Master Cleanse - hard to start!

I've tried the cleanse before, believing in the hype, plus I was desperate to lose weight but I did some more digging and really, why put yourself through pain and suffering when your body does the cleansing naturally? It's just starving yourself, yes, it's starving yourself no matter how many people say it isn't or how they say they don't feel hungry. It's delusional. You're just dehydrating yourself and straining your bowels with the salt wash. Oh, the headaches that comes with the cleanse are epic. I agree with everyone here just stick to your healthy eating and exercise. ;D

I am actually getting ready to do a cleanse in a few weeks. But it is not so much a cleanse, as 3 weeks to learn how to eat. There is absolutely no starving at all. I know I eat a lot of processed unhealthy foods. I want to use this to clean out my stomach and my mind. When we learn how our bodies work, we can eat food to encourage that everything is working at its best.

You're going to have aclean stomach and mind after you've 'learnt ' how to eat for 3 weeks??

Sarcasm right?!

I also get really tired of these "cleansing" threads. It's such a scam.

we all get sick of them.

i don't understand why so many people fall for them? but they do. somebody is getting rich out there selling this snake oil. SMH.

I also get really tired of these "cleansing" threads. It's such a scam.

we all get sick of them.

i don't understand why so many people fall for them? but they do. somebody is getting rich out there selling this snake oil. SMH.

I can't speak for everyone, only myself, when I say that some people fall for them because they don't know any better. Some of my friends were doing different "cleanses" and I decided to do one too since they were all saying how much weight they lost. I had a physical coming up, so I decided to ask my doctor what cleanse would be best. The lecture she gave me boiled down to "don't do it!" She said that it's not healthy at all and I can believe my friends all I want, but I won't see the results I think I'll see.

I wanted to badly to believe that it was that easy to lose weight that I didn't bother doing the proper research. I'm so happy I found MFP because I've learned so much about losing weight and getting healthy in ways that won't hurt me and that will be easy to stick with. I know I have a lot left to learn, but I do know now that there's not some magical thing out there that will get rid of my extra weight and make me fit.

Could someone please remind me what toxin(s) we are removing with this? I read so much about the "detoxing" that it should be a simple question to answer...I just can't remember the name(s) of it/them.

Thanks.

Someone in another thread says it's sugar and fat. I always thought those were just food but what do I know.

I've decided to start with healthier foods. The last 3days, I've recorded my foods and have been keeping up judt fine with healthy whole foods. Not a huge problem since I love fruits and veggies - its the temptations I have to train mysrlf to let go of. Decided to stsrt the master ckeanse/lemonade cleanse. But that is hard!! Today I started out with the drink and salt water flush. By 3PM I hsd to eat some grilled chicken and veggies to survive shoveling 8 inches of snow! Throughout the day I slso had low fat cottage cheese and a fruit smoothie. Im down 2 lbs in 3 days but I can't train myself to drink only lemonade and salt water!! Anyone have experience and advice - are there foods I can eat during the cleansejust to feel the chewing sensation?

It sounds like you are putting a lot of effort into this, you are really motivated, and that is great!
But this is a crazy mix of things, IMO. If you are wanting to do something like a master cleanse (which I don't know much about, but it sounds expensive and harsh?), but you have to live daily life....maybe you are trying to do something you consider healthy, but it is too hard to do.
It would be best IMO, based on your OP and your profile, to just begin to log your food intake, so you can eat an appropriate amount, and keep up with your exercise!
Currently you are going back and forth between extremes, and that is very unproductive.

Just noticed the OP has 1 post count. So I agree it's someone trying to sell something. That's why the posts keep reoccurring.

If it was shakeology or advocare I might agree, but the master cleanse doesn't involve buying anything. I think you see a lot of first posts about cleanses because people are often looking for a quick fix in the beginning. Or they just don't know any better and have heard so many people talk about them.

Thanks for the helpful advice. I won't go into anything that won't help me - I guess my sources are not helpful. However I wasnt asking for criticism either. I am new to all of this, I don't have a healthy history and I have no idea where to start, besides eating well and exercising. I thought after years of abuse, my system could use a jumpstart. I was sorely mistaken.

