Day 25 - Portion Control

I went out to eat at Moe's tonight. It's a burrito joint. I used to get a full burrito crammed with stuff and then I would eat a side of chips with queso. Today I got two tacos with chips. It was a much more reasonable amount of food. To be honest, one taco would probably have been fine. I'm getting a much better handle on portion control. This seems crazy that I even have to talk about this, but when you're eating fatty, salty foods, you're never really full until you're over full. 

Day 24 - Still Going

I don't have much to post, but I wanted to affirm that I'm still making progress.  I'm down 16.8 lbs and I haven't cheated yet.  I'm totally gonna do this thing.

Day 21 - I Think I'm Changing

I just got back from having lunch with a colleague at the small cafeteria where I work. Something struck me while I was there. I ordered a spinach wrap with lettuce, tomato and pickles. On the side was a small bag of Lay's Chips and a pickle spear. This was a pretty small wrap. About 2/3 of the way through I felt stuffed. I kept eating it so as not to waste it and now my stomach hurts.

The change is in how I'm approaching food. This going to sound ridiculous, but I'm 3 weeks in and this is the first time in the 3 week period that I've felt overfull. It's unpleasant. It's also not new. Not that I've been "clean" for 3 weeks, I realize that I used to be overfull pretty much all the time. I used to eat way too much food. I used to hit the point where I was full and then finish whatever I had... and then maybe have dessert. Right now, all I can think is that there's no way I'm eating dinner tonight. This would never have happened a month ago.

I'm really happy about the change. I'm seriously considering staying Vegan, or at least 95% vegan + fish or something. I'm sure there's a name for that. The benefits to my weight and the way I feel are to good to throw away for a cheap hamburger.

Current Weight: 220 lbs

Day 20 - Today is Hard

Today is hard as crap.  It's just been rough and most news is bad news.  However...

Day 20 - Vegan Fish is Gross

I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. We went to the grocery store last week and bought an assortment of pre-prepared vegan foods. Beer brats, fish patties, chicken patties. That sort of thing. All made with some sort of unholy melange of vegetable protein strands.

I tried the fish patties last night. I had to toast some bread and drown them in ketchup to make them edible. I cooked two of them for a grand total of 360 calories. I didn't want to throw away food, so I ate them both. I was actually over full from eating what would have been a meal prelude a month ago. I'm actually still hurting a little this morning.

Fake food is a terrible idea. If you're going to go vegan, just embrace it and eat "normal" foods that are vegan to begin with. Make a nice curry. Eat some stir fry. Don't eat fake meats and fake cheese.

Current Mood: Grumbly
Current Weight: 221.0 lbs (13.2 lbs lost so far this month)

Day 19 - I feel Like Crap

Yesterday was pretty rough.  Today seems even worse.  My stomach is killing me and my head is throbbing.  And I can't sleep.  I laid awake until maybe 3 AM with the TV on and now it's 7:42 AM as I type this.  I've read that a lot of people who go Vegan get sick over the course of the first month or so.  I'm really hoping this is just something I ate and not a longer term thing.  I totally called out sick today, which sucks because I only have 3 more days I can use for the rest of the year.  You always want to use your days off for fun things...  like pretending to be sick!

Day 18

Long fucking day. Needed comfort food. Did NOT cheat. That is all.

Day 17 - Preperation is Key

I went to an all day party/event today and didn't adequately prepare for it.  I knew that food was going to be provided and I thought to myself, "you'll just eat the cut up veggies and maybe go get a granola bar or something."

Didn't happen.

All that was available was pizza and cake.

Literally nothing else.

So by the time I got home I was starving.  I had made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich early this morning and forgotten about it.  I tore into that thing when I got home.

On the upside, it was a really fun event.  I have a friend who runs a gaming store and I'll be helping him plan and execute some all day type events.  We'll even be throwing a midnight release rave night next month.  I just know now that for these all day type events, I'll need to plan ahead and bring food to eat.

It might be worthwhile looking into keeping some granola bars or something in my car.  That obviously won't work with the summer heat, but come fall I don't see why it should be an issue.

Also, I'm almost below 220.  This is historically the weight limit below which I don't store nearly as much.

