2010: What day are you on and how are you doing?

[ali.kindall]

So I've been off the cleanse for almost 2 weeks and I figured I'd update everyone just a bit. I have been following my new vegan/gluten-free lifestyle (not perfectly) and I have had amazing results. I was so scared about gaining back my weight, but so far I have only gained 3.5 lbs back since eating solid food and my measurements are just about the same. Which is totally exciting!!!

I've been able to stay away from crappy food alot easier because the cravings are gone. I was super hungry the first 3-5 days after coming off the cleanse, but I just mowed down on fruits, veggies, grains, beans and nuts to get me through without having a weight re-bound and just let myself eat as much as I wanted of that. AND it worked!!

I feel awesome and I kinda can't wait to do another 10 day cleanse in November.

Happy cleansing everyone!

[dollfacegreene]

I just wanted to share some news. I got on the scale this morning and I have lost 7 lbs so far. I started at 154 lbs 9 days ago and now down to 147 lbs. That was my 9th month pregnancy weight back in the 70's. I haven't STAYED at this weight for more than 3 days in the past 10 years. (unpregnant) Although weight loss is not a priority for this cleanse, I still wanted to have an idea what the statistics were. I think I will get my body fat % taken at the gym; I am curious now. My overall weight goal is 130lbs and 19 % body fat, this I prayerfully hope to reach and maintain. Since I am now post menopausal, it seems I have to work so much harder to try to reach and maintain my goal weight. I know I have pretty good muscle tone and definition, you just can't see it all under the fat layer. This year I did P90X classic and lean, BUT DIDNT FOLLOW THE FOOD GUIDELINES. (Told myself I didn't need to. That was a joke.) So I got the muscle definition, strength, balance and flexibility, but not so much fat loss. {P90X is a great workout, BTW}

This is one of the reasons I love the Master Cleanse so much. It really helps you to focus on your relationship with food. I find that I eat just to amuse myself sometimes. BAD REASON TO EAT!! Living in Vegas with all the buffets and locals discounts. HARD TO RESIST!! Trying to keep up with the appetite of a muscle head husband. CAN'T ANYMORE!!! I AM IN STEALTH MODE NOW!! I am sneaking up on my saboteurs and taking them out one at a time. I have 31 days to get my head together so I can survive the holiday season coming up. Especially since I make around 40 sweet potato pies every season(down home country style pies). MY NEW GOAL: Don't use January 2011 cleanse to make up for bad habits of 2010 Holiday Season.

Now that I have confessed to everyone, I must commit to myself. DONE!!!! THANK YOU JESUS!!!!

Hope I didn't bore you with my rambling, that was very therapeutic. Thanks for listening.

[dollfacegreene]

So I've been off the cleanse for almost 2 weeks and I figured I'd update everyone just a bit. I have been following my new vegan/gluten-free lifestyle (not perfectly) and I have had amazing results. I was so scared about gaining back my weight, but so far I have only gained 3.5 lbs back since eating solid food and my measurements are just about the same. Which is totally exciting!!!

I've been able to stay away from crappy food alot easier because the cravings are gone. I was super hungry the first 3-5 days after coming off the cleanse, but I just mowed down on fruits, veggies, grains, beans and nuts to get me through without having a weight re-bound and just let myself eat as much as I wanted of that. AND it worked!!

I feel awesome and I kinda can't wait to do another 10 day cleanse in November.

Happy cleansing everyone!

Congratulations!!! That is wonderful news. Keep it up. That is very encouraging. The timing of your post was a blessing for me. Thank you.

[otis]

Dollface

Hooray for you!!! That is amazing news! You should know that your confessions really mirror how so many of us live. We all have food issues. I'm a foodie. I love food and truly enjoy making great food. I eat when I'm hungry, bored, excited, etc. It's definitely something that's a work in progress for me too. I will admit when I know I am going to cleanse I will binge for 2 days on tons of unhealthy crap that I don't normally eat! That's not good!