I hope to get smarter as I get slimmer.

Regarding the criticism, please know that any perceived hostility or agitation in these comments is not directed at you. It's directed at the dangerous and ineffective weight loss methods themselves - - and those people who try to profit from them. There's a large and predatory industry that tries to confuse and take advantage of folks like you, and it is upsetting for some folks here who see people fall prey to it and hurt themselves.

With a reasonable caloric deficit and exercise, you will have a pure body, inside and out. Your wonderful attitude indicates to me that you will be a great success. :flowerforyou:

I am actually getting ready to do a cleanse in a few weeks. But it is not so much a cleanse, as 3 weeks to learn how to eat. There is absolutely no starving at all. I know I eat a lot of processed unhealthy foods. I want to use this to clean out my stomach and my mind. When we learn how our bodies work, we can eat food to encourage that everything is working at its best.

Do you think something magic happens in three weeks to "learn how to eat?" I work on new recipes every day, read reputable information on nutrition, stay in my calorie levels every day. I didn't need some restrictive, unhealthy period of time to figure that out.

It is actually not unhealthy, and the only thing restrictive about it is learning how to eat new, fresh, organic, vegan, etc. There is plenty of food with the one I am about to follow, so no starving. It has been proven that habits are formed after repeating an action for 21 days, so yes I think magic will happen. I can learn to listen to the needs of my body for optimal performance. The bonus for this is that it is not a 3 week and done kind of deal. It is something I will take into my every day life long after it was over.

There are plenty of "cleanses" out there that are not like the old kind. And that is what I was trying to share. Look into healthy and clean eating ideas. Ones that teach you how to eat for our bodies. Or maybe even take one of those 30 day green smoothie challenges. We fill our bodies with so much crap, and sometimes we just get so off track with our healthy eating that taking a few days or a few weeks to really focus on what we are putting in our bodies and how it will effect us might be a good thing. I don't think it's good if that plan involves starving our bodies.

I can learn to listen to the needs of my body for optimal performance. The bonus for this is that it is not a 3 week and done kind of deal. It is something I will take into my every day life long after it was over.

Wouldn't one of those things you'd learn be "my body needs food to survive"????

No, not sarcasm. It is a 3 week clean eating plan, that goes completely vegan. There is no denying that there is a lot of toxins that we eat and that build up in our system. This is a way of eating that will help me eat better and understand the needs of my body, not just the cravings that we so blindly follow. I think a majority of people have that issue. We follow what our minds are telling us to eat instead of that our bodies need. I am not sure why that seems so wrong.

I think that eating a lot of really healthy fruits and veggies and legumes can be a good thing to try for a few weeks.

In calling it a cleanse, though, it calls to mind some of the dangerous quackery that runs so rampant. Like this thread, the "master cleanse" is drinking lemonade and taking laxatives. That is nothing like what you've described.

So, definitely divorce yourself from your past by cutting out everything processed for a few weeks, and go on a vegan diet as well if you like. As long as you're getting sufficient macronutrients and micronutrients, then you'll be setting yourself up for success.

Another concern that people have, I believe, is that when the diet you describe ends, you don't simply go back to old habits. So, at some point, you're going to start loosening the reigns and getting into your true lifestyle diet.

What critics seem to think is that you should skip the restrictive diet and go straight to your lifestyle diet. However, if the ritual of the "cleanse" is important to you psychologically, that's a very valid and substantive goal.

i like the beer cleanse, it works real good.

We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now! :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Have tried it in the past.... You cleanse NOTHING you will lose energy and you will gain any lost weight back fast...

Do yourself a favor and skip the cleanse.

As much as drinking salt water sounds like a party in your mouth, I'd say stick to a real diet you can live with and not go the fad diet route.

Back when I was an MFP fledgling, I tried the Master Cleanse. I lasted six days, lost eleven pounds. Then I learned that nothing says "I have no idea what I just did to my body" like massive uncontrollable diarrhea in the middle of a softball game. I was wearing white pants. No one likes to be called the Big Fudge.


With that said, you should work on getting some protein and fiber intake. You don't need any cleanse to have a healthier body. Get rid of that shiz.