First off, I'd like to say that I never would have made it all the way without the support of this forum. Although I never posted during my fast I read the forum everyday for encouragement and reinforcement.
I first heard about The Master Cleanse from a couple of former coworkers who swore by the cleanse and encouraged me to give it a try. I have been pretty unhealthy the past few years (college: drinking, drugs, poor eating) and I desperately wanted to detox and live a healthier lifestyle. After investigating The Master Cleanse on this webpage I thought it would be a great starting point in my effort to live a healthy life. I was also intrigued by the prospect of cleansing my bowels (I had unbearable chronic constipation) and losing some weight (I was about 20 pounds overweight).
Well, now I'm almost done. Days 1,2, and 8 were the hardest for me. They were the days where I had the strongest cravings for food. I began the cleanse with a laxative tea the night before the first day and continued with the saltwater flush in the mornings and the laxative tea at bedtime. (I will not be using the laxative tea the next time I do the cleanse due to the distressing gas and abdominal pain I received after drinking the tea the past few days.) I drank approximately 64 ounces of lemonade each day with a few glasses of water thrown in for good measure. On day 6 I added the BP shakes to the mix with positive results. The only side effect of adding the BP was a dramatic decrease in energy. All I wanted to do was sleep. But the benefit of getting the "ropes" out was worth it. Also, I would recommend that everyone does the H2O flush every morning. It is a far superior laxative and cleanser than any herbal tea. I know it tastes bad but GET OVER IT. I did and I actually began to look forward to the saltwater every morning.
During the cleanse I made sure that I continued to exercise daily. On five of the days I ran 2 miles in the evening. On three of the days I played 1 1/2 hours of basketball. And on the other day I swam laps in the pool for about 45 minutes. EXERCISE WILL EXPEDITE BOTH WEIGHT LOSS AND THE CLEANSING PROCESS. Over the past 9 days I have lost 13 pounds and I look better and healthier than I have in about a year and a half. I know I will probably will put half of the pounds back on when I resume eating but I'm proud of my "good start" in my weightloss. My ideal weight is about 165 pounds and I'm looking to reach that goal by my wedding date next May. I'm currently 172 pounds and only three months ago I weighed 195 so I think I've made considerable progress.
I just want to tell anyone who is thinking of doing The Master Cleanse to make the effort to do it and do it right. I feel as light and clean as I ever have in my adult life and the process of fasting has given me the strength to live a healthy lifestyle and give up all of the junk that had been ailing me for so long. I give the Master-Cleanse "two big thumbs up"!!!