Week 10 Weigh-in

Okay, so it’s been a while since I posted on here. I missed weeks 7 and 8. I weighed myself those weeks, but for some reason I didn’t actually post about it. I can’t remember why. I guess I haven’t been great at posting on any of my blogs recently.

Previous weight: 284.2
Current weight: 280.2
Weight lost: 4 pounds

I’m pleased with that number. I’m getting better at eating what I’m supposed to. I haven’t been exercising as much as I probably should, but I’m going to be better at that. I did day one of Couch to 5k last week (Wednesday), and my legs hurt for the rest of the week. I’m going to try again tomorrow. I’m going to do it Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. My mother is going to do it with me. I’m hoping it’s not as bad as the first time. I managed to run when I was supposed to, but it was hard work.

I used to be able to run. Not a lot, of course. I was never a runner. But after PE in 9th grade, I could run a mile and a half without stopping. I want to be able to do that again. Hopefully by the end of the summer, I’ll be able to do that again.

I have another goal, a smaller one. I want to read my Goal #2 weight by the end of this month. I’m 7 pounds in a month. That shouldn’t be that difficult to do if I stick with what I’m supposed to do. I’ve been hesitant to attach dates to my goals, but maybe if I only focus on small goals it’ll be okay.

I’ve been reading through previous weight loss journals of mine, and it’s rather depressing. I’m 7 pounds lighter than I was this time last year, which is better than being 7 pounds heavier, but it’s still sort of upsetting. One of my goals was to reach my goal weight by my 24th birthday. My new goal is to be 273 by then (as my birthday is at the end of June). I wanted to lose 55 pounds last year. Instead, I gained weight. Whenever I set an end goal for weight loss, I fail. I’m sure it’s not the goal that causes me to fail, but it’s still something that doesn’t seem to help.

This time, though, I’m taking things slower. I’m not trying to hurry up and lose weight as fast as possible. I don’t beat myself up if I go over my calories one day, or if I forget/get to lazy to track. If I have a bad week, I don’t get discouraged and give up. I think that’s the attitude I needed to have all along. That’s not to say that I’m not really trying, but I’m not obsessing. I’m working on making healthier choices. I focus on what I’m learning along the way. I celebrate good choices and try not to make bad choices.

I think I’ve found something that works for me. I may not be losing as much weight right away as I have with past diets, but those diets have obviously not worked, so I’m okay with that. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Also, my boyfriend’s mother said that I looked like I had lost weight in the stomach region. That was nice to hear. I know I’ve been feeling better, and I can fit into smaller clothes, but it’s nice to know that other people can see a difference, too.

Advertisement

Week 6 Weigh-in

I really need to stop writing these so late in the week. My new resolution is to post this every Sunday, unless I have a real reason for not doing so (e.g. I wasn’t able to weigh myself Sunday morning because I wasn’t home).

Last week’s weight: 284
Current weight: 284.2
Weight change: Gained 0.2 pounds

To be honest, the reason this was late was because I wasn’t happy with that weigh-in, and I wanted to wait a day and see if I weighed less that day. I didn’t. I weighed exactly the same. So I guess that’s just what I’m going to weigh this week.

This is an annoying number because I don’t feel like I did anything wrong this week. I did go over my calorie limit on three different days, but I was also way under all of the other days. My average daily calorie intake for the week was 1366, and my goal is 1650. I also exercised for at least 30 minutes four days this week.

There’s a difference between excusing bad behavior and not letting unforeseen circumstances get you down. I’m happy with the amount of exercise I did this week. I’m happy with the total amount of calories I consumed, especially since every other calorie counter tool I’ve seen says I should be eating 2,000 calories daily to lose 2 pounds, not just 1,650.

I didn’t lose what I wanted to this week, but I’m not going to let it get me down.

Week 5 Weigh-in

Previous weight: 287
Current weight: 284
This week’s weight loss: 3 pounds

This was a good week. I’m almost back to where I was before I messed everything up last week. I’m still 20 pounds lighter than I was when I started. I don’t really feel any different than I did at Thanksgiving, and I wear the same size clothes as I did then, but I’m trying not to let that bother me. I guess my pants are a bit loser than they used to be. I currently wear a size 24, and for a while there even those were getting sort of tight. So I guess I am making progress – it’s just a little slower than I would have liked.