Day 16 - Restaurants :(

I went out to an Italian restaurant for dinner. There were two things on the menu I could eat. Fried mushrooms and applesauce. The fried mushrooms were burnt and the applesauce was, well, applesauce. Being vegan requires better planning. I should never have gone there.

Day 15 - Still Going Strong

Including July 31st, today is the halfway point. I'm certain the second half is going to be easier. I've tried new things and lost over 12 lbs so far. All in all, this has been a very positive experiment. I'll post more tomorrow morning.

Day 14 - Tofurkey Apocalypse

These things are effing terrible.  They don't taste anything like real brats.  Do not, repeat, do not purchase these weird, fake meat tofurkey beer brats.  Just make some Indian food, or a nice stir fry.  Make something that is intended to be made with veggies.

Again, these things taste awful.  I couldn't even get a whole one down.  I ate maybe a little more than 50%.

Day 14 - Weight Update

Oh yeah, I'm down to 222.6 lbs. Down 11.6 lbs overall so far.

Day 14 - In Which We Successfully Avoid Unlucky 13

So, I'm totally superstitious enough that I didn't post anything on day 13. I know this is crazy, but I have a couple of weird, almost OCD like superstitions.

1. I will not start anything on the 13th of the month. I don't know why. I guess growing up being told that the 13th is unlucky just worms it's way into your brain.
2. I don't pick up face down pennies. If I'm at a store, am exactly 0.01 USD short for a purchase and see a penny facedown on the floor, I'm not making that purchase. I have this weird theory on pennies and luck. If you drop a penny accidentally and it lands face down, you're divesting yourself of bad luck. If you drop a penny accidentally and it lands face up, you're divesting yourself of good luck. When someone else picks up the penny, they get your good or bad luck as the case maybe. This keeps balance in the universe so far as luck is concerned. Now, I know this is crazy. I know this isn't the way things really work. But at the same time, I don't pick up face down pennies. One an interesting side note, if you accidentally drop a penny and it lands face down, you CAN immediately pick it up as your luck would stay in balance. You know, in case you were wondering how much I've though about this.

Day 12 - Tired, but Can't Sleep

I've been finding it harder to get a good night's sleep lately.  I stay up to late and then I toss and turn and have pretty vivid dreams.  The problem is that I'm dreaming about eating something and then I freak out because I know I need to weigh myself in the morning...  and clearly if I'm eating in my dreams, I'll weigh more in the morning.  I realize this is crazy, but there you have it.

I'm also not entirely certain I want to go to sleep.

Day 12 - Project Time

I'm totally going to try and make these.

http://hellyeahitsvegan.com/vegan-cadbury-creme-eggs/

Day 12 - Almond Milk

Let it be known...

UNFLAVORED ALMOND MILK IS BETTER THAN SOY MILK.

Buy this stuff if you need milk on your cereal.

Or better yet, eat something that doesn't require milk. I've found forcing a vegan diet to conform to a non-vegan diet selection results in some foods that are pretty terrible. Fake bacon is gross. Fake meat is gross. Fake cheese is gross. Delicious vegan/vegetarian options that aren't pretending to me non-vegan are delicious. A good amount of Indian cuisine is fair game. Same with Thai, Japanese and Korean. There are a fair number of African dishes as well, depending on the country. Every cuisine on the planet has at least some options that are amazing... except maybe Southern cooking in the US. I think they put butter and bacon grease into everything.

Current Mood: Killcrushing It
Current Weight: 223.2 lbs (11 down)

Day 11 - 10 lbs

It's hard to believe, but I've dropped a little over 10 lbs in just 12 days (since I really started tracking on Day Zero).  I feel generally healthier and it's really nice to get comments about how I look like I've lost weight.  It's nice to receive encouragement when you're doing something tough.

It's actually getting much easier.  I bought Sabra "Supremely Spicy Hummus".  I'm pretty psyched.  I think one of my coping mechanisms for not being able to eat meat or dairy is to make everything spicier.  It's working out pretty well.

On a totally unrelated note, I just found out that my newish car has free Sirius Satellite Radio until October 7th.  I went through the setup steps earlier today and it's pretty awesome.  I felt like this:

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