Feeling good, feeling great.

All the yes to this image right here! I'd be lying if I said I didn't get excited every time the number on the scale went down. Maybe it shouldn't be, but it's one of the ways I gage my success in this endeavor. However, It's becoming less and less important. I'm noticing changes in the shape of my body which is awesome, and I'm feeling great, which is even better! I have so much energy now that I actually look forward to burning some of it off with exercise! In fact, I've not only worked out every day, for the past three days, but I've also managed to get at least 10,000 steps each day too! This is pretty huge when you consider the fact that I used to average about 3,500 steps per day, and very rarely exercised. I'm blown away by how much better I feel simply from cutting out meat and dairy and eating more plant-based foods. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been easy, and I'm definitely not perfect. I might have had some bruschetta at a party tonight, the bread from which might or might not have been vegan. I couldn't tell you and neither could the party coordinators. Sometimes you just have to eat the bruschetta.

So yes, it's definitely difficult at times, especially when you're in a social setting. It can be difficult to stay the course when you're surrounded by non-vegans who silently judge you while eating their shrimp cocktail and cheese platter. It's difficult when you want to socialize but the socialization all seems to be happening around food that you can't eat. The one thing that has made this adventure easier has been surrounding myself with like-minded individuals. I'm lucky enough to have a couple of vegetarian friends who are awesome and a huge inspiration to me. They keep me sane. Yesterday I even attended a club meeting for vegetarians and vegans at the local university. Not only did I get to eat some amazing vegan cookies, but I also got to meet some pretty cool people who are in the same boat as me. It's just nice knowing that I'm not alone in this. There are people out there who have been where I am now, and who can remind me why I'm doing this. And the next time I want some questionable bruschetta, I'll remind myself that I'm doing this because the life I've gained, is so much more satisfying than the meat and cheese I've lost.

Savannah

Weekend Recap

This post is coming later than planned but I was much busier this past weekend than I thought I would be. Lets recap.

Friday:

I picked up my sister Casey and her dog Leela early Friday morning and we headed out of town to Rock Island State Park. I'd never been there before so I was pretty excited to check it out. I was completely blown away by the beauty of the place. It's easy to forget how gorgeous Tennessee is when you never get out to see it. We chose a relatively short trail (0.7 mile) but we hiked to the end of trail then back again. We then continued walking around the park until our legs gave out and we decided it was time for lunch. We hit up a Subway on the way home where I enjoyed a delicious veggie delight on multigrain flatbread. Here's a few pics from our hike:

Saturday

James and I spent the entire day working on a backyard shed. We've been building this darn thing since the end of February so we were determined to finally finish it over the weekend. By 5:00pm we were both so tired that we couldn't even lift a screwdriver, yet somehow we found the energy to drive to town for some treats. I got a caramel iced coffee with soy milk from Starbucks, and he got a milkshake from Sonic. After working so hard in the hot sun all day, that iced coffee hit the spot. Neither one of us was particularly hungry that evening so we ended up just eating homemade fries with sriracha ketchup for dinner.

Sunday

We got up bright and early Sunday morning to finish the shed before it got too hot. We got it done right around lunch time so to celebrate we headed to Taco Bell. I got a veggie Cantina Power Burrito with rice, black beans, jalapenos, salsa, guacamole, and lettuce. - Pro Tip: if you're on a special diet and need to make changes/substitutions to your order then I highly recommend ordering through the mobile app. It makes customizing your order so much easier, AND they always offer sweet coupons! We used a coupon for $2 off our order of $10 or more. - After lunch we swung by Lowes to pick up a car load of landscaping materials, then went back home to build a flower bed in the front yard. We were beat after toiling in the southern sun all day so when the landscaping was done we cleaned up, had some more homemade fries for dinner, this time with leftover black bean and lentil chili on top, and spent the rest of the evening on the couch watching a movie.

I racked up a ton of fit points this weekend so I'm pretty confident that weigh-in day will be a breeze. :)

Savannah

Weighing in and working out

Today was weigh-in day and I have to admit that I was a little nervous about what the scale might have in store for me. You see, after talking a big game in my previous post about how easy it is stay under my daily points total while eating a plant-based diet, I somehow managed to blow not only all of my daily points yesterday, but 15 weekly points too. Well, not SOMEHOW, I know how. I'm not proud of it, but I ate pizza last night. A lot of pizza. It wasn't vegan. I regret it. Let's move on. Thankfully, all is not lost though because I still ended up losing 1.6 pounds this week. It's basically a miracle. And now that I've confessed and we've agreed to forget about it, let me tell you about my day.

First, I decided that I needed wanted a cute new workout outfit so I headed to TJ Maxx first thing this morning to do a bit of shopping. I ended up grabbing a new graphic tank, some capri joggers, and because I still haven't figured out which box my old one is packed away in, a new water bottle.

