Karmacharger

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your transition!!

Welcome to the forum!!

Welcome to the forum!! I've been vegan almost 2 months now and sugar free for almost 7. You'll definitely notice a difference when you make the transition! Take care and good luck!

Days 58 to 60 It's been a weird week. I've really been struggling to find motivation. On Tuesday I bought two copies of Oxygen magazine to try and get me pumped. There were some really great exercises in there that I'll try to throw into my new routines and in each issue there was constant mention of the very important role of nutrition. One of the things that Robert Kennedy said twice was that your workouts won't necessarily cancel out a big mac combo (not like any of us eat that) or a whole day of cheating. I've been really hungry lately. It's been almost 10 weeks and I still haven't figured out what combination/amount of food my body likes best. I've got a week and a half left in my contest and I'm losing motivation. I've hit a wall. I'm tired. I want life to go back to "normal" but I didn't like that life much because I wasn't feeling healthy... so I don't know what's up but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon. I made awesome vegan pizza yesterday on a corn meal/spelt crust. I loaded it with caramelized onions, grilled zucchini, portabella mushrooms, roasted garlic, pineapple and green olives. It was awesome!! We had a scavenger hunt at work yesterday, followed by a pizza party. It was really hard to be around all that cheese and not give in. I brought a brown rice bowl full of veggies and tempeh and chatted to my co-workers to avoid temptation. Sunday will mark my second month dairy free and I'm happy for it. In another week, I will celebrate seven months sugar free. I am grateful for these little milestones since they help me to know that I'm making progress by transforming my life, one bad habit at a time. I had a decent leg workout yesterday. I still can't do lunges and am willing to live with the fact that I might never be able to. I'm going to have to get creative with my leg workouts but I know I can do it. I didn't think I had worked them *that hard* until about an hour later when I was running down the stairs in my building on my way to work. The jelly feeling set in. I'm sore today which is awesome!! My cardio is slipping a lot these days too.... I must get back on track. That's all I have to say for now. Here are my very short term goals: -Eat clean -Prepare for killer upper body workout tomorrow (I'm hoping to use 30lb db for my last set of chest press) -Get to bed early I think that's more than enough for me right now.

Congratulations!!! You should be very proud of yourself! Those photos totally blew me away! WOW! Thanks for sharing your journey. I find it totally inspiring! I read one and a half Oxygen magazines yesterday in an attempt to find motivation and inspiration but your photos ... WOW! ... There really aren't words. Congratulations!

Days 55 to 57 It was a crazy weekend and I am so glad it's over!! I went to a BBQ last night and one of my friends' cat's decided to spend most of the night sitting a top the back of my chair. He was very cute and snuggly but when I got home, I could not stop coughing. I had a serious allergy attack; it was awful. I finally fell asleep just before midnight and woke up around 5:30. I got up at 6:30 and had a looooong debate with myself about whether or not I should go to the gym. I am pleased to say I made it!! I had a great workout but I was clearly looking quite tired. One of the guys at the gym was after me to smile but alas, I was too tired. I had a really nice day but unfortunately ate out way too much today. I bought at ton of really great groceries so I'm looking forward to having a more healthy day tomorrow. I am also looking forward to trying this sprouted grain cereal that I bought today. It has no flour in it which is awesome! I think it has apples, sprouted buckwheat, sprouted almonds, sprouted quinoa, walnuts, figs and cinnamon (and love). I'm thinking about going to a 6:30 AM yoga class tomorrow morning and for that to happen, I must get to bed now!!

Welcome!

