My 10 Day Cleanse Experience

Isn't everyone's New Year's resolution every year to lose weight or get in shape? Well, this year I told myself I was going to at least try to work on getting into shape! I have a wedding to go to, a wedding to be in, and who knows what else this year! I don't want to lose a ton of weight, I just want to get in shape and tone up a bit!

My coworker sent me an email to show me this book she was looking into. This was just the motivation I needed to get things started. The book is called The 10 Day Green Smoothie Cleanse by JJ Smith. I purchased the ebook on my iphone and it was super easy to skim through. Basically, you have a different smoothie recipe every day. You drink a smoothie for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can snack on crunchy veggies, nuts, or hard boiled eggs in between to keep you full. You can also drink tea, but they recommend to have no caffeine at all.

I decided to keep record of my days so I can inform others if this really works or not!

There's never and "easy" time to start a cleanse. I kept telling myself that I have "this" event going on and I have "that" dinner to attend. You can't think about that, you need to just start, otherwise you will keep making up excuses and putting it off until you've forgotten about it... so I finally just decided to go for it!

Day 1: (Monday 1/12/15) I had a headache first thing in the morning. Not sure if this was from lack of caffeine or from something else, but it did not make my day any easier :-/

The smoothies were very good and very filling. The snacks in between helped a lot. I mostly had carrots and hard boiled eggs. I had a few cravings, and it didn't help that everyone at my work's lunch smelled amazing! I am addicted to caffeine, so I knew the lack of coffee or any caffeine whatsoever would be a challenge. I decided to drink my non-caffeine AXIO to keep my energy up. This seemed to help a bit.

On my way home from work, I felt wiped! I continued to have an awful headache the rest of the day, and I realized that this was a sinus headache... they are not fun! I couldn't even finish my dinner smoothie and just went to bed.

Day 2: (Tuesday 1/13/15) I woke up with a headache again...this made it for sure that it was not a caffeine headache. I knew this had nothing to do with the cleanse, it was just very bad timing. I felt achey..definitely a little bit of a cold. I wanted to just curl up in a ball and not go to work. I took some excedrin and had some hot tea. I started getting ready for the day and began to feel much better. By the time I got to work, I felt just fine.

Today seemed much easier than day 1 (besides the start of the day). The cravings were still there a little bit, but nothing like day 1. I felt way more alert than day 1, more energetic too. The smoothies kept me full all day. I like to sip on them, rather than drink them quickly. I feel like it makes me more full and keeps my mind off other food.

At night, I met up with friends to chat about my friend Ashley's bachelorette party ideas. Her mom was making dinner and I knew there would be wine too! I thought I was going to have to give in, but decided to bring my dinner smoothie with and sip on it while others were eating. There was pizza, wine, cookies and even some talk about the food that will be at the bachelorette party and wedding. Surprisingly, none of this made me crave food. I was content with my smoothie and it kept me very full yet again. I'd say it was another successful day!

Day 3: (Wednesday 1/14/15) I got home a little late the previous night, so my morning was a rough start. I have been drinking a mug of hot water with a little bit of lemon every morning when I wake up and this helps me get going and energized for the day! The book recommends 2 glasses of water when you wake up! I didn't need any extra snacks in the morning this time and just had my smoothies until after lunch. My Axio seems to save the day every day! I am content with no caffeine!

Day 4: (Thursday 1/15/15) Sometimes my morning wake-up routine involves laying in bed and checking my facebook... and then maybe some pinterest if I really don't feel like getting out of bed. This morning I was on pinterest and after scrolling through several yummy looking recipes, I realized that, normally, I would be craving those recipes and be super hungry after looking at them. Hunger didn't even phase me, and I was shocked!

This day was the first time I stepped on the scale since before I started the cleanse. I don't have a fancy shmancy digital scale, but just one of those dial scales. The first time I stepped on it, it looked like I had lost 5 lbs. I was shocked, so I stepped off and back on again, relaxed, then looked down. I had lost 3 lbs. Not too bad for beginning day four! If anything makes me stop a diet or a cleanse faster, it's not seeing any results, so this definitely helped me stay motivated. The book says your weight will fluctuate and you may see weight gain and loss, so I figured that 3lbs was pretty darn good so far!

Day 5: (Friday 1/16/15) Today seemed just as easy as day 4! I woke up with enough energy to conquer my day!! The days seem to be getting easier, and still, the thought of other food doesn't even phase me. I am halfway through the cleanse and cannot wait to see what the next 5 days has in store...

Day 6: (Saturday 1/17/15) Today's smoothie was by far the best flavor yet!! This one consisted of banana, pineapple, peaches, flaxseed and spinach. Being the weekend, I was a little worried about how it was going to go. The day went pretty smooth and I wasn't too hungry at all. At night, I met up with some friends to celebrate a friend's birthday! I just brought my smoothie along and I was just fine!

Day 7: (Sunday 1/18/15) Sunday is typically my cleaning day. I had all the energy I needed, especially with my Axio to help! Sunday is typically the day I like my coffee the most, but it wasn't needed! Besides the Packers losing in the playoffs :( , the day went pretty well. I haven't stepped on the scale yet since day 4, so I am thinking I may wait another day or so.

Day 8: (Monday 1/19/15) Mondays mean back to work :-/ I still felt pretty awake in the morning and didn't need my Axio until about lunch time. As far as hunger goes, I just munched on my veggies as I was hungry, but overall the day went pretty well again! Only 2 days left!!

Day 9: (Tuesday 1/20/15) By today I am kind of getting sick of drinking my food all of the time. I am still not super hungry, but you know when you have the same of something over and over and you just get to the point where you need to change things up? Well, this is how I am feeling today. I plan to incorporate my smoothies into my days following the cleanse, but cannot wait until I can have something different other than just smoothies, carrots, celery, nuts and eggs!

Day 10: (Wednesday 1/21/15) LAST DAY!!! I can't believe I actually made it through all TEN days without eating anything other than what was in the book! I decided to go with day 6's recipe for today, since it was my favorite and I wanted to have my last full day of the cleanse be the best!! :) The thing that helped me the most was having people in my life that supported what I was doing. If you have people in your life telling you that you can't do it or shouldn't do it, then you most likely won't be able to do it! You need support from those around you in order to be confident in reaching your goal! My family, as well as my boyfriend did the cleanse along with me. They may not have done it as fully as I have, but it helped so much that I wasn't seeing other food around me all of the time. My boyfriend, Conor would typically have a bowl of cereal or some kind of sweet food before bed, and if he continued to do that during my cleanse, it would have been a lot harder for me! I am grateful that he chose to do the cleanse with me and to support me through this.

DAY 11: FIRST DAY after the cleanse!

I woke up feeling great! I had my first meal after the cleanse. Yummy Breakfast: Strawberries, Oatmeal (Steel cut oats, cinnamon & apples), and a small omelette with kale and parmesean. I savored every last bite!!

I weighed myself today (don't forget I have the lovely dial scale, not the fancy shmancy digital scale) and it appeared that I lost about 8lbs. I am assuming this is mostly water weight, but I'll take it. Keep in mind that I did this cleanse without any exercise and without the recommended salt water flush. If I would have exercised and done the salt water flush, who knows how much extra weight would fall off. Maybe next time...

I will continue to incorporate smoothies into my diet and try to exercise more to keep the weight off!

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