in more ways than one.
So, I finally decided to sit down at the macbook and give the people (spiderlgs and b.) what they want - a blog post from yours truly. I don't know how long it will last but I'm back on the blogosphere, if only for one night.
What I'm really excited to share with all of you is that the old me is back, physically. As you know, I've been trying to lose weight and recently I've seen some very strong validation that it's working. I'll share with you the two experiences that almost brought tears to my eyes.
On August 7, 2008, b. and I received assessments at the gym. Here were my stats.
Weight: 173lbs
BMI: 30.64 (Obese Class I)
Body Fat: 37.2%
On May 7, 2009, I had another assessment at my new gym. Here are those stats.
Weight: 153.5 lbs
BMI: 27.20 (Overweight)
Body Fat: 32.3%
Do you see what I see? I lost almost 20lbs, decreased my BMI by more than 3 points and my body fat by nearly 5%. It doesn't look like that much progress in 9 months but the empowering thing is that I did it on my own. I changed my diet and worked out, however inconsistently, and I finally saw a difference. I've been thinking about losing weight for a while but I finally made it a priority and made it happen. This brings me to my second moment....
So, am I the only girl who buys clothes a little bit too small, thinking that she'll lose weight? (Based on all of the clothes in my closet with the price tag still on them, I've been doing this for years so either tell me I'm not alone or tell me why you let me waste my damn money... ) I digress.
In preparation for my trip to the outlet mall in the morning for new clothes and a suit to start my job search, I decided to try on a suit I bought 2-3 years ago. It was on a serious sale and just a little bit too tight when I bought it. Of course I thought that I would lose weight but the suit just got tighter and tighter until I didn't even bother trying it on any more. Tonight, it fit perfectly! So, I kept going - trying on skirts, dresses, pants, etc that I bought just a little bit too snug. Some were the perfect fit and others were even too big! So yes, I was damn near in tears.
I am so proud of the work that I have done so far. I am even more excited about my decision to invest in personal training because it is an investment in myself. If I can make this much progress by myself, then there is no telling how far I can go with someone to push me further than I would ever go on my own. I still have some work do. I haven't decided on my final but I'm definitely going to keep it up.
I may not be where I want to be but thank God I'm not where I was...
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tater Tots, Hashbrowns, and Frites…
This post was written on my third day in France. Thankfully and surprisingly, I didn't gain any weight.
So, I said I would try the vegan diet for 30 days. However, that was shortened to 23 days due to my trip to France. I must say that I did quite well right up until the second leg of my flight when they served croissants for breakfast. Thank heavens for the option on priceline to select a vegetarian/dairy-free meal. Otherwise, I would have been like the vegetarian girl sitting next me picking over her chicken meal to get to the rice and veggies. I’ve been here for two full days and I have yet to eat any meat. I don’t know if I can go back to it. I’ve had plenty of cheese and I’ll be damned if I haven’t eaten an entire baguette (think loaf of French bread not a roll) each day. This is definitely not good for the weight loss plan. I may be starting all over at 173 lbs when I get home. No worries, though I will have read the 4-Diet cover to cover by the time my plane touches down at O’Hare and I’ll start my Induction phase as soon as I can hit a grocery store. But anyway, here’s how the diet went prior to the trip…
Things started off well. A trip to Trader Joe’s and Hyde Park Produce got me off to a good start. I made a bunch of new dishes such as vegan veggie pizza, pasta with Italian “sausage,” veggie taco salad mix, and cooked zucchini and baked cookies from scratch for the first time. In addition to home cooked meals, I picked up pre-packed Soul Vegetarian East meals to make it through my longs days and dined out at Karyn’s Cooked Comfort Gourmet, and found a new love for cucumber rolls. So as long as I was cooking or controlling where I was eating, things went relatively well. If I had a craving for something, I stopped by Whole Foods to see if I could find a vegan alternative. I now have enjoy dark chocolate, LARA Bars, which happen to also be raw, Newman O’s and Purely Decadent soy ice cream.
