Weight/Exercise/Eating Update

It has been a long time since I devoted a post to my health goals.  Overall, I could not be more pleased with how the whole process is going.  On the weight front, I'm at a new adult, healthy low of 137.5.  I was in a hurry that day so I didn't grab my camera to take a picture.  (I weigh myself daily, but I don't photograph it each time.)  I'm comfortably fluctuating between 137.5-139.5. 

Here is picture from a few days back when I started planning this post.

 

 

Exercising is not my thing.  It just isn't.  I try to remind myself how amazing I feel after my runs, but that doesn't always get my butt out of bed.  In an attempt to motivate myself, I decided to start a 10k program (and I turned the a/c warmer in our bedroom at night.  It felt like trying to get up on a winter morning in Illinois in there!).  Since July, I had been working a 5k plan designed to increase your finish time.  It's been pretty much a colossal failure.  7 weeks of faithfully following it, and my times were slow and my nerves were shot.  This new 10k plan, which I've only followed for a week, has been steadily increasing my distances.  I finished 3.89 miles this morning in 41 minutes.  Obviously, that pace (10:32 min) isn't going to break any speed records, but it was a much easier run than my July 5k.  (10:19 min)  I'm making process.  Need to keep reminding myself.  In June, when I started, I couldn't run 90 seconds without feeling like I was going to die.  There is progress here.

 

Now, to the eating goals.  We've had all kinds of victories and failures in this.  By the time we got back from the States this summer, I was ready to go 100% plant based.  (That's the new term for eating vegan because vegan means more than diet.)  Then, about 3 weeks after school started, Carson got sick.  Not super sick, but just off.  He didn't have his normal energy level, he complained of general discomfort, and he looked weird.  After talking with some friends, I decided that gluten might be the culprit.  I have a first cousin with gluten issues (maybe even Celiacs) so I thought we would start there.  Within three weeks, he was feeling so much better.  Another few weeks after that, and it was clear that gluten was a major part of the issues.  Nerves/anxiety/overachieving also played a measurable role in his physical health.

 

As I started researching all there is to being gluten free, I made the decision- though I didn't like it- that putting Carson on a gluten-free, vegan diet was simply too much.  Too much for his psyche to handle.  Too much for my budget to cover.   He has made some other health goals- no more soda, no more fried foods, no more prok products, no more fast food. And all was not lost on the vegan front because I do believe in the health benefits. 

 

When eating at home, I am completely vegan.  No butter, milk, meat, or cheese.  (obviously, since I'm allergic to cheese)  When I eat out, I'm completely vegetarian.  No meat.  I made the decision that my Spanish is never going to be good enough to determine every secret ingredient, and it is so important that I avoid cheese.  I need to focus my energies there.

 

Coralynn is the next most vegan member of the family.  Tony and the kids will tell you that it's all I can do not to weep when I see that baby ask for more rice and beans or beg for more broccoli.  She's a testament to the truth that most people, when hungry, will eat the food presented to them.  (Carson is a testament to the truth that some people will starve to death before they eat rice and beans.)  We went out to dinner Friday night, and the Bits devoured a plate of pita bread and baba ganoush.  Made her Momma proud!

 

As for the other three, they're a mixed bag of nuts.  (I love that expression.  Reminds me of my bff in Georgia.  Happy mental place.)  Tony has almost completely eliminated cheese from his diet.  As most vegans will tell you, cheese is often the LAST food people give up.  We're thinking there's hope for him!  Chloe continues to eat whatever.  As long as we eat at home, she'll eat what I serve which is usually highly plant based.  And do so happily.  At the food court, it's a different story.  I'm not sure why a child who is happy to eat healthy at home, when seeing a food court, becomes a McDonalds addict desperately in need of a McBite.  So strange.

 

And then there's Camilla.  The sweet child who refuses to eat anything that resembles healthy food- except for strawberries.  She is SO pleasant and SO resistant to eating outside her preferences which are fried chicken, bread, apples, strawberries, candy, and cereal.  That's about it.  She will eat a smoothie, with spinach, as long as the only fruit in it is strawberries.  Still working on that child...

 

Overall, I'm confident we, as a family, are considerably healthier than where we were this time last year.  There is no title for our diet, but it is working for us.