I will keep it short and sweet today. I’ve lost 9.8 pounds and I have a before and after picture. Look what changing your diet and some exercising can do for you in just 30 days:
Category Archives: Cliff
Cliff day 14: Another Pound Bites the Dust
And Another pound gone and another pound gone, another pound bites the dust. Weighing in around 140 and down 7 pounds, woot woot!
Our approach to this detox has been much different on the second go around. The first time we did it, I was pretty miserable. We were incredibly strict, had 0 slip ups and it just wasn’t fun. The point of all of this, is not just to eat healthier, it is to lead a healthier happier life. I used to hate the shakes I made, they were bland and not the sugar filled ones I was used to. The thing is, I like peanut butter as much as I like sugar (mmmm Reese’s, my old go to treat). So even though peanut butter was not part of the original plan, it has allowed me to look forward to my morning shake instead of dreading it. My shake is now banana, unsweetened almond milk, strawberries, hemp protein, flax seed, and just a touch of vanilla extract. If there is one lesson you take from this blog, it is you have to do what makes you happy. That hypothalamus needs to be kept satisfied in some way. Did you know broccoli doesn’t stimulate it one bit? Shocker. So, if you’re having issues adjusting to all this, throw in something you love, whether it is a fruit or something you can’t live without (NOT CANDY!)
As for how my detox is going, I slipped up a little bit, although I’ve said from the beginning it would happen. I went out with coworkers on Friday and I had a scotch, it was glorious. I was proud I was able to stick to just one. While I was worried it may affect the detox, I didn’t regret the decision. I woke up yesterday below the 140 mark and Today I am 140.4. The weight is melting off as I guess my old metabolism has decided to emerge from its hibernation, realizing I’ve taken a break from abusing it. As of now, I consume 1600-2000 calories a day but I would like to up that after this month to stimulate the muscle growth (Did someone say second lunch?!). I’ve also decided to introduce a healthy electrolyte drink in the morning, as I have been a tiny bit shaky and this should help.
Enjoy the long weekend everyone!
Cliff Day 10: I pick things up and…
I put them down. My first trip back to the gym was a good reality check. I had dreams that I had not lost that much in the months while I was healing, but I was so so wrong. I did a basic chest workout to get my muscles into the groove of things and nothing seemed to go right. I was constantly worried about my elbow and I’m not even going to discuss how little weight I could do. I have always been a skinny guy, and while this has its perks, it also has its downfalls. Building muscle has been a huge challenge throughout my whole life. I have tried many different supplements, and nothing has ever gotten me to the point I’ve dreamed of. I am avoiding any until this detox is over, but I will list out my favorites at some point. When I have ever come close to a muscle-building goal, I have sustained some sort of injury. I mean once I had to take a 4 month break from working out because I hurt my wrist while playing soccer. That’s right folks, I hurt the thing you are not even allowed to use in that sport. Now that I am fueling my body with the good food it can actually use, my hope is my gains will go up up and even more up.
NOW, onto the good stuff. If I told you, you could make pizza out of cauliflower, would that be something you’d be interested in? WELL, thanks to that magical girlfriend of mine, we had exactly that last night. Not only that, due to Dena’s allergies, we had to substitute eggs in it with a flax-seed mixture. It took a LONG time, a bit of “bickering”, and a huge mess in the kitchen, but after all was said and done, it came out great. I’ve also learned, to never tell anyone I was a dishwasher in High School because my mom’s favorite line, and now Dena’s is…”But we need a professional to do the dishes!” But I digress. We used Tomatoes, Basil, and Ground Turkey as toppings. While i would not call it your every day pizza, it certainly was pretty darn close. And the best part was we had leftovers. I haven’t been this excited for lunch since yesterday’s lunch of leftovers! My weight has grown stagnant, which I am okay with because I am still looking and feeling better every day. The world needs to understand weight is just a number, and that it is about how you feel, how you look in your eyes, and how you’re treating your body (although I wouldn’t object to weighing 170 built of pure muscle). Napoleonic Complex much?
Cliff Day 8…Sandwiches I Miss You
Sandwiches….All I can think of are sandwiches. Sandwiches in the morning, sandwiches with bacon, and sandwiches inside even bigger sandwiches. I want to take a bunch of ham add some american cheese and put it on a fabulously delicious French Baguette. As you may be able to tell, the weekend was a rough one. Dena and I went to hang out with some cats at Meow Parlour, a fun cat cafe, and I got Decaf coffee for the first time in my life. If you have never had Blue Bottle Coffee, I highly recommend it because even their Decaf was great. Earlier in the day I was not all that hungry for lunch so I had a small piece of chicken (big mistake). By 3 P.M. I was starving, so I did the only logical thing and got Katz, just the pastrami, no bread. Now, this technically falls under the allowed foods on the Detox, since it is just meat and spices, but I felt it was a bit of a cheat. I really did it to try to satisfy this sandwich craving. While amazing, the craving for a sandwich is still there.
Not surprisingly, Sunday was the first day my weight had not gone down at all, in fact it had gone up a little. I attribute this to more water retention from the Katz. Watched football all day while Dena made me almond crusted wings (absolutely amazing, Recipe to be posted). For dinner we had turkey meatballs over spaghetti squash in a home-made tomato sauce. If you really want to detox, I highly recommend just getting an awesome girlfriend that knows how to make yummy healthy food, makes it much easier. Weight this morning was back down to 142.2 and my stomach is looking better every day. This is day 8 now and we will begin our gym routine but this shows that just by changing your diet you can start melting off the weight, even without steady exercise.
