Sunday, October 9, 2011

6 weeks in and 11 lbs down!



Today marks 6 weeks since I started my journey toward eating a mostly plant-based diet and I'm down 11 pounds!  I lost this much back in January when I went on Nutrisystem for two months, but as soon as I went off their pre-packaged food, I gained it all right back again.

This time, I'm not really dieting at all.  I'm not watching portion sizes and I'm not counting calories.  I'm just consuming mostly plant-based foods with a local, organic, humanely raised animal product thrown in about once a week or so.  I do not drink caffeine and try to stay away from artificial sweeteners whenever possible.  I also try to abstain from refined and processed sugars and carbohydrates.  Basically, I'm trying to do the whole Micheal Pollan "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" thing.

I haven't felt deprived or hungry at all, and yet the weight has been steadily falling off each week!  About 11 lbs in 6 weeks averages out to 1-2 lbs a week which is what the experts always recommend, so I feel really good about that.

I've been walking about 3-5 times a week with my dogs (like a good hour-long walk, not just around the block so they can do their business and stretch their legs a few times a day).  I'm sure that's helping some too.  I'd like to kick that up to more like 4-6 times a week with a day lifting weights in the little gym in our apartment complex.  Before my wedding I lost 20 pounds over the course of about 6 months, just by watching what I ate and lifting weights once a week (no cardio, eesh!).  So I'm hoping a combination of cardio AND lifting on a very light routine will really help me continue the downward spiral of weight loss.  I'm not looking to be my 21-year-old size again or anything, but getting down to an "average" weight can only be healthy and positive, so that's what I'm going to shoot for.


1 comment:

  1. Congrats Cousin! Isn't it amazing how easy it is to stop dieting and just start EATING! No more worrying about calories, fat grams, etc. When you eat quality, you feel like quality & your body works optimally. It makes so.much.sense but is so hard for our society to do! And if people only knew how FULL they'd feel eating whole foods!!! You have great health goals, Jess! Keep going, girl!!! You are inspiring ME!!!

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