By the time I returned home from my shopping endeavor I was completely famished, so I threw together a simple lunch of pasta with homemade sauce. I realize that homemade sauce doesn't actually sound all that simple, but I promise it was. I just threw some salt-free tomato sauce into a pot with lots of spices, garlic, and chopped tomato, bell pepper, zucchini, and spinach, let it simmer for a bit and then served it over noodles. See? Easy!

Consider it crushed.

After lunch I did a few household chores and then decided to give my new outfit a try. I wanted to do Kenpo X but couldn't find my P90X videos so I found a kickboxing workout video on YouTube to try instead. It was WAY less intense than Kenpo X but was still fun and definitely made me sweat. Don't ask me why I'm flexing as if I actually have something to flex. Just wait arms, one day you will have muscles. One day...

What's better after a hot, sweaty, workout than a big, hot, bowl of chili? I possibly didn't think that out too well... Oh well, this lentil and black bean chili was still da bomb, even if I totally wasn't in the mood for anything hot after working out. At least I didn't have to slave over a hot stove to make it. Crockpot dinner ftw!

So that's my day in a nutshell. I'm going on a hike with my sister tomorrow morning and will for sure be documenting it so look for a new post tomorrow!

Savannah

Catching up

It's been a while since my last post so here's a few little notes to get you up to speed.

1. I'm still doing the whole vegan/plant-based diet thing. Full disclosure - I ate a cupcake. It wasn't vegan, and it definitely wasn't plant-based, but it sure was delicious! I don't feel too badly about it though because I planned the cupcake encounter ahead of time so at least it wasn't done on an impulse. That was last Saturday and since then my only non plant-based treat was a grande caramel iced coffee from Starbucks. It was totally still vegan though because I got soy milk in that shiz. Otherwise, I've been on track. I've not had any meat, dairy, or processed foods. I've not had any sugar (other than the coffee and cupcake), I've not used any artificial sweetener, and I haven't used any oil, although there's a fairly high chance that my veggies from Ruby Tuesday last night had at least some oil. All in all, I'm enjoying the diet far more than I ever anticipated. I'm sleeping well, I have more energy, I'm losing weight, my cravings have stopped, and my skin is softer and smoother. #winning

2. I tried my first ever fitness class and didn't die! My friend invited me along to a La Barre class on Monday and it sounded like it could be fun so I tagged along. It did end up being fun, but man am I out of shape! I never knew that pointing your toes and doing a few curtsies could be so hard. The class was three days ago and I'm still hurting. It was that good. The $5 price tag for a 30 minute class was a bit steep in my opinion, but I'd be willing to do it every once in a while to shake up my fitness routine.

3. I'm still tracking points on Weight Watchers but I'm planning on canceling my membership once my three months are up. Since I've switched to a plant-based diet I've found that it's actually really difficult to use up all of my daily points. I'm eating a TON of food but because it's all relatively low in calories, I typically end the day with at least 6 or 7 smartpoints left over. I just don't feel like I need Weight Watchers to hold my hand anymore. I've got this. I'll probably still track calories in My Fitness Pal though so I'll let you know my experience with that once I make the switch.

So there you have it. I'll be making every effort to post on a more regular basis from now on and will continue to keep you updated on my plant-based journey. Thanks for reading!

Savannah

Transitions

After quite a bit of research and consideration I have decided to transition to a plant-based diet. It’s becoming abundantly clear to me that it is not possible to be truly healthy while consuming the traditional American diet of meat, dairy, and processed foods. I know that many out there will question my decision to begin eliminating these foods, some may even call me crazy. If it’s crazy to want to be healthy, to avoid developing heart disease and diabetes, to lose weight, and to eat whole, natural foods, then yes, I’m crazy. As much as I would love to say that I’ve embraced a future completely devoid of meat, dairy, and processed foods, I realize that it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to completely avoid these foods entirely. I will however make every effort to avoid them, and they will definitely no longer make up the bulk of my diet. Instead, my diet will mainly consist of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. In fact, I’ve already begun changing my diet to reflect this, and I’m loving it. My crazy cravings for sweets and greasy foods have completely stopped, I’m somehow enjoying foods that I’ve never liked before (I’m looking at you avocado!) and I can actually notice a spike in my energy level after eating, while I used to just want to curl up and take a nice long nap after eating a big meal.

Plant based tacos

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though, I started experiencing tell-tale detox symptoms today. It sucks, but I know the headaches, stomach discomfort, and body aches will eventually fade, and until they do, they’re a reminder that I clearly wasn’t eating the right foods before. This transition is going to be difficult, but I NEED to love myself more than I love food, which is a lot. I really love food.

