This is the last day of the Engine 2 Diet Challenge that I’ve been doing for the last 28 days.

The guidelines were an all vegan diet with minimal/no processed food and no added oil. I wasn’t perfect. I had some dairy along the way mostly by accident. I ordered a veggie burger and didn’t realize it came with cheese until I bit into it, etc.

But, we’ve had big changes around here in the last 28 days.

  • As of the end of last week I’d lost 10 lbs.  It may be more now but I’m writing this before work and my only scale is at the office.  That happened even though I ate my weight in vegan food every day in Vegas.
  • Remember the aspirational jeans?  One pair went on but was too tight to wear in public and the other wouldn’t zip even though it was the same brand in the same size.  I tried them on yesterday.  I got frustrated because the one fit even worse than before when they were zipped up.  Then I realized I had them confused.  I had the pair on that I couldn’t zip up before!  The other pair is looser but still can’t go in public.  Maybe another 10 lbs from now?
  • The husband watched Forks Over Knifes all on his own.  He didn’t realize the connection to what I’m doing.  He decided to go vegetarian.
  • I had him meet with a dietician to tweak his diet so he had more energy and she told him everything I told him so he is leaning vegan with moments of cheese-fueled rebellion.

 

This is my refrigerator right now.  I did some meal prep yesterday and now I have to make enough food to feed the husband too.  There is veggie paella, potato soup from left over mashed potatoes, lentil sloppy joes, plain lentils, and three bean salad.

I plan on sticking with this since my results have been so good.  I’ve been vegan at home for a while now and I’ll try to stay that way when I’m out.  I’m not putting a label on it and saying I’m a vegan now especially when other people are cooking for me.  Vegetarian in those situations is good enough.

I’ve realized that I’m at the point in veganism where I was before I went vegetarian.  That was a gradual process over years until the last meat I was eating was Big Macs and Taco Bell meat.  I realized one day around 2000 in the Taco Bell drive-through that those were the worst meats possible to eat and that it would be easier to just answer “Yes” when people asked if I was vegetarian instead of explaining.  Right now I mainly want dairy in junk food.  Cheesecake, ice cream, brownies, and all manner of desserts.  I can make those vegan at home but if I’m out that is my temptation.  I don’t really need to be eating those so as long as I stay on healthy foods I’m fine.

I like this way of eating because I can pretty much eat all I want.  No worries about calorie counting.  If you don’t believe that scroll back to read the Vegas meal posts.  This is good for the husband too because he doesn’t like worrying about portion size.

It has been a good month for us.  I’ll keep you posted on how it is going for both of us.