I’m on the Juice Train Now! Juicing Week 5 Update

Jackson and I are on a 6 week juicing challenge, we have rounded the last corner, in the homestretch now!  If have missed how the first four weeks have gone, no worries, jump right in & see how we are doing!  We are ‘easing’ into juicing.  Easing has not been that easy though!  I’m spilling all the details. 

Week 5 is in the bag, we only have our last week to go!  I cannot believe how fast the time has gone.  For our final week, we have decided to ramp up the challenge.  We are going to have juice for one meal 5 days in our final week (week 6) and on the last day (Saturday) we are going to have only juice, no food!  We wanted to go out with a bang, and this will definitely be a bang!

But back to week 5; we are really sailing now!!  We had a juice for a meal on 5 days, I did my 3.5 hours of exercise with 2 lifting days and I mostly ate better for lunch.  I felt like total victory this week!!!  (one small exception is confessed below):

The biggest issue this week is working on how to fit juicing into our lives so it works for both of us.    Jackson would rather have juice for breakfast, but I already have a breakfast solution (shakes)…. What to do….  To be honest I have not been a good compromiser on this.  (This is not all that easy for me to admit, but it is definitely true.)  Juice for dinner really works for me, especially with my shakes for breakfast.  I need to figure out how to be more flexible with him because for months I have been nagging him (what, me nag??) about coming up with a solution for breakfast.  For him, it is so easy to jump to fast-food in the morning.  If juicing in the morning will help him break that habit, I need to find a way to make it work at least some of the time.  In general, I am not a very good compromiser.  I should be working on finding ways to actually compromise.  I usually spend my time finding ways for Jackson to be ok with my side… Not cool...  I don’t like to admit I am this shallow, but maybe if I put it out there to the universe, I can actually work on getting better…..

Wins of the Week:

• We tried our first yellow juice!  Both really liked it - a little too acidic though - & it gave Jackson pretty bad heartburn :(  
• We tried another yellow juice (2 in one week!) and it turned out to be Jackson’s favorite so far – Mexicali – so it really paid to branch out!
•  I left 60 minutes of my 3.5 hours until Friday night (I knew we had plans Saturday and there wouldn’t be any time).  The last thing I really wanted to do was an hour workout Friday night after work, but I did it.  I also chose a really tough one (Les Mills Combat 60: Extreme Cardio Fighter)
• This is a win, but in full disclosure I was totally cranky about doing this workout....  At least I did it!
• We did manage to find the ability to be flexible and still meet our goal.  We changed our plan on Wed & went out to eat instead of juicing and moved the juice day until Friday.  Worked for both of us!

Have you tried juicing yet?  Let us know!

Life in the Green Room

Keep on Juicing! Juicing Week 4 Update

If you have been following along, Jackson and I are on a 6 week juicing challenge.  If not, no worries, jump right in & see how we are doing!  We are ‘easing’ into juicing.  Easing has not been that easy though!  I’m spilling all the details.  The good, the bad, the ugly/angry etc.  Follow our journey!  Let us know if you want to try anything like this!  (or if you have, what you think!)

So we crossed another milestone & we are now staring down the finish line of our juicing challenge.  We finished week 4!  This week my goal was to have a juice for a meal 5 days a week and to workout for 3.5 hours.  Bumping up the workout to 3.5 hours was tough!  It equals to 30 minutes every day and as I have no desire to be a crazed workout person (no offence, if you do work out every day -  you are amazing!) I had to bump up the time to get it in!  It required a lot of planning & tracking.  I really want to continue with the lifting too b/c I feel like such a weakling lately (I used to think I was really strong!)  I think I have let all my muscle turn into fat, so I need to start to process of turning it back!

This week we finally fell into a rhythm for juicing.  I guess there is truth about it really taking 21 days to form a habit.  The first 3 weeks were a complete struggle.  We have figured out how to pick the juices, plan our grocery shopping (including making one big crock pot or equivalent meal so I have lunches to take).  These seem simple, but the first few weeks, we turned these into monumental tasks!!

We tried to get out of it once or twice, but, in general, we are in a rhythm.  I think we both are too stubborn to not finish at this point.

Juicing in place of a meal is still tough, but I think this was the easiest week so far.

We had a few juices that were really tough this week.  We both decided we really hate the juices with cucumber.  I think we'll sub cucumber for celery or more spinach in the future - we literally choked that one down.  We also had one called Lemon Lime & Bitters.  It was terrible.  It was so tart with the lemon & lime.  It was out of control!  I wish I could have videoed Jackson’s face on his fist sip.  It was a pucker face like you've never seen!

Wins of the week!