For now, I will be overindulging in vegetables and listening to Galavant on repeat to drain away the pain of the Dallas Cowboys Loss.
-Cliff
Dena-Day 7
Starting a new plan and way of eating can be very daunting and appear to require too much work and effort on your part. Last March, when Cliff and I did Dr. Hyman’s 10 Day Detox Diet, I stressed way too much over having to be perfect and I did not want to stray too far from the dinner recipes given in the book. The best part of following the book’s recipes was that I learned many new recipes and found some new favorites which I have continued to make regularly. If this is your first time trying to detox, I HIGHLY recommend following Dr. Hyman’s plan and trying as many recipes in the book as you can! They are super yummy! However, instead of following one of these recipes, Dr. Hyman does say that you can opt for choosing a green to steam or lightly saute such as broccoli, asparagus, arugula, spinach, kale or chard, and combine it with 4-6oz of protein such as chicken, turkey, salmon, shrimp, grass-fed meat,canned salmon, sardines or herring, hard boiled omega 3 eggs,tofu or temph.
So this time around, in order to save some time and relieve stress, Cliff and I are trying to make dinners so we have leftovers that will last us. My favorite thing to make is a roasted chicken. And by my favorite thing to make…I really mean my favorite thing I eat that I make Cliff make. It requires very little effort to cook one of these and in my opinion, you get the most bang for your cluck…I mean buck. Now we have left overs that are versatile and can go in many dishes. I was able to add some chicken to my salad I had for lunch today and Cliff and I had some for dinner tonight and there is still a bunch left! Another cooking time saver I have discovered is roasting vegetables. Drizzle a little olive oil, salt, and pepper over your veggies and pop them in the oven. I make sure I make extra so I have those leftovers. Tonight’s dinner included chicken, left over broccoli and mashed garlic cauliflower (another one of my favorite sides!)
Day 4 Cliff
^—I may have taken the whole eating “as many vegetables as you want” too far.
The worst part of this whole Detox is the amount of times I now have to go to the bathroom every day and throughout the night. Trying to do the whole 7-8 glasses of water every day has been a huge challenge. No sugar, easy! No caffeine, easy! (okay, easy after some major headaches) but battling a full bladder, harder than ever imagined.
I am looking much less bloated and my weight has been steadily declining:
- Day 1: 146.8
- Day 2: 145
- Day 3: 144.2
- Day 4: 143.4
As I am writing this, a coworker just sent my team a box full of cookies and muffins, time to test that self control of mine. Forming a habit takes 21-66 days, so I can’t go breaking now, even though they look so damn delicious. (I’ve hidden some away until February)
Sleep has been another problem. I have gone from 5-6 hours a night of sleep to 7-8 hours of sleep. While I do feel more rested throughout the day, my nights are much more restless and I wake up numerous times throughout the night. Could it be my body craving all those sweets? Guess we’ll have to wait and see if it improves.
Today my meals are:
- Breakfast
- Strawberry Banana Peanut Butter Protein Shake (forgot the hemp protein, oops)
- Lunch
- Almond Crusted Chicken
- Asparagus
- Okra
- Dinner
- Salmon with a red onion marmalade
- Whatever vegetable side I decide on
-Cliff
Day 5 for me/Day 3 for Cliff
You may be wondering why Cliff and I started the detox on different days… We originally agreed we would both start this past Monday and that would be our “Day 1”. Well…You see…I got on the scale last Friday night and got a reality check! I know everyone weighs more at night but the scale was reading higher than I hoped. At first I was totally convinced that the scale was off and that it was not zeroed before I got on it to weigh myself. I demanded that Cliff “fix it” right away! After removing the batteries over and over again and restarting this scale, I came to the realization that it wasn’t the scale that needed fixing. After some sulking, I am now no longer in denial about my weight gain. I can no longer blame my tight fitting pants on water retention. I knew I had to start detoxing pronto and decided to start the next morning. The good news is I have lost 3 pounds so far and I am really excited for the process and seeing where I am at the end of January. Unfortunately I haven’t been sleeping that well the past few nights. I have been waking up several times during the night and therefore do not wake up feeling refreshed. I took melatonin last night and listened to a meditation tape before bed.. but I still woke up in the middle of the night. I am rather foggy throughout the day and feel like I am on the verge of getting sick. Is this my body detoxing? Since I have been feeling under the weather, I decided to not increase my exercise at the moment and just concentrate on eating clean and not snacking at night. Well.. that’s all for now. My brain is a bit foggy and it’s time for me to get to bed! Night !
Cliff Day 2
Cliff Day 2:
Day 2 of the detox begun with a rough night of sleep, but this is normal as my body is missing all of the things that it used to get every day. So far, this whole detox is not so bad. Obviously no results so far, but also not craving any of the sweets. Although, I am missing the caffeine like woah at work today, and my focus is all over the place. Hoping this will improve over time.
As for working out I plan on going back to the gym on Thursday. I have had a bum elbow thanks to tendinitis for some time now and am hoping after this next physical therapy visit, I will be cleared to begin my upper body workouts again. Worst comes to worst it’ll just be legs and cardio.
Clenaeating 