My experience with juicing
sloth3toes
Posts: 2,212 Member
TL;DR version.... Juicing, as well as any other kind of 'dieting' can be an individual thing.... that is, your mileage may vary.
There's your summary, of what will likely be a rather long post. I hope this post will be of some value to people who are considering juicing.
I saw Fat Sick and Nearly Dead sometime early in 2013. Mid April, 2013, I was 200 lbs, at 5'8 and a fairly slightly built male... 160 or less would be appropriate. Bought a juicer, and a bunch of fruits and vegetables, stuffed 'em in, and drank juice.
First things I realized were... I didn't like vegetable and fruit juice mixed together. In fact, I didn't really like to mix fruits much... I drank mostly straight grapefruit juice ( with one apple added for sweetness ) in the morning, occasionally, orange juice, or apple juice, and also peach juice, which was very tasty. For vegetable juice, I liked tomato, red pepper, celery and carrot, occasionally with cucumber as well. I stuck to this concoction, almost exclusively, because I liked it. I hated juiced kale, I found the taste overpowered everything, and I just stopped trying to like it.
I did straight juice only for 10 days. I had no real firm 'goal' in mind for how long to juice for... my first, and only real goal was 10 days, then to see what was next. I juiced about 6 times per day for 10 days. I started craving salad. So, after 10 days, I started juicing 4 times a day, and ate a huge salad for one meal. Then, I started adding tuna, or black beans, and some mixed nuts on top. I did that for 4 months straight.
So, around 5 months later, I was down to around 170 lbs. I'd done a fair amount of 'research,' and was convinced that eating as much of a plant based diet as possible was the way to go for me. I became a wannabe vegan. I saw a dietician, who didn't specialize in vegetarian / vegan diets, but was very knowledgeable, and helpful, just the same. She also turned me onto MFP, which was totally worth the price of admission, right there. I try to follow Eat To Live as much as possible... but I'm not exactly the poster-boy for it.
So, for the next 4 or 5 months, I've been trying to eat as much plant based food as possible, and have added in a fair amount of cardio, ( stairclimbing at home, and swimming at the pool ) as well, as recently taking up weight training. I do a generalized 'newbie' type circuit of the machines, working about as hard as I can. The weight loss has been much slower, as I'd expected, since I modified the 'radical' juice / salad diet. I'd consider myself to be 'skinny-fat,' now, that is, lacking in muscle, but still have fat to lose.
Currently, my diet goes something like this.... ( I'm one of those sorts of people who takes to repetition )
Breakfast, is almost always a grapefruit, and 2 packets of instant oatmeal with an apple sliced on top.
Lunch, at least 5 days a week, is a huge salad, with nuts and black beans on it, fresh squeezed lemon juice for dressing, logged at 700 calories, total.
Dinner is a crap shoot. If I cook, it might be something like cooked vegetables, ( I try to eat like half a plate of those ) or homemade salad, brown rice, with black beans... or stir fry vegetables with black beans.... if the wife cooks, I eat what she makes, pasta with sauce , potatoes, meatloaf, whatever..... and Fridays are fast food Fridays. sometimes I'll get a Wendy's salad, sometimes I'll get a burger and fries.
I'd been hovering around the 163 mark for quite awhile. I just finished a 3 day experiment, which I call
The Sloth 3 day detox diet ® which you can read about here, if you are interested....
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1162607-the-sloth-3-day-detox
Which had dropped me to 157, and now, I have to see if I can hold onto that, and maybe start building some muscle back up.
So, what's my take on my own personal experience?
I'm glad I saw Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and I'm glad I bought a juicer ( 2 actually, i kept one at work ), I'm glad I juiced, and I'm reasonably happy with the results. That said... I don't go around telling people that I lost all the weight juicing, and I don't try to 'sell' other people on juicing. Juicing was a huge part of the weight loss, but, so was the salad. The mainstream MFP's would just say, it was a caloric deficit, and that's it.
