With only 3.4 pounds left before reaching my 17.1-pound weight loss goal and after being recently inspired by my Mom's 41-day juice-only reboot, I was curious about going through my own three-day juice reboot in the Joe Cross style. I decided to try it over Labor Day weekend, before my life got busy again with grad school classes and homework. Here are some notes about my experience.
The Prep
Technically, the lat meal I ate was on Friday, 9/04, around 4:00pm. At the conclusion of a short road trip (around 8:45pm), I stopped at the grocery store to buy my juicing supplies. Luckily, I was able to find everything I needed relatively quickly with the help of the app,
101 Juice Recipes. Within the app, you can create your shopping list and mark items off as you put them in your cart/basket. If two different recipes require different amounts of the same vegetable, the app will do the math for you!!
I stayed up late to wash all the produce I purchased and I juiced enough Triple C ingredients (recipe below) to use the entire cabbage.
Day 1
Saturday morning, I had the recommended hot lemon water instead of coffee as soon as I woke up, and followed it with a 16-oz jar of Triple C juice. It surprised me how I didn't actually miss having my coffee!
Activities:
- Juiced enough to fill a few more jars
- 13-mile bike ride
- Lunch with boyfriend's parents (I drank Kombucha while they ate)
- Quick trip into Whole Foods (where I found the all-natural coconut water)
How I felt:
- Surprisingly good
- Slight headache (possibly from no caffeine and/or allergy medicine)
- Tired (I went to bed at 6pm and slept till 6am on Sunday!)
What I learned:
- Bringing juice along in a cooler when doing exercise is a GREAT idea!
- Drink lots of water. It was really muggy for the bike ride and I sweated a lot. I didn't drink enough water throughout the day to make up for it.
Day 2
Activities:
- Breakfast with boyfriend (I brought juice with me)
- Went shopping for bike shorts
- Sorted my books (KonMari style!)
- Took a 40-minute nap
- Helped boyfriend prepare macaroni and cheese dinner for our guests
How I felt:
- Tired (physically)
- A little weak (while running errands)
- Once people started to arrive for dinner, I felt close to giving in and having some macaroni and cheese. I texted my Mom and she said, "Drink a green juice and it will pass." It did.
What I learned:
- Take it easy (physically) while doing a juice reboot.
- It's okay to take a nap.
- I don't NEED coffee to function.
Activities:
- Sorted photos from Friday's road trip
- Lunch with boyfriend and his friends from college (I brought my coconut water and had hot lemon water)
- Tidied up the apartment
- Laundry
- Around 3pm had my first food since Friday afternoon
How I felt:
- Tired (physically)
- A little weak
- Awake
- In need of 'real' (aka 'solid') food to complete the laundry chore
What I learned:
- It's okay to conserve your energy.
Results
- Weight = -3.5 lbs from Saturday morning to Monday morning
- Non-Scale Victory = I was able to fit into some smaller-sized jeans I found in my closet, and a dress and shorts that I wore last summer!
What I Learned Overall:
- It really makes a different to drink plenty of water, coconut water, herbal tea, and Kombucha in between all the juices.
- When in doubt, "Drink a green juice and it will pass".
- Only juice enough for about 1 day at a time, otherwise the juice will go bad.
- I bought enough produce to give me juice for more than 3 days.
- I am capable of doing a juice reboot for (nearly) three days!
Afterwards
I notice that I am reacting to foods in a different way. My coffee doesn't seem to taste as good. I felt like crap after having crackers for a snack at work and I CRAVED vegetables (i.e., salad) for lunch like I never had before. After work on Tuesday, I did a quick 2-mile jog before class. I had a jar of juice and I could only finish part of the quinoa and lentils that I had prepared (i.e., I am eating less).
Cost
Total Cost = $68.67 + tax
Cost Breakdown
By Category
Vegetables - $18.13
Fruit - $13.82
Juice containers - $7.49
Additional fluids - $29.13
By Item
Apples, Gala - $0.95
Apples, Green - $3.89
Broccoli - $1.69
Cabbage - $1.50
Caffeine free herbal tea - $3.69
Carrots - $3.18
Celery - $5.07
Coconut water (pure) - $14.97
Cucumbers - $2.36
Ginger Root - $0.56
Fennel - $1.99
Kale - $1.78
Kombucha - $10.47
Lemons - $3.99
Mason jars - $7.49
Oranges - $3.99
Pears - $0.47
Tomatoes - $0.53
Recipes
Caprese Salad
(makes 2 servings)
3 plum tomatoes
1 fennel
1 small handful basil
0.5 lemon
1 pinch sea salt
0.5 tsp olive oil
Go-To Green
(makes 2 servings)
2 handfuls spinach
2 carrots
2 apples
2 ribs celery
1 cucumber
Green Carrot Ginger
(makes 2 servings)
1 inch ginger
1 cucumber
4 carrots
3 leaves kale
0.5 pear
Oh, Sweet Broccoli
(makes 2 servings)
2 oranges
1.5 head broccoli
1 cucumber
1 carrot
Triple C
(makes 2 servings)
0.25 head cabbage
3 carrots
4 ribs celery
1 green apple
1 lemon
