I live in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and as I look out my window while I type, I have about four feet of snow in my yard. I have been stuck in the house for about eight days. I ventured out to the gym twice-this morning and yesterday morning. I almost totalled my car multiple times, but was so desperate to a)get out of the house and b)work out, I went ahead and did it.
Every single one of my professional dieting girlfriends has the same complaint about this week. We all feel really fat as we have been stuck inside and eating more than we normally would. The bottom line is this: There has been baking-lots of it. We started with the vegan brownie mixes, but moved on to the regular brownie mixes and now I have valentine cupcakes cooling.
Fortunately I don't have a huge sweet tooth and am pretty easily satisfied with a small bite of whatever it is we have made. I use the smallest ziploc containers-the ones you buy to put sauce or dip in and only allow myself to fill that up with whatever it is that I am eating. So, if it is a brownie sundae, it is a little tiny one and that does the trick for me.
I am not losing weight this week, but am also not beating myself up over it and am happy that I haven't gained any. When I get back to my normal life, things will get moving again. Unfortunately, we are due for nine more inches of snow on Monday.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Always learning...
So, Jillian Michaels, Alicia Silverstone, and the Skinny Bitches would all like me to be a vegan. Although, I think Jillian is a little loser on it, she definitely is all about getting the toxins out of your environment. Since we had a big snowstorm this weekend and I knew I would be housebound, I went to the store and stocked up on a variety of vegetarian and vegan foods to experiment with things.
I learned a few things about this type of lifestyle and myself. First of all, that headache I had last time I wrote was NOT from beer. I am pretty sure I am allergic to soy products as I had one the next day and had eaten a similar processed vegetarian lunch. This was WORLD class migraine level stuff. Rather than actually go to a doctor, I consulted Alicia's forums and found post after post about headaches induced by an allergy to soy in processed vegetarian foods. The next day, no soy and no headache. In my world, problem solved.
The other thing I learned is that vegan cheese is gross. The only slight resemblance to cheese would possibly be in the smell which is sort of cheez whizish. I could tolerate it melted on a vegetarian chili with salsa and a bunch of other stuff on it, but that is about the only venue I could picture myself eating it.
Vegan butter is fine as is the rice milk which is like drinking regular skim milk. The coconut milk yogurts are also tasty which is amazing as I don't like coconut in its regular form. However they are four times the cost of a regular yogurt.
Being dairy free is much more of a pain in the ass than being meat free. However, I am going to continue to be without dairy for another few weeks as I have actually lost three pounds this week without counting any calories at all. So, something is working.
I think at the end of this experiment I will be mostly dairy free but will not turn down the occasional pizza or cheese fry. I am committed to eating dairy from organic farms where they are nice to the cows when I add it back in.
I learned a few things about this type of lifestyle and myself. First of all, that headache I had last time I wrote was NOT from beer. I am pretty sure I am allergic to soy products as I had one the next day and had eaten a similar processed vegetarian lunch. This was WORLD class migraine level stuff. Rather than actually go to a doctor, I consulted Alicia's forums and found post after post about headaches induced by an allergy to soy in processed vegetarian foods. The next day, no soy and no headache. In my world, problem solved.
The other thing I learned is that vegan cheese is gross. The only slight resemblance to cheese would possibly be in the smell which is sort of cheez whizish. I could tolerate it melted on a vegetarian chili with salsa and a bunch of other stuff on it, but that is about the only venue I could picture myself eating it.
Vegan butter is fine as is the rice milk which is like drinking regular skim milk. The coconut milk yogurts are also tasty which is amazing as I don't like coconut in its regular form. However they are four times the cost of a regular yogurt.
Being dairy free is much more of a pain in the ass than being meat free. However, I am going to continue to be without dairy for another few weeks as I have actually lost three pounds this week without counting any calories at all. So, something is working.
I think at the end of this experiment I will be mostly dairy free but will not turn down the occasional pizza or cheese fry. I am committed to eating dairy from organic farms where they are nice to the cows when I add it back in.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Learning the hard way
Guess what I learned at my conference this week? If you are true to your newly adopted vegetarian lifestyle, you should REALLY not go out for drinks at all or you will sorely regret it the next day. I had a few beers last night and my head feels like it is being pounded on with a jackhammer.
The lesson in all this is that I should probably stay away from the booze while my body is transitioning to a new way of eating. I have written before that dieting and alcohol do not play well together and obviously did not take my own advice. And, for some reason I imagine, I will continue to disregard this very advice in the future.
I finished reading Alicia Silverstone's book. I liked everything she had to say about nutrition and diet, but found her recipes to be full of ingredients I have never heard of and am really not sure where to get these things. I have started with simpler things I have found on websites recommended to me by a vegetarian friend. I am also attempting to eliminate dairy from my diet to see how that affects my health and weight loss. Alicia says that dairy is responsible for allergies and I have suffered with them my entire life. I will update you all on how this progresses.
Must sign off now...Head really really hurts.
The lesson in all this is that I should probably stay away from the booze while my body is transitioning to a new way of eating. I have written before that dieting and alcohol do not play well together and obviously did not take my own advice. And, for some reason I imagine, I will continue to disregard this very advice in the future.
I finished reading Alicia Silverstone's book. I liked everything she had to say about nutrition and diet, but found her recipes to be full of ingredients I have never heard of and am really not sure where to get these things. I have started with simpler things I have found on websites recommended to me by a vegetarian friend. I am also attempting to eliminate dairy from my diet to see how that affects my health and weight loss. Alicia says that dairy is responsible for allergies and I have suffered with them my entire life. I will update you all on how this progresses.
Must sign off now...Head really really hurts.
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