Day 1

Three of the best tips ever given regarding weight loss are as follows:

1. Drink a lot of water.

2. Get plenty of rest. 

3. Eat if you're hungry, and stop eating when you're satisfied. 

These very simple tips are much harder to follow than most people realize. Some research suggests that drinking and 8 ounce glass of water as soon as you wake up (before any food) Can increase your metabolism by 20%, And will help regulate your digestion. Research has also shown that people that get eight hours of sleep every night are healthier overall, and less depressed. And eating only when you're hungry is something that is extremely difficult to do for many people - If it's dinner time we feel like we need to eat! If we are watching a movie we feel like we need to snack! Often times it just takes sitting in front of the TV that makesus hungry. But we really have to ask ourselves - What is my stomach telling me? Am I actually hungry?Is my  stomach experiencing kurtosis (The technical term for what we call hunger pangs)? 

Research will tell you that kurtosis is a good thing - It's your body telling you "okay I need to eat!" The whole idea of three meals of Meatand two  veggies with a balanced breakfast Is a total myth. We need to eat when we are hungry - Whether that is two times a day or 10. With how high-calorie American meals are these days, We really could get by on one or two meals. 

When doing the vegan diet you could easily do three or four meals. The food is a fraction of the calories, fat, sugar, salt, and it's twice the fiber. 

I like to start my day with something simple. Oatmeal with banana slices and blueberries, with some raw oats sprinkled on top. Little boost of sweetness and fiber to start the day right, and taste great.

And hey, I'm already at 198lbs. My weight fluctuates a lot, easily pounds per day. Kinda weird sometimes. From here on out I am going to weigh myself at the same time every day - 9am. I work for myself so I usually start my day at 10 and work til 6 (ideally) but very often I will start at nine and end at seven if I have a lot to accomplish. Owning your own business means you always have a lot to do. Fortunately for me it means I have a lot more freedom to deal with my diet. My heart goes out to those who work "for the man" that don't have as much freedom for a healthy breakfast and lunch. 

Til tomorrow 

Goal progress:

2lbs lost

33lbs to lose 

90 Days Vegan, the Reprise!

I originally started this blog back in 2012. It started as an experiment in nutrition, seeing if I could cut out all processed and refined foods for 30 days. After some initial research, I decided to go "30 Days vegan" - you can see this happen in my early blog posts. The original goal was to lose weight before my wedding - which I completed! I lost 50 pounds in just two months, putting me at 180lbs on my wedding day. My weight has remained fairly stable since then, losing some, gaining some. My last blog posts (quite a while ago) show that I had started toward this new goal, but only got to about 175lbs. I pretty much circled between 175-190 for the two years after my initial vegan challenge.

Since that time, my diet has also fluctuated between vegan, vegetarian, and pescetarian.  Never have I seen the same results in nutrition and weight loss that I have when I was eating vegan and eating very minimal amounts of processed foods (even canned vegetables and cereal count as processed - makes it difficult!)  When I did that, I lost weight quick, felt great, slept great, had improved attitude, and improved everything. An old friend of mine inspired me to start this blog up again, so thanks to you, C.

Right now, I'm about 200lbs, and I vowed to myself to never get over 200lbs again! So, here I am, back to write about my journey to my new goal, 165lbs. This would put me at a 23 on the BMI scale, right in the middle of the "normal zone" between 18-25. 165lbs is also significant, because the heaviest I have been was my freshman year in college, at 265. So weighing 165 will allow me to say "I lost 100lbs," which is just cool to brag about. haha.

Day 1 starts tomorrow, November 13th 2014. I've got 35lbs to lose - it will be much harder this time around. As you may know, weight loss is nonlinear - it's inversely expoential. The more you lose, the harder it is to lose (and the longer it takes). Similarly, the closer you get to your body's "ideal weight," the harder it is to lose. I originally started weighing around 240lbs, and it was very easy to get down to 220, but getting down to 180 was a little harder. Now that I weigh 200 and am trying to get down to 165, it's going to be quite a challenge.

Not sure if anyone is reading this - but it's good to get these thoughts out in the open to keep myself accountable and give myself a distraction from food...


GOAL:

35lbs in 90 days
2.75lbs per week

And the hardest part of all - there are two major holidays between now and my goal (Feb 12th, 2015) - Thanksgiving and Christmas. This will give me a chance to share some vegan versions of classic holiday dishes - like my Grandma's famous stuffing, made 100% vegan! And guess what - I made it last year and my family couldn't even tell. Also, my wife's vegan green bean casserole, and our vegan shepherd's pie.

