Getting Discouraged. Please Help!
I am starting to get discouraged. I became vegan 19 days ago, my choice had to do with many factors, primarily my disgust of the treatment of farm animals even in "humane farms" but also because I was already someone who didn't like meat or poultry or anything but fish anyway, never used butter for anything, and rarely ate cheese. Milk was always almond so it was an easy transition. Since I am not a chef by any means and since I am a foodie who wanted delicious meals in perfect portions totaling less than 1200 calories per day in total, I opted to get a meal delivery service from a truly amazing home-cooked meal delivery company called Macro-Mediterranean in Massachusetts. Each entree is split into two meals (lunch and dinner), and I also have soup, side of veggies, and a chinoa smoothie for breakfast. In total I consume anywhere between 1200-1400 calories per day, and I have been walking on the treadmill uphill (10 incline) at 3.5 MPH 5-6 days per week for the last 19 days, and jogged 4 days a week the first week as well. My diet is rich in fiber and low in sugar with no preservatives and low sodium. It is also rich in probiotics, and has a good amount of protein (I normally reach my daily go) and no added sugars of any kind. It's hard to stay away from carbs since it is a plant based diet but I still manage to stay within the regular parameters, and these are all natural, complex carbohydrates. My goal was to lose 20 pounds, and I was hoping I would lose 1-2 pounds per week, so I could technically achieve my goal by the spring/summer time. But NOPE. I have not lost even ONE pound. Not even ONE. I have been tested for hormonal imbalances, thyroid dysfunction, etc, and everything came back normal. I have NO IDEA how a 100% plant based diet, high in fiber, with adequate amounts of carbs and protein, and rich in probiotics, low in calories, combined with daily exercise that creates a moderate calorie deficit would possibly not work. I have tried eating back all the calories I burned (in case my body stopped losing weight because it was in starvation mode) with healthy thing like hummus, but still I have not lost any weight. All of my vegan friends have managed to become stick thin and they were all "normal" (like me) before. So I don't get it. If I don't have a thyroid problem, am eating often and small healthy portions, am exercising everyday, consume more fiber than anyone I know, drink TONS of water and that is all I drink, have not had any alcohol or toxic anything, no added anything, then how can I not have lost any weight??? My diet matches the portions in that foldout card that Nutrish Mish (my past nutritionist) gave me (except all plant based) and nothing seems to be working. I DO have 20 pounds to lose BTW, I am short and 105 was my ideal weight for most of my life. I have lost all my clothes, can't fit into anything. I have gained the 20 pounds over the past few years, 10 of them in the last year and a half after a running injury (that I now have healed from) that kept me from exercising at all, even walking. I need to know what I can do, I feel hopeless.
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