Master Cleanse Forum - Master Cleanser Lemonade Diet

I'm a seasoned master cleanser, though the last time I did one was over 4 years ago. This is either my sixth or seventh master cleanse and I'm about to be on Day 7. I follow the cleanse to the T (most of the time).

Background: Female, in my mid-30's.US Size 4. 5'4". Weight: 137 lbs

Health Background: I was chronically sick for over six years - going gluten free (had no choice) and doing detoxes helped me get healed. I am a Christian so I also did a lot of praying and I believe it's no accident that I came across the master cleanse, because my health was very quickly deteriorating. I was at the point where walking 200 feet was exhausting me. Now I lead an active lifestyle and back to working out, having an enjoyable social life, and thanking God for a healthy body because I know what it means when I'm not healthy. My empathy for people who are not well is very, very high.

Goal: Be on it for 10 days minimum. longer if I can handle it. All other times I did it to be healthier. This time around, I"m doing it to lose weight. My weight has slowly being creeping upwards and it is making me miserable. I eat extremely healthy, so I should not be gaining weight (my theory is that it's a thyroid issue). I don't want to have to buy new clothes because I gained a size. I also have been feeling very lethargic lately, kind of how I used to be when i was chronically sick - not as bad as when I was sick, but I don't like feeling so lethargic. Also, I'm mentally ready to take it. I tried twice last year and didn't succeed - I didn't make it past two days on both attempts. So here's my update for Days 1 to 6:

Day 0 (yes, day 0): Drank 13 glasses of lem juice (had agave instead of maple syrup) and had a boiled egg and cherry tomatoes with grapeseed oil and salt and then had an apple (because that was the only solid food left in my fridge). Took vitamins and had coffee in the morning. Took Smooth Move at night.

Day 1. 137 lbs. Woke up in lots of stomach pains because of the Smooth Move. Drank salt water. Had 13 glasses of lem juice - had agave and cayenne pepper each time. I was pretty miserable the whole day. Then took Smooth Move.

Day 2: 137 lbs. Same as Day 1. Still miserable. Took a long nap. While awake, keep dreaming of delicious food. Must. Not. Give. Up.

Day 3: 136 lbs. I went to the gym and did Pilates and planking for about 20 mins and then went to the sauna for 20 minutes (that's all I could handle). still miserable. Tongue very white all over.

Day 4: 134 lbs. Instead of doing workout and sauna, I took an epsom salt bath. I took a nap during the day, because my sleeping pattern is messed up with me waking up early in the morning because of the stomach pains from taking Smooth Move at night. But typically my sleeping pattern isn't that great, anyway. It's just worse now.

Day 5: 133 lbs. I went to the gym and did Pilates and planking for about 20 mins and then went to the sauna for 20 minutes (that's all I could handle). still miserable. Tongue very white, but edges are starting to clear up. Took a very long nap again. In the evening my throat became sore and I could feel the mucus in my throat (gross). I tried to rinse my throat with salt water, it helped a little but not enough.

Day 6: 132 lbs. Today was the first time that the majority of my lem juice mixes didn't include agave, where I just had lem juice and cayenne pepper with warm water. I also felt less miserable today and had some energy to do chores around the house. Followed same gym/sauna regiment. My throat is still sore with mucus (doesn't affect how I sound when I talk). No nap today.

Thank you for posting about your experience. I appreciate your honesty, I too have a difficult time getting past Day 3. But, today is Day 5 and I am feeling energized and positive. How are you doing now? You are probably finished with your cleanse. I hope it helped you.
Stay healthy.
Josie

Josiebear, I'm glad you made it to day 5!!! That is great! keep it up. Today I'm on day 7 and am still tired but I'm fighting through . I will post my Day 7 update soon.

Keep it up and keep going We can do this, it's totally worth it.

Day 7:
132 pounds in the morning - so no weight loss today but I'm detoxing today during the day more than any other, so I'm not feeling discouraged. I also received encouraging words from a friend today about my progress which boosted my resolve to keep going.

