Weight Loss Update and What I'm Eating

The above photo was taken this morning, 12/3/17.

I was off work the whole week of Thanksgiving.  I rested and relaxed.  I didn't exercise and I pretty much ate what I wanted that was vegan.  I also cooked a big, non vegan meal for my family for Thanksgiving and I ate all the vegetable dishes.

I gained one pound during that week.  So I'm at 139 right now.  I am now wearing a size 8 in ladies sizes.  I still want to get down into the 120's before I transition to maintenance.

To that end, I spent the week working out hard and eating a compliant, vegan diet.  I didn't loose any weight.  So Here's my strategy for the coming week:

I'm switching from oatmeal to vegetable soup for breakfast.  I dearly love oatmeal and I believe it's so good for us, but it just doesn't keep me satisfied until lunch.  My homemade, all fresh soup is very filling because of the liquid and hearty so I don't get hungry until lunch, which is about 6 hours after my breakfast.  I'm going in the opposite direct for lunch; something less heavy.  I fill a six cup container with lettuce.  My toppings this week are three bean salad, sliced beets, bell pepper and two tablespoons of chow chow.  I'm not using any dressing because I used the three bean liquid and that with the chow chow should be enough.  This is a lot of food but because lettuce has so few calories its not a calorie dense meal.  For dinner I will continue to eat fruit only.  Typically I'll eat a banana or apple before my evening workout and something like grapes afterwards. 

This strategy of eating more calorie dense meals at the beginning of the day and going lighter for lunch and dinner has worked for me thus far and I hope it will continue to do so.

Here's some of the good things I've been eating:

 I heard about this Vegan Egg product some time ago but I couldn't get it locally.  Finally, it showed up at my local Publix grocery store.  It is amazing!  It taste good and looks good.  To be fair, I only eat it mixed with grits because that's how I used to eat eggs.  For me this is a treat.  I only eat it on the weekends because it's not a whole food. 

 Above is my bowl of grits with "bacon" bits and the vegan egg on top.  It scrambles just like eggs and is great for people like me who love this combo.

 This last week I put pumpkin purree into my oatmeal and pumpkin spice oatmeal.  In the above photo I have sprinkles ground flax seeds over the oatmeal.  So good!

My weekend meal was this dry bean soup mix with onion, potato and diced tomatoes served over rice.  I sprinkle some tumeric over the top.

The Simple Life - A New Month A New Challenge

 This is me this morning, October 15, 2017 at 142 lbs., and the one on the right is me at the beginning of January of this year, at 181 lbs.  It's where this journey began.  I hate that right photo and I hate having to look at it.  But right now I need it.

Anything worth having is worth working for.  Loosing weight in my 50's is challenging on all levels.  It's not impossible but it's very difficult.  Last week I celebrated reaching my goal of loosing 40 pounds this year.  A week later I've gained back a pound and I'm strategizing about how I will not only not gain back any more weight but how I will loose another 20 pounds.

I've decided that I need to make my weekends more like my week.  I've spent this year going hard for five days and then relaxing for two.  I don't have any exercise plan for the weekends and I don't stick to any eating schedule or plan.  I'm still vegan Saturday and Sunday, but I tend to snack alot.

So, starting with this weekend I've tried to stick to no snacking.  I made a big salad yesterday and that's what I had for lunch and dinner.  I had some of the soup I ate all week left so I ate that Saturday and today for breakfast.  When I felt like I was going to snack I ate only fruit.  I paid off because this morning I was almost back down that pound I gained last week.

It's no fun having to be strict every day with no break but if that's what it takes then so be it.  I began this journey with "No Matter What" as my mantra and I just need to push forward and continue to embrace that theme.  No Matter What.  It's the only way I'll get where I want to be and stay there. 

Here's what I ate this last week:

 Breakfast this last week was soup.  It was delicious and I posted the recipes in recent posts.  Unfortunately, I loved it so much that I think I overate.  These soups are very thick and rich and I shouldn't have eaten more than 4 cups. 

 Monday - Wednesday I had salad.  This is really the perfect lunch because I can pack in the greens for very few calories.

Upon arrival at home after work I had pears with a dollop of vegan mayo and some shredded vegan cheese.  I should have just eaten the fruit and not added anything.  I'm gong back to that.  Fruit is very low in calories but when you start adding things the calories can shoot up quickly.

I ran out of salad fixins so for Thursday and Friday I took a combo of mixed veggies, rice and vegetable broth.  Very good and very light in calories.  I liked it so much that I'm taking this for my lunches next week.