Last Updated on June 3, 2022
Benefits Of Juice Fasting
I didn’t drop off the fasting 🙂 I’m still on, and so is Lino (Lee). We just had an issue with the website over the past few days and couldn’t make an update so for now we’re going to update days 7-10 in one post.
As those 4 days went by, I personally felt lighter inside and I can definitely sense that I’m thinning out. This is a nice feeling that I haven’t experienced for a while. Hunger aside, I’m really starting to like juicing after having juice fast for 6 days. The juice has loads of “clean energy” whereby every cup I drink gives me an awesome boost that lasts for hours, as opposed to boosts one gets from coffee or refined sugars.
To be completely truthful though, it was been difficult for me to not have solids during the day. Those days 6 to 10 are supposed to be purely juicing. However, it wasn’t easy for me to fully curb my hunger. So when things got bad, I would eat a few grapes here, or an apple there but not much at all. And I limited myself to purely veggie/fruit-based with 85-95% of my daily intake being juice.
Sunday Night Temptations
Sarah and I went to Boston on Sunday to attend a friend’s wedding. He got married to a girl of Pakistani origins, hence, we were anticipating a beautiful ethnic feast. With that in mind, I started preparing myself mentally that I won’t be messing up despite the fact that I love Biryiani so much.
I put a strategy in place: I would allow myself only salad with no dressing, and if they are serving a vegetarian soup I could have some too. And right before we left home, I filled my stomach as much as possible with Juices and carried a fresh ginger tea cup along the way.
And Lo and behold, it sure was a feast! Some of the items I could remember on the serving table were Chicken Sikh Kababs, Lamb Korma, Some other Korma/Curry dish, Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Biryiani, a couple of vegetarian dishes, salad, Daal, Naan…etc They had the stuff I loved most – or so it felt.
It’s amazing how our minds work when faced with temptations. We slowly start making excuses for ourselves to try to justify a slip..
“Come on it’s a wedding, you can’t NOT eat in a wedding…”
“Come on… one day won’t hurt, afterall I can hide it and not talk about it on the blog…”
“I promise I won’t eat much, afterall that Biryiani looks very healthy and may be inline with my diet…”
“My friend will be offended if I don’t eat…”
etc…etc…
I felt very tempted.
However, because I had prepared myself mentally in advance and visualized the scenario, the situation was rather manageable… I went to the serving table, filled my plate with cucumber salad, no dressing, and advanced slowly through the line while watching everyone else pile up food on their plates as if there is no tomorrow. My mind was exagerating things at that moment. The food looked better than anything I’ve seen. It smelled better. And it seemed that everyone was carrying so much of it on their plates even though they were just regular servings. When I reached the end of the table, I lit up: they had a vegetarian lentils soup! wohooo!! And soup I ate that night! It felt so good just to have a hot food, even if it was just soup. It tasted so delicious and it was perfectly spiced and had no visible oils.
I must confess that I ate A LOT of cucumber salad and soup. However, to me this was a victory since I was able to resist the “good stuff.”
Day 7-10 Summary
On the morning of day 7, I weighed 226.2 lbs. That is a 3 lbs drop from the prior day: dude, am I melting? On the following days 8-10 however, I was swinging around 227 lbs steady. I believe this is due to having a higher intake of fruit-based juices than veggie based. I was almost 50-50 on those days.
I did feel a bit weaker on day 8 where my leg muscles felt sore and tired. It probably was the lack of protein in my diet since I had focused more on fruit intakes. Some of the veggies I juice have a good amount of protein in them, but not as much the fruits. However on day 10 things got better.
Lee’s Day 7-10 Summary
Weight Measured in Morning of day 8: 230lbs
Foods Consumed: 6 cups of juice, plenty of water. One tea(my morning tea).
Allergies/Medical Condition: High BP
Notes:
Day 7 I felt very good today, I am struggling a bit trying to keep true to just juicing. During the week I do most of the cooking for the family and today was hard not to try the rice I cooked for the kids. I grew up on rice and beans, the smell of all the spices coming together, the childhood memory’s of mom cooking for us and the flavors melting in mu mouth I was not able to resist.Day 8 I felt good, I tried to recover from yesterday, got into the gym and feeling very good, tonight I will hit the TreadClimber for 45min. I need to get under 230Lbs before Monday, I want to reach the 215 or even 210Lbs at day 15. I will be going on Holiday to Europe on the 19th and I know I will not be able to stay on-track while on Holiday.
Daily Weight Tracking
FAQs Juice Fast Days
How much weight can you lose on a juice fast?