Days 53 and 54 I had an early day at work yesterday. We had an off-site retreat which was a nice change of pace. I had to leave early for an important meeting and missed the fun second half of the day. I've gotten used to bringing my own food to these types of events. I'm so glad I do this on a regular basis. If I say no to everything then there's no room for temptation. I saw colleagues pack away thousands of calories an hour between muffins, croissants, juice, decadent sandwiches with cheese and salmon. It was pretty crazy. That was one of the highest fat spreads I've ever seen but they did balance it out with a fruit plate and some veggie trays... that was enough to ease any guilty consciences. I tried to go to the gym this morning and train legs. It was a total bust. I did my leg press but my butt was still very sore from last Friday. I did a lunge per leg and it felt like my quads were going to snap, sieze, or spasm. The feeling was not good. I biked for a while, stretched and tried again. Lunges were out of the question. I guess my legs needed more time to heal. I did one set of leg extensions and that too was horrible. I'll try again on Monday... if I survive the weekend. My boyfriend is on his way to town. He's apparently 2 hours away. I just go home from grocery shopping. My family is throwing a huge BBQ tomorrow and I volunteered to make the salads. I just came back from getting all the ingredients and I have no clue how I got it all home on foot. It's amazing how much I can carry. Can that count as a weight workout? I'm making a bean salad with coriander, carrots, corn and a lime dressing. I'll probably add some cayenne for kick. I'll be making a broccoli, carrot, raisin salad with veggenaise and pumpkin seeds. I'm also making a roasted veggie salad with sweet onions, carrots, red peppers, zucchini, roasted garlic, fennel and quinoa. I was going to make a strawberry and kale salad but I couldn't find any kale. Tomorrow I will have to run out again to buy ingredients for my fruit salad... At least I'll have help carrying everything back here. I bought some BBQ flavoured tofu cutlets and I'm going to make some rice bowls for my boyfriend and I. I have some boy choy, onions, carrots, corn and something else that I was going to put in there. . . I'm too tired to remember. However, I have two hours before it needs to be done so I've got time to get my act together. It looks like there will be no gym for me this weekend. My days are all filled up. I should go and unpack all those bags full of food. There are some tofu products that need to go to the fridge. Happy Friday!

Thanks for the continued support everyone!! Just a quick note. I was measured today and I'm still losing. The losses aren't huge but at least I'm consistent. I'm hoping that it will all add up in the end. I think my trainer is being difficult and not giving me full props. He'll probably be more generous with my final measuring.... who knows? At the end of this contest I'm going to do the 12 week Body for Life challenge. I'll be asking for the calipers before starting that.... EEEK! See ya next week!

Thanks for the comments AF and L&G! AF, I'll probably won't be spending much time in TO this summer as my bf will likely come here. However, there's a good chance that I'll be there in the fall. L & G, dude, this was not pleasure pain. It was excruciating. Seriously. It inspired at least three major crying fits. I went to acupuncture last night and I got about 7 needles in my ankle alone. It's taking the brunt of not being able to use my quads and glutes. My acupuncturist even used suction cups on my quads to try and loosen them before even attempting massage. That was four days later. Today my legs are much better but my butt still hurts. Thankfully I did an upper body workout with my trainer today... Days 50 to 52 It's been a crazy week. Recovering from Friday's work out seems to have taken all week. I should be good to train legs again on Friday but I'll wait and see how I feel before I make any decisions. I got measured this morning. I'm still consistently loosing little bits here and there. Hopefully by the end of my contest it will add up to something significant. I have a headache and don't feel much like blogging so I'm going to sign off. I'm going to walk to a work meeting tomorrow. It should take me an hour. I think that will cover my cardio. I wish you all a great night!! I will post workouts soon.

Welcome!

Welcome!!

Welcome and congrats on making the transition!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome!

Welcome!!

Welcome!

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome!!

Days 46 to 49 I survived my work week and my exam. I ended up skipping my high intensity cardio on Thursday morning but managed to get in a 30 minute power walk. On Friday I trained with my trainer. We did a killer leg workout. I actually coudln't walk yesterday. I was in excruciating pain. I'm still extremely sore. I don't think I've ever done so many lunges in my life. We increased the weight on my leg press dramatically. It felt mostly good at the time. Except for the lunges... I was shaking during and after. I thankfully don't have to train legs again until Wednesday so that should be good. I figure a few more brutal sessions like this and my legs will be used to it after that. I don't mind general muscle soreness but wanting to cry my eyes out everytime I had to go up or down stairs was just too much for me. I'm doing a lot of stretching and hope that will help. I'm in Toronto this weekend and am trying my best to eat well. We've been eating out a lot so I'm not thrilled about that but I'm making my best effort not to eat too much junk. My train will get me back home around midnight. I'm hoping I will be able to sleep on the way home so I'll feel rested enough to hit the gym before work. It promises to be another crazy week!! More tomorrow...

