Going Plant Strong - Part I

If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw that I've decided to go vegan..forever. I've been thinking a lot today about what led me in this direction and I can't really pinpoint one thing. Part of it is health reasons and the other part is ethical reasons. 

I've always been an animal welfare kind of girl. Plus I've never really liked the taste of meat but I've always considered it healthy and necessary. I was always afraid of becoming a "junk food vegetarian". I didn't ever think I'd go completely vegetarian but last September I had a moment when I just decided that I couldn't do it anymore. For over 6 months I've been completely vegetarian. It has not been hard at all for me BUT I realized I had become the exact kind of vegetarian that I was afraid of. Plenty of fruits, vegetables and junk. It's easy to do. It's easy to make excuses and not have the time to make a good dinner or plan out healthy meals. I had really good days.. and I had really bad days.

Source: http://engine2diet.com/

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I needed to do something drastic. In the past year or two I've seen tons of food documentaries (Food Inc, Fork vs. Knives, Hungry for Change, Fat Sick & Nearly Dead) and I've read quite a few books (The China Study, Eat to Live, The Unhealthy Truth, The Engine 2 Diet). and it's been really eye opening. There is some scary stuff in our food supply, people..

Almost 4 weeks ago I decided that I could commit to a vegan diet for 28 days. I really thought about it and decided that after the 4 weeks, I'd add back in dairy but not as much as I had been eating. Right after Easter I decided to add back in some dairy and it made me so sick! I've always thought I was a little bit lactose intolerant so it could definitely be that or it could have been from not having it for so long. Whichever it was, it made me decide that plant strong was the life for me. The comparison between how I've felt the last couple of weeks (lots of energy, weight loss, glowy skin, not feeling sick) to how I normally feel (tired, sick, bloated, not losing weight no matter what) was the biggest factor for me.

If your on the fence at all, you really need to watch this and you'll change your mind in a heartbeat ;)
Justin Timberlake - Bring It On Down 2 Veganville (VeganShake) - SNL 3-9-13 - Video Dailymotion

27% of Americans are..

obese! How sad is that. 27%! That's INSANE. I seriously think the new Weight Watcher plan should be taught in schools. That's how much I like it. It's not some temporary diet you do for 6 months and then get to be bad again. It's a lifestyle change.

This Saturday will be my first PointsPlus weigh in!

Source: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13575809

Cha.. Cha.. Cha.. Changes!

I have been so anxious for the new Weight Watchers program to roll out. Seriously, it's been driving me nuts. The new plan was FINALLY released today and it looks pretty cool. All fruit is 0 points now. Yay! The new points are based off Fat, Carbs, Protein & Fiber (vs. the old plan Calories, Fat, Fiber). A lot of things are higher points value but you also get more points a day plus more weekly points. 'm not officially starting until Saturday because that is when we will be learning everything at our first meeting. Saturday could not come any faster!

Weight Watchers..

I haven't talked much about weight loss on my blog and I'm not really sure why. It's something I'm constantly thinking about and I'm always on some sort of diet. About 5 years ago, my mom and I decided to start Weight Watchers and we both lost TONS of weight. I got down to my lowest weight since who knows when and I felt so great! But after I had a miscarriage (back in 2006), got married, went to college, had a baby.. you guess it.. I gained it back.. plus some. Doh!

Wishing I still fit into those jeans!

 After I had Bella I decided to give WW another go. For whatever reason, I just couldn't do it. I think it was a combination of my crazy hormones (thanks PCOS!) and willpower but I just wasn't losing it this time. So for the last 20 months, I've been switching through different diets and work outs (WW, HCG diet, Couch to 5k..) but I'm just not going anywhere. I've realized lately that I can lose weight, I just feel overwhelmed & then get discouraged and then I quit.

I keep going back to Weight Watchers because it is truly amazing. It's not some fad diet that you do for a month, it's a lifestyle. And it's totally doable. It just teaches you to look at food in a whole different light. So when I heard that they are rolling out a new program on the 29th, my heart skipped a beat. This is totally what I need. This new diet is supposed to be fantastic and I CANNOT wait.

My plan is to start WW on the 29th and I'll share my progress here on my blog. Here is to the new me!