Day 5: Juice Cleanse

Sitting here drinking my lunch which consists of apples, celery, cucumber, ginger and pineapple. Celery is certainly not my favorite, BUT since its so good for you. I decided I'd buy a bag and use it. I feel like when I get through the bag, I've done my duty.

I feel great, I have to remember to drink enough juice and water. I have a good morning ritual after that I just need to ensure I drink enough juice. Juicing constantly is a lot, cleaning the juicer, etc... but worth it.  My reward on Day 12 is a new juicer! I should have enough in Bed Bath and Beyond giftcards to cover the cost.

I've been working out at about my usual pace, a bit less...mindful that my body is detoxing and I'm not taking much in.  Important to me is not to lose any muscle in this process, so working out is helpful with that particular resistance training.

I'm proud of myself, having stuck to it for 5 days. Yes, 25 more to go. But you can't get to day 30 without getting to day 5 first. So even though 30 is the ultimate goal, each day is a win.

I just can't wait to get to day 10. I don't know why, I just feel like I'll feel so accomplished on day 10.

Right now the goal is clear skin, I've already nixed the acne but not I want clear skin. That's going to take sometime but I'm hoping that my skin will heal from past scarring a bit and it will glow.  So...fingers crossed!

Back At It Again! 30 Day Juice Cleanse

And I'm back at it, with another 30 day juice cleanse.  I'm on day 2, looking at day 3 in a few hours. Right now, I do have cravings. I am doing smoothies as well. Hoping to taper off smoothies by the end of the week.

I'm hoping to achieve mental clarity. I'm trying to declutter spiritually and emotionally. I was at Lowe's today and turned around and saw and entire row of candy. Like, why? I had to turn my back to it. I would have grabbed something had it be any other day.  But not today, not today.

Am I exactly happy about the next 28 days...not really. I know its something I need to do. First time, I did a cleanse it was for acne. Now that my acne is gone...YAY...I'm more working on looking internal.

But for now, I'm just trying not to daydream about cheeseburgers.

Start Where You Are

Today I (re)started p90x. I've done it in the past, but never finished. I will complete it this time!

I don't have the resistance bands with the handles, I have ones without. I don't have a pull up bar and I trashed my old yoga mat...but I'm doing it anyway and will get those things in the next few weeks.

Why?

I learned a long time ago, that there is never a right time to start or make a change. If I wait, I'll be waiting forever based on some technicality. Some exercises I had to modify. Some I couldn't do many or any due to lack of the yoga mat (my bones hurt on the floor) or lack of strength. But I tried and pretty soon I'll get it.  Sometimes all you have to do is start.

Forgiveness Heals

I need to learn how to forgive...

I really do.

Juice Cleansing: Day 2 of 14

Howdy!

I'm on Day 2 of a 14 day juice cleanse.

I want to document daily as I did before, I find it keeps me motivated and on track. Right now, I'm super duper tired. Which isn't uncommon in the first days of a juice cleanse.  I did my normal 2.5 mile walk this morning which took a lot out of me. I sweated more than I ever did and I've been doing the same walk for over a month now.

As soon as I finish this post I'm taking a nap because I am struggling to keep my eyes open.
Me being tired is my body's way of healing and telling me to take it down, and I haven't listened yet! This juice cleanse I have a 1/2 gallon of Bolthouse Juice that is my fall back when I'm too tired to juice...it was lunch today.  So even though technically, it's a smoothie it won't affect my progress.

And speaking of progress, what I am working for this time? Not clear skin, because gee golly my skin looks darn good. I have a few breakouts, maybe 4. And the fact that I can count them is amazing, previously I had so many I couldn't count. And these 4 aren't monsters, one is actually super tiny.  I'm happy with my face and this is the first time I have ever said that in YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I'm working right now ease the inflammation in my body and to drop about 12 pounds. On the last cleanse I lost weight that I DID NOT GAIN BACK! I put that in caps because folks say oh you gain the weight back on a juice cleanse. Well, I didn't and I didn't even do it to loose weight.

This time I'm ready to reset my body once again and drop about 12 pounds.  So yeah, that's what I'm doing. Its day 2, 12 more to go!

Motivation

Love this outfit! Getting there...

Feeling Awesome and Skin Update

I'm feeling pretty darn amazing today. For not one particular reason I just feel like I need to give myself a pat on the back.  Sometimes we just don't give ourselves credit or love and encouragement. We're so busy doing an pushing forward that we don't take the opportunity to revel in our successes and even those things that we didn't succeed at but learned a valuable lesson.

Right now I'm on Day 4 of another juice cleanse. Though I've modified it and allowed myself almonds and I will eat lunch tomorrow (greens, veggies) but I plan on going like this for 2 weeks consistening of mainly fresh pressed juice. Right now I'm sipping on lunch which is mainly 2 apples, handful of spinach and a piece of ginger.

I had blogged about my skin before and just wanting to have a clear beautiful complexion, something which had alluded me for pretty much my entire post-childhood life. And though my skin isn't where I want it to be I am ELATED with my progress. Yes, I have a few breakouts but I think that is a side effect of the salicylic acid peel, which they say may happen. Which isn't unusual for anything that helps to treat acne...always the storm then the calm. But my face looks remarkable better. The breakouts on my jawline and cheeks...gone. I still have a ways to go but my skin's overall improvement has been marvelous.  I credit it with using steam to help open pores, my juice cleanse but also to getting a really amazing facial. 2 weeks after my skin was so nice! The lady who did my facial said my pores were clogged something super duper awful which was why I was breaking out. Now that could explain that why during the cleanse I was still breaking out, the stuff was coming out but it was blocked due to clogged pores.

My skin regime consists of using the following products:

• Cetaphil (not totally natural, but its a mild cleanser) - I won a big one from Allure during a contest and I'm glad I did.
• Yes To Tomato's - This is the Yes To! acne line. I use their core unclogging cleanser (contains salicylic acid, facial wipes, moisturizer and mask...I actually used up all the mask and moisturizer!)  I also have their acne gel cleanser that I have yet to open. I figured I start that once I run out of Cetaphil
• Grapeseed Oil - I use this as a moisturizer mainly at night after washing and toning
• ACV - GODSEND! this stuff is everything. I use it to mix my clay mask and also use it as a toner...a use equal parts ACV and water for my toner
• Clay - Yes, clay! This stuff is EXCELLENT at drawing out the impurities from the skin. Just mix with equal parts ACV and leave on face for 20-30 minutes, longer if you can stand it.
• Honey and Cinnamon - I mix these 2 together for a great mask that kills bacteria. Love this!

Products I want to get:

• Go Ginger Face Moisturizer - Ginger is anti-inflammatory which is why I always juice with it. I had a sample of this stuff before and it's awesome!
• TCA Peel -  I hear this is great, thou the process is a bit unsightly. I already ordered mine but I may not actually use it until next month. This will help with my scarring and dark marks. 

I really should do a blog post on how I cured my cystic acne naturally. I really think that my journey and struggle for years and years and finally finding a solution can help so many people with the same challenges. And it's not really just one solution, it's really changing a lot of things and realizing external and internal triggers.

I think I'll take a few pics of my skin now. I wish I had of taken them when my skin was acting crazy but it was just too much.  I think as time progresses the improvement from now to say a few months from now will be noticeable. I really hope that things continue so well. I knew that there was a better way to take care of my skin other than all these drugs.  Stay tuned for updates!!

xoxo

Tammy