Day 45 A review of yesterday's goals... - Stretch throughout the day (my legs are tight) - NOPE - Get planned work finished - YES - Study for Thursday's exam - YES but there's more to do - Eat well and get enough calories - MAYBE there was some junk - Avoid flour products (I'm trying to see if this will help my asthma and mucous related issues) - NO (ate vegan pizza and roti) - Get to bed early tonight - YES - Plan tomorrow's workout before bed - YES I didn't do too badly. After a full day of working from home and a full evening of studying, I was falling asleep by 9:15. I was asleep by 10. I woke up at 5:30 feeling pretty good but I did go back to bed until it was time to get up. I went to the gym this morning and trained on an empty stomach. I'm trying to get used to doing that again. I think that I'm eating enough these days to pull it off. Here's my workout: DB Chest Press 15 x 12 17.5 x 10 20 x 8 22.5 x 6 20 x 12 Incline DB Chest Press 20 x 12 Seated DB Press 8 x 12 10 x 10 12 x 8 15 x 6 12 x 12 Lat Raises 8 x 12 Wide pull downs 30 x 12 40 x 10 45 x 8 50 x 6 45 x 12 Bull Rows 50 x 12 Close Grip Push downs 35 x 12 40 x 10 45 x 8 50 x 6 45 x 12 DB Extensions 8 x 12 Hammer Curls 8 x 12 10 x 10 12 x 8 15 x6 12 x 12 Bicep Curls 15 x 8 (I could not do any more. I tried the 12's for an extra rep and I was done!) This was my planned workout and figure that I can increase most of those weights quite a bit. I was testing the waters today. On Friday I'll be training with my trainer and we'll sort out my lower body workout together. Yay! I just had dinner and now I have to go study for tomorrow's exam. Work has been so busy and I don't/can't see an end in sight. I'm hoping I will feel better after my exam. I'm skipping out on my cardio tomorrow morning so I can study. I hope to make it up tomorrow night... we'll see. Or, maybe doing it will make me feel good for my exam. I'll ponder that. Time to hit the books!

Pre-workout Black tea w/ almond milk 1.5 cups of water 45 minutes of weight training Post-workout 3/4 cup brown rice 1.5 cups broccoli 1/2 cup corn 1 onion 1 tofu patty liquid soy 1/2 t sesame oil Lunch 1 avocado sprout sandwich on spelt w/ toasted pumpkin seeds 1 light juice spritzer Snack Black tea w/ almond milk Dinner 1 Roti 1.5 cups vegetable curry (spinach, cabbage, green beans, lentils, squash, eggplant) 1/2 cup brown rice 1 dried apricot

Thanks so much for the support! You guys are awesome! I appreciate the boost!! Today's results are as follows: - 1/2 inch loss from waist - 1 inch gain on my chest - 1/8 inch loss on calves Everything else stayed the same. I'll do better next time!

Pre-workout Black tea w/ almond milk 1.5 cups of water 20 minutes BFL Cardio Post-workout 1 cup of brown rice 1 t raisins 1 apple cooked 6 almonds Lunch 3 cups of greek salad (no dressing or cheese) 1 slice vegan pizza Snack 1/2 cup rice dream ice cream 1/4 cup cereal on top (YUMMY but UNNECESSARY) Dinner 1 Roti 2 cups vegetable curry (spinach, cabbage, green beans, lentils, squash, eggplant) 1 veggie patty (potatoes, peas, carrots) Snack 1 dried apricot