Day 7 + 1

I started today just having Acidopholous, vanilla yogurt and orange juice. I also had one vanilla wafer this morning, to see how my system would react to it. Then after lunch (of orange juice, yogurt and Acidopholous) I decided to try my luck with a hot dog, mashed potatoes and a little bit of cheddar cheese. Tonight we went to a friends house for dinner and I had my first regular dinner. I've had no problems at all today.

Day 7

Things went great today, for the most part. The cayenne capsules make for a much better experience. The salt water nauseated me a bit this morning, which was unusual. The effect was spread throughout the day, but until about noon (I drank the salt water around 6:30). However, about the only thing coming out of me is the lemon and maple now.

But other than that, I've been feeling great all day. The lemonade tastes much better (although I still prefer it with ice).

Then after my lemonade dinner, I started have some pretty bad cramps. It could be a lot of things. It could be from switching to cayenne capsules. It could be that the last of the gunk in my intestine is finally coming out. It could be something I could not even conceive of. So I have decided to start transitioning off the lemonade diet. I took two Acidopholous, a tablespoon of vanilla yogurt and a glass of orange juice. After about half an hour the cramps went away.

I'm kind of sad to be stopping just shy of the ten days, but when things were going so well and to have such a dramatic change in symptoms without a clear explanation, I didn't want to take a chance.

So tomorrow I'm going to be on orange juice, yogurt and continue with the "lemonade" and cayenne capsules. We'll see how it goes.

Day 6

Well, my average weight during the first 5 days is 175, down 4 pounds from 179. However, I've seen a pretty stead weight loss of about a pound a day. I expect to gain a lot of it back when I start consuming food again. At this rate, I'll be under 170 when I start coming off the lemonade. If I can change my eating habits, I hope to maintain 175.

My stomach cannot hold as much as it used to. I used to be able to drink the 32 oz of salt water and then down a 12 oz lemonade. Now I can do one or the other, but not both. I have to wait a little bit.

I feel like I have a bit more energy today than yesterday. I also had a bit more lemonade than previously.

A co-worker had a great suggestion that may change the name of my blog (Lemon Fire Water). You can get cayenne capsules. I just made a batch of lemonade sludge without cayenne and will try taking the capsules with it. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.

The salt-water drink has not had as big an impact as it did early on. Today I started using 3 teaspoons of salt in 32 oz of water. That seemed to help a little. I'm going to stick with 3 tomorrow, but I may up it to 4 teaspoons on Saturday morning.

Day 5

Halfway through. My weight loss has slowed a bit. This morning I had lost just under a pound. I'll post tomorrow what my 5 day average weight is.

We've had some interesting discussions about the "lemonade cleanse" at work. One co-worker who has been on it before suggested taking Acidopholous supplements when I start coming off the diet, start with OJ-Day.

Still feeling good. My energy level is down a bit. I really notice the pick-me-up when I take my lemonade.

Day 4

First day of work went very well. I can only count on an hour between taking the salt-water drink and needing to be near a restroom. My energy started to drag at 11am and around 6pm, but I had my lunch and dinner of lemonade and I picked up shortly after that. I don't feel hungry, but I do feel something. Its hard to describe. I guess its the other sensations associated with hunger. It's not unpleasant, just I know my body wants food, I just can't hear it.

Still a little stiff and sore from the weekend. Muscles definitely don't recover very fast while on the lemonade.

Other than that, I feel great. I actually put in a 10 hour day today at work without blinking, not that that was enjoyable.

I keep looking forward to the solids I can eat. I need to start looking forward to the soft foods I'm going to be eating for a couple of days, like chicken broth soup and orange juice.

Day 3

Today went wonderfully. I figure I'll take the salt water right before I leave to take the boys to school. I can wait an hour and a half at least before I need to use the restroom. There were no signs of the headaches of yesterday. I got out and trimmed trees, cleaned out gutters and even went swimming (swam a couple laps with two four year olds on my back). Overall, a great day.

I was curious about how many calories I am consuming each day. Here is what I came up with:

A half mix (which lasts me one day) contains:

6 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice	297 calories
3 oz grade B maple syrup	43 calories
Also taken per day
4 oz of MonaVie™	120 calories

Add it all up and you have about 460 calories. That's probably about 1/4th the calories I normally eat in a day. The amazing thing is that I am able to do so much. I do notice, however, that I now wake up with sore muscles the next day (something that I haven't experienced since I started taking MonaVie™). That is probably because I am not consuming any protein.

The complete lack of hunger is probably because of the cayenne pepper. I have read some articles indicating that cayenne pepper suppresses hunger. Its doing an amazing job if I'm only consuming about 460 calories a day and not feeling hungry. Cayenne pepper does not, however, reduce the desire for food that smells delicious. The rest of my family is enjoying pork chops, lasagna, etc. while I enjoy an ice cold glass of Lemon Fire Water.

I found that drinking the lemonade over ice and with a straw helps. Similar concept to the salt water drink. This way my lips are burning when I'm done.

They say if you can make it past day 3 you can make it all 10 days. Three days down and seven to go!