At my Sunday weigh-in, I lost one pound and I was thrilled. I broke below the 200 mark and it was nice to see a "1" as the first number on the scale. I was thrilled because I ate SO MUCH food last week. I had a few times when my original meal didn't feel like enough, so I ate practically a whole other meal an hour later. I also had more "rich" food...still plant-based, but more nuts and higher fat plant items, also some vegan processed foods, plus I ate out a few times. Still ate loads of wholesome veggies...but I wasn't sure how it would all balance out. One pound down made me happy. UNTIL...
I talked with a friend that night who has also been working on losing weight. She has lost 25 pounds in 8 weeks. Wow! That's great. I mean...I've lost 18 pounds in 11 weeks and I started out heavier...but yeah, good for you. Way to go! That's how I wanted to feel. I know, I know, I KNOW! It's not a race, it doesn't matter that she has lost more, we shouldn't compare, yada, yada, yada, I KNOW! But I guess I don't know it gut-deep and all the rational talk in the world that I tried to tell myself couldn't stop me from comparing and feeling a little pathetic that she has lost so much so fast and I haven't. Yes, she is eating pre-packaged small-portion meals of food that I don't really want to eat. Yes, I'm eating delicious meals with big portions, without restrictions on how often, without weighing food or counting calories. Yes, I'm eating in a way that I can sustain for life and I'm still losing weight. How awesome is that? Yes, her program is a pay-per-month-for-the-food kind of thing that she doesn't plan to do forever. My rational brain kept trying to help myself "get-over it," but I couldn't stop thinking about those 25 pounds she has lost. The inner dialogue between my rational self and irrational self continued ALL NIGHT! I finally told myself Monday morning that I could either change my program to lose weight more quickly, or I could keep doing what I was doing and be happy with the slow weight-loss, it was totally up to me. I'm in control and I get to choose what I want to do.
I decided that I'm pretty happy with my plan, but that I would at least "step-it up" this coming week so I could lose the 2.2 pounds I need to lose by Sunday to reach my monthly weight loss goal of 5 pounds down. I started the month with a 2 pound gain, so I have some making up to do. I started thinking of what I could change, how I could restrict myself a little more, exercise a little more, etc. I was planning to make my weekly video for this blog and share my plans and excitement about stepping it up. But things didn't go as planned Monday morning. My time had to go to other things, a couple stressful and disappointing things popped up, and that combined with the thought of restricting my food plan and reaching a specific amount of weight loss by a certain date led to a binge. WHAT?! Yep. Now, it wasn't a classic binge of massive over-eating, or digging into the German chocolate cake and ice-cream that were in my house, but the "Never Binge Again" book describes any deviation from your plan as a binge. I ate my pre-planned lunch, then I saw my daughter making fried-rice (with meat) and it looked good so I made myself fried-rice without meat and ate two big platefuls. I still hadn't deviated from my personal food plan, but then I saw the big white torta roll sitting on the counter. I bought these rolls for the kids last week, hadn't eaten any, and there was one left. I toasted half and ate it. Then I toasted the other half and ate it. This was off my plan as I've committed to not eating white flour bread products at home. Well, that was that.
I analyzed the situation to see what I could learn from it. I have decided that the best thing for me to do is continue with my original plan and not try to "step-it up" in the hope of reaching some specific number on the scale by a certain date. I don't need that pressure and it doesn't seem to help me. I just need to keep doing my best to fill my body with plant-strong, high nutrition foods and let the scale do whatever it does. Since deciding that, the desire to binge or eat off-plan has left me. I've been exercising more and eating less than normal without it feeling like a struggle. I take comfort in knowing I can eat more if I want to, and somehow knowing I can eat more, makes me feel less desire to eat more. Weird. I don't completely understand the psychology of it. Maybe I suffer from the forbidden fruit syndrome! Yes, I made that syndrome up. Anyway, that is my plan. Eat healthy, exercise, and let the scale do whatever.
I thought I would share some of the awesome things I've noticed beyond losing weight.
- I need less sleep. I keep waking up early and thinking, "I didn't get enough sleep (hours wise). I need to go back to sleep," But try as I might, I can't go back to sleep. I'm not tired and I feel ready to go.
- I like to exercise! This is a miracle. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not doing any hard exercise at all, I just walk on the treadmill, but even that sounded dreadful to me at first. I had plantar fasciitis last year and it drastically reduced my movement because walking was painful. Luckily, it got better, but getting back into a walking habit did not sound fun. When I began, I had to force myself to get on the treadmill and sometimes I would only do 10 minutes. Now I wake up WANTING to get on that treadmill as soon as possible and hoping I can get 45 minutes to an hour in before getting the kids off to school. I walk at a faster pace and I do it every day except Sunday. It's becoming an enjoyable habit. It helps that I can put my Ipad on the treadmill and get some facebook or reading time in. :) I also feel like moving more in general. I look for opportunities to move throughout the day instead of wanting to stay firmly planted on the couch. When my husband wants to play kickball with the family, I don't inwardly groan. I look forward to moving. This is huge! It's an enormous benefit all on its own.
- I have more energy. As I mentioned before, I feel completely replenished on less sleep and it carries me through the day. It's rare that I feel sleepy or like I'm dragging. When I do, it is usually because I had serious sleep-deprivation the night before or I just ate too much.
- My skin looks better. I noticed this within the first few weeks.
Anyway, good stuff is happening, even if I haven't lost 25 pounds in eight weeks. LOL! I'm really over that now. I'm super thankful I've been able to stay focused on eating plant-strong for eleven weeks and I'm thankful that I still feel a burning desire to eat this way for the rest of my life. That feels pretty awesome.
Here are a few photos of my yummy food. You can see why I feel so lucky to keep losing weight. :) I'll add links to the recipes (if I have them), although I changed the recipes a bit.
10-Minute Tortilla Soup from Little Blue Plates. I really loved this!
Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. I won't make this often because I want loads of chips to go with it. But it was a fun treat that hubby and I both enjoyed.
Vegan Philly "Cheesesteak" sandwiches from Healthy Happy Life with Potato Soup from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.
Homemade Taquitos (no recipe)
7-layer dip with homemade chips, no recipe, but the vegan sour cream recipe came from Oh She Glows kitchen.
Sweet Potato, Rice, Black Bean bowl (no recipe):
