Master Cleanse Forum - Master Cleanser Lemonade Diet

so, i'm nearing the end of my workday on DAY ONE. so far, so good. i craved food to nibble on a couple of times (while trying to solve a problem, when i got bored or needed a break), but i'm not hungry. nor have i felt any discomfort.

i'm a little tired today. and a little emotional. i think i'm going to honor that by cancelling my plans for the evening (which started kinda late anyway) and staying in to rest. it's totally unrelated to the cleanse...i've just been burning the candle at both ends. i have a habit of pushing myself to do to much. one of the reasons that i love the cleanse is that you get very tuned in to what your body needs and you learn honor it.

i'm at a good stopping point, so i'm going to leave work a little early and get myself a new knife (!) and some movies to watch tonight.

happy cleansing!

DAY TWO - 4/30
i'm super emotional. i can't tell it it's cleanse related or life related. maybe a bit of both. i broke down and cried twice today

i found out my cell phone had been stolen (by checking the call record) and i literally broke down crying in the phone store. the salesperson could not have been nicer as she helped me pick out a new phone. it reminded me of a time many years ago when i was moving out of an apartment i'd shared witha long term boyfriend. the relationship had ended. he'd cheated on me and taken up with the woman. anyway, the movers showed up and i burst into tears. they were so sweet. they said they see it all the time. i just climbed up on the kitchen counter and perched up there...crying while they carted my life out the door.

i also got into it a little bit with my cousin. there has been an underlying communication issue with us and it reached it's peak tonight. though i think i was in the right (and it's so not about being right), my finally standing up for myself freaked me out. i got into the shower and cried. hard.

no big physical symptoms except craving bananas. i swear that every time a banana was with 20 feet of me, i smelled it and suddenly wanted it. weird.

i also have the nibbles. when i see food (at the grocery store, at target, in a magazine...)i want it.

the idea of doing 40 days feels overwhelming right now. i think i need to focus on getting through each day. heck, each moment. i've decided that i'm going to buy myself a treat for every week i stay on the cleanse. that will be my incentive to go all the way to 40 days. i went to target and pre-shopped for what i want

oops. i just remembered that i cried at the office today when my computer kept crashing - so i guess that was three..lol!

DAY THREE - saturday 5/1/11

MUST get rid of the bag of organic blue corn and flaxseed chips that keep staring me in the face. seriously. i love the lemonade, but all this sweet, sweet and more sweet has got me craving salty/savory. in the garbage they go.

still very emotional. still upset about my phone being stolen and my fight with my cousin last night. i allowed myself to chill out and be weepy and mopey all day. i watched almost an entire season of 'bones' . i was supposed to do a little work today (at home), but couldn't bring myself to do it. oh well...tomorrow is another day.

still no big physical symptoms. just pooping a lot. sorry. too much? too soon? oh and i can really only stomach the lemonade made with sparkling water. i'm going to allow myself that one luxury. it'll add to the cost of doing the cleanse, but i'm worth it, right?

i babysat tonight. the little boy didn't want to go to bed and fought me all the way. i though - littlemissMC, you CANNOT snap on this little boy. so i breathed my way through it and i'm proud to say, i did good. i got him to be in 15 minutes.

DAY FOUR - monday 5/2

as i was in the shower this morning, and i remember thinking...the muscle memory is kicking in. i'm getting the hang of this thing. i remember how the nights were the worst. i remember how it's better not to indulge in food fantasies. i remember how it worked best to focus on small goals. i got to 28 days by saying. i'll go to 10. when i got to 10 i thought, i'll go to 14, when i got to 14 i thought...i'll go to 20 etc. etc.

i'm happy to say that my emotions have leveled out. my car even broke down this morning, but i handled it calmly and with grace. yay!! oh, i think i forgot to mention that i cried really hard again yesterday. legitimately though i think - i was worried about a family member that is sick.

physically: the pooping continues. it kinda takes over your life - when is it gonna happen. where will you be? could you wait until you are home? sheesh! lol! my body is looking good though. i don't own a scale, but i feel leaner and am seeing more definition in my belly. i went shopping for some clothes last night and actually had fun. my breath, however is KICKIN'. yikes. i really can't be without peppermint tea anymore. it's not fair to anyone else.

