more strategic with your combos with this method though.  Generally, unless you plan it this way, you won't have enough of the ingredients to make a "recipe" of juice.  Recipes generally consist of 4-5 fruits and veggies and herbs and you have a pretty good handle on what it will taste like.  What I've been doing though, is just trying to put my fruits and veggies in decent proportion. Warning:: It's almost never a pretty color.  This method definitely saves a ton of time as well.  Only cutting up veggies and cleaning the juicer once a day (or once every two days if you do it right) makes your Juice Fasting Life a lot better. 

If you are doing a Giant Juice because you've overbought and your produce is starting to look a little wilty, add some lemon or lime which is a natural preservative (as is salt, but I don't recommend that).

Remember though, Natural juice separates when it sits.  A wonderful product (especially if you're making juice once every two days) is the Family Quick Stir Pitcher.  Leave me a comment on this post if you'd like one.  The large size holds a ton of juice, It can close and strain (or if you want it a little more pulpy, just open flow), it's cute (polka spotty) and it's got a plunger so you can mix the juice before pouring every time.

So that's all for catching up...

Day Ten:: Clothing Lust

Today was awesome.  I went to the mall with my sister.  We went because she had this idea that each of us should get jewelry with a purple stone in remembrance of my mom.  Just a little reminder of her because 1. Her birthday is coming up (It's Valentine's Day) and amethyst is her birthstone and 2. Purple is a color that represents lupus.

 Here's mine::

Then we went to American Eagle and Delia's so I could look around and get some further inspiration for getting back into shape.  There were so many things that I saw that I decided "next month, I'm going to be ready for new clothes."

We're in the midst of wedding fever now that we're planning my sister's wedding.  We've got the dress and whatnot but we still wanted to look at wedding stuff.  So she showed me where the ceremony will be (I was working when they went to pick it our) and also the wedding rings her and her fiance picked out. 

She came over to hang out with me and dad and we had fun laughing at some wedding cakes gone wrong before I went off for my run.  (Prior post tells about how my run went.)

After I was done running I put my aching self to bed.  It was a day truly about family and reaching my goals.  And those are the most satisfying.

Me, God, Lady Gaga, and Modest Mouse

All went for a run tonight.

Although that started like a beginning to a bad joke, the only bad joke may be my mile time::

So remember how I said I'm preparing to run the IU Mini Marathon?  I figured I should probably get on that since it's a half-marathon and I'm in no shape to run it yet. 

I meant to do 5 miles tonight, because I figured if I could bump myself up one mile per week, I'll get to my 13.1 in time.  I'm glad that I started out better than 5 miles because Bloomington has a lot of hills that I have to work to master. 

In the devotional Pray Fit that I've mentioned in earlier posts, it encourages the reader/exerciser to do your exercises "to fail".  This means you're doing pushups and you keep doing them until your arms will not push you back off the floor again.  The next day you do the same exercise only you should do at least one more rep of it in less time.  I decided I should use this principle in my run.  So I ran my five miles and then kept going until my legs just wouldn't keep going.  And tomorrow I plan to do at least 6 miles at a better time.

A lot of times when I'm doing something difficult, I mentally make deals with myself.  Like, "okay, you're going to do 5 more minutes on this stationary bike but if 5 minutes is up before a commercial break, you have to keep going until the commercial break."  Silly, I know, but usually if this happens and commercial break comes up, I go, "oh well now you've done 6.7 minutes, you may as well do 10..."

So I loaded my "On-the-Go" playlist with songs that I LOVE.  You know, songs that when they're on the radio when you pull into your driveway you will finish them out before you turn off the car and go inside. (Is that just me?)

So I had things like::

Yoü and I - Lady Gaga

Black Cadillacs - Modest Mouse

And Darling - Tegan and Sara

If It's Love - Train

Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down

Beautiful Mess - Diamond Rio

Serenade No. 13 in G, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", K 525 Andante - Mozart Modern

That Time- Regina Spektor

...and etc and etc.

When I had hit 4 miles, "I want you (She's so heavy)- The Beatles" came on and I pictured a darling retro, 50's-esque dress that I saw and loved when I was at the mall with my sister today everytime the song's sultury lyrics sang "I want you...I want you so bad" and then used "She's so heavy" as some negative reinforcement to keep on keeping on with my run.

