This last week I got married to my lovely fiance, now whom I am proud to call my wife. I know it seems superficial of me to remember my weight on the day of our wedding, but it was 180lbs. I've been on my honeymoon for the last few days, and I've been enjoying it. Been breaking the vegan diet slightly so I can enjoy some great seafood in Seattle. WOW it's the best I've ever had. Been to SF Bay area, been to New England, and in my opinion Seattle is my favorite. Pike's Place is awesome with all of its shops, fresh produce and fish, flowers, dealers, etc. The atmosphere here is gorgeous and inviting, it's friendly and yet bustling. It's like a friendly New York with less crime and more environmental awareness...
I already reached my original goal of 185, and I've been slowly climbing down the weight ladder. I've been really debating what my new weight goal should be. According to three different medical websites, my BMI is 26, which is still one point over the highest I should be in the "healthy" BMI range. My wife's BMI is of course in the LOW range because she's skinny and can eat whatever she wants...makes me jealous.
My freshman year in college I weighed 256, which I just realized that made my BMI about 37...wow! Weird to see that on paper. That means that I was considered medically obese for my height. It was very upsetting to me even though I haven't weighed that much in over two years. Still, I feel like more people should see what they weigh in relation to their height so that they can realize where they stand in the scale of "low" to "high", "underweight" to "obese" etc. Check out this simple calculator:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/toolkit/weightcalculator/index.aspx
According to many different sources, a BMI ranging between 18 - 25 is normal, and 19 - 24 is considered "healthy." I decided what makes sense is to just select the middleground here and get right in the center of "healthy." By these figures, that'd mean a BMI of about 21.5 - let's just round to 22 for ease. Using this same website, I tried out some different figures and found that around 155lbs for a guy of my height (5'11) was a totally healthy, middle of the road figure for weight and BMI.
Now at first my natural inclination is to say "wow that's still 30 more pounds...isn't that too much?" but then I started to realize that this isn't necessarily factoring in appearance choice (i.e., men are usually "more attractive" when they are muscular builds, and sometimes weigh more than recommended) and same with women, who are generally "preferred" to look a little bit skinnier than their medically recommended weight. Many times these calculations do not factor in age, and since I'm in my early twenties, I feel like I'm not really in the "Test zone" for most of these medical figures. So I did some more research and found this other website...
http://www.icb2001.com/What_You_Should_Weigh.asp
This website you enter in your wrist circumference along with your height and your weight and it tells you what your frame size is. I don't know how exactly accurate this is, but it told me I should weight between 132 and 179...so...the average between the two is 155. Considering that's what my other figures showed up to be, the vote seems unanimous so far: I'm still slightly overweight, and I could stand to lose up to about 30 more pounds. Crazy!
So, my new weight goal is 155. That would put me right in the middle of the healthy zone. I know it seems like a huge milestone away because I've lost over 40 pounds on this diet so far and now I'm saying to myself "hey self, lose another 30," BUT I know from my belly and my arms that I could stand to lose some more weight, and one of the hardest things to admit to oneself is that when you have extra weight, you have it EVERYWHERE, not just your belly. So if you lose 30 pounds, you lose it equally all across your body, which may only translate to 10 pounds out of your belly and 20 from all other parts including your neck, back, arms, butt, and legs. 30 pounds really starts to not look like that much when you consider THOSE things!
155 here I come!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Month 3: Days 17 - 21
I swear to date I have told about 50 people about forks over knives. Everyone keeps asking me how I am losing all this weight and how I'm looking so good. It's simple, I tell them, all you have to do is adopt a plant-based diet and focus on whole foods and minimize sugars and oils and you can lose lots of weight and get yourself healthy.
I really don't want to gain a lot of weight on my honeymoon, though I feel like it will be very easy to do so... I really want to enjoy myself and try all that Seattle and Alaska have to offer but I also don't want to splurge. I guess in the end that just means that I have more self-control now because about a year ago I would've never said anything like this. It's funny I can't believe that I just said it myself.
