10-day cleanse update

Phase 2—The middle 4 days are a little harder than Phases 1 & 3—
No: alcohol, caffeine, processed OJ, sugar, refined carbs, red meat, dairy, wheat, additives, preservatives, salt.
NO: white meat, white fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, grains (barley, rye, oats), milk substitutes, white potatoes, tomatoes, and organic yogurt (guess it’s the one dairy thing that’s ok?)
I already mentioned how hard of a time I was having with everything and how I almost quit. Plus the whole delaying phase 2 and stretching out Phase 1 thing. This week has been much better, so much so that today I am rewarding myself while still staying on track, for lunch I’m going to Mongolian BBQ with some co-workers, I just have to make sure I don’t get anything on the NO list for Phase3 and I’ll be good to go.
Yesterday and Wednesday I hit 1200 calories gross but on Wednesday I rode my bike to the store which took my net down to 1184. But I am feeling better than I was. I completely understand why they discourage going below 1200 calories on a regular basis, I was absolutely wiped. And I’m already feeling better. Last night I slept amazingly it was great.
The bike ride was my only “real” exercise during Phase 2, but I did stretch every morning and did situps on Tuesday and Thursday (but only 25 each day). Tonight I am going ballroom dancing @ the ballroom I discovered two weeks ago and I am soooo excited, I missed it so much! I also bought a Groupon for 10 hot-yoga classes; they have one for beginners on Saturday’s at 8:30am so I am planning on going tomorrow which will be fun. I’ve never done a true yoga class. I’ve done a few yoga videos and Wii yoga but that doesn’t really count.
I’ve lost another 2lbs putting the total for the past 10-days at 6.5lbs I know, not a healthy rate to lose weight blah blah blah but only 3 more days of the cleanse then I’m back to eating 1200-1500 calories/day NET, exercising regularly and actually trying to lose weight at a healthy rate. This has really given me the jump start I needed even if that wasn’t the point.
Adam will be home next week, I have no idea where he will want to eat for his homecoming dinner but I’m sure I’ll be able to keep up with my new lifestyle no matter what. For Memorial Day we have some friends coming into town (Izzy, Jersey, & I are going to stay at a friend’s house, not staying in our tiny apartment with 3 boys and 2 dogs!). We are planning on going to Williamsburg one day so I know I can eat healthy there and having a cookout on Sunday so I am going to buy either a pack of Morning Star burgers or some ground turkey haven’t decided which yet for my protein of the day. Either way I’ll still get to have fun with our friends.
I’ve discovered the next-best (if not better!) thing to a CSA. If you don’t know what a CSA is it is Community Supported Agriculture and basically you join in the spring and pay up-front for a box of produce weekly for the rest of the season. It shifts some of the risk from the farmers and gives you fresh, local produce from farmers you have actually met. There is a place locally that allows you to order whatever you want on a weekly basis and charges you a 15% markup on cost. They are also a retail store and their retail prices are 30% over their cost. All of their food is organic and when you order you have a choice of which farm your produce items come from so if you prefer local you can get local it may cost a little more or less depending on what the farmer charges the store. The downside is when you order most stuff is sold by the case but luckily their website has a section for splitting-cases where they try to divide them up among members who want to split them. I haven’t tried it yet, just found it this week, but do plan on placing an order soon. I’ll let you know how it goes!