Mastercleanse Days 9 & 10

I'm now officially a graduate of the 10 day mastercleanse. =D Yipee!  But that doesn't mean i will not be doing it again.  I actually intend to do it periodically as it definitely is a good way to purge impurities from my body.


i'm glad i did this and i'm also glad that is finally over.  i can now take on the next challenge of maintaining my current weight.  for record purposes, here is an update:


Day 1 - November 28 - 165.8 lbs.
       2 - November 29 - 162.4 lbs.     -3.4 lbs.
       3 - November 30 - 160.4 lbs.     - 2 lbs.
       4 - December 1   - 161.2 lbs.     + 0.8 lbs.
       5 - December 2   - 159.8 lbs.     - 1.4 lbs.
       6 - December 3   - 158.4 lbs.     - 1.4 lbs.
       7 - December 4   - 157.8 lbs.     - 0.6 lbs.
       8 - December 5   - 158.2 lbs.     + 0.4 lbs.
       9 - December 6   - 157.2 lbs.      - 1 lbs.
       10 - December 7 -  156 lbs.        - 1.2 lbs


this means i lost 9.8 lbs. in 10 days!


November 29 - Starting narrowest waist measurement - 36 inches
                         1 inch above belly button measurement - 38 inches


November 30 - Narrowest - 35 inches, no change in the belly


December 3 - Narrowest - 34 inches, belly 36.5


this means i lost 2 inches around the waist and 1.5 inches in the belly area.


i've read that after the mastercleanse you more or less gain back half of what you lost.  so if it's true, it will put me at 160 lbs.  i hope not.  i was and still am hoping i can stay in the 150's this time.


i have yet to update my salt water flush experience [it was ugly] and my observations, opinions on how to do the mastercleanse in a better way.  i will do it in the coming days.


for now, i think i will just bask in my achievement. =D  finally, i won a major battle! against cravings, the urge to munch and the desire to binge, which did not feel like a battle most of the time. ;)


i wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Mastercleanse Days 7 & 8

busy, busy days!

here's what i can add to my mastercleanse record of experiences:

Day 7

i started to drink the juice too late, at noon.  maybe i wasn't hungry, maybe i was tired of the juice already.  wrong move, i felt a bit weak and lethargic.  i made up for it in the afternoon and guzzled down glasses of it and regained my energy.  note to self:  drink up every so often, do not wait till you get hungry, it will be too late.

Day 8 [today]

i'm up to here *grabs hold of the throat and pushes out tongue in disgust* with the juice.  since yesterday, i've had difficulty trying to finish the minimum amount of 60 oz. per day.  i normally had to have 90 oz to keep from feeling hungry.  and now, no hunger pangs, not much juice.  i have no idea if this is okay or not.

i can't add much as i said at the start, today is busy.  i'm still busy. even at 11 in the evening!  see ya tomorrow, Day 9!!!

Mastercleanse Day 6

Today was easy in the sense that i didn't do much of anything that was work-related.  i attended my daughter's family day activity in school and then came home with them early afternoon;  cooked my thankfully-not-over-cured-ham, which i was supposed to cook two days ago; and set the table for a dinner of take-out roast chicken [Chooks-to-go, the kiddos' favorite!]

It was also easy food-wise.  until now i marvel at my ability to say no to every food item that came into my path today.  For example, the lunch buffet, which i had to get for Ate Kat and my son and daughter, was: steaming hot rice, chicken cordon bleu, baked macaroni, pork barbecue, and an array of other dishes i opted not to get.  Oh and did i mention there was lechon also?  i sat with them, fed my daughter, Guela while Ate Kat tried to feed my son, Maxie.  I watched as all the other families partook of the delicious fare.  I sipped my juice contentedly amazed at how my mouth kept from bubbling over with envy.  =P

Didn't i want to eat?  of course i did.  Did i not find the sight and aroma of food tempting?  of course i did.  so what gives?  i had not eaten for 6 whole days!  i must be starving! but i wasn't.

