Going Vegan - Day 3!

So Day 3 was awesome, but interesting. I am the kind of person that needs a larger breakfast within the first few hours of waking up but then will eat lighter over the rest of the day. Yesterday however, I wasn't hungry in the morning and I ended up eating most of my food around my lunch time (which was around 9-10am for all you "normal" hour human beings!). The other funky thing was I ate my lunch food for breakfast and my breakfast food for lunch - that's just what sounded good at the time. Hmm....definitely odd, not bad, just odd from my normal eating patterns :-)

I am debating about whether tomorrow or Saturday should be my weigh in day. As of tomorrow, I'll have only done Vegan for 5 days and I don't know if that will be an effective time to track any positive changes. I sneaked a peak at the scale this morning because I was feeling less squishy than I have been and I've dropped all the water weight from my sushi indulgence this past weekend (which was about 5 pounds!) so that's definitely awesome.

I guess I'll have to see about the weigh in - Saturday might be better because then I'll have time to take progress photos. Trying to do all that before work on a Friday morning at 330am might be too rough.

Anyways - back to the blog - day 3 was awesome! I have a crazy amount of energy during most of the days and I've been averaging burns over 2000 cals a day on my BodyBugg (sometimes more on days when I have Zumba classes to teach). By tracking my food intake, I'm eating between 1300-1400 calories a day and not feeling deprived at all. So needless to say I'm maintaining a decent deficit without depriving myself of the energy I need to get through my classes. I've cut on 1400 cals in the past before (while training for my 5K) and it worked really well, so I'm happy to see that this number is working well again.

Also, word is still getting around that I went Vegan, so the reactions from people have been totally classic. Its nice to see the surprise from others that morphs into support when I explain why I am doing this.

Day 4 is going well so far. We are having a food celebration at work today and I'm trying to decide what to do about it. The menu isn't exactly vegan friendly - so I'm trying to figure out if I should just go for the vegetarian lasagna & pick off the cheese, or go for a plain baked potato & salad (even though I hate baked potatoes) or if I should just say F it and stick with the remainder of the food I packed for lunch today (which currently consists of cantaloupe and oatmeal). Hmmmm.....I guess we'll just have to see what happens!

OH - and just for my Zumba ladies, here's the Song of the Day (I still want that damn top hat!!!)


Adam Lambert - If I Had You (Official Video)
Uploaded by Musickoliq. - See the latest featured music videos.

Talk to all of ya tomorrow!!!

Day Two DONE!!!!

Today was awesome! I felt fabulous ALL day! I was expecting to feel like crap for the first week or so due to my body detoxing, but I feel really good today! TONS of energy even though I didn't get a lot of sleep last night (meaning I got my usual 6 hours or so of sleep!)

Once again, I ate freely and came in well below my calorie count - and I'm FULL almost ALL the time!! The hubby wanted to go out to eat after work today and we went to Subway. I got a Veggie Delight Salad, Baked Lays & Apple Slices - it was yummy! And even on a decent calorie deficit, I still had enough energy to lead two fabulous Zumba classes with my ladies at Curves! Woot! I love eating enough carbs to function (I don't do well on low carb diets, can you tell?? haha!)

Anyways, here's a breakdown of how I did today with my foodz:

Breakfast:
Apple & Maple Sugar Free Oatmeal
1 large banana & 1 cup grapes

Lunch:
Vegan Pasta Salad & Sugar Snap Pea Stir Fry Veggies

Snack:
Nature Valley Oats & Dark Chocolate Granola Bars

Dinner:
Veggie Delight Salad, Baked Lays & Apple Slices

Pre-Workout:
Vegan Pasta Salad

Post Workout:
Cinnamon Swirl Alternative Bagel

I am loving all this energy I've got so far and I had a great day two of Vegan life!

OH - and just cause I'm feelin' awesome, here's the song of the day!

Going Vegan - Day One!

Hey there! Sorry I didn't get this posted last night, but it was already late by the time things winded down and I needed to get to sleep! 5am shifts are never fun if I don't sleep enough!

So anyways - how did Day One go?? I think it went great!!! I ate a ton of food, but kept within a fabulous calorie count! I was planning on getting a workout in after work, but ended up having to call FedEx because they lost a package of mine (GIR!) but that's all resolved now. Needless to say, my workout time was allotted to other things - but that's okay.

I documented how I was feeling over the day, and overall it was awesome! I was a little bloated, but I think that's left over from eating freely this weekend and not a result of eating Vegan. Today I feel awesome as well and I am having happy outlooks for the remainder of this week!

I forgot to take pictures of everything I ate (and honestly its kind of a pain to upload that many photos) so I figure I'm just going to list what I eat and then post pics of the special or extra yummy foods!

So here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
Apple & Maple Sugar Free Oatmeal
1 cup Cantaloupe and 1 cup Grapes

Lunch:
Vegan Pasta Salad & Alternative Bagel

Snack:
Black Bean Tacos on Corn Shells

Dinner:
Eggplant "Burgers" on Whole Wheat Earthgrains buns with Sugar Snap Pea stir fry veggie mix


I got my new Zumba wear (after fighting with FedEx for a while) so I am excited about that! I am going to wear my new tank top at my Curves class tonight and I now have my "goal" halter top! Hopefully I'll be able to wear it by the summer! Woot!

Hoping today continues to go well and I'll keep posting all the awesomeness!

I'm as ready as I'm going to get!!!

