Hello! Today on Tuesday Tidbits, I’m going to level with you on my detoxing experience with the Focus T25 Fast Track. The Fast Track is just a 5 day cleanse of sorts in which you restrict your daily intake of calories to 1100 calories and do a daily workout. It’s designed to prep your body and mind by kick starting your metabolism and rewarding you with fast results. The meal plan guide comes with the Focus T25 base kit, the ingredients are relatively inexpensive, and the recipes are easy to make. Overall, after completing the Fast Track, I’m really glad that I did because I felt way better and more in control of my cravings after doing this for 5 days. I also went from the kid who ate 2200 calories a day to the kid who thinks that 1500 calories is way too much food. It really changes your perspective on what food is (fuel), and teaches you how to eat better.
And the Fast Track was absolute hell for me and my workout buddy.
A little perspective: when I first started T25, I weighed 220.2 lbs, was bloated, and sick of the way I looked and felt. I craved junk food all of the time, and the final straw was the new stretch marks on my gut. When those appeared, I knew they were permanent, and that I needed a permanent change. Sylvia was feeling the same way, so we decided to give Focus T25 a shot since we’ve liked Beachbody workout programs in the past. We thought the 5 Day Fast Track was a good idea to get some quick results and get rid of all of the toxins that were floating around in our bodies.
Translation: we were fat chicks who liked to eat junk and had spent years building up fat and toxins in our bodies. Here is a great article that I read that explains how toxins are stored in our fat and then released when we work out: http://bcotoronto.com/2012/07/19/toxin-release/
When we started the Fast Track, we started feeling terrible from the first couple of meals. We experienced a multitude of unpleasant and strange symptoms, which I tried to document in last week’s Tuesday Tidbits: Strange Detoxing Symptoms.
The most prevalent symptom was anger. Sylvia and I were angry all of the time. I’m generally not an angry person, but to show you the emotional roller coaster that was detoxing, I’ve included a typical day for me while I was on the Fast Track:
- Wake up (oftentimes not hungry, surprisingly!!)
- Weigh self
- Be disappointed by seemingly small amount of weight lost considering sacrifices
- Eat breakfast (surprisingly satisfying :))
- Feel like I’m coming down with the cold
- Go to work
- Eat a snack (and be angry when it’s not satisfying, though most of the recipes were yummy!)
- Work some more
- Pray no one tries to talk to me at work
- Eat lunch
- Be satisfied with lunch
- An hour after lunch – get hit with massive hunger
- Be angry about hunger
- Leave work
- Go home
- Have a snack
- Go over to Sylvia’s house for workout
- Have 30 minute long ranting session about how hungry we are and how stupid other people around us are being (normally with a LOT of yelling involved)
- Finally work up the courage to do the workout
- Do the T25 workout and struggle throughout the entire thing
- Try not to cry
- Drink fluids and do some more ranting before dinner
- Make dinner and be disappointed with dinner
- Have Sylvia’s roommate come downstairs and eat pizza in front of us
- Contemplate jail time and psychological trauma that would result from killing Sylvia’s roommate
- Have burst of willpower that is just strong enough to resist the murderous impulse (because I really do like her roommate as one of my best friends down at school, and I don’t really want to kill her)
- Go home
- See that roommate is having chocolate pie for dessert
- Contemplate murdering roommate (but I need her for rent :P, also she’s like the best roommate I’ve ever had)
- Decide to take the high road and go to bed early after sending a text to Sylvia about how roommate is eating pie (with several expletives in it)
- Pass out an hour and 30 minutes before my usual bedtime for 9.5 hrs of sleeping time.
Yeah, I’m not proud of it, but that was a typical day for me. I’m sure some of you can relate to the strange mood swings that happen when you’re so hungry!
But, the bottom line is that, after all of that, I felt in control for the first time in my life. Once the calories picked back up and I felt more recharged, I had no problems resisting junk food, even if it was being eaten in front of my face. In fact, sometimes, when I really craved junk and ate some, my stomach would even ache and reject the junk I put into it. I felt rejuvenated, like I’d been given new life. You know what they say: anything that you can get easily isn’t worth having!
And now, as a special treat, here is where I show you why detoxing is so worth it… with a few before and after pictures!
I can’t believe the difference, personally. I lost almost 5 pounds in that 5 day period. You can do it too! But if you want some tips, wait until next week when I give you my top tips for a successful detox!
Thanks so much for reading, and stay healthy, my friends!
Hokie Doke Fitness 