As soon as that song ended I got off Abbey Road and the soulful rendition of "Let It Be" from Across the Universe played and brought me to a peaceful place.  I started to talk to God until it was time for my body to stop and cool down and walk the rest of the way home.  Earbuds in, iPod off.

One day, in a conversation about being wholly healthy, I told my pastor, Jeremy VanKley and his wife Stacey (who are two amazing people when it comes to spiritual leaders, motivational supporters, and just plain great friends) that a lot of times I run with absolutely no music but my iPod strapped to me and my earbuds in because I'm praying and I don't want anyone interrupting me. 

"God my legs are aching!

Thank you for giving me working legs.

God my heart feels like it's going to burst!

Thank you for giving me a healthy heart.

God I'm sweating a ton!

Thank you for this beautiful night.

God, I feel like I'm going to puke

Thank you for providing me with food to eat."

I'm really not the most formal prayer.  That's why I'm happy to not get singled out to pray in crowds very often.  Me and the Big Guy are cool and he knows my heart, and that's what matters.

Tonight I learned::

If you're feeling bad for yourself

Or if you're giving yourself permission to quit

You are forgetting all that you're blessed with.

Day Nine:: Back to Work

Today was my first full day at The Job since Day One.

Which means it was another 10.5 hour day at The Job.  For the last month I've been trying very hard to make sure that I stand up while working.  Not just, as the rules suggest, while there are customers present.  The whole day.  The .5 hours is spent on lunch break, so I did sit then.  Otherwise I sat a total of 6 minutes just to give my feet a break. 

Why do I do this?

Sitting: 111 kcal/hour
Desk work: 118 kcal/hour
Standing: 158 kcal/hour
Standing while doing desk work: 165 kcal/hour

There are just little things you can do to burn a few extra calories a day.  And since when I have long days like that, it really cuts into my motivation and time to exercise, standing really makes a (47 kcal/hour) difference.

Normally, this is very hard for me to do and I sit 5 minutes or so an hour because my body just feels very worn out.  Today I did not feel that at all.  Also, the way I talked to customers was not only more cheerful, but it also more focused and I was able to solve their problems more efficiently.  Not that I'm not a friendly person, but I was always so worried about trying to remember what I had learned in training and recently about certain things that I wasn't as focused on my cheerfulness.  Today though, it came so easily to me that I made sure to keep eye contact and didn't feel like I needed to reference my cheat sheets or the computer or other staff to effectively answer their questions. 

Also, when I had an angry customer,(you know, the kind that decides that if something is wrong with their account it is never their own fault and that who ever is in front of them should now take the blame) it didn't bother me as much.  Sometimes it would effect my attitude that someone was that blatantly rude to me (it never used to a year+ ago) but today I was very able to quickly put that behind me.

When I got home I worked out a bit in our brand new home gym stationary bike (woo) and of course watched the Big Bang Theory. I then wrote for a bit (but obviously not in my blog....sorry about the delay of posts). And went to bed.  And slept like a rock.

Friday's Measurements::

Day Eight:: Let's Play Ball

Today, along with my beautiful little sister, my nephew came over.  His name is Coby and he's a German Shepard/Lab/Boxer puppy.  So we took Coby and Austin Danger Powers the Second for a walk together and then we watched them chase each other around::

Okay, so these weren't action shots.  Then Austin and I played ball for a while. 

     The significance of this?  Usually after a walk I would feel that my energy was spent (he's a smart dog, but he never learned to heal).  But I still wanted to play with them afterwards.  I was running around with him getting the ball and throwing it.  I haven't done that since we were both much younger. 

    That night my dad and I (now living in a four bedroom house with two people in it) decided we should turn the upstairs rooms (Guest room and storage/craft room/office) into something resembling a sad home gym.  Since my old room now houses my hobby type stuff, it also houses a TV.  While I'm, sometimes accompanied by a friend or my sister, working on things, I watch TV or a movie or listen to music.  So we put my bike on a stationary stand up in that room so that we could watch TV while riding a stationary bike.  In the other room, which has more space in it, we put some weights, a stability ball, and other home fitness type equiptment.