My weight is circling around the hundred and eighty one pounds right now. I makes me feel very good because that means I've lost about 47 pounds on this diet so far. I know that most my updates recently have just been the same thing over and over, so today I figured I would do something a little different.
What I'm going to do is challenge you to ask yourself the following questions:
First, what is it that I am putting into my body every single day? Is there anything that I eat every single day? What about food groups that I eat every single day?
Do I eat enough vegetables? Do I eat enough fruits? How often do I use olive oil or vegetable oil or canola oil?
how often do I eat white bread or dyed sugars?
When was the last time I cooked something made from organic plant based food that I liked? Has there ever been a time like this?
What do my parents look like? Do I look like them? What medical issues are in my family? What should I focus on?
Do I understand how to read food labels? Do I know what saturated fats are and do I know how to find the percentage of Fat that a food product is?
Do I know what ingredients cause what reactions in my body? Do I know what ingredients cause me to retain fat and what ingredients caused me to help myself lose fat?
What are the health benefits of meat? Dairy? Are there any? How much protein do we actually need?
I really don't want to gain a lot of weight on my honeymoon, though I feel like it will be very easy to do so... I really want to enjoy myself and try all that Seattle and Alaska have to offer but I also don't want to splurge. I guess in the end that just means that I have more self-control now because about a year ago I would've never said anything like this. It's funny I can't believe that I just said it myself.
My weight is circling around the hundred and eighty one pounds right now. I makes me feel very good because that means I've lost about 47 pounds on this diet so far. I know that most my updates recently have just been the same thing over and over, so today I figured I would do something a little different.
What I'm going to do is challenge you to ask yourself the following questions:
First, what is it that I am putting into my body every single day? Is there anything that I eat every single day? What about food groups that I eat every single day?
Do I eat enough vegetables? Do I eat enough fruits? How often do I use olive oil or vegetable oil or canola oil?
how often do I eat white bread or dyed sugars?
When was the last time I cooked something made from organic plant based food that I liked? Has there ever been a time like this?
What do my parents look like? Do I look like them? What medical issues are in my family? What should I focus on?
Do I understand how to read food labels? Do I know what saturated fats are and do I know how to find the percentage of Fat that a food product is?
Do I know what ingredients cause what reactions in my body? Do I know what ingredients cause me to retain fat and what ingredients caused me to help myself lose fat?
What are the health benefits of meat? Dairy? Are there any? How much protein do we actually need?
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Month 3: Days 12 - 16
Today I'm tipping the scales at 184.2! That means I only have four more pounds to my previous goal weight. However I've decided to set a new goal weight of 177, which would mark an even 50 pounds lost being a vegan. It's very exciting- all of this. I'm very confident that I can lose the other 4 pounds in the next 11 days if I work out hard and stay strict on my diet. I certainly feel a lot better and I feel more confident about the way that I look, which is very hard for me to admit because I don't think I ever have before. I'm starting to really experience what many people experience when they look at themselves and wish that they were fit like all the people on P90 X. It's not even that those looking at those people think that they are fat or anything, it's just that they wish that they were very fit and muscular, which I'm really starting to understand and see the potential for now that I'm skinnier.
Once I reach my goal weight of 177 ish I will post three photos, the first of me on a day close to when I started my diet (March 1) when I weighed 227. The second will be me now weighing 177 so you can witness the total loss of 50 pounds in 3 months. Obviously it will be a real photo unedited so you can really see the effectiveness of a vegan diet without doctoring up the photos like they do on television. Then I will post a photo of myself just two years ago when I weighed 257 and I really decided at that point to get my health straight. From that day two years ago to today I will have lost 80 pounds. That is absolutely ridiculous to me!!! Cannot believe that I had just 80 pounds of extra weight sitting on me that I did not need. I am so excited to weigh 177 pounds. That's just seven more pounds from now!
I know it seems like I say it a lot but I can't explain how much better I feel, how much better I'm sleeping, and how much happier I am overall because everyone can tell and so can I! It seems like at least every day I have someone coming up to me saying"Kendal, bro you are looking so skinny!"
