Cleanse Day Three

Results from our 3 day cleanse:

• My husband lost 4.5 lbs
• I lost 5.4 lbs

Woohoo!  That is an average of 1.8 lbs a day for me.  I lost 3.6 lbs on Day 1.  I lost 0.8 lbs on Day 2.  I lost 1 lb on Day 3.  I think my husband didn’t lose as much because he was left to his own to make a couple of his meals and he has never read the Sass book.  We finished our cleanse on Sunday night and I worked all day Sunday and fell asleep early so I just got 3 meals into the day and my husband made himself a Mexican salad while I was working.

Here were our four meals:

Breakfast:  Cottage cheese with pineapple, blueberries and almonds seasoned with Vietnamese cinnamon and vanilla extract.

Lunch:  Strawberry goat cheese salad with almonds, parmesan cheese and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner:  I skipped this meal and my husband made his own salad.

Snack:  Strawberry, blueberry, banana smoothie with avocado and Vietnamese cinnamon, vanilla extract, yogurt and milk.

We woke up early Monday morning and worked out.  As soon as we got back, the coffee was set to brew and I popped 2 beautiful slices of fresh whole grain bread from Whole foods into the toaster.  I couldn’t wait to have a crunchy, warm slice of bread and it didn’t disappoint.  I put a little olive oil on it and topped it with a slice of smoked gouda cheese and had some fresh pineapple as well.  I relished every single bite of it!

I love eating the 4 small meals spaced throughout the day.  It really does fuel you and we both felt a difference in our energy levels.  It’s just a lot of work preparing 4 meals a day completely from scratch.  Overall, we were both very happy with our weekend cleanse and the true test will be to see if the cleanse weight loss stays off until Friday.  I have 3 more lbs to go to get back to my pre Thanksgiving day weight.  Damn you holiday wine, cheese and desserts!  I better be good this week too.  We have a reservation at my favorite Italian restaurant Friday night for our anniversary/Valentine day celebration.

Cleanse Day Two

I lost 3.6 lbs in 24 hours!!!  Boy, do I LOVE cleanses.  Since it was Saturday night we decided to head out for a Cleanse Date Night to Saladworks.  I explained to my husband (who has been a vegetarian for almost 2 days at this point — a record for him)  in the car that a cleanse dinner is a salad with vinaigrette with non meat protein with an unsweet iced tea and no carbs.  So, he steps up and orders a chicken Caesar.  Ugh.  I give him the look and he then orders a healthier salad with chicken and ham and balsamic vinaigrette but fails again at the register with a wheat roll and an Arizona sweet iced tea.  To which he gets the look again and he shrugs and says at least he didn’t get the white roll.  I’m sure with his splurge he’s still going to lose like 25 lbs in 3 days.  I hate men and their metabolisms.

Back to the cleanse, Here were our four meals:

Breakfast:  Coconut Milk Strawberry Yogurt (Greek Style) with strawberries, blueberries and Vietnamese cinnamon.

Lunch:  Strawberry goat cheese salad with almonds, parmesan cheese and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner:  Greek Salad with unsweet iced tea from Saladworks.  (The aforementioned meat salad with sweet tea and carbs for my husband)

Snack:  Pineapple, blueberry, banana smoothie with Vietnamese cinnamon, vanilla extract, yogurt and milk with a side of 2 tablespoons of sliced almonds.

The Greek Salad from Saladworks had so much dressing on it I couldn’t finish it and I even asked him to go light on the dressing.  Despite that I did really enjoy our healthy Saturday night out.  Although, last Saturday night out was much more fun and included chili relleno and tequila.

The smoothie was so delicious.  I cut up a fresh pineapple and threw in about 4 blueberries and a half of a banana.  Yum.

I did the Tone it Up girls Yoga workout again.  The link is here.  The weird seductive intro I could do without and the rose petals scattered about remind me of  the 90’s cheesy glamour shots.  Otherwise I really love it and check out her downward dog.  Impressive!

 I can’t wait to weigh in tomorrow morning and get the final results!  Also, I can’t wait to eat carbs again even if it is brown rice, corn tortillas and whole grain bread.

Also, when we got home my husband really did not know that Caesar dressing is bad for you.  Good thing I’m the cook in this family.

Cleanse Day One

Friday we started our Sass inspired Cleanse.  I created a menu with no carbs and more variety of food compared to the 5 Day Fast Forward Cleanse.  Here were my four meals.

