Cleansing Me

It’s been quite sometime since I’ve blogged and really do what I intened on doing as far as this cleansing goes. A lot has happened and that’s in the past. So today I made a promise to myself (which I always seem to break) that I will complete the task I set out to do a year ago. I’m going to completely detox my body using the Master Cleanser until I’m all clear.  I set out to do this many times and the longest I lasted was 21 days but that wasn’t long enough.

In the book, The Master Cleanser, Stanley Burroughs states on page 21. :

Recap of the steps to be taken in the diet. Be careful to read the entire instructions so that the diet will be of the best benefit to you. First prepare yourself mentally to follow in detail the entire directions and continue as long as is needed to make the necessary changes. One of the best signals of the completed diet is when the formerly coated and fuzzy tongue is clear pink and clean looking. During the diet it becomes very badly coated.

That’s why I call this cleansing process “Journey to Pink“!! I know I’m mentally ready to go through this and detoxify my body as well as my mind. I will be documenting everything. I’m hoping to rid my body of the following aliments:

• Obesity
• Dermatitis
• Discoid Lupus
• Sinus Problems

 Also, I will  workout every day during the cleanse to demonstrate that you can exercise while on the Master Cleanser. I’ve taken my weight, measurements and pictures of me &up close shots of my scalp and ear which is affected by the discoid lupus. Today I just drank water all day and I will be drinking my laxative tea shortly with 1 Tsp of fresh lime juice and 1Tsp of organic Grade B maple syrup.

To fund my “Journey to Pink” detoxification, I’m using the $100 my mom gave me for my birthday on Thursday and I will use that money to get everything I need to be on the cleanse and see how long it will take me to use all of it.  I have $92 left and I need to buy some more maple syrup and another box of Trim Maxx ( the lax. tea that I use). I went to the store this evening and purchased 15 lemons and 15 lime totalling $8. I have plenty of cayenne pepper. So here’s to a cleaner, detoxed me!!

This past week and a half have been awful!! I’ve been trying to fight off these flu like symptoms and not doing a good job at it. I’ve been sleeping mostly and the fever finally went away, but I still feel yucky!! :( Everyone’s been telling me to just drink plenty of liquids to flush it out of my system. My aunt just got over the flu and my mom told me she said to drink plenty of lemon water. So of course, first thing that goes through my mind is the Master Cleanser. Now … I would say is the perfect time for me to detox and get rid of this sickness, because the meds aren’t really doing anything for me… except the Motrin did reduce my fever. I don’t know how long I plan on being on it but definitely until I get 100% better. I’m starting today and I’m opting not to do the Salt Water Flush just yet because I’m afraid I can’t handle it in my condition right now. I’ll be doing the herbal lax. tea at night and in the morning as well as drinking as much of the lemonade as possible. I’ll keep you posted. Stay healthy please!!

It’s been awhile…. almost 3 months!! Something things have changed and some have stayed the same. I’ve been working on building web pages and I hope to have the new look up for this site. It’s really cool and fun. I was trying to get it up first, but I’ll just do that when I’m done.

Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. It’s been a while since I’ve really been to church, but I went this evening to receive my ashes and blessings. This coupled with Oprah’s show today about the Secret and the Law of Attraction really opened this belief in me that things will be different. I truly feel that I will be a happy person and I really see that I will be successful in everything I choose to succeed in my life. I’ve made strong decisions on what my life will be like and I know that all of my goals will be achieved.

Well it’s Friday and I feel great!! “Ma Nature” has said farewell for the month and today I was able to go swimming for the first time this week. I didn’t make my swimming goal for the week, (which was to swim 3 hours a week) but I got in one real good hour today. I did 22 laps in 58 mins. which is a little over a half mile and I stretched the last two mins. It’s been several weeks since I last swam, but I felt that I swam much faster today than I did in the past. I weighed myself yesterday because one of the challenges I’m on in Weight Loss Wars  has a Thursday weigh-in and I have to take a pic of my feet on the scale and post it in on my journal. So Tuesday when I was trying to make my updated You Tube video (<–click) I weighed myself to get a pic to post up and to my surprise I weighed 318.6 lbs. Of course I was overjoyed, then I realized that my cycle was coming to an end for the month and that definitely affected my weight. Yesterday I weighed 317 lbs. and I know for sure that I’ll be under 300 lbs. by the 1st of December for my Christmas Concert. So all in all things are going well. I have to go update my WLW’s profile now and I think I’ll enter the some recipes tonight too with pictures. Stay tuned for my Sunday Weekly Update!!

Well, I’m back on track as of today and glad to say that today was a very good day. I’ve been  slacking on my commitment to exercise and stay on a restricted caloric diet. However, I am proud of the fact that I’m doing very well at being a vegetarian and that 90% of the foods that I ate in the past 6 weeks have been raw fruits, veggies and whole foods. 10% was pretty much junk food!! Even when I’ve gotten in my little moods, I at least turned to healthy choices to comfort me. We all know that weight loss and trying to make a lifestyle change is not easy, but it is very doable. 

