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Old 08-31-2004, 02:32 PM   #1  
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Red face two years of progress, and advice needed

Hello everybody!

I've been vegetarian for two years and one month. I wanted to review my goals, and chart my progress, and see if any of you have suggestions as to what to do next.

Goal: To eat vegan most days, but to refrain from obsessing about food.

Over the past two years, I've
-- Given up meat
-- Stopped eating eggs as an entree item
-- Stopped baking with eggs in my own kitchen
-- Substituted turbinado for sugar in half of my recipes
-- Stopped drinking milk
-- Stopped cooking with milk in my own kitchen
-- Identified a few restaurants where I can go to get a vegan meal
-- Learned how to cook tofu
-- Eliminated butter, and margarine that contains whey, in my own kitchen
-- Gone 58 days without cheese on purpose, plus some days that weren't planned in advance

I don't know what to do next. My main hurdles are restaurant food, and cheese. Also, I have stopped losing weight, because my efforts at animal-product elimination have plateaued over the past year.

Here are the next steps I am thinking about:
1. Count calories (a reasonable amount) to spur weight loss. Then,
2. Add exercise -- something I've slacked on. Then,
3. Stop cooking with cheese at home. Then,
4. Stop eating cheese at restaurants. Then,
5. Eat vegan at restaurants. With the end goal being,
6. Eat vegan except for a couple days a month.

My last concern is that I don't want to obsess over food. I had food and weight issues back in junior high. Plus, some vegans I know talk more about weight (theirs and other people's) than about health or environment reasons. I don't want an eating disorder.

I've written a giant honking book! I don't mean to be so narcissistic. I know you all have good ideas and can think outside the box. What should I do next?
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Old 08-31-2004, 03:46 PM   #2  
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It sounds like you have a good plan set out. Counting calories and exercising more are a logical step to losing weight. There's way too many high calorie convience foods (like, say, lots of potato chips) that are vegan to think that just not eating animal products is enough to lose weight without any attention to the kind of food and amount you consume.

I don't know what your diet's like now, but I've been counting calories, exercising more, and emphasizing whole foods in my diet for the past few months and have been losing at a slow, steady pace.

Eating out at restaurants will be the hardest thing to going completely vegan. You'll end up eating lots of pasta and tomato sauce and salad unless you pick your restaurants carefully.

Good luck on not obsessing about food. If I knew how to do that, I wouldn't be here.
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Old 09-01-2004, 04:10 PM   #3  
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Thanks for your support. You are absolutely right about convenience foods. I eat way too many potato chips.
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Old 09-01-2004, 04:30 PM   #4  
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You sound like you are doing really well

The cheese thing is a definite big one. Maybe trying out some low-fat cheese or soy cheese in small amounts would help. Your plan of cutting it out at restaurants is a good one.

And exercise will definetely help you - just don't freak out if you don't lose as soon as you start exercising...you will start developing muscle and your body needs to adjust, muscle weighs more than fat but it is a heck of a lot healthier to carry around muscle
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Old 09-04-2004, 04:56 PM   #5  
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Thank you! Soy cheese, unfortunately, is not on my menu. It feels oily without the nice fat of real cheese. After going without cheese for a while, I don't miss it. Then I start eating it in small amounts... then big amounts. I'm thinking about having one cheesy day a month.

Anyway, for Sept I'm going to work on counting calories and exercising. Next month I'll try cutting out more animal products. Right now, I just need the scale to budge. Even though my ultimate goal is fewer animal products, if the scale went down, I'd feel a lot more motivated.
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Old 09-11-2004, 11:05 AM   #6  
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if you go vegan, you will "obsess" about food. i dont look at it as obsessing, i look at it as being super in touch and in control over what you put in your body. sounds to me like you dont want to be obsessed with your weight. i've found that the only way for me not to be obsessed with my weight is to know exactly what i eat every day and to excercise frequently. if i know i am trying my hardest i dont feel bad even if i dont lose. if you pick up the excercise while also going closer towards veganism, you should see results easily. you already seem to have a firm grasp on what you put into your body. i admire your commitment. i went veggie about 3 years ago but started eating fish again recently. i thought about going vegan for a long time but i couldnt give up the eggs and cheese. good luck on your future goals.
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Old 09-13-2004, 09:51 AM   #7  
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The part about being "in touch" is great. That puts the emphasis on the ideals and health reasons behind veganism, rather than the food.

There's a radio commercial round these parts that is all about how livestock farming improves the community. One of the spokespersons on the commercial talks about how he is a soybean farmer, and how he supports livestock farming. I kept thinking, what with tofu and soy milk, "Dude! I probably eat half your crop!" Point being, eating fewer animal products really is a cultural decision. So the part about being "in touch" is a good perspective.

I have a friend who is actually vegan, who when she first started, had to eat some fish. She said she had trouble in the beginning with getting enough protein. Sometimes it's hard to get the right combination going. Then our bodies crave things, and it takes a lot of willpower not to give in. I'm adding more nuts to my diet, starting this week. I'm hoping that will lead to fewer cheese cravings. Have gone without cheese for about four days now.

Cheese is hard -- but after you go without it for a while, you feel a whole lot better.
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