W4J1 - Day 21 (Sunday 28Dec14)

21 days!  I didn't think 21 days ago I'd be writing a 21 day juicing blog entry.  I had hoped, but I wasn't sure.  My wife, who introduced me to the concept, has said I'm crazy for still juicing (LOL).  I don't think she means it.

I have felt better.  I have made a few conscious choices for some non-juice and non-vegetarian menu items.  I am glad I made the choices so I could feel their effects after 21 days - which send me back to juicing and fruits and veggies.  When I'm done with the juicing in 39 more days I'll continue to juice some and I'll add smoothies.

I still have not had any kind of soft drink after 22 days.  I haven't had anything to drink that hasn't been juice I've made or water.  I've been drinking between 8 and 16 cups of water a day.

My pants are falling off of me a little more.  I haven't had as much weight loss as I had hoped, but I also attribute that to not adhering to a strict juice diet.  I do have an occasional solid food and for a while I was having more solid foods than I should've been.  I'm going to go back to juice - and if I need something solid I'll have an apple or some olives.

When I don't juice I can feel it in my system.  My body tells me I didn't do something right.  As well, when I don't have enough water my body tells me I need more.

After 3 weeks, I feel better.  I've been working a ton the last two weeks and this morning I slept in til 11.  I actually tossed and turned a little more than slept, but I stayed in bed til 11.  Most days I would've been up, juiced, cleaned the juicer, drank my juice, and started work by 8 (if not sooner) and then worked until 11 or later.

My wife has noticed my energy.  I've noticed that I've been more 'hyper' which could be translated to more energy.  I've not been as tired despite the late work.  My brain and my body have both told me that they needed a bit more sleep, but weren't tired per-se.

I have noticed that I'm not as frustrated with my brain as I was.  I'm able to remember more things easier and "get inside" my head again.  I don't have as many recurring and intrusive thoughts.  I also noticed the opposite was true when I made some of the conscious choices I mentioned earlier.

Oh, I've also started straining my juices.  I noticed a lot of the pulp getting into the juices lately.  I don't know why - it could be that I've used my Jack Lalane juicer more in the last 3 weeks than it had been used in the last 1-2 years.  So I got the juice screen out and pour my juice through it to filter out that part.  It doesn't just leave me with colored water, it removes a lot of the pulp part, but still a tasty, tasty, juice.

Finally, since I feel like my body can handle it, I'm going to start back to my TRX pullup program.  I think supplementing with the vegan protein powder, BCAAs, and juicing (upping juice if I need to or adding a fruit or veggies) will be good for me.  I also haven't been as active as I could've been during the last three weeks and mostly b/c I worked so many hours and didn't take time away for myself.

As you can see bythe timestamp it's 3:14 am -ish.  I have been waking up and not tired again for a few hours ever since I started juicing.  So I guess if I didn't notice my energy before I certainly notice it now.

I look forward to the next 3 weeks of nothing but juice.

W3J4-J7 - Days 17-20

The last three days have been weird.  i juiced 95% of the time but i decided to have real food for part of it.  

christmas i had 2 apple brats

friday i had some soup stuff a burrito and mexican pizza

today i had a sonic burger

i wasnt going to have chreat meals - but i decided that i wanted to.  now im sorry i did.  i dont feel well but also im backed up.  i found that some of my vitamins stop me up so i went back to the basic ones and now im flushing my system again.  i lost some of my hard work and gained back 3 pounds, which will be gone tomorrow.  so im going back to juice only i felt better.

in case you werent keeping track i passed 21 days without a Coke or other beverage.

W3J3 - Day 16

I've done really well up to this point.  I've been juicing for 16 days now and no Coke for 17 days.  I've dropped to a low of 273.2 and continue to drop weight.

Tonight, I decided to have some meat.  Not because I needed it nor because I really craved it, but I wanted to know after 16 days what it would taste like.  Bacon, still glorious.  Pepperoni, not as good.  I had one pepperoni and one slice of bacon.

I've had a few days of insomnia so my body is worn out, but my brain is still clear - a bit tired, but clear.

