Well I finished my modified juice fast at about 1:00 pm Christmas Eve Day. I’ve probably eaten more since then than I did the entire week before! Not to worry, I won’t go back to old habits. This is the only time I intend to cheat on my diet, and I wasn’t even that bad (Well, except for the two pieces of pecan pie!). I’m doing great today. In fact, I started German Volume Training and had the best weight workout in years. All that glucose in my muscles from the Christmas eating was amazing!

In review, I did a 10 day modified juice fast. Modified because I included a protein shake; intiially, using whey protein (which is a ‘no-no’ for juice fasting, but I’m a rebel). I did this before and it worked with the protein. That was five years ago, and apparently my body has gotten good at converting protein to glucose, so the whey may have slowed my weight loss intially. In fact, I actually gained a half-pound between the fourth and fifth day! There are issues of water and elimination to consider over a period of one day, but I stopped using the whey protein as a precaution. I purchased some vegan protein powder with tons of other micronutrients and that worked well.

The end result was I went from 161.8 to 152.6 in nine actual days of modified juice fasting, which is about a pound a day. I’m more interested in body-fat loss than weight loss, but it would seem my scale is not accurate in measuring that. I can look, though, and I’ve lost my gut. YEAH!

On day eight I was praying and became convicted of the selfish nature of this fast, so I converted to a standard water only fast and focused on praying for personal breakthrough and for my church. That was a tough, but fruitful time. I experienced a vision issue and stopped after 36 hours. It is likely the issue would have cleared but I was in prayer and it seemed time to go back to juice to end it.

In deciding to do the water portion, I prayed that the Lord would take away my caffeine addiction so that I wouldn’t have to cheat by drinking tea or taking a caffeine pill to keep away the headaches I normally get when detoxing. My prayer was answered!

So, now I’m back to the diet I was on previously, and I will be in the gym five to six days a week, along with my karate’ training. All of this will ensure I maintain the weight (fat) loss, gain strength and some muscle mass. All in all, I feel good! Most importantly, I believe I’ve had a breakthrough in the spirit that parallels breaking the 160 lbs barrier. In fact, the spiritual breakthrough is most important to me. I believe I’m where I should be physically at this time, and where I must be in relation to God.