Juicing!

The New Juicer

In order to improve my cycling performance I have turned to Juicing. Steroids/PED's you ask? Nope, can't afford that. I am talking fruit and vegetable juice! Much cheaper than the Barry Bonds/Lance Armstrong program I am sure (but sadly, not by much, or so it seems). This type of Juicing should help me loose weight, improve performance and become a heck of a lot healthier.
Since my 20's, whenever I realized my daily diet was off-track, I did a juice detox; usual 3 days, then back to eating sensibly.  When I was in my 20's I ran my first Marathon at ~5'8", ~153 lbs.  Got as low as 149 during triathlon training (also a vegetarian at the time) but after a couple knee surgeries I was comfortable and in-shape at ~165 as a regular exerciser.  Well, let's fast-forward 15 years.  Married, two kids nagging injuries and the constant consumption of dark beer, racks of ribs and a the development of an eat-all-you-can philosophy, I have seen my normal daily weight fluctuate from ~177 to now ~185 (once peaked at 195 after a two torn calf muscles).  Time to get serious about getting into shape.  It is frustrating going on long bike rides and actually feeling my stomach slowing me down.  Plus, I am not a bad climber in my 180's...imagine how much better I will be in my 160's!?!

My First Juice

So as I was getting geared up to detox, I came across this thread on MTBR about juicing. Amazing timing really. I then watched the movie Sick, Fat, and Nearly Dead and it has inspired me to not just go beyond a 3 day detox, but why not shoot for 5 days? or even 10?  After all, those guys did 60! 
So, I picked up a juicer and fortunately my friend Melissa is up for a juicing challenge (edit, she will be blending), so here we go!
The Plan.

Experiment with juices between the 27th - the 31st.  Then come January 1st  (so cliche' but oh-well) I will start the juicing.  After juicing, I will continue with a vegetarian diet for 30 days and then a month of no red meat...all the while, juicing once or twice a day.  The goal? Drop 20 lbs over the next 4 months while at the same time becoming a lean, mean mountain biking machine!

Edit (after Laura's post):  This wonderful concoction (called "Morning Green Glory" was made from:
4 medium kale leaves (w/stalks)
1 handful of spinach
3 celery stalks
1 avocado (peeled)
1 fuji apple
1 very small lemon (unpeeled)
I must say, it was pretty good.  Might add another 1/2 apple next time, but it made a lot of juice and I drank it all and am looking forward to more combos.

Also, for full disclosure, here is a pic of my last meal before juicing  ;-)

FWIW the cake was split four ways so don't you judge me!