More soon
Once I reach my goal weight of 177 ish I will post three photos, the first of me on a day close to when I started my diet (March 1) when I weighed 227. The second will be me now weighing 177 so you can witness the total loss of 50 pounds in 3 months. Obviously it will be a real photo unedited so you can really see the effectiveness of a vegan diet without doctoring up the photos like they do on television. Then I will post a photo of myself just two years ago when I weighed 257 and I really decided at that point to get my health straight. From that day two years ago to today I will have lost 80 pounds. That is absolutely ridiculous to me!!! Cannot believe that I had just 80 pounds of extra weight sitting on me that I did not need. I am so excited to weigh 177 pounds. That's just seven more pounds from now!
I know it seems like I say it a lot but I can't explain how much better I feel, how much better I'm sleeping, and how much happier I am overall because everyone can tell and so can I! It seems like at least every day I have someone coming up to me saying"Kendal, bro you are looking so skinny!"
More soon
Friday, May 11, 2012
Month 3: Days 10 & 11
So today was the big day that I've been waiting for for quite a while... the day of my final tux fitting. Well in a word, it was great. The woman who is fitting me said I had lost a little over an inch in my neck and 4 inches in my chest, and even though the tuxedo pants range across three sizes, I may have jumped to the lower size bracket. For now at least we decided to keep the pants the same because she said it would be better to have a larger pair of pants that you tightened than a looser pair of pants that you had to loosen. Honestly I don't know if that's true but she said if don't like the way it fits I can just send it back within a couple of days because after all I'm the groom and they can get it rush shipped just for me, which I thought was really nice.
Aside from that, today was a very stressful day. There's lots of wedding drama that goes on, and I don't understand. I'm so thankful that my family has been very supportive and my friends have not said anything other than gracious things, and it upsets me that my fiancé has not been as lucky in that regard.
This month is extremely busy for me at the studio, first of all because I got my wisdom teeth out like I said, so I'm really backed up. Also, I have a lot of projects going on at one time and I'm trying to get them all at least somewhat finished if not completely finished before the wedding. So to put simply I'm trying to do four weeks of work in two and a half. I'm working the 4 or 5 local artists, one out of town artist, and one out-of-state artist, and scheduling and coordinating all of them gets very difficult. Like I told my students in the past, it's much more difficult to learn and do the business side of running a studio than it is the actual skill...
I currently weigh about 188. 39 pounds lost! My next goal on this path is to get down 180 by the wedding. I've still got 15 days, and while it won't be easy, and while I probably will have to work out and eat very very healthy, I'm pretty confident I can do it. Luckily I've got a ton of yard work to do in the next few weeks to prepare for the wedding, so I will be getting plenty of exercise. Not only that, but I'll be running on the studio like crazy. I was standing in the mirror this morning and I looked at myself and said "you know, I feel like I look a lot better, but now I still look like a lot of those 'average Joes' that submit their pictures to P90X." The people that aren't obese or fat, but aren't toned or ripped. So I guess that's my next challenge - get toned and or ripped, haha.
Like most people, I hate working out. I don't mind eating healthy, in fact I really enjoy it. However, working out is something that is not fun, not enjoyable, painful, and at that, takes a lot of time to actually get better. Another difficult thing is that a common misconception of working out is that you can spot target. When you work out, you can only spot tone. You can't just work out your arms until you have these huge muscly arms and then your stomach is still fat. I feel like I need to lose a little more weight via diet and cardio before strength training workouts will really be super effective. That is unfortunate because I hate cardio more than anything. haha.
Aside from that, today was a very stressful day. There's lots of wedding drama that goes on, and I don't understand. I'm so thankful that my family has been very supportive and my friends have not said anything other than gracious things, and it upsets me that my fiancé has not been as lucky in that regard.
