HOW I DO A MARY'S MINI: Part 3 (Days 6-10)
So I started off Day 6 with my weight having gone up. As you can imagine I was a little bit disappointed by this. I’ve said over and over that I never did this experiment to necessarily lose weight - but more to do as a bit of a cleanse with the questions: am I eating more than I need to out of enjoyment rather than necessity? Can I pair back not the sweets, even if they are plant-based? So I’m trying to keep that in mind.
I quickly found my weight dropping back down to an all-time-low a day or two later (during the mini, that is) of 184. I’ve gotten used to not eating at all between meals. I haven’t been a big time snacker, but I’d always find an excuse to grab a treat of some kind here or there. But I’m breezing right through the morning without even thinking about food - and often eat lunch with the family more because they’re ready to eat than I am. Social aspects of eating are so strong - it’s hard not to join them - but perhaps I could put off the actual eating so long as I’m with them. I think it’s still okay to me have a muffin type snack, but I’ll add it to my meal as opposed to keep it for mid-afternoon like I’ve been doing. I do find often AS I’m preparing for dinner that I snack on whatever vegetables I’m working with - which I think is more of an appetizer than a snack… but perhaps I could work on stopping that too - unless
I desperately need it. I made my own version of an Air Fryer Potato Ball which was beyond amazing and I revamped Thug Kitchen’s recipe and made my own version of a Spicy Roasted Potato Salad for my own spicier tastes and it turned out great. If you want to check out the Thug Kitchen recipe that inspired that you can get their cookbook here.
During the second to last day I felt really proud of myself that I was getting through this without much challenge - I feel like if I took anything away it was some fun ideas of what I can do with potatoes (particularly the hash brown omelette and crispy oil free fries). I doubt my weight is going to be effected by this in any real way. I’m curious to look into some other diet cleanses. I definitely want to do a smoothie challenge. See what else is out there…
On the last day I went with a baked potato for my last meal as a romantic gesture. I still like potatoes - perhaps I did this wrong and should have kept things far simpler. Alas. Weight was up to basically my starting point this morning, but I feel like that’s due to inflammation from two big work-out days in a row. We’ll see what tomorrow brings - I had a HUGE bowel movement today, so if I’m not “down” tomorrow I just don’t know WTF. I think if I were to do this again I’d go with brown rice or oatmeal. I’m very interested in doing a smoothie or a soup cleanse and perhaps if I REALLY want to play with something I could do the Master Cleanse - but I think I’d do that if I was out of town on work so the family wouldn’t have to deal with me during it.
Final weigh-in on the day after I was 184.4. So my weight hasn’t really changed over the last ten days given that I was 184 pounds a day or two before the mini even began. But I do think that what I got out of it was the ability to not snack at all during the process. Today I found myself SUPER stuffed from what would have been a normal lunch just before the mini - so perhaps it shrunk my stomach a bit. It’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next month. If I were ever to do a Mini again and I did a potato one I would definitely go waaaay more simple. Follow the real basic rules - just baked potatoes or mashed, super simple sauce, one green vegetable with it. But I’d be tempted to do a rice mini. Oats might be too painful, and I wouldn’t want to get sick of them. I do want to do a smoothie cleanse type thing in the near future. Maybe give myself a few weeks to plan for it and get back to normal first… There’s something about the Master Cleanse that I think could be interesting to write about…. but maybe horrific to live through… One thing I’ll say - I’d been dreaming about my Fruit-Salad-Granola breakfast this entire time, and it did not disappoint this morning! That said it was SUPER SWEET. Should have eased in. But perhaps I should cut back on that much fruit first thing in the day..
I hope you’ve enjoyed these articles and videos. Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for Part 4 where I let you know how things have gone in the weeks following this. And if you’re one of those weird people that read things out of order you can go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, and of course the videos for them can be found on my YouTube channel.
TIPS AND TAKE-AWAYS
If you want to try some fun recipes to keep it a little exciting I say go for it - but if you want maximum results on this than I’d recommend doing the simplest version of this possibly.
Batch cooking is really helpful - big batches of baked potatoes or mashed potatoes. Both reheat really easily.
Frozen vegetables are quick and easy to prepare either in a steamer basket on the stove-top or in the oven.
Don’t overheat yourself. I think I overdid it a few times with workouts and felt a bit lightheaded. Make sure you’re active through-out - go for walks and whatnot, but maybe don’t do anything overly intense.
Let other people know you’re doing this - there’s a great facebook group - but even just telling others your intentions. Whatever you can do to get some support, a place to ask questions, but also people to motivate you and keep you accountable.
Worst case, it’s ten fucking days. You can do anything to ten days. I believe in you, goddamnit.
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