Pant sizes are strange. I gained 60 pounds and went from an 18 to a 24. I lose 20 pounds, and my pants just get a bit looser. I had sort of hoped for more than that, but I’m not going to let it get to me. I’m learning to eat better. I’m losing weight. That’s what matters.

This week, I exercised three times. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I’m going to do the same thing this upcoming week, although I might up it to an hour. I’ve tracked my food everyday, and I was only over my calories one day, and then it was only by like 20 calories. Other days I was like 400 calories under, so I think it all balances out.

I’ve also been better about eating more fruits and vegetables again. I checked out the book “Wild About Greens” from the library, and I have a bunch of recipes from that book lined up for this week. Tonight we’re having quinoa, chard, and chickpeas. We also have a big salad in the fridge at all times, which makes it easier to grab something healthy when we’re hungry. I also got a bunch of apples for snacks, and I’ve continued to have a smoothie for breakfast.

I haven’t been craving sweets as much as I used to. I still want them sometimes, but I know that they’ll make me ill, so it’s not that big of a deal. I used to crave them a lot after I ate something savory, but lately I’ve just been drinking a lot of water during those times, and that satisfies the urge even better than sweets did.

(Belated) Week 4 Weigh-in

I meant to write this a few days ago, but I guess I got distracted and forgot.

Last week was my experiment with not tracking my food. I had hoped that I could continue to follow the general idea of the cleanse while still eating the foods that I had missed during the 3 week period. That didn’t work. I made cookies twice (once because it had been forever since I had chocolate chip cookies and once because I needed to bring a food for class). I ate way more cookies than I should have, and I don’t even really know why I did it, as they weren’t even that good.

I also started eating a lot more bread and cutting down on my fruits and vegetables, due to a number of factors. First, we planned dinners for the entire week without factoring in the fact that most recipes made 4 servings and it was only me and my mother eating most of the time, so we had a lot of leftovers. Then I also got ciabatta bread because it had been forever since I had had a nice piece of bread. They go back quickly, so I had one of those a day for breakfast instead of my regular smoothie (as the strawberries would stay in the freezer and be good for a long time).

So my breakfast was bread, my lunch was leftovers (which, since it was my first week back, didn’t contain nearly as many vegetables as it should have, if any), and my dinner was another meal that was delicious and vegan but hardly as nutritious as it could have been. Plus there were cookies, and I didn’t watch my serving sizes like I should have.

When I stepped on the scale this weekend, I had climbed back to 287 pounds, meaning that I completely undid the last week of the cleanse. I’m not upset about this, though. I think this was an important week for me. I needed this time to go back to how I used to eat (just a vegan version of it) and realize that it wasn’t worth it.

I don’t need coffee. It’s really not even all that good. That’s not to say that I will never drink it again, but it will definitely be more of a treat now than an everyday thing. The same goes for processed sugar and sweets. I will still have cookies and muffins sometimes, but it doesn’t need to be all the time, and when I do have them, it should be in small amounts.

This past week I’ve felt so bloated and sick. I hadn’t thought that my system had changed so much on the cleanse, but I guess it did because I definitely did not feel good this week. I was eating things I knew were bad for me, and I’m not really sure why. I knew as I was eating most of the foods that I shouldn’t eat them, but I did it anyway. I wasn’t hungry, but I would have another bowl of soup. Or I would be hungry, and I would make a bowl of processed vegan soup stuff instead of having an apple.

Well not anymore. I had my “fun” for the week. I saw what it was that I had been missing, and I learned that it wasn’t worth eating anymore. In a way, I’m glad I did this. When I don’t eat something that I really want, I start building it up in my head as being this great thing. This was even worse after three weeks without sugar or caffeine. My memories of these foods were all positive, and I couldn’t wait to eat them again. Well, now I’ve eaten them, and I’ve gotten to experience them in a new way.

