This is really fun

[vivalasvegans]

Bike commute day, I was amazingly graceful riding today.

 

Food

2 tsp miso

coffee, soy

50 calories worth of green beans

some cherry tomatoes

a yellow summer squash, a tomato, and a veg sausage

some baby peppers

a little coffee

lettuce with lemon and a tsp of ground flax

nappa cabbage, mushroom, celery, and a veg burger

2 cups of popcorn

 

i'm going to want to much on something as i'm working later, right now i will say it's gonna be a diet soda and maybe some tomato and celery?

[vivalasvegans]

Fun cardio, the elliptical was ridiculously easy, running was ok but i need a new playlist probably. Bi/tri day.

 

Food"

2 tsp miso

1 cup jicama

some celery

a zucchini a tomato, a veg sausage

a cucumber

coffee, soy

WORKOUT

broccoli, cauliflower, a tomato, and a veg burger

4 cups of popcorn

i really want to eat some more carbs but i will prob settle for some ground flax

 

edit: i ended up adding 2 more vups of popcorn and a swig of cranberry juice, wtf i'm not a juice drinker

[vivalasvegans]

Thursday: no workout at all, 13 hour workday, I took a pass.

Food:

2 tsp miso

coffee, soy

a cup of jicama

some celery

a zucchini, a tomato, and a veg sausage

a green pepper, some lettuce, a tsp of flax with a squeeze of lemon

coffee, soy

a bowl of spinach and a veg burger

2 cups of popcorn

 

 

Friday was sucktastic emotional eating day from hell. I'm going to have to do something to deal with my issues around that guy. I just don't know what to do with it. I'm not going to be too hard on myself for my diet, after all, I didn't do to much harm aside from introducing a lot of glycemic stress to my system. Still, I need to not let this become a pattern.

 

Workout: 30 elliptical, 35+2 run, deltoids, abs... Cardio was so challenging because I just wanted to curl up in a ball and think. By the time i got to the second half of running, I felt my groove start to kick in, and it was okay. When I got off the treadmill I mostly wanted to collapse in someone's arms.

 

Food:

2 tsp miso

coffee, soy

a cup of jicama

a red pepper and a piece of celery

a zucchini, a tomato, and a veg sausage

a cucumber

750 calories of fruity pastry (ok it did have flax in it so not all bad)

coffee, soy

WORKOUT

a bowl of broccoli and a veg burger

250ish more calories of fruity pastry (it wasn't even that yummy) (it was kinda) (but not really)

 

 

Ok not so destructive.

 

I'm gonna be ok.

 

I can do this.

[John V]

I'm gonna be ok.

 

I can do this.

 

Yes, you can, have, are and will!

[vivalasvegans]

Yep, I am. Thanks very much for the encouragement John.

 

Workout: 30 minutes elliptical, 2+35+2 ninutes running, bench press, cable concentration curl, abs ( I wanted to lift more but H was having blood sugar issues and we had to go)

 

Food:

1 tsp miso

1 scoop vega with 1/2 a cucumber

coffee, soy

1/2 vega bar

WORKOUT

other half vega bar

baby lettuce

spinach, a tomato, a zucchini, 2 veg burgers

6 cups popcorn

a fruit cookie

[vivalasvegans]

Sun

 

30 mins elliptical, 2+35+2 mins running, i was still sore from the day before, so I just screwed around doing core work and played with dips (although my family is kind of dippy that's not what i'm talking about.) danced for 2 hours at night

 

Food:

scoop of vega blended with hald a cuke and some ginger

coffee, soy

WORKOUT

a zucchini, 2 tomatoes, half a green pepper, and a veg burger

a cookie and a piece of celery

a yellow squash, a tomato, half a green peper and a veg burger

2 cookies, 2 brownies, and 2 more cookies

 

I think part of that cookie episode was emotional, but I think part of it is that with more cardio, my body is really craving a lot more calories, specifically carbs. Last night's pastry extravaganza was a little more destructive than the one from the other day. It might be time to start either introducing fruit into my regular diet or amp down the cardio. I could do either. My schedule's is so ungodly hectic for the next 2 months, there would be some plusses to having more time. On the other hand, I don't want to detrain. I'm really enjoying my progress, my stamina, and my muscles.

