The Vegan thing...yeeeeah, not so much. I think 6 out of 7 days is a pretty decent goal - and manageable. On the 7th day, however, I need sushi. Period.
Down 61 pounds on this slow and frustrating path to weight loss and healthy living. The workouts are definitely harder this week than last as well. Still, I'm soldiering on. About to go and do some pilates after finishing this brief update.
Have a wedding to go to this weekend. Fortunately, it's more of a cocktail party/hippie wedding...and I don't expect many diet-killing grenades to be tossed in my direction. The road trip to New Hampshire, however...that could prove challenging. Oh well. Have to figure out a way to travel and eat healthier sometime, right?
Oh yeah, and it's one hundred bajillion degrees outside. Thank God I have a home gym setup or else, I'd have to do some DIY bikram on the back porch and risk heat stroke.
Hope you're all doing well and, if you're in the 2/3 of the country currently boiling, stay hydrated and take care of yourselves!!! Here's to our crumbling power grid hanging on by a thread over the next few days...
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Go Vegan Or Go...Pescatarian? Maybe?
So, I've been flirting with veganism lately as some of you know. It's getting pretty tough to deny how well my body reacts to it - especially when I re-introduce meat or dairy into the mix and my skin, tummy and mind all go kerfluffy. I've been doing a lot of reading up on the whole agri-economy in our country too...from reading In Defense of Food to watching Food Inc. (I started watching it again today after a few months and had to stop - it just makes me so, soooo angry). Knowing about all of the antibiotics, hormones, pesticides and other chemicals that go into making EVERYTHING makes me sick - literally and figuratively.
And, last night, I watched this low-budg propaganda piece, er, documentary on Netflix about Veganism. This is a snippet:
Is it just me, or does all of this make a lot of sense?
Are we poisoning ourselves by going against our constitutions and inhaling animal byproducts? And dude, is this whole animal protein thing a total scam? What the fuuuuu?
I don't know up from down after reading and watching all of this...but I am seriously considering leaving beef and pork and poultry and cheese and dairy and ... ugh, fish? Can I leave fish behind?
It's funny - I've also been reading up on pescatarianism. Boy, do the veggies get bent out of shape over that! I guess to be classified as a true veg, you have to get into this for the 'right reasons' - the 'humane reasons'...you know, because you're pissed that Bessy the Cow has to stand in her own feces for every minute of her life up until the last merciful moment when her head gets lopped off. I mean, sure, that really sucks...and the way we treat most of the animals we eat is downright sociopathic...but am I less of a vegetarian because I'm getting into this to preserve my own life and health?
Apparently, so.
And, since I'm admitting to being incredibly selfish and uncaring about any other living creature on the food chain besides myself, I'm also going to admit that I really - and I mean REALLY - don't want to give up on fish. Sushi, to be more specific. I mean, if I cut down on the hormones, mercury, milk that's completely indigestible and other cholesterol-laden shit - what harm is it really going to be to my overall health if I indulge in sushi from time to time? Is it a gateway drug to burgers and steak? They tried to tell me that about weed back in the 90s and I never graduated to heroin or cocaine.
So, I'm thinking 90% vegan and 10% pescatarian. It's my body and it's my choice, damn it. PETA can suck it and so can Alicia Silverstone.
Btw, if you're interested in learning more about this admittedly goofy woman named Jill Ovnick and her approach to vegan living, check out vegan-gal.com. It's a low rent site, but it's got a lot of high quality info.
And, last night, I watched this low-budg propaganda piece, er, documentary on Netflix about Veganism. This is a snippet:
Is it just me, or does all of this make a lot of sense?
Are we poisoning ourselves by going against our constitutions and inhaling animal byproducts? And dude, is this whole animal protein thing a total scam? What the fuuuuu?
I don't know up from down after reading and watching all of this...but I am seriously considering leaving beef and pork and poultry and cheese and dairy and ... ugh, fish? Can I leave fish behind?
It's funny - I've also been reading up on pescatarianism. Boy, do the veggies get bent out of shape over that! I guess to be classified as a true veg, you have to get into this for the 'right reasons' - the 'humane reasons'...you know, because you're pissed that Bessy the Cow has to stand in her own feces for every minute of her life up until the last merciful moment when her head gets lopped off. I mean, sure, that really sucks...and the way we treat most of the animals we eat is downright sociopathic...but am I less of a vegetarian because I'm getting into this to preserve my own life and health?
Apparently, so.
And, since I'm admitting to being incredibly selfish and uncaring about any other living creature on the food chain besides myself, I'm also going to admit that I really - and I mean REALLY - don't want to give up on fish. Sushi, to be more specific. I mean, if I cut down on the hormones, mercury, milk that's completely indigestible and other cholesterol-laden shit - what harm is it really going to be to my overall health if I indulge in sushi from time to time? Is it a gateway drug to burgers and steak? They tried to tell me that about weed back in the 90s and I never graduated to heroin or cocaine.
So, I'm thinking 90% vegan and 10% pescatarian. It's my body and it's my choice, damn it. PETA can suck it and so can Alicia Silverstone.
Btw, if you're interested in learning more about this admittedly goofy woman named Jill Ovnick and her approach to vegan living, check out vegan-gal.com. It's a low rent site, but it's got a lot of high quality info.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Mirror Mirror On The Wall...
Who's the fattest of them all?
I am extremely frustrated. Beyond. I don't even know where to begin with this post. Oh, I know.
I've been at this for 17 months and have lost just 60 pounds.
