The long overdue report on the Master Cleanse + shedding the last of the baby weight

Me at 1 month pregnant

Me at 4 Months Pregnant

When I became pregnant with my son that panic about my image went out the door. I was free! Free to not exercise as vigourously as I had in the past and free to eat what my body was craving. Unfortunately I had the worst morning sickness in my first trimester. I was so lucky that my office was next a bathroom! I would come to work early so I could do all the throwing up before anyone go to work and of course keeping the pregnancy a secret was a difficult task. I barely kept anything down for the first 3 months. It was awful. Pull-your-car-over-onto-the-side-of the-road-while-driving-to-throw-up awful.

In my second trimester my morning sickness went away completely. I was back on track and stuffing my face any chance I could get. I guess my body just wanted to make up for all of the eating I didn’t do in the first 3 months. And did I ever! Believe it or not I gained SEVENTY FIVE pounds during my whole term. I won’t tell you I didn’t know how it happened as I did eat relentlessly for 7 months straight. I didn’t really care about it until after Jaxon was born. He only weighed eight pounds so I had almost 60 pounds to lose after the birth. SIXTY POUNDS!??! I thought I was doomed.

Me at 8.5 months pregnant

My oldest friend Mary was having her child at the same time. What a marvelous coincedence. She was my rock through0ut the pregnancy and looking back she was my EVERYTHING during the next few months after our sons were born (a month apart to the day!) I really don’t know what I would’ve done without her and our sons. We went to baby and mom group meetings together and went on long walks together. We would just find a way to bring us and the boys together as much as possible during my year off with them. Some of the best memories of my life. But my point is that Mary motivated me to get out and take my son out instead of staying at home. It was always more comfortable just staying on the couch cause then I didn’t have to see anyone or deal with anyone/thing except my son. The first few months of an infant’s life is so hands on it was hard to find the motivation to leave the house. Staying home was NOT going to get the pounds off. So we walked everywhere with the strollers. Walked the beaches, window shopped, went and ate at Wholefoods regularily, etc. We would just find a new place or a favourite place to meet and just walk around with the boys.

Jaxon and his bestfriend Emett

The weight started to melt off me. It was amazing! Of course nursing helped. I really do believe that nursing my son exclusively for 10 months helped me to lost most of the the weight. That and the gym I joined which happens to have the best daycare.

Last month I had 10 pounds to go to reach my pre-pregnancy weight. I know that losing the 65 pounds was awesome but still I couldn’t fit into the clothes in my closet from before the baby and I was just about to go back to work. I was determined to do it as my usual mom uniform of leggings, UGG boots and oversized sweaters was not going to cut it in the corporate world. Besides, I love my suit collection.

So I went on the Master Cleanse. The last time I did it was 10 years before and I remember it being a real struggle. I was nervous about starting it again this time around. I won’t go into detail about how it works as there is a ton of information on line about the cleanse. I will tell you that I haven’t felt that good in decades and that by day three my skin, hair, teeth and nails were amazing and I had so much energy. I was sleeping well and I had tons of energy in the morning. In fact, I was coming down with a bit of a cold at the start of it and the cleanse wiped that out too. The Master Cleanse is not for everyone. You have to do it for at least 10 days or there’s no point. I always tell people to try 3 days because by day 3 you feel accomplished enough to go on. I lasted ten days this time around. I also lost ten pounds and fit into all of my old clothes again so mission accomplished. Of course once you start eating again you gain a bit of it back but I am still maintaining my original weight and the cleanse has gotten me back into the gym and even running in the mornings. It’s now time to try and have an even better body than before I had my son!

I will keep you updated on my progress

Taken just after I finished the Master Cleanse