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I forgot to post my weight loss update this past Monday… good news, as my weight chart shows, I dropped a little over a pound last week. I’m now down over 10 pounds since I went vegan in late January. My wife is commenting on the visible difference it’s making for me. Pants starting to be too baggy, just about ready to move in my belt a bit. This progress is increasing my motivation to stick with the program all the way to my goal, which is now 20 pounds away.

Just did this week’s weigh-in– pleased to report that I’m down just over 1/2 pound this week. Actually, I was on track to do better than that, but I had a day off from the diet on Easter Sunday. Ham, pie, cake, scalloped potatoes, chocolate— all the things I’m not supposed to be eating. But we’re back on the stick today, and I’m glad to see that one day off didn’t cause me to entirely lose my progress from the past week.

Onwards and downwards!

After a disappointing weigh-in last week (when I didn’t lose any weight), I made great progress in this past week. This morning I was down 2 pounds from a week ago. Excellent! Glad to see it moving in the right direction.

Had a good week working out, I only took off 1 day. I strained my shoulder lifting weights, so I’ve been focusing instead on more cardio, which is probably better for getting weight down in any case. My conditioning is really starting to pick up– I’ve been boosting my treadmill speed, and also increasing the amount of time I’m spending on it. In case you’re wondering, a typical cardio workout might be:

• 20-30 minutes on an elliptical trainer (I like the low-impact aspect of it, plus it uses some of the same leg muscles as cycling)
• 15-30 minutes on the treadmill

Total amount of time largely depends on how much time I have available for the workout. Ideally I have a full hour, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out and I have to rush. I always do at least 45 minutes though.

Just a little bit of evidence that you can indeed have a decent burger-and-onion rings meal while remaining vegan… here is Friday night’s tasty dinner. Gardenburger garnished with sprouts, tomato, and roasted peppers, along with organic onion rings and chickpea salad. Beer is still vegan, right? Good. 

I’m a big fan of the backyard BBQ. So is my wife, since BBQ night is the night that I’m primarily in charge of the cooking for once. I rule the charcoal grill like a modern day Colossus. (At least at my own house I do).

The weather has been starting to crack a bit towards spring, so on Monday I fired up the trusty old grill for the first time since last fall. Only this time, we weren’t going to be charring animal flesh. No sir. It was all about non-sentient vegetables and fungus, baby.

After pulling the cover off the grill and getting a fire going (sorry, no gas grills for me, I’m a purist and only like to use real, non-briquet, charcoal), I tossed on some asparagus lightly coated in olive oil and fresh-ground black pepper. After that, I added some portabella caps. And then finally, some Gardenburger BBQ Riblets, which appear to be some sort of soy concoction pressed to resemble actual ribs. In effect, these kind of reminded me of McDonald’s ‘McRib’ sandwich. Perhaps you may have been one of 7 or 8 people who got to sample one.

So how did my vegan feast turn out? Pretty decent, actually. I’m always a fan of grilled asparagus, so that was a hit. Grilled portabella burgers were ok (we added a slice of soy cheese, which is kind of iffy– not a taste I’ve acquired quite yet). Surprisingly, the Gardenburger riblets were really tasty, and rather convincing as ribs (notwithstanding the lack of bone). We’ll be trying them out again.

So it turns out you can grill without meat. Not quite the same, but makes for a tasty meal nonetheless.

One effect of the vegan diet which I’ve been noticing is that I’ve been getting really hungry at mealtimes (which I guess shouldn’t be too surprising), and I’ve been packing away food in larger volumes than I have in the past. Typically, I would often fill up relatively quickly when eating dinner. But after eliminating the meat, I’ve been taking in second helpings more often… and even then, not walking away from the table feeling stuffed or bloated. In fact, I typically have the munchies within an hour or two.

The good news, as I see it, is that I’m not denying myself food when I get hungry. I’ll have a snack, it’s just that it’s a meatless- and animal-product-less snack. Also, trying to keep out the simple refined sugars. I’m not on any no-carb kick. I will have rice, pasta and potatoes, although we try to lean towards brown rice, whole wheat pasta and sweet potatoes.

The effect so far has been pretty positive. Let’s see if it keeps up in the week ahead…

Time for the weekly progress report…

First off, disappointing week on the weight loss front, since my weight stayed the same at just over 215. I’m not tooo concerned about that, since I think it’s just part of natural ebb and flow of weight– you really don’t ever just go straight down. Also, my clothes continue to fit me better, which is the best way to tell.

I had a really good workout week– I worked out 6 days, taking just one day off. That is likely a factor in the weight loss, since I think I’ve been putting on some muscle. Cardiovascular condition continues to improve, which is important since cycling season will be here within the next few weeks as the weather starts to warm up.

On the veganism side, I was pretty good in the past week. Breakfasts were all vegan, lunches and snacks were almost entirely vegan (I had a falafel sandwhich one day, and I think there’s some milk which goes into the tzatziki sauce they put on it). Dinners were mostly vegan, although my wife and I splurged on Friday for pizza (no meat, just cheese and veggies), and I had salmon for dinner on Saturday. All in all, I think I’m sticking with the Kinda Vegan diet program…

Let’s rev up those paranoia levels, people! Apparently, evidence is starting to appear that the high levels of drugs consumed in the US are working their way into the water supply as water is recycled from waste to your kitchen faucet. Consider this snippet from AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water…

A vast array of pharmaceuticals (AP) — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs - and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen - in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health… more

 

For the latest outrage from China, check out Olympics clean up Chinese style: Inside Beijing’s shocking death camp for cats. Apparently, as part of the pre-Olympic hysterical nationwide house-cleaning, the Chinese have been spreading propoganda that cats are responsible for all manner of illnesses and danger, and as a result, have been rounding them up by the thousands, taking them to compounds where they are left to starve to death.

This is kind of interesting. You wouldn’t think of fast-food and vegan or vegetarian going together in the same sentence, but turns out there are several meatless fast food joints around the world. New York (of course… they also have a restaurant devoted to PB&J), Berlin, and Boulder (the hippie capital of the world). Who knew?