[Irep]

Hi everyone!

I've started a new get fit regime. I'm doing a mixture of yoga, Pilates, Bollywood dancing (a bit of cardio) and power yoga. I'm keeping really busy 1 class Monday's. 2 classes daily midweek and 1 again Friday's.

Along with this I have been juicing for breakfast and dinner (both after my classes) and with only fruit (watermelon, orange, carrot, strawberry, pear...) with a low carb meal for lunch.

Am I cancelling out any weight lots with the juices? Or are they appropriate replacements.

I'm hoping to loose a stone and a half so 10st 6lb down to 9st. I'm only 5'2" so indoor think it's dangerous.. I just think my efforts might be a bit futile. I'm on week 2 and I've lost about 4lbs..

Any advice or thoughts?

[MauiKai]

The only thing you're doing is setting your metabolism up for a lock down. You're working out more, eating way too little, and pumping yourself up with sugar. You have little to no veg, and that's a serious thing. You also haven't got much protein with one meal in there.

[Palestrina]

You're not silly but your doing an all or nothing approach and those only lead to one outcome = disaster. Juicing is fine, but it's not a meal replacement by any means. A meal consists of protein and fiber at the minimum! Juicing removes all the valuable fiber from the fruit and leaves you with a concentration of sugar. Get off this route.

A better meal replacement is a smoothie that includes protein like yogurt or peanut butter. You must add veggies to this and cut way down on fruit. Fruit is much more delicious but it's very sugary and can wreak havoc with your blood sugar which will spike your hunger and the restriction will drive you to an unpleasant binge.

I drink smoothies but I only consider them snacks. This morning I had a spinach strawberry smoothie a couple of hours before breakfast. Most days I have a parsley/banana/flax seed smoothie.

If you're going to work out hard you have to give your body the nourishment it needs. Right now you're punishing it.

[atmos]

What Palestrina said. Even if weight loss is slower, you're better off taking it slowly and using a more moderate calorie deficit.

A smoothie (keeping the fiber of any fruit or veg) would be a great fuel for a work out if you don't wish to make an actual meal. A good combo of protein and carbs to fuel your activities and some good fats to keep you satiated will likely be healthier/easier to maintain in the long run.

If you've lost 4 lbs in less than 2 weeks, that's a lot of weight loss! You don't have much to lose, so it would (and should) come off more slowly. It's doable, but be patient and be sure to get a good variety of carbs, fats, and proteins via a balanced diet while you're at it. It's important to look forward to maintenance.

[kiwi1222]

I love juicing, but as mentioned before, our body's really do need the fiber or we are just taking a sugar shot. Maybe try making your juice more veg than fruit. Here are a few recipes that i like.
A low sugar green juice: kale, spinach, 1 celery stalk (i don't like celery that much but if you like it add more), half or third of cucumber parsley and 1 apple. The apple really will sweeten it more than you think.
A happy slightly sweeter green juice: lots of kale, 5-8 strawberries and 1 apple, some cilantro if you'd like (this juice separates easily so mix with a straw)
Something with a kick. This one will wake up up in a tired morning: Carrot apple, and ginger (only about 1/2 to 1 in of ginger...a little goes a long way)
Sweet and earthy: 3 carrots, 1 apple, 1 beet (you will pee and poo a bit red/purple so don't freak out)

Sorry if this is a lot. I try to make mostly the low sugar green juices when I can bc its better for you. Try to juice on a low speed so you get a little bit of pulp so you at least get some fiber. If you do the lower sugar green juice you can use a bit of pineapple and 1 kiwi instead of apple and you'll get more pulp. Play with it. Try only 1 juice a day. I do a banana in morning with a lot of water and then about 1 hr later I drink a juice. That way I get the fiber before hand to absorb the sugar from the juice. I wouldn't do a juice at night just because it is a lot of sugar right before bed.

[Stripes 237]

I don't think you're silly, but I do agree that if you're not juicing your stuff and using the fiber, you're missing out on health benefits as well as a way to stay more full.

I tried juicing for about 36 hours. One meal a day did NOT work for me, so I eat the fruits and veggies now instead of drinking them. But if it works for you, that's wonderful. Good luck with it!

[EmmaD]

Great advice so far... I don't know much about juicing per se, but I have a high-speed blender and I use it all the time to make "whole juices" (well i used to and I will do this again when I am in maintenance). So while everything is pulverized, all the fiber still in there (broken down a bit though I think...). I don't consider it equal to eating whole fruits and veggies but it is a great way to get a lot of nutrients in quickly. I especially do this if I am sick. Here is one thing I found about juicing vs. blending, it's from the "Food Matters" folks, no guarantees on accuracy but it seems reasonable.

I love to make a whole juice "V8" and some combinations similar to what kiwi mentioned, but whole. Apple and lemon juice go a long way toward sweetening the veggie juices. I put spinach into every smoothie I make and you can't even taste it... BUT I did invest in some opaque pint glasses. The color is often quite off-putting, especially when purple/blue things are mixed in

Hope you get some good ideas from people here -