New Year's Cleanse

In my previous post I kind of went ballistic about gaining 10 lbs in less than 2 weeks, but as I was  "expressing" how I was feeling, I recognized a couple of the reasons why this 10-pound abundance happened.  First, I have to say that I have always been a slim woman with curves, so I have no problem admitting that I freaked out when I stepped on the scale a couple of hours ago because I have never been this weight when I was not pregnant (and I've only been pregnant once!).  So, here's a list of things that I need to undo:

• Not working out - I didn't work out for 2 weeks (although I did do a 20 minute Zumba workout 2 times in that time, but I was not consistent, so I consider it the equivalent of not doing anything during that time
• Flu - for the past few weeks I'd been fighting something.  I'd been sluggish, sleepy, thirsty, but not really hungry... just feeling all types of ickiness, but it did not hit me until the day before Christmas (and when I say it hit me, I mean, I had no voice and when it did come back I sounded like a dude)
• Bread - damn you white flour!  One would think the gallons of peppermint tea I ingested over the past week would have helped!  Whenever I would eat, I ate cheesy biscuits.  Was I hungry? No.  But why did I eat them? Because I didn't want to go days without eating.  What will I do next time?  Not eat and lose weight like I usually do when I get sick! (hey, I'm not an expert so I hope no one was expecting me to be Dr. Oz here!)

Interestingly, I didn't drink any wine (but that has more to do with the fact that I was so freaking miserable, being unable to breath properly because of the flu and my asthma, the fever, and just sheer exhaustion).

So, what's the initial game plan you may or may not ask?  Well, the night before day 1, prep night, starts with a cleansing (laxative) tea, so I can sort of start anew. Day 1 - 2: I will concentrate on getting the machine working properly by cleansing with the lemon juice drink that includes cayenne pepper and maple syrup.  I used to drink this every morning as a diuretic, but I fell off, I admit it.  My meals will consist of soups, health shakes (Lean Shake from GNC mixed with water, fiber, and including strawberries and/or bananas), and more of the lemon cleanse drink. And last but not least, ice water.  According to Dr. Oz, ice water makes the body burn more calories because it has to warm the water, so I'll see if that's true.  The main objective in these beginning stages, is for me not to feel so sluggish, especially since I'm over the worst part of the flu.  After seeing how I feel after these next two days, I will report back and determine, bu then, how I would like to proceed.