Day 21: Finale!

Okay, so, slight differences between juicing and raw foods as far as results goes. Eating raw foods for the past 5 days has gotten me about 60% of the weight loss I was getting with the juice. I also have another confession to make... two days ago, I reintroduced sodium to my diet, which I think was hindering the weight loss as well. The interesting thing though, is that for the past 4 days, my BFP has continually dropped. Which means I'm actually losing fat while maintaining my weight. This is a good thing! Think about this for a second... I've added solid food, which means I now have solid waste. I'd say over the past few days, I've added at least 1-2 pounds of solid food to my body. The fact that my BFP is still dropping is fantastic. Just means that my body is readjusting to having solid food and I may have hit a plateau for a week or so, but it should start dropping again soon. Tomorrow should have begun my raw food portion of this juice extravaganza, but I think I'll transition to light meals and ADF over the next week instead. I've dropped 25 pounds in 3 weeks and I'm pretty stoked. But this is just the kick start. I'd like to be able to take my shirt off this summer, which is going to take another 30-35 pounds. I'm going to set small, incrimental goals for myself and hopefully that makes everything easier.

Weight: 220.8 lbs
BFP: 32.8%

Next goal? 215 lbs. I'd like to hit 215 by the end of the month. So, that gives me 10 days. Reasonable, I think. Half of a pound per day? Not too shab. Updates to continue!

Day 18: Thoughts.

I did some math and I'm intimidated. Healthy is 18-19% BFP, right? If I wanted to drop down to 18% BFP, that'd put me at 186 lbs and in a very good, healthy position. It's been three years since I was 185 lbs. I remember how much discipline it took to get there and I'm really not looking forward to it. It took a mass amount of effort and an extremely long time to get down there and an equal amount of time and effort to keep myself there.

I'm heading to Austin, TX on February 25th (38 days away). I'm gonna have to let this marinade for a bit and think about what a realistic goal would be. After this 21 day extravaganza, I'll obviously stop losing weight at such a rapid rate. I'm currently losing about 1 lb per day. From today, that'd put me at around 220 lbs on Friday (which happens to be Day 21). Another week of raw foods might put me down around 215 lbs by the end of the month. How realistic is 15 more pounds by the time I get out to Austin? I think it might be realistic... That's about 1/2 pound per day. Once I hit 220, it'll be MUCH easier on my knee when I run.

Pretty sure this is going to evolve into some kind of nutritional/fitness blog after a while. I might have to research how to build a site that holds multiple blogs and let "Getting Juiced" stand alone. Tah-tah for now.

Day 18:

Alright, so I have a confession to make... I'm totally juiced out. Drinking juice is honestly one of the most monotonous things I've ever done. The exciting experiemental factor wears off after the first week and in the second week, you've already decided what you like and what you don't, so you start drinking the same rotation of four or five juices. It's just not fun. So, I sort of cheated... I went raw food about 2 days ago. I've noticed a few things: My stomach is EXTREMELY small right now; I can really only eat two fruits at a time before I feel like I've over-eaten. I don't get the up-and-down hunger attacks like I did on juice. And most importantly... I'm still losing weight!

Weight: 224.2 lbs
BFP: 33.7%

Now, my BFP hasn't changed much since I started this whole ordeal and it was a little upsetting until I really sat down and thought about it. On day one, I was 245.2 lbs with 34.5% BFP. For those of you who are mathematically challenged... that's 84.59 lbs of fat. Today, I'm 224.2 lbs with 33.7% BFP. That's 75.55 lbs! That means, overall, I've lost 9 lbs of fat from my body and the other 12 lbs is water, sodium and solid food. So, in reality, once I start eating a semi-normal diet again, I'll be around 10 lbs heavier than I am now. Which sucks ass. Time to step it up and start running or biking. I'm tired of being fat. 75 lbs of fat is not cool. I'm not happy with that. 25 lbs of fat down and I'd be pretty stoked... So, 50 lbs of fat on a 200 lb body... 25% BFP. I'd like to be down around 18-19%. I'll figure out the numbers and make that my new goal.

Day 16:

I took a break from going out today, because, honestly, being around that much temptation has a way of wearing down your willpower. So, I kicked back at home today, watched some football, did some laundry and caught up on my DVR. I was proud of myself for not giving in and having any of the amazing looking foods I had to look at all day yesterday. This morning, my reward was issued:

Weight: 225.2 lbs
BFP: 33.6%

Ah yes... 16 days and EXACTLY 20 lbs lighter. 1.6 lbs and 0.5% BFP down in one day? I couldn't be happier right now. I've got 5 days left and I'm excited. I figure, by the time we hit the end of January, I should be down around 210. I can't tell you how amazing that feels.

