To Cleanse or Not To Cleanse?

3 Day Juice Cleanse

I've never done a "cleanse" before.  I'm not sure how much I believe in them.  But I found myself needing a real reset button dietetically and thought it might not be a bad thing to try out. 

I ate what I wanted through the last few days leading up to Christmas. And I've never felt worse!  Lots of restaurant food, lots of carbs, lots of sugars, and just things I don't regularly eat in general.  I felt sickly, my stomach felt on the verge of upset, I was moody and I felt FAT.  Bluh.

I'm embarking on a four and a half month contest prep (the initial phase is just a general lean down prior to the real leaning phase). 

I researched cleanses online.  There are all kinds of them.  I don't really feel like drinking a peppered lemonade wonder juice as that doesn't seem quite right.  I settled on a juice cleanse.  One laden with fruit/vegetable juices.  This is the guideline I am using, which explains a lot about cleansing. 

http://naturalhc.com/docs/juicecleanseoutline.pdf


To find juices, I'm using the book "Total Juicing" by Elaine LaLanne.  I selected five juices to get me through each of my five meals for three days.  My selections:

The Green Drink
2 green apples, 4 stalks celery, 8 stalks bok choy, 1/4 pound spinach, 1 bunch parsley

Sunrise
2 sweet apples, 4 large carrots, 1 red bell pepper, 4 jicama spears

Broccoli Bush
4 medium carrots, 1/2 medium green pepper, 2 stalks broccoli

The Pepper-Upper
1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 sweet apple, 2 large carrots

Carrot-Fruit Juice
4 large carrots, 2 sweet apples


Notes from Day 1 -

I decided to juice in my Ninja blender and consume the pulp too.  It's been said that you lose nutrients by not
ingesting the pulp.  But what that does is make a very large, very filling juice.  So my Sunrise I ended up
splitting over 3 cups.  The Green Drink ended up fitting perfectly into a tall glass.  I had to add water to all
of them to create a juicy consistency.  I was surprised how much I liked the Green Drink. 

I didn't have enough energy to get through my 3rd weight training circuit without feeling very low energy. 
But I made it.  I stayed pretty satisfied until about 3:00.  Then hunger started to creep in.  About 5:00, a dull
headache set in and it's been there ever since.  Rounding out day 1 feeling de-bloated, happy to feel hungry
and interested to see how I feel at the end of day 3.

Week 1 Diet

Food is one of life's joys.  I'm rediscovering that.

This is my meal plan this week.  I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I do get a smidge hungry at night right before bed, but it makes breakfast all that more delicious in the morning.

Breakfast:
3 eggs
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup berries

Snack:
Vi Shake
Apple

Lunch:
4 oz salmon
2 cups mixed vegetables

Snack:
Vi Shake
15 baby carrots

Dinner:
4 oz chicken breast
2 cups broccoli

Every day looks the same and my plan will change in a week.  I am in love with this meal plan.  I like everything on it and I don't feel hungry .  I have energy and my sensitive stomach feels perfect and happy on this plan. 

It's roughly 1500 calories with a 40/30/30 split of Protein/Carbs/Fat.

A Good Old Fashioned Rest Break

For those of you that have followed my journey from 7 Feathers Competition last year to today, then we are probably Facebook friends.  If we are not, please connect with me at
www.facebook.com/themelissamcgarvey

I'm resorting back to my trusty blog because there is a lot more story to tell and my hope is that through my struggles and knowledge gained, I will be able to help someone else out there that is trying to find their way in fitness. 

My most recent journey toward contest prep did not go as planned.  And what I've heard a million times but never really understood what it meant was "you don't know what you don't know".  All I knew is I was heading down a bad road.  My diet kept decreasing, my exercise kept increasing and my body was not responding.  I was starting to feel very unhealthy and recognizing that I wasn't even to the "hard part" of prep and was miserable.  And not getting results.  I ended up pulling myself out of competition to pursue a good, old fashioned rest break.  In the fitness world, often times there tends to be a supplement for everything.  Walk into GNC or a similar store sometime and blurt out an ailment or frustration with your body.  My guess is they have a pill or powder for that.  It's easy to get lost in that world. 

Not to say all supplementation is bad.  After all, I attribute my whole lifestyle change and results to Body by Vi.  So, what am I saying?  I'm saying, everything in moderation.  I could've pilled and powdered my way to stage.  Maybe.  But I would've been band-aiding the real issue, one that could have long term effects on my health. My metabolism wasn't onboard with my plan. 

I'm in love with the fitness world and competition.  Let's face it, I'm not headed to the Olympia any time soon.  But thats doesn't mean I can't enjoy the heck out of this sport at an amateur level.  I want to be healthy because of my association with fitness though.  I am not willing to sacrifice health for a moment on stage. 

Stress can have a lot to do with that.  When the simple science of diet and exercise isn't working, there has to be another explanation.  Hormones.  And that can mean any hormone.  For me, I just came off of the most stressful year of my life, went through another stressful situation in selling my business and recreating my career/life, and was already deep into contest prep when all of that subsided.  Regardless of whether the stress is good or bad, the body at it's most basic level, can't tell the difference.  Stress is stress.  So, my poor body has been through the ringer and I just needed to take a step back and give it a break. 

I took a couple weeks off from the gym and a strict diet.  I missed the gym like crazy, but my body was so exhausted.  I slept like I've never slept before.  Probably a mixture of exhaustion and mild depression about not competing, I wrapped in a blanket most days and did my work from my living room.  It was nice mentally to be able to eat what I wanted, but my body felt horrible from the reintroduction of processed food.  I really do feel my best when I'm eating clean and active at the gym.  The break helped me reset my body and mind and rekindled a joy about my lifestyle once again. 

By missing this competition window, I have to wait until the Spring to compete again locally.  I'm going to do a focused off-season, where I am not abandoning being on a food plan and deliberate exercise plan.  I need to build more in my shoulders, legs and lats to compete well in figure.  My food plan will be strict in the sense it is very clean eating still, but I get a few more carbs and feel very good and energetic on this current plan.

A good off-season weight is about 10 pounds over what my stage weight should be.  I'm told my stage weight should be 120-125, so if that holds true, I'm shooting for 130-135.  Which means I definitely have some weight to lose.  I fluctuate between 145-150 most of the time and was down to 141 in this recent prep but could never seem to bust into the 130's. 

My food and exercise plans will change often right now to keep my body guessing.  By loving on my metabolism this way, my body should be ready to go for another contest prep when it's time.

I will be tracking my workouts, food and results as I journey my way back onto stage, this time as a figure competitor.  Thank you everybody for the kind words, support, high fives and hugs along the way.  It really did help me keep going when i wasn't sure if I could.  xoxo