YCCC - YoCaseyCasey's CRAZY (A 60 Day Juice Fast)

[thebiglebowski]

It's really hard to really measure water weight. Same thing with body fat percentage. For the purposes of someone on a diet, the best indicator would be the color of your pee. If you go from clear to yellow pee, you are less hydrated and you can say that the weight loss number is "tainted". If you keep your pee the same color throughout the diet, then you have essentially maintained the same hydration level (which would entail losing some water weight as well as some body mass, to keep the ratio the same). 

 

Weighing like Casey mentioned (I believe) right after waking up and taking a morning pee will neglect bias from recent fluid intake.

 

That's a long way of getting to the point -- if you dropped 8 pounds in 3 days, Kriss, you're probably doing some good work in addition to losing some water temporarily! Don't think your post gave yourself enough credit.

[yocaseycasey]

Lebowski needs to jump on this bandwagon!

 

I think I am going to at least Day 14. If I keep losing a lb or two every day, I might keep going until weight loss slows to around .5 lbs a day, but I am ready to at least incorporate a salad into my daily routine again. 

 

Any thoughts on a Chipotle Veggie Bowl every evening? If I don't do the sour cream or cheese, and take advantage of the guac, it would be 275 calories for dinner, and it tastes DAMN good.

[Team Avatar]

I have heard the complete opposite of what is being posted here - that you can definitely stay physically active on a strict juice diet.  However, tennis likely kicked your ass because you havent' been physical every day.  ( unless I'm wrong, in which case, I apologize ).

 

I am sure that if you were to do a bit of exercise and cardio each day, you will be able to do physical activity without a problem.  Andy Tabar ( ex TFT singer / vegan activist? ) claims that when he juices he works out every day.

 

Anyways, please keep it up!  Chipotle veggie bowls are good but not good enough to give up good hard work!

[kriss]

Thanks, Lebowski - that definitely makes things make more sense. Without getting too graphic, my urine is only yellow in the mornings right when I wake up (though, I do weight AFTER the morning pee. Should I not do this?) and from then on for the rest of the day, it's super clear, and super often. Most of the time, atleast twice an hour. I've also not been changing things up - been keeping things strict with the basic green juice recipe, though I really want to try the 'apple pie' one soon. Tomorrow, I'm slinging records and tapes at a 4th of July mini-fest, so if I can get through the whole day without succumbing to solid food temptation, I'll likely be good to go after. Casey, c'mon, man; you're the one that encouraged me to do this, gotta keep going to 60!

[thebiglebowski]

Lebowski needs to jump on this bandwagon!

 

Focusing on getting stronger, not getting thinner at the moment. Thanks for the invite, though. The juice diet is something that is in my toolkit for later but not what I am going for now.

 

 

I have heard the complete opposite of what is being posted here - that you can definitely stay physically active on a strict juice diet.  However, tennis likely kicked your ass because you havent' been physical every day.  ( unless I'm wrong, in which case, I apologize ).

 

Every exercise falls somewhere on a continuum of anaerobic to aerobic. Without going into too much detail, theoretically a juicing diet should be more compatible with aerobic exercise. You might be fine with a decent jog but be dying from trying to sprint. Tennis is probably pretty anaerobic -- sprinting followed by rest. Our bodies can't use fat as a fuel for sprinting but they can break it down over time for the jog. There might be genetic differences at play as well.

 

Kriss, clear is good. I would also weigh right after the morning piss everyday, to keep a constant reference point. Other than that, don't have anything else definite to add. If you believe in the juicing rhetoric that we are full of toxins and juicing removes them (which I am kinda iffy on but I don't know for sure) then the dark morning whiz could be your body ejecting the toxins that it has removed during the night (when our body rests and regenerates). Or you just got dehydrated during the night for whatever reason. Not something that needs really close monitoring. Just something to keep in mind at the weigh ins.

[Sugar Shane]

Day 2.  Late but 241.4 this morning.  Down 1.4 lbs. Haven't begun running yet, but I've stuck to my diet. Of course when I got home these past 2 nights there was pizza waiting for me, but I opted for a healthier choice. Good to see some off the scale though.  I've also thought about opting for weekly weigh ins rather than the daily, though it may pain me not to look every day.  Not sure what I'll do.