I really love this cleanse because it recalibrates my thinking and gets me back to the way I normally eat which is very healthy raw gourmet vegan with seafood added in whenever. I truly love eating this way and I feel so nourished and satisfied that it really discourages me when I venture over to the SAD and unhealthy cooked food because once I start eating it I can't stop. It's very addictive to me. I just know it's not good for me to even dabble in. .

I don't know how you control yourself living in Vegas with all that amazing food! Some of the top chefs in the world have restaurants there! You sound really determined though! Good for you! I find that the longer you cleanse the more determined you are to keep your body clean.

Thanks for sharing with us, you are not alone!

Lynda

[Lahontani]

I am on day five. I am having trouble with acid reflux. Will it go away?

Eventually you will get over the acid reflux permanently. For now, peppermint tea should help, as mentioned earlier. Also try: watering down your lemonade more; drinking slowly through a straw; drinking a glass of water before and after a lemonade; switching to limeade to see if you have less of a reaction. Good luck!

Made it through today pretty good. Debating if I should keep this up? I've lost weight and want to lose more but it sounds like I'm doing this wrong. Going to pick up the book for next time as plan to do this in January. Even though I drank the pulp, used the wrong tea and didin't poop in the evening, I feel really good and cleansed. I feel capable of making it a few moe days. Any opinions?? Happy Friday and labor day weekend.

When you are debating back and forth whether or not to quit, it means: you are not ready to quit. I wrote down the guidelines I use to make that decision and I end up posting some version of it every cleanse. I sure wish we could start our own threads so that I could just send people there. But since we can't - I'll look for it and post it again.

I just finished my 5th Master Cleanse yesterday. ...I had no hunger/apetite on the entire 10 days of this cleanse. I felt as if I could have fasted on water only. Has anyone ever experienced this? I was utterly disgusted by the taste of maple syrup and I usually love it! I wasn't sure what was going on - I just kept on going drinking the minimum number of glasses of lemonade with minimal maple syrup.

Congratulations on another successful cleanse! I have had stretches of time where I had no hunger and generally drank less lemonade than the minimum because I felt no need for it, but never for 10 whole days! It sounds like you've gotten your body really cleaned out and are just maintaining good health at this point. I still have some fat to get rid of before I get to that point. I usually prefer using limes/agave to maple syrup, but I have had cleanses where I suddenly LOVE the taste of the MS, or LOVE lemons instead of limes. I figure I must need some nutrient that's in them but not in limes/agave. The reverse is probably true, too. I know that overeating any one food can create a food sensitivity (allergy) for that food. Maybe this was your body telling you not to take in too much lemon/MS. I'd recommend switching your ingredients back and forth in future cleanses. Best wishes and hope to see you in future cleanses!

On my second cup of lax tea tonight. Hasn't been doing anything for me lately and I'm afraid to SWF tomorrow since I will be up at 5, and then in and out of media interviews and other events for grand opening...I don't know, maybe I'll get up at 4 and try. We'll see how I feel. If the tea does the trick, I may skip it just this once.... Cheeseburger in Paradise! It was not easy.

Good job staying strong at Cheeseburger in Paradise!! That's tempting me HERE, 1000 miles away!! I generally have to skip a few days of the SWF on each cleanse for work reasons...but the tea at night always works for me, so I know I have eliminated at least SOME of the previous day's loosed toxins. Try steeping the lax tea longer to make sure it works. And don't skip the SWF 2 days in a row. Good luck on your grand opening! (What is your new store?)

I feel so bad for a lot of the people who say they have a hard time drinking it? I don't know how you get through the cleanse if you don't like the drink. That's rough. My face has been breaking out like crazy due to the detox and I never break out! So now with all of the stuff I put on it, it's drying up and bright red and tight. Looks horrible but it has to go through this to get to the fresh new skin. I'm making Sunday spa day and giving myself a facial so it will look better and I'll feel better too.