 

Choices for fruits could be apples, oranges, and pears... blah i don't really like any of those things to much. I could also introduce more grains into my diet... if I do so consciously instead of ad libbing it, I would end up with yummy things like potato, sweet potato, winter squash, quinoa, brown rice, oats, and maybe some starchy legumes like garbonzos. That's definitely preferable to wheat and nutrient free sweeteners. fo sho

[LocalBrada]

Choices for fruits could be apples, oranges, and pears... blah i don't really like any of those things to much. I could also introduce more grains into my diet... if I do so consciously instead of ad libbing it, I would end up with yummy things like potato, sweet potato, winter squash, quinoa, brown rice, oats, and maybe some starchy legumes like garbonzos. That's definitely preferable to wheat and nutrient free sweeteners. fo sho

 

Definitely fo sho!! I've been doing garbonzos post workout. I find that if I don't do bean post workout, I cannot stick to limiting carbs for the rest of the day. Their slow digesting nature (gum) really helps curb the carb carvings.

[vivalasvegans]

Thanks Brada, that's awesome info to have. Something has got to change... I hit the cookies again last night - partly in an attempt to get warm. I was frozen cold for hours... I figured more to digest would equal more heat. I was actually wrong and I ended up making myself kind of sick. I love garbonzos, they might be my new candy.

 

2 tsp miso

a scoop of vega with celery, ginger, and h20

coffee, soy

bike to gym

2+35+2 mins running

incline shoulder press [email protected] lateral raise [email protected] [email protected] (failure)

i would have lifted more but the headwinds were insane yesterday, i had to save something for the ride home

no abs, still sore from yesterday and got some on the bike

half a vega bar

bike home

2 1/2 hours later famished, ate 2 cups of popcorn

a bowl of broccoli and 2 veg burgers

8 cookies bleah

 

it's the next morning and i feel like crap. for the record. this cookie thing is not working for me.

[vivalasvegans]

Just a bike commute day. Fast and graceful.

 

Food was another story.

2 tsp miso

some pea pods and baby carrots

some broccoli florets

a zucchini, a tomato, and a veg sausage

4 rice cakes

a salad of lettuce, cuke, radish, and a few cherry tomatoes with mustard on top

2 cups of popcorn

a bowl of spinach

2 cookies

tomato, lettuce, and a veg burger

3 more cookies

 

blah

[Zack]

Are you purposely on a low carb type diet? Seems like you're starving for carbs hence the cookies.

[vivalasvegans]

Yeah Zack, I am. Trying to lose weight and gain muscle to get my pre-accident self back, except better.

 

Today was good, I did some thinking and experimenting, came to terms with a long standing issue that's been causing me a fucking great deal of stress for months... it's still gonna be hard and suck, but it will be better. Running at the gym today I composed this workout log entry in my head, it was tough and full of swears, with a take no shit attitude and lots of anger. I got to keep that mindset for a while around this issue.

 

Almost everyone I've come into contact with over the past week or so has been super nice and sweet to me, I think I might be giving off weakling waif vibes. Even today someone I work with said the light in my face is gone. I'm always lit up at work. I'm pretty strong, a lot of people say i'm one of the strongest people they know. Losing myself like this is a symptom of something hardcore.

 

With regard to carbs and me: I'm pretty sure it's been rolling like this: it's a combination of this emotional turmoil with the actual "starving for carbs" as Zack put it. As well, the starving for carb is contributing to the emotional turmoil (which contributes to emotional eating, which contributes to more turmoil, and setting off blood sugar spikes, and more hunger, blah blah blah.) The previous dietary proportions have worked well for me up to this point, but... my body must be at a composition and weight right now - along with my activity level - that is demanding of more energy.

 

Last Friday, my first carb binge day, I carbed out right before I worked out, but it was a specific event I was attributing to my lack of control. It was both the situation and my body telling me to go for carbs for energy. I've been fucking freezing all week... Ya, it's been cold outside and the heat where I work sucks, but not to the extent I felt cold.

