No fat Vegans? Who told you that???

OK, so a few weeks ago I became a Vegan, which means I no longer eat anything with animal products in it, if I can avoid it.

Occasionally I use the "non-dairy" creamer at work, which does have casein in it - derived from milk, which makes me wonder how they can get away with calling it "non-dairy".

But I digress! The point of this blog post is, I somehow got the idea that just "going vegan" would automatically result in a fantastic weight loss.

Instead, I've GAINED almost a total of 5 pounds! (Including this past Saturday's weight gain of 2.4 pounds!!!)

However, after sitting down and reflecting on it, I've FINALLY realized where I went wrong.

Turns out it is, after all, quite possible to "go vegan" and still lose weight. See, I'd stopped counting my "Weight Watchers POINTS" every day, and once I did, I was shocked to find out just how much fat I'd been eating.

The Tofurky sandwich on sprouted whole wheat bread was fine - till I added the Vegenaise! Fat City!

And the vanilla soy milk? Terrific! Till I started chugging two or three bottles a day!

The good news is that I made a couple of resolution - to track my POINTS every day this week, and to get on the treadmill at least 3 times this week - and so far I've stuck to them.

And this morning's UNOFFICIAL weigh-in on our bathroom scales shows that it's working!

If I can just sustain my resolutions the rest of the week, I am pretty sure - not 100%, but, let's say 85.5% sure - that next Saturday I'll finally see a fairly dramatic loss, once again.

Up Oh!

Since my husband loves my puns – or at least CLAIMS to – this week's blog title is just for him.

Because – whoops – somehow I managed to go back UP two pounds – back at 182. OH no! (Up Oh! Get it? Wink, nudge, smirk. Don't make me explain it!)

Oh well, I'm not really worried. The nice thing about doing a weekly weigh-in is that I almost always have a pretty good idea of what's going on and what needs to be fixed.

Last week I didn't really exercise enough. So this week I will hit the treadmill (in the evenings, rather than early mornings) and see if that makes the difference. I predict a loss of AT LEAST 3 pounds next week.

If not – well, worst-case scenario, I'll have to come up with another pun!

And I KNOW you don't want THAT to happen – right? (Nyuk nyuk!)

On a lighter note, we went to yet another great vegan restaurant yesterday - Bodhi Tree in Huntington Beach. We were visiting Steve's brother Joe and his wife Deb.

The four of us enjoyed a great lunch (I had the sweet & sour "pork" – mmm!) and had a great time meandering up to the end of the pier and back afterwards. If you're ever in Southern California, I highly recommend it – it's a lot of fun!



And the weather cooperated by being only in the 80's. Gorgeous!

This morning hasn't been too shabby either. There was a beautiful sunrise this morning – lots of high, fluffy clouds turning various shades of pink, orange and read. Almost made it worth getting up to go to work.

(ALMOST!)

Whew - that was a close one!

OK, whew! After last week's devastating gain of almost 3 pounds, I re-lost 1.8 pounds this week.

So I'm feeling better now.

But I think most people who've lost a substantial amount of weight have this fear, deep in their hearts, that one morning they're going to wake up after a really good night's sleep and WHOMP! All the weight came back, and brought its little friends.

But that hasn't happened (yet!). And one of the reasons I continue going to Weight Watchers every week, same time, same place, is that I really believe the "accountability factor" (i.e., paying someone else to weigh me so I can't cheat) makes me psychologically less likely to slack off and go back to binge eating.

In other news:

1. Following the sad demise of "It Figures" (the better-than-Curves gym in Sherman Oaks which went under almost immediately after I'd joined ... just a coincidence, I'm sure!), I snagged one of their treadmills at the RIDICULOUSLY low price of $200.00. Seriously, this is a QUALITY piece of equipment! It's out in our backyard and Steve and I are both putting it to good use.

And Princess likes to sleep on it when it's unplugged, so it's fun for the whole family (nyuk nyuk!)

2. Don't know why I didn't mention this in the blog before this, but a few weeks ago I joined ! I've already given the first two speeches out of the Competent Communicator Manual.