W3J1 - Day 14 -- and measurements

2 weeks ago I started juicing.  I have had some solids (crispy green beans, black olives, some salad, fruits, but I limit that as much as possible).  95% of my intake is 8oz juice for breakfast, lunch, mid afternoon, dinner, and post dinner.  I have coconut water mid morning.  If I am late making my juice then I have some green beans.  If I'm feeling really hungry I have some black olives.  I also have 80oz plus of water a day.

After 2 weeks, I have felt great.  My body is tired, but not exhausted.  It's like it needs to be walked or something.  I can't describe it, but it feels like it's clear and focused, but underpowered.

I have had one dessert this week of a caramel frappuccino w soy milk no whip from starbucks... and that was my reward for 14 days of juicing.

So how have I done?  You can see my start date on 7Dec14 and today:
weight loss 10.4 pounds, bellybutton 1.5 inches, hips .75 inches down

http://elvisapocalypse.blogspot.com/2013/06/6june13-day-31-3rd-time.html
http://elvisapocalypse.blogspot.com/2014/04/measurements.html
http://elvisapocalypse.blogspot.com/2014/07/measurements.html

	13May12	7Jun12	6Jun13	30Apr14	9Jul14	7Dec14	21Dec14
weight	270	272	270	284	279.4	286	275.6
navel	49	48.5	46.75	50	46.75	49.75	48.15
waist	46.5	48	43.5		45
hips	54	52.5	52	53	50	52.5	51.75
neck	18	17.5	16.5	16.5	16.5	16.75	16
chest				44	41.5	43	43.5

W2J7 - Day 13

14 days no Coke. No HFCS. Almost no processed anything. I did, last week, have those three items of meat - this week, no meat.

I almost ate some bacon at lunch today at the annual family christmas lunch, but decided not to.

After 13 days, I still juice 4-6x a day (as per the plan). I do have vegan protein powder 2x a day. I also have more than 80oz of water.

Sometimes I get working and just want to get this one last thing done. By the time I'm done it means that I'm close or over my juice time. I make all of my juice by hand 2-3x a day. I could do all of my juice at one time if I wanted to. When I get over my juice time I drink 16oz of water and then eat a couple of green beans (these raw crunchy awesome beans). Anyway, then I prep the fruits and veggies for juicing. When I'm done washing everything I drink the juice (some juices make 2 servings so I only drink half).

I'm down to 276.6ish in weight. I've noticed a lot of other benefits that I didn't expect or I wasn't thinking about - most notably my brain seems to have returned. It's still a bit cloudy, but that's mostly b/c I've been working 16 hour days this week to push for this client by tomorrow. And because of that I've also been tired from the extended hours without much in the way of rest. However, my brain has regained it's bounce in terms of being able to think through problems at work. I lost so much focus over the last few years (at work - I mean ADD is gonna happen when I socialize).

I'll be doing official weight and measure tomorrow.

Coke and BPA

"Cans and plastic bottles are lined with a controversial chemical called BPA, and while the CDC still says the chemical's health effects are unclear, research on chronic exposure has linked it to high blood pressure and heart rate issues."

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/12/15/here-why-might-want-to-stop-drinking-out-cans/?intcmp=ob_article_footer_text&intcmp=obnetwork

http://www.newser.com/story/199719/why-drinking-from-a-can-could-be-dangerous.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=foxnews&utm_campaign=rss_health_syn

Until 13 days ago I'd been drinking Coke very regularly.  Recently, I had wondered about aluminum.  I choose Aluminum over plastic bottles because I like that they seem to get colder and the taste is better.  For those that don't drink a lot of Coke, there is a significant taste difference between bottles, cans, 2liter bottles, fountain drinks, and glass bottles.  Each one is different in flavor.  I like the can or fountain drink flavor the best.  My wife, when we get Coke in bottles she likes glass bottles (and she only drinks Coke like 2x a year).

W2J3-W2J4 - Days 10 and 11

I've not been nearly as tired.  I haven't been entirely juicing.  There have been a few occasions that I eat some fresh green beans or some black olives.  I don't eat much and it's just when my stomach starts aching b/c I've missed my eating window.  Sometimes I get into what I'm doing and lose track of time (which is fairly new to have that back) or I get into a work meeting and can't go get juice immediately when it's time to make it.

I'm down to 276.4 - we'll see how this goes.  My goal is to get to 270.  Once I get there, my goal will be 10 pounds at a time until I can get close to my end goal then I may drop that goal to 5 pounds at a time.

