And I survived! It wasn't actually bad at all, though I highly recommend you have lots of stuff planned to distract you on your cleanse days. For me, Friday and Sunday were easy as pie, because I had stuff to do; I barely noticed the fact that I was drinking juice and not eating.

Saturday, however, was kind of awful because I had nothing to do. What I really wanted to do was go and be outside and hang out with friends, but you know what I do when I go out and hang? Eat. And drink. If I'm at home, I tend to snack. So being "stuck" at home most of the day on Saturday was not the smartest idea I've ever had. Rich was fiiiiine on Saturday; he had FFXIV to keep him occupied pretty much all day long. Eventually I kicked myself out of my funk by doing a short workout which really re-energized me and perked me right up.

I was never hungry and never felt physically tired or lacking in energy. Saturday was emotionally a bit rough, but it's hard to tell exactly how much that had to do with the cleanse. I did think about crunchy snacks a lot (a LOT), but I was never genuinely tempted to break the cleanse. And I talked about food all. the. time. But, you know, I love food and I love talking about it, so it wasn't a huge departure from the usual.

For the next week I'm doing a post-cleanse diet (same as the pre-cleanse diet) which transitions into/out of the juice-only cleanse. This means no chicken or beef, no grains (pasta/rice/bread), no dairy, no fried foods. I'm going to try to put it off for as long as possible, but my first order of fries has got to be a good one! (...maybe I should make a special trip to Pommes Frites in the East Village.)

If you're into Magic: the Gathering, Rich does a weekly column ("What We Learned") over on Hipsters of the Coast. This week he blogged about the juice cleanse and how taking care of your body makes for a better Magic playing experience.

So now comes the post where I talk about how much weight I've lost in the last year and how awesome it is. I gained a lot of weight when I was in Indonesia because I wasn't able to be even as active as I normally was in NYC (not that I was super active anyway). Between coming back from Indonesia and going to LA I'm sure I lost a bit of weight and continued to do so in LA. But starting at the end of July last year I really started focusing on working out, and being more aware of what/when/how much I ate.

I did the Curves Complete weight loss plan for 3 months-- most of it is stuff I was already aware of, but having to stick to an actual plan, and having access to a whole bunch of easy recipes was really key for me. After the first 6 weeks I honestly stopped paying so much attention to recording everything and just continued the habits I'd created.

So, in the last 8 months -- from when I actually started counting -- I've lost a total of 50 lbs. And though the rate of loss has certainly slowed, it hasn't stopped.

It feels AMAZING.

I haven't been "dieting" so I don't expect to suddenly start gaining the weight back unless I get into another headspace where I just don't care. But honestly I think I'll be able to get back on track eventually, should that happen. Because now I know how to do it, successfully; I'll be able to do it again.

This is the smallest I've been, ever, since the first time I was this weight/size, probably somewhere back in junior high (7-9th grade). I can tell the difference, mostly just because of how my clothes don't fit anymore, but mostly I don't feel like I look that different. Which is perfectly fine. Though occasionally I'll catch a certain angle in the mirror and I'm like, wait, is that MY neck/collarbones/shoulders/face?

The best part (besides being able to fit into more clothes I like) is being able to do things I could never do before, like sit cross-legged on a desk chair, or comfortably circle my arms around my bent legs while sitting. It's just easier to MOVE. And I keep touching myself. Like, I can feel my ribcage -- so weird!

Anyway, it's all pretty exciting, and I'm just quietly happy with my progress. No matter how the whole new job/NYC/Philly things work out, going to LA last year was probably the best thing I could've done for myself.