After having time to think about what others have said about Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and what I think about it myself.... it's true that juicing is painted in the most attractive light possible, and nothing negative is said about it in the movie. I asked Joe Cross once, by Twitter, how he cleaned his juicer on the road. I don't think he answered me. Because, If you've juiced for any length of time, before... you'll probably agree with me that cleaning the juicer 6 times a day is a pain in the *kitten*. I believe that someone also asked Joe how Phil was doing, and Joe admitted that Phil was back up around 300 lbs and struggling. Not exactly the juicing poster boy he once was, if that's true.
I also didn't exactly have a whole lot of muscle to spare, and look more like Mr Burns with sacks of fat attached than I ever did before. The mainstream MFP's would say that had I used a more civilized approach, simply losing with a reasonable calorie deficit, and keeping within macros, especially. a decent amount of protein.... that I would have achieved the same weight loss, but could have retained muscle, and would have a more pleasant looking body, as I type this. And, I'm sure they'd be right. I also knew I should have started weight lifting sooner, I just procrastinated.
My 2 peeves with juicing would be.... 1) that people who watch Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, simply buy into the entire premise that if Joe Cross could do 60 days, then I can do, 10, 30, 60, 100 days, or whatever..... and back to my TL;DR version... life is an individual thing... what worked for him, doesn't make it your best solution. I personally started almost literally dreaming of salads and mixed nuts after I started juicing... so, I figured them into my 'transition' plan... which is peeve #2... but further to peeve #1..... I don't think it's in most people's best interests to set these firm juicing goals. Hey, if you know yourself that well, that you can set a goal of 60 days on nothing but juice, and stick to it.... then, as Joe would say.... ' Good on ya, mate....' but, if you quit after 3 days, will that make you feel like a failure, and will you quit your 'diet' attempt completely? IMHO, set a short goal, with a 'revisit' after that... set short term goals of 3 days, then, decide if you can go 10. Then, really think about it... is this what you wanna do for another 20 days, or more? How about what's missing from your diet, when you do nothing but juice. Are there some modifications you could do to make it more 'right' for you? Perhaps adding protein powder drinks, like I did, with The Sloth 3 day detox diet ® ?
Which leads me to peeve 2) I must have said in 100 posts at MFP.... IMHO, all 'dieters' need an exit strategy. The mainstream MFP's will say, if you simply eat at a caloric deficit, the same foods you plan to eat for the rest of your life, then you need no exit strategy.... you just adjust your calories to maintenance, once you're at goal. Easy Peasy..... And I see no real flaw with that. Sounds like science. But, if you choose to do something 'radical' like juicing.... you need a transition plan. And you need it now, not one suddenly decided upon, 5 seconds after you decide to quit juicing. You need to know what your next meal will be, after you decide not to just live on juice alone. Say you decide to do 10 days of juice. Day 7, you find by lunch you've simply had enough. Now, the common school of thought would be, that you'd promptly jump in the car, and head to Wendy's and buy a Baconator, and there's the end of your 'diet.' So, it's MHO that if you have that exit strategy already in place, you just transition into it, when that time comes. Mine was to eat WAY more plant based foods, to see a dietician, and to start exercising. Your plan might be totally different, but you need a plan. I still try to log everyday at MFP, since I started here.... and I pretty much subscribe to the calories in / calories out model.... although, I'd consider myself to be someone who tries ( or at least wants ) to eat 'cleaner' than those in the IIFYM camp. What you're gonna do next is up to you. But, you need to have a plan B. IMHO, when all the regular MFP's say, if you juice, you will eventually go back to your old ways, and gain the weight back, ergo, you are doomed to fail.... that's a correct statement, IF you don't have your transition plan in your back pocket.