I’ve been doing better this week. Both this morning and yesterday, I woke up and had a shake. Now, I am trying a different shake now (banana, unsweetened almond milk, natural peanut butter, and a little unsweetened cocoa powder), but I’m still having a shake. I’m also going to switch between the chocolate PB one and the strawberry banana one. I think starting the day with something easier to digest is a good idea.

Yesterday I had chili for lunch and lo mien for dinner. The chili wasn’t all that great for me, but the lo mien had a bunch of cabbage and stuff. Today for lunch I had a hummus wrap filled with vegetables. I’m currently looking at recipes that include a bunch of vegetables along with pasta and quinoa and other grains. I still want to find a balance between the way I used to eat and the way I ate on the cleanse, but I’m going to be smarter about it. I need to include at least one fruit or veggie with every meal, more if I can. If I’m going to have pasta, it needs to either be filled with vegetables or be a smaller portion with a large salad next to it.

I’ve also been exercising. I do 30 minutes on the elliptical and then follow that with crunches and exercises using small hand-held weights. It might not be the most rigorous exercise program ever, but at least I’m moving, and that’s what counts.

Week 3 Weigh-In

I was supposed to post this Saturday morning, but apparently I wrote it and then forgot to actually post it. My bad. I’m lazy and tired, so instead of rewriting this, I’m just going to publish this and then publish the post that I actually meant to put up tonight.

Previous weight: 286.4
Current weight: 283.0

This week’s weight loss: 3.4
Total cleanse weight loss: 12.4
Total weight loss since Thanksgiving: 20.8

Like I mentioned in my last post, tomorrow is really supposed to be the last day of the cleanse (and then I’m supposed to spend a week slowly reintroducing foods and see what bothers me and what doesn’t), but my mother and I have decided to end a day early. I figure I’ve been doing this for 20 days now, and the last day doesn’t really matter so much.

Besides, today Atlanta is participating in the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. Last year, I found out about this like a week after it happened, and I was so upset that I hadn’t been able to go. I’m excited to be going this year. I’m not sure if I’ll actually buy anything (I can be sort of cheap sometimes), but I at least want to be able to look around and have the option of buying something. If we don’t find anything there, we also have the address of the Mediterranean Grill that’s in that general area. I’m not 100 percent sure that the falafel there is vegan, but I read about the restaurant on a vegan blog, so I’m going to hope that it is.

After that we’re going to go shopping for the week. My mother and I have a whole week of vegan recipes planned. I’m sure no one else in my family will eat them, but at least they have that option. I’m really excited that my mother is still willing to do the vegan cooking now that the cleanse is over. I’m sure she’s going to go back to putting regular creamer in her coffee, but she did plan this week’s meals using like four different vegan cookbooks, and that’s what counts.

Update: The bake sale was sort of a let-down. There were only two tables of stuff, which wouldn’t have been horrible if we hadn’t drive like 40 minutes, gotten stuck in Atlanta traffic, and then been basically ignored by the people there. It wasn’t really busy when we got there. I really wanted to try the pizza roll, which was $4. I handed the woman a five, and then she gave me change while she was talking to someone else who worked there. We thanked her, and she didn’t say “you’re welcome” or “thanks for stopping by” or anything. Maybe I’m just being overly sensitive, but I guess I was hoping that people at a vegan bake sale would be a bit more friendly. That said, I’m still looking forward to Atlanta Veg Fest in November. Hopefully that will be a bigger deal and will be a lot more fun.

Week 2 Weigh-in

Previous weight: 291
Current weight: 286.4

This week’s weight loss: 4.6

I’ve lost 8.6 pounds in the two weeks that I’ve been on this cleanse. That’s exciting enough in and of itself, but there’s even more important news: I hit my first goal! Goal 1 was 5% or 15.2 pounds, and I’ve lost a total of 17.4 pounds since November 22, 2012.

I’m definitely excited, especially since this hasn’t been that difficult. I mean, yes, I pout whenever I see bread or something sugary, but that’s not really that big of a deal. It helps that I know this cleanse is only temporary. I’ll be able to eat gluten and sugar again in a week.

