Sunday, April 29, 2012
Day 60
So today marks 60 days on the diet! I'm going to rename this blog after tomorrow to something else...just gotta think of something snappy...
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Month 2 - Day 28
So technically this is Day 59 and soon to be 60 of my "diet" if you will. I've lost 33 pounds and gone down two pant sizes and one shirt size. I feel better than I have in...well...as long as I can remember! I plan on changing the name of this blog to something else because it wasn't necessarily all 60 days with no processed food but rather about 15 days no processed food and then 45 days vegan with as little processed food as possible. Still.
I've really been trying to get all of my friends and loved ones to watch "Forks over Knives." It really amazes me the whole idea that some people can "look" skinnier, lose weight, be small, but still be extremely unhealthy. These people can still have heart attacks and coronary artery disease. There are some people that think "hey well I can eat whatever I want and then work out really hard and never have any problems." Eh...not so much. There are people that are in their 40s that are seemingly fit, and they have heart attacks out of nowhere. The plaque buildup in their arteries is too strong. Granted, if someone is already very fit, at or below their recommended weight (that is, not overweight at all!), they can probably get away with eating meat and dairy more often (though it's still recommended to eat them MUCH less than the typical American does) as their metabolisms are faster, they are already living a fit lifestyle, and their heart and arteries are kept in check all the time. Still, for those people like me that are on the road just to being NOT overweight (like many people) I think repairing the damage done to your heart and arteries is the top priority.
I tried the high protein low carb diets and they didn't work for me because I always felt hungry, I always felt run down, I had very little digestive regularity, even though I was losing weight, and I felt like I REALLY had to watch EVERYTHING I ate, and I was sort of cheating on some things like "oh look, it's a brownie, but it's low carb, so it's okay" or something like that. In the end it just didn't make any logical sense to me.
What makes sense to me is vegetarian / vegan lifestyles. You take care of your body and put in extremely healthy foods, and the rewards are endless. I feel so much more awake, aware, and healthy on this vegan diet than I ever have on any other diet. I've tried the low carb, tried the high protein, tried the calorie counting, tried some other seriously weird diets, I mean I've tried them all. This one is so much less of a diet and more of a lifestyle. It's easy to follow, and the food is delicious.
When I finally reach my goal weight of 180lbs, I'm going to post two photos. The first photo will be of me in late 2009 when I weighed 256 pounds as a college freshman. This is when I first admitted to myself that I needed a life change. I've tried three diets in the last two and a half years and the one that I've had the most success with is clear. I kept teetering back and forth on the other diets between 256 and 225, 240, back to 230...in the end I really only lost a net of 30 pounds in 2 years. The second photo will be of me at my goal weight of 180 pounds, smiling proudly, which means I would have lost a total of 76 pounds in 2.5 years, but 46 of those pounds in just the last 3 months. As you can tell, the Vegan thing has really been the ticket.
It's very difficult for non-overweight people to understand what it's like to be overweight for the majority of your life. I've probably been overweight my entire life and just never admitted it until I was old enough to actually actively do something about it. Before, you ate what was on your plate, you didn't complain, and you got it all for free from your parents. It's not that I'm blaming them, I just wish they would have known then what I know now.
I've really been trying to get all of my friends and loved ones to watch "Forks over Knives." It really amazes me the whole idea that some people can "look" skinnier, lose weight, be small, but still be extremely unhealthy. These people can still have heart attacks and coronary artery disease. There are some people that think "hey well I can eat whatever I want and then work out really hard and never have any problems." Eh...not so much. There are people that are in their 40s that are seemingly fit, and they have heart attacks out of nowhere. The plaque buildup in their arteries is too strong. Granted, if someone is already very fit, at or below their recommended weight (that is, not overweight at all!), they can probably get away with eating meat and dairy more often (though it's still recommended to eat them MUCH less than the typical American does) as their metabolisms are faster, they are already living a fit lifestyle, and their heart and arteries are kept in check all the time. Still, for those people like me that are on the road just to being NOT overweight (like many people) I think repairing the damage done to your heart and arteries is the top priority.
I tried the high protein low carb diets and they didn't work for me because I always felt hungry, I always felt run down, I had very little digestive regularity, even though I was losing weight, and I felt like I REALLY had to watch EVERYTHING I ate, and I was sort of cheating on some things like "oh look, it's a brownie, but it's low carb, so it's okay" or something like that. In the end it just didn't make any logical sense to me.