Juice fasting is one of the common and powerful weight loss disciplines. You can lose from a half-pound to three pounds weight on daily basis.
Is it good to have a three-day juice cleanse?
Yes, it is definitely a good practice. It reduces your calories intake a great deal and keeps you healthy and fit. UCLA researchers found that a three-day juice cleanse significantly reduced body weight, decreased lipid peroxidation, and increased nitric oxide, both associated with cardiovascular health.
Staring Monday …….scared but I have to be determined much to heavy for my build
KS I would recommend you join the boards of http://www.jointhereboot.com which is Joe Cross’ website. He’s the one behind the documentary and who inspired lots of people to juice for health. The boards can help you stay in touch with other folks who are doing the reboot and you can also talk to nutritionists. On a personal level, I tried the juicing once and that was it.. I actually ended up gaining all of the weight I lost in those two weeks soon afterwards. I realized it’s not just about burning calories and starving yourself. Our problem today with weight gain is mostly due to our over consumption of sugar and carbohydrates. I found that the Paleo diet is less harsher than juicing and is a longer term one that can actually be sustained. Juicing is still good as it gives strong boosts of nutrients and it may work for some people.
Hi!
I just found your juicing blog this afternoon. I, also, just began a juice fast two days ago, and was amazed to find your blog, and that it is actually current! Though I plan a more extended fast, God willing, maybe I can tag along with you for your last 8 days.
I also watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead a couple of months ago and was inspired by it. However, I am not a novice and have undertaken several fasts of varying lengths over the past 11 years, but none in the past 2 1/2 years.
I began on Monday Sept 10th, so I am starting my 3rd day today. My starting weight happens to be the same as yours, 234(!) though I am a woman and much shorter than you at 5’5″, so I have a long way to go to achieve my ideal weight.
I have a lot of physical ailments, which have been plaguing me,since being in the high stress situation of taking care of 2 sick, elderly parents for the past 2+ years, though my dad passed in April.
I was in 2 car accidents in 2010 which hurt my back, tore my meniscus in my right knee in May 2011, while carrying my elderly father up a walkway and some stairs with a friend. I began a skin condition January 2012 which has had many different diagnoses and now seems to have no diagnosis-doctor’s can’t figure out what it is. I also have mild high blood pressure, borderline diabetic, (A1c 6), insomnia, anxiety, depression, and trouble walking, mainly knee pain in both knees, and walk like an 80 year old, having to bring groceries up stairs by moving them up one step at a time, as I hobble up gripping the railing. I am in bad shape!
I haven’t weighed myself since starting, but have been drinking mainly green juices of romaine, cucumber, celery, anise, ginger, lemon,and apple and a juice of carrot, apple, lemon, ginger, so far. I do, however, start my day with a scoop of chocolate green powder, 8 oz of water and stevia, followed by 4 oz of organic kefir.
I haven’t eaten any solid foods since Sunday night the 9th, when I ordered a pizza and cinnamon sticks, knowing this would be my last food for some time(though I realize this is not the ideal way to start a fast!). I had been mentally preparing myself to do this fast for about 4 days. One’s mental state is so critical when fasting.
The past two days I have definitely felt the hunger pains and wanted to eat many times, though I have kept my mind busy with other things which has helped me get through, and have journaled my feelings. I do know from past experience that the first 3 days are the hardest, and that it does get easier, though there is always a bit of sadness and missing the pleasure of eating, so that is what I have my mind focused on-getting through these first 3 days. During past fasts I found great pleasure from simply smelling my old favorite foods, which my daughter would be eating and I could not have.
Thanks for your blog-it is an encouragement to me knowing I am not alone!
Congratulations to you for hanging in there and going public! The first time I tried to fast I only made it one day!
Thanks for the note Deb and I wish you all the best on your fasting journey. Like you said indeed the first few days are tough but it gets better later. Today I’m on day 12 and have only 3 more days to go. I can’t wait to eat. One trick I used to help me reduce my food cravings was having espresso, or hot tea. They help mask the appetite but we gotta be careful to drink extra water with coffee. Please note though that I didn’t do a full-juicing fast, it was rather the 15-day plan as prescribed by jointhereboot.com where the first 5 days include some salads/fruits, the next 5 days purely juicing, and the last 5 days a mix. I have gotten comments from people who have done the 60 day fast of pure juicing where they lost 60 lbs or more (average of 1 lb per day). And that helped them overcome main ailments including blood pressure, etc… fasting is good! I wish you all the best and I’m glad you stopped by.