Juice fast - anyone done this?

I know a ton of people doing these, and I was wondering if anyone on here had.  I'm not really interested in doing it right away, but I like the idea of giving my system a break, detoxing, etc.  Just wanted to know anyone's experience.  Thanks!

Hi Raven, we usually talk about balance in our diets and detoxing from carbs. A juice fast would be 100% carbs from fruits and veggies right? I don't really know what is involved. Just guessing and I don't think I would want it.

I'm not talking about doing it now, or even after I get to goal.  I was just curious if anyone does, and if there was actually any benefit (I was thinking more energy, lighter feeling, etc).  I know a few people that think juicing is great as an addition to a healthy diet, but the fast thing seems to be everywhere now so I was curious.  There's a juice place that opened up by my house (right by my gym), and they do a juice fast that several people I know are doing.  I don't really understand the second sentence.  Fruit & veggies aren't just carbs, although fruit mainly is.  Most veggies have quite a bit of protein in them, like broccoli has more protein in it than beef but no one is going to eat a pound of broccoli although I know several people who eat a pound of beef.  Fruit & veggies also have fat, just in small amounts.  This particular juice fast does include protein - they have a couple hemp & whey drinks.  They have some really fun sounding juices with kale, beets, cilantro, sweet potato juice, etc that I might try eventually.

I personally don't have balance in my diet.  It's protein heavy without much room for anything else.  The anything else is veggies.  I'm hoping I can find a better balance in the future, while in maintenance.

What are you needed to "give your body a break" from? And to detox from?

Why do you want to do something so drastic instead of eat the correct portions of food?

A while ago when I could eat more, I added some juices to my plan (both homemade and Odwalla), veggie and fruit. My weight loss stalled. I didn't know exactly why, but when I cut out the juices, it picked back up again. Even though I love the nutrients, there's just too much sugar.

What do you mean by why would I want to do something so drastic instead of eat the correct portions of food?  I do, obviously, eat the correct portions of food.  Whatever that actually means.  I don't drink my calories.  I measure everything.  And when I said give my body a break, I meant from all the dense protein which could simply be accomplished doing full liquids for a few a days without the benefit of the nutrients from the juice.  I was more asking if anyone did this bc I was wondering what their reasoning would be for it (outside of weightloss for a normie bc this obviously wouldn't help me to lose weight).  Good grief.  Your tone is so aggressive sometimes.

Looks like you are close to maintenance.. and from what I understand, during maintenance, you are going to lower the protein a bit and increase the carbs, which should help balance your diet more.

While we will always be protein first, from what I know, we will incorporate more fruits/veggies.

We look to be about the same surgery date, same amount of weightloss. I was struggling so I sent my MFP to my nutritionist, who came back with a lot of meals and snacks with the right proportions of protein, carbs and fats. Less protein (2oz instead of 3oz, for example) + veggies, grains, etc. Maybe you're at a point where you need to revamp your menu again. I hate it, but it keeps changing. It's not so hard now though since I've been focused on this stuff for six months now. Also protein needs are different depending on how much you weigh, so while I needed to have 80-100g a while ago, now that I weigh ~ 150, I only need 60g. That may be true for you as well.

Plus you said this: "I personally don't have balance in my diet.  It's protein heavy without much room for anything else.  The anything else is veggies.  I'm hoping I can find a better balance in the future, while in maintenance."

Veggies are good right now, fill you up and give lots of energy. Balance is good right now. Might help you with your wanting to feel lighter/eat less protein. Seems like it might be time to move into a new phase of food choices/menu planning.

Nicely put.  I agree.  I'd like more balance, but I'm of the opinion for right now that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  I don't even know if my surgeon is using the same NUT as he had when I was in pre-op.  I can design something better for myself once I'm at goal.  I plan to incorporate more balance at that point, but I want to get there before tweaking what's working.  I'm pretty sure my lack of energy is from being anemic (I have no proof of this at this point, but it's my current theory).  I'm going to tell my surgeon I want labs done.  If he's not amenable, which I would doubt, I'll have my PCP give me a panel. 

I was afraid of eating carbs and fats, because of course just eating the protein was working. Eventually I could eat more volume though and was at a loss as to how to move from heavy-protein-diet to more food. Did that mean more protein? For god sake, I couldn't shove any more in. Veggies? which ones? How much? Fruits? eesh. Aren't they a lot of sugar? Nuts and seeds? What do I do with those? My nutritionist took my MFP and made balanced meals for me: breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks. She used specific foods that I eat vs. sending yet another 'template' of what percentages of each thing to eat. It helped a lot. it's been pretty good. I've had to adjust some, and sometimes don't eat the entire meal (actually i usually don't) but it's nice to be getting in a few veggies and seeds and such. And nice practicing putting these kinds of meals together so I can continue on in maintenance. I eat fewer calories on days I don't work out (or hike or whatever), and now I'm losing about a pound a week. That's hard to swallow after losing so much so fast, but that's where I'm at right now: losing the last bits of excess body fat and gaining muscle.

Example (1200 cals/day; circuit training 4x/week; jogging 4x/week)

B'fast=1/2 whole grain/wheat english muffin + 1 oz ham +1 oz lowfat mozz cheese all toasted and melty. 1 cup watermelon.

Snack = 1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese + 1 cup cantaloupe + 1/2 oz cashews

Lunch = 2 oz chicken, small salad with sunflower seeds and lowfat feta + olive oil and vinegar dressing

so that's the kinds of things she made up for me. Totally doable.

I need the extra cals for working out, but like I said I eat fewer cals (usually less fruit) on days I'm not super-active. Some days I can eat less cals on work out days and still have energy for the workouts. I'm pretty consistent at 1100-1200 cals/day though.

That's a great menu.  Thank you for sharing.  I have added some healthy fat, mostly just olive oil for roasting veggies or small amounts of almond butter.  I don't think I'm working out hard enough yet to warrant inclusion of more carbs, but I'm starting kettlebells next week so I could soon be singing a different tune.  Having done it in the past, I know it can be pretty intense.  Later this summer I'm going to start Crossfit.  Even after doing boot camps, kickboxing and P90X, Crossfit scares me but I'm going to confront my fears which I'm sure will include confronting my fears about adding more carbs :)

Really appreciate your take on it and your info