This month is extremely busy for me at the studio, first of all because I got my wisdom teeth out like I said, so I'm really backed up. Also, I have a lot of projects going on at one time and I'm trying to get them all at least somewhat finished if not completely finished before the wedding. So to put simply I'm trying to do four weeks of work in two and a half. I'm working the 4 or 5 local artists, one out of town artist, and one out-of-state artist, and scheduling and coordinating all of them gets very difficult. Like I told my students in the past, it's much more difficult to learn and do the business side of running a studio than it is the actual skill...
I currently weigh about 188. 39 pounds lost! My next goal on this path is to get down 180 by the wedding. I've still got 15 days, and while it won't be easy, and while I probably will have to work out and eat very very healthy, I'm pretty confident I can do it. Luckily I've got a ton of yard work to do in the next few weeks to prepare for the wedding, so I will be getting plenty of exercise. Not only that, but I'll be running on the studio like crazy. I was standing in the mirror this morning and I looked at myself and said "you know, I feel like I look a lot better, but now I still look like a lot of those 'average Joes' that submit their pictures to P90X." The people that aren't obese or fat, but aren't toned or ripped. So I guess that's my next challenge - get toned and or ripped, haha.
Like most people, I hate working out. I don't mind eating healthy, in fact I really enjoy it. However, working out is something that is not fun, not enjoyable, painful, and at that, takes a lot of time to actually get better. Another difficult thing is that a common misconception of working out is that you can spot target. When you work out, you can only spot tone. You can't just work out your arms until you have these huge muscly arms and then your stomach is still fat. I feel like I need to lose a little more weight via diet and cardio before strength training workouts will really be super effective. That is unfortunate because I hate cardio more than anything. haha.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Month 3: Day 8 (ish) and 9
It's the last day before my tux fitting. Today and yesterday have been filled with lots of delicious foods. I've been really getting into adding rice to my diet in interesting ways. It really goes great with so many things - and there are also just so many kinds of rices to choose from. Just rice and beans and corn tastes so good, and it's possibly the cheapest meal next to Ramen noodles. I got 1/2 can black beans, 1/2 can corn, and a cup of brown and wild rices from a bulk package, and made myself a seriously tasty and filling lunch all for what came out to be about $1.75.
With the whole wisdom teeth thing I've had to put a lot of my love for fruits on hold because hurts to eat them - apples, strawberries, berries, they've all been a little too tough to chew...bananas and small berries are fine, pineapple and oranges are fine, but I miss green apples. I was getting in the habit of eating about an apple a day, every day. Since, as you know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away...
My dad has been getting into the whole plant based diet and even bought his own copy of "Forks Over Knives." He's been reading books and really taking a look at what he eats, and I'm so, so, so glad. I read recently that Paula Dean was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Forks Over Knives team contacted her and basically is trying to set up a partnership where she will try the plant based whole foods diet, and if it cures her diabetes, she can be a huge health advocate for plant based, whole food living. I mean, it's only expected - Paula Dean cooks with more butter, oil, and meat in one show than most people can afford to buy in a month. It's so so true that it DOES matter what you eat. It's not just about eating less of everything. You can't simply count calories. There are skinny people that have heart attacks. This would be a perfect opportunity for a national fanbase to see that -- it's very sad and I hope that Paula seriously considers working with Forks Over Knives.
Tux fitting is tomorrow at 1pm! I'm excited to see how many inches I've lost and what my new sizes are compared to my fitting in March.
With the whole wisdom teeth thing I've had to put a lot of my love for fruits on hold because hurts to eat them - apples, strawberries, berries, they've all been a little too tough to chew...bananas and small berries are fine, pineapple and oranges are fine, but I miss green apples. I was getting in the habit of eating about an apple a day, every day. Since, as you know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away...
My dad has been getting into the whole plant based diet and even bought his own copy of "Forks Over Knives." He's been reading books and really taking a look at what he eats, and I'm so, so, so glad. I read recently that Paula Dean was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Forks Over Knives team contacted her and basically is trying to set up a partnership where she will try the plant based whole foods diet, and if it cures her diabetes, she can be a huge health advocate for plant based, whole food living. I mean, it's only expected - Paula Dean cooks with more butter, oil, and meat in one show than most people can afford to buy in a month. It's so so true that it DOES matter what you eat. It's not just about eating less of everything. You can't simply count calories. There are skinny people that have heart attacks. This would be a perfect opportunity for a national fanbase to see that -- it's very sad and I hope that Paula seriously considers working with Forks Over Knives.