The cravings are almost all gone, but I'm listening to what my body is telling me.  I do have cravings for some green beans and olives which is why I started eating some of those.  And BTW, I think black olives taste "buttery".

Anyway, doing well.  I do have some protein daily via the veggie protein powder just to make sure I've got some.  I do smell ammonia occasionally and that tells me my body is burning protein so I make sure to get that intake.

My plan the rest of this week is to get fully adjusted, and get some rest.  With work being weird I've not slept as much as I should be.  Then next week I get back into TRX.  I may start Sunday, we'll see.  I feel like I need to sleep in for a few days and get rested.  And none of that is b/c of juicing all from extra long hours at work.

W2J2 - Day 9

I never thought I'd say that I went 10 days without Coke (ok 9.5 so far - pushing 10) and 9 days as mostly a vegetarian (we know about my 3 slips).  That also means I've only had caffeine once and that was when I was sick.  I thought it would help "speed things along", GI speaking.

I forgot to mention that the food I bought on the day before I started juicing would've been enough for both my wife and I to juice an entire week had I not gotten sick.  So now I have 2 bags of spinach and 1 bag of kale left over.  I did go to the store and get more fruits to start this week.  I'll have to go back and get some more to finish out this week as I bought enough just for a few days (on purpose).

I have found a few things different in my day-to-day.
1) I never liked to spend a lot of time cooking, so my meal prep was never more than 30 minutes (probably for the entire day).  Now, my prep and "cooking" time with cleaning is 30 minutes or less each "meal".  So if my wife and I are juicing then it's 30 minutes 4-6 times daily.  I would normally bitch and complain, however, this gives me a break from work and if I don't then I'm intensely hungry.
2) My brain "drifting" has returned.  When i'm juicing I'm able to get back to thinking about a ton of other things at once.  I haven't been able to do that in years except when I would walk, run, or ride my bike (motor or manual).
3) I haven't lost a thought in a few days.  Once I start a thought I've managed to keep it through distractions.
4) I've had an increase in focus.  That's been a severe problem for a few years.  I've had to force myself to focus.
5) I've been able to visualize much better.  If you've ever seen the Moffat Sherlock series there's the episode Hound of the Baskervilles where Sherlock sits down and literally sees all of the permutations.  That's very close to how my brain normally works.
6) I've been remembering more.  Each day I seem to be able to remember more and more.  I used to be able to recall details from documents or articles or anything really with good detail.  Not photographic memory, just really good detail.  Most of the time, over the last few years, I can barely remember my name.  Ok that's stretching it, but you get my point.
7) My nose used to run all of the time like allergies.  I take Zyrtec twice daily.  I've not been taking the night dose and my wife says that my snoring has somewhat diminished.
8) I don't have candida flareups anymore.
9) My teeth are always smooth.  I brush them and many hours later they're still smooth like I just brushed.
10) I was plagued with years (nearly 20) of needing to immediately have to rush to the bathroom.  I don't fear that anymore.
11) I've been able to regain my brain "not shutting off" which I used to hate, but if you've ever had it then lost it, well you miss it.

Downsides:
1) I pee a lot.  After every juice I drink 16 oz of water - for a total of 10-12 or more glasses of water a day.  AND I get 4-6 juices in daily... all liquids
2) I don't defecate as much.  This really isn't a downside.  There's also no urgency like there was before.

W1J8

Today, I have mostly juiced.  I say mostly b/c for dinner I had some baked cauliflower.

I feel great.  I'm a little tired from lack of sleep over the last weeks.

I weighed and measured today: 277 and my sizes are slightly more than before not sure why.

W1J7

Well, it's been a crazy week. I haven't had a Coke since last Saturday (8 days ago). I have been a most-a-vegetarian - that means I had meat three times this week. I intended to go all vegetarian/vegan, but I got sick Wed night and into Thurs morning. I still juiced, but Thurs morning about 3 something I thought maybe I needed to eat something so I had some fruit. Then in the evening I wasn't feeling better and had that "you need to eat now or you are going to get really sick" feeling. So I stopped at Sonic and ate the burger. I felt better, but still didn't feel well. It turns out it was my body getting rid of some GI issues b/c I didn't hydrate enough. Then Friday I had some sushi after juicing all day. It was ok sushi - after we ordered I realized it had imm crab in it. Then yesterday at the meeting I had a berry smoothie and a Wild Hog sandwich (panini, egg, bacon, and provolone). I've dropped 9 pounds this week to 277. Today has been all juice save some (like 6) green beans. Tomorrow, I hit juicing full time again, increase the protein intake via the vegan protein powder and now that I'm not sick, hit the TRX again.