So, if you've read this entire post.... Do I believe in juicing? Yes, I do. when I juiced, and did the juice / salad thing... I felt and looked good. I actually felt a bit euphoric which can be a scary thing... and a bit stupid and lightheaded sometimes, not exactly good for brain surgeons.... and I wasn't really interested in exercise, I didn't feel like I had the energy. I also almost for sure lost muscle I could ill afford to give away.... and I'm still no prize to look at in a bathing suit. Could I have done this other ways? Absolutely.... with better results? Yep, I'm sure I could have. Would I have ever done ANYTHING, if I hadn't seen Fat Sick and Nearly Dead? Very likely not. If I'd have discovered MFP before I lost 30 lbs juicing, would I have jumped on the calorie counting, eat at a slight deficit, and lose, bandwagon? Knowing myself... probably not.
Was juicing the only way? Absolutely not. But, it worked for me, and against what all MFP's say.... that I WILL GAIN IT ALL BACK....I am defying the odds.... as I've said before, " Not everyone will lose X # of lbs juicing, then immediately go back and gain it all back eating cheeseburgers and fries. " It's very much like the 'New Years Resolutioners' issue being bantered about in the forums, at the moment.... there are some statistical odds, that 85% or better of everyone who starts a diet, or makes a New Years Resolution, will fail. Even if the odds of anyone who loses weight juicing will gain it all back, are the same, or higher.... it's my humble opinion, that if you want to be in the small group of people who are successful.... and you want to achieve success with juice... then, 1) set a reasonable goal, and 2) have a transition strategy.
I hope this helps someone. And Happy New Year !
There's your summary, of what will likely be a rather long post. I hope this post will be of some value to people who are considering juicing.
I saw Fat Sick and Nearly Dead sometime early in 2013. Mid April, 2013, I was 200 lbs, at 5'8 and a fairly slightly built male... 160 or less would be appropriate. Bought a juicer, and a bunch of fruits and vegetables, stuffed 'em in, and drank juice.
First things I realized were... I didn't like vegetable and fruit juice mixed together. In fact, I didn't really like to mix fruits much... I drank mostly straight grapefruit juice ( with one apple added for sweetness ) in the morning, occasionally, orange juice, or apple juice, and also peach juice, which was very tasty. For vegetable juice, I liked tomato, red pepper, celery and carrot, occasionally with cucumber as well. I stuck to this concoction, almost exclusively, because I liked it. I hated juiced kale, I found the taste overpowered everything, and I just stopped trying to like it.
I did straight juice only for 10 days. I had no real firm 'goal' in mind for how long to juice for... my first, and only real goal was 10 days, then to see what was next. I juiced about 6 times per day for 10 days. I started craving salad. So, after 10 days, I started juicing 4 times a day, and ate a huge salad for one meal. Then, I started adding tuna, or black beans, and some mixed nuts on top. I did that for 4 months straight.
So, around 5 months later, I was down to around 170 lbs. I'd done a fair amount of 'research,' and was convinced that eating as much of a plant based diet as possible was the way to go for me. I became a wannabe vegan. I saw a dietician, who didn't specialize in vegetarian / vegan diets, but was very knowledgeable, and helpful, just the same. She also turned me onto MFP, which was totally worth the price of admission, right there. I try to follow Eat To Live as much as possible... but I'm not exactly the poster-boy for it.
So, for the next 4 or 5 months, I've been trying to eat as much plant based food as possible, and have added in a fair amount of cardio, ( stairclimbing at home, and swimming at the pool ) as well, as recently taking up weight training. I do a generalized 'newbie' type circuit of the machines, working about as hard as I can. The weight loss has been much slower, as I'd expected, since I modified the 'radical' juice / salad diet. I'd consider myself to be 'skinny-fat,' now, that is, lacking in muscle, but still have fat to lose.
Currently, my diet goes something like this.... ( I'm one of those sorts of people who takes to repetition )
Breakfast, is almost always a grapefruit, and 2 packets of instant oatmeal with an apple sliced on top.
Lunch, at least 5 days a week, is a huge salad, with nuts and black beans on it, fresh squeezed lemon juice for dressing, logged at 700 calories, total.
Dinner is a crap shoot. If I cook, it might be something like cooked vegetables, ( I try to eat like half a plate of those ) or homemade salad, brown rice, with black beans... or stir fry vegetables with black beans.... if the wife cooks, I eat what she makes, pasta with sauce , potatoes, meatloaf, whatever..... and Fridays are fast food Fridays. sometimes I'll get a Wendy's salad, sometimes I'll get a burger and fries.