This weekend I was chatting with a friend from YouTube, Daphne, and you would think that we’ve been friends forever the way we’ve been corresponding with each other. Her You Tube videos are very entertaining and inspiring. We’ve been sharing ideas back and forth all weekend and she’s decided to try “The Fat Buring Diet” to achieve her goal as well. It’s because of Daphne that I joined this really cool site called Weight Loss Wars. Basically they use community and competition as a means for everyone to obtain their goals, stay motivated and accountable. I think joining this site was the extra kick my behind needed for me to get out of my slacking mentality. I’m pumped, and motivated and I really see me getting to my final destination. Check out my profile right here  (click–>) UneBelleNoir. You can check my stats and track my progress.  I’ve already entered two public challenges and I’m trying to get in the private challenge Daphne’s in. She also had a website to track her weight loss  journey. It’s really cool, check it out (click–>) Aninchbyaninch.

Day 1 of 50 complete!! I WILL NOT enter the new year weighing 300+ lbs.!!! This year, 2007, is the last year that I will see a 3 as the first number in my weight and if I work extremely hard, December will be the only month of this year that I can claim being 200+ lbs. I’m back at 323 lbs. I’ve seen that number reappear one too many times and now it’s time to say good-bye & farewell to it forever!!

I’m using Jay Robb’s “The Fat Burning Diet” as my weight loss guide and vowing to follow it exactly. Today was a low carb day and I consumed 1,683.9 calories. I’m a bit over because I miscalculated but it’s ok. I did 60 mins of cardio today, Turbo Jam Cardio Party (40 mins.) and Running/Walking in 2 min. intervals (20 mins.) I’m excited because I really feel that I’m going to achieve my goals. Here’s to a new day, a new beginning, a new me and a new you. One day at a time, that’s all we can do right?

Well, my first month of being a vegetarian is going well. I really don’t miss the fact that I haven’t had meat in the past 29 days. It does take a lot of work though… you know  being healthy and all. Notice I stopped the daily food journal thing. I have a notebook that I’m keeping that info on and periodically I’ll probably put a day on here, but I want this to be a blog not a food diary. I want to talk about my changes and information that I find helpful to you guys.

Back to what I was saying… trying to live a healthy lifestyle takes a lot of work!!!  We are so use to things being quick and easy and we believe everything that’s put before us. The majority of the food items that are labeled “healthy” are not. I know for a fact because I have spent too many hours in the grocery store reading labels trying to find foods that I can have.  Here are some tips that I want to share with you so far about making this healthy lifestyle transition.

1. Read, read, read the labels for the ingredients!! I can not stress this enough. You would be surprised to see how many foods you thought were good for you that had high fructose corn syrup as the 2nd ingredient usually after enriched flour. When you buy food, the first 5 ingredients should NOT be sugar, high fructose corn syrup, enriched flour (of any kind), saturated fat or hydrogenated oils.
2. If you don’t know the ingredients or the calories of a food item, don’t eat it.
3. Start cooking for yourself and family!! I have been preparing my meals because that’s the only way I can keep track of what I’m really putting in my body.
4. Don’t drink empty calories! That 130 calorie juice or soda could be used for something more filling.
5. Watch your portions and measure everything out just so you don’t go overboard.
6. Make sure that you have 12 hours of fasting between dinner and breakfast the next day. Just to make sure that everything you ate the prior day is digested properly.
7. Consume less processed foods and more whole foods. Makes a huge difference!!

I haven’t been consistent with the exercise like I should be so that’s what I have to work on the most. So, I’ve made a commitment to myself to exercise at least 40 mins a day. If I happen to do more that great but I have to do 40 mins straight of something, walking, workout DVD, dancing, swimming etc. daily. Also I’ve decided to just weigh myself on Mondays only and use the Calories Needed for that weight for the entire week. For instance this morning I weighed 320.8 lbs so I need to consume 3502 calories to maintain this weight or consume between 2560-2802 calories to lose weight by next Monday.  I realized that I don’t need to come up with new calculations every day especially if I’m consuming 1600 calories daily anyway. I don’t have a personal chef, dietitian, nutritionist, or personal trainer so I have to do all the calculations and food preparations myself and hold myself accountable for how I take care of my body. The one thing I do notice that it will get easier as time passes by.  Counting the calories and shopping for the right foods at the grocery store is way easier and faster than it was the first few weeks. I also love how creative I’ve been in the kitchen. All the meals and snack I’ve prepared are really tasty and healthy full of lots of protein and fiber. I’ve taken  pictures too which I’ll share with you on a Recipe page plan to create as well as my long awaited You Tube update video. Until next time, happy living.

(Update for Sunday Oct. 7th) 

On this day I’m in Boston for a family event and did my best to stick to plan as close as I could with the food choices that were around me. No calculation today but I did keep track of what I ate. I wasn’t able to weigh myself today, so no calorie estimate for today either. Today ended up being somewhat of a free day, I guess.

