How I Lost Half My Bodyweight By Eating a Mostly Plant-Based Diet

Another week, another pound or so lost. After 5 weeks, I'm down 10 pounds. This week was rough. I've got some sort of respiratory thing going on - runny nose, cough, sore throat - that's kicking my butt. I also had a six-month ultrasound for a sus thing in my breast (luckily, it was a tad smaller than the last time, so they're thinking it's a benign cyst. Have to go back in 6 months for another scan.) So yeah, a kind of stressful week. But I got through it with much less food-coping that I would've done a month a go. I am proud of me :-) So onward to week 6. B L D S S S 29  Pb toast Fake cheese and tomato sandwich; salad with vegan blue cheez dressing; grapse Personal pizza with vegan sausage; quinoa chili banana 3 lemon poppyseed muffins because this is the best batch yet 30  Steel cut oats with blueberries, ground flax seed Quinoa chili over brown rice Curry - 2 garlic, splash of olive oil, 2 big spoons pataks, cauliflower, chickpeas PB on rice cakes banana 3 ...

Okay so when you review this week's food log, you'll see that I had a mini-binge of cheetos and chocolate chip cookies. I don't know why I did this.  I'm tired and my allergies are out in full force, so all I can think is that my resistance was down. Funny, isn't it? One can down nearly an entire bag of junk food with nary a conscious thought. Anywho, I've moved on. It wasn't a huge binge. And I felt sick enough later that night that the lesson should stick with me for awhile. I have noticed that I ate perhaps a bit too lightly post-binge, a combination of an upset tummy and wanting to turn things around. Not a great idea though, as after that, I was ravenous again. Slow and steady wins the race. Slow and steady wins the race.  

Good morning! Well, four weeks of this lifestyle are complete. I weighed in this morning and am down 8.8 pounds. Do I wish it were more? Of course! BUT, I'LL TAKE THE WIN! Here are some thoughts: The longer I stick with this, the easier it's been to resist temptation. Having my food on hand, along with emergency plans for quick pantry meals, has been a lifesaver. I have so much more energy than I did four weeks ago! Yesterday, I hiked about 3.5 miles along a wooded trail in a local park. I would not have been able to do that a month ago. Hiking is definitely providing motivation. I've purchased some cool new hiking gear - not going crazy because I plan to outgrow most of it - but enough so that it's added to the fun of being outdoors. Weight loss is slow at my age. I've googled this a bit and it seems primarily a result of lower muscle mass. Less muscle means less calories burned and a slower overall metabolism. Something to ponder - how to incorporate strength trai...

... started hiking! Yep, me, the gal who could just barely crank out a paved mile at the local park. I started hiking a week ago and am loving it! Some days, like this morning, I opted for a paved route. But most of my hike's have been on trails. Now I'm not climbing Mount Kilimanjaro just yet, but I am averaging 1.75-2.25 miles every time I set out. I'm really proud of myself. I decided I'll get out there everyday unless there's snow on the ground or lightning in the area (both possible this time of year!). Yesterday it was over 60F, while the day before it didn't break 30. To celebrate and help me along, I've purchased an amazing Merino wool long sleeve base layer top & some wool hiking sock. So far I've just been wearing sneakers, but I have my Amazon "try before you buy" cart loaded with lightweight waterproof hiking shoes to try (before I buy). Someone recommended that I hit up REI or somewhere similar, but as a person of size, I'v...

 Here ya go! I had only 2 non-plant-based meals this week, which brings my plant-based percentage to about 92%! WOOHOO. A note on the math - I count each day's snacks as a single meal. I don't know why I skipped a couple of breakfasts. Just got busy and forgot! I ate out a couple of times - once when visiting my college student and once when celebrating my high school senior's musical accomplishment - but tried to offset it by eating lighter in other meals. Weigh-in is tomorrow morning so will see how it goes! B L D S S S 15  2 slices avocado toast with bagel seasoning   2 bowls of curry udon. Should’ve stopped at one but it was good and i was hungy Fake cheese sammy, no tomato banana Tostadas and salsa. Prob ate more than i should;ve. Today’s theme i guess Lemon poppyseed muffins 16  2 slices PB toast Kung pao tofu leftover sesame beef Bread & pickles from Sammy’s meal Lemon poppyseed muffins 17  2 bowls lasagna soup Rest of the kung pao tofu + PB toast ban...

I went out to eat a lot more this week than the previous two. I've tried to balance it out with mindful eating on the other days. Did this work? Stay tuned for the weigh in coming up in a few days! It's hard, though, to pass up a celebratory meal. And I'm not sure if I really want to! This week my youngest son performed as the top high school clarinet player in the state! The entire state! A few of his friends made the trip to the concert, plus my other son and one of my good friends! The Italian in me just could not let all these dear people leave the concert without feeding them lol. And it was great! We had a big family style meal at a nearby Italian restaurant. One thing I could've done better: I'd purposely ordered a vegetarian dish, but also a chicken dish for the kids. But then my friend told me how good the chicken was and I caved. Not the end of the world as I'm still mostly plant-based per plan, but I wish I'd stood my ground. Next time. Oh, and I ...

I caved yesterday and ate beef. Specifically, sesame beef from a yummy Chinese restaurant.  Here's how it went down. I was visiting my son at college and took him to lunch. I ordered a kung pao tofu for myself and he got the beef. The portions were humongous and his looked amazing, but I resisted the urge to taste it (mine was pretty amazing too btw).   But then he didn't want to take his leftovers back to the dorm. I have such a struggle wasting food (hence my endless supply of feta cheese and Kodiak mix that I bought pre-lifestyle change). So I brought home that beef and ate it for dinner because the thought of tossing away $6-7 dollars worth of food seemed objectionable. But really? I've let food go bad in the fridge that was worth way more than $6-7. At one point driving home from the college I thought that I should just pitch the leftovers as soon as I got home, but I didn't. And I didn't really enjoy the beef, either. But while I'm beating myself up here, ...