Day 10 - Weightloss Revisited

Week 1 is about becoming accustomed to the cleanse. It's the time to learn healthier alternatives for meals and snacks. But it's also a time of withdrawal, both physical and emotional. And during that time it's easy to eat a little more than usual – that’s where this cleanse can get a little tricky. It's easy to substitute quantity for what you used to consider quality – it’s easy to eat more because you might feel like you're depriving yourself of your old favorites - "Oh, because I'm not having fettucine alfredo I can have an extra helping of gluten-free pasta with olive oil and garlic." That's okay. You shouldn't restrict yourself during the first week because the dietary changes are so drastic.

But now that you're into the second week of cleansing, you're accustomed to it and can really start to think about what you want to accomplish over the next two weeks. I'm pretty certain that the Number 1 objective for many of us is to lose a few pounds. But weight loss can be tricky on this cleanse.

Turning to non-meat sources of protein isn't as cut and dried as eating chicken or fish. Black beans are a tremendous source of protein but they're high in carbs. Same with quinoa. And it's those damned carbs that keep us fleshier than we'd prefer to be. The trick to getting lean is to cut the carbs way back. Fitness buffs eat lots of chicken, fish and vegetables to strip off the fat. We can do the same thing - we just need to make sure we're getting at least some of our protein from tofu or tempeh and protein powder - they're packed with protein and low in carbs.

The foods that become comfort foods while cleansing (rice, quinoa, gluten-free breads, pastas and crackers) are loaded with carbs. So be cognizant of how much of these types of foods you're eating each day.

Calorie intake is the Holy Grail of weight loss. This is where a website called Livestrong can really help. Check out the "My Plate" feature, where you can enter each item of food you eat in a day and calculate the number of calories you’ve consumed. You can also enter any exercise you’ve done and it will add that into the mix. And you can enter your current weight and your weight loss goals (i.e., lose 2 pounds per week) and it will calculate the number of calories it takes to do that. It will even create a pie chart to show you a snapshot of how your eating balances (or doesn’t) out. If you're honest and enter your intake every day it can really help you shed some of that insulation.

Veggies are the best for keeping you full while keeping the calorie count low. Fruits are great too, but keep an eye on the sugars they contain. If you've got to nibble on something, look to veggies first.

Water is great for curbing hunger. We often mistake thirst for hunger so any time you feel like to you want nibble on something, swig down 8 ounces of water first. Then see if you're really hungry.

And if you haven't already tried it, psyllium is a great jump-start for your digestive system. It can help clean out the pipes, which will help improve your current digestion.

I hope this helps those of you who would like to shrink a bit during the course of this cleanse. Here's to getting some great results!

Have a great Day 10!