The first time I tried the Master Cleanse, I didn't have the book, so I didn't know we could adjust the cayenne "to taste." I put in the recommended amount and hated the lemonade so much, all I could get down is about 2 glasses a day - I was really starving, but I would rather be hungry than have to drink that horrible stuff! If it hadn't been for Peter's book suggesting limes, and cayenne to taste...and most important, telling me about this BB!!...I would have never made it through even one cleanse. Over time, I have increased the amount of cayenne over what I used to add. I also now love cayenne as a seasoning in most of my regular foods. But I still have a hard time understanding how some people can love it so much they add more, like you do! Yesterday as I was adding cayenne, my son started complaining about it - he said he couldn't stand the SMELL of it - and he was in the DINING ROOM while I was in the kitchen. I was shocked that he could smell it at all from so far away. So there must be something in both of our body chemistry that has some aversion to it.
My face broke out a lot last cleanse and is starting to do it this cleanse now, too. I think it is these old, old toxins being broken out of this old, old fat that is doing it.

I just wanted to share some news. I got on the scale this morning and I have lost 7 lbs so far. I started at 154 lbs 9 days ago and now down to 147 lbs. That was my 9th month pregnancy weight back in the 70's. I haven't STAYED at this weight for more than 3 days in the past 10 years. My overall weight goal is 130lbs and 19 % body fat... I know I have pretty good muscle tone and definition, you just can't see it all under the fat layer. {P90X is a great workout, BTW} ...
I have 31 days to get my head together so I can survive the holiday season coming up. Especially since I make around 40 sweet potato pies every season(down home country style pies).
Hope I didn't bore you with my rambling, that was very therapeutic. Thanks for listening.

That was not boring or rambling! You always have interesting posts! Congrats on arriving at a milestone new weight! I know what a huge boost that is to one's self-esteem! I'm jealous, too, because you are so close to my goal weight for this cleanse: 146 is the weight at which my BMI is officially "normal" not overweight. I was at 152 at the end of last cleanse...sooo close!! But I knew it was time to stop. When I have lost a big chunk of weight, my skin starts to get loose looking...my breasts look "shriveled" and my stomach skin gets flabby. I don't want to loose weight so fast that I have inches worth of hanging skin...so when it starts to look like it's going that direction, I stop and let my skin adjust to its new dimensions for a while. Seems to be working...In the meantime, I am doing what you're doing and working at the fat from the muscle on out - I also have some great muscle tone under this layer of fat...I can see the upper portions of a six pack, but that's it ! Just the top two cans, so to speak. Because I have added so much muscle, I am not entirely sure of my goal weight. Before I had kids my ideal weight was 117. But that was doing low impact cardio (roller-skating at the beach for about 10 miles per day). Now that I work out so much more, I know that I have added AT LEAST 5 lbs. of muscle, which would make my goal 122-123. But it may be more. I figure when I get into the 120s, I will be able to see for myself, or else get my body fat analyzed at the gym, as you plan to do. For now, I just want to get back into the 140s. It's been 13 years since I've weighed that low...and I have my short shorts sitting at the foot of my bed - trying them on every once in a while to see how close I am...still don't have a new scale, so I have to rely on my "skinny" clothes to tell me where I'm at.
I've never heard of the P90X workout before - I'll have to look it up.
But....would you share you sweet potato pie recipe? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE sweet potato pie!! There is a little cajun food restaurant here that makes the best sp pie - but they also charge about $45 to buy a whole pie! He won't give out his secret family recipe, naturally!

----

Day 5. I guess I am really on this cleanse. Lost a half inch in my waist yesterday, so I don't look quite so bloated any more on the upper part of my abs. I hope the lower part catches up today! But my waist is still 1 inch thicker than it was at the end of last cleanse. Need to go down to Trader Joe's today for more agave and that cane syrup blend. I live in a relatively isolated mountain town, so I have to drive down the mountains (into another state) to get my supplies!

[Honey]

Ahuahu -- You said you drink 2 cups of lax tea at night. I thought it was only supposed to be one cup. I did the SM lax tea last night and I started to get cramps again (even though I let it steep a short time) but then they went away.

My husband said that he is eating salad today (2nd day off MC). I had told him to start with broth and soup but he said that's all he had. I hope it's okay on his stomach.