All in all it was a day that I felt the fun of having more energy the most. 

Greens Greens and More Greens!

Yesterday I had posted about my juice that was mostly greens with a little bit of grapefruit.  It wasn't the most pretty thing on the planet::

This juice included a ton of greens like I said.  A lot of time (in my neck of the woods) people have no idea what you're talking about beyond cabbage, spinach and lettuce.  Greens are a great source of Vitamin K.  K is the Vitamin that helps regulate blood clotting, as well as helping to protect from osteoporosis, diabetes, and  inflammatory diseases.   They are important for your normal diet as well as to stick into your juice every once in a while.  You may not like the strong taste of these veggies but with any juice, just add a few apples and it'll just taste like apples.  And some good news for those of you who love your dressings (unlike the standard iceberg lettuce) these are actually better for you if you eat them with some kind of oil.  What?!?!  Yes, Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin which means it's absorbed better by your body if it's taken in with a fat source. 

So for those of you who are a little concerned about the 6lb weightloss I reported today in my Day 5 blog, add some olive oil or some avocado oil to your juice to beef up the calories and absorb more of that awesome vitamin K. 

Some common dark leafy greens in my juices::

Spinach:  I love this leafy green.  I like it on my Subway sandwhiches better, I like it to add some texture to my homemade pasta sauces, I like to put it into about anything.  It's not a really strong flavor, but it's got good texture and holds up a lot better than lettuce.  Also to be noted, when I went to a breakfast for the American Cancer Society in August, spinach was on the list of foods that are known to be part of the cancer fighting diet and thus served to us at the breakfast.

Kale:  This has kind of a tough texture and a strong flavor.  It holds up really well in stew.  I used to combine roasted tomatoes, tomato juice, corn, black beans, seasonings and kale to make a hearty winter stew.  To me the flavor is too strong to be the only leafy base in a salad, but in juice, you don't really notice it.

Swiss Chard.  This is one that I've never seen or tried before The Juice.  It's what made the deep purple color of my Green Juice.  This is regarded to be amoung the healthiest veggies available to incorporate into your diet.  It's loaded with vitamins K, C, and A, protein, fiber, and minerals.

Watercress.  This is very high in Vitamin C, amoung a ton of other vitamins and minerals making it a great antioxidant and seen as a veggie that benefits has tons of health benefits, one of them being cancer defense.

Keeping your greens fresh::

There are two ways to keep greens fresh.  The first is to wrap them in a dish towel and then refrigerate them.

The Second is to treat it like any other plant and stick it in water::

So go ahead and stick some greens in your diet, I know that it will be an effort I will undertake even after The Juice is over.

Day Four: Getting SO Ready for "The Afters"

I know that in the losing weight game, looks shouldn't be the ultimate goal, but it sure helps.  I did not lose as much weight as I did the last few days... (Weigh in: 168.2, .4lb weightloss) but for the first time since I've started all the dieting (this whole time; before The Juice) I can actually see a difference.  My stomach is visibly shrinking, and the fat that I started to notice on my back is also going away.  Before The Juice, I did not see any changes in my body, and it made me think about John Pinette's Kool Aid reference everytime someone said that they could see it in my face.

Also, my skin isn't as red as usual which is why I decided to give you a preview of The Afters (just this once!) with this pic of me drinking my morning/midmorning juice.

(and yes, I do see the irony in wearing an IU shirt while driking out of a Purdue glass)

This juice was fruity and refreshing:
(For two servings)
2 cucumbers
2 grapefruits
2 green apples
1 pear

Today I was feeling better than a week ago, went to my sidejob of the day and finished in way less time than usual because my mind was more focused.  Even though I slept well the night before and woke up easily, I lost energy throughout the day yesterday, today I did not.

Today I decided to make my diet a little more green, in two ways.  The first is that my third/fourth juice contained all this:

The second is that, the Juicer leaves a lot of solids behind, so I'm going to start composting them to make our veggie garden better this summer and continue to eat a veggie rich diet.

