Day 10 - I Dream of Moe's

I went to Moe's last night for dinner.  It's a burrito place kind of like California Tortilla or Chipotle if you're not familiar with it.  The options were awesome.  They actually had tofu as one of the protein choices.  They also had fresh sliced jalapenos and sauteed mushrooms in addition to the normal array of toppings.  I'll definitely be going back and will have no problem at all going vegan when I do.

Also, now that I'm roughly a third of the way through this month long experiment, I want to share my weight loss progress.

Day 10 Weight Loss Progress Chart

I think the first three days were just my body cycling out the mass of heavy foods and replacing them with healthier foods that cycle out quicker.  That would explain the quick weight loss.  The next 2 days were reasonable.  Then I ate an entire bag of potato chips and a bunch of other snacky foods and spike two pounds in one day.  Past that, I've seen a steady, but reasonable loss.  I'm not sure how long this will go one for, but clearly my new diet has a different equilibrium weight that I'll eventually get to.  Seeing this sort of progress really motivates me to stick with this.

Last, but not least, a friend sent me this.  I thought it was funny.

Day 9 - One More

I think this is what a lot of people do...

Day 9 - Up And At 'Em

Not much to say this morning. I ran across this image and thought it suited my experience thus far pretty well.

That is all.

Current Weight: 226.0 lbs
Current Mood: Too early to be awake, much less have a mood

Day 8 - One Week Crushed

This whole vegan thing is actually getting a little easier. I picked up some more of those Odwalla brand Blueberry Swirl bars. Those things really get your through the day. I also picked up some "Certified Vegan" mac and chreese boxes. I didn't spell that wrong by accident. Chreese. Evidently, it's made mostly of nutritional yeast. I'm gonna give it a go tonight. I'm curious to see what it tastes like and I never, ever would have bothered to try it if I wasn't doing this vegan thing. Also, despite being "Certified Vegan", I could find no evidence of a certifying agent or organization. I think they just certified themselves. Maybe I'll do the same. Meet the new and improved Kris... no Certified Vegan.

I'm meeting a friend after work today. Normally we'll go out to eat somewhere - generally fast food or similar. I'm not actually sure what I can eat. His favorites have zero vegan options. It's not like Taco Bell has a soy crumble and nutritional yeast strand taco. And if they did, who would eat it? Their food is low enough on the totem pole as it is.

On the upside, my energy levels are getting back to a normal level. I've started walking/jogging again instead of lounging on the couch. I'm up to 430km for the year so far.

Current Mood: Upbeat
Current Weight: 226.8

Day 7 - Harder Than Expected

So, this is totally harder than I expected it to be. I seriously considered cheating yesterday. I was on the way home and thought to myself, "I could stop and grab a burger. I have cash. Noone would know."

But then my internal competitive natured kicked in with two points to add. One: I would know. Two: If I'm going to fail this challenge, it's sure as shit not going to be over a crap, fast food burger. If I go down, I'm going down in a bacon wrapped, perfectly charred blaze of glory. The blaze of glory will probably also be covered in cheese.

Instead, I stopped at the grocery and picked up a box of those Boca fake chicken patties. Now, these things actually taste like "real" chicken patties. I put the real in quotes, because the "real" patties have been processed to the point where there is no real chicken flavor or texture left. The fact that it's easy to replicate without meat speaks more to the low quality of the meat product and less to the ingenuity of the Boca company. Don't ever buy these. Make something real instead.

On the upside, I picked up some Odwalla "Blueberry Swirl" bars. Organic. Vegan. Awesome flavor. At $2 a bar, they're not cheap, bu make for a really good get-you-through-the-day backup plan.

Cuurent Mood: Tired due to inability to sleep
Current Weight: 228.2

Day 6 - The Classic Mistake

I didn't have a lot of time last night and I wasn't feeling particularly motivated to make something healthy, so I pulled a classic new vegan mistake. For dinner, I had a bag of kettle cooked potato chips. Not some chips. A bag of chips. Now my stomach hurts, I didn't sleep well and I feel like fear and pain are fighting inside me. I kind of hope fear wins. It hurts less.

I'm beginning to think that when you eat what is basically a very restrictive diet, there is almost no tolerance at all for shenanigans. Here's what I mean. If you eat, over the course of a week, half a buffalo, three chickens, part of a cow, half a dozen tacos, some mozzarella sticks, pepperoni pizza, mix in some salads, etc., you can eat a bag of potato chips for dinner on Sunday and you'll be ok... because you're carrying an entire culinary ecosystem inside you at any given moment. If you eat mostly fruits and veggies, that stuff moves out of town pretty quick. You don't have the buffer in place to take a hit like 1000 calories of potato chips. You will feel it and it will hurt.

Let this be a lesson. Also, I put back on almost two pounds. There is probably a two pound brick of semi-digested potato chips inside me right now.

On a lighter note, I do tend to learn from my mistakes, so I took all the over high carb, greasy snacks in the house and pitched them this morning. It felt good. I would recommend you save yourself from having to learn this lesson the hard way and do the same thing.

Current Weight: 228.4
Current Mood: grumble grumble

Day 5 - Vegan Wasteland

So, I went to the mall food court today with a colleague. These types of places are wastelands of bad food. You can typically make at least a few healthy choices, but there was precisely one vegan choice. So... I had a salad from SaladWorks. The ingredients were fresh enough and the selection was ok. I chose a raspberry vinegraite (I know I'm spelling this wrong) which was just awful and ruined the salad. It was super sweet and thick - almost like a syrup. And it coated EVERYTHING in a sweet, pink slime. So now I've had my lunch but have had no satisfaction. Thank God I brought a granola bar to tide me over until dinner.

Current Mood: Let Down
Current Weight: 226.4

Day 4 - Temptation

Sadly, I almost slipped today. A friend was eating a bowl of seasoned ribs and asked me if. Wanted some. Out of reflex, I said yes and reached forward. Then I remembered. Kinda sucked.

I stayed on task though. It's midnight and I can't sleep even though I'm tired as crap. I don't do well alone. I'm watching tv to keep from having to think about things. Lol. Total first world problems.

• Current Mood: Meh and unfocused

Day 4 - Slept Well Again

I slept like a baby again.  This may be just coincidental, but I think eating better and completely cutting out caffeine can't be hurting.  I've also sorted out breakfast.  I have some fruit.  I'll be eating BP&J for lunch, with a granola bar along with me when I go out.

Tonight I'm alone and have nothing going on.  I might try to make something crazy.  I'm considering meatless tacos.  Ok, ok.  That's not crazy at all.  But normally my tacos are meat and cheese, so I'll have to at least be a little creative.

I have some mushrooms.  I think I'm going to make mushroom tacos.  Garlic mushrooms are awesome.  Tacos are awesome.  Surely, the two shall mix.

Lastly, my weight is done and is staying down.  No movement today, but that's good if the number isn't going back up.

• Current Mood: Still a little sleepy 
• Current Weight: 227.0 lbs