I'd been hovering around the 163 mark for quite awhile. I just finished a 3 day experiment, which I call
The Sloth 3 day detox diet ® which you can read about here, if you are interested....
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1162607-the-sloth-3-day-detox
Which had dropped me to 157, and now, I have to see if I can hold onto that, and maybe start building some muscle back up.
So, what's my take on my own personal experience?
I'm glad I saw Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and I'm glad I bought a juicer ( 2 actually, i kept one at work ), I'm glad I juiced, and I'm reasonably happy with the results. That said... I don't go around telling people that I lost all the weight juicing, and I don't try to 'sell' other people on juicing. Juicing was a huge part of the weight loss, but, so was the salad. The mainstream MFP's would just say, it was a caloric deficit, and that's it.
After having time to think about what others have said about Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, and what I think about it myself.... it's true that juicing is painted in the most attractive light possible, and nothing negative is said about it in the movie. I asked Joe Cross once, by Twitter, how he cleaned his juicer on the road. I don't think he answered me. Because, If you've juiced for any length of time, before... you'll probably agree with me that cleaning the juicer 6 times a day is a pain in the *kitten*. I believe that someone also asked Joe how Phil was doing, and Joe admitted that Phil was back up around 300 lbs and struggling. Not exactly the juicing poster boy he once was, if that's true.
I also didn't exactly have a whole lot of muscle to spare, and look more like Mr Burns with sacks of fat attached than I ever did before. The mainstream MFP's would say that had I used a more civilized approach, simply losing with a reasonable calorie deficit, and keeping within macros, especially. a decent amount of protein.... that I would have achieved the same weight loss, but could have retained muscle, and would have a more pleasant looking body, as I type this. And, I'm sure they'd be right. I also knew I should have started weight lifting sooner, I just procrastinated.
My 2 peeves with juicing would be.... 1) that people who watch Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, simply buy into the entire premise that if Joe Cross could do 60 days, then I can do, 10, 30, 60, 100 days, or whatever..... and back to my TL;DR version... life is an individual thing... what worked for him, doesn't make it your best solution. I personally started almost literally dreaming of salads and mixed nuts after I started juicing... so, I figured them into my 'transition' plan... which is peeve #2... but further to peeve #1..... I don't think it's in most people's best interests to set these firm juicing goals. Hey, if you know yourself that well, that you can set a goal of 60 days on nothing but juice, and stick to it.... then, as Joe would say.... ' Good on ya, mate....' but, if you quit after 3 days, will that make you feel like a failure, and will you quit your 'diet' attempt completely? IMHO, set a short goal, with a 'revisit' after that... set short term goals of 3 days, then, decide if you can go 10. Then, really think about it... is this what you wanna do for another 20 days, or more? How about what's missing from your diet, when you do nothing but juice. Are there some modifications you could do to make it more 'right' for you? Perhaps adding protein powder drinks, like I did, with The Sloth 3 day detox diet ® ?
Which leads me to peeve 2) I must have said in 100 posts at MFP.... IMHO, all 'dieters' need an exit strategy. The mainstream MFP's will say, if you simply eat at a caloric deficit, the same foods you plan to eat for the rest of your life, then you need no exit strategy.... you just adjust your calories to maintenance, once you're at goal. Easy Peasy..... And I see no real flaw with that. Sounds like science. But, if you choose to do something 'radical' like juicing.... you need a transition plan. And you need it now, not one suddenly decided upon, 5 seconds after you decide to quit juicing. You need to know what your next meal will be, after you decide not to just live on juice alone. Say you decide to do 10 days of juice. Day 7, you find by lunch you've simply had enough. Now, the common school of thought would be, that you'd promptly jump in the car, and head to Wendy's and buy a Baconator, and there's the end of your 'diet.' So, it's MHO that if you have that exit strategy already in place, you just transition into it, when that time comes. Mine was to eat WAY more plant based foods, to see a dietician, and to start exercising. Your plan might be totally different, but you need a plan. I still try to log everyday at MFP, since I started here.... and I pretty much subscribe to the calories in / calories out model.... although, I'd consider myself to be someone who tries ( or at least wants ) to eat 'cleaner' than those in the IIFYM camp. What you're gonna do next is up to you. But, you need to have a plan B. IMHO, when all the regular MFP's say, if you juice, you will eventually go back to your old ways, and gain the weight back, ergo, you are doomed to fail.... that's a correct statement, IF you don't have your transition plan in your back pocket.