I've learned a lot since going vegan two and a half years ago - I realize now that I can eat a lot more than just salads.

Month 4: Days 21 - 30, Month 5: Days 1-3

I've been lazy and haven't been posting. Sorry to anyone that cares...

I currently weigh 178lbs, and that makes me happy! I'm on the slow road to 165lbs, and still feeling good. I'm being very cautious not to get too excited - why? Well, as you start losing weight it can become addicting, so you can do silly things like "well, today I'm only going to eat fruits and veggies" and then at the end of the day you realized you were so busy you hardly ate anything, and then you just leave it and lose an unnecessary pound or two of water weight. You've GOT to keep eating throughout the day! It helps you lose weight much faster anyway, because your body is continually in the mode of digestion. If you drink water and eat when you wake up, around lunch time, a small snack in the afternoon, and have an early dinner around 6 or 7, and then have nothing but water and juice after 8, you'll be in good shape. Literally!

So far I've lost an average of about 3 pounds per week, but that's just from the shock of getting back on the diet strictly after the honeymoon. I've got 60 days until my target, September 1st, and I just have to lose 13lbs! Totally doable. So far I've lost nearly 50 pounds on the vegan diet, and nearly 80 pounds in the last two years of dieting. I'm now at a 32 waist, whereas a 38 was my only option a few years ago. I wear medium shirts, which used to be XL, and I used to have trouble sleeping, feeling full, and having energy throughout the day. Not anymore!

My hope is to lose some more weight, and do some cardio and training to get rid of some belly / love handle fat. Like most guys that were once very overweight, I also gotta do some chest training to minimize any manboob-ish formations.

One thing that is exciting is that I finally am in the "normal" range for my BMI numbers! This has not happened in I don't even know how long. My BMI is currently 24.8 kg/m sq. My freshman year in college weighing 256 and being 5'10, my BMI was 36.7, which in case you didn't know, is in the "Severely Obese" category. Now it's sitting at the top of the "Healthy" range of 18-25. When I weigh 165, it will be at 23.0!

I still haven't quit smoking, but I'm on the road to doing that as well. It's very strange how my story is so similar to everyone else out there. You think "ah, I won't get addicted to it." And then you do. Go figure. Jeez. I feel so stupid for getting into it in the first place. Trying to quit though. I know I have to!

Exciting times, these are.

Month 4: day 15 - 21

Still going strong! I'm back down to 180 and Just 15 pounds to go. I downloaded this cool app called TargetWeight Pro that helps you keep track of almost everything in your day to day health: blood pressure, pulse, cholesterol, weigh and BMI, etc but it also shows you visual representation of where you are in relation to normal ie healthy numbers. This is nice because not everyone knows that healthy BMI ranges from 18 to 25 and they may be surprise to see themselves in the obese category!

It also let's you set a goal date and loss amount and shows a graph of your progress. After each weigh in it tells you your loss average and keeps you informed about how fast you'll reach your target at this rate. A very cool and FREE app.

Been watching my habits as usual. It's so easy to Just grab something snacky and eat it on the way to work. The problem is that so few things in that category are actually even decent for you. It's almost impossible to even get fruit or moderately healthy snacks at the gas station. Sad really.

More to come!

Month 4: Days 11-14

So I was talking to a friend the other day who has recently started to take a look at what he's eating. We were talking about portion control, veganism, all sorts of different things, and somehow the topic came up and I listed these things as the biggest factors that helped me in my "diet." Now personally, I don't think "diets" work. I think lifestyle changes do. I chose to be a vegan, and it's changed my life for the better. I don't think "eating less" is necessarily a big enough change to be considered a lifestyle change, however, it's a GREAT thing to do. ANYWAY. Here they are in order:


1. Get enough sleep. This will affect everything about your life: your energy, your weight loss, your mood, your metabolism, your stress, your recovery from workouts. All of these things are affected by sleep. Get enough of it. 6 hours is not enough, more like 8 or 9. Go to bed early and wake up early. It's tough, but it's the most important part of dieting.

2. Drink water. A close second - drinking primarily water and a whole lot of it will help you in ANY type of diet or lifestyle. Drinking a glass of water in the morning when you wake up will jump-start your metabolism by 20% almost immediately.