However, there were a few times when this was a little harder. I finally hit up Salsa Sunday’s at the Cubby Bear with a friend. Something told me to eat before I left but I was lazy and ended up running late. I don’t know what I expected to be on the menu but the only thing that I could eat was tater tots, French fries or a salad. Who really wants to pay all of that money for a bunch of lettuce and tomato and I wasn’t sure they had vegan dressing. So, if you know me, you know I opted for tater tots. No, I don’t care if I look like a 5-year old at the bar. It’s not everyday a girl gets tater tots. I also went out to dinner with my vegetarian friend. I let her pick the restaurant before I told her I was a vegan (for now) and ended up at Uncommon Ground, an earth friendly restaurant, only to find very few vegan OR vegetarian options. I went for the veggie burger and sweet potato fries. It was the most un-burger-like thing I’ve ever eaten. You could still see the veggies in it. I ate it though I wasn’t entirely sure it was vegan. Food life was relatively uneventful until the weekend before my trip. Due to a family emergency, my 14-year old twin cousins were staying with me. I told them up front about what I had at home in the refrigerator and they quickly opted for fast food ALL weekend. So, I had Wendy’s, HAROLD’S, McDonald’s Breakfast, and Panda Express type Chinese food including orange chicken all in my apt for the first time in at least 3 weeks. I was definitely struggling but maintained my cool and ate wholesome vegan dishes while the kids ate heart attacks on a plate. That was until Sunday morning. I was in such a rush that I neglected to eat a wholesome vegan breakfast and the kids wanted McDonald’s breakfast AGAIN so I had them pick me up a hashbrown. I know, the worst possible thing I could have eaten. Now I’m in France and I think the only vegan thing to eat here are frites (French fries). Can some I please get some HEALTHY and fast vegan options?
So, I said I would try the vegan diet for 30 days. However, that was shortened to 23 days due to my trip to France. I must say that I did quite well right up until the second leg of my flight when they served croissants for breakfast. Thank heavens for the option on priceline to select a vegetarian/dairy-free meal. Otherwise, I would have been like the vegetarian girl sitting next me picking over her chicken meal to get to the rice and veggies. I’ve been here for two full days and I have yet to eat any meat. I don’t know if I can go back to it. I’ve had plenty of cheese and I’ll be damned if I haven’t eaten an entire baguette (think loaf of French bread not a roll) each day. This is definitely not good for the weight loss plan. I may be starting all over at 173 lbs when I get home. No worries, though I will have read the 4-Diet cover to cover by the time my plane touches down at O’Hare and I’ll start my Induction phase as soon as I can hit a grocery store. But anyway, here’s how the diet went prior to the trip…
Things started off well. A trip to Trader Joe’s and Hyde Park Produce got me off to a good start. I made a bunch of new dishes such as vegan veggie pizza, pasta with Italian “sausage,” veggie taco salad mix, and cooked zucchini and baked cookies from scratch for the first time. In addition to home cooked meals, I picked up pre-packed Soul Vegetarian East meals to make it through my longs days and dined out at Karyn’s Cooked Comfort Gourmet, and found a new love for cucumber rolls. So as long as I was cooking or controlling where I was eating, things went relatively well. If I had a craving for something, I stopped by Whole Foods to see if I could find a vegan alternative. I now have enjoy dark chocolate, LARA Bars, which happen to also be raw, Newman O’s and Purely Decadent soy ice cream.