as i try to reflect on my self-control, i am reminded of moments in the past when i see skinny women naturally pass up all the delicious food in front of them and contentedly nibble on greens or sip on hot tea.  and i think to myself, so this must be how easy it is for them.  so this must be how they feel when turning down food being offered to them. without batting an eyelash.  a friend told me this afternoon, as i was telling her about my disbelief at my own self-control, that i was simply determined.

maybe i am.  just that.  determined.  maybe i really am really sick of a bulging belly.  maybe i am really already tired of having to drag around my heavy body.  and maybe i also am sick and tired of looking at the mirror and hating what i see.

i wonder now if i can carry this through.  i actually dread when day 10 comes.  when i have to start eating again.  i honestly never thought i would come this far.  but probably the shame of giving up and failing again [for the nth time] was as much of a motivation to push on.

i know when i started this Mastercleanse i said i was doing it to detoxify my body of all the toxins i've accumulated over the years.  but one strong factor was that it promised weight loss.  and that it was a very good jump start to finally lose some serious excess weight.  i chose this among other ways because i found that everything else i did: exercise, no-rice diet, no sodas just did not work out the way they did when i was much younger.  so i needed a big change, a sort of major-start-over strategy.  hence this.

i still have much to lose in terms of weight.  and i know that one wrong move will mean regaining everything i lost so far in no time, and put me back to square one.  but i do not want to go back there anymore. ever.  right now i feel strong and in control.  what if after this cleanse i will lose all will power and just surrender to my weakness - after all, i am actually one of those people who LIVE TO EAT.  Food is the highlight of my day.

i guess only time will tell.  Day 7, bring it on.

Mastercleanse day 5

Hello Day 6!  it feels great to see you!  =D

Again, i wasn't able to update about Day 5 last night because i came home really late and was too tired to even start up the pc.  It was a day that started at 6am and i had accomplished quite a lot, thank you very much!

So let me start this post with a summary of my weight stats!

Day 1 - November 28 - 165.8 lbs.
       2 - November 29 - 162.4 lbs.
       3 - November 30 - 160.4 lbs.
       4 - December 1   - 161.2 lbs.
       5 - December 2   - 159.8 lbs.

and today, Day 6, i weighed in at 158.4 lbs.  Congratulations self!  Welcome to the 150's! [again!]  The lowest i've been since being on this journey, if i remember right was 157 lbs.  i squandered all the effort i gave to it on the vacation that followed last summer. food trip galore! =P

well i plan to not be as idiotic this time and finally find the perfect balance for myself. [crossing my fingers and  pleading with the scale gods, ha ha]

So, even if i've not been doing a good job of my supposedly day-to-day account of the mastercleanse experience, i really have to say that it is something that changes how you look at food, the act of eating, and your ability to control the urge to eat.  it's difficult to put it into words but i find what i go through, during the process of opting to pick up my jug and drink the juice instead of eating every plate of food i come across with or is presented to me, amusing, enlightening, and purifying all at the same time.

many times during the day, i want to stop for a moment and write down my realizations and discoveries, but the problem is i don't have the time to sit down and write.  anyhoo, i will have to content myself with what comes to mind when i do have the time.

till then...  Day 6, i'm ready for you! =D

Mastercleanse Day 4

today was a very busy day.  cleanse-wise i had no trouble at all.  but i'm too tired to write a long one today so i'll just make up for it tomorrow, okay.

 i was able to take something other than the juice, it was a nice break. =D i had caffeine-free mint tea.

all in all, contrary to popular belief [basing on blogs i have read] day 4 was a breeze compared to the first 3 days. =)

ooh, and i did the salt water flush last night.  it deserves a whole other post, he he.

i also gained 0.8 lbs. when i weighed in this morning.  i find it strange.  what makes it interesting is i lost 1 inch on the belly measurement... i wonder what tomorrow's reading will be.  Day 5, here i come!

Mastercleanse Day 1

So, yesterday i started the 10-Day Detoxification process called the Mastercleanse.

