LAUREN
My name is Lauren... obviously. I am currently on day 7 of a juice fast. I'm also on day 7 of not smoking. I literally haven't eaten anything this whole year. Get it? Because it's day 7 of 2013. My girlfriend, Ginger, and I have been struggling to get healthy and back to our goal weights for about 3 years. When we first met, we both felt confident and sexy, and we loved taking pictures of ourselves. Now, we rarely take pictures, and if we do I'm behind the camera. My thing is that before i met Ginger, i was sick for 3 years. I was overweight all through my life, and at age 21 I had gastric bypass surgery. It went the opposite of great. I was basically sick and dying for years. I went from 303 lbs. to 120 lbs. I'm 5'10 so at that weight, i looked sickly. I had the bypass reversed the summer of 2009 and had gained a bit of weight back by the time i met Ginger later that fall. I felt overweight and not so confident. Looking back, I actually looked extremely healthy and attractive. When I was sick, i could barely eat anything. And when I did eat, I'd usually end up throwing it back up. Once I had the surgery reversed and was able to eat, I started gaining my weight back steadily. Ginger had lost a bunch of weight and gotten down to a healthy 150-ish, but slowly her lifestyle absorbed into mine and we both became fat and unhealthy. We've had fits and starts trying to get onto a healthy eating plan, quit smoking, all that fun stuff. But this finally feels like it's going to work. It feels like the right time, and I've never had so much motivation. We're each going about it a little differently, though. After watching "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", I decided to do a juice fast for 60 days. Most people upon hearing this think I'm starving myself or that it's just a temporary weight loss solution. I'm actually doing this to drop a significant amount of weight, then gradually introduce fruits & veggies, then grains, beans, etc. Once I'm back to eating fully, I plan on eating a whole food, plant-based diet. I'm going to re-teach myself how to eat to live, not live to eat. It starts with the juice fast. The first 4 days I was in such a fog, I couldn't have blogged. I had no energy, no motivation, and had to take time off work to just lay in bed and get through it. My head was fuzzy constantly, and I just didn't feel like myself. I got through that, and now I'm having more energy. I'm back to being more me. I started off at 321.5 lbs. That number actually shocked me. I never weigh myself, but I thought I knew I was hovering right around 300. That's the heaviest I've ever been. As of this morning, I was down to 306 lbs. 15.5 lbs. in 7 days is pretty awesome. Once I dip below the 300 mark, I'm probably going to have a mini dance party in my bathroom. I miss looking in the mirror, giving myself a little wink, and having that confidence of walking into a room having zero anxiety about what people think about me. I miss me. So yes. I'm completely dedicated to this journey. So is Ginger. We thought it would be beneficial to journal how we feel most days to keep a record and have a place to vent.
Just FYI, right now I'm juicing Kale, Spinach, Apples, Green Cabbage, Cucumber, and a Lime. It's actually quite refreshing and delicious.
Today was my first day back at work, and I did have a couple moments of "Oh, Christ. This is hard. I want to eat something, anything." You don't realize how much just the act of eating is so important until you drink every meal. I never did think seriously about giving up, though. That's the awesome. I really am more committed to this than to anything I can remember. Of course, as I type this, Ginger is making salmon patties which smell amazing and make my stomach feel 35 times more empty. But it's worth it. I'm ready to get back to life and start participating again.
So that's where I'm at. Mostly at the just-trying-to-get-through-it phase. But happier each day. Here's to day 8 and beyond. I'll try to get Ginger to do her intro soon. I like this joint blogging adventure.
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