Wednesday's Weigh-In, Week 5

I've lost 1 pound since last week and, although I'm not fully focused on my weight, I've got to say, I'm happy to see the scale tip in the right direction- even if it is only 1 pound down. This means that since I've begun, I've lost 4 pounds and am 24 pounds away from my goal weight. I'm pretty well on track this week so far as my menu plan goes and since I have a plan, I should be doing great by the end of the week. I'm trying to incorporate flax seed more into our diet here and I have done so successfully so far, adding it to smoothies and oatmeal and today I'm going to try adding a little to my vegan whole wheat bread. I'm exercising regularly, even after being sick last week and over the weekend, and I am seeing my body change a lot from that. I'm doing the Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred and I love it! It's only a 20 minute workout every day, but it's great and after only a couple of weeks of doing it I'm seeing results. I have to return it to the library next week, so we'll see what I end up doing next.

My biggest concern right now is continuing this experiment while on vacation. I'm going to be taking two trips soon, one next weekend and another the following week. We're going to be traveling quite a long distance for one of those trips, which usually means we opt for less healthy food just for the convenience. We'll also be staying with family and I'm always concerned about being a bad house guest- making too many requests outside the hosts' normal routine/diet. I'm sure I'll be fine though, hopefully my husband will keep my in check a little while we're away. I'm planning to make some granola and other snack foods to have on hand while we travel, so that should help somewhat. I'll have to come up with some Veganstein travel tips and post them once I can get it figured out.

Wednesday's Weigh-In Week 4

It's week 4 of Veganstein and I'm feeling really excellent about how things are going. I have been, however, a little lazy about cooking though, so I need to snap myself out of that. I have not lost any weight, but I can tell by the way my clothes fit that my body is changing. I'm feeling strong and energetic. My monthly grocery budget is not liking this experiment though, as it has nearly doubled our grocery bill, so I'm going to have to find out how to eat plant-based while being thrifty, and fast. It may be just because there aren't a lot of options where I live to shop around for deals because I'm in a small town, but I hope I can get back to my normal grocery budget. I'm really looking forward to the harvest of different fruits and vegetables coming up soon and seeing what we can do with that. My guess is that pumpkins, squash, and apples will accompany many a meal in the coming months- yum! Meanwhile, I find my 4 year-old talking to a lot to his friends about food and exercise. He and his friends, while I was teaching preschool, talked all during one snack time about what kind of milk they each drink- cow's milk, almond milk, coconut milk (Noah's favorite). It was cute. I've also overheard Noah talking to his friends about how we shouldn't eat a lot of meat, but we can eat lots of fruits and vegetables to be healthy and strong- he's learning! It's so nice to have these conversations as a family and to see that my son is thinking about his body and how to take care of it.

Wednesday's Weigh-In Week 3

Once again, I haven't lost or gained any weight, that's okay though. I haven't been feeling very healthy lately, though, and I know it is because I haven't been as consistent with my workouts this week- darn! Tomorrow I am starting back up with doing it in the mornings, regardless of how I feel. I've been feeling lethargic and I wonder if it's because of my diet. I have noticed that I don't sleep well the nights after my NVMs partially because my mind just won't shut off and also because my stomach is usually pretty upset. I wonder if there's a connection to my mind racing and eating meat and dairy- do they help with brain activity? I'm going to have to research that. The stomach aches, I think, are primarily caused by my eating cheese (especially if it's in a considerable amount)- darn again! I really like the taste of cheese, but I'm not liking what it does to my stomach after I eat it. I'm also beginning to see where/when I make bad decisions with my family's diet, it's when we're busy, which, lately, has been a lot. Even when I plan ahead, one little kink in the plan makes me wish I could just run to the nearest grocery store and pick up a frozen pizza, but I haven't because of this diet. Last night, however, I was thawing a vegan meal I had made a while back for my husband and I to eat after the kids went to bed so we could have a little dinner & movie at home date, but it didn't thaw enough and I really didn't have a back up plan, so he ran and picked us up some food which was tasty, but did not make me feel good afterward. Things like that just bother me, I don't like it when I plan to do something healthy, and end up really botching it. Today is a new day, right? Thank goodness for that! Needless to say, this past week hasn't been the easiest for me, and it's only 3 weeks in, but I'm still motivated to keep this up and see how it goes more long-term. Wish me luck.

Wednesday's Weigh-In

The second week of Veganstein started on Monday. I had a cheeseburger at our Labor Day BBQ and, although it was delicious, my stomach was not a fan. It's amazing how quickly a person's body can adapt to dietary changes. I'm finding it difficult this week to stick to my experiment, I don't know if it's because I crammed last weeks NVMs into two days and then started this week off with another NVM or if it's for some other reason. Toward the end of the week last week, I was having trouble sleeping. Then, over the weekend, my husband started feeling sick and has kept me up the last few nights, so I'm feeling a bit sluggish. I know that when I'm tired and lazy feeling, I often eat more than I would normally, so that could be why Veganstein is more of a challenge this week. Either way, I've been sticking with it and have kept up with my exercises each day. It feels good to exercise and stick to a goal especially when I really don't want to, it makes me feel like I have better control over every aspect in my life. Of course it doesn't really change how much control I have in everything, it just makes me feel stronger and more capable of handling things. I think good health can do that. Have you ever overheard people talk about a mutual friend who is struggling with various things in his/her life and one of them says, "Well, at least she has her health"? That was always such a weird thing to me, but I think I'm beginning to understand that expression. As my husband has been working toward leading a healthier life, I've observed him playing with our kids more, helping around the house more, and facing challenges at work with less frustration. For myself, I feel as though I've developed more patience and energy to handle day-to-day things as I've began focusing on my own health and trying to improve it. There are a lot of things we can't control; people around us will make foolish decisions that upset us, financial problems will come, etc., but one thing we can control is how we take care of our bodies. True, we may take excellent care of our bodies and still become ill or get injured, but if our bodies are strong, so is our will, and if our will is strong, we can push through any challenge before us with both strength and grace- even if the outcome is different than we would hope. If all we have is our health, we still have hope, and some times that's all we need to carry on. Now that I'm realizing this, that good health will benefit me in every aspect of my life, I don't think I can ever go back to how I was before, not super unhealthy, but not really doing anything to be healthy. I'm glad for that.

