healthy

It has been almost 4 years since I hit publish on my last post. At that moment, I sincerely believed that I would continue to blog while journeying toward optimal health. Instead, I found myself repeatedly starting a post and hitting delete, much like my healthy food choices. As the weight returned, I found it increasingly more difficult to find the words to share my frustration. The thing is…I have indomitable will.

Last year really became a turning point in my life. After a challenging several months of sickness and inflammation, and finding myself in almost constant roid rage from Prednisone, by November I decided to move to a plant-based diet. This has been an amazing transformation in my overall health and, at the beginning of the year, I added a 6 days a week trek to the gym into my routine. I am feeling fantastic! I decided to breathe air back into this blog and instead of posting daily, I have set the intention to post at least weekly.

If you are struggling with where you are at the moment, remember that all you have to do is…

Weight as of March 25th: 355 lbs

Weight as of Day One (April 15th): 341.8 lbs

Weight as of Day Ten (April 25th): 327.3 lbs

Weight lost during fast: 14.5 lbs

Total weight lost since March 25th: 27.7 lbs

Sorry that I hadn’t gotten back to report everything! Its been a busy past few days! I’m so very excited to say that my fast was WILDLY successful, and that I am still feeling excellent!

Over the past day or so I’ve been silently reflecting on what I had gone through, what I learned, and how I still feel about my experiences with my very first juicing fast. First of all, I had to face a lot of my inner demons on this fast, and that in and of itself was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever put myself through. To be home alone and bored and not being able to eat, but WANTING to eat anyways had caused me to look at myself in the mirror and say “you have a problem eating when you’re bored, and you need to do something about it.” That is hard when you’ve remained ignorant to your problems for so long. I had to face the inner demon telling me that it won’t matter, because I will probably just go back to eating poorly afterwards anyways; I simply just told that one to f**k off, because I can and WILL eat healthier. So far, so good!

Along with recognizing my own demons, I was also able to find more inner strength than I thought possible. I found the strength to ignore the devil on my shoulder who told me it was okay to give up before the ten days were over. I had the strength to listen to the angel on the other shoulder when she said she was proud of me for pushing through those tough moments. I finally had the strength to look at myself and say “Goodness, you are beautiful and you need to always know that about yourself.”

I’m beyond thrilled that I still have an intense sense of motivation that hasn’t wavered since I finished my fast four days ago. I love getting up in the mornings and walking, and I love eating better. I love knowing that this week I’ll be doing my work out video AT LEAST three times and parking further from my building at work to get a little more walking in. I love knowing that most likely I’ll be doing another fast (probably only a week long) in May. I also love being able to proudly write a blog saying that I’ve done well lately. I love being so positive about how everything is going.

Most of all, I love that this fast helped give me a second chance at motivation and happiness. I can’t wait to see what is in store for me next.

Love,

Elysia