All-in-all I'm happy with the progress I made in not drinking Coke (other than juice all I drink is water now), dropping some weight, and sticking to what I'm supposed to do most of the time. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't plan ahead for the night I stopped and picked up the burger. Overall though, it's been a crazy week, but I am actually looking forward to this next week of juicing.

W1J6

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  I ate some fruits and vegetables and had some sushi - which i thought was going to be vegetarian, but had some crab meat in it.  That's ok - not part of the plan, but it's ok.  I did sleep through the night though which is good news - and the first time since I quit drinking Coke - which was last Saturday (today is Saturday).

I now weight 277.6 - which is about 9 pounds less than when I started.

My headache goes away as long as I drink plenty of water.

Otherwise, I feel great.  I drank one juice yesterday and I had one of the vegan protein shakes.

W1J4, W1J5

J4
I woke up this morning without a headache.  My weight was 278.8 - I have been a bit hungrier.  My stomach feels like it's eating itself so I've been drinking a lot more water, some BCAAs, and juice.

The vegan protein powder came in so I had some of that.  After that everything went badly.  I was feeling great until my stomach started cramping and my intestines started hurting a lot.  Not just a little, but debilitatingly painful.  I did a lot of hoping and drinking water.

J5
I didn't sleep much at all.  I woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep b/c my intestines hurt so bad.  I decided not to juice today at all.  by 5 my intestines hurt so bad that I ate two really small apples and 2 tiny oranges.  That didn't help.  I took some stool softener and milk of magnesia.  The rest of the day was a blur of running to the bathroom.  I did eat some vegetable soup broth and some of the carrots, onions, and celery in the soup (not much of the solids).  I felt a little better, but my body was still in pain.  By the end of the day, I made a run to get some ink cartridges and, being desperate, I stopped to get a Sonic cheeseburger in case my body was angry about not having meat.

By the end of the night, I felt ok, but I still had some cramping in my large intestines.  I took a GasX and by morning felt perfect.

I ate the apples, oranges, soup, and burger for no reason.  I was grasping to make sure I wasn't getting really sick.  The problem was that the day before I hadn't had a lot of water.  In fact I had only 16 oz of water.  The other days I had gone over 64 oz and was closer to 80oz of water.

I'm going to keep juicing, but I'm thinking that I'm going to keep some items in my diet.  Like instead of all veggies and fruits being juiced, I may juice quite a bit and keep the water going, but I may keep some of the fruits and veggies for fiber - I don't know yet.

However, being 11Dec - I haven't had a Coke since the evening of the 6th of December.

W1J3

I awoke at 3 am after going to bed at 10pm.  I didn't toss and turn - I just woke up.

I feel fine other than being a little tired b/c I've had two out of 4 days that I've woke (or been woken up) in the middle of the night and then not gone back to sleep.

I'm down to 280-281ish in weight.  I'm drinking 8oz of juice at the scheduled times and about 16 oz of water or more after each juice (not including the water I have first thing when I wake up).

W1J2

Day 2 of juicing.  I've felt quite well - where my wife feels like she has the flu (headaches, joint pain, weakness).  I've had a headache ranging in intensity all day.  I can only assume that's because my last Coke was about 7 Saturday night - and 48 hours later it wants to come back into my life.  I did daydream a little about bacon.  I've never been 48 hours as a vegetarian let alone vegan.

I found a vegan protein powder that comes close to my current whey protein powder.  I'm having it shipped so I can add 44g of protein to my current diet of juices (which is about 12 g of juices).

I have found after only 2 days that I am tired of washing the juicer.  I also cut the hole in the bottom of a tiny bowl and I put it around the top of the plunger entrance - this way I can dump a handful of kale in and plunge it and not get kale everywhere.

I juiced the servings of orange for tomorrow along with tonights orange for dessert.  I also juiced the green for lunch tomorrow.  So, tomorrow I just need to do our red and another green.

