28 Day Detox - Starting Gate

Day One

I am doing a 4-week detox. The last time I did this (October of 2008), I lost 17 pounds in 4 weeks without counting calories or exercising like a crazy woman.  It is a diet of fresh and healthy foods - organic when not too expensive plausible, and high in fiber.  It is devoid of refined sugar, wheat, chemical processing and saturated fats.  It requests that I follow a mind detox as well; focusing on mindfulness and spiritual awareness, and reducing stress.  It gives reason to why I should avoid toxic substances in detergents, make-up, perfumes and air, and reminds me to move my body.  It teaches about the whole system of the body and how it works together... which foods help which organs, how to tell when you are toxic and which organs to concentrate on longer.  The last time I did this, the weight stayed off almost 2 years.  But I gained it all back over the course of last Winter, and I didn't take the time to stop myself.  Life has been very hard the past year, and it is exactly when I SHOULD have been paying more attention to what my body was saying and less to the wanderings of my mind.  But spiral down via chocolate, I did (and I don't even LOVE chocolate).  Now I am going to work on this 28 day detox, and I am pretty certain that it will last longer than 28 days to get my body into shape this time.  It is hard for me to loose weight the "normal" way - exercise and counting calories ... but this way works the way my body works, so the weight loss will be good.  More than doing this for weight loss, I am doing this for health gain.  I feel sluggish, my mind feels slow, I feel grumpy and irritable and the fact that my clothes are tight makes me more self-conscious.  I am not going to buy new clothes to help me gain confidence.  Not this time.  I am going to get my head back in the game.  I didn't think I'd ever gain those pounds back, and I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't succumbed to the stress.  I am back on the mindful living bandwagon; resolved to stay, and excited for the results!

 Last August:  17 pound weight loss maintained for 22 months - I went back to my normal-ish diet, and felt good so I hadn't tried to loose the 10 - 15  pounds I still could have lost

4th of July weekend.  Yes!  I was able to walk on stilts, but that didn't make me feel better when I saw this picture!