I will admit, I sort of hoped that my food desires cravings would go away while I was on this cleanse. That hasn’t been the case. I still can’t wait until I can make cookies and can have a flour tortilla, not a gluten-free one that’s hard and doesn’t roll up that easily. I went out and bought super expensive gluten-free pasta because I didn’t want to wait another week and a half to have pasta.

But I definitely have changed in one respect, and I think this is the more important way. I’ve learned to control my portions better. I’ve learned that a smoothie really can keep me full for several hours. I’ve learned that I should wait a little bit, even if I think I’m hungry. If I’m actually hungry, my stomach will start to growl. If I’m not actually hungry, the “need” for food will go away once I find something else to think about.

It’s like I’ve been so afraid of being hungry that I eat before hunger actually sets in. And then once I do eat, I have a hard time stopping until I’m really full. Part of that is definitely that I eat too fast. I’ve always known that. When I’m around friends, I eat slowly because I don’t want to look like that fat girl who’s always eating, but on my own I generally eat pretty quickly. Then I get a second helping before the first one has had a time to settle. Obviously I know that I should slow down, but for some reason I haven’t done that before now.

But now, with this cleanse, my meals are more regulated. You’re not supposed to eat for 12 hours between dinner (or your last meal) and breakfast, which means that I have to fit 3 meals into 12 hours’ time. Lately I’ve been eating breakfast around 11, lunch around 2, a snack on my way to class at 4, and then dinner when I get home from class at 8:30. I try to spread out my meals, and that’s helped me learn not to eat so much in one sitting.

It’s also helping me learn that I need side dishes. Fruit can be super filling, and it makes a great after lunch snack or lunch side dish. Before, I would have half a box of pasta for lunch before I was finally full. Now I can have a single bowl of pasta and some cut up cantaloupe or pineapple or an apple, and then I don’t need food for hours. This may not sound all that revolutionary or anything, and it’s not, but this is the first time in my life that I’ve actually been able to eat the way I know you’re supposed to, and it’s exciting.

That’s why I’m so glad that I’m doing this cleanse. I’m not going to continue to eat this food and only this food for the rest of my life, but I can use it as a template for the rest of my life. I might be eating a flour tortilla instead of a brown rice tortilla, but I still only need one of them for lunch.

Also, it’s going to be much easier to stay vegan now that I’ve been a vegan for 3 weeks. Plus, after 3 weeks of not being able to eat oranges, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, caffeine, sugar, gluten, or soy, the vegan diet looks a lot less restrictive than it used to. 🙂

Week 1 Weigh-in

Previous weight: 295.4
Current weight: 291.0

This week’s weight loss: 4.4 pounds

I’m definitely excited to see the results of week 1 of my cleanse. I was afraid that I wouldn’t have lost anything, and that would be sad. That number definitely made the past two days worth it.

See, yesterday was my boyfriend’s birthday, and the day before that was his brother’s birthday, so we’ve been at his parents’ house for the last two days. I packed up enough food for those days so I could continue my cleanse there. His mother was very concerned about what I was eating (she has been since I stopped eating meat), but I stuck with the plan. They had a double-layer cookie cake with frosting that smelled delicious, and it was very hard to turn that down two days in a row, but I knew that the cleanse was more important. Three weeks without sugar. I can do that. After that, I’m allowed to have sugar again, but it has to be balanced with everything else that I eat. It should be a treat, not something I eat all day long.

Speaking of sweets, though – I did learn yesterday about the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. I remember hearing about it last April (when I started the vegan journey), but it was too late for me to actually go to it. Fortunately, I found it in time this year. The one in Atlanta is being held on Saturday, April 20 – the last day of my cleanse. I’m hoping I can talk my mother into going with me so we can buy some vegan treats to have after the cleanse is over (although not in one sitting, of course).

Overall, I’m happy with the way my first week has gone. I do think I’m going to try adding the protein powder back in to my shakes. I know vegans are sick of people asking where they get their protein from, but I actually do think I’m not getting enough protein. I’ve been getting 25-38 grams of protein each day. I haven’t been eating as many calories as I’m “supposed” to, so the fact that my protein numbers aren’t where they should be isn’t all that surprising. I know I hated the protein powder the last time I tried it, but I also hated the blueberries that were in it. I’m hoping that was the real reason I hated the shakes. I guess I’ll find out today.

