I know there are some studies out there that say it takes 7 days or 2 weeks or 30 days to break a habit. Well, if it's 7 days, it's a lie! After 7 days, I miss eating whenever I feel like it. That includes just mindless eating in front of my computer while I work or during a movie or while at a friendly get together with finger foods. Rarely am I ever actually hungry in these instances, but damn it, if I see a Dorito I want it. That being said, there were only a handful of times, maybe 2 or 3 that I felt really and truly hungry. I was also able to get in all of my workouts without passing out. Although, my last 2 swims were challenging and I cut the last swim short by 450m. On Saturday 3/22 I had a Honey Stinger Waffle in the morning before a 3 hour swim-bike-run training day. I had one gel before starting the run and a protein bar that is allowed for my recovery/lunch. On Sunday, I had track and completed 7.5 miles on one shot of the e+ energy that comes with the cleansing pack. After track, I had the morning protein shake, ran some errands and went home. When I got home, I convinced Daniel to go to the gym with me to lift some weights for about 40 minutes and did a 1 mile run with the dogs when we got back. I took a shower, drank my afternoon protein shake and then Daniel and I tackled cleaning for about 2.5 hours. This is one of those days that I felt really and truly hungry, to the point that I was light headed and could barely think straight or talk. It wasn't late enough to eat dinner so I laid down to sleep to ignore the hunger. I don't even have the words to describe how wonderful it felt to eat when Daniel and I finally got to eat dinner.
Let me back track a little and explain how the plan works (high-level). It's 11 days long. The first 2 days are pre-cleanse days that are just add'l 'Shake Days', followed by 2 Deep Cleanse days, 5 Shake days, and ending with 2 Deep Cleanse days. What are Deep Cleanse and Shake days. See below:
Deep Cleanse days - these are days where there is no real solid food except for 3 servings of one of the available snack options. Every few hours you are either drinking the cleanser mix or eating a snack. All-in-all on these days, the calorie intake is anywhere between 420 and 500 calories.
Shake days - on these days, you have an Isagenix protein shake for breakfast. For lunch and dinner you can have either another shake or you can have a 400 - 600 low glycemic healthy meal. You get a snack (options are listed for you but are generally no more than 50 or 60 calories) between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner. Depending on your lunch, dinner, and snack options, you're looking at anywhere between 1100 and 1500 calories.
I don't know if completing this cleanse was easier or harder than racing Beach2Battleship. As I was half way through the 1st of the last 2 days of the Deep Cleanse (last Wednesday), I was struggling to not snack on anything. And, then I thought about the saying that I've seen around "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels". I got angry at this. Instead, I thought "Nothing feels as good as full feels". Not stuffed, but full. That wonderful feeling when you've eaten something so delicious and you're stomach is happy, you're brain is happy, and you're just smiling from ear to ear. Sorry, maybe that's just me, but eating makes me happy. Maybe this is a habit that I need more time to break. But, I'm not sure I want to.
Anyway, away from the tangent. I hope that I am able to keep the weight off. Hopefully I will if I can contain how many calories I am taking in. I guess one good lesson from this cleanse is now I know that I really don't need as much food to workout as I thought. Before I was taking in calories in some form or other before, during, and after just about every single workout. I didn't notice any significant difference in my training during this cleanse, except the last two swims that were on the deep cleanse days.
OK. Now onto the results (drum roll please)...
| Weight | Body Fat % | Water% | |
| Friday 3/14/14 | 123.8 | 17.9 | 61.3 |
| Monday 3/17/14 | 128 | * see notes below | |
| Friday 3/21/14 | 119.4 | 16.9 | 62.7 |
| Thursday 3/27/14 | 116.8 | 15.8 | 63.4 |
* The weekend before I crashed on my bike during a group training ride in Haines City. I took a pretty nasty fall and had to call the rest of the day quits. My hands hurt so bad that I just laid around Saturday and Sunday, taking anti-inflammatory and pain meds. I don't remember eating 2 bags of Oreos or anything else that would cause me to gain 5 pounds over the weekend, but that's what the scale said and I wanted to mark my weight on the day we started.
In case you're curious about my workouts:
3/17 Monday - off
3/18 - 1 hr spin class and 40 min strength (legs and abs)
3/19 - :40 bike trainer
3/20 - 1:06 swim (3000m) and :45 min strength (upper and abs)
3/21 - off
3/22 - :30 min o/w swim, 90' tempo ride (30.62 miles), 34 min run (4 miles)
3/23 - 1:17 track (7.69 miles). Went to the gym a few hours later for legs and abs
3/24 - off. I was scheduled to do a swim, but it was raining outside and I didn't want to take a chance on it lightning. OK, I know. Lame. My rationale at 5:30 in the morning is not always sensical
3/25 - 1 hr spin, 30 min treadmill run (3.25 miles), 30 strength (upper)
3/26 - :41 run (5 miles), 1:08 swim (3000m) - main set of this was 50 X 50 on 60"... yeah, barely made it through this one and the last 10 I had to take an extra 5 - 10" rest
3/27 - :57 swim (completed 2550m of 3000m). The last 450 consisted of 50s X 5 with 20" between each and a 200m cool down. I could do it. My arms were jell-o.
In conclusion, cleansing is hard. Especially if you enjoy eating. But, I'm glad I did this and got through it. I am at a weight that I am much happier at. My biggest concern is trying to maintain this weight within 2 or 3 pounds. Anyone do other cleanses that they hated or liked?
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