 

So today, after a long staff meeting, I had a bag of cucumber slices in my hand, They were pretty yummy, but as I was eating them, I got freezing cold and my nose starting running and I felt all low blood sugarish. I made a conscious decision to go for the cookies. I ate as many as I ate last Friday before the gym.

 

Except today, unlike Friday, I could separate what was going on in my heart and what was going on in my metabolism.

 

I got lots of energy from those carbs, but they kind of sat there like a rock in my stomach, which made it kind of painful to run. So the new plan is...

 

Introduce a small protein/carb (maybe 60/40ish?) meal long enough to digest and get ready to use before hitting the gym.

 

Alright, long fucking post. Enough fucking swearing.

 

Workout: 30 mins elliptical, 2+35+2 mins run, bi/tri/abs.

 

Food:

2 tsp miso

coffee, soy

1 cup jicama

1 green pepper

1 zucchin1 1 tomato, 1 veg sausage

a couple cuke slices with some cookies

coffee, soy

WORKOUT

a bowl of broccoli and a veg burger, a slice of bread

3 cups popcorn

 

 

PS. Oh yah i forgot. I havent been drinking a lot of water post workout over the past week, eating much flax, and i've been forgetting my vitamins. starting tomorrow, get back on it.

[Tasha]

Hey VV I like the attitude in your journal. How are you ?

 

For more protein and lesser carbs

Why not throw in a shake instead of food ?

[veggieprincess]

Hey Vivaslasvegans;

 

Okay, I only read the first five pages of your journal or so... so forgive me if you've already addressed this issue, but I just wanted to point out something that I noticed.

 

With your food logs, it always seemed like you'd eat really low calorie and really low carb for 2 to 3 days, followed by a big carb cheat (candy, cake, etc). I saw this as a consistent pattern in your eating everytime.

 

So to me, it's pretty obvious that your "cheats" are not a sign of loss of willpower. You simply aren't giving your body enough calories and food and it eventually says... "Uh, uh, chica... go feed me some carbs damn it!"

 

So I really think you'd see more success if you go ahead and just GIVE yourself a daily grain serving. I'd say two, but if you're not used to eating at least 1 grain daily, maybe babysteps is best.

 

Your body is going to USE small amounts of healthy carb servings. It is not going to store it as fat. Just get it in earlier in the day.

 

1) Grains provide B Vitamins, fiber and all kinds of good stuff that are body needs. It's excess carbs that people (especially women) store as fat

 

2) Get it in early in the day like for lunch. Your body will USE it and I think you will see less "cheats"....

 

But yeah.... try to get 1 grain and 1 legume serving in at least per day. Then build around that with proteins, healthy fats, lots of veggies and throw in a couple of fruits

 

Hope this helps a little.

[hsorlando]

Just wanted to say hi, and also that you are not alone when it comes to evil, but delicious carbs!

VP is of course full of great info about what might be the cause, and possible solution to the problem.

[vivalasvegans]

Hey Hayley, thanks. <3

 

Hi Tasha I've been thinking about doing shakes during the workday. My friend even lent me one of those submersion blender things for mixing powder and stuff away from home. It's in the works, I need to order some cheap protein powder. Btw, are you around this weekend?

 

Thanks VP. Yep! I'm adding legumes today. I kind of don't get what you meant by me consistently cheating with cakes and stuff? Maybe I'm blocking it like ya don't remember the exact pain of childbirth after it's over... but this carb thing is just over the past week or so for me. I went off on thanksgiving day, christmas, and like new years eve i think. What I had been doing is purposely keeping my carb intake inconsistent. The overall calorie count on the popcorn and rice cakes i usually eat is pretty low... My bigger, more regular high carb days have been occasional weekend nights where I have a glass of wine or a shot or 2 of tequila or maybe put some yeast (obviously protein though) on movie popcorn.

 

More later... got to go to work.

 

Oh yeah, This morning I cleaned out my fridge and my cupboards. It's symbolic of me also cleaning out old trashy garbage from my life. Hell yeah.