I've been slightly tired today, but not exhausted.  I woke up tired, but I think that's all because I didn't get as much sleep this weekend as I wanted.  I could use a nap, but I'm not exhausted.

Let's go tomorrow.

Grocery List for W1J1-J7

I thought I'd post the grocery list for this week.  If anything is needed (we run out of the veggies/fruits) then I'll add that to the total.

The total price was:126.03 and that's for 2 people for 75-80% of one week of juicing.

4 bags of spinach
5 bags of carrots
5 bags of kale (1/2 bag is approximately 16 leaves in my approximation)
4 boxes of blueberries
20 cucumbers
2 bags of red apples (small - med)
4 bags of golden delicious apples (small-med)
5 bags of celery stalks
7 sweet potatoes
7 pears
5 beet root bunches (about 4-5 in a bunch)
1 bag of mini oranges

This purchase deviated from the plan slightly.  I didn't want to buy a bunch of some items (like beets) if I didn't like the taste.  We can always go back to the store if we run out.

The original list was this:
29 beets
137 carrots
104 apples
345 kale leaves
60 stalks of celery
7 sweet potatoes
14 pears
10.5 cups of blueberries
40 lemons
15 oranges
35 cucumbers
20 spinach handfuls

At the end of the week, I'll post what we went through and the total cost for the two of us.  When it's just me juicing the cost will go down a little bit unless I decide to drink both sets.  I'm not sure how that's all going to work when I've got the fridge full of food... where's everyone elses going to go?

Weights and Measures - Day J1

Last night my last "real" meal was Pizza - 5 slices of Meatzza from Dominos.  This morning I did have donut holes as my last breakfast.  My last lunch yesterday was Bacon McDouble.  None of those foods do I normally have.  I chose them b/c they were the top of my list.  Well, the McDouble wasn't, it should've been a Sonic Bacon Double Cheeseburger or a Burger King Triple Double or whatever they're called... anyway.

I like to keep track of a lot of stuff.  Mostly because I like to be able to look back and find statistics that help me prove or disprove a theory.  One example is workout logs.  I track how I felt when I wake up, pre workout, post workout and bed time.  This helps me gauge my workout.  For example, if I don't feel well when I get up and my workout is crappy I will assume it's b/c of the wellness.  If I eat crappy then workout and don't feel well I can track that to my food.  As well, if I track a lot of different statistics then I can see my progress charted out.  I'm very OCD about these things even though they may not matter to anyone else.

I felt great this morning when I woke up.  My wife couldn't sleep last night and woke me up by accident and I couldn't go back to sleep for about an hour or so.  Even after all of that I still felt great.  I'm a little tired, but I felt great.

Let's start with today's weights and measures.

neck 16.75
chest (nipple line) 46.75
chest (underboob thinnest part) 43
belly button 49.75 (sucked in = 48)
butt/hips 52.5
thighs 33.75
weight 286ish

Juices
Carrot-Apple-Lemon
Coconut Water - tastes like liquid rice crispys
Mean Green
Un-Beet-Able
Green Lemonade
Carrot-Apple-Ginger

My total calories have been 639 which feels wrong.  I feel like there should be more especially when working out.  I'll have to research that a bit more.  I also didn't drink as much water today as I could have.  I would normally drink about 80 oz or more, but today I had about 32-48oz.

I have not felt horrible at all.  I have missed reaching over and grabbing my ice cold can of coke; and when I was cooking pork for dinner I did want a little.  I've always eaten meat, so 60 days vegetarian/vegan is going to be hard for me to do.

I am going to add some protein powder mixes to my daily as well.  They're vegan and 0 carbs.

Tomorrow is J2 (day 2 of juicing) and I will also fire up the TRX as well.

2nd juice of the day - Garden Variety

I am not starting juicing until tomorrow (I want to have one more burger and one more piece of pizza first).  My wife is starting today - however, most of the recipes we've chosen are for two... so this is Garden Variety - it mostly tastes like Kale and Cucumber... but still pretty good.  The first one of the day was mostly carrot and apple which was delicious.  The recipe makes so much that we have to put it into a pitcher to mix then we pour it into cups.

Family together - Juicing?

