40 Day Detox

Vegetable soup with broccoli, cauliflower and carrots

My weight dropped 0.5kg to 67.6kg. My body fat dropped 0.3% to 17.3%. My body water rose to 56.8% and my body muscle rose to 43.0%. 

I started the day with half a glass of POM Wonderful’s 100% Pomegranate juice, followed by red quinoa with almond milk and agave nectar. Through the morning I had a couple of Redbush teas with the aim of aiding my writers block (perhaps I should have also tried some low GI form of carbohydrate). I also had a peppermint tea. For lunch I had vegetable soup. I later snacked on half a handful of almonds and throughout the day I had some Iranian dates here and there. 

Vegetable curry with buckwheat

Pre-workout I had a vegetable curry with buckwheat.

A Lat Pull Down machine similar to the one I use in Valentines Park, Ilford

I finally ventured out to the park for my first workout in 11 days since Day 19. This seems to happen to me a lot. When I start something and commit to doing it regularly, I’ll start strong, but then something dramatic happens in my life, like my grandfather passing away and the event derails me from my routine. This has happened many times before. I guess the challenge is to try and keep faithful to the good that one has started regardless of the other things happening in one’s life. My workout was tough. I felt so weak compared to when I last worked out. When I was doing the Lat Pull Down’s which I normally find the easiest I felt really weak. Actually I felt like a patient who’s been in a hospital bed for a few weeks and hasn’t used his muscles in a long time. I felt vulnerable like I might tear a muscle or break something so I took it easy. I did half the reps I did last time I did this exercise.

A Cross Trainer similar to the one I use in Valentines Park, Ilford

The days are getting shorter and the colder. I’m thinking of skipping the hour long walks and commit instead to longer HIIT sessions on the cross trainer. Today I did a HIIT session on the cross trainer for 15 min. While doing this again I felt quite weak and lacking in energy. I felt a tingling feeling in my figures as I gripped on the handle, and just didn’t have that much energy or strength in my legs to peddle as fast as I normally can. Having taken this significant break from my workouts I can now really appreciate how wonderful I was feeling towards just before my grandfather passing away. I was more energised, I felt stronger, more athletic. I felt more confident and sexual too. I saw a significant boost in libido. Not only that, I witnessed overall improvements in sexual health and function. Stopping my exercise and going onto the poorly planned daytime liquid diet however reversed this process and I ended up feeling drained of the life force energy. 

Why don't I just pop a pill?

I may have felt weak during my workout. I may even have dreaded the thought of going out in the cold and putting energy into the workout in the first place, but later in the evening I felt full of energy. So much so that I couldn’t sit still and write. I wanted to move about to the music I was listening to instead. I am glad I resumed my workouts and started to eat properly again. It makes all the difference. Next time I feel, down, depressed, feel as though I may be coming down with something, rather than reach for the first aid box and popping a pill, I will try to examine my diet and see where it might be lacking in nutrients, which may well be what is leading me to feel that negative way. I will also assess my lifestyle, is it too sedentary? Am I exercising enough? 

Post workout I tried my MyProtein brown rice protein for the first time. I made a carrot and apple juice and mixed the brown rice protein with it. Though it didn’t taste that bad, the grittiness of the protein felt like I was consuming a puddle of wet mud. It certainly didn’t taste as good as the Biochem 100% Vegan Protein. But the fact that I bought protein without any flavourings added to it meant that I could combine my protein shake and post workout juice into one beverage. Very convenient, and the myprotein option is a lot cheaper too. 

MyProtein.co.uk

For my evening meal I ate corn on the cob with some salad. I didn’t have anything protein to go with it. In the evening I snacked on some mixed seeds and before going to bed I ate a handful some raw almonds.