 

Yesterday:

no workout, unusually super stressful 13 hour workday.

 

Yesterday food:

2 tsp miso

coffee, soy

1 cup jicama

some celery

a zucchini, a tomato, a veg sausage

a green pepper and a tsp of ground flax

coffee, soy

a bowl of spinach with a tomato and a veg burger with some bread

fell asleep, woke up and ate more bread <--- that was clearly emotional eating.

[Tasha]

Yes I'll be home Are you going to bring me cookies ? lol

 

Why do you think you need to loose weight anyways? By the looks when I saw you last.

You looked fabulous !!

[John V]

protein powder

 

I love Manitoba Harvest, which I get at Whole Foods.

[vivalasvegans]

Are you gonna marry it? OK this is good. When my pre-pubescent humor kicks up, I know I'm ok. I almost got some MH a couple times, I've been kind of intrigued by the flavors of true protein though.

 

Hey Tasha, Thank you for the compliment... I won't be bringing you cookies, i don't have any. We don't need cookies, we're sweet enough already.

 

I didn't make it to the gym till laaaaaaaate yesterday cuz of the title 9 sale... but I still had a decent amount of energy. I did add a half a cup of garbonzos to my diet yesterday, and ate a veg sausage a little while before working out. When I got home, I wasn't overtired, or famished. Hungry, yes, famished, no. Could have been a couple things... the extra carb/protein, the kicking to the curb of the garbage, oh and I should be getting my period soon... a little hormonal shift maybe too. I'm going to keep those extra beans in for work/gym days and see if the change is consistent which i think it will be. As a night snack, I ate some oatmeal, just to bring myself back down slowly from my overcarbedness.

 

Workout:

30 mins elliptical, 2+35+2 running (starting to add incline) deltoids, abs

 

Food:

2 tsp miso

coffee, soy

1 cup jicama

some celery

1/2 cup garbonzos. a zucchini, a tomato

a cucumber

a veg sausage patty

coffee, soy

WORKOUT

a bowl of mixed veggies and a veg burger (nappa cabage, mushrooms, and celery)

2 cups popcorn

the oatmeal

a couple of these

 

It's been a stupidly hard week, it's no wonder I wobbled a little. I think any change I make is going to be improvement. I need to congratulate myself for keeping aware and as focused as I was during it. Seven or eight more weeks to go of crazy schedule... It's gonna be ok.

[Tasha]

Are you out of Vega? I notice that hasn't been in your food journal in quiet sometime.

[vivalasvegans]

Getting there. I usually only take it on off-work days. If I take it more often I might become a maca addict or something.

[LocalBrada]

If I take it more often I might become a maca addict or something.

I just started adding 10g of maca in my preworkout oats and I feel like an Inca Warrior during workouts I tell you!

[John V]

Are you gonna marry it? OK this is good. When my pre-pubescent humor kicks up, I know I'm ok. I almost got some MH a couple times, I've been kind of intrigued by the flavors of true protein though.

I'd marry it if I could. It's 50% protein, what's "true" protein? Of course the amino profile is great and the EFAs are priceless. I'm going to have one right now, with fresh Ohio cider, banana and cocoa!

[vivalasvegans]

I just started adding 10g of maca in my preworkout oats and I feel like an Inca Warrior during workouts I tell you!

So sexy...

But pretty soon though we're going to have to make maca junkie support groups

"My name is Brada, and I am a macaholic."

I'd marry it if I could. It's 50% protein, what's "true" protein? Of course the amino profile is great and the EFAs are priceless. I'm going to have one right now, with fresh Ohio cider, banana and cocoa!

That sounds so good. How was it?

 

Yesterday's workout:

same as the day before, except started faster on the tm, did bi/tri.

 

Food:

2 tsp miso

blended celery, tomato, ginger, 1/2 cup garbonzos

a scoop of vega with h20

coffee, soy

WORKOUT

1/2 vega bar

a tomato and a veg burger

some oatmeal and random munches of popcorn

[John V]

repost, oops

Edited January 25, 2009 by John V

[John V]

That sounds so good. How was it?

Fantastic I'm having another as I write this!