What makes sense to me is vegetarian / vegan lifestyles. You take care of your body and put in extremely healthy foods, and the rewards are endless. I feel so much more awake, aware, and healthy on this vegan diet than I ever have on any other diet. I've tried the low carb, tried the high protein, tried the calorie counting, tried some other seriously weird diets, I mean I've tried them all. This one is so much less of a diet and more of a lifestyle. It's easy to follow, and the food is delicious.
When I finally reach my goal weight of 180lbs, I'm going to post two photos. The first photo will be of me in late 2009 when I weighed 256 pounds as a college freshman. This is when I first admitted to myself that I needed a life change. I've tried three diets in the last two and a half years and the one that I've had the most success with is clear. I kept teetering back and forth on the other diets between 256 and 225, 240, back to 230...in the end I really only lost a net of 30 pounds in 2 years. The second photo will be of me at my goal weight of 180 pounds, smiling proudly, which means I would have lost a total of 76 pounds in 2.5 years, but 46 of those pounds in just the last 3 months. As you can tell, the Vegan thing has really been the ticket.
It's very difficult for non-overweight people to understand what it's like to be overweight for the majority of your life. I've probably been overweight my entire life and just never admitted it until I was old enough to actually actively do something about it. Before, you ate what was on your plate, you didn't complain, and you got it all for free from your parents. It's not that I'm blaming them, I just wish they would have known then what I know now.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Month 2: Days 21-27
Things have continued as they always do and life goes on. Been feeling great still, I have a spring in my step, and I'm sort of shocked to look at old pictures of myself. LOTS OF CHANGES. I'm moving in to my new house on Monday, which is a huge change. It's great though because I'll have my own kitchen and plenty of room to cook and make things, and I'll have more space to live, and I have a large yard that will need lots of work (which is more exercise for me).
You know, on this blog I talk about my "60 days" and then I talk about the whole diet and the vegan thing, but really this has been going on much longer than 60 days. As I mentioned in a post before, I weighed the most I've ever weighed during the beginning of my freshman year in college. I did diet for about 5 months then and lost about 45 pounds, and then gained about 35 of it back over the course of the next year. I also felt like crap. I felt like I was starving myself and had no idea what I was really doing. Not cool. I've been dieting VEGAN for two months now and have lost 32 pounds, I feel great, and never have looked better in my fiance's opinion, haha.
So this last week has been great, I've lost another pound, putting me around 195. I cannot remember the last time I weighed 195! Cannot believe I only have 10 pounds to go. I also only have 2 weeks until my final tux fitting. I get my wisdom teeth out in 5 days, which is not exciting, but...if nothing else I'll have to go on sort of a liquid diet for a few days. Lots of juice and smoothies for me. Not necessarily a bad thing!
For lunch the other day, I had one of my new favorite dishes. It's an Indian type dish that's got soybeans, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, chiles, cadamom, and pepper. I mixed it in with a little brown rice and wow it was absolutely delicious. Because I'm a hipster here's my instagram photo...
You know, on this blog I talk about my "60 days" and then I talk about the whole diet and the vegan thing, but really this has been going on much longer than 60 days. As I mentioned in a post before, I weighed the most I've ever weighed during the beginning of my freshman year in college. I did diet for about 5 months then and lost about 45 pounds, and then gained about 35 of it back over the course of the next year. I also felt like crap. I felt like I was starving myself and had no idea what I was really doing. Not cool. I've been dieting VEGAN for two months now and have lost 32 pounds, I feel great, and never have looked better in my fiance's opinion, haha.
So this last week has been great, I've lost another pound, putting me around 195. I cannot remember the last time I weighed 195! Cannot believe I only have 10 pounds to go. I also only have 2 weeks until my final tux fitting. I get my wisdom teeth out in 5 days, which is not exciting, but...if nothing else I'll have to go on sort of a liquid diet for a few days. Lots of juice and smoothies for me. Not necessarily a bad thing!
For lunch the other day, I had one of my new favorite dishes. It's an Indian type dish that's got soybeans, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, chiles, cadamom, and pepper. I mixed it in with a little brown rice and wow it was absolutely delicious. Because I'm a hipster here's my instagram photo...
