I have some news

I have decided to go Vegan.

All this week I have been eating plant-based and it feels great. In the past, I have gone through spurts where I really want to be vegan and I try but then when I’m going out to dinner with friends, or it gets a bit difficult or someone asks me about it, or I am in a situation where there are no vegan options I crack and just conform to society. I would think to myself “I don’t want to be difficult or have to to stress about this” but I would always feel a pit in my stomach for not keeping with it once again.

Also, coming from an ED past, I wasn’t sure if being vegan would be a good idea because it would be limiting food options again. However, the truth is that vegan food is delicious and I never had issues with limiting meat-y foods, my issue was with sweets and desserts and there are plenty of vegan options in that department. Also, I am not restricting foods anymore and eating vegan isn’t about restricting, it is about loving your body and giving it the most nutritious and nourishing foods. So instead of coming from a place of dislike towards my body I am coming from a place of love.

Lastly, I am doing this for me and this is something that I want to do. In my past attempts, I would let what other people thought and my desire to “fit-in” and be “normal” steer me away from what I wanted to do. But now I am so tired of that. I want to be who I am and do what I want to do and this is it. I am so fed up with myself for trying to be agreeable and easy-going in each situation, which I usually am in most other cases, but when something is important to me and is something I believe in, like eating vegan, then I need to stand up for it.

It is time for me to be the person who I want to be so I am going to step up and do it.

Throughout this blog now I am going to document this transition and tell you about different situations that I encounter and how I deal with them. If you have contemplated going vegan I hope this is helpful for you to see how I make this transition and you can get some tips! I’ll also talk about how I feel and share some good, easy meal ideas.

My first day of being vegan was Nov. 1st. Let the Journey Begin!

 

 

Last week Recap

This past week was quite long. But some highlights included: running 12 miles on a cool, beautiful morning with my running pal Chelsea, a fun comedy show and dancing on Friday night and getting my hair colored for the first time!

I was so excited to do something different in my hair. I was really feeling in beauty rut.

To keep you updated with my goals of being more accountable with what I eat: I bought a scale and started roughly calculating my calories on My Plate on the Livestrong wesbite. I didn’t want to count calories but it really helps in keeping you accountable when you need to lose weight. I don’t do it religiously but it is helpful in realizing the number of calories in certain foods and portions and how to balance it out.

Like I promised,I will start taking pictures! I found my camera and now I am going to blow the dust off of it, make sure it connects to my computer and get at it! I  know it is boring to read a blog with no pictures.. my apologies.

Here’s my workout plan for the week:

Monday- Jillian Michaels dvd

Tuesday- Run 4 miles

Wednesday- Run 3 miles

Thursday- Yoga

Friday- off

Run 8 miles on the weekend, not sure if I will run it on saturday or sunday yet but it will get done!

Ok next post will have pics I promise!

Daily Intention

When I was waking up in the morning today I realized that I wanted to set an intention for my day (well two to be exact). It is a great time to reflect on things that you want to keep in mind. So here are my two intentions:

1. My Diet is a Bank Account

I want to balance my food choices and be conscious of them. Lately I have been kinda lax about what I eat at night. For example: yesterday I had one and a half banana choc chip cookies (bethenny frankel’s recipe) and a scoop of ben & Jerry’s frozen yogurt. I should have just stopped at the cookie but instead I didn’t think it through and just went right on through and ate it. I am not going to let myself get upset about it because I am so tired of beating myself up over stuff like it. I am just so sick of it, and in all honesty it really wasn’t that bad (it’s not like I ate the whole damn carton). I don’t care that I ate it, I just care that I am not balancing and practicing moderation. So my philosophy is to not dwell on it, let it go and start fresh today. I am going to balance my eats like a bank account (good investments with more expensive investments) and be more conscious. Stop and eat slower, savor and pay attention to each bite, and realize when I am content and stop.

2. Be more engaged at work

Sometimes I slack off when I have already completed the work that I need to get done and don’t help the other people on my team as much. I also zone out after I’ve gotten my stuff done. So instead- today I am going to be more engaged with my team and help out more. Even though that isn’t affecting me as much I know that everyone appreciates the help.

 

Ok and now I have realized some crucial things for my weight loss journey. I have nothing keeping me accountable. I am not counting calories, I don’t document what I eat and I don’t have a scale. I thought it would be fine to not have these things but I realized that I need something to keep me on track and see my progress. I don’t think I want to count calories because that is so annoying and I don’t think it would be healthy for me, so instead I am going to try documenting what I eat on here, maybe write it down also, not sure yet. And I am going to buy a scale soon, whenever I get a chance to go to Target. Let’s see how that goes.

So here it goes!

Breakfast:

1/2 container of Oikos plain yogurt (I think that they are too big for one sitting) with some raspberries, 3 strawberries and half a banana. some cereal sprinkled on top (prob 1/4 cup of good friends kashi).

Coffee with 1% organic milk, and 5 chunks of pineapple.

 

I am going to take pictures, just gotta find my camera somewhere in my apartment and didn’t have time this morning before work. Now I gotta go to work- later!

Workout plan 10/17-10/23

Getting used to my new work schedule- which is absolutely CRAZY has been hard on my workout schedule. I am working long hours, which makes me really tired, and that makes it extra hard to motivate myself to workout. But I am going to try really hard to counter this by being very well organized and working out in the mornings.

