It’s early in the morning on Day 4 of my juice fast experiment and I wanted to post a quick update on how things are going so far.

Day 1

For me, Day 1 wasn’t actually so bad. I had expected this experiment to be similar to other challenges I’ve done in the past. Usually the first couple days are the toughest and then I go into cruise control and my new habits become easier. I was surprised at how easy the first day on my juice fast went. I woke up a little earlier than usual, fired up my shiny new Breville juicer and made about two liters of juice.

My first juice contained:

• Red swiss chard
• English cucumber
• Celery
• Ginger
• Golden beets
• Fuji apples

The juicer did a great job extracting juice from all those goodies, and the resulting product tasted really good. I’ll post my daily juice recipes over on the Monthly Experiments Facebook page.

I expected to feel really hungry or tired on my first day, but it never happened. I’m guessing that my body was still processing the energy from my last day of food before the experiment began.

Day 2

One of the weird things I’ve noticed is how little time I spend preparing my day’s food. On a regular diet, I spend at least 15-30 minutes preparing each meal. While juicing, it’s more like 15-30 minutes per day.  I make juice first thing in the morning and that’s it for the day. Lunch and dinner are as simple as heading to the fridge and pouring another glass of juice from the pitcher. It’s a little weird, but I suppose it is efficient.

I definitely felt more hungry on Day 2 than on Day 1. My stomach was growling most of the day, but I wouldn’t say it was too unpleasant. Mostly, I just felt more aware that I wasn’t eating.

Juice of the day:

• Apples (Braeburn and Fuji)
• Kale
• Red swiss chard
• Cucumber
• Celery
• Golden beets
• Ginger
• Carrots

Day 3

OK, maybe juice fast wasn’t smart? Really craving Mexican food.

I wrote that in the little notebook I use to keep notes for each experiment.

Despite my cravings for solid food, I still feel really good on Day 3. I actually woke up really early feeling energized. Throughout the day I could hear my stomach growling (a lot) and I had some green tea to ward off the headaches I get whenever I go without caffeine for a few days. It was really strange to drink hot tea after two days of only drinking cold juice. I could feel the hot liquid travel down to my stomach in a way that I never really noticed before.

I did notice that my energy levels were more consistent throughout the day. On a normal diet, I often get tired after lunch, but that didn’t happen on the juice. I just feel good, and my thinking feels sharp. I feel lighter on my feet, but I don’t feel like I could go for a long run.

Day 4

I’ve been weighing myself every morning since I started the Juice Fast. Today’s weigh-in came with a bit of a shock: I was down 5 pounds from my starting weight.

I knew I would lose some weight while juicing, but it’s happening a lot more quickly than I was expecting. I mentioned in my first Juice Fast post that if I dropped below 155 lbs, I’d have to make some changes to the experiment. In case you missed that post, I’m not doing this juice fast to lose weight. I started at a pretty fit 171 lbs, so dropping to 166 after 3 days is a bit of a shock.

For now, I’m going to continue as planned, increasing my juice intake to get more calories. I’m hoping the first 5 lbs were just extra fat my body had been storing, and that things will slow down from here.

One thing that could be a problem is that my wife and I are heading out of town today. We’re staying at a little inn on the California coast that appears to be 20-30 minutes away from any town. Okay, so it’s only really a “problem” as far as the juice fast is concerned–otherwise I’m sure it will be fantastic. 🙂 Obviously, I’m not bringing the juicer with me, and I can’t bring a weekend’s worth of juice with me, so I’m planning to drink a big breakfast juice before we leave and then buy Naked or Odwalla juices at stores along the way.

I’ll let you know how it goes.