oh, so as i mentioned, last night i went a little further than pre-shopping for my weekly treats. i did some pre-buying. hee hee. i'm wearing a new necklace and shirt today, so i guess i have to stay on the cleanse for at least 2 weeks, right?....since i'm already wearing my weekly reward clothes.

i also walked to work today (since my car is in the shop). it was really nice. one of the things i wasn't so great about doing on my two prior cleanses was exercising. i tried during my first one, but it was too much. i didn't even attempt it on my second cleanse, but this time around, i'm going to try to fit in a little light exercise...or at least be more active.

okay - they just called. my car is ready

DAY FIVE - tuesday 5/3/11

OMG, i could barely sleep last night. again i wonder - is this cleanse related or life related? i feel good today though. my energy is up and i don't feel as emotional as i did over the weekend.

mentally/emotionally: i'm enjoying the simplicity of all the cleanse routines. i like scaling back. i enjoy prepping my lemonade each day and washing my supplies...all of it.

night time is still the most difficult for me. every night i wonder if i can make it 40 days. every night try to remind myself of the benefits. the spiritual benefits are the most thrilling (and why i do the cleanse). the physical one's aren't too shabby either - they are a very nice bonus.

physically: - so 'the colds' have set in. i wore mittens to walk home last night and when i picked up my car, i cranked the heat. it is about 55 degrees outside and i was acting like it was 10 below. when i got home, i jumped straight into a hot shower, but still couldn't get warm. i donned some big fuzzy sock, but my feet were still cold. i finally heated up my rice bag and jumped under my fuzzy throw and that did the trick. yay!

i'm also super sensitive to smells - the smell of lavender is the only smell i enjoy right now (and lemons of course). everything else feels too sharp or cloying or smells putrid.

oh dear. i almost forgot to post a little CONFESSION

gulp! so on sunday i went to church. i wasn't until i was kneeling down for the post-communion prayer that i realized i had taken communion. i was literally on auto-pilot and spaced out.

i've never eaten before while doing a cleanse. never. i had to forgive myself and move on. though it was not ideal. i've decided that i will not allow a communion wafer and the tiniest sip of wine to derail my efforts. i've just stayed on track since then...like it never happened.

i think the hardest part is dealing with the idea that i didn't do it all perfectly. i don't want at the end of 40 days to say to myself "yay! you did a 40 day cleanse, BUT you did take communion on day 3..."

LittleMissMC, you are doing an awesome job!
I am laughing at your Confession about the communion wafer -- I bet you are the first person in history to actually feel guilty about taking communion!
And don't worry about it -- there's so little to it that it won't make a difference. And it's completely different from giving in to your cravings and eating food. You weren't thinking about it as food.

Even though I've done the MC twice (10 days each) with no food, I work in a new company where everyone eats lunch together, and along the lines of NOT telling people that I'm doing the cleanse, I can't NOT each lunch. luckily, our cafeteria has three kinds of soup every day, so i get a cup of the broth-based kind and have enough broth to appear to be eating lunch. I realize that it's not part of the plan, but i'm more likely to stay on the cleanse if I can manage to not have my new coworkers think I'm crazy. And I don't think a little broth is THAT different from a lemonade.

It sounds like you're dealing with a lot of stress right now. I'm really impressed that you're managing to stick with this through it all. Regarding the exercise, I like to go to the gym and get on an elliptical with a TV on it, and just starting going at whatever pace feels comfortable, for whatever amount of time seems comfortable. (It's so important to listen to your body on the MC.)

Good luck to you!

thanks secondtimer !

thanks for the support about communion !!!

i'm really lucky in that i have a job with a lot of flexibility and a lot of autonomy. we don't have a group lunch room and i have my own office, so nobody notices if i don't eat.

the stress IS a real factor right now. my gosh. i do think it's amplified by the fact that i'm not turning to food to help me through a tough spot here and there. it's good ultimately. i'm just being really good to myself and allowing myself extra rest or down time as needed.

are you planning to do the cleanse again soon?

xo littlemissMC

DAY 6 - wednesday 5/4/11

confession of the day: i cheated a little bit. just a bit. i didn't do the lax tea last night. i've been exhausted at the end of the day - like can't keep my eyes open...i think i have the flu...or sleeping sickness exhausted and couldn't deal with getting up several times in the middle of the night.