[yocaseycasey]

Awesome sfish!

 

Day 11:

235.4 lbs

That’s a loss of 0.6 lbs from yesterday and 17.8 lbs total.

This is a BIG win, because I drank the equivalent of four beers last night. I was at cards, I had gone ten days without food, and we had just found out whether or not we’re having a boy or a girl, so I said “Screw it," and partook in some Miller Lite. To make the day even greater, I ended up winning $100 at cards. I came home to the wife wanting to watch Harry Potter and make couch-bed (where we bring the mattress out to the living room and attach it to the couch, making an EXTRA large bed). So yesterday was awesome. 

Waking up, I expected to see a weight gain since I put something into my system yesterday other than juice. I said to myself before stepping on the scale “OK, Casey, just don’t be more than 237.0." So the fact that I still wound up losing another 0.6 lbs after yesterday is pretty freaking cool.

I am going to behave today. Today is going to be the biggest challenge thus far, seeing as we are going to my parent’s house to hang out with the in-laws. There is going to be grilling, and beers, and all sorts of tasty stuff (America!) that I won’t be able to have. It will be fine though. All I have to do is go another 4 days before I give myself permission to add food to my daily regimen.

I have a pitcher of straight apple juice in the fridge, and it is absolutely delicious.

My goal is to be at 232 in the next 4 days. That will put me at a 21 lb loss in two weeks and give me enough pride to keep losing the weight as well as keep off those nasty winter pounds. 

[kriss]

Day 4

Down a half a pound and I'm guessing the water weight caught up. 8.5 lbs lost so far. Hoping this isn't the norm.

I made the peach pie juice yesterday and it's super good. Only doing 8-12 ounces of that a day while sticking to the green. Last night I had a dream that I was munching on tator tots and then spat them out after remembering that I wasn't supposed to be doing solids. Hahah

[Sugar Shane]

Day 3:
240.4.  Down 1 lb from yesterday, 2.4 total.  I did have a beer at the A Great Big Pile of Leaves show last night, but it was just so ungodly hot there, I had to.  Also saw a friend who'd been trying this whole weight loss thing and he's down 15 lbs since I last saw him, so that's a motivation factor right there. 

[yocaseycasey]

How long has it been since you've seen your friend?

[Sugar Shane]

That I don't know. He's down 40 overall and has been off and on with doing the exercise and all.

[heypeterman]

I came home to the wife wanting to watch Harry Potter and make couch-bed (where we bring the mattress out to the living room and attach it to the couch, making an EXTRA large bed). 

 

This is awesome! One of those "cute" couple things that some people won't get. My wife always goes to bed earlier than I do so every night when she's done getting ready for bed, she sends me a text saying she's ready to be tucked in. We never thought anything of it but we have a friend staying with us this summer. She noticed and told her girlfriend and other friends about this. She doesn't get it but her girlfriend and most women she tells think it's sweet. Anyways, your "couch-bed" comment reminded me of this. 

 

I've been meaning to post in this thread to say that I'm following but I'm a lazy poster. Like I don't post much and mainly just read threads. I haven't done a juicing diet but I lost 30+ lbs in about 3 weeks so I wanted to share my story.

 

Since I met my wife, I went from about 175 to my top of 222 lbs. This was over the course of 9 years so it's not like it happened over night but I finally hit that point where I knew something needed to be done. I needed new jeans and I couldn't fit into a pair of 36's anymore. I had to buy a pair of 38's. I was always a 34 when I was younger so that really pushed me over the edge.

 

I didn't really go on a typical diet or search for any guidance. It was plain and simple for me. Before the diet, I never ate breakfast, instead I drank about a pot of coffee. Once the coffee wore off, I would eat a large lunch because I was starved at that point. When I finally got home from work, I would be starved again so I would eat another large meal, usually around 7pm or so.