•          Something came up & we really wanted to eat out a night that was supposed to be a drinking night (ha I mean juicing night!).  We found a quick resolution & had juice for breakfast.  (this is not perfect because I like to have smoothies for breakfast, but it worked in a pinch to help us stay on track!)
•          I finally lost a few pounds.  I lost 2 pounds this week (first since we started juicing and a total of 7 since starting watching health in May) so I am not lighting the world on fire but I’m still counting this as a win
•          We tried some tougher juices (as noted above!)  We are getting so brave now J

I’m starting to feel pretty proud about how we are completing the challenge & starting to think about our sustaining plan.  What will we do after this 6 weeks is over?

I have had more energy and maybe only one night since we started did I go to bed feeling overly full.  I think that is one key reason I can sleep better.

Did you try it yet?  Let us know!

I know this juice looks like a gross color, but that's the thing, it's actually quite good!  In fact (with the exception of the juices with cucumber & beet) they have all been good!

Life in the Green Room

What Type of Eater Are You? And Why you Should Care

Abstainer vs. Moderator?  Which are you? (& who cares?).  Trying to understand triggers a little more is helpful to purposefully making changes in your eating habits.

I am an abstainer through and through!  When people say, only eat when you are hungry, how do you react?  To me, this is completely impractical advise (almost insulting!).  It feels like advice that in no way relates to me.  Its like saying 'don't check your phone' when you are waiting for the new guy you're dating to text you.  Not.. gonna.. happen...  

Recently I was listening to a podcast called Happier by Gretchen Ruben and she was reviewing the concept of Abstainers vs. Moderators.  The moderators are the lucky ones that can truly one eat when they are hungry or can only eat a 1/2 bag of M&Ms or 4 crackers.  (I guess I assume they are lucky because it is so far from my world!)  1/2 bag of M&Ms, please, I'll take 2 bags!  

Abstainers are the ones who cannot have it in the house...anywhere…. Or they will find it & eat it.  (This is totally me!)  Anyway the podcast was talking about coming up with resolutions when you have Abstainers and Moderators living in the same house and what will allow both to be successful.  I discussed this with Jackson.  We are definitely both abstainers, but the challenge is some of our food triggers are different.  I cannot have most chips or salty snacks in the house, he cannot have any sweets around.  So, we have landed on having neither.  

It sucks sometimes, but it is getting us to eat slightly healthier snacks.  Step in the right direction!  Are you an abstainer or a moderator?

Life in the Green Room

I’m on the Juice! (the legal kind) Week 3 of our Juicing Challenge!

Have you ever thought about juicing?  Are you looking for a new thing to try to mix up your diet?  Jackson & I have been on a 6 week program to ease into juicing.  I’m spilling all the details.  The good, the bad, the ugly/angry etc.  Follow our journey!  Let us know if you want to try anything like this!

So we have officially made it with 3 weeks of juicing for one meal / 5 days a week.  Half way to our goal.  Go Team Go!  Feeling pretty proud to have cleared the half way mark on our journey. 

Each week is presenting its own challenges though, so I’ll dive into the details.

For week 3 the challenge on top of juicing was to work out 2.5 hours and to eat no fried foods.  If you remember from week 1, I was basically eating an entire day’s worth of calories at lunch, so it was no big deal that I had to have juice for dinner.  (By the way, it is so easy to say ‘no big deal’ in hindsight.  During that week, I, in fact, did think it was a very big deal!)   So this week I wanted to keep up with the exercise, and slowly start to eat better.

Week 3 started out with a little drama because our juicer quit working at the end of week 2.  So we had to rush to take care of this.  It was so tempting to use this as an excuse to not stick with our six week challenge!  Luckily Jackson and I took turns being the voice of reason.  One of us would say, let’s give up & throw in the towel, and the other would be like ‘No Way! We just spent $200 on a juicer or You can give up, but I’m gonna do it – I’ll just buy the juice at Whole Foods etc.’  (We're both really competitive so this kind of strategy works!)  So we got the juicer back on track without missing any days!  We were back in business by Monday.  This did mean we had to do 5 days in a row though, a first for us!

Sunday night I was cranky (again) b/c I snacked too much & then I agreed to go to dinner instead of juicing Sunday night - it was too easy to blame the broken juicer.  So I started out the week a little crabby.  I was not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel I felt at the end of the week!

This week has been tough because I have been legitimately hungry, for the first time in our juicing challenge.  I think this is because I have really had reasonable lunches.  (Reminder: last few weeks I was basically eating an entire day's worth of calories at lunch so having juice for a meal was a mental challenge, not a hunger one)  This week I have had small reasonable snacks in the evening after my juice because my stomach has been growling.  I still consider this a win because it is in the absolute spirit of what we are trying to accomplish.

I slept great!  I have had more energy to get up early.  This is key b/c I like to work out or work on this blog in the morning before work.  When I can't drag myself out of bed early, I tend to be cranky because I start the day off behind my goals. 

Wins of the Week!

·         We are not feeling weird from the juice anymore.  We are also getting more on board with some of the juices that are not mostly fruit.  Tons more spinach & carrots!

·         So proud of us because we bought a Sam's Club container of spinach & used it in 3 days!  We usually end up wasting those! 