Tux fitting is tomorrow at 1pm! I'm excited to see how many inches I've lost and what my new sizes are compared to my fitting in March.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Month 3: Days 7 & 8 (ish)
191, here I am. Things are looking up and I've still got three days left before the fitting. I've been trying to work out and eat light and healthy the last few days. Since I had my wisdom teeth out I've already been eating really light because of a) the pills for pain and swelling sort of upset my stomach and make it hard to really eat anything heavy or rich, and b) I can only eat soft foods anyway. So, there has been a lot of soup and smoothies going on, which are very low calorie without using dairy or meat products.
I've really been enjoying smoothies a lot because it's a nice way to combine lots of different fruits, getting lots of vitamins, and condensing them down to something a little more handy for the day. I can combine two apples, half a pineapple, a banana, and some strawberries all in the blender and make a smoothie for lunch that fits in a 1 liter mug. Otherwise, I'd have to bring all of those things together and spend 30 minutes eating it. Not that I can't spare 30 minutes, but on a day like today, I'm substitute teaching up at a vocational school in town, and it's just easier to munch all day rather than eat at the lunch break. You're walking around helping the students out with their projects, and you're on your feet for 6 hours - it gets tiring.
When I get my tux fitting I'm going to see if they had my very first measurements, which I got in March or February before I was really doing the vegan thing really seriously. Regardless, I'm excited to at least see how far I've come since the last measuring. As far as I can remember, I've lost about 18 pounds since then, which is significant! I'll be circling around 190 by Thursday and that makes me very proud. I'm really going to try to get down to 180 by my wedding, which is in EIGHTEEN DAYS. It's crazy! I feel like I just proposed the other day but it's been 8 or 9 months.
More soon!
I've really been enjoying smoothies a lot because it's a nice way to combine lots of different fruits, getting lots of vitamins, and condensing them down to something a little more handy for the day. I can combine two apples, half a pineapple, a banana, and some strawberries all in the blender and make a smoothie for lunch that fits in a 1 liter mug. Otherwise, I'd have to bring all of those things together and spend 30 minutes eating it. Not that I can't spare 30 minutes, but on a day like today, I'm substitute teaching up at a vocational school in town, and it's just easier to munch all day rather than eat at the lunch break. You're walking around helping the students out with their projects, and you're on your feet for 6 hours - it gets tiring.
When I get my tux fitting I'm going to see if they had my very first measurements, which I got in March or February before I was really doing the vegan thing really seriously. Regardless, I'm excited to at least see how far I've come since the last measuring. As far as I can remember, I've lost about 18 pounds since then, which is significant! I'll be circling around 190 by Thursday and that makes me very proud. I'm really going to try to get down to 180 by my wedding, which is in EIGHTEEN DAYS. It's crazy! I feel like I just proposed the other day but it's been 8 or 9 months.
More soon!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Month 3: Days 1-6
I am now tipping the scales at a lean mean 192, making my total loss around 35 or 36 pounds. My final tuxedo fitting is in four days...the 10th. Not a ton more I can do in the next four days other than just keep doing what I'm doing and hope that I drop another pound.
It has all been very encouraging from people that know and love me that say I look skinny and I look healthy and I look great etc. The support and understanding of my friends, fiancé, and family has been outrageous and awesome. I really thought that me being a vegan would interfere a lot more with my normal life but it turns out that everyone is so happy for me and everyone sees the results and sees how much better I feel and how much healthier I look that they don't really ever make any negative comments. I guess the only hard thing is that it's a little hard to go out and meet with the guys since we usually want to go grab a couple of drinks but not many bars have a vegan friendly menu. Still I've made it work and it's all good!