Today, I was once again very tired and had to take a nap. I don't have the a/c on even though it's in the high 80's outside, because I was a little cold today and I think it's because of the cleanse. Same thing happened to me on day 2 and 3.

My throat is still sore with icky stuff at the back of it. I've done this cleanse multiple times and it's the first time that I have this throat thing, but I did some research and this does happen on the cleanse. I guess my body is under some serious detox mode...I wonder if it's because I went to the sauna 3 times, so I'm accelerating the detox process...just a personal theory.

I might do more than 10 days, since my tongue is still very white. This cleanse is tough but because it's so good for you it is tempting to keep going. The longest that I've been on it is 21 days.

So those who are on it, keep going and keep fighting! You can do this. If you're hungry, drink some lem juice. "Mind over matter." Let's keep at it!!

Day 8
131 lbs. Today was the first day of the cleanse where I felt like a human again. After doing the salt water drink, two hours later I went to play tennis and I played for 3 hours and had energy for it. I brought a bottled water with me that had 16 oz of water, a full lemon of juice squeezed with agave and cayenne pepper and that bottle kept me going for the 3 hour duration. I was happy, such a nice break from feeling like a zombie on this cleanse.

It's almost 2pm local time and just getting back from tennis, I am a little tired but that's normal for being active so long. I'm in the process of drinking a glass of lem juice.

My tongue is still very white, but the edges continue to show more and more pink. My throat is still sore but it's not as sore as before, which is progress.

I'm planning on doing an epsom salt bath tonight.


Side Note:
Last night I went to a birthday dinner and then we had homemade dessert at a friend's house. I was surrounded by temptation and sometimes I got a little envious to watch people enjoy these amazing looking delicacies. I counteracted those thoughts by reminding myself that when I leave the party I will not feel guilty for eating too many sweets. It felt good to see my weight go down instead of up last night. Again, it was mind over matter. Plus, I saved about $30 or $40 on not ordering at the restaurant (restaurant was high end). My friends were sweet and very supportive of me being on the cleanse even though most of them never heard of it. It's nice to be around supportive people.

Day 9
132 pounds. My weight went up by a pound but I also got my period this morning, and I always weigh more on my period so I'm not discouraged. Especially since the dress that I bought in my normal size was slightly tight on my hips and butt 3 days ago when I bought it and I'm wearing it today and it's nice and loose on me.

I'm normally in a lot of pain and am very tired on the first of day of my period and this time around is no different. I usually take Midol to kill the pain but I didn't today since I'm on the cleanse so I've been in bed most of the day and just taking it very easy.

The soreness in my throat went away. My tongue is still very white, except on the edges. Despite being in pain, I still did the salt water drink in the morning, I almost didn't do it but I told myself that I was going to cheat myself of a healthier body and this little pep talk convinced me. I'm very thankful that today is Sunday and I don't have to go into the office.

Though I'm tired and in pain I'm not feeling miserable today, I feel better mentally. Tomorrow is supposed to be my last day on the cleanse, but I am very tempted to keep going for another few days. We shall see.

Day 11:
131 pounds. Though tongue is still white, there's a lot more pink showing, but the white stuff is still dominating. I was constantly hungry this day. I'd drink a glass and then 10 minutes later I was hungry. This didn't make me want to give up, I just found it strange. I was tired but not super tired. I was able to focus on my job easily. I've been taking a combination of Yerba Mate tea (traditional) and Ginger Aid tea twice a day to get more energy. I think the tea helps, because I'm not dragging. They're both herbal teas so I'm not breaking Cleanse rules.


Day 12:
131 pounds. It's almost 2pm and I'm only on my third glass of lem juice. I'm kind of tired, but I would probably be like this even if I wasn't on the cleanse, since I've been very tired lately.

Day 13
130 lbs
Last night I wanted to quit. This morning I also want to quit today until I put on my work pants that usually make me look wider than I really am and I looked in the mirror and I didn't look wider. This motivated me to stay on the cleanse today.