Breakfast:  Strawberry Parfait with Vietnamese cinnamon, vanilla extract and sliced almonds.  Coffee with 2% milk.

Lunch:  Kale Salad with homemade vinaigrette, black beans, Salsa Verde, Roasted Cumin, Peppadew peppers

Dinner: Mexican Salad with homemade lime vinaigrette, romaine lettuce, salsa, black and kidney beans, avocado, cilantro, roasted cumin and cheddar cheese

Snack:  Smoothie with a half of a Banana, Strawberries, Frozen Mango, Vietnamese cinnamon, vanilla extract, yogurt and milk with a side of 2 tablespoons of sliced almonds

I was very sore from working out on Thursday so I did 20 minutes of yoga in the morning.  Have you seen the Tone it Up girls on Bravo?  I love those 2 perky trainers.  They have great youtube videos I’ve been checking out.  This is one of my favorite yoga workouts because it has most of my favorite poses:  cat pose, triangle, runners lunge, pigeon pose, spinal twist and one minute of meditation.  Check out the link below.  Namaste!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBl2SSOjLYE

I made a pitcher of unsweetened iced tea with passion fruit and black tea, sliced lemons, limes and oranges.  Here’s a better recipe but I didn’t have the apple juice, frozen raspberries or mint.  http://bloggitude.com/2011/01/18/my-sangria-tea/.

I made our smoothies with our new personal blender that arrived yesterday.  You can only make one smoothie at a time but it’s easy to clean and easy to maneuver because it is very portable.

My husband had to go to work so I made him a Kale salad.  Kale holds up really well all day with dressing on it.  It doesn’t wilt.  I didn’t have a to go container large enough for the salad so I threw his into a huge Ziploc with strawberries, goat cheese and almonds.  They have plates and forks at work.  He wasn’t forced to eat his cleanse salad out of a Ziploc bag.  Also, below I sent him off with a yogurt, Ziploc of 2 tablespoons of almonds and a banana.

Overall the first day went great.  The lowfat yogurt had too much sugar in it so next time I would go with nonfat but my goal with this cleanse was to find quicker solutions for a cleanse that has variety.  I can tell by the end of the day I feel lighter and more energetic.

Cleansing this weekend

We have been out of power from an ice storm here in the suburbs of Philly. I have power back but no cable or internet. Just wanted to give a quick post that I am making a list for groceries and creating a cleanse of sorts for my husband and I for 3 days.

I am thinking if skipping the tofu scramble (not a favorite).

I want to do more more smoothies, salads and yogurts. Our blender died a couple of months ago and I found this personal blender and mini ice trays on Amazon.

Of course they are delayed by the ice storm and I hope they get here today. I was really wanting to add the Breville immersion blender to my cart but it was $100. I am sure I will get my $14 out of the Hamilton Beach blender.

SASS yourself thin

So a big development in the Cinch diet.  It’s no longer the Cinch diet.  It’s the Sass diet. Here’s the book on Amazon.  Click here.   Like all changes in my life it seems so strange but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.  Cynthia announced it on her facebook page last week with the new paperback hitting shelves on March 20th.  Often, she would put disclaimers on her facebook page about how the Cinch diet plan from the Shaklee Corp is not related to her book.  I’m sure that had something to do with it.  Here’s the cover:

I really like the new cover and now I guess we will be sassy instead of cinchy!  Although, now the name of my blog doesn’t make sense.  Guess I’ll have to work on that.

 

3 Day Fast

I completed a 3 day fast from the Cinch Diet on Feb 3rd.  I lost 3 lbs the first day then lost an additional 0.6 lbs the next 2 days.  I felt great!  My husband was on a business trip those 3 days & it’s so much easier to eat right when he is away.  When he got back he could tell I lost weight and said my face was thinner!

It’s been 2 weeks and I haven’t lost anymore but I haven’t gained any as well.  I’m pleased with that.  I made it through the Superbowl party, our 5th year wedding anniversary where my husband spoiled me with 2 amazing 5 course dinners & then of course Valentine’s Day chocolates!

Here’s our dessert course from one of our amazing dinners:

I lost 3 lbs in 1 day

Woohoo! I stuck religiously to the Cinch cleanse on my first day. Last night my stomach had shrunk so much I had to jump on the scale this morning. I know most know it alls experts say don’t weigh yourself everyday but I couldn’t help it. The scale was down 3 lbs in 24 hrs this morning!

