I maybe should post this in the regular diet plan spot, but I just love you guys and feel very comfortable around here. Anyway, I've been crying and moaning about all my plateaus and while I eat clean very easily in the warmer months, this winter has made me seek out comfort foods, easy meal preps, and just generally not be very good about watching what I eat. I am not a good calorie counter or follower of any particular diet plan, but one thing I do like is healthy/organic versions of frozen or convenience foods. I've meant to try the diet plan from Amy's Kitchen for a while now, and this morning I noticed that they have a vegan option (they also have gluten-free options, too, and all their stuff is at least lacto-ovo vegetarian at minimum). The vegan plan is two weeks long. I always lose weight when I cut out meat from my diet, but I've never tried to go 100% totally vegan before with very much success. What I'm hoping is that this plan (which is pretty calorie-generous and has enough diversity to it that I won't feel deprived *knock on wood*) will help kick start me into seeing some scale movement and inspire me to make vegan choices more consistently when I'm in more of a mood to actually cook and whatnot.

I was already planning a grocery trip tonight after work, so I suppose it wouldn't be hard to start this tomorrow and call Thursday the 20th "Day 1 of 14." Wish me luck!

Goodluck! I'm all for people cutting out meat!

Thanks, all! I just got back from procuring what I need for the first four days, and let me tell you, this plan is not easy on the wallet! I definitely can't afford to eat this stuff exclusively for much longer than the prescribed 14 days. That appears to be the main downside so far. Average price per meal is about four bucks. Eesh.

Day 1's breakfast was extremely hearty! I totally don't feel even the least bit deprived! So far so good!

Is the plan on their website?

I love their soups and dinners. I buy them at Target for the cheapest price.

Yup, the whole plan is on their web site. I'm on Day 3 and I've lost a pound and a half!!!!

The dinners in the vegan version are a TINY bit spartan, but otherwise I feel really good and haven't cheated at all!

2 lbs. in 4 days. I'm loving this plan so far, and I still don't feel deprived or like I'm eating "fake" food. One thing it's doing is showing me proper portion control. I also think this would be a safe, quick little way to get back under one's "red line" weight when in maintenance mode (like, if my goal weight is 115 and I stay between 112 and 118 but if I go back over 118, I'd be more than happy to go back on this plan for two weeks, knowing it's probably going to get me back to 115 very quickly and without making really any other lifestyle changes).

Okay, I'm still on this and still (for the most part) loving it, but I would be remiss if I didn't describe some of the downsides, too:

- You're eating a lot of beans. I mean, A LOT. And, beans being beans... well, you get the idea.

- I feel like with this plan being so vegetable protein heavy and very wheat-based carb light (the most "bread" I'm eating is whole wheat tortillas), I'm getting very grouchy and headache-y. Now, mind you, I am a little carbaholic, so going lower carb than normal is something I should be doing, but, argh, I can almost feel the seratonin fall out of my brain! It's making me a little foggy-headed.

Anyway, I'm sallying forth. I think I'm going to up my water intake and hopes that helps me feel a little perkier and less, er, "beany."

I want to keep hearing updates so keep em coming! I eat a lot of Amy's anyway so this really interests me. I didn't see calorie counts on their website though, have you counted off the packages? I'd like to know how many the plan is.

Thanks, WF, I'll definitely keep you guys updated. I weighed in this morning at about 127.5, so the pounds are definitely coming off, and relatively quickly.

Calorie counts for the vegan version are between 900 and 1500 calories a day, depending on how you decide to structure it. I've been keeping to between 1100 and 1300 every day. The main thing I'm not doing is all the snacks they advocate: lots of nuts and fruit, which I should probably be doing but I'm not really a snacker. OTOH, I'm realizing too that having more fruit snacks would probably make me feel perkier, so I may integrate those in. It's very easy to customize, because every day's menu also has a note on it saying "need a little extra?" and has stuff to add in for the full 1500-calorie version. If you follow each day's plan precisely as listed, you'll supposedly hit very close to 1200 calories a day. If you delete some things, you'll wind up with fewer.

Every day, I write down the calorie counts of everything I consume on the plan, and I keep it clipped to my fridge.

Yesterday I kind of knew I was at about 127.5, but this morning I am definitely down to 127, no half-pounds about it!

Now for the slight downside: in addition to the slightly "overbeaned" type feelings my insides are going through, I had heartburn this morning. I NEVER get heartburn, so this was kind of a moment of serious bleh for me. Ugh. If you're not used to a slightly spicy diet, this is not something you want to enter into lightly.

Today is day 8. If I continue with just the 14 days of the plan, then I'm just over halfway done. While I do like some elements of this (yay, measurable weight loss in a short time! yay, organic vegan food!), I'm not loving the expense or some of the physical effects. I'm trying to come up with a modified variant to get me through 'til my goal weight.

KAT,

Have you tried BEANO? They have liquid drops and the chewables to tone down the gas. I used to use it and it helped alot and then when I started eating beans again recently. I totally forgot about that. I will be definitely picking some up until my body adjusts to the beans again!

I love following your journey though. Since I am definitely not a big meat eater and have been leaning toward the vegetarian lifestyle - this seems like something cool to do especially when I go through my spells when I dont want to cook but want nice meals.

Keep posting please!

That's great Kat! How many pounds total have you lost since starting this?

About 3 lbs. in 8 days.