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Month 2: Days 15 - 20
So this last week has been very special...
I've officially been on the no processed foods / vegetarian / vegan / whatever combination of these things diet for 51 days, and I am proud to say I have lost 30 pounds.
So wow! Under 200. This hasn't been the case in probably 7 years. Granted, I was never "obese" and no, I was never "at risk of death" but I certainly wasn't nearly as healthy as I should have been. I finally got my dad to watch "Forks Over Knives" and he liked it a lot. He's pretty healthy in terms of his weight and he gets a lot of exercise and drinks a gallon of water daily, but I know he eats too much snacky foods and eats just as much meat and dairy as the average American. I feel like this whole experience has really helped my parents see how much it actually works. My mom of course is like "well don't get too skinny" being the worrisome mother she is. I still have tummy flab and know that I have plenty of room to get skinnier.
The goal still stands to be May 10th - my final tux fitting for the wedding. My dad asked me today "so how long do you think you'll do this? Forever?" Confidently, I answered, "yes, probably forever." There's no reason for me not to. Granted, I'm not afraid of meat and dairy, they don't gross me out, they don't repulse me, and so if I have a little bit of cheese on my Caesar salad, or if I have some chicken with my stir fry, I'm not going to die or vomit or anything. The goal here is to minimize them to as little as possible. Like I've said, it's almost impossible to find some things without animal products. A great example is desserts - even healthy desserts usually have some kind of butter or egg-wash in them for decorative features / "golden brown" stuff. My fiance likes to make pies, and even if she makes an apple pie without any sugar or added sweeteners, there is still going to be egg and butter used in making the crust from scratch.
The idea is to never be afraid of foods. You have to consciously control your diet because otherwise, the American lifestyle tells us otherwise. We've grown up eating these portions of these foods and expecting that this is the way we should balance our diet. We go to a nice restaurant and get a meal and it may consist of 50% meat (e.g, a steak), 30% starch (e.g., mashed potatoes), and only 20% vegetables...this is just how we've all been trained to eat, and that's okay - change is possible! We have to consciously think about it.
One good thing is that by changing the diet even to PARTLY vegetarian/vegan, you can eliminate a ton of strain on your body and help your body our tremendously. For example, if you took that meal and ordered more vegetables instead of the mashed potatoes, and only ate half the steak, you would have cut it down to 25/75 forks over knives, if you will. Taking your meal to-go never goes out of style. You'll save money, and you'll save your body.
It's amazing to me how many things we bypass assuming they are healthy. The first thing that comes to mind here is olive oil. Sure it's an oil, we don't drink it like water, but we use it liberally. We think, oh it's great for you, much better than canola oil or butter or crisco or etc....but in reality, it's 100% fat. Look at the label. Calories per serving: 120. Fat Calories per serving: 120. That means it's 100% fat. Guess what a serving size is? One TABLESPOON. Ridiculous! We use so much more than a tablespoon in most modern cooking. The idea that you have to saute veggies in oil is a myth. I made a dish the other day using NO butter, NO oil, and it was fantastic. Vegetables have their own oils in them (hence, vegetable oil...) so you can saute a lot of vegetables like onions, mushrooms, peppers, etc., with water alone and they get plenty juicy and sweet! I'd like to try to learn to make my own vegetable oil substitute using only raw veggies.
I've been really trying to find recipes that feature things like cloves, cinnamon, oregano, and thyme. These are some of the best spices out there for you with some of the highest antioxidant properties possible. You always hear about this berry and that superfruit and blah blah blah, but in reality, the highest ranked antioxidant substances is clove, with thyme, oregano, and cinnamon right underneath. They are all strong spices with a kick to them. That's sort of a trend I've found - spices that have a kick generally are better for you! Spices that are mild often have less healing properties to them. Things like cayanne and paprika and garlic powder and other strong spices are great for your digestion and liver, and they should be used more often!
I've got 21 days left on this "diet" and I have to lose 12 more pounds. Seems sort of crazy...but the truth is I'm not starving myself one bit! I'm eating plenty of food, I feel great, I'm sleeping better (and getting plenty of sleep), I feel more on top of my work, I feel more alive and well. Go figure, right? Eat healthy, feel good. It seems too simple. In reality, it's very simple, it just takes discipline.