However, there were a few times when this was a little harder. I finally hit up Salsa Sunday’s at the Cubby Bear with a friend. Something told me to eat before I left but I was lazy and ended up running late. I don’t know what I expected to be on the menu but the only thing that I could eat was tater tots, French fries or a salad. Who really wants to pay all of that money for a bunch of lettuce and tomato and I wasn’t sure they had vegan dressing. So, if you know me, you know I opted for tater tots. No, I don’t care if I look like a 5-year old at the bar. It’s not everyday a girl gets tater tots. I also went out to dinner with my vegetarian friend. I let her pick the restaurant before I told her I was a vegan (for now) and ended up at Uncommon Ground, an earth friendly restaurant, only to find very few vegan OR vegetarian options. I went for the veggie burger and sweet potato fries. It was the most un-burger-like thing I’ve ever eaten. You could still see the veggies in it. I ate it though I wasn’t entirely sure it was vegan. Food life was relatively uneventful until the weekend before my trip. Due to a family emergency, my 14-year old twin cousins were staying with me. I told them up front about what I had at home in the refrigerator and they quickly opted for fast food ALL weekend. So, I had Wendy’s, HAROLD’S, McDonald’s Breakfast, and Panda Express type Chinese food including orange chicken all in my apt for the first time in at least 3 weeks. I was definitely struggling but maintained my cool and ate wholesome vegan dishes while the kids ate heart attacks on a plate. That was until Sunday morning. I was in such a rush that I neglected to eat a wholesome vegan breakfast and the kids wanted McDonald’s breakfast AGAIN so I had them pick me up a hashbrown. I know, the worst possible thing I could have eaten. Now I’m in France and I think the only vegan thing to eat here are frites (French fries). Can some I please get some HEALTHY and fast vegan options?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Skinny Bitch?
I started the following draft in The Common Room about a month ago:
No, I have not turned into Monique! However, my friend may have created a monster just as bad with her very thoughtful Christmas gifts. One was a PostSecret book and if you don't know about PostSecret, you should. The other was a recipe book called Skinny Bitch in the Kitch: Kick-Ass Recipes for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Cooking Crap (and Start Looking Hot!). This description describes me to a T and appeals to my potty mouth so I see exactly why she picked this one up. So with categories like Bitchin' Breakfasts, PMS (Pissy Mood Snacks) and Down Home Cookin', I was excited to start cooking. Then, I started looking at the recipes. I saw a whole lot of soy, tofu and recipes with meats in quotation marks. Then I realized I was looking at a vegan cookbook. Now this same friend is always commenting on my "healthy" eating choices - no soda in fridge, my organic lactose free milk, my organic tortilla chips, fresh fruit in my water - but a vegan, I am not. I have toyed with the idea more than a few times but I'm still eating my chicken and turkey and drinking my lactose free organic milk. However, I thought that this gift just might help me make the adjustment. Then I realized that this recipe book is a follow-up book to Skinny Bitch, a book encouraging women to change their lifestyles. So I went out and bought Skinny Bitch too.At that point, I was afraid to read the book. I talked to The Maven about it on Christmas Eve, wanted some BBG feedback on the vegetarian/vegan thing, and really wanted someone to read the book along with me, but I never got around to finishing the draft... Well over the last month, my weight has basically hit a plateau and I've been losing and gaining the same 2 pounds every other week. Then, it hit me. I never really changed what I was eating. I ate smaller portions and added healthy snacks to my diet but I basically ate the same stuff I always ate. I just stopped pigging out on it. That and almost daily exercise helped me to lose the first 20 pounds but it wasn't working any more. I decided it might be a good time to make some changes to my diet. Immediately. Monday night I requested the Fat Smash Diet and The 4-Day Diet from the library. Tuesday morning I realized I didn't want to wait on the library and ordered the books for myself. When the books didn't arrive quickly enough, I started reading Skinny Bitch on Thursday night. By Friday afternoon (after my breakfast/lunch), I was pretty sure I'd never look at a chicken wing or a slice of turkey bacon the same way. Saturday afternoon I was planning vegan meals and hitting Trader Joe's reading all of the labels. I now have soy cheese and milk, tofurkey, and tempeh in my fridge. I am channeling my inner Skinny Bitch, eating whole grains and veggies, and trying to give up animal products. I'm not sure how long it will last but I'm excited to eat better and take better care of myself from the inside out. I'm taking the Pledge to Be Veg for 30 Days! And we'll see what happens. Anyone wanna join me? Do you have pointers on making the transition easier?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