 

Obviously my actual eating habits were the major problem but essentially all I did was cut out as much sugar as possible and try to eat more balanced meals. Actually, what worked best for me was to just eat often enough that I never really got hungry. So I was mainly just snacking most of the day and by the time it was dinner, I wasn't really hungry at all. Most of my problem with being "starved" was psychological. On my drive home from work, I had become so used to being hungry that I thought I needed to eat a lot when I got home. Turns out it was mostly all in my head.

 

On my diet, I also cut out coffee and was really only drinking water. I like cream and sugar in my coffee so it wasn't really going to help if I wanted to lose weight. I think the first day or two I got headaches but drinking lots of water helped with those. Eventually, I didn't really notice or care that I wasn't drinking coffee. 

 

After a week, I lost 10 lbs and that was extremely satisfying. It annoyed my wife because she hadn't really noticed me doing anything different except for smaller meals at night. I never really missed anything and some things actually started to repulse me. Like the smell of fast food, KFC being the worst. After about three weeks, I was at 185 lbs and felt great until I tried to play hockey after having not played for about a year. That didn't go so well but obviously I had lost a lot of muscle mass and added fat when I was gaining weight. Aside from that, I felt great. I'd say the worst temptation was when I was visiting friends in my hometown and we went for breakfast. I love a classic breakfast with coffee so granola and yogurt with a glass of water was a little unsatisfying while everyone else had eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc.

 

After about 3 months I quit the diet and It's been two years since I lost the weight. I never went back to my old ways but I keep the pair of 38 jeans as a reminder of how far I've come. I rarely drink pop (soda) which I think was another major contributor to my weight gain. Now I know what people mean by "empty calories." I drink coffee now although I just took another break from it for a month. Again, that was mainly psychological. I was going to bed looking forward to my morning cup of coffee. I don't like any substance having control over my mind like that. 

 

Oh, one big eye opener when I was on the diet was walking through a grocery store and filtering through all the crap. I never really thought about how much "food" in a grocery store is actually just junk. There are multiple aisles dedicated to just junk food. Why do we need so many choices of cookies, chips, sugar drinks, etc?

 

Anyways, good on you guys for trying and sticking with it! I know it can be tough but the results are really worth it and you'll feel a lot better, at least I did. If I had any advice, it would be to remember that temptations are all in your head. Fight them like a boss!

[blanchardoswald]

Personal update-226 at the middle of June, down to 221. My goal is to be 200, my high school weight. I haven't done anything drastic, just simple changes. Biking to work/university, single/single coffees, almond milk, portion control, etc. So far so good

Huge congrats so far Casey and everyone else

[noalarmplanet]

Casey I am starting this today. Any good books of recipes you guys recommend?

[kriss]

Day 5

I survived the 4th of July. At certain points last night, I felt the compulsion to eat something just because of the occasion of the day, but I managed to hold out and deal. 

Yesterday’s Summer Slammer at Animal Kingdom (a super rad DIY venue here in the city) was mindblowing. It was amazing seeing hundreds of people banding together and pulling off this huge event - from folks attending, to those of us running tables and slinging records to the bands playing to those who organized it. Seriously astonishing. The Notes and Bolts crew managed to capture half of the day’s sets on tape and I’m in the middle of throwing some shallow masters over the top of them to get them to sound a bit better before dispersing them.

On the juicing front, I drank half of my meals before noon, just because I didn’t know if I’d have the space anywhere at the Slammer to keep the juice stored. The remainder of my daily intake was put into a 32 ounce water bottle and I worked on that throughout the rest of the day. It felt really weird drinking it when I was down in AK’s basement watching Le Tour, sweating in the sweltering conditions with everyone around as they got stoned and drank beer. 

I’m starting to feel better about this, more confident that I can do it. Tomorrow is day 6. It’s a small percentage, but getting 10% of the way through this is my goal for today. I’m getting stoked!

[kriss]

let's keep this going, guys!

 

Day 6 - 10% towards the goal. I fell behind on making a new batch of juice yesterday, but was fine because I usually make my juices the night before every day, so I had enough to last me. I doubled up and made enough for today and tomorrow just now. In a way, juicing the day before helps me to stay focused and continue on because I’m essentially renewing the commitment to this by making the next day’s batch - with it there in the fridge each morning, I have no excuse to skip, you know?