3. Eat less, but more often. No matter what diet you're doing, this is good for you on so many levels. I suggest 4 meals a day - most Americans only have two real meals a day. Eat breakfast every day. This is the absolute most important meal of the day, so eat whole grains like granola, barley cereal, oats / oatmeal, and also eat lots of fruits. Don't load up on toast, meat and dairy, and especially not sugar.

4. Cut out sugars, salts, and oils. For some reason people still think that just because you pick out healthy produce, it's okay to still put a bunch of crappy stuff on top of it. We often cook in olive oil. Did you know Olive Oil is 120 calories per TABLESPOON? Did you know that all cooking oils and sprays are basically 100% fat? (to find the fat percentage, divide the calories by calories from fat - 100 calories, 50 calories from fat = 50% fat).

5. Discover your love for vegetables, fruits, and legumes! You will find things that you like, it just takes time. Trust me on that! These things are fantastic for you and will help you lose weight, especially raw fruits and veggies.

6. Be Aware of your Progress Constantly! Weigh yourself every day at the same time(s). Keep yourself in check and make small goals. Don't just sit there and be like "I'm going to lost 50 pounds!" You'll get discouraged every day that you're not there. Start with 5 pounds at a time, using each weight marker as a goal. 180, 175, 170...etc. Try hard to make your goals with yourself, and do whatever it takes. Buy one outfit a few sizes down. One pair of jeans and a shirt. Work hard to fit into that. Once you fit into it perfectly (as in, it's comfortable on your body) then GET RID OF YOUR OTHER CLOTHES! Don't let yourself be tempted. I got rid of hundreds of dollars of clothes to Salvation Army, and yes, had to buy new ones. But, it's worth it!

7. Don't give up! You will lose weight. You will lose inches. Be confident and surround yourself with people that care. Be patient. Read. Learn. Experiment. Cook.  Educate yourself!

Month 4: Days 6-10

So I'm finally back from my honeymoon and glad to say I only gained 5 pounds in the two weeks of the trip! Haha. I was expecting a lot more since I took a break from the vegan thing some days so I could have some amazing seafood in Seattle. But alas I've been back a whole day and a half and I'm circling around 183 lbs.

I've been debating a lot about the 155 goal I set before. I don't know if that's really going to look right on a guy with wide shoulders like myself. I don't know. I looked up some NBA point guards around 5'11 and most of them weigh like 170. Now these guys are in good shape...Skinny yet very muscular. It seems like that's more logical than being a tiny bean stalk, which is not my body type at all! Regardless, I'm going to continue on the path and once I hit 165 I'll reevaluate if I need to lose more fat or just start working out more. That's still 20 pounds from now so a lot can change! I'm excited.

Two of my friends Just decided to switch to a vegan lifestyle recently and that makes me very happy. It takes a lot of courage to do such a thing but it also takes a lot of willpower and motivation. Food is an addiction and I'm very certain that, as with any addiction, the hardest part is admitting you have a real problem. Overweight people don't deny their weight, but often they choose to ignore it, like it's not a problem, though they know in their heart they aren't happy with the way they look and most likely never have been. Trust me I know exactly what's up with that situation. My skinny wife has never experienced that, and we were joking about it the other day and it came up about how she doesn't understand what it's like to be overweight for most of your memorable life. It's hell! I know! This is exactly why I went on this "diet" in the first place. There comes a time when you just throw up your hands and say that's it I'm finally going to do something about this...

So to anyone reading and any of my friends that have changed their lifestyles, I commend you for taking an active role in your own health.

Month 4: days 1-5 (91-95)

So I've been enjoying life at sea for a few days now... But all the complimentary food has got me overeating. Gotta watch it, it's said that the AVERAGE cruise passenger gains 7-14 pounds per week! Crazy! It took me about a month to lose my last ten pounds and I know it could come back in a matter of days. Sure it's my vacation, maybe I should indulge a little, right? Maybe not I say. I've got a goal and a commitment to myself that I won't break.

I'm going to set some mini goals or milestones. My 155 goal is too far from here for it to seem doable so saying 175 by July 1st and 165 by August 1st helps it seem a little less challenging.

Weight loss is nonlinear. As you get closer and closer to your ideal weight it becomes harder and harder to lose the weight. When you first start out its easy to lose 10 or 15 pounds in an early week or two. That's good. Its behavior shock for your body. It gives you confidence and willpower. As you try so hard to lose just a pound or two per week towards the end, it gives you discipline. It makes you focus hard on what you're eating, when you're working out, and if you're pushing yourself to the limit.