If you read my last post i said i tried to do it for 2 days just to see if i could stand not eating anything solid and still be able to go about my normal routine.  i said it was a breeze and that i felt energized the whole time.

yesterday was not as easy as the first time.  i actually felt hungry often and at times almost forgot i was on the cleanse and thought about where to take my lunch... Good thing i did not totally forget and was able to continue the day successfully.  The drink solved the hunger problem.  Running out of it while away from home made me feel weak.  and what i forgot when i did it the first time was that i had to pee a million times.  It was like i was purging out all the excess water in my body!  it was annoying to have to go to the bathroom so many times but i knew it was doing my body good.  and , warninng: TMI... my pee was aplenty and as clear as water. =D [you were warned. =P]

i weighed myself as soon as i woke up yesterday and found that i was on my heavier side. =P  a whopping 165.4lbs.  what i forgot to do was measure my waist so i did that this morning.  i made 2 measurements:

• the narrowest part of the waist : [brace yourselves] 36 inches
• 1 inch above the belly button: [hold on to your seats] 38 inches

aargh.  i did not want to share that.  but i have to, for record purposes, as i am sure to have forgotten the numbers in 10 days time. =P

i also weighed myself this morning and my scale said: 162.4lbs. Tadaaa!  that's 3 pounds of water or pee, ewww, gross!  i wonder how many liters that means.. can you convert pounds to liters? ;)

i am well aware that whatever i lose during the 10 days can come back a hundredfold.  but i am hoping that the cleansing part of this diet will help me clean up my act and really start eating healthy, read: stay off processed food and drinks!

so i am arming myself with more of the juice today and hope that today will be better than yesterday.  =D

yesterday i stopped taking note of what i ate, instead i just kept on being mindful of what i ate.  taking care to not overeat and continue with my no-white-rice diet.

i also have successfully avoided dessert pastries and i hope i can keep on with my birthday nearing and the christmas season coming in.  i cannot claim that i have stopped drinking sodas and eating sweets altogether but because of the conscious effort i am happy to report that i have kept it at a minimum.

my waterloo instead is my love for starchy food.  the whiter the better, ha ha.  i love rich, dense bread, pasta of all kinds, and yes, white rice.

last night i had a spoonful of it and i was reminded of how comforting and delicious it is when paired with the right food [which simply means everything else].  but i'm glad i stopped myself at that one spoonful.

i also love pork very much, especially when it is tender and with just the right amount of fat.  and pork to me is best paired with white rice.  think lechon and a steaming cup of rice.  or pork tonkatsu as topping to a hot bowl of japanese rice.  or even nilagang baboy isn't complete if you don't have at least a cup of white rice with it.  and chicharon, have you tried it with left-over rice?

according to any and all weight-loss diets ever created and written, this is the most sinful of combinations.  this is the pairing that is so calorie-dense that it will sabotage weeks of conscientious dieting.

so why, oh why is something that tastes so good sooo, sooo bad for us? especially to apple-shaped women like me.  and do you know that whenever i attend parties, i bypass all of the other attractive and dishes served in favor of lechon and plain white rice.  to me, nothing can beat the satisfaction of crunchy roasted pork rind, pure almost bland tender slice of meat and a spoonful of white rice.  with or without the sauce that comes with it, it is perfection.

pardon this rant of a post.  i turned away from succulent lechon being hawked at the mall at dinnertime yesterday and for lunch today i only had 2 rolls of meatless fresh lumpia.  and not even a grain of brown rice with it.

Day 7

of my 30 day challenge.

i wasn't able to update last night because i got home really late.  after watching eat, pray, love.  alone. on last full show.  ha ha ha.  i had a silly grin on my face from when i got up from my seat as the credits rolled, all the way to the almost empty parking lot.  but that story belongs to another blog.  so, on with my 1-day-late report.

so yesterday being a sunday was my cheat day.  but because i had my pilates the day before, it didn't really feel like cheat day.  i don't think i made a huge dent on my diet.

i'm feeling good about my self-discipline when it comes to eating lately  so i think it's time to tighten the belt  so to speak [pun super-intended], so i am going to up the ante on this challenge in a while.

