About Me

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Oregon, United States
Wife, mother, homemaker, teacher and aspiring writer. I love learning about health and sharing that information with others. But I am not a health expert, so please take any advice given on this blog at your own risk

Sunday, November 20, 2011

End of Week 10: I Reached My Goal Weight!

It's the end of week 10 and I've finally reached my goal weight! I lost almost one and a half pounds this week! When I started this plant-based diet I did it for the overall health benefits and so this weight loss is an added bonus! I have always had trouble losing weight and at one time I even joined Weight Watchers in a desperate attempt to lose the stubborn 15 lbs that I could not shed even through vigorous exercise at the gym. The goal weight I just achieved is one that Weight Watchers helped me set for myself all those years ago. I reached it once, but could never do it again. What's wonderful is that this time I've not had to restrict how much I eat. No counting calories or points, I just eat until I'm full!

As for my husband, his weight has stayed the same this week. He usually loses weight more easily than I do, but I suspect he's not consuming enough calories. He has only freshly squeezed juice for breakfast, fruit for lunch and then a regular evening meal. I remember being told at Weight Watchers that if  you don't eat enough, you will have trouble losing weight because your body thinks it's in starvation mode and conserves fat for future use. Also the doctors from the Forks Over Knives documentary inform us that we will have to eat more on a plant-based diet in order to consume enough calories. My mom was happy to hear that when she started this diet last week!

At the start of our plant-based journey I said we would be trying this diet for 10 weeks, until Thanksgiving, but because of all the health benefits we're experiencing we've decided to continue it. It will be interesting to see how we get through Thanksgiving as well as a wedding that we're going to this week. In my next blog post, I'll let you know how we do.

It's the first time I'm having to think differently about what to serve for Thanksgiving and it might be the same for you too. Are you struggling with what to cook for Thanksgiving? If you need some ideas, here's  a video of the  plant-based Thanksgiving meal prep with Julieanna Hever. You can watch it at https://www.facebook.com/forksoverknives?sk=app_142371818162. In a few days, the video will be removed from Livestream and uploaded to the Fork Over KnivesYouTube channel. If you have trouble accessing the video, the recipes are posted at http://www.forksoverknives.com/vegan-thanksgiving-recipes/.

Happy Thanksgiving!

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations on reaching your goal weight! Finding an alternative to counting calories is huge. The day to day discipline and attention to detail required by that method (calorie counting) is hard to sustain. The approach you've taken, making systemic adjustments to the types of food you're eating, rather than drilling into the ingredients of individual dishes, seems much more reliable as a means of finding long term success.

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  2. Thanks Chad!I agree it is a much more sustainable way to lose weight. If I continue this lifestyle I know I can keep excess weight off for life!

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  3. Happy Thanksgiving Kiran and family! Michele

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