There, I said it. I am a horribly ungrateful human being with unrealistic expectations and little to no patience to speak of.
Still, seriously...minus a few months last winter where I admittedly fell off of the wagon and gained a few pounds (not that many though, I think it was 8 altogether), I've been a good weight loss warrior. Over the past few months, I have been extremely diligent about tracking calories, working out and all the rest.
In fact, I work out, on average, at least an hour a day, 5-6x per week. For at least three of those days over the past month, I've been working out 2x a day and over 90 minutes a day.
So, imagine my frustration when the scale doesn't in any way reflect all of this hard work. My energy reflects it. My clothes are definitely starting to fit better - but they're still my fat clothes. (I have at least four sets of fat clothes to get through before this is all said and done.)
Speaking of reflections...
One of the things that really set me back psychologically happened this weekend. I stayed at a family friends' home downstate and was introduced to a new and more truthful set of mirrors. Is it just me, or do we know exactly how to stand in front of the mirrors we have in our own homes for maximum effect? And, by maximum effect, I mean minimal truth? Well, these new mirrors - wall to wall in one of the bathrooms no less - also featured an abundance of truth-telling natural sunlight. Ugh. I can't even describe the image that stood before me. It was like I was looking at someone else.
I had no idea how I looked. How I REALLY looked.
Of course, this is just one mirror and I was probably standing two feet away from myself, completely exposed. Maybe how I look is somewhere in between my sandwich board mirror and this evil mirror on the wall. It's not as though I look skinny in my home mirror! Far from it. Still, I swear, you'd never know...or if I'd been struck with amnesia at that very moment, I'd never know...that this was 60 pounds and hundreds of hours of working out later. Thousands of salads, hundreds of smoothies, and tens of thousands of squashed temptations later.
I think it's time I faced the fact that there's more going on with me than just the fact that I got fat; that I am fat. I am being completely honest with myself and all of you when I say that I am doing things right. I have my days where I cheat, but I also make sure those days come after a really good workout so it's a wash. And, I don't have many of those days at all. I'd venture a guess that they're about 30/365. Seriously.
So, if I were to put a mirror up to this situation, I think it's fair to say that there's more going on with my body beyond the bulge. I've discovered that I'm sensitive to gluten - something that's only come to light as I've started shrinking my fat cells and releasing the trapped toxins into my body (or so I'm guessing). I'm lactose intolerant all of a sudden - but that's probably just developed over time. I gain five pounds if I even think about eating something decadent - well, not really - but those cheat days I mentioned can set me back weeks.
Adding all of these things up leads me to believe that my thyroid is not at all normal. That's a medical issue and it's not the least bit surprising considering my family history. Sigh. I really don't want to start going down that road...a road of even more "you can'ts" and "you shouldn'ts" on top of tests, drugs and more problems caused by the drugs. There's always homeopathy...and I'm more inclined to go down that path first...but I'm seriously conflicted.
Would love some completely biased and opinionated thoughts on the subject. ;-)
I am extremely frustrated. Beyond. I don't even know where to begin with this post. Oh, I know.
I've been at this for 17 months and have lost just 60 pounds.
There, I said it. I am a horribly ungrateful human being with unrealistic expectations and little to no patience to speak of.
Still, seriously...minus a few months last winter where I admittedly fell off of the wagon and gained a few pounds (not that many though, I think it was 8 altogether), I've been a good weight loss warrior. Over the past few months, I have been extremely diligent about tracking calories, working out and all the rest.
In fact, I work out, on average, at least an hour a day, 5-6x per week. For at least three of those days over the past month, I've been working out 2x a day and over 90 minutes a day.
So, imagine my frustration when the scale doesn't in any way reflect all of this hard work. My energy reflects it. My clothes are definitely starting to fit better - but they're still my fat clothes. (I have at least four sets of fat clothes to get through before this is all said and done.)
Speaking of reflections...
I had no idea how I looked. How I REALLY looked.
Of course, this is just one mirror and I was probably standing two feet away from myself, completely exposed. Maybe how I look is somewhere in between my sandwich board mirror and this evil mirror on the wall. It's not as though I look skinny in my home mirror! Far from it. Still, I swear, you'd never know...or if I'd been struck with amnesia at that very moment, I'd never know...that this was 60 pounds and hundreds of hours of working out later. Thousands of salads, hundreds of smoothies, and tens of thousands of squashed temptations later.
I think it's time I faced the fact that there's more going on with me than just the fact that I got fat; that I am fat. I am being completely honest with myself and all of you when I say that I am doing things right. I have my days where I cheat, but I also make sure those days come after a really good workout so it's a wash. And, I don't have many of those days at all. I'd venture a guess that they're about 30/365. Seriously.
So, if I were to put a mirror up to this situation, I think it's fair to say that there's more going on with my body beyond the bulge. I've discovered that I'm sensitive to gluten - something that's only come to light as I've started shrinking my fat cells and releasing the trapped toxins into my body (or so I'm guessing). I'm lactose intolerant all of a sudden - but that's probably just developed over time. I gain five pounds if I even think about eating something decadent - well, not really - but those cheat days I mentioned can set me back weeks.
Adding all of these things up leads me to believe that my thyroid is not at all normal. That's a medical issue and it's not the least bit surprising considering my family history. Sigh. I really don't want to start going down that road...a road of even more "you can'ts" and "you shouldn'ts" on top of tests, drugs and more problems caused by the drugs. There's always homeopathy...and I'm more inclined to go down that path first...but I'm seriously conflicted.
Would love some completely biased and opinionated thoughts on the subject. ;-)
