My Juice Cleanse: The Aftermath.

Where we left off, it was the evening of Day 3 (my final juice cleanse day) and I still had 3 bottles to go for the day.

Well.....I never drank any of those 3 bottles.  Instead I ended up with a glass of wine and a handful of veggie stix.

Shocked, aren't ya? ;)

So here is my synopsis of my 3-day juice cleanse by Raw Generation.

Day 1 (detailed here):  I was STARVING and really wondering why I had agreed to do a cleanse to begin with.  I didn't want to back out, but I wanted to eat everything in sight.  As in EVERYTHING.  I daydreamed about food.  And I wasn't loving the juices.  A few of them were okay, but the green ones were hard to swallow.

Day 2 (detailed here):  I was a MUCH happier camper.  I woke up early, feeling great, wasn't that hungry all day (except right at mealtimes), and the juices were easier to swallow.  I skipped 2 juices and ended up with wine and veggie stix in my hands later in the evening, but ah well.

Day 3 (detailed here):  Day 3 was pretty much the same as Day 2 - I woke up early, happy and not hungry.  I felt great, and even better, I felt skinny.  The juices went down like nothing.....I drank the green juice right out of the bottle with zero problems.  It didn't even make me flinch.  And even though at mealtimes I was craving pizza, I didn't eat any pizza.  I did eat some lettuce, tomatoes and guacamole for lunch (fruits and veggies are "allowed" on a juice cleanse, as that's what the juices are made of anyway) and I sliced up a tomato and had that for dinner.  I ended up skipping THREE of the juices that day and managed instead to find a glass of wine in one hand and a handful of veggie stix in the other later that evening.

These are our faves.

So I didn't follow the cleanse EXACTLY like I had planned......I ate a few meals (of veggies) and ate fruits in between juices (apples, plums, grapes, etc).  And of course we all know I broke into the wine and snacks two of the three nights.  I had planned to go all out and do the juices and ONLY the juices.  But ah well.  I read that some people choose to juice during the day but then have dinner at night.  Some companies even have packages that are geared towards that idea.

If you had asked me on the evening of Day 3 (Thursday) if I would ever do a juice cleanse again, I would have told you no, simply because I just REALLY like food and hated not eating it.  Even though I felt fantastic during the last 2 days, I still couldn't wait to eat a meal once it was all over.  And on Friday, I did just that.  I had a juice for breakfast (from my leftover/skipped juices) and then had a salad, a side of crab salad and a few slices of pizza for lunch.  And then I ate a salad with grilled chicken for dinner.  So I didn't go crazy, but I did really enjoy my pizza.

I did NOT eat that......but OMG!  YOU NO POOP FOR A WEEK!!

But now that I am on Day 3 post-cleanse, my tone has changed.  The past 3 days have felt both rough on my body and rough on my self-esteem.  I lost 2.5 pounds during the cleanse (mostly water weight, I'm sure), but my weight shot back up (and plus some) INSTANTLY after I started eating meals again.  Granted, it wasn't like I went back to eating just raw fruits and veggies......I was hungry for something good and felt like I was in need of carbs and protein, so I had pizza on Friday and Mexican on Saturday (along with some other random tidbits).  But I've also felt tired and lacking energy and nowhere NEAR like I felt those last 2 days of my cleanse.  Of course, I've also been bartending and working late nights all weekend (and will be doing so again tonight), so that's played a part, but I can't use it as a full excuse.  I know that part of the reason I've felt so rough is due to some of the heavier food I've put in my body.

So would I do a juice cleanse again?  Eh......maybe.  The way I felt during the cleanse vs the way I've felt the last few days has made it super appealing.  But juicing is really pricey and actually pretty controversial among those in the health/nutrition field.  I didn't pay $60/day for my cleanse, but that's the standard rate.  I also only cleansed for 3 days, not 30, 60 or even 90 days like some of the extreme plans out there.

So with that being said, would I instead try a raw foods diet, which is kind of like juicing but with chewing involved?  Ehhhhhh........I don't know.  I really don't care for strict diets.  I can't even imaging juicing for more than 3 days.  I love food too much, plus the norm for extreme diets is that you either pack the weight back on after you stop dieting or you damage your body by depriving it of whatever you're depriving it of.

Which is why I love Weight Watchers.  There's no strict dieting involved.  Just SMART dieting.  And for the first 8-10 weeks, I was really good at it.  I need to get back on that "really good at it" wagon again!

So there it is.  Three days of juicing in the books.  I'm on the fence about whether or not I would do it again, but I DO really want that skinny-feeling, super energetic person back that entered my body for 2 days!