I am trying to stay away from food more and more. I want to go to 22 days and I am on day 12.
I was 153 and now am 140. I want to get to 130. I know I have to exercise more to get rid of my fat rolls on my stomach and places I don't want it, but it's good to know that the weight is coming off. I guess I will have to lose more weight as I know I always gain back about 5 pounds after the cleanse. I know exercising is a key.

Here's a good quote: "Every experience you have is designed to make you stronger."

Thanks for all your posts. They are a great help!

--- Honey

MASTER CLEANSE HISTORY:
10 days 9/06
20 days 10/06
11 days 5/07
10 days 10/07
11 days 2/08
12 days 3/08
14 days 8/08
11 days 1/09
19 days 6/09

"It's always too early to quit!" -- Norman Vincent Peale

[margie5125]

If you feel like you can keep going, I would recommend to keep going. You can start now with the adjustments and do it by the book in January. Since you will potentially gain back a few pounds after stopping, it would be a good idea to keep going to lose a few more. Of course it is your decision, but just think how you would feel 4 or 5 days from now if you stopped now vs kept going. If regret is anywhere in there, do the opposite.

In my cleansing experiences, I also drink the pulp at times, I use Super Dieters Tea instead of Smooth Move and even now I don't poop every evening either. My detox symptoms also vary some what with each cleanse I do. Give yourself maybe 5 more days to 21 doing it the right way and be even more proud of yourself for such great commitment. Congratulations on what ever you decide to do.

If you do all those things too then I'm not very far off track and will stay on it. I have lots of lemonns, limes and maple syrup. I like the way I feel. Thank you for taking the time to write, I appreciate it. Also, decided I'm going to cleanse again end of October. Will keep me out of the Halloween candy.

[Ahuahu]

[SIZE="4"]Ahuahu -- You said you drink 2 cups of lax tea at night. I thought it was only supposed to be one cup. I did the SM lax tea last night and I started to get cramps again (even though I let it steep a short time) but then they went away.

Hi Honey!

I usually do only one cup of the lax tea...last night I did 2 for 2 reasons:
1) the lax tea didn't seem to be working for me recently in that I had no need to eliminate up until the SWF kicked in.
2) I was planning on skipping the SWF as it can take up to 3 hours for me to be fully finished, and I didn't have the luxury of time today.

It worked well! I do have some cramping with the tea; for some reason it doesn't bother me, probably because it goes away as soon as I have a BM. I drink water throughout the night (just sips here and there, maybe 8 oz) so that might help too.

I think there might always be a little cramping, and that's how I know it's working! Tonight I will do one cup and do the SWF in the morning!

[Bridge]

Hello everyone,
I haven't posted anything for a couple of days now. I managed to pass the 10 day mark and heading to 15. Today being the 12th day I have lost a total of 12.6lbs and now at 179lbs. Yeah, I still have some belly fat left but my stomach is way smaller than it used to be. Thought I would go to the gym tonight but I'll just relax.
What is also weird is that I enjoy cooking meals for the family. I think it's the closest I can get to the food without eating it
Congratulations to everyone who has finished their 10 days and to those going further hang in there. This BB is a very helpful place. When I wanted some mental encouragement to begin this is where I came. Hang in there guys.

[lotus]

I completely agree with you about sticking to a diet being more challenging than cleansing! It's much easier to justify "cheats" when you don't set boundaries. This cleanse has been easier than I thought it would be. Tomorrow is Day 7, and after that day it will be my longest cleanse to date!

Congrats on your internal cleanliness. Just curious- what sort of gallbladder/liver flush did you do?

Re. gallbladder/liver flush, I followed the recipes in Hulda Clarke's book "Cure for all Diseases". I plan to do another flush in a week or two... I'm certain I still have more stones... I have been dealing with upper arm pain that only lessened after the flush and not the MC. Keep up with your MC and go as long as you can. The longest I've gone is 20 days and it felt more beneficial than 10. The people who go 40 are amazing! Blessings