It tastes awful. And it works.

There is a cough syrup sold in Canada called "Buckley's" , and their advertising slogan has always been "It tastes awful. And it works." The syrup is literally made of pine needles and a bunch of other crap, and it's the most disgusting formula EVER. But, guess what? It WORKS! If you're sick enough to take Buckley's, then you're desperate to get better fast, and I promise, you immediately start to feel better. I'm not sure what other voodoo medicine is in it, but it's effects are magical.

So this brings me to my asparagus diet- yup, it works. And YES, it's awful. But the good news is- when I weighed myself the next morning, I had already lost 2.8lbs. IN ONE DAY! I remember when my trainer was doing this diet to get ready for his bodybuilding competition, he would tell me that eating that 4oz Of sweet potatoes was the highlight of his day. (By the way, do you have any idea how much 4oz of sweet potatoes is? It’s like barely a ¼ cup. The way I measure is that I eat the canned sweet potatoes, and there are 16 oz in a can, so 1 serving is a QUARTER of a small can!) I save it for last, and imagine that it’s my “dessert” and I savor every bite slowly. Yes, I do realize how pathetic this sounds.

And YES, Jared- the asparagus is nauseating. I asked if I could substitute the asparagus for spinach or broccoli or something, and before I even got it out, my trainer cut me off with “NO! Absolutely NOT!” Apparently, asparagus the strongest vegetable diuretic, and you need to eat so much of it to flush out the 2 gallons of water that you’re drinking every day. In his words, “You can smell that it’s working!” (one of the unfortunate side effects!) :)

I am allowed to add crystal lite sugar free flavoring to my water, so I’m drinking the raspberry flavor. I take a mouthful of asparagus, and then try to wash out the taste with my raspberry water. It’s very sad.

Cardio is getting harder, too- since I’m depleting my carbs. The carbs are your energy that you need to power you through your workouts, so my trainer has warned me that it gets even worse next week when I have to cut out the sweet potato altogether. Then I will be exhausted. Last night, my legs were still wrecked from training on Wednesday night, when he had me to walking lunges with 2-25lb dumbbells in each hand 100x each leg! Ummm.. yeah, he’s a little crazy, I agree. The walking lunges have the WORST aftermath of any exercise I know of. When you’re doing them, you actually feel it more in your arms, from having to hold those weights. But the next day, without fail, I can barely get out of bed. Without FAIL, every time! Plus, I did 135lb squats AND deadlifts on Monday night, and for some stupid reason, now he’s now making me do 12 reps instead of 10, and 4 sets instead of 3! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, yeah it was all I could do to get motivated for my cardio last night- but I got on the stair machine, and did 60 minutes. I had a hard time walking back to the locker room, I’m not gonna lie. My trainer's right- you have to be a little bit crazy to be in shape like this. It gets inside your head, and it really makes you INSANE!