A little nervous.

[ILOVEUSA911]

Hi. I am psyching myself up for this cleansing. I am 51 and about 70 lbs. overweight.

I just had three knee surgeries in 2005 and we lost our home to 30 feet of water compliments of Hurricane Katrina.

Because of the three knee surgeries in one year and being told to stay off of it, I gained 40 lbs. Combine the weight gain with losing our home and you are left with severe depression and very low self esteem.

Being the anal person that I am, I have been reading all day on the internet different opinions about this cleansing process. I haven't come across any that weren't successful yet, but some of the side effects are a little scary. Also, getting through a day without food, much less three, which I think is when most have said the hunger pangs started to disipate has me a little skeptical as to whether or not I can do this.

I guess I'm just looking for encouragement. Someone to tell me I can do this and I can get through the effects that happen from the cleansing.

I'm so happy in my marriage, I have the most wonderful husband, but I'm so unhappy with ever other aspect of my life. At 5'7" and 230 lbs. (the biggest I've been in my life), I feel hideous and rarely want to leave the house.

So I'm praying to God that this is the answer and that he will give me the strentgh and I will have the faith to take the task on to completion.

I want to be the old me. I want to be happy, funny, loving life, always on the go. I know I'm in this body somewhere, I just have to get her out of all of this fat.

I look forward to getting to know some of you and hearing your suggestions and words of encouragement.

Have a blessed evening, Cheri

[Lukymom]

Hi there,

I read your post and I could feel your pain. I am too the heaviest I've ever been in my life, and coming out of years of medication for depression, suffering for pain in my joints, and no self-steem left. Worse, there's nothing in my life to give me a reason to get depressed - I didn't have the surgeries you had and I didn't lose my house. Still, I had that "feeling". I guess it's a family thing since I'm not the only one affected by this horrible illness.

Anyway, I just want to give you some words of encouragement. You can do this cleanse. It's my second time doing it, but the first one doing it right. The first time I didn't know about the salt water flush, laxative tea, etc, and was too lazy to even look up on the internet to get more information. So I took the lemonade and I lasted 5 days on the "diet". Even like that, I lost about 10 pounds, which is a huge thing for me - it takes me forever to lose weight.
But I was feeling depressed after a bad day at work, it was a Friday, and I went right back to eat like a pig again. Of course, I gained all the weight back. Still, I was impressed by the results I saw in a week of being on the lemonade, so I decided to take it seriously and do it the right way.

So I bought the book and I am doing the detox as it should be. I don't agree with everything the book says - for example, I had terrible headaches in the first three days and I never drink or eat things with caffeine because I'm really sensitive to it, so I guess my headache was a detox symptom, but not a sign of caffeine withdrawl as Peter says in his book. Still, the book is a great resource for questions and encouragement, as is this forum.

You can do this. You have the willpower it takes - it's not easy, but you deserve to try this for your own good. It's not that hard either. You'll see: When you feel hungry, you drink the lemonade and the hunger goes away. You will crave food on the first days, but then in the morning you have BMs (several) and your tummy feels so much smaller that you will think food it's not worth that much. Then, if you are like me, by the third day you'll feel like giving up, but since you went through so much trouble already, it doesn't hurt to try another day, and the next day you start to eliminate nasty things (not lemonade for sure!) and then you have all the reasons to keep going.

I am on day 5 and I don't know for how long I'll stay on the MC - ten days at least, for sure. I'm not going to lie; the main reason I am doing this is to lose weight, but the other benefits are just so wonderful that I can't help it and think beyond smaller clothes. I'm off my depression medication for about a month and a half now and thank God I'm feeling fine, but I wasn't sleeping well. I have fybromialgia and I hurt all over. I still feel pain, but I'm sleeping better since I started the MC and the pain is getting weaker little by little. My skin looks great, and usually it's terrible. My face looks youthful and I just feel great, what can I say? :-) I convinced my husband to start the MC too and he started yesterday. Today, his day 2, I can already tell that he looks much better, no kidding! I felt very tired at the beginning and so did my husband, but I think it's the body asking back for all those years of lack of sleep. I didn't sleep well last night and I feel tired today, but amazingly, I feel full of energy, if it makes any sense.

Well, sorry that I wrote too much. It's just that so much happens that is hard to concentrate everything in a line or too. You can do this, and you won't regret. I can be your "MC buddy" if you want - we can give each other encouragement and exchange experiences.

I wish you the best of luck. Trust and believe in yourself. You can do this and you will feel much better about yourself after proving to yourself that you did it, even though it wasn't easy. I believe you!!!

[allison]

Good Morning both of you,
I am on day 14 of my first cleanse. I have had ups and downs throughout it but have not given up. I think if you follow all of Burroughs instructions and do this cleanse properly you will NEVER regret it!! You will, sincerely change an aspect of your life! Not one person who has done this cleanse has been disappointed by its results. This will truly clear your mind and make room for positive growth. YOU CAN and SHOULD do this cleanse!:) :) Your support is here!!

[bayareababe]

omg. do you know how lucky we all are to have this site :)

hey iloveusa... welcome! I am 54, 5 ft 5 and weighed 218lbs, 9 days ago, now I weigh 203! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought how much better I feel and look after 9 days! You can do this if I can do this! Food becomes a non issue when I think of all the health benefits I am doing to jump start the rest of my life . We deserve it! There will be rough patches, but by the next morning they are gone. I swear I had a different detox symptom each day! This board is great for support and information., Use it. There are folks in here that rock and have done several cleanses. Hang on to your hat. you are in for a ride!

babe 8)

[prettyblueeyes]

Lukymom, I am so encouraged to read your post, I too have a long list of diag. including fibromialgia .. which others in my family have as well.. I wish you the best as I am just starting too. I know we can do it, we have too ... aren't you so tired of being sick?... that is why we must.. what is life, if we have to spend it in pain 24/7? LOL, Teran