Weight Loss Project - Day 7

I am pleased to report that I have lost 4.9 pounds in 7 days. I did not start my modified juice fast until the first week was well along, so I'm very happy with the results. My wife has joined me on the juice fast too. She started yesterday, and I appreciate her help cutting fruits and vegetables. We made a full 2.5 quart pitcher of vegetable juice yesterday in about 15 minutes, including cleanup. So I don't think anyone should blame lack of time for their failure to do this.

Now, about that 4.9 pounds. It is legitimate weight loss, but there is no way to say how significant it may be. Generally, health care professionals agree that 1.5 to 2 pounds per week is a good target for healthy weight loss, but that is with diet and exercise, and it is over a very long period. Not a weight loss project, but a change of lifestyle. What we are doing is more concentrated or focused, and from some points of view, a bit more extreme, though we are still eating one "normal" meal each evening. I expect the pounds to fall off at a faster rate early in the program, and taper off after the first 10 days to two weeks. We may decide to continue beyond that, up to three full weeks. That is a bit of a challenge, I admit it. Several times each of the last two days I wanted a double cheeseburger with everything right in the middle of the day. Instead I drank my vegetable juice and went back to work. About an hour later I felt a bit hungry, so I drank a large glass of water. The hunger went away. I can tell you that I look forward to my evening meal though!

It is worth mentioning here that losing weight is only one of my goals. As my doctor says, nothing much good happens over 200 pounds. With that in mind, one of my goals is to reduce my blood pressure, and another is to have more energy. I did feel more energetic throughout the day today, and I must say that I slept unusually well last night. But what about after the weight comes off? That's where the real test comes in. In order to maintain my new weight, it will be necessary to continue to eat healthy, balanced meals and to exercise regularly. For me, that should not be too hard, since I have been doing that most of my life. The weight I have put on crept up very slowly for the last 25 years, and especially over the last 10 after I quit playing racquetball two or three times a week. A torn ACL and long recovery from knee surgery was good for about 15 pounds all by itself. But I am staying fairly active even without racquetball. The real problem has been that my appetite didn't seem to understand that my activity level had changed, so I was consuming calories I couldn't burn. Doing a juice fast is an opportunity to recalibrate your metabolism and start fresh. Even if you only do it for a week, you will benefit in many ways. My plan is to do it for two weeks, and perhaps repeat it again in the summer. Now that my wife has decided to join me though, we might just stick with it the whole three weeks. Misery loves company.