Let The Hunger Games begin!

Yay Friday! It's been a long, semi-stressful week. The highlight of this week has been starting a raw food cleanse yesterday. I've been eating like crazy since before the holidays and not being as dedicated to working out as I used to be. So in order to jump start my summer preparation I decided to do a raw food cleanse for 5-7 days (we'll see how long I can survive) and then continue eating healthy. I'm on day two and I can honestly say I feel SO much better. I lost two pounds the first day and my body feels like all of the toxins have been flushed out. I also worked out at 5:30am yesterday and today. My workout plan is 30-45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical. I do intervals of resistance, starting with 5 minutes on 7, then alternate 1 minute on 12 with 2 minutes on 7 for the remainder. I've definitely seen that interval training is much more effective than keeping one steady resistance level. I follow that with 8 abdominal exercises (bicycles, front plank, side planks, double crunches, twists, leg raises, crunches with feet up, mountain climbers), 3-4 sets of 15-20. Here's my meal outline:

 

Day One

 

Pre-Workout:

 

Green Smoothie

1/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks

1/4 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 cup spinach

1 cup almond milk

2 tsp stevia

 

Breakfast:

 

Yogurt Parfait

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

5 strawberries, sliced

1 whole banana, sliced

2 tbsp almond butter

1/4 cup vanilla almond granola

 

Mid-morning snack: Almonds & a cup of hot green tea

 

Lunch:

 

Spinach & Kale Salad

Spinach

Kale

8 Grape tomatoes

1 whole avocado

1/4 up dried cranberries [some say not to eat dried fruits on a raw food diet, but I am]

2 tbsp spicy Thai peanut dressing

 

Afternoon snack: Spicy hummus & small red/yellow/orange peppers & cauliflower

 

Dinner:

 

Green Smoothie

1/4 cup frozen mango chunks

1/4 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 cup spinach

1 cup almond milk

2 tsp stevia

So far on day two, I've had a green smoothie pre-workout & another parfait for breakfast. I'm drinking one bottle of water every hour to try & keep the hunger at bay.  My goal is to feel refreshed, have glowing skin, a toxin-free body, and lose 5 lbs by the end of the cleanse. I'll keep you posted on the progress. Wish me luck!