 

I feel like in this week, I’ve begun to see my body in such a way where I’m understanding the true differences between need and want, perhaps for the first real time in my life. It’s fascinating that my body can run well off of what’s essentially 72 ounces of green juice every day - I’m able to work, with the assistance of water, and throughout the day, I’m largely fine. I question if I’m doing this right sometimes because even in this first week, I’ve not been bedeviled by things like headaches and nausea - the stuff that folks often complain about when doing this. Since it’s the weekend, I keep having to remind myself that I’m doing this and that I’m not going to sushi like I usually do on Saturday night.

 

That’s probably the one thing I miss the most: sushi. 

 

Because everything comes back to math for me, I keep thinking of this project in percentages to help me continue on with it. 6 days is 10%, 9 is 15%, 24 is 40%, etc, etc. Doing that helps me, that mental download bar where I’m seeing percentages towards the finish.

 

My stomach feels and looks slightly flatter, too. I’m not sure if that’s just my imagination or not, but my pants are slightly loser, so maybe there’s something to it, after all.

 

Onward to finishing out week 1.

[zacaroo21]

So I was at my parent's house this weekend for my brother's bachelor party and other festivities - weighed myself do the first time in a while and I'm down 30lbs from my heaviest. Still about 30 to go until I'm to where I'd like to be but it was a pleasant surprise to see that. I'm not very tied to the numbers and really just care about how I feel and look and what fits, but it was nice to see that my labors have paid off over the past month or two of eating healthier.

[Team Avatar]

I'm actually at my heaviest right now:

 

I weighed in ( after a day of overeating ) at 167, and I'm 5'6 for some perspective.  I don't look it, but all of my weight goes to my waist and I can't fit into majority of my clothing.

[yocaseycasey]

The last time I weighed 167 was in 5th grade.

[noalarmplanet]

Well here we go, I'm using Robeks who can make the mean green until my juicer arrives. Day 1. Too afraid to weigh myself. 

[kriss]

I'm on day 8 and my pants are definitely looser. I'm really excited for the progress.

 

Figured I'd share this for those of you who want something more 'substantial' if juicing. I spent a little bit of yesterday working on a tomato juice soup recipe. Here's the recipe (makes 2 quarts):

 

3 large tomatoes

6 carrots

3 jalapenos

1/2 bunch cilantro

3 cloves garlic

2 red bell peppers

1 bag caramelized onions

pinch of salt

pinch of thai red curry spice

 

The only thing in this that's cooked are the caramelized onions, and honestly, since that's the only thing, I highly doubt that they adversely effect the nutrients that can be taken in with this meal. They do, however, give a really creamy texture to the juice, which gets it much closer to being a soup. I heated it up to 120 degrees (the temp held to allow for warm consumption, while still remaining a technically 'raw' dish) and it was amazing. The two quarts easily spread across three meals. 

[thebiglebowski]

Onions have a relatively low amount of nutrients compared to other vegetables anyways (I say "relatively" because compared to doritos, they are packed with nutrients but compared to say spinach, they are pretty much just filler in a dish). Wouldn't worry about it.

[kriss]

Yeah, totally. With them being caramelized, they're pretty much useless in the nutrient area, but the flavor is so rich, that they go perfectly with all of these other items that can provide all of the actual desired nutrients. Try it. It's good. Even if you aren't juicing.

[noalarmplanet]

Yeah, totally. With them being caramelized, they're pretty much useless in the nutrient area, but the flavor is so rich, that they go perfectly with all of these other items that can provide all of the actual desired nutrients. Try it. It's good. Even if you aren't juicing.

I wondered if people put Jalapenos in any of these! Excited to try this.

[thebiglebowski]

Jalapenos will give you a small thermogenic effect as well, which will help with fat loss. Same kinda thing as drinking green tea. It helps a little bit so take what you can, but it's nothing too substantial. I can't really deal with hot peppers, though. They taste great going down, not worth the trouble they cause on my stomach.

 

What exactly are "caramalized" onions? Cooked in what? Just wondering.