I had to get my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday. I'm not going to say that it was an enjoyable experience but it wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined. However one of the coolest things happened to me while I was there about to get my surgery. The nurse was talking about how great it would be that I could eat ice cream and yogurt and soft foods like chicken noodle soup... she was very sweet but I laughed and said "that's funny because I can't eat any of those since I'm a vegan..."
Then to my surprise she looked at me and said you don't say your surgeon is a vegan... that's right Dr. Seagraves has been a be in for five or six months now. So Dr. Seagraves comes in the room and we start talking for a short bit. He was saying that he was proud of me for taking an active interest in my health and he asked me what made me change to the vegan lifestyle. I said you going to think I'm crazy but it was actually a documentary... and he smiled and pointed at me and said "Forks over knives?" we continued to laugh and smile when I realized that what he was saying was that FOK is what convinced him to become a vegan is well. Of all the surgeons in my entire city-- of all the operating times that I could have chosen--I happen to get a converted Forks over Knives vegan surgeon!!! It made my entire week.
My lovely fiancé's been very supportive of me this whole week and taking care of me when all I could do is sit around and lay and be in pain. Fortunately my pain was very minimal and my swelling was almost nonexistent. The hardest thing has been getting enough fiber, sleep, and not smoking cigarettes. Compared all of those things the toll this has had on my body is pretty minimal. I'm back to work tomorrow. and slowly working my strength up to eating more solid foods. Luckily since I've been on this vegan diet the food that I ate during my wisdom teeth days was not odd to me at all; things like smoothies, coconut milk, lots of fruit, hummus, and really soft things like oatmeal have slowly been seen in my diet much more often anyway. I feel bad for those that eat diets primarily of meat, bread, and starches because they would be miserable this entire time. I know that this diet came to my life at the perfect time.
posted from my iPhone
It has all been very encouraging from people that know and love me that say I look skinny and I look healthy and I look great etc. The support and understanding of my friends, fiancé, and family has been outrageous and awesome. I really thought that me being a vegan would interfere a lot more with my normal life but it turns out that everyone is so happy for me and everyone sees the results and sees how much better I feel and how much healthier I look that they don't really ever make any negative comments. I guess the only hard thing is that it's a little hard to go out and meet with the guys since we usually want to go grab a couple of drinks but not many bars have a vegan friendly menu. Still I've made it work and it's all good!
I had to get my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday. I'm not going to say that it was an enjoyable experience but it wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined. However one of the coolest things happened to me while I was there about to get my surgery. The nurse was talking about how great it would be that I could eat ice cream and yogurt and soft foods like chicken noodle soup... she was very sweet but I laughed and said "that's funny because I can't eat any of those since I'm a vegan..."
Then to my surprise she looked at me and said you don't say your surgeon is a vegan... that's right Dr. Seagraves has been a be in for five or six months now. So Dr. Seagraves comes in the room and we start talking for a short bit. He was saying that he was proud of me for taking an active interest in my health and he asked me what made me change to the vegan lifestyle. I said you going to think I'm crazy but it was actually a documentary... and he smiled and pointed at me and said "Forks over knives?" we continued to laugh and smile when I realized that what he was saying was that FOK is what convinced him to become a vegan is well. Of all the surgeons in my entire city-- of all the operating times that I could have chosen--I happen to get a converted Forks over Knives vegan surgeon!!! It made my entire week.
My lovely fiancé's been very supportive of me this whole week and taking care of me when all I could do is sit around and lay and be in pain. Fortunately my pain was very minimal and my swelling was almost nonexistent. The hardest thing has been getting enough fiber, sleep, and not smoking cigarettes. Compared all of those things the toll this has had on my body is pretty minimal. I'm back to work tomorrow. and slowly working my strength up to eating more solid foods. Luckily since I've been on this vegan diet the food that I ate during my wisdom teeth days was not odd to me at all; things like smoothies, coconut milk, lots of fruit, hummus, and really soft things like oatmeal have slowly been seen in my diet much more often anyway. I feel bad for those that eat diets primarily of meat, bread, and starches because they would be miserable this entire time. I know that this diet came to my life at the perfect time.
posted from my iPhone
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