 Breakfast(high-carb): ()? calories

8 oz. Dannon Light & Fit Strawberry Yogurt (80)

1/8 cup of raisins (65)

1/4 cup of walnuts (200)

1/4 cup of granola (?)

1 cup of pineapples

Lunch (high-carb): (Jamacian Restaurant)

Veggie Patty and Coco Bread (?)

Dinner (high-carb): (Shaw Center)(?)

3 each Spinach pastry, mini veggie egg rolls

Salad w/ vinagrette

Vegan Dinner (rice, mixed veggies & grilled mushrooms)

Yellow cake and Ice Cream w/ a cup of coffee

On this day I went to Boston for a family event and did my best to stick to plan as close as I could with the food choices that were around me. No calculation today but I did keep track of what I ate.

Weight: 319.2 lbs.  (Update for Saturday Oct. 6th)

Calories Needed to maintain my weight with little to no exercise today. Maintenance: 2,561 cal. Fat Loss Range: 2,552- 2,552 cal.

 Breakfast(high-carb): ? calories

11.5 oz. can of Minute Maid Apple Juice (160)

2 bags of Kings Honey Roasted Peanuts (160)

1/4 cup of mixed nuts (?)

1/2 banana

Lunch (high-carb): (Budweiser Bar & Grill @ Newark Airport)

Veggie Burger on Sesame Wheat Roll w/ a ceasar salad (?)

Unsweetened Ice Tea w/ stevia

Dinner (high-carb): (Joe’s American bar & Grill in Boston)(?)

Spinach and Artichoke Dip w/ pita chips, tortilla chips, carrots and celery sticks

Ginger Ale

Weight: 319.2 lbs.  (Update for Friday, Oct. 5th)

Calories Needed to maintain my weight with little to no exercise today. Maintenance: 2,561 cal. Fat Loss Range: 2,552- 2,552 cal.

 Lunch (high-carb): 947 calories

Trail Mix Spring Spring Salad, (857)

• 1 cup Organic Baby Spinach (10)
• 2 cups Organic Spring Salad Mix (20)
• 1/2 med. cucumber (22.5)
• 6 pieces Mrs. Mays Natural: Cran-Blueberry Crunch (172)
• 1/4 cup BJ’s raw shelled walnuts (200)
• 1/4 cup BJ’s raisins (130)
• 2 oz. Cracker Barrel Vermont White Cheddar Cheese (220)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. BJ’s Balsamic w/olive oil dressing (82.5)

3/4 cup Dole Frozen Mangoes (90)

Dinner (high-carb): ? calories

Veggie Sesame Beef w/yams and brown rice (take out from The Vegetable Garen) (? calories)

2 cups Spring Mix Salad (20)

1 1/2 Tbsp. BJ’s Balsamic dressing (82.5)

Calories Burned (<– click here for calculator): 338.3 calories

20 mins. High impact aerobic dance (338.3)

Really can’t do the calculation today because I couldn’t obtain the calories for that vegan dish I had for dinner. I can safely assume that the meal was under 1,000 calories. It was firm tofu, yams, brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame seeds and about 2 cups of cooked brown rice.

 Weight: 321.4 lbs. (Update for Thursday, Oct. 4th)

Calories Needed to maintain my weight with little to no exercise today. Maintenance: 2,572 cal. Fat Loss Range: 2,568- 2,568 cal.

Calories Consumed: “Two M eals A Day”

*12 oz. water w/ 2Tbsp. of fresh lemon juice (7.5 cal.) **First thing when I wake up**

 Lunch (high-carb): 662 calories

Trail Mix Yogurt Parfait (662)

• 1 cup Stoneyfield organic fat-free plain yogurt (110)
• 1/4 cup BJ’s raisin (130)
• 6 pieces Mrs. Mays Cran-Blueberry Crunch (172)
• 1/4 cup BJ’s raw shelled walnuts (200)
• 1 Tbsp. Organic Maple Syrup, Grade B (50)  

Dinner (low-carb): 525 calories

Veggie Burger Pizza Salad (525)

• 1 patty Morning Star Veggie Patty (150) 
• 2 cups Organic Baby Spinach (10)
• 1 cup Organic Spring Salad Mix (10)
• 1/2 med. cucumber (22.5)
• 1/4 cup Classico Tomato Sauce (30)
• 2 oz. Cracker Barrel Vermont White Cheddar Cheese (220)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Berkley & Jensen Balsamic w/olive oil dressing (82.5)

Snacks (high-carb): 762 calories  

Trail Mix (672)

3/4 cup Dole Frozen Mangoes (90)

Calories Burned (<– click here for calculator): 766 calories

45 mins. Turbo Jam Cardio Jam (766)

Total calories consumed for the day 1,949. My workout was 45 mins. today, I should see a drop in weight when I get on the scale tomorrow morning, because mathematically speaking : 2,572 -(1,949-766) = 1,389 of calories cut out & burned for the day.