Weigh-in: Week 2

Previous weight: 299.6
Current weight: 298.4
Weight lost: 1.2
Total weight lost: 5.4

Okay, so I’m two days late in writing this post. I didn’t write it on Thursday because I got distracted and forgot, and then I didn’t write it yesterday because I wasn’t really near my computer for most of the day. I actually think I’m going to change my weigh-in day to Friday, though, as I tend to weigh less on Fridays than I do on Thursdays.

I’m pleased about my weight loss this week, especially since I didn’t really exercise much this week. My mother and I went for a forty minute walk on Sunday, and that was about it for my exercise. School started this week, and I’ve been parking in the lot farthest away from my classes, so I guess that’s something.

I’ve also been working on eating better. I had my mother watch the movie Vegucated this past weekend, and she decided to go vegan with me – or at least mostly vegan, as she wants to use up the food we have in the house before she goes and buys a bunch of vegan alternatives. She’s decided that she wants to eat mostly whole foods and get away from all the processed junk, so that’s what we’re doing for the most part. We went to the farmer’s market downtown and bought a whole cart full of grains and fruits and vegetables. We actually have too many vegetables to fit in the vegetable drawers in the fridge. We’ve had falafel and rice/lentil/veggie salad, and a bunch of other delicious food that’s made of mostly whole ingredients.

That’s not to say that I’m only eating healthy food. I had three cookies at my boyfriend’s house yesterday. I’ve been eating regular mayonnaise in my sauce for the falafels. I’ve had a Boca chik’n patty on a tortilla. I think it’s important that I eat mostly whole foods but that I don’t obsess about it. I think that’s where I’ve gone wrong in the past. I’ve tried to change too many things all at once. Now I’m trying to change a bunch of things, yes, but I’m just aiming for eating more whole foods than I used to. I’m trying to make gradual changes that won’t drive me crazy.

And you know what? It’s actually fun.

Weigh-in: Week 1

Okay, I meant to do this yesterday, but I somehow managed to forget that it was Thursday until late afternoon, and I prefer to weigh myself in the mornings before I eat anything, so I decided to just wait a day. Hopefully now that the holidays are over I’ll keep better track of what day it is. Also, I’ve decided to start counting the weeks making this week 1, even though my starting weight is from Thanksgiving.

Starting weight: 303.8
Previous weight: 300.6
Current weight: 299.6

Pounds lost this week: 1
Total weight lost: 4.2

Not the big number I was looking for to start the year, but considering I didn’t really track my food this week or exercise, I’ll take it. To be honest, I’m not really sure where this week has gone. Yesterday I woke up around noon and then spent a few hours cleaning my room. The day before I slept in and then spent the day grocery shopping (where our cart was filled with fruits and vegetables and little to no processed foods). The day before that I slept in really late because I had stayed up way too late the night before. I keep meaning to do something productive with my time, but I haven’t quite managed to do that yet.

I have, however, been eating better. I’ve started eating more hummus wraps with vegetables.I made one tabbouleh salad the other day that wasn’t all that great, so I’m going to have to try another recipe to see if I can find one that I like. I had tabbouleh at Whole Foods, and it was great. Now I just need to find a way to recreate it at home. I also have a bunch of other cold salads that I want to try before work starts.

My new food for the week is bulgur wheat. It’s not exactly new as I tried it before at Whole Foods (see tabbouleh above, which I’m fairly positive was made from bulgur), but this was my first time making it at home, so I’m still including it. Turns out it’s really easy to make, and really cheap at the market I go to. Mix half a cup of bulgur with a cup of water, bring to a boil, then remove from heat and wait until the bulgur absorbs the water, about 25 minutes. So easy! Also, a cup of cooked bulgur has about 150 calories, 8 grams of fiber, and 6 grams of protein. So that’s pretty cool. I experimented with a southwest-style bulgur dish yesterday, but I added way too many spices and not enough of anything else, so it was sort of gross unless I added some vegan sour cream to it. I think, though, that if I added more beans vegetables, it would have been good. Maybe I’ll try that again this weekend.