Did anyone catch My 600 lb life last night on TLC? Check it out here. It follows people who weigh over 600 lbs for 7 years & their journey as they get gastric bypass surgery. Last night they followed Melissa. It was quite an emotional journey. It was amazing to watch her get her life & self confidence back. When she had lost about half her weight she said something that made me tear up. “I love life. I really feel it’s a shame I have to sleep.” She said it with such joy & pride that it was powerful. Here she is before & after:

I just found it flipping through TV last night & got sucked in. She’s an amazing woman.

I have 2 more days of cleansing. Let’s hope the next 3 lbs come off just as easy!

3 Day Cleanse

Beginning tomorrow I am going to do 3 days of the 5 day fast forward from the Cinch Diet. I modify it as I don’t care for eggs.  Check out my modified menu here.

The last time I did the cleanse it was in June for 2 days.  I lost 4 lbs in 2 days.  I’m excited to cleanse again!  With 3 days hopefully I can lose 6 lbs.  Let’s hope anyways!

Great 2 day cleanse

I just finished my 4th meal of the day for my 2 day cleanse.  I lost 2 lbs in 2 days!  [See update below].  I’m so excited.  Not only did I hit my goal but it was so much easier this time.  I did the 5 day fast forward to kick off the Cinch diet in January & then I did a 2 day fast to get back on track in February.  Both times I was weak, very hungry, light-headed at times.  This really didn’t happen this go around–it could have been the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream left in my belly from Tuesday.  It’s been very hot in Kansas City, close to 100, so that may have added to my decreased hunger as well.  I did cheat and have an iced coffee in the middle of the day both days but luckily that didn’t affect my results.

Another thing I did was reread the chapter on the 5 day fast forward in the Cinch book.  It helped set my mind to clearly understand the goal and effects this will have on my body.

A great tip I have is to hide your dark chocolate stash from yourself.  I have a shelf in my pantry with chocolate so I draped a tea towel over it so it doesn’t tempt me when I get the almonds that sit next to my chocolate.

The not so pretty side of a cleanse.  Sorry to be a potty mouth but…

-My sister Kerry has reported she is much more “regular” on her cleanse.  She’s been taking capsules with herbs and vegetable fiber.

-I don’t remember this happening before on the fast forward phase but I found myself peeing constantly the past 2 days.  For instance, I would pee and then have to again in 30 minutes.  I’m not sure what that was about.

So, it was a successful 2 days and after overeating for 5 days and gaining 3 lbs I feel confident again to plow forward to get bikini ready for my August cruise.  I left my Tuesday weigh in wondering where I would find some motivation after a 3 lb gain.  In the end, the motivation I found was myself!

Update:  I woke up Friday morning and weighed myself and I was down another 2 lbs.  So in 48 hrs on the fast forward cleanse I lost 4 lbs.  Not bad. 

Cleansing

I just finished my second meal on my first day of my 2 day fast.  Isn’t it gorgeous? 

I throw in a little milk & use a lot of vanilla extract & vietnamese cinnamon in my smoothies.  Also, I don’t use the almond butter and just snack on 2 tablespoons of sliced almonds while I’m making the smoothie.  I’m feeling great.  After overindulging for the past 5 days I’m feeling lighter already.

My sister Kerry picked up this cleanse when she was in a local natural food store near her home in Florida.  The author Brenda Watson, from PBS, developed this.  You can find it here:  http://www.renewlife.com/first-cleanse.html

 

It’s difficult to read but it says to take 2 capsules the first 3 days then take 4 capsules each day for 11 more days.  When I look at the ingredient list of the pills I see a lot herbs & spices.  At the bottom it shows the vegetable capsule contains vegetable fiber & water.  It says you should have 2-3 bowel movements a day–holy crap!  Also, the food list they recommend is actually the same as the Cinch food categories.  I’ll check in with Kerry frequently and see how she is feeling.

Common sense creeps in when I hear about these cleanses and their promises of detoxing and cleansing.  Aren’t our bodies natural detoxers and don’t they do a good job at eliminating waste?  If you eat right won’t your body be clear of toxins?  Who knows, I guess you just need to do what feels right to you.  I know one thing for sure, I will not be drinking maple syrup concoctions to lose weight.  Ugh.