In Speech #1, the "Ice Breaker", I described and contrasted the four major changes going on in my life recently - the impending job loss and the premenopause (negative) and the weight loss and switch to veganism (positive).

In Speech #2, "Organize Your Speech", I described the "Three Tools for Permanent Weight Loss" (in case you're interested, they're Exercise, Healthy Foods, and .Accountability).

Both times I came home with the "Best Speech" ribbon! (Of course, the second time, I was the only actual speech maker. But hey, I'll take what I can get!)

I've already started doing research for Speech #3, "Get to the Point" - tentative subject is Internet Scams and how to recognize them.

So if any aspiring scam artists out there would like to give me some real-life examples, just leave them in the Comments section. I usually erase them, but this time I'll leave them there and mock you for them next week! So go nuts!

Whoops! Almost forgot to blog today!

Maybe that's because I had a GAIN this week - 2.8 pounds!!!!

Whoa, yeah, that's kinda my reaction too.

Almost 3 pounds? Where the h-e-double-toothpicks did THAT come from?

Honestly, I have absolutely no idea.

Flora, the Weight Watchers leader who weighed me in, said I was probably "retaining fluids". I must have retained a whole koi pond or something, because that's quite a chunk o' fluids!

Oh well, I'm sticking to my plan and lifestyle choices anyway! So there, body!! (nyahh!!)

Compliments are hard ...

If you manage to drop enough fat off your frame (like how I lost 0.2 pounds last week, bringing me to an even 179.0), you will start hearing compliments.

Like for example, "Wow! You've lost SO MUCH WEIGHT!"

and

"Your waistline is SO SMALL!"

and my personal favorite

"You're just SHRINKING!"

All of which are, on one level, really nice to hear. And I'm not meaning to sound ungrateful with any of what follows.

However, if you've been fat for any length of time, you know that there's a tendency to be suspicious of compliments. Because usually the compliments you get as a fat person are, well, shall we say, "diplomatic".

Like:

"You look so GREAT today!"

or

"You're so fashionable!"

and the classic

"You have SUCH a pretty face!"

So we do have a tendency to be suspicious of compliments in general, no matter how genuine and well-meaning.

There's also, with the first set of compliments, the unspoken implication that you look SO MUCH BETTER than you used to! Which isn't really a compliment to your Formerly Fat but Fine Self, now is it?

So if you compliment a Formerly Fat Friend, and she doesn't respond with the enthusiasm and gratitude you think she should have, cut her some slack. It's probably nothing personal.

Maybe she's just not quite ready to hear it yet.

Back to the '70's, baby!!!

Weighed in at 179.2 - it's been DECADES since I've been in the '70's, baby!

So let's CELEBRATE!!!

Hooray for summer!

Just a miniscule loss this week - from 180.2 last week to 180.0 this week. Still, a loss is a loss, right? I'm not complaining!

It's FINALLY summer here in the beautiful San Fernando Valley area of Southern California, and I'm jumpin' for joy! Yeah yeah, I know my hubby hates it - poor guy - because he works in a place with little/no air conditioning. So my sympathies, sweetie.

But see ... I'm a morning person. And there's just something tremendously wonderful about it being over 60 degrees already at 5 a.m.! This morning when I got up (primarily to look for our "lost" cat, Princess, who, from what little I can gather, spent most of the night in the neighbors' back yard, patiently waiting for THEIR cats to be fed so she could mooch some), the stars were still out (as was Princess, nyuk nyuk!).

There were just a few little clouds scattered throughout the dark blue sky. The sun was still below the horizon, but you could see that the light was on its way. As I pumped the pedals on my exercise bike, I heard first one, then two, then a whole flock of birds chattering away about the best places to find worms.

I saw a baby possum skittering through the ivy at the back fence, patiently looking for unguarded garbage to nosh.

And it's hard to explain, but I really understood the cliche about how "it's always darkest before the dawn." See, all night I'd lain awake, tossing and turning, from (a) my worry about Princess (which turned out, as usual, to be completely unfounded), and (b) an annoying headache which had been troubling me, off and on, for the past 24 hours.

But in this early morning light, with a whole new day about to be born, all my worries seemed to drift upwards towards the distant stars ... and stay there.

Happy Monday, everyone!