I don't like to use phrases that refer to my so called journey. It makes it all sound like I am cultivating some lame excuse for not doing what I should be doing in full throttle. The heck with the journey -- the journey sucks. And I'll tell you why...Somewhere in the middle of my vegan experiment I stopped losing weight. I stopped enjoying food. Going to the health club made me sick. It all happened after I visited the nutritionist. She gave me very good advice, and I believe in her advice too. But in the half hearted effort of mine to implement her suggestions somehow I stopped making progress. What's more significant is that I didn't gain any weight either. That is important, because it proves that I could maintain my health at some point in time when I have lost quite a bit more weight.
But I had to add something to the formula. I estimated by my earlier observations that I needed to add at least another hour a day of exercise to my regimen in order to 'maintain' my consistent weight loss (Yes I am doing all of this to lose weight). This all goes back to my original theory in that gaining weight is an unhealthy process, the same goes for losing weight too. To be quite honest, I am not strong enough to do an extra hour at the gym. I can't even last two hours, though I try. Although I lost seventy pounds this year, I am still at three hundred and thirty and that is a lot of weight. It is still a challenge for me to do all the stuff I do so I can't possibly double up on my exercise even if I want to. The only other alternative is to consume fewer calories. In the beginning that is exactly what I did. I consumed as few calories as possible by eating mostly vegetables, and eating right after my workout at night. I added tofu to the menu as often as possible. I had plenty of beans in there as well. When I went out I had the salad bar without eating any of the meat, cheese or egg toppings. I would pass on the salad dressing and just use vinegar and maybe a little oil. I'd treat myself on the weekends this way or going to the Middle Eastern restaurant, Indian food or the Mongolian Barbecue -- only choosing vegetarian items. I was never really into cooking, so I had the simplest, most basic of foods and I lost weight consistently in conjunction with the exercise I participated in.
The great plateau in my health journey began when I started making smoothies. I had a smoothie for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I made the 12 ounce smoothie with Tofu, a third cup of fruit, a banana and vanilla soy milk. Each smoothie was about 300 calories. I would also have something of a vegetable dish of some sort at dinner. I believe I crested 1500 calories a day. I stopped losing weight. I should congratulate myself for not gaining weight, but I have to tell you, those smoothies were nothing to celebrate about.
When my vegan experiment came to a conclusion I had a lot of conflicting feelings as to how I should evaluate my progress and whether or not to continue. In the end I felt as though eating vegan was obviously the healthy choice, but that in and of itself it was no guarantee for weight loss. I could easily maintain a steady weight as a vegan, but my problem with obesity requires a more extreme solution. I need to carve out the calories even further. I saw the raw food venue as a sure way to achieve this goal. And then I came across the Master Cleanse. Well, I'll tell you, I did it for ten days and dropped almost twenty pounds. The victory was short lived however. My sister came to visit my mom and I took some extra vacation days to be with the family. I was awash in Italian delights of one sort or another. There was hard salami, prosciutto ham and cheeses of a variety of sorts. I was drinking this awful lemonade. I caved in and started eating after the tenth day. I also injured my toe and that kept me away from the gym for a couple of weeks. With the vegan experiment and the master cleanse out of the way I began to sample meat again. I underestimated it's addictive properties. I began to crave food all over again. It was murder for me. But I already lost 70 pounds and I was not going to give that up.
The turning point came after a couple days of sampling drive thru hamburgers and burritos when I had this almost unbearable craving for Kentucky Fried Chicken's extra crispy recipe. I knew I was going to eat KFC that night as one last final meal before I reaffirm my commitment. But something inside tormented me with the sense that maybe I won't be able to stop at KFC. What will happen tomorrow, or the day after or the day after that? As I was thinking these thoughts I noticed a bounce in my step. I felt unusually good in the physical sense of the word. I felt sixty pounds lighter. I physically felt better than I had felt in many years. I thought to myself that the only reason why I felt this way was because I changed my diet and lifestyle, and that as much as I wanted to have KFC just one last time, I had to remember that I have had KFC many times before, and that I didn't need it again. That was the turning point for me. I saw and felt the change in me, and I didn't want that change to reverse itself. I wanted to stay healthy, and that meant eating right.
So today I am back on the Master Cleanse. I am using organic lemons now. But I will try to substitute the maple syrup for an orange perhaps, to give me the energy I need while taming the lemonade a bit as well. I will use the cayenne pepper in my peppermint tea perhaps, but I cannot commit to that maple syrup lemonade infused with pepper. It is awful to the taste. But I will do this for ten days and see how it goes. Then I will begin a raw food experiment again and we will see where that takes me after three months as well.
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