Last Sunday (or so) I bought my wife "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead 2" which also came with the original.  I wasn't interested, but I watched with her anyway (that's what you're supposed to do - well, that and not huffing an puffing while attending her event - which I also complied with).  I am interested in a lot of different information and so I watched.  I expected some gimmicky something.  I did not get that gimmicky anything.  I did see a lot of motivation.  His story, while not the same as mine, was inspiring.

My wife, who has been fantastic - a lot of guys say their wives are amazing, mine really is (her secret identity is Wonder Woman - shhh our secret) - has asked me for only one thing since we've been together: to live as long as she does.  She has always been acceptant of my larger size.  She is also one of the few people who has known me at 170-190 (nearly 100 pounds ago).  All of this time she's loved me and been there for me.

She's also been very frustrated.  Her frustration stems from the fact that I start a workout then get stressed or let work take over my life and then my workout goes away and the next thing that happens is that I eat a bag of donettes and drink a 6 pack of Coke during the day... then week... then month... then few months.  When the stress is gone, I go back to eating well, and cutting back Coke to 1 or 2 a day.  Now, that's not to say that I eat donettes entirely.  I don't like candies or cakes or really anything sweet except Coke.  However, when I get stressed I eat a lot more than normal - an example being a pizza (medium, large, whatever) and then Taco Bell a couple of times a day... like a Chicken XXL Grilled Stuft Burrito or Sonic Bacon Double Cheeseburger with tots.  See where this is going?  I make bad choices and it's easy to justify.  "It's just one meal a day" or whatever the excuse I give myself is.  The fact is that when I get stressed out I drop everything else in my life and focus on relieving that stress... and I do that by working through it and eating poorly.

Recently, my wife asked me for only one thing - to be smaller.  At first I was heartbroken and upset, angry even (and I don't get angry).  I even thought "you said you loved me at this size".  It took a few days for me to think it through and not be upset with her.  She's not saying she doesn't love me now.  She's not saying that she won't love me at this size.  She is saying that she wants me to be healthier (btw, for those wondering, my lab results are normal - the only thing not healthy about me is my weight... and my love of Cobie Smulders and Zooey Deschanel slow dancing with Stephen Amell and Matt Bomer in a 4 square of Barry White melodies).  She's tired of me complaining that I get out of breath going up the stairs (even though I can do multiple inverted pushups with the TRX).  She's tired of me complaining about different things then seeing (or hearing) me open a can of Coke.  She's tired of me complaining about not being smaller while I order pizza.  All of that is understandable.  Please don't fault her for any of that.  I got mad at her the other day for the same thing.  She was feeling great then ate some popcorn and something else and didn't feel well and got headaches... over multiple days.  Then, she complained about it and I got upset with her.  I understand her frustration.  Just look at my blog here since I've started doing this online.  This blog isn't the first journal I've ever done on weight loss since 2000 - just the first one I've decided to publish for others to see in the hopes that maybe it'll help them.  I used to keep detailed workout logs including foods, workouts, etc.  One day, I'll publish those as well.  And back then, I was just 180-190 pounds.  So you can also see that I've had a lot of problems with my self image and weight struggles for 18+ years.

Sorry, I went off in a different direction a couple of times.  My wife is very supportive of me and my TRX workouts.  She notes that when I workout with TRX there are a lot of things better (including a couple I can't mention b/c they are in the bedroom).  My mood is better, I'm stronger, I enjoy things more, I don't get as stressed about work... and a few others.  I fully believe (and I know I've read an article here or there about it) that at least some of my depression is related to my weight.  Not being fat, mind you, but the physical effects of carrying an extra 100 pounds.  In addition, my self esteem is at an all time high b/c I'm at the middle of my game professionally.  I have a fantastic home life (that is like most others where we have ups and downs and the ups always outweigh the downs).  And I am working on projects that mean something to me personally (like the Cherokee English Dictionary project and a tornado sensor project).  So, other than having weight and some stress I have a great life.

