Will I Lose Weight With A Juice Fast?

The short answer is: YES. Most people who undertake a detoxifying juice cleanse do so because they want to lose weight, and a 3-day cleanse where you only drink juices seems like an easy way to drop a lot of pounds fast.

While juice fasts like the Blueprint Cleanse undeniably cause people to drop a few pounds, they aren't a long-term diet tool. Most of the weight you lose on a juice fast, especially if you do a 1-day or 3-day fast, is water weight. You will regain it once you start eating again.

But if you are very mindful of how you prepare for your juice cleanse and also how you come out of the cleanse, all that adds up to a week or longer of careful, healthy eating and restricted calories. Since restricting calories is the key to losing weight — is the only way to lose weight — a strict juice cleanse will help you drop pounds.

How many pounds? That depends on the person, on their metabolism and activity level, and also on how much weight they have to lose. But someone following a 3-day juice cleanse with several days of preparation before and a gentle re-entry to food after the cleanse could expect to lose between 2 pounds and 5 pounds of actual fat. Bring on those skinny jeans!

But remember: juicing can make you feel absolutely terrific and can also seem like a sure bet to shed 5 pounds fast, but it can also be a challenge for some to stick to the juice cleanse program. It only works if you follow the program rigorously.

A juice cleanse is not a sustainable regular diet, and it is not a diet plan that you can follow to lose 20 or 40 pounds. It is an effective way to lose a few pounds, and it is a terrific way to flush toxins from your body so that it is working optimally. If your body is in top working order, it will digest foods better, which also can lead to more effective weight loss.

A juice cleanse is a terrific way to start a new diet, and it is also a good way to shake things up in the middle of a diet, if you plateau. Juice cleanses give your organs a rest and flush out all the bad stuff. They also force you to focus on what you are putting into your body, and that can only be a good thing for anyone trying to lose weight.

So what is this juice cleanse thing? It's pretty much what it sounds like. For the length of the cleanse — 1 day, 3 days, 7 days — all you do is drink homemade juice. Tropicana and Odwalla won't cut it here. We are talking juice extracted from fresh, whole fruits and vegetables.

The popular Blueprint Cleanse in New York has become something of a template for juice cleanses. Almost every city now has its own copycat business that provides a day's worth of homemade juicers to people who want to detox. The basics of that program are six 16-ounce drinks each day of the cleanse. Two or three of those will be a green juice, two or three will be a fruit juice, and one must be a nut milk. The nut milk is where you get the fat and protein necessary for healthy digestion and body functioning.

The juices are very easy to make should you want to be your own juicer.

Experts in juice cleanses recommend cutting out caffeine leading up to the cleanse, and trying to eat vegetarian for one or two days prior to the cleanse. Some even recommend only eating fruits and vegetables the day before the cleanse starts. This will help with hunger pangs, and could also make some of the juice cleanse side effects less intense. 

Then you follow the same pattern as you come off the cleanse. Ease into normal food with a vegetarian diet, and eat sparingly for a few days.

Simple Green Juice

• 4 ounces spinach
• 3 stalks of kale
• 1 handful parsley
• 1/2 cucumber
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 one-inch cube of ginger

Wash all ingredients. Run them through a juicer. Any pulp should be run through the juicer a second time to extract all juice from the vegetables. Serve and drink.

Carroty Green Juice

• 2 stalks celery, including tops
• 4 ounces spinach
• 1/3 cucumber
• 2 carrots
• 1 Granny Smith apple

Wash all the ingredients. Run them through a juicer. Take the expelled pulp and run it back through the juicer a second time to extract all liquid. Serve and drink.

Antioxidant-Packed Green Juice

In this recipe, antioxidant-rich blueberries turn the green juice purple, and add a fruity sweetness.

• 1 cup spinach
• 1.5 cups blueberries (If you use frozen blueberries, make sure they are thawed)
• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 cucumber

Wash all the ingredients. Run them through a juicer. Take the expelled pulp and run it back through the juicer a second time to extract all liquid. Serve and drink.

Lemon, Apple, Ginger

• 2 apples
• 1 lemon
• 1-inch cube ginger
• Handful mint

Wash all the ingredients. Keep skin on the apples and remove the outer lemon peel. Peel the ginger. Run ingredients through a juicer. Take the expelled pulp and run it back through the juicer a second time to extract all liquid. Serve and drink

Fruit Basket

• 12-15 grapes
• 6-8 large strawberries
• 1.5 apples
• 1pear
• Handful fresh mint

Wash all the ingredients. Keep skin on the apples and pear. Run ingredients through a juicer. Take the expelled pulp and run it back through the juicer a second time to extract all liquid. Serve and drink

Cucumber Fruit Juice

• 1 cucumber
• 1 apple
• 1 lemon wedge
• 12-15 grapes

Cashew Nut Milk

· ½ cup raw cashews, soaked overnight in water

· 2 cups filtered water

· 1½ teaspoons extra virgin coconut oil

· 1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract

· 2 teaspoons agave nectar

· ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

· ¼ teaspoon cardamom

Place the ingredients in a blender and blend until the nuts are totally puréed. This may take a few minutes, and you may need to start and stop the blender a few times. Also be sure to keep your hand on top of the blender lid so it doesn't come off and cause a huge mess! Strain the nut milk through a cheesecloth (or nut milk bag) if you want a pulp-free protein juice; leave the pulp if you want extra texture.