Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I was doing some cleaning the other day and came across something I saved from 2012. At the time, I knew it would be significant, but I had forgotten about it. I had the receipt from the last time I ate an Egg McMuffin stashed away.

This is significant because it reminds me of just how far I have come. I was serious about losing weight at the beginning of 2012, although no one else would have believed it at the time. I had many failed attempts at losing weight before but something was different this time around.

I had four different Christmas parties that I needed to attend. There are so many gatherings with family and friends, and food is everywhere! It's very tempting to slip into unhealthy eating if you are unprepared.

When I first went plant based (and vegan) last year, I had a lot of anxiety over gatherings, when there would be food around. It's tough wondering if others will accept your new way of eating and worrying about what choices of foods there would be.

When I first lost the weight over 5 years ago, I relied on a pedometer to make sure I would get over 10,000 steps a day. It worked and kept me motivated, but it was easy to lose and the battery would go rather quickly.

I eventually upgraded to a FitBit Charge and that was a big upgrade from the pocket pedometer. I actually had three FitBits over the last couple years. It was cool as it would vibrate on my wrist whenever I reached my goal of 10,000 steps. The only thing I didn't use the FitBit for was to track the sleep, which didn't interested me.

This is significant to me. If anyone were to have told me six years ago that I would have lost the weight... and would manage to keep it off for 5 years, I never would have believed them. You see, I was one of those yo-yo dieters, but could never mange to lose the weight. So what exactly changed that caused me to lose the weight?

I think I was honestly getting sick of the bad foods. I don't know if psychologically, my mind was telling me those foods weren't good for me anymore, but I no longer enjoyed eating them. I used to lose Reese's, but suddenly, it didn't taste good to me anymore. The nearly half gallon of ice cream I would consume daily didn't have the same appeal. I think my desire to get healthy and my drive to finally succeed played a role in the way the food tasted back then.

Before going plant based last year, I always worried about protein. How would I get enough protein to build muscle. Oddly enough, I was not building muscle as efficiently as I am now being plant based.

One thing I've learned is that if you're eating enough food, you'll have more than enough protein. There are so many bodybuilders at the gym I go to that just do not understand this concept. Protein powders are not necessary to build muscle.