The other motivation was looking at my tongue, there is SO much more pink on it now, compared to yesterday, about 30 to 40% of the white disappeared. That's a promising sign from a health perspective.

I find that I am very miserable on this cleanse when I'm isolated from people, but when I'm talking with people I feel more motivated. Maybe it's because I'm not thinking about the cleanse and how I haven't eaten real food in almost two weeks.

If I could just hang on until Sunday, I think that I will make so much more progress for myself internally and externally.

I am going to take it day by day. If I can stay on the cleanse tomorrow then I will, if I can't then I'm done and that's ok because I've already exceeded my 10 day minimum by 3 days.

Day -3
130 lbs

I am off the cleanse. I am officially in phase out mode today and will finish in 3 days. I am following the phase out instructions in the Master Cleanse book for non-vegetarians.

I did the salt water drink this morning to help remove as many toxins out of my body as possible. I will be taking probiotics either today or tomorrow.

My tongue has cleared up more on the edges, but it has accumulated more white fuzz in the middle. The accumulation has happened in prior cleanses, so I was expecting it.

It's noon and I've been drinking fresh squeezed orange juice each time I get hungry, I think in total I had just one 8oz glass, because I've been squeezing juice of one orange in a glass once every hour. I've also been drinking water and I had my ginger aid and yerba mate combo tea.

I'm cheerful today and am happy to be going off the cleanse. I think 13 days is pretty good. I feel healthier and definitely slimmer.

Reflection on the cleanse:
This was one of my most difficult master cleanses to date. I think it's because in the past I was living near family and my workload at work was high, so I had to be constantly in meetings talking with people. This time around, I'm far from family and my current work assignments require little interaction with people, so the pseudo isolation has allowed me to focus a lot on the fact that I wasn't eating solid food. I noticed that when I was around people, the cleanse was no big deal, but when I was on my own I was miserable the majority of the time. I am very glad that I went on this cleanse and I hope to do it again in about 3 months - providing I'm mentally ready for it.

It is the third day since I've been off the cleanse, so I'm still in the phase out mode. I made a mistake on Day 2, that cost me. Here's what's happened so far:

130 lbs today.

Day 1 of phase out, I followed the instructions from the lem book and I was fine.

Day 2 of phase out, I didn't follow the instructions as I should have and I had some serious nausea. I felt awful. Here's what I did and why I shouldn't have done it. In the morning, as instructed, I had orange juice fresh squeezed. In the afternoon I had vegetable soup as instructed, BUT THEN, I decided to cook rice and make my own version of rice pudding with rice and a little bit of agave. I then had a spoonful of kalamate spread (store bought) and then a spoonful of pesto spread (store bought). I then had more vegetable soup. I also took a strong probiotic that was GMO free, gluten, soy, and dairy free.

Me breaking the rules, even though the rules broken didn't seem to me to be that huge cost me an evening of extreme nausea. I tried drinking ginger aid tea to help ease the nausea, I tried drinking lem juice, but nothing worked. I went to bed nauseous.

Day 3 I woke up no longer nauseous and in the morning skipped the orange juice because I was running late for church and just had a small glass of water. I wasn't hungry. When I came home, I made fresh squeezed orange juice and felt fine. A couple of hours later I made veggie soup and had two bowls, there was a lot of liquid. Eating the soup gave me slight nausea, I think my body is still trying to recover from me breaking the rules yesterday. I'm going to drink two glass of lem juice in hopes of settling my stomach more.

So the lesson learned here is DON'T break the phase out rules, learn from my mistake and follow the instructions. This will only benefit you.

On a positive note, people noted at church that I lost weight!

I love how honest your journal is. I know that everyone says that, but I really do. Even among strangers on the internet there can be pressure to be more than you are but your journal comes across as very authentic.

Thanks MCMakeover I appreciate your lovely feedback. I admire authenticity in others so I try to also be authentic.