I haven't lost or gained any weight since last week. I'm seeing more definition in my muscles though, which I like. I now understand a little better why gyms have so many mirrors in them, I love seeing my leg muscles working when I exercise.

Wednesday's Weigh-In

This is the first week of Veganstein and I'm feeling good. I've discovered that I need to do a little more cooking to keep up with the experiment- I can't just throw together a meat and cheese sandwich for lunch, I actually have to do a little more preparation. So, I'm thinking I'll be making lots of big pots of rice and beans over the next 87 days. My family has been busy this week, my husband has been going to work early and staying late, my 4 year-old has soccer practice two nights a week and preschool two days a week and, since we have only one car, I get to play taxi driver for them all, with my 16 month-old as my backseat companion. The busyness has just added to the challenge of this experiment, but so far it has been going well. I have been pushing myself a lot in my exercise routine and I've noticed that I'm feeling hungry a lot. Could it be I'm not getting enough of what my body needs? To satisfy my hunger I've been having snacks (or at least 1 a day, up to 2 if it's needed) and I find that by meal time I don't eat as much as I usually would, so I don't think my caloric intake is more than usual, it's just spread over more "meals" throughout the day. The meals we've had have been good, we tried a new recipe on Monday. I weighed myself this morning, the same time as last week, and I've lost 3 pounds. I now am 25 pounds away from my ideal weight, which is great. The healthiest I've felt in, I would guess, 6 years was just before I got pregnant with my second son and I'm 4 pounds away from that weight. Getting down to my ideal weight would get me back to the weight I was when I got married 10 years ago, the weight I was up until about a year before I got pregnant with our first son. I was thinner then, but I wouldn't say I was healthy. I didn't exercise much or watch what I ate, I was just young and had a good metabolism. I'm really finding that, although I'd love to smoke up the beach with my hot bod some day, I just want to be healthy. If I never reach my ideal weight, I think that will be okay, just as long as I am taking care of myself and feeling good about myself- if I do reach it, that will just be that much better. I haven't yet had a non-vegan meal (NVM) this week, and I haven't really figured out when I will, the food I've had so far has been good and satisfying, so that's a good thing. I know I have a long way to go with this experiment, but I am already feeling that this will be a positive experience for me and my family.

Wednesday's Weigh-In #1

Even though the experiment doesn't begin officially until next week, I think it's good to start Wednesday's Weigh-In today. Since this whole experiment is being done to find out how and if my diet relates to my health and if eating a more plant-based, vegan diet will improve my health, I think it's important to keep track of all aspects of my health. Wednesday's Weigh-Ins are not just about how much weight I've lost or gained during the course of this experiment, they're also going to be about how I'm feeling and what changes I observe in myself and/or my family. The fact is that weight is related to health and, although my weight is not my focus, I do expect that making healthier decisions concerning my diet will result in some weigh loss because I am overweight. So, to start, I've weighed myself and using this online ideal weight calculator, I've determined how much weight I need to lose to match my ideal weight. That magic number is 28. Meaning, to be at my deal weight, I need to lose 28 pounds.

You should know that in addition to my diet, I also exercise regularly. I have always struggled with staying motivated and keeping up with a regular exercise program, but I've finally found something that works for me. I change it up every 3 weeks. Here's why... the DVDs are due back at the library every 3 weeks. That's right, I get my workouts from the library. It's a good system for me. I do a full 45-60 minute workout 6 days a week for 3 weeks, then switch to another workout program. It keeps me moving and engaged. Right now I'm doing the "Banish Fat Boost Metabolism" workout from Jillian Michaels. I love it! I don't get enough cardio into my workouts when I do my own thing and this DVD is all cardio. Part of what I'm interested to see with this experiment is how my physical health changes (I'm not talking weight here). I struggle with cardio because either my lungs or my heart (or both) just don't handle it well. I get winded easily. Could eating less meat and dairy help? We'll see.

Some other things I'm going to be observing for Wednesday's Weigh-Ins are: changes in my level of energy, how motivated I'm feeling, changes I observe in myself both physical and emotional, and just how I feel overall. Today I am feeling optimistic. I'm excited to begin this experiment and to see what I learn from it. My exercise routine has been consistent and I want to stay motivated to stick with it because I can already see how much stronger my body is becoming and I'm noticing that my posture is better and I just feel like my clothes fit me better. My energy is pretty good, but could use some improvement right around dinner time, that's when the day always seems to catch up with me.