30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 28

Only today, tomorrow and Friday left to go for my 30 Days as a Vegetarian.

The end is in sight! I can almost taste the bacon!

I am going to be so happy when this is over.

I do have some conclusions on what has happened thus far.

#1. It is not so much what I am eating - vegetarian food can be equally fattening if it is deep fried, high in carbs, high in sugar, etc. The biggest difference clearly is HOW MUCH I am eating - as clearly demonstrated with what happened on Valentines when I clearly overate and ate too much greasy food.

#2. I also saw larger differences on the days after large amounts of exercise. Clearly exercising does pay off in the waistline department, but the trick for people is to make exercising sustainable. If they lose interest they will stop doing it.

Note - See Day 14 of 30 Days as a Vegetarian to see my exercise routine.

#3. I think for me having exercises to do every day (including shoveling snow) helped with the weight loss more than the process of eating vegetarian. Exercising was by far the biggest factor for me.

#4. Binging on Valentines = Bad.

#5. Eating healthy and lots of exercise on the days following Valentines = Good. See why below...

Yesterday I had leftover veggie soup, potatoes, a veggie burger and caesar salad at Johnny Rockets (as usual for Tuesdays).

This morning before breakfast I weighed in at 192.3 lbs and my waist is 40.5 inches. So evidently the weight gain from overeating on Valentines turned out to be temporary and I have even lost 0.1 lbs in the last 6 days.

30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 26

Day 26 of 30 Days as a Vegetarian.

Today at noon (after lunch) I weighed in at 195.6 lbs, and yet surprisingly my waist measured only 40.5 inches at the widest point.

So compared to 4 days ago (before Valentines) when I weighed 192.4 after breakfast, I have gained 3.2 lbs in 4 days - most of which happened on Valentines with the ridiculous amount of food I ate.

I don't even want to know what my weight was yesterday (Sunday). All I can say is wow. Binging on Valentines really can make a huge difference to your weight.

What is strange however is that this extra weight didn't go to my belly (possibly because it has not yet had time to do so) as my waist is still hovering at 40.5 at the widest point. I am uncertain WHY or WHAT happened, but if my waist hasn't caught up to this sudden weight fluctuation maybe there is hope this is just temporary.

Update: Today I had cereal, veggie soup, mashed potatoes and peas - and a beer closer to the evening.

30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 24

Day 24 of 30 Days as a Vegetarian.

Okay so technically I am writing this on Day 25 because yesterday was Valentines and I was too busy to have time to write it.

And honestly I am not even going to check my weight today. I am just going to try ignore everything that I ate on Valentines as it was a lot...

Friday I had cereal, soup and a veggie burger.

Saturday (Valentines) I had:

1. [Breakfast] Cereal + green tea.
2. [Snack] Hot Chocolate from Tim Hortons (while visiting the Toronto Archery Range).
3. [Lunch] All you can eat Chinese food (vegetarian items only), many of which were deep fried.
4. [Snack] Chocolate.
5. [Supper] Grilled Cheese, Fries, Nachos and roughly 2.5 beers at a pub.
6. [Snack] More chocolate.

By the time I went to bed last night I felt like a beached whale and "so full I might burst".

Hopefully if I play my cards right that Valentines food binge will likely be meaningless by the time Monday rolls around. Eating all that food yesterday for Valentines seems to have resulted in a deflated appetite today. We shall see when I weigh in on Monday (tomorrow).

Update - I did go to an event on Sunday where I had a plate of fries (it was the only thing vegetarian on the menu) and a beer. I didn't feel hungry that day and was probably still on a sugar high from Valentines.

30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 22

Day 22 of 30 Days as a Vegetarian.

Weighed in after breakfast at 192.4, waist at widest point is now 40.5 inches. Huzzah!

For lunch I will be trying something new soup wise, using a lot of chick peas. It will be similar to my old 2013 post titled How to Make a Hearty Vegetable Soup in a Jiffy.

Later tonight I am going to an event (again at 7 West) and will be trying something other than their veggie burger (which was horrible the last time I was there).

Nothing else new to report at this time.

Update - I had the grilled cheese sandwich, a salad and a Guinness. I have determined that grilled cheese, while not very healthy, tasted waaaaaaaaaay better than that horrid veggie burger I had last time at 7 West. I should have taken a photograph of the sandwich and the salad, but I forgot so I will just use a clipart example instead.

30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 20

Today is Day 20 of 30 Days as a Vegetarian.

Yesterday I had leftover pancakes and veggie stew to eat. This morning I had cereal, I will be having soup for lunch and later today I will be having a veggie burger (like I do every Tuesday and Friday) at Johnny Rockets.

Weighed in this morning at 192.8, waist at widest point is still 41 inches.

I have concluded that my food options as a vegetarian are very boring. I have started searching through recipe books / vegetarian websites looking for recipes that are healthy that I would actually like.

Unfortunately recipe books written for vegetarians seem to think wheat grass can be added to anything and ignores the possibility that most grocery stores don't even sell wheat grass. (And have you ever tasted wheat grass? Yuck!)

Thus what I have started doing is looking through mainstream recipe books (like America's Test Kitchen) and looking for examples of things that are healthy / vegetarian.

Many of the things in some of these cookbooks are quite complicated to make and it occurs to me that I am actually really horrible in the kitchen at anything that doesn't involve meat, pasta or cookies*.

* Mostly because my mother was absolutely amazing at making cookies, squares, chocolate covered peanut butter balls, etc and that such things rubbed off on me.

Note to Self - Visit grocery store and stock up on various things, I am running low again.

30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 18

Day 18 of "30 Days as a Vegetarian".

