Adventures From the NH Seacoast to the Jersey Shore

It is hard to believe but i have made it to day 14 (including the ease out period of 2 days). In the end I have shed 17lbs and I have given my body and day to day existence the jump start it has needed for some time. I do not know many people that could go through this, but if you are determined to make a change then there is no reason why you cannot succeed. Like anything else in life, it is a matter of setting a goal that is challenging, yet attainable.

I first heard about the master cleanse in the summer, did some research and decided after Labor Day, when the kids are back in school this is what I am going to do. It was an interesting journey as I prepared my daily potion and ended each evening with an all cleansing salt water flush. I will not miss downing the salt water mixture and running to the john 45 minutes later each night.

Overall I am very pleased with the results as I have dropped some serious lbs. and have a renewed sense of energy in my day. the only thing that did not happen as I expected was the “cleanout” of my insides. Maybe I was not all that bad to begin with? Not quite sure but I am not going to stress about it. I have just launched a message board for master cleanse related topics here.

Now I am embarking on the first phase of the South Beach diet. I will chronicle my journey here with some hopefully interesting and insightful posts. A South Beach diet message board is also available here.

I broke down this morning and had to hop on the scale. Going into my 11th day I have dropped 13lbs! I new I was losing weight but did not expect to see that much. I think I am going to stop this at 14 days as I am really missing the act of eating and tasting food. Making the kids homemade pizza’s tonght and it is killing me I wont be able to have any.

I guess I’ll start my entry for Day 8 with the a tale from the end of day 7.  I had to meet a client after dinner time (note I said dinnertime) getting home around 9;45pm.  I went right to my SWF for the day and then proceeded to assume the lie-on-the-right-side position on the couch to wait the usual 30-45 mins for things to get going.  Well I woke up at 1:45am shitting my pants(figuratively) because I was afraid I had done just that!  Was worried more about the couch that my pride at that point.  Miraculously, I was able to keep everything in during my slumber.  I ran to the can thinking it was imminent..but nothing.  My body must have absorbed it.  Go figure.

Day 8 has been real good.  Energy level still sky high, still not hungry at all but I will admit to really really really looking forward to eating something just for the taste, smell, etc..  I have decided to push this to 14 days which will be next Monday.  I do not want to end on Thurs, to have to ramp up to nomal food over the weekend.  I will go to Monday…ramp up over the week and then celebrate my victory with a very tasty meal.  Might be something up at the club or maybe a chilli dog over at Gilley’s. 

Read on another board about you temperature going down during this.  Mine is 97.6, must be the reduction in metabolism.  Also for those of you out there doing this…bright-dark piss means you are not getting enough fluids.  Was on conference calls all day and really did not drink much resulting in the same thing as this past weekend.

Today has been like the past number of days.   Did the juice thing, was not hungry and had great level of energy.  Was very excited today to put on a golf shirt (that I got yelled at for wearing a couple weeks ago because it looked to small on me) and have it fit nicely.  I have still not weighed myself.  Maybe I’ll wait till day 10 to do it.  I am actually contemplating going beyond 10 days since I am in such a groove right now with this thing.  If I do I am going to definately add more excerise into my daily regimen as I want to make sure that my metabolism is up when I come off the cleanse…as I have read the weight gain after coming off is due in great part to your body downshifting during the cleanse.

I will admit to picking up a piece of french bread off the counter and taking a look sniff.  I call it a Food Hit(tm)… and yes I inhaled  ;-).  Not sure if that is cheating; but certain foods smell so very good.  I may have to come off the cleanse just to enjoy good foods again.

Gotta run out and meet with a client, let’s see how I feel when I get home tonight.

Kinda of a weird and tempting day today.  Day started off with a bright orange piss in the am.  Had no idea what was going on..but after some Googles I found that this could be a sign of dehydration.  I really did not drink that much water on Saturday so I made sure I got some fluids in me quick and throughout the day..worked like a charm.

Still feeling well, but had a very large challenge ahead of me as we took the kids to the Seafood Festival down at the beach.  Walking through the tents of lobster rolls, frid clams,clam fritter, sausage subs and fried dough was providing sensory overload.  The smells were so good but I stayed true and did not get hungry.  I am really looking forward to eating solid food soon just for the anticipation of having those tastes.  I am expecting that I am going to savor my meals more and hopfully this will be a postive change in the overall plan to move forward with my future dieting habits.   I’ll post on that in a few days.

The remnants of Hannah sped through yesterday so the lousy weather provided perfect conditions to go and play in the 1pm tournament @ the dog track. Strong showing of 146 players and I was very happy with my play reaching 12th place and into the money. After eight hours I got knocked out when I was down to a single $1K chip (enough for the Ante) and my chair. There was a guy in the tournament that never played live before that I got fairly aggravated with when we had someone all in and he bet into a dry side pot with nothing but an open ended straight draw. He did not understand the nuance of just trying to eliminate people from the tournament and two hands have a better shot than one. Sure enough I was forced to lay my AK down and the all-in ended up winning the pot…he would have chopped it with me otherwise. Funny part of the story is that afterwards we all explained the strategy to him…and I thought he got it. We’ll when I was down to my last chip, and all in, this guys bets into the dry side pot again, chasing everyone away. This time I was loving the guy as he provided me with the isolation I needed to possibly stay alive. The guy didn’t get it but I was okay with it this time. He had 10-J, same as last time. Must have been his favorite hand. I hit my 9 on the flop…he drilled his 10 on the river and that was it.

This poker tournament fell on day 5 of my cleanse. Once again, I was not hungry at all all day, even with guys snarfing cheeseburgers and onion rings all around me. Smelt real good..but I did not crave. Was very conscious about my breath (as it has gotten stinky) so I picked up some of those Listerine breath strips and that seemed to do the trick. I had a couple of bottles of water and in hindsight should have drank a lot more during the day. I did not stay as hydrated as I had in previous days so i skipped the SWF (will do it tonight). Good thing as I think I may have been a little dehydrated. Day 6(am) my piss was a really dark orange, almost red color. Kinda freaked me out.

Still have not weighed myself…will do it first thing tomorrow am.