So the Vegan Investigation begins tomorrow. This weekend, I have been pretty lax on nutrition and indulged in some of the foods I might be missing over the next few weeks - like sushi & chile cheese fries :-)

However, I am fully prepared to get started tomorrow. Lunch is packed, food for the week is prepped and ready (to make things as convenient & easy as possible!). I made myself a honey mustard pasta salad to munch on for lunches that looks fabulously yummy!
See - and its only 191 calories a serving!


So instead of using the progress photos that I had taken a few weeks ago, I took some new ones yesterday. So here's my before photos for the Vegan Investigation. I also have taken my measurements and will track changes on a weekly basis



Can't wait to get started tomorrow!! Going to stay away from the scale until Friday so everything will be a complete mystery until weigh in. Tonight, the hubby and I are watching "Prince of Persia" on Netflix - surprisingly its not a bad movie! Its pretty to watch, the sword fights are awesome and the plot really isn't bad. The effects mimic the game really well, which the hubby and I both enjoy since we were fans of the game.

Will update tomorrow on how Day One goes!!! Have a good night everyone!

Getting Ready To Go Vegan!!!

So today I went to the store and stocked up on all my foodz for the week! I am totally excited!! I found some amazing fruit, 110 calorie vegan bagels (with 8g of fiber!), whole wheat pasta and lots of other fabulous looking food. Tomorrow or Sunday, I will cook up my lunches for the work week so that I am prepared for everything starting on Monday.

Part of this Investigation is proving that one can go vegan on a budget. Today I bought a whole cart full of goodies and at least a weeks worth of food for $75.88. Granted, the hubby will probably also eat lots of the fruit & veggies that I bought, but I figure that $75 for a week or two worth of food isn't bad! If one were eating for only one person and didn't have multiple people to feed, I can easily see the food lasting for almost 2 weeks.

See!!!


I also did an official weigh-in this morning and was still at 179.5 and all measurements were the same as 2 weeks ago. Its nice to know that I haven't gained weight and I've maintained over the past few weeks craziness. I am going to use these numbers (and prior progress photos I took at around 182lbs) as my beginning stats and weigh in every Friday over the course of the Vegan Investigation. This weekend I have plans both Saturday and Sunday to splurge a little bit on food and so I am thoroughly planning on up a few pounds in water weight come Monday, but I should definitely be able to take it off for the next week's weigh in on Friday.

OH - I also realized that I hadn't mentioned my workout plans. I am going to continue teaching my fitness classes 5 days a week and was thinking about incorporating in quick 30 min strength training circuits 4 days a week to help tone up a smidge. However, I wanted to keep things as similar as possible to my Omni diet - so that most of the changes can be attributed to the change in nutrition and not a change in fitness routine.

I also bought my "goal" outfit this week and it should be here on Monday. Zumba makes these fabulous halter sports bra tops that their instructors can wear and its been my goal for a while to get in shape enough to wear one of them to my classes. I'm still a little too squishy to have a bare midriff during my Zumba classes - so that is now my goal! So I finally broke down and bought one from Zumba to have something to work towards! Do I think that 30 days on a vegan diet will give me the abs I seek? No - but I am hoping to cut a lot of unnecessary body fat and hopefully get myself closer to my goals.

Okay, now it is time to head off to bed, I've been up since 330am and I am totally wiped out. Have a good night everyone!

The Plan So Far....

Alrighty, so as some of you know - next week, beginning on Monday, I am going Vegan for 30 days! This is going to be an amazing experience and I look forward to learning new things about food & plant-based nutrition from this first hand experience!

I've learned over the past few days that "Vegan" can mean lots of different things. There are "hardcore" Vegans that cut out all processed foods and live primarily on whole grains, veggies & fruits. Some are so involved, they cut out all forms of sugars, natural & artificial, including honey! Then there are the more "lax" Vegans that allow themselves to eat processed grains (like tortilla wraps and pasta) but still keep their meals free of animal products. I've been toying with the idea of which degree of Vegan I will be doing, and honestly I'm still thinking about it.

Initially, I wanted to go hardcore Vegan and then back down to regular vegan if hardcore is too intense. However, upon thinking seriously about this, I realized that my issues with food (mentioned in prior blogs) might cause a monumental freak out if I go hardcore too quickly. I don't want to drop everything out of my diet, change it too drastically and then trigger a binge of epic proportions.

So I believe I have decided to reverse this plan. I am going to start out as regular Vegan - lots of fruits, veggies & whole grain (yet perhaps processed) grains. If it had a pulse (or came from something that had a pulse) it won't go into my mouth at all beginning next Monday. If after the first week, I determine that I am ready for a more intensive challenge, then perhaps I shall slowly progress into hardcore Vegan territory.

I will do my absolute best to keep everything 100% Vegan the entire month. However, if the hubby and I go out to eat at a restaurant and the only option is keeping vegetarian (but not Vegan) - I am not going to freak out about this. I understand that this is a lifestyle adaptation for a lot of people, and that is the mindset I aim to have throughout this process.

I really look forward to sharing all of my experiences with you! Until then, I am going to keep nutrition healthy, but I'm not looking to drop weight this week - I'm maintaining my weight and that's okay with me for now. Hopefully weight loss will be a perk of the Vegan Investigation!

Updates!

Hey everyone! It's about time I update this thing again. I survived the holidays and am having a great january so far! I am now teaching zumba classes during the week and still running kickboxing on weekends. My weight is up, but measurements are still normal. Clothes fit well and I feel stronger. Since I'm doing all the cardio in my classes, I am adding in some circuit training to get some weights in my schedule too. Today I did a 30 minute jillian dvd and burned 280 cals so I'm happy about that. More updates will come soon! Now time to train some clients!