In part one of my blog series, I shared how I got fit after a great business trip gone bad (not because of the trip itself, rather due to the terrible food I ate) that gained me weight, while losing me years on my life.

In that piece I talked about things like:

• How I stuffed my face with greasy food from food trucks.
• The misery of eating larger portions of home-made-waffle-meals, custom chicken sandwiches, and toasted panini.
• The misery that ultimately set in after eating unhealthy, large amounts of food.
• How my CEO and his wife convinced me to “shock” my body through a 4-day cleanse. (I am incredibly grateful for them and their convincing!)

This piece is a follow up to that, complete with step-by-step instructions of how I trimmed down and ultimately put myself in a position to feel better on a daily basis.

Starts with this 

I’m not gonna lie; when my friend and CEO told me about the cleanse, my first thought was “yuck.” 

Why would anyone want to do it? Why would anyone want to drink some nasty drink for 4 days, while starving their bodies?

And what’s this drink? 1 cup of maple syrup, 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus one-part water? That’s just nuts. 

But…I’d never tried it before, I had not experienced a liquid cleanse, nor had I tasted this concoction that my friend was convincing me that would make me feel better. 

My attitude stunk, as did my overall mindset.

If you’re going to get physically healthy, it first starts in your mind. If your attitude sucks, so will the result of any lifestyle change you want to make. 

Get your overall attitude right, and the rest is much easier to fall into place. 

The process

 After I made the decision to get it done, here’s how it works and here’s what you need. 

(note: men and women are different, and the recipe amounts are a bit different as well) 

Essentially, you’ll need organic maple syrup, hand-squeezed lemon juice and water. (a lot of water. I’m talking about fire-hose quantities of water)

Why organic maple syrup?

The maple syrup ingredient part of the cleanse keeps you from passing out. The organic maple syrup gives your body empty calories, to make sure you don’t lose too much energy, and pass out.

Why organic maple syrup?

For starters, the stuff you buy at Cub Foods or your local grocery store contains lot of sugar, and is mostly garbage to begin with. Organic stuff has less preservatives, less nasty chemicals, etc.

Second, the purpose of the organic maple syrup as a part of the cleanse is to rid your body of toxins.

Following logic here, it makes sense to use pure, organic ingredients during your fast, while avoiding foods with sugars, pesticides, herbicides, and other harmful chemicals that may contain residues of toxins. Many of the toxins found in the body come from foods after you consume them. Needless to say, these chemicals have harmful effects.

Then what

Next, you need lemons and water. A lot of fresh lemons. When I say alot, I’m talking about a large bag full that you can purchase in bulk at Costco, Sam’s Club or someplace similar.

For a nice video to watch, that walks you through the actual lemon squeezing, while showing you how to create the overall liquid-recipe, take a look here. (warning: the video is educational in nature, not the best quality)

Watch here. 

Drink water like Niagara Falls

Once you’ve created the master cleanse formula, you’ll need to drink once ounce of water per half pound of body weight. 

Example: I weighed 180 lbs when I began the master cleanse, which means I needed to drink 90 ounces of water every day, for four days. 

Sounds like a lot, and it was. I’ve never consumed as much water in my entire life. But it was important to cleanse my body, and drinking gallons of water helped my body accomplish this. 

Lastly, remember this: you ultimately shrink your stomach through this entire process.

You see, many Americans are overweight because we overeat. Our food portions are out of control and because we eat way too much food at each meal, we stretch our stomachs. By stretching our stomachs, we artificially allow more food into our bodies than what’s healthy. 

So, not only will you shock and cleanse your body through this process, you’ll be helping your body return to it’s original means of modus-operandi. 

Set some goals and get to work

Now that you’ve got a better idea of how to help yourself get fit in Fargo, as I did, be sure and set some goals. Hold yourself accountable and even consider a workout partner that can help you be accountable as well.