Today is the last day of my 10 Day Green Smoothie Cleanse….Whoot! Whoot! I am super duper uber pleased to have made it to the end. I feel great! I’m down 7lbs. and I feel like I’m ready to reenter the land of the eating with the ability to exercise self-control. And so now can embark upon the next phase of my journey with clean slate so to speak.
Phase one was to detox my body. To get the poisons and toxins out of my system. This was also a time for me to detox my mind as well. I definitely feel like I have clarity…not just about my weight loss journey but also able my life and all of the things I have to balance. It’s funny, once you bring one area under control a snowball effect takes place and other areas of your life seem to follow suit. That is a very good thing.
Phase two will be to reintroduce whole foods back into my diet and to be selective about the things I choose to eat. I like the meal suggestions that JJ Smith lays out in her book, 10 Day Green Smoothie Cleanse:
- Grilled salmon with garden salad
- Lean steak with sweet potatoes and veggies
- Grilled salmon with quinoa and veggies
- Tuna on a garden salad
- Chicken or lean steak in a Caesar salad
- Grilled halibut with stir-fried veggies
- Baked chicken with baked sweet potato and sauteed veggies
- Chicken stir-fry with brown rice
- Lean sirloin steak with lima beans
- Turkey chili
These are meal options I can surely “sink my teeth” into. Outside of lima beans (which were my childhood nemesis…I swear we had them every other day), these meal items I can eat with no problem and be happy and completely satisfied. I will also continue drinking green smoothies as a meal replacement for either lunch or dinner.
Here’s the thing I have finally wrapped my head around. Food and eating healthy accounts for 70 – 80% of the successful weight loss equation. I can exercise until the cows come home but if I don’t get my eating under control…it will all be for naught. Also, with the continued troubles I’m having with my back, I’ve had to rethink my whole strategy.
Exercise (especially cardio) has been my focus and the thing I’d do lose the weight. Well now my focus has shifted to weight training, which is exactly what I need to be doing to tighten up and strengthen my body.
So as I adjust my strategy to being more food focused and doing more strength training as my exercise of choice, I predict that by summer I’ll find myself back down to where I was before I started putting the weight back on. And that would make a sistah a very happy camper.