The only unfortunate thing about starting the cleanse today is that I had a show last night and was out pretty late…ok…VERY late (I play in a band called The Barley Brothers Band) so as I write this I am a bit blurry eyed. Oh well. I really don’t know the format of how I will do this, but I think I I may try a few things. I thought for today it seemed fitting to have a timeline, because if you are anything like me you are wondering what is going on through this process and things change from morning to afternoon and evening. Also, make sure you click follow on the right side of the page so you don’t miss out on any posts!

So, right now it is 8:03 AM. I weighed myself first thing in the morning and did all of my measuring to calculate this, that and the other thing. Again, I am not using numbers here, because in my opinion that doesn’t matter. It’s more how you look and feel. I am my goal weight +27lbs, so I will call this +27. Waist wise it’s not terrible, but it is goal +4 inches or +4″. I’ve done the morning routine as per the instructions that came with the packaging as well as the verbal instructions from my “coach”. So far taste-wise, not bad. I actually really like the taste of one of the items. The other one is fine, it’s just not my speed. Overall, so far so good.

11:04 – I just finished one of the snacks that they provided. Veggies, hard boiled egg whites and some other stuff is “allowed” too, but I am full tilt with this thing, so I had the snack bar. First, anything peanut-flavored is alright in my book. The bar was really good. To be honest, I only ate it because this was the time I was supposed to. I really didn’t have any hunger whatsoever.

1:00 PM – Just finished the afternoon routine. So far I feel fine. No issues whatsoever. I was nervous about kicking the coffee habit but nada so far. I just completed making a new project on kickstarter.com to help me fund the cookbook that I will create from doing this cleanse. You can find it on there by clicking HERE.  Speaking of the cookbook, I am heading out to the grocery store now to go get the items I will need for tonight’s dinner. Most of the ingredients haven’t harvested yet in the garden…

2:52 PM – I will say that it is a bit difficult sitting at the breakfast bar of my kitchen while the aromas are wafting above. The Bison Meatballs are working in the crock pot and I am chugging on. Unfortunately they are slow cooked so I can’t enjoy them for a while. But if it weren’t for the smell, I wouldn’t even think about it.

6:33 PM – I just finished eating dinner. The Bison Meatballs were fantastic. I can’t wait to make them again. The Ezekiel Garlic Toast Points were really good too, but I wasn’t really worried about those. Overall, a pretty terrific din din and the day is really flying by. I took a pic of the first homemade meal of the cleanse and it is:

Rosemary Bison Meatballs with Ezekiel Garlic Toast and Salad

If you want a sneak peek of the recipe book I will give out this recipe to try to the first 25 people that message me. I want volunteers to make this so I know it works for everybody. OK. Off to do the dishes. I’m still exhausted from the show last night so I have a feeling I will pass out early.

8:31 PM – The day is almost over. Kids are in bed. Dishes are done. Shark Tank is on. Life is good. The real question – how was the hunger? How was the first day of the cleanse? Honestly? Not a big deal. When dinner time was nearing I was definitely ready to eat. There is no doubt about that. BUT, I think for a first day and not really knowing how to work the system I’ll take it. I may try to have the big amazing meal at lunchtime tomorrow, just to see what the difference is. All in all, I would definitely say thumbs up so far.

I will see you at the next post – feel free to message with ANY questions – I am happy to answer! Now I am getting ready for bed because last night is definitely catching up to me…

First, make sure you click follow on the right side of the page so you don’t miss out on any of these posts! I won’t post to Facebook every time I post on here, so don’t miss out!

Anyway, I have done a lot of soul searching since my last post, not even necessarily about the cleanse. Assuming that I make it through with no problems (very safe assumption – one thing I DO have is willpower), I would like to share my success with anyone and everyone. I decided to put together a cookbook with one challenge in mind – 30 recipes in 30 days. I will prepare a different dish every day and formulate the recipe utilizing only the ingredients that are “YES foods” and without using the “NO foods”. The portions will be exactly what is recommended for the diet and I will use the freshest and best ingredients I can find. I am fortunate enough to have made a very large organic garden at my home, so many of the ingredients will actually be home grown, which is sorta fun for me.

In reviewing the “YES foods” list, one thing stood out to me…Ezekiel Bread. Yep – I never heard of it either. So, I made the trek to Trader Joe’s and bought a loaf to try before I kicked this thing off. Probably like you, I expected a tasteless, cardboardy, dry bread that will grow mold in my pantry over the next month because I will never touch it again. Well, while it is certainly more dense than traditional bread, and not quite as moist as “normal” bread, I actually really enjoyed it. I spread some almond butter on it at first – not bad. Then I grabbed some homemade lox (I love making lox) and tried it with capers and onions – really great. Then I tried it toasted and the possibilities began running through my head. So I decided to showcase this new friend on the menu for the first dinner – I will make slow roasted Rosemary Bison Meatballs (using Ezekiel Bread Crumbs) with a salad of mixed greens, peppers, onion, cucumber and tomato with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing and garlic Ezekiel Toast Points. I’ll post a pic with the day one entry 🙂

Excited to get started – the “goods” arrived today and I am going through the box as we speak..well…type…

Excited, nervous, tentative. These are just some of the feelings going into this. The saving grace is that I have been watching my wife do it for the past eleven days and she looks great, and feels great.  I CAN tell you that I am excited to show off my cooking skills and make some serious meals for the next 30 days. I vowed to make a new meal every day of the cleanse so that should be fun. I’m thinking slow roasted bison meatballs with quinoa on day one. I still have 2 days to sort that out…

I wouldn’t say I’m fat but I am certainly not in the shape I used to be. Recently the opportunity was presented to me to try a 30-day nutritional cleanse – a Ctrl-Alt-Del of my body so to speak. At first I was very skeptical. Is it healthy to do this? Will I do more damage than good? Most importantly, can I eat during this time??? Well, somebody very close to me began the same 30-day program eleven days ago. She looks great and seems to be having an easy time with it. So, reluctantly but with an open mind, I have decided to go full tilt and join the millions of folks who have done nutritional cleanses.

My cleanse will begin on July 11th, 2014. While I am certainly not a journalist, I have decided to share my cleanse with whoever would like to read about it. I promise to be nothing but truthful and honest and you, the reader, promise not to make any pre-judgements or wildly offensive comments. I will NOT disclose what cleanse I am doing on this blog. If you would like to find out, please email me at bweiss07@gmail.com and let me know where I can reach you by phone and we can discuss.

THE GROUND RULES:

• I will not share my actual weight. I will, however, share some important details like BMI, waist size, etc. as they are important to this journey. My goal is to lose between 25 and 30 pounds. I will provide all of the details on day 1 so that we can track together.
• I will provide a before and after picture at the end of the 30 days. For those of you that think everything is a sham, I would be happy to share my facebook profile with you at that time as well so you can see real pictures to see what the before is.
• I will make every effort to report everything I can within reason. If you think I am not giving you the whole story, stop reading and move on.

So, here we go…