So, if you've read this entire post.... Do I believe in juicing? Yes, I do. when I juiced, and did the juice / salad thing... I felt and looked good. I actually felt a bit euphoric which can be a scary thing... and a bit stupid and lightheaded sometimes, not exactly good for brain surgeons.... and I wasn't really interested in exercise, I didn't feel like I had the energy. I also almost for sure lost muscle I could ill afford to give away.... and I'm still no prize to look at in a bathing suit. Could I have done this other ways? Absolutely.... with better results? Yep, I'm sure I could have. Would I have ever done ANYTHING, if I hadn't seen Fat Sick and Nearly Dead? Very likely not. If I'd have discovered MFP before I lost 30 lbs juicing, would I have jumped on the calorie counting, eat at a slight deficit, and lose, bandwagon? Knowing myself... probably not.
Was juicing the only way? Absolutely not. But, it worked for me, and against what all MFP's say.... that I WILL GAIN IT ALL BACK....I am defying the odds.... as I've said before, " Not everyone will lose X # of lbs juicing, then immediately go back and gain it all back eating cheeseburgers and fries. " It's very much like the 'New Years Resolutioners' issue being bantered about in the forums, at the moment.... there are some statistical odds, that 85% or better of everyone who starts a diet, or makes a New Years Resolution, will fail. Even if the odds of anyone who loses weight juicing will gain it all back, are the same, or higher.... it's my humble opinion, that if you want to be in the small group of people who are successful.... and you want to achieve success with juice... then, 1) set a reasonable goal, and 2) have a transition strategy.
I hope this helps someone. And Happy New Year !
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Replies
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Hi Sloth3toes. Thank you for sharing your experiences. So much of what you said resonates with me. I also saw the movie, bought a juicer, and successfully got the bulk of my calories from freshly juiced produce for 10 or so days. Cleaning the juicer multiple times a day was not misery but it was not fun! But I felt so nourished from the juices in a way I haven't felt from regular food.
I think I needed something radical to help me change from the typical diet of too many calories. I thought I would be too hungry and feel too deprived just by cutting back and didn't have success with this method in the past. I learned that with juice I wasn't hungry. Like you, I did crave salads and plain steamed vegetables. I felt great and kinda powerful. I continued to make fresh juices for my husband and myself every weekday morning for a year but I did eventually gain back the weight that I lost from juicing. Two important things though: 1) I knew I could do it once so I could do it again, and 2) feeling nourished and enjoying nourishing fresh foods was far better to me than eating a typical diet.
Since then and because of that experience, I now eat a fairly strict vegetarian diet. That alone didn't result in any additional weight loss since there is still so much good vegetarian food in the world and I love to eat. What has been working for me now for the past 6 months is intermittent fasting. I know I can fast successfully because of my juice days and I know I can eat 'typically' the next day rather than facing many days of limitations. As with having juice, I am not miserable or starving, and when I am not 'fasting' (limiting calorie intake to 500), I both have a more reasonable appetite and crave healthier foods.
So, I am grateful that I saw the movie and that I experimented with freshly juiced produce as my primary nutrition. I have lost the weight I gained back and more. I have learned so much about myself and I am happy to choose and enjoy fresh nutritious food. I feel like I have beat my habit of consuming too many calories on the typical diet and I feel like I have found a lifetime pattern of health that works for me!
Thanks again for your story and best wishes to you!0