Until next post. My hope is to be under 190 by the end of the month!
I've officially been on the no processed foods / vegetarian / vegan / whatever combination of these things diet for 51 days, and I am proud to say I have lost 30 pounds.
So wow! Under 200. This hasn't been the case in probably 7 years. Granted, I was never "obese" and no, I was never "at risk of death" but I certainly wasn't nearly as healthy as I should have been. I finally got my dad to watch "Forks Over Knives" and he liked it a lot. He's pretty healthy in terms of his weight and he gets a lot of exercise and drinks a gallon of water daily, but I know he eats too much snacky foods and eats just as much meat and dairy as the average American. I feel like this whole experience has really helped my parents see how much it actually works. My mom of course is like "well don't get too skinny" being the worrisome mother she is. I still have tummy flab and know that I have plenty of room to get skinnier.
The goal still stands to be May 10th - my final tux fitting for the wedding. My dad asked me today "so how long do you think you'll do this? Forever?" Confidently, I answered, "yes, probably forever." There's no reason for me not to. Granted, I'm not afraid of meat and dairy, they don't gross me out, they don't repulse me, and so if I have a little bit of cheese on my Caesar salad, or if I have some chicken with my stir fry, I'm not going to die or vomit or anything. The goal here is to minimize them to as little as possible. Like I've said, it's almost impossible to find some things without animal products. A great example is desserts - even healthy desserts usually have some kind of butter or egg-wash in them for decorative features / "golden brown" stuff. My fiance likes to make pies, and even if she makes an apple pie without any sugar or added sweeteners, there is still going to be egg and butter used in making the crust from scratch.
The idea is to never be afraid of foods. You have to consciously control your diet because otherwise, the American lifestyle tells us otherwise. We've grown up eating these portions of these foods and expecting that this is the way we should balance our diet. We go to a nice restaurant and get a meal and it may consist of 50% meat (e.g, a steak), 30% starch (e.g., mashed potatoes), and only 20% vegetables...this is just how we've all been trained to eat, and that's okay - change is possible! We have to consciously think about it.
One good thing is that by changing the diet even to PARTLY vegetarian/vegan, you can eliminate a ton of strain on your body and help your body our tremendously. For example, if you took that meal and ordered more vegetables instead of the mashed potatoes, and only ate half the steak, you would have cut it down to 25/75 forks over knives, if you will. Taking your meal to-go never goes out of style. You'll save money, and you'll save your body.
It's amazing to me how many things we bypass assuming they are healthy. The first thing that comes to mind here is olive oil. Sure it's an oil, we don't drink it like water, but we use it liberally. We think, oh it's great for you, much better than canola oil or butter or crisco or etc....but in reality, it's 100% fat. Look at the label. Calories per serving: 120. Fat Calories per serving: 120. That means it's 100% fat. Guess what a serving size is? One TABLESPOON. Ridiculous! We use so much more than a tablespoon in most modern cooking. The idea that you have to saute veggies in oil is a myth. I made a dish the other day using NO butter, NO oil, and it was fantastic. Vegetables have their own oils in them (hence, vegetable oil...) so you can saute a lot of vegetables like onions, mushrooms, peppers, etc., with water alone and they get plenty juicy and sweet! I'd like to try to learn to make my own vegetable oil substitute using only raw veggies.
I've been really trying to find recipes that feature things like cloves, cinnamon, oregano, and thyme. These are some of the best spices out there for you with some of the highest antioxidant properties possible. You always hear about this berry and that superfruit and blah blah blah, but in reality, the highest ranked antioxidant substances is clove, with thyme, oregano, and cinnamon right underneath. They are all strong spices with a kick to them. That's sort of a trend I've found - spices that have a kick generally are better for you! Spices that are mild often have less healing properties to them. Things like cayanne and paprika and garlic powder and other strong spices are great for your digestion and liver, and they should be used more often!
I've got 21 days left on this "diet" and I have to lose 12 more pounds. Seems sort of crazy...but the truth is I'm not starving myself one bit! I'm eating plenty of food, I feel great, I'm sleeping better (and getting plenty of sleep), I feel more on top of my work, I feel more alive and well. Go figure, right? Eat healthy, feel good. It seems too simple. In reality, it's very simple, it just takes discipline.
Until next post. My hope is to be under 190 by the end of the month!
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