Monday, April 15, 2013

Pass Me The Birkenstocks, I'm [kinda] Vegan... and week 10 workout plan.

Today is the 28th day of my trial vegan lifestyle and I'm 'on talk about that today.

I'll start off with letting you know blatantly that I like big houses, nice cars, my 2nd amendment rights, makeup, deodorant, razors, plastic bags, electricity, bla bla-dee bla bla bla.

And I like eating like a vegan.

Shocking, I know!  I never would have expected it in a million years.

The truth is that I don't really love meat.  It's not because I have a problem with animal "cruelty."  I grew up in a farming town.  We had chickens, horses, cows, pigs, dogs, etc.  I even had a pet lamb named Tiny.  Guess what happened to Tiny...

I like hamburgers (if they're not grilled).  I have seen how "our" cows were raised and it doesn't really bother me that they were butchered and cut up for meals.  Not a problem.

Hey kids!  Vegan propaganda!  
We try not to fall victim to propaganda.
I do, however, love finding meals that don't include meat.  I've always been taught to "eat meat sparingly."  Who even knows what that means?  Sparingly like twice a day?  Twice a week?  Month?  I don't know.


So, what am I going to do?  Never eat meat again.  No.  Absolutely not.  Again, it's not about me loving animals (although I think they're great), but there are incredible health benefits to not eating meat or animal byproducts often.  Like lowering your cholesterol over 100 points in just one month.  I'm not sure if this happened to me because I didn't have blood work done.  But it did happen to Bob Harper (from Biggest Loser).  I've been reading The China Study about a plant-based diet and the risk for heart disease (the #1 killer of Americans) pretty much goes away for people who eat that way.  I mean, there is something to that.

We have decided to eat meat a few times a month if we really want it.  Like I said, I don't love meat but Tom does.  I love eggs.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do about that.  Am I going to be 90%-of-the-time-vegan?  Vegetarian (can eat eggs and milk)?

I can tell you that this month of eating only a plant-based diet (and around 1900 calories per day of it) has helped me to get over my weight-loss plateau.  I dropped 3.5 pounds.  I get that that's not a lot, but I was stuck for three months.  And I can now fit into my old jeans.  I even bought a new pair of size 28 Gap jeans at the thrift store for $8.  That's exciting to me!

Shirt refashion tutorial coming soon!
My birthday is at the end of April and I get my buy-one-get-one meal coupon for Tucano's and you better believe I'm using that sucker.  Have you tried their little cheese bread balls?!  Mmmmm.

So for now I'm staying vegan until I'm not.  Besides the poo stories (and the ones I haven't blogged about), I feel really good.  But I always feel good when I eat healthy... carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore.

If you are on a plateau with your weight loss or if you have high cholesterol (or even if you want to challenge yourself), I suggest trying it out for 28 days.  That's 4 weeks.  We did the Engine 2 Diet challenge, which also cuts out refined sugar and a few other things that vegans can normally eat.  And please don't get me wrong.  This isn't a fad diet that restricts your caloric intake or only allows you to eat protein.  It is very well rounded.  You just only eat clean foods.  It really opened me up to a new way of eating.  Like, I think I'll make this raw vegan carrot cake for my birthday.
The Rawsome Vegan
Oh-my-gosh I feel so weird.

Here's this week's workout schedule.  Enjoy!

Cardio (week 10):  It's getting easier.  Week 9 is the hardest.
WeekSunday
(Rest)
Monday
(Easy)
Tuesday
(Cross Train)
Wednesday
(Easy)
Thursday
(Cross Train)
Friday
(Rest)
Saturday
(Long)
1Rest30 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30-40 Minutes30 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30-40 MinutesRest4 Miles
2Rest30 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30-40 Minutes30 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30-40 MinutesRest5 Miles
3Rest30 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30-40 Minutes30 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30-40 MinutesRest6 Miles
4Rest35 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30-40 Minutes35 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30-40 MinutesRest7 Miles
5Rest45 Minutes
(4 Miles)
30-40 Minutes45 Minutes
(4 Miles)
45-50 MinutesRest4 Miles
6Rest45 Minutes
(4 Miles)
30-40 Minutes45 Minutes
(5 Miles)
45-50 MinutesRest8 Miles
7Rest50 Minutes
(5 Miles)
30-40 Minutes50 Minutes
(5 Miles)
45-50 MinutesRest9 Miles
8Rest45 Minutes
(4 Miles)
35-45 Minutes50 Minutes
(4 Miles)
45-50 MinutesRest6 Miles
9Rest50 Minutes
(5 Miles)
35-45 Minutes50 Minutes
(5 Miles)
45-50 MinutesRest10 Miles
10Rest45 Minutes
(4 Miles)
35-45 Minutes45 Minutes
(4 Miles)
45-50 MinutesRest7 Miles
11Rest35 Minutes
(3 Miles)
35-45 Minutes35 Minutes
(3 Miles)
45-50 MinutesRest6 Miles
12Rest30 Minutes
(3 Miles)
30 Minutes30 Minutes
(3 Miles)
RestRest13.1 Miles Race Day!

Resistance:
DayBody PartExerciseSetsRepsWeightRestSpeedNotesExercise Info
1ShouldersDumbbell Shoulder Press Standing310 60 sec2/4/2 Details
1TricepsArm Extension Machine1010 60 sec2/4/2 Details
1ShouldersDumbbell Shoulder Lateral Raise1010 60 s2/4/2 Details
1ChestDumbbell Chest Flyes On Ball1010 60 sec2/4/2 Details
1ChestDumbbell Chest Press310 60 sec2/4/2 Details
2LegsOuter Thigh Machine310 60 sec2/4/2 Details
2LegsBall Squats1010 60 sec2/4/2 Details
2LegsWalking Lunges310 60 sec2/4/2 Details
2LegsInner Thigh Machine310 60 sec2/4/2 Details
3BackBall Cobra310 60 sec2/4/2 
3BicepsStanding Dumbbell Curl1010 60 sec2/4/2 Details
3BicepsStanding Hammer Dumbbell Curl310 60 sec2/4/2 Details
3BackLower Back Extension310 60 sec2/4/2 Details
3Back1 Arm Dumbbell Row1010 60 sec2/4/2 Details
         

3 comments:

  1. Very interesting, and you look great! So, what do you use as your main sources of protein? Do you do a lot of tofu?

    BTW, love Tucano's...every once in a while! We'll have to go together! The cheese balls are definitely amaze balls! Hmmm...maybe we should call them that! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd like to take partial credit for this because I introduced you to quinoa and other weird vegetarian foods while you were here ;) I love clean foods, I can't really imagine going back to meat and potatoes. I might barf. Glad you're having success - 3.5 lbs. in a month is a big deal, especially when you don't weigh a whole lot to begin with.
    I passed my goal of 10 lbs. today. Now I'm aiming for 5 more before summer (high school weight)!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You look amazing!! Keep up the awesome work, girlie!! :)

    ReplyDelete