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Already my sixth time since 2018: Cleaning according to the program and book by Dr. Alejandro Junger. A welcome detox with side effect at the beginning of the year. The last article about it is already three years ago. Time to take up the topic again. Maybe I can motivate you to try it too.
Motivation goes down, weight goes up
It’s the same every year. After the last bike trips, when the days get shorter and the temperatures are getting colder, the motivation goes down the drain. Wine is suddenly always part of the meals again. And the discipline slides. It doesn’t take long before there’s no way around stollen and gingerbread. The way to the scale becomes a tragedy. My weight explodes.
About the numbers: In the 2022 season, I had kept myself fairly constant at about 77 kilograms. Every now and then even slightly below. Not yet great, but still quite okay. At the end of the year I had quickly reached 82 kilograms. A proud five kilograms gained in just three months.
Finally regeneration and reset
After Christmas and New Year’s Eve, I could’t wait any longer to give my body a break again this year. For me the beginning of the year and of the season is the perfect time for Detox. I do it according to the Cleaning of Dr. Alejandro Junger. The great thing about the program is that you don’t really feel hungry. You just have to keep yourself under control and discipline yourself. Breakfast and dinner is always just something liquid, usually a smoothie. At lunch you can eat more of less normal but within the limits of the allowed food.
And this is the real essence of the diet: There is a list of forbidden items. For a period of three weeks they disappear from the menu. The body is supposed to regenerate. A welcome side effect for the committed cyclist: As a consequence several pounds fall off at the same time.
Due to the calendar, I started this year for the first time on a Monday. I did’t want to let another whole week pass unused with waiting. Therefore, this year the diet was two days less than the usual three weeks.
The result
The three weeks were finally over last Friday. It was done again quite quick this year. Except the last week and especially on Tuesday and Wednesday of the last week. There I was pretty pissed. These two days were not easy. It needed a few salty pistachios to save me. They helped me getting over the dreary smoothie taste in the evening.
But now I am happy that it’s done again. My Detox with side effect is over. And by the result, the effort was again worth it : My old weight is back. From 82.25 kg on January 1st, it went down to 76.45 kg after not quite three weeks. A proud loss of 5.8 kilograms.
Change of bad habits
Now the task is back to keeping the weight off. Especially until I can cycle regularly outside again. Renunciation leads to a reset. The amount of food is reasonable again. Especially I am satisfied with much less sweets. Dark chocolate was actually sufficient. I am very optimistic about changing some habits. I will also monitor my calories with the app Yazio.
Quite a lot of motivation for the season
It helps a lot that my planning is reliable again and Corona is finally over. The booked training camp in early March in Mallorca motivates me a lot. I will not be able to accomplish 2,000 kilometers until then. But I want to go there with the same weight as I did last year. Which means I need to keep it as it actually is.
Why don’t you give it a try? And write me your experiences, how it went for you. I would be very happy.