but first,

• at 8 am i had the breakfast of champions and my morning coffee
• lunch at noon was a serving of my left over creamy squash soup over a half cup of corn grits and an egg
• i was famished by 3pm, so i ordered myself a heavy mid-afternoon snack of a big cervelat and a small siding of warm potato salad.  i dredged each yummy bite of sausage with their really good mustard [edmond fallot].  and i had another mug of coffee, this time brewed.
• we had a dinner meeting at a filipino restaurant and i am proud to say that it was not difficult to NOT eat rice.  i had salad greens with mango salsa, a small cup of molo soup, mixed veggies, and a few slices of pata tim. i mopped up the sauce with a slice and a half of the bread that came with it.  the bread was heavenly and i suspected calorific so i stopped myself from reaching for more.

what i learned this week:

1.  that it is INDEED good to write down what you eat.  it helps a lot because it makes you aware of what you put into your mouth.  doing it in a blog makes you feel more accountable even if you know not many people read you.  i did not know that saving-face can be a good weight-loss tool.
2. that you can control how much you eat by pacing yourself.  it is very dangerous to let myself get really hungry because i WILL eat calorie-dense food.  my brain will not function when i am that hungry so i will end up wasting all that effort.  and the self-loathing that comes immediately after sucks big time.  i'm glad i had that occasional banana and cereal bar to tide miyself over to dinner time.
3. that if you have a really light dinner, you have to accept that you should drink something hot before going to bed because you will wake-up in the middle of the night with a rumbly stomach.  by the way, i forgot to write this,  that night i slept hungry, i think the other day, the one where i had salad greens for dinner, i downed a handful of peanuts and a glass of water at 2am, or i wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep.
4. that discipline grows on you.  i said no to dessert so many times this week, i lost count.  i wanted to go for seconds many times but i didn't.  i unintentionally ended up with something sweet [i ordered a cold raspberry green tea, requesting the staff not to add sugar/sweetener] to drink with my salad that other night.  i only drank half of it because they forgot my request, and the i found it too sweet.
5. that it's okay to tweak this challenge if it will make it a better challenge. the tweaks i will post later just because. =P

updates and hitching a ride on the 30-day challenge bandwagon

i've been putting off posting anything because i don't have any good news to tell.  for this week.  nada.  but i finally thought of something which will make me make the obligatory daily post if i wanna win this battle i have staged.

but first let me give you the lowdown on my 1 week of absence:

• last monday i had chest pains which worried me enough to warrant a visit to the OPD.  i underwent some tests and no they did not approve my plans of going to the gym that afternoon
• on tuesday, i had to undergo more tests and being unsure if i was supposed to still rest, i cancelled my pilates session.  i then got my results in the late afternoon and the results are:

my blood sugar is 6.3, which means i'm .2 points over the highest normal

my cholesterol is on the high side

my kidney is okay

my liver is okay

the doctor then asked me to undergo another test for my blood sugar, this time without the need to do any fasting.  he said i can have it done anytime, no hurry.  and so i didn't hurry and now i lost the prescription. dang it!

 the doctor also said to watch what i ate.  to avoid sweets and fried food and to exercise.  i did none of the above this week, [explanation coming in a while].

• on wednesday my daughter's major exams started.  this meant a change in routine, more exposure to the intense tropical sun [i had to wait for her in the school canteen until she finished] equals, i was totally drained of energy by noontime. and of course i said no way jose to the gym.
• on thursday, the preparations for 2 major work activities were in full swing and i absolutely was not abandoning tasks in favor of the gym.
• on friday, i was up to my neck with work until the sun set so again... you already know what did not happen
• and today, was also work-filled for our BIG monday activity so you guessed it... no pilates!!!  and by the way, yes the left knee is still a problem, but less so.

am i pissed off at myself?  noooo.  to be honest, i don't want to beat myself up about my lack of gym time because i absolutely loved every minute of missing it! ha ha!

sigh.  more and more i see how this gym thingy has no place in my life right now... what to do, what to do??? i asked my self as i lay down my overweight self on my bed every night.

and tonight it finally struck me!  i am going to do the no-carbs/no sweets- if-no-exercise-30-day-challenge!  my challenge title is so lame, i know, but it is what i thought of doing.  i will not allow myself to eat any carbs or anything sweet if i don't spend at least an hour of exercise the day before.  so if i don't work-out on monday, i can't have even my brown rice on tuesday. and so on and so forth.  and of course, my cheat day will be on Sunday, which is tomorrow by the way, yipee!  [am i the luckiest challenge-taker or what!]

i figured that, even if i miss a lot of gym days, i punish myself by not eating "indulgent" food.  so i lose weight either way, by burning calories or by reducing my calorie intake.  so i win any which way right?

if it still isn't obvious how desperate i am, i don't know what more to do.  the other night i just wanted to call it quits.  write down my last post, wave the white flag, and let go of my pathetic attempt to get back in shape.