Breakfast smoothie

If you’re curious about whole foods plant based diets and want to learn more then I highly suggest checking out Eat to Live by: Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Forks Over Knives by: Gene Stone. I also suggest watching the Forks Over Knives film which is free to stream on Netflix. If you have any questions for me then please leave them in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you! I’ll be blogging about my experience with switching to a plant-based diet and any challenges I may face along the way so check back, and be sure to follow me on instagram! @goodbyehampants

Savannah

A good day to dye

My allergies have been completely awful this spring. I've been finding it very difficult to wake up in the mornings and have even made a habit out of heading back to bed for an hour or so after my husband has left for work. Today was the first day in a while that I actually felt good and didn't want to sleep all day, so I tried to make the best of it by eating well and being active.

Eating well was a little bit difficult since I desperately need to make a trip to the grocery store. My fridge and cabinets are woefully empty so I had to get a little creative with my meals. For breakfast I ended up just having a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip No Cow bar (heated in the microwave for 15 seconds), and a big ol' mug of coffee.

After breakfast I installed the FitBreak app on my phone. It's made by Weight Watchers and is full of one minute mini workouts that you can do pretty much anywhere. You start out by logging into your Weight Watchers account and then setting a daily FitBreak goal. I set my goal to 20 (you can adjust your goal at any point) and immediately found five mini workouts to try. The goal with this app is to get you up and moving throughout the day, so I spaced my FitBreaks out into four separate five minute workouts. It doesn't seem like a one minute workout would be challenging at all, but some of the videos were actually pretty tough to get through. Maybe it's just because I'm so out of shape...

For lunch I made a Greek chicken wrap. I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and oregano, and cooked it in the skillet until gold brown. I then added some sliced bell pepper and cooked until crisp-tender. I only had half a piece of flatout bread left in the fridge so I put the chicken and peppers inside along with some jalapenos, spinach, and tzatziki sauce. It was surprisingly good for something that I threw together from the remnants of my fridge.

After lunch I decided that I should probably get at least a little bit of work done so I dyed some fabric that I will later turn into head wraps, and then took a break to cuddle with Neko. Cuddle breaks are important ya'll.

I had some zucchini left in the fridge that needed to be eaten so I ended up making SkinnyTaste's Chicken Zoodle "Lo Mein" for two for dinner. At this point my veggie options were severely limited so I ended up throwing in some cabbage, bell pepper, and green onion. Super tasty, super filling.

It's now after 7:00pm and I still have 15 daily smart points left and no hope of using them all before heading to bed. I'm trying to get better about using all of my daily points but everything that I've eaten today has been both low in points, and really filling. I suppose I'll have to make a trip to the grocery store tomorrow so that we don't starve. I'll try to actually come up with a meal plan for the week so that we don't run out of food again. No promises.

Savannah

Staying Motivated

Sometimes the hardest part of losing weight is staying motivated when things don't go your way. Sometimes the scale isn't your friend, and sometimes it doesn't reflect the work you've put in. That's okay. As annoying as it is, it's perfectly normal to lose little or no weight after a large loss. It can be easy to get discouraged when this happens, but it's important to remember your goals, and realize that this isn't a setback, it's just your body trying to figure things out.

This time around I have a really great support system in place to keep me motivated, and to hold me accountable. I'm lucky in that I have two really great people on my team. My husband has been amazing about the whole thing. We didn't eat terribly before but our diet has still changed pretty dramatically. Even so, he's eaten everything I've put in front of him without complaint. He even has the Weight Watchers app on his phone and uses it to find restaurants with healthier options on days when I don't feel like cooking. I also have a good friend who is on the same journey as I am. I can't stress how helpful this is! We can text each other when we have a bad day, or when we give in to temptation and eat ALL THE PIZZA! We can also text each other when we have really awesome days or when we don't give in to the pizza temptation. Having someone there that won't judge you when you screw up, and who will celebrate with you when you have a big loss or reach a significant milestone is pretty freaking fantastic.

Another big way that I stay motivated is by following other Weight Watchers members on Instagram. I love seeing everyone's progress pictures. I'm not at the point yet where I can really see a difference in my body so being able to see the transformations that others have gone through is hugely motivating. I also love all of the healthy meal inspiration I get from following these ladies. I hate boring food so seeing all the delicious, low point foods that everyone else has found to eat is a big help. A few of my favorites to follow are: on__point, trackingisthenewblack, rachyrachyww, and lauren_losingit.

I had to remind myself many times last week why I was doing this after only seeing a one pound loss. One pound is a totally respectable number by the way, it was just difficult to digest after having the big 3.8 pound loss the week before. But I stuck with it, I made some small adjustments like drinking fewer carbonated beverages and cutting back on the amount of carbs I was consuming (bread, pizza, pasta...) and this week I was down 3 pounds! Stick with it. Even when the scale is being a jerk and refusing to budge, don't give up. Find other ways to measure your success, like your energy level, the fact that your clothes are fitting more loosely, or even that you finally found a way to prepare brussels sprouts that you actually like. Be proud of the progress you've made, and keep up the good work!

Savannah