i was so tired that i woke up literally in the same position i had fallen asleep in - i slept that hard. thankfully, felt like a brand new person in the morning.

physically :
my energy is good during the day. however, it drops off considerably at night. like drastically. as soon as i get home from work, i shower, hop into my pjs and then am basically in for the night.

still lots of poop. sorry - tmi? i don't remember pooping this much before. i must have... i feel like my life revolves around the bathroom. i find myself stressed out if i'm away from home (or the office) for long.

i still have dragon breath. i can't wait for that to go away. i try to remind myself that this is part of cleanse process and that it WILL go away.

i'm getting leaner. my face looks thinner. my thighs do not...lol! that whole "first on, last off" theory is really proving to be true. it's coming off the last places i gain weight first. make sense? in short, my booty and thighs are the first place i gain weight and they are the last to get lean.

DAY 7 - thursday 5/5

confession of the day: i didn't do the lax tea at night AGAIN last night. i had a big interview today and needed my sleep. no more deviating though. i'm back on the program. sleep or no sleep.

physically:
i feel good. i actually went ice skating both yesterday and the day before. it was nice to get in some activity and i found it surprisingly invigorating.

i'm loving the way my face looks. i look healthy and my skin is getting really clear. i'm fine with the amount of definition i have in my face right now, but i'm hoping it doesn't get too gaunt looking. by the end of 28 days (my last cleanse length) i was looking a bit like skeletor. i'm worried about what i'll look like at 40 days. i guess i'll cross that bridge when i get to it.

still REALLY tired at the end of the day. it worries me. i'm going to try adding an extra lemonade in the evening and seeing if that helps. i'm totalling 6 glasses per day - i guess that is on the low end....

emotionally:
things have leveled out for me. i'm still under quite a bit of stress, but am handling it better. i cried at the end of my work day yesterday (out of frustration mostly), but the storm passed pretty quickly and i ended up having a nice evening.

DAY 8 - friday 5/6/11: wow, i can't believe it's day 8!! how did that happen? i might be able to make it 40 days after all. i'm finding that not focusing on what day it is seems to be the best strategy. i'm looking forward to the weekend - i like being at home more and being able to make the lemonade as needed rather than "taking my show on the road", you know?

confession of the day: HAPPY TO REPORT - NONE!!!

physically: i love my body right now. i'm all kinds of curvy and my face looks really good. i feel like my skin has tightened up. i had a little horizontal wrinkle starting to form between my eyes and it's going away! i'll take that

funny thing: so i finally figured out why my right shoulder has been a bit sore. from juicing lemons!!! duh!

have a good weekend all !

a couple additional notes from FRIDAY - DAY 7 that i didn't get to post:

my breath is finally fresh again. yay!

to combat my evening exhaustion, i'm going to try adding an extra lemonade in the evenings - before bed.

i smelled sausage cooking and for some reason it smelled delicious. i'm a vegan - i don't eat (or even miss) sausage. what gives i think it was a combination of the spices and the idea of something savory. all this sweet, sweet, sweet lemonade is lovely, but i swear sometimes i'm tempted to put a little salt on my tongue.

DAY 9 - saturday 5/7

super tired this morning. i had a late night last night, plus getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom like 5 times proved to be too much... i literally stayed in bed all morning. i wasn't hungry - just thirsty and sleep and weak.

i didn't get out of bed to have my first lemonade until about 3:00pm.

i also have leg cramps - in the back of my thighs.

this is BY FAR THE WORST cleanse day i've had. i was seriously tempted to quit. by the evening i was battling extreme hunger, weakness AND my mind - which was telling me i couldn't do it. i will say this - i knew that if every cleanse day were like this, i could not make it 40 days. but i put it into perspective. this was my first hard day. the first one. i had some extra lemonade and that seemed to help - with respect to cravings and the incessant thoughts about food i was having.

it occurred to me to figure out the number of calories i am consuming and see if this is factoring into exhaustion. well, it turns out the i'm getting about 600 calories per day (6 lemonades)- which is WAY less than i'm used to getting.

aww im right there with you, all the sweetness can be too much. i like my lemonade sweet but im also a salt lover today is your 11th day, thats awesome!