Day 15:

It's definitely been a lot easier lately to sit back and watch as everyone eats amazing looking food around me. Last night, I went out for a friends birthday... to a bar. I'm pretty sure I would have caved in and had a few drinks and maybe a bite to eat, if it had happened a week ago. But last night, I held strong and not only stayed sober, but sat quietly while my friends ate at one of my favorite Mexican joints after the bar. I had zero desire to have even a bite of the most amazing looking nachos and not a drop of alcohol all night. This morning... I was rewarded:

Weight: 226.8 lbs
BFP: 34.1%
Visceral Fat Rating: 12

So, not only down in the mid-220's, but dropped another point on the Visceral scale! And what's today? NFL Playoffs. So we headed down to the local pizza joint to watch the game! Pizza, wings, cheese sticks, chili fries and, of course, 3 pitchers of beer. It smelled fantastic, but I didn't have a single piece of pepperoni or sausage or EVEN a vegetable off of the pizza. No chicken, no cheese, no fries, no pizza and no beer. I'm excited to be under 220! Should be no more than 4 days away! We'll see...

Day 14:

So, I lied... I didn't go running last night. I'm just too burnt out when I get home to do anything other than lay on the couch, hypnotized by the flicker of the TV and the comfort of two or seven blankets. It was still a good day. No processed juice for me. All natural stuff. Bananas, apples and oranges. That's right; back to basics. I've been careful about switching up which fruits and veggies I'm juicing every day. I want to make sure don't overload on some vitamins and lose sight of others. So, here's the deal:

Weight: 227.6 lbs
BFP: 33.9%

Theory confirmed! Au naturale = weight lost. I have no idea what it is in Naked Juice, but something isn't right about it. Two days of Naked Juice stalled my weight loss. Weird. Anyway, back on track. BFP seems to be hovering, but slowly dropping. We'll make it work. There's 7 days left and, judging by my current stats, I've lost 17.6 lbs (or 8.8 lbs per week). So, realistically, I should expect to be around 218.8 lbs by the end. I can't say I'm too happy about that projection. It's a jump-start, I suppose. The end goal is 195-200 lbs, which is 45-50 lbs overall, and I'll be over halfway there at the end of this three week long masochistic assault. I've decided to work my way back into solid foods, by going raw food for the week following juicing. I'll probably continue to lose a little weight for a while before plateauing.

Day 13:

Another missed day of writing. At least it was only one day. Here's the scoop: it's official; The seaweed salad was a bad idea. As was the Naked Juices. The past 2 days have been odd. If you'll recall, Tuesday night, I decided to indulge a bit and had some seaweed salad for dinner. It was all of maybe 1/8 cup. When I woke up in the morning, I could feel the sodium in my body. It was the most disgusting feeling ever. The days biggest disappointment came when I stepped on the scale in the morning... Yesterdays stats:

Weight: 229.2 lbs (What?!)
BFP: 34.7%
Hunger 1-3

What do you mean I GAINED 0.2 lbs?! I'm ingesting MAYBE 300 calories a day. How is it possible that I've GAINED weight?! Oh... right... seaweed salad from a sushi joint... has salt in it. What does sodium make our bodies do? Retain water... got it. Fine. If nothing else, that number on the scale definitely solidified the fact that I need to finish out this quest without any further deviation, because I am not satisfied with 229lbs. I've grown tired of juicing, so I've been looking for an alternative. Like pre-juiced... juice. For example: Naked Brand juices. The ingredients clearly state nothing but fruit juices and fruit purees. And only 10mg of sodium! Excellent! So, I had one for lunch yesterday. Which brings us to todays stats:

Weight: 229.2 lbs (No way.)
BFP: 33.7% (Interesting.)
Hunger: Why bother. I'm not really hungry anymore.

For the second day in a row, I haven't lost an ounce. The only deviation I made was the Naked Brand juices. Using linear thinking:

Juice + Naked Juice + Seaweed Salad = No weight lost
Juice + Naked Juice = No weight lost
Juice = Weight Lost
Therefore: Naked Juice = No weight lost (?)

Interesting thought. Anyway, as I get closer to the end of this experiment, I'm worried that I won't reach my goal. I'm only halfway there, and in terms of stats, I SHOULD have been 226 lbs this morning. I'm 3 lbs behind! Am I gonna make it? Or have I hit the proverbial "wall". One thing to notice from this mornings stats is the BFP. It's below 34% for the first time during this foray of fatlessness. So, I may not be losing weight, but I'm losing fat? I know it works the opposite way when you're trying to put on muscle. Maybe this is just the peak of my water retention and everything that's left is fat. Time to start running? Maybe I'll try it out tonight.

Update:
Here's a thought: Intermittent Fasting. I'm thinking I'll run a mile tonight and if I don't see any change in tomorrows weigh-in, it's time to start ADF (Alternate Day Fasting). We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.