Here I Am

Sorry for the delayed post all, I had a paper due on Monday night, a conference all day Monday, and precious little extra time (but enough time to go see The Hunger Games!). I didn't make it to my meeting this week, which I wasn't thrilled about, but I did weigh myself at home and I maintained this week. I wanted to get to the meeting for the sake of the meeting not for the weigh in though. I radically altered my diet last week and am "leaning into" becoming a vegan.

I'm not going to proselytize, it's a personal choice. I'd be thrilled if my friends and family decided to become vegan too, but I'm not going to be pushy and preachy about it. So how did I decide to become vegan? I read a book. I happened to be working from home one afternoon and Ellen had a guest on, Kathy Freston. Kathy is the author of Veganist. She discusses weight loss as a side-effect of a plant based diet, but that's not why I made the choice. I got behind her story, the information put forward by doctors, and the stories of others. She talks about how she became vegan. Kathy calls it "leaning", slowly eliminating those parts of your diet that are animal based (dairy, eggs, meat products) and substituting alternatives. She started by eliminating chicken, then red meat. I already steer clear of milk and eggs, and I'm not a huge meat eater, so eliminating those from my diet isn't hard. Cheese? hard. Very hard. But at the end of the day, I believe in the health benefits more than I love cheese, so I can let it go. Ice Cream. So so difficult, oh my stars. But again, you are what you eat and I don't love ice cream more than I love me, so it will have to be sorbets and tofutti cuties when I need that fix.

Back on Track

I feel better. I'm back on track and back on plan. Thanks to the whole "hamburger debacle" I had a rough week. I spent last week focusing on being healthy, making smart choices, and bumping up the intensity on my exercise. Let's rewind to last Sunday. I started by riding the exercise bike for an hour, which I usually do on Sunday mornings. Instead of maintaining the resistance for the whole ride, I bumped it up from 4 to 5 halfway through. Sunday is generally crockpot day around here, so I had bought a pork loin and slow cooked that in barbecue sauce and made pulled pork to have for dinner for most of the nights last week. It came out really good. I put some of the pork on a sandwich thin and included some corn as a side, plus a pickle and it was a pretty good dinner. Since I only cook for one, I am always interested in good recipes that I can make and then eat for most of the week. It cuts down on me eating out, and it's so so easy to come home from work, work out, and then pop the leftovers in the microwave. Dinner in seconds. The crockpot meals usually hold up really well as leftovers.

For lunches I took salads on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday I ate out, and Thursday I had a sandwich from the deli. I checked the menu before I went out to lunch on Wednesday and decided in advance what I was going to have. It's so helpful when you can plan in advance and take a look at the menu. I had class Thursday night so ordered some sushi for dinner Thursday on my way home from school. I ordered an extra sushi roll so I could have it for dinner on Friday too (lent = no meat on Fridays).

I also worked out four times during the week (including Sunday). I usually ride the bike for a half hour on the weekdays, but I increased it to 40 minutes and permanently increased my start resistance to 5.

I was still hesitant when I went to my meeting yesterday. I never know if it's going to be a good week or not. I thought I had made good choices and I tracked everything. I ate most of my weekly points (I never touch my activity points, I track the activity just to keep a record). I worked out a little more, but I so easily gain and have a hard time losing, that I always have a moment of anxiety before I step on the scale. This week I was down 1.2 pounds. Whew :) A loss always feels good. I also felt good because I ate good food this week. More fruits and veggies. I'm not a huge fan, but I know which ones I like and I do feel better overall when I eat better. So for me, I need to really make an effort to only eat out once or twice a week and to make smart choices when I do.

Weekly Stats:
Current Weight: 255.8
Lost: 1.2
Total Lost: 4.2

Lesson Learned

This was not a great week. I knew around Wednesday that I had probably gained this week. I didn't need to step on the scale to know this. My eating was all out of whack and when that happens, I invariably gain wait. What happened was, I was craving a burger. I wanted a burger so bad. So instead of taking the hit in my points, I ate everything else and still went over my points so when I finally broke down and ate the burger Wednesday night, I had already wrecked my week. I got back on track Thursday and Friday and exercised both days, but the damage was done.

I was tempted to skip weigh in this week, but I went. If nothing else, I went for the inspiration and I wasn't disappointed. I always leave inspired and ready for the week ahead.

Weekly Stats:
Current Weight: 257
Gained: 1.6
Total Lost: 3.0