Vegan Diet Update

So some of you might be curious about how my vegan/gluten-free diet is going, and some of you just couldn't give two shits: the more likely of the two. Well this update is for the former, and the later can stop reading now. ;)

So as you know from the post I wrote a few weeks ago, I was frustrated with some unexpected weight gain and wanted to change things. The doctor told me to give a vegan gluten-free lifestyle a chance, and it could help. Now let me just say that I was totally one of those people who thought that vegans were absolutely nuts/extremists/hippies/fillintheblank. Also, meat and I have a wonderful relationship. To me it doesn't get much better than a carne asada burrito or a rare steak. I ate meat and bread like it was going out of style: of course I ate fruits and veggies too, I mean come on, my dad works in produce, it's not like I'm a stranger to spinach or broccoli. But meat and bread were a huge staple in my daily diet.

I went cold turkey. For the first two weeks, I ate nothing but fresh fruits and vegetables: a completely raw diet. I think the strangest thing about it was that I was rarely hungry. I thought I would be ravished without meat and bread, but in reality, I rarely felt the hunger pangs that had plagued me and led me to check the fridge/pantry ever two hours. On the flip side, since I was not compelled by hunger, I did not eat as much as I probably should have. I mean, I'm not going to force broccoli and carrots down my throat if my stomach isn't yearning for it. So in this respect, I was probably getting too few calories to keep my doctor (and my tummy) happy. But other than this, I was following everything about the diet to a tee.

Through these two weeks, I made myself suffer. How did I do that you ask? I didn't step on a scale once. We all know that the home and doctor scale are two very different demons, and instead of subjecting myself to both of them, I figured I'd trust the doctor's scale and go by that one only. So I was following this radical diet change for two weeks without any proof of it working or not (except for fitting into a pair of shorts that hadn't fit in a year, just in time for my San Diego trip, yay!!), and I was exceptionally excited to step on that doctor's scale.

Two weeks had passed. Kris and I sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office, my palms sweating out of shear anticipation. Finally I was called in, got on the scale and was floored at the results.

16 pounds lost in 2 weeks.

I was fucking ecstatic! I couldn't keep the smile off of my face during the whole appointment. All my doctor could say was, "Wow!" She was thrilled, of course. She told me to up my calories a bit with some avocados and sweet potatoes, but other than that she was very impressed with my results. She wants me to stay with the program I am doing, but I now get to cook some of my veggies and add some beans, nuts and seeds into the mix. She still wants me to stay away from grains for now until I'm farther into my journey, but honestly I'm fine with that. I'm just glad I get some variety now.

So anyway, that's how it's working so far! If you are interested in following my diet plan, watch "Forks Over Knives", or ask me and I'd be happy to share! My next appointment will be in two weeks from this Thursday, most likely. I am a little nervous for spending a week in San Diego followed by a week in New York, because I'm just not sure how easy it will be to stay on this diet (especially New York, they're like KNOWN for their amazing restaurants), but I will just remember the feeling of stepping on the scale and seeing those results!