I also put two grapefruits into this juice.  You may ask, "Stephanie, you put grapefruits in everything, is there a reason for that?"
There are many health benefits of grapefruit, yes, but I also think, like adding cucumber, this makes the juice way more refreshing.  Also, even after these few days I still have this many left::

The bags are on sale...

I only made two juices today because the first one I took with me to my side job and the second one I really just made too much.  This one was good, and actually a little salty without adding any salt. 

But it doesn't look that great::

1 bunch swiss chard
1 handful spinach
1/2 bunch watercress
2 handfuls kale
2 grapefruit

This color looks black but it's actually a deep red from the Swiss Chard.  The foam is, in fact, green though.

As always, excited for tomorrow!

Day Three: Can I Juice a Pizza?

I love starting my day waith a cup of Yogi Green Tea.  And was thrilled to see that I could still do that on this diet.  However, I'm sorry coffee drinkers, Coffee is out if you're being strict with yourself. 



Weigh in: 168.6.  Almost a 2 lb weight loss from yesterday.

Morning Juice: Brain Juice
I know usually take pics of the fruits and veggies that go into the juice, but this morning I took one of the finished product.  As you can see, it doesn't exactly look like the sugar filled, over processed juices that you find in your grocery. 

1. Cup strawberrys (cored)
1 Pear
1 Green Apple
1 Golden Delicious apple
1 nub Gingerroot (refer to Day Two to see how to prepare)

To core the strawberries I used a Core and More.  This innovative tool takes only the core out, leaving more of the fruit than traditional slicing.

Find this helpful tool HERE.

Now it should be obvious why I called this morning's juice Brain Juice, but it has a double meaning too.  Today I found that I was thinking clearer.  I was able to process what I was learning a lot faster as I was studying both my devotional and my personal training test books.  I found myself to be more mindful and to speak more clearly to others (if you know me, you know sometimes I have a bit of a stutter especially when I'm a little off my game).  Also, WAY MORE ALERT and ENERGIZED.  Woke up with a start this morning, it was awesome!

For lunch I made a deep purple juice out of this:

1 handful of kale

1/4 bunch watercress

1 handful spinach

2 carrots

1 grapefruit

4 beets

This was very good, a little earthy and very dark purple.

This next combo is where the cravings started.  All this week I hadn't wanted a single piece of "bad" food.  Today, I wanted pizza.  It may have been the basil...

1 Grapefruit

1 Red bell pepper

1 Orange bell pepper

1 Yellow bell pepper

2 Plum tomatoes

1 bunch basil

 

This one was SO GOOD.  I drank half of this concoction for lunch and the other half i drank at night.

The actual juice looked like this::

 

All in all, it was a day of very good juices and I'm looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

Working Out on The Juice

I have been doing my morning devotional of Pray Fit.  It is a great book for Christians who want to get healthier spiritually and physically.  It starts off very slow exercise-wise.  I will be teaching this class at DeMotte First Church of the Nazerine sometime in the upcoming months.

Also I am training for the IU Mini Marathon so I am doing a little more cardio and strenght training so that I will be able to run 13.1 miles on March 31, 2012. 

This is probably not the body builder's diet, but you should be exercizing.  If you're losing weight as fast as I am...You want to look like a fit person and not a skin bag that used to hold a heavy person.

An important thing to remember is to ALWAYS BE HYDRATED!  The juice is liquid, but it does not replace your 8-10 cups a day!  Post workout, you should be drinking either coconut water, or celery juice (neither of which replace your water intake either). 

Right now I am making sure to take a walk.  Normally with this little guy::

And slowly working on my running for my half marathon.  I also do yoga, pilates, and Just Dance as more fun and centering ways to get fit. 

There are also smaller things you can do to stay a little fitter::

• Take the stairs
• Park the car futher away from the store in the parking lot
• Stand at work
• Clean your home
• Play with your kiddos and pets.
• Don't allow yourself TV time without active time (ie, only while on the treadmill or doing small exercizes during commercial breaks)
• Commit to more active dates with your partner.

Pretty much:: If you've been eating poorly, I'll allow you the first couple days to let your body detox and chill a little, but after that KEEP YOUR BUTT OFF THE COUCH!!  You are going to have a ton of energy and feel great, so use this as the opportunity to rearrange your lifestyle a bit.