Where is all of this going?  Well, back to the beginning.  Since 1997 or so I've struggled with the fact that, at that time, I was 10 pounds over my personal ideal weight at 170.  I didn't like being 160 much, but at 170 that was too much... from that point it got worse.  I worked out daily for a long time, but I was eating crappy.  Then in 2002 I was running daily and working out from May to October.  I was able to run 5 minute miles... but I still weighed 190ish pounds... because I was eating crappy.  From there it went up.  In 2003, while in Iraq, I was diagnosed with OCD (emphasis on the 'O') and prescribed Zoloft (which eventually went up to 200 mg a day or more)... at that point, I was again eating crappy and my weight went very quickly up to 245-265 pounds over 3-4 months which is what it would be when I came home in July 04.  From there it's remained the same or gone up a little each year.  My largest was about 291 (which is somewhere in this blog).  So 10 years 100 pounds or so.

As you have followed through this blog you will notice dates... If I had continued to just walk or just workout or whatever then it would've been 2 years and I would've been in great shape.  But I do well for 3-4 months then I get stressed out and slide back.  So my weight and fitness (weight because of fitness and food) are tied together.  They go back up... then I start over after 3-4 months.  I'm causing my own yo-yo effect.

And that leads us back to the beginning... Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and the sequel.  I watched them both.  What struck me wasn't the weight loss (which was impressive) but how the people evolved to their energetic state.  Remember, my goal isn't to lose weight, but be able to do one solitary full body, full weight pull-up.  Even then, at working out on the TRX (which I dearly love) I'm not losing weight that I can feel.  I know I'm losing size, but not weight.  I want to do both - but not for me.  I found out that Stephen Amell is coming to Planet ComiCon in Kansas City next March.  I joke that I wanted to lose weight for that.  In reality, I needed an excuse to lose weight that I didn't think people would be upset for.  When you say "I'm losing weight" and people ask "why?" you're supposed to say "myself, my health" or some crap.  That's not it.  I don't do this for me.  I do it for my wife.  She deserves someone smaller.  She deserves someone that can do a TRX Body Saw for 45 minutes (wink).  She deserves me to be healthier and stronger.  I don't know that she deserves for me to live longer ;) but she wants me to.

So, for a week I've been migrating from all solid foods (which I really didn't eat much anyway as I was intermittent fasting for 2-3 weeks before that).  In any case, this last week I've downed about 80 oz of water a day and between 4-6 Cokes (I know, I know, shut it) and then had one solid food meal at dinner.  The idea was to clean out my intestines (not to drink Coke).  Which did work.  I feel better.  I also noticed that I felt much better yesterday and today than I had through most of the last year.  I've felt like my mind has been clearer than ever before (or at least that I can remember).  I've been able to focus this week (just look at this blog post).  It's been great.  I also tried a couple of juices.  My wife went on a juice kick a couple of years ago which I was not supportive of.  I didn't get it (not the juicing the support).  I now understand.  I'm doing this for her which is even better motivation for me b/c when she giggles later on it'll make me happier.  As for support, I didn't understand the need for it, you just do stuff or you don't.  I don't feel like I need support in a lot of things in my life so I don't ask for it.  This time, however, she asked if I'd be willing to do it and I emphatically said "yes".  When I say this is for her it's not to say that I won't have any benefits nor that I'm begrudgingly doing it.  I'm doing this because I love her and she's asked me for only one thing in 5 years (though technically she did con me into ask me to marry her and that's to be smaller.

Today I'm eating some foods that I won't have for the next 10-60 days.  I don't know what my juicing will look like.  I will juice for 60 days.  I don't know if that will be straight or if I will need to take breaks (for a day) every 15 or so.  I will be posting videos that are much shorter than this blog which will cover my workouts, juices had, how I feel, and more.  My wife will only be doing this for the first 10 days.

Last night my wife and I figured out what juices we would drink from the simple plan (red, orange, green, purple, yellow) and then what ingredients we'd need.  I then went to Wal-Mart (the first time I've been in a Wal-Mart for more than a year) and loaded up my cart with enough veggies to last most of the week.  I say most because we're not sure how much we really needed (how many celery stalks are in a bunch?) so I estimated about 75%.  We'll keep track of what we use and what we have to get extra which will then determine how much we use over the next 7 days.  After that we'll have a much better idea of how much produce will be needed.  While checking out I put beets up (which were wet).  The checkout lady, in a German-like accent, said "thank you for choosing me for all of your wet stuff".  I chuckled, she was adorable.  I couldn't tell if she was joking or not, but I thought it was hilarious.

Photos of the cart, checkout line, table and fridge.