So,  whaddaya think?  will this love for carbs and sweets make me exercise daily?

this is how it's gonna work:

1. i start on monday.
2. i'm gonna post here everything that goes into my mouth for that day.
3. i'm gonna post if i exercised or not and if yes, what form of exercise i did for the day.
4. i am not going to lie.  i promise.
5. i am going to bore you because i will post the food details and the exercise details every single day
6. i will do this for 30 days so that means the challenge ends on November 18, 2010.

so, i ask you, my dear reader, not to laugh, nor snicker.  i ask you to wish me luck,  pray for me,  be my challenge-police.  be my anything, please, anything that will help me move forward.

if any of you want to join me in this challenge, please speak up so i can be your one-woman-cheering squad, if need be. =D

So help me God.

three things

1. i gained weight instead of losing it.  i gained 5 pounds in 1 week.  this better be pms or else i'm gonna blame it on the cardio work-outs. [of course i can't blame it on the food i've been ingesting]
2. my left knee still hurts, but i'm gonna do the treadmill just the same, tomorrow.
3. i made a deal with the hubby, starting tomorrow, we start eating healthy.  and no complaining allowed!
4. i'm going to go crazy if i gain another 5 pounds when the week ends.

okay, that's 4 things.  i'm just so mad right now.

p.s.  pilates was a breeze today.  of course i still thought i was gonna die after each set but i definitely cursed less. 

2-inch heels, a bad knee, and in need of advice

i bought 2 pairs of strappy 2-inch heeled shoes.  they were customized, hence the supposedly mere 2 inches.

but me, being the fitflop mommy, clicked my knee not even 2 hours after i started wearing them.  i was walking from the car to the bank and i heard my knee click or crack or probably snap.  whatever.  it happened yesterday.  and until now my knee still feels painful.  i don't know if it is because of bad bones or my legs being really ignorant when it comes to heeled shoes.

so we had to work-out around the bad knee at pilates class today.  i'm planning to just brisk walk on the treadmill tomorrow, at most.

or is there a safer way to burn calories?  i would appreciate if you can help me before tomorrow afternoon comes.

committed and hopeful

it's so easy to brush off your work-out schedule when all the other aspects of life demand your time and presence.  it's so easy to say that worrying and stressing about all your activities coming one after the other because there aren't enough hours in the day is a VALID REASON to put off working out for yet another day, [again!].

i did that last week.  and i let it happen the week before that.  in fact, i've been doing just that for so many years now.

and now, i see what years of neglect has done to me.  everyday, i suffer the consequence of having so many excuses not to exercise. i have to look at the mirror too you know. =P

but this week i put my foot down.  i stuck to my plan with all my might and i treated each work-out session as if it was the most important thing i was going to do that day, not the meeting with my colleagues, not the errands, not even relaxing time with my newly-arrived hubby. [yes, and i am sure he is OKAY with it. he he.]

i did not cancel on myself.  and i am happy, and proud, and hopeful.

i am hopeful that the image looking right back at me from where i run on the treadmill will not look as sorry ass it did today.[lol, i couldn't help it. =P]

i am hopeful that someday i will float and stand like everybody else in spinning class and not have to endure the pain of the seat pushing against my butt [seriously!] because it is too heavy for me to lift[my butt, not the seat].

and i am hopeful that as the weeks pass, each day will get more challenging but not pathetically so.

tomorrow i have pilates.  and on saturday, my third gym session for the week.  i am indeed hopeful.

i survived...

...my pilates class.

it was tough for 2 reasons:

1. i return from a week of absence.
2. i only had 4 hours of sleep, and i need 8 to not turn into princess fiona.