So here is my game-plan for this upcoming week:

Monday: Jillian Michaels DVD in the morning before work

Tuesday: 3.5 mile run before work

Wednesday: Jillian Michaels DVD in the morning before work

Thursday: 3.5 mile run before work

Friday: Maybe off or yoga or 3 mile run after work

Saturday: Off or yoga

Sunday: 12 mile run with my new running buddy

I still haven’t found what schedule works best for me with these longer hours but I am trying to make something work and be able to balance working out with work, socializing and my sanity. When you work such long hours you definitely need some relaxation time to just veg-out. It really takes it out of you!

So some other goals that I am going to have for the week are:

*Sleep more! Be in bed by 9:30pm, turn off all electronics and just relax and read a book in bed. I have been going to sleep too late which I know has been a big problem for me. This will also help me cut-down on coffee, which I need to do because coffee just never seems to sit-well with me.

*Pay attention! Eat slower and truly appreciate the food that I am eating. I have been chowing down on my food and really need to stop and experience my meal. If I do that I will be more in tune with how I feel, will not over-eat and will be much more satisfied with my meals.

I definitely have more goals that I am working towards but I think two will be realistic for me to tackle and be conscious of during the week.

I am going to try to post more too so I guess I can throw that in there, and I’ll check in to report how I’m doing!

New obsessions and Workout Plan

I have to make a confession.. This past week I didn’t follow my workout plan the way I said I would. Socializing and work got in the way but I must admit that I am not upset about any of the decisions that I made. I was really glad that I attended my work happy hour (I skipped out on my wednesday 5 mile run) and there’s no way that I could get around the long hours I had to work. that is just the way the cookie crumbles.

But I did manage to accomplish the following: 5 mile run, 1 power yoga class, 4 mile run and a 10 mile run. Not too bad huh?

And for this week I am going to try to accomplish the majority of my workouts in the morning because work has become significantly busier so there is no way of knowing how late I will be staying in the office, therefore, I should just try to get the work out done i the AM.

so here it is:

Monday: 3.5 mile run

Tuesday: Yoga (my Bethenny Frankel dvd.. I love it)

Wednesday: 3.5 mile run

Thursday: Strength-training (my Jillian Michaels dvd.. kicks my butt every time)

Friday: off

Saturday: 11 mile run

Sunday: yoga or off.. however i feel that day

And here are a few things that I have recently discovered and love, so I thought I would share:

1. Chocolate Coconut water.. sounds weird but tastes delicious! Just like chocolate milk- but healthier!

2. Chocolate Cherry Torte Larabar.. this might be the best flavor they ever created. Go try it now.

3. Dates with nut butter.. talk about what an amazing combo!

4. Dior Addict Lip Glow.. my new lip staple. It feels moisturizing like chap-stick but it brings out the natural pink-ness of your lips.

Game Plan

As I  mentioned  in my earlier post, I put on a few extra pounds and now I am going to do something about it. It was hard to focus on this earlier because I had many things going on but now I am settled in to my new job and lifestyle and I am ready to tackle this.

So here is my Game Plan, which I am going to break down into Diet, Fitness and Balance Categories, and I will update with check-ins periodically…

Diet:

-Cut down on sweets: I have a big sweet tooth. I don’t crave sweets all day, however, but always after dinner. It is the way that I like to end my meal and I always look forward to it. So realistically I can’t cut it out (or at least not cold turkey) but I am changing my after dinner sweets to be healthier, more nourishing sweets. Instead of cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, and frozen yogurt, I am now having either-dates with peanut butter, chocolate coconut water, some chocolate LoveGrown Granola or a piece of a dark chocolate bar. I don’t have all of them of course, but I will choose one of those options, have a smaller portion and savor and enjoy each bite.

-Smaller Portions (especially at dinner): At dinner I seem to eat much more in one sitting than I do the rest of the day. I don’t like to feel heavy during the day so I always eat light meals and snacks but then once dinner comes around I have a pretty big meal. I need to learn to have better portion control at that meal. So I am going to make a conscious effort to have a smaller portion at dinner, eat it slowly and enjoy each bite, and this will also help with recognizing when I am full, and also wait ten minutes after diner before I have my sweet snack. (Maybe this will help ward off the sweet tooth?!)

-Keep it Simple: Sometimes I put to many toppings in my salad, breakfast bowl or at my plate at dinner time. I need to remember a very wise rule from Bethenny Frankel: “You can have it all just not all at once”

Fitness:

-Stick to the fitness plan that I make for myself each week. Which usually consists of: Four days of running and Two days of Yoga and then one Rest day.

-Keep training for that half marathon!

Balance:

-I am not going to let this goal weight interfere with going out with friends and socializing. I don’t want to be obsessive about it and by going out I am distracting myself and not focusing on this goal to lose weight.

-When I do go out for drinks I will only have max- 2 drinks and they will be either light beers, wine or a vodka soda (or any skinnygirl drink that is available)

-And when I eat out for meals I will choose whatever is the healthiest option available or if there is something I am really craving have a small portion of that with a healthy salad.

So that is my Game Plan for now. If I make add anything I’ll post about it and I’ll be having check-ups discussing how it is going!

Running Plan for this Week!

I was super busy last night that I did not get a chance to post my training plan for the half-marathon. But here it is now:

Monday: 6.5 mile run

Tuesday: Yoga

Wednesday: 4 mile run

Thursday: 5 mile run

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 10 mile run

Sunday: Yoga

I created this plan on my own. I read through a couple of half marathon training plans to see what kind of mileage they recommend but ultimately I created this on my own, keeping in mind what kind of shape I am in and my previous running history. I think it will be a good amount for me.

I want to do one long run, a medium-long run and then two that were a little shorter. I think by having two runs that over 5 miles it will help me increase my endurance for longer distances since I have only been running 4-5milers lately.

Let the training begin!