30 Day Vegan Challenge - How Did It End?

Hello readers! I had no intention of letting this much time go by without a blog post, but my job and life have gotten the better of me lately. I have a lot to recap about my vegan challenge. So let's rewind...

April 30th - Last Day of the Vegan Challenge

I completed a full 30 days of eating vegan meals - in fact, I made it 32 days! I even resisted yet another coworker's birthday cake on the last day official day of my 30 day challenge. I still had my Tofutti cream cheese and my black bean burgers and whatnot, so I continued to eat them. I felt fantastic for those 32 days - light, fit, and healthy. I had all intentions of staying vegetarian and eating vegan as often as possible. I ate vegan from April 1st until May 2nd. On Friday, May 3rd, I broke the vegan streak but still ate vegetarian meals. That Friday, my boyfriend Dan and I went to Pinstripes, one of our favorite restaurants. We had plenty of money left on my gift card to spend there, and so we indulged - far, far too much. I hated myself as we left the restaurant. I had not eaten that much in one sitting for 32 days, and I felt physically ill after the meal! I came home that night and fell asleep immediately. It was a full blown food coma.

It started off with their heavenly breadsticks and pesto olive oil dipping sauce.

Then we moved on to the crab cake.

Then I ate half of my vegetable pizza...

And then came time for dessert. Dan and I could not decide if we wanted the amazing ice cream stuffed profiteroles we had last time, or something else. So...we got two desserts. Profiteroles and ice cream and cookies, which consisted of three scoops of gelato and four cookies.

We finished almost all of the dessert. Thank goodness I had SOME control over the pizza and only ate half of it! I hated the feeling of fullness and sickness I had on the car ride home, and I was confused as to how I had so much self control for 32 days and then let it all go so quickly. After 20 minutes or so, I decided to stop beating myself up so much - it was over and done with. I'd just have to remember this awful sick feeling next time, so that I wouldn't go there again.

On Saturday, May 4th, I went to Coopers Hawk for lunch with a coworker of mine. I had looked at the menu earlier in the week, because I wanted to order something vegetarian. I was very interested in the eggplant and veggie ravioli. However, once we got to the restaurant, I started eyeing my old favorite at Coopers - chicken giardiniera. It's two huge chicken breasts breaded and covered with a zesty giardiniera. I usually ordered mine with mashed potatoes. I spotted a "low cal" version of this on the Coopers Life Balance menu - it would just be one chicken breast over a bit of pasta and veggies, and the chicken was not breaded. It was listed at 500 calories. Hmmmmm...I debated over what to order. I had given thought earlier in the week to allowing myself one meat meal per week. Was this it?

I ordered the chicken, and as I ate it, I was mad I didn't order the eggplant ravioli. The chicken was OK, but I really didn't enjoy it all that much, and then I just felt guilty. I have read so much information on factory farming and animal welfare. I know I feel strongly about it, but clearly, I must not be there 100 percent. I'm not sure why that is, and I've been going through a lot of internal conflict on it lately. While I was proud of myself for setting up and completing the 30 day vegan challenge, I also knew I would feel like a hypocrite once I broke it.  I was recently reading some comments on a discussion board about someone who had been vegan for years and started eating meat again. One comment stood out to me:

"Well, obviously, she wasn't actually vegan. She may have eaten vegan meals, but the diet is a side effect of being vegan. Obviously she had not made the ethical and spiritual connections. Once you have those components, you cannot weigh a moment's worth of taste pleasure against all the harm that carnism causes to the world."

I related to that completely. Yes, I ate vegan meals - and that was it. I don't know if I'll ever fully be at the level the person above references. I know I felt fantastic on a vegan diet, but I also know that if I want a damn cupcake once in awhile, then I want a cupcake - and I don't want to have to give all this thought to an egg being used in a recipe. I'm not selfless enough to go there 100%. However, I do stand by my belief that cutting back on meat and dairy consumption makes a big impact on personal health and, if everyone combined their efforts, it would make an impact on the conditions for animals and reduce the environmental impact.

I still drink almond milk and will never drink cow's milk again - almond milk just tastes SO much better and is so much better for you! I've also continued to purchase soy coffee creamer and Tofutti "Better Than Cream Cheese". I've continued to make vegan dishes - I recent made grilled tofu with pineapple over a bed of quinoa mixed with pineapple peach salsa. I still love how vegan dishes taste and I love even more how they make me feel. But no matter how good I feel from it, I cannot commit 110%. I just can't.

The Never Ending Journey

I also wanted to share my weight loss results from going vegan. I have to say, there was a part of me expecting to drop a lot more weight - I thought cutting out meat and dairy would make a huge impact. However, I'm glad I didn't drop a drastic amount of weight because if I did, it would be very hard to permanently keep it off. I feel I am at a healthy, manageable weight now.

Here is a recap of my weight loss this year:

January 1st
137.6 pounds
26.4% body fat
30.5" waist
37" hips

April 1st
128.8 pounds
23.7% body fat
27.5" waist
34.25" hips

My weight loss from January to April is due to preparing more meals at home, cutting back on alcohol intake, and complete elimination of fast food. Although I have never been one to eat fast food every day, I did have it 1 to 2 times per week. I am fast food free for 130 days and counting, and I don't miss it at all.

May 1st - post vegan challenge
124.2 pounds (My goal weight was 125! Love this!)
22.2% body fat
27.5" waist
34" hips

Measurements really didn't change much, but the other numbers did. All my clothes have become much looser and I dropped a dress size!

Stress at work has gotten the better of me the past week or so, and I have found myself once again fighting my sweet tooth and cravings for junk food. This again has brought on frustration of how I felt virtually no cravings during my month of veganism. This weekend, I will be taking some time to get back to my healthy meal planning. I lost 12 pounds since January, and I don't want it to come back!

Now that the weather is nice again, I've been doing a lot of running out doors again. Training for my third half marathon will begin mid-June. I've noticed that since eating better, my running has improved a lot.

Last summer, I was a 10 - 10:15 mile consistently. I feel a lot better and lighter when I run. I've also been keeping up with boot camp classes twice a week. I'd really like to go three times a week, but 5:30 AM classes are so tough to wake up for!

I'm looking forward to planning out some more vegetarian and vegan meals for next week!