·         Made my 2.5 hrs of exercise - one walk & 2 zumbas!  Plus another day of running around after my nephew and dancing at a wedding, so felt really great about my activity level!

·         Started to feel sick after having processed sugar (was ice cream & coke).  Not sure if this is a win or not???  But a noticeable difference.

So I think the challenge has been harder this week but I think I am seeing more of the benefits I was hoping for.

Let me know what you think about juicing?  Have you tried it yet?  Any questions?

Life in the Green Room

Juicing Week 2:

So I’m jumping right in!  We have been finding our groove with the juicing thing!

Week 1 we met our goal to have juices 5 days a week for one meal!  Wahoo, we are on a roll now, only 5 more weeks to go!  I had my 2 days off (no juice meals) on Friday & Saturday.  Believe it or not, I was actually looking forward to getting back to having juice as a meal on Sunday.  It was making me feel better!

My challenge for week 2: Have Juice for a meal for 5 days + exercise 2.5 hrs.  We have also modified our behavior and are having 1 juice for dinner (vs. 2).  As we start to eat more sensible lunches, we may move back to 2 juices at night, especially if we need the calories.

I am excited to say, I was able to hit this as well.  I still had a fairly loose policy about eating whatever I wanted for lunch.  I am hoping to build up over time to eat something normal (in terms of healthiness and portion size) for lunch while having juice for dinner.  I am trying not to beat myself up though and I’m trying to let my body get adjusted to juicing slowly!

So my week 2 finding for juicing:

Anger – this was my absolute major challenge during week 2.  I was not hungry, but I was angry.  I am still having major anger issues about juicing & dieting in general.  I am trying to figure out why I feel so furious that I have to tackle and try to lose weight.  I really just want to be fit, healthy, thin, in shape etc while eating whatever I want (don’t we all!).  I feel like I am being punished to have to focus on my health & even more punished that I have to juice & cannot even eat real food.  This was the most pronounced anger after I ate the worst lunch of all time - I had a patty melt, fries, coke & a cookie - literally I couldn’t have made a worse choice in the cafeteria.  Then, when I went home I was furious (not hungry) that I have to watch what I eat at all….

I want to be healthy, but I seem to behave in ways that are not consistent with this.  And then I get angry about it.  This is really not fair because no one is making me eat anything!  I just think that wanting it bad enough should be enough!  I have really developed a negative attitude about it.  This is something I really hope to work on over the coming weeks.  Jackson has some great coaching on it.  (Although, if I’m totally honest, I do not always appreciate his coaching when I’m angry!  Ha!)  I have such a negative talk about health and food.  Example: I don’t want to be tired or sluggish.  I don’t want to worry about what I eat. I hate that my clothes don’t fit etc. etc. etc.  His point is to at least talk about it from what I do want.  Reference how I want to feel, what I want to do etc.  I can argue that this is petty, but I know it’s the right approach.  I’ve read too many books that talk about how you talk to yourself filters into you actions in your subconscious.  I can’t afford for my subconscious to be against me!

I am really looking for a way to take control of my health once and for all!  No more yo-yos!  In order to do this, I think I’m gonna really have to get inside my head (a scary place!).  I’m gonna have to finally understand why I have such a messed up relationship with food and sort this shit out!

I know what foods are good for me and what foods are not.  I also know a shake from a fast food restaurant can have 1,000 calories.    I can always learn more about nutrition and I want to keep getting smarter here, but I think the bulk of my learning needs to be internally vs. externally focused.  I have a lot of 'opportunities' (code word: work) to do here!

So, please don’t let this scare you away from juicing if it is something you are interested in.  I was not angry for a week straight (I promise!) but it is something that I must take on to make progress!  It was the most pronounced negative feeling about juicing that I had during week 2.  

Life in the Green Room

Love & Hate this Article.... You??

http://iambeggingmymothernottoreadthisblog.com/2013/06/24/twelve-habits-of-happy-healthy-people-who-dont-give-a-shit-about-your-inner-peace/

I read this article and I had completely mixed emotions!
I am dying to know where other people weigh in!

The gist is: Do whatever you want!  And don't worry about what other people think! (& no one really gets to take these serene pics in the article!)

One one hand, I can totally get behind the second part, if you are able to let go of what others think, you can actually focus on yourself and your relationships and really lead the life you want.  LOVE IT!

On the other hand, I really cannot get behind the Do Whatever You Want part of the message!  It talks about making it your life, do what you want.  Sounds great, but the examples are like, if you want a cheeseburger have one!  If I'm honest, doing whatever I want is how I ended up here.  (Here, being a place where I'm I really need to work a LOT on my health).

For me there has to be some middle ground to be happy and healthy.  When I hear 'Do Whatever You Want', I hear (interpret): Free for all!  Calories Don't Count!  This will not go to your hips!  This will not make you tired later etc. etc.

So I'll continue I'll focus on 'Doing Whatever I Want' in terms that work for me!

Life in the Green Room