Yesterday I think I ate too much food I probably should not have. Why?

Because I was at the Toronto Sportsmen's Show as part of the Toronto Archery Club. I was there talking to bow makers, hunters, fishermen, camping enthusiasts, etc.

DnD Meats Dried Cured Bacon

With respect to food however the healthiest vegetarian foods I could find at the convention centre was vegetarian pizza from the Pizza Pizza stand and french fries from one of the food stands at the convention centre - which is to say, not very healthy even though they are vegetarian.

There was also venison meat and other meat packages for sale, but I knew that was definitely off limits. eg. I snapped a photo of the D&D Meats Dried Cured Bacon, shown here on the right. It doesn't look very tasty, but I betcha it is if you are a bacon lover like I am. Only 12 more days to go!

And today I fell off the diet wagon a bit because I ended up ordering a vegetarian pizza from Domino's Pizza so we could have a treat while watching The Walking Dead later tonight. So I didn't fall off the veggie wagon, but that pizza was most definitely not healthy. Whether this abundance of high carbs food will have an impact on my weigh in on Tuesday (Day 20) we shall find out then.

My weight this morning, before breakfast was 193.3, so the pizza yesterday may have been offset from the amount of walking around I did at the convention centre. I wouldn't have thought walking around carrying bags of stuff I purchased counted as exercise, but apparently I was wrong. My waist at widest point is still 41 inches.

Below are three of the photos I took while at the Toronto Sportmen's Show. I admit they are totally off topic for the vegetarian theme my current posts are on, but I wanted to share them in case any fellow archery enthusiasts are reading.

My girlfriend and I have been discussing what things I might eat after my 30 Days as a Vegetarian is over. Topics include Korean BBQd samgyopsal, a bacon cheeseburger, fish n chips... I know it is only 12 days away but it feels like longer.

Anywho I am hungry now so I am going to go make some veggie stew.

30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 16

Day 16 of "30 Days as a Vegetarian".

On Wednesday night my girlfriend and I went out for dinner and then to the Royal Alexandra Theatre where we saw "The Heart of Robin Hood" on stage.

We ate at The Duke of Richmond (Eaton's Centre) and I had the Black Bean Veggie Burger + Moroccan Stew. Honest to dragon*, that was the best veggie burger I have had yet. I could see ordering that burger again in the future (after my 30 Days as a Vegetarian is over), just because it was that tasty.

Black Bean Veggie Burger + Moroccan Stew

* I don't like using religious words online if I can prevent it, so I just replace them all with dragon. eg. omidragon.

Weight is currently 193.4 lbs and waist at widest point is still 41 inches.

Later today I will be visiting Johnny Rockets again for another veggie burger and caesar salad. I admit having food in restaurants 2-3 days per week is probably not healthy. For me it seems to be giving me something to look forward to while I am eating salads, mushroom soups, veggie stews, etc.

30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 14

Hello! Welcome to Day 14 of "30 Days as a Vegetarian".

Lets see... had another veggie burger at Johnny Rockets again last night. Honestly this is going to be a regular occurrence as I have events downtown near there every Tuesday and Friday.

In the meantime all of the homemade apple pie my girlfriend made disappeared two days ago so I am back to my regular staples of soups, salads, smooothies, etc. I am back to trying to limit my intake of anything sugary or high in carbs - the apple pie was a nice break from the monotony, but I need to watch how often I eat such things.

I think I should take some time to talk about my weightlifting / exercise routine during this 30 day experiment. Here are the exercises I am doing:

Shoveling Snow x However much it Snows***
Jumping Jacks x 200 to 500**
Chin ups x 50 to 100**
Push ups x 50 to 100**
Bicep curls with 15 to 30 lb dumbbells*
Tricep curls above head with one 20 to 30 lb dumbbell*
Lifts above head with 15 to 25 lb dumbbells*
Shoulder Ts with 15 lb dumbbells*
Squats with 15 to 30 lb dumbbells* held at sides
Squat Ts with 15 to 30 lb dumbbells*

* The amount of weight I use varies on the day and how energetic I feel. The number of sets and repetitions also varies on my schedule for that day, and how busy / energetic I feel.

** The number of jumping jacks, chin ups and push ups relates more to how much time I have available that day and not necessarily how energetic I feel, although that is certainly a factor.

*** Honestly, you may consider shoveling snow to be a chore but it is still definitely an exercise as it combines both weight lifting and cardio. I should also note I don't shovel every day however as it has not been snowing every day, although we certainly got lots in the last 2 days.

Back to the topic of vegetarian food I have nothing new to report beyond my weight this morning and waist measurement at widest point:

193.8 lbs and 41 inches.

30 Days as a Vegetarian - Day 12

Hello! Welcome to Day 12 of "30 Days as a Vegetarian".

As you may have already read 2 days ago I am getting bored of my food options so I have been looking for alternative ways to make different kinds of food. What I really need is a "vegetarian recipe book for beginners who suck at cooking".

Yesterday I went to the grocery store again, buying more strawberries and other things... but also:

6 Carrot muffins - 350 calories per muffin.
Apple pie - 320 calories per slice, using 1/8th per slice.
28 Bran cookies - 46.7 calories per cookie.

Now obviously I am not going to be eating everything all at once, or all on the same, etc. But basically I was looking for things that are relatively low in calories, but still taste good and allows me to break away from the hum-drum of eating soups, salads, etc all the time.

One of the things I saw yesterday was the Sugar Cream Pie from the photo below. (I saw it while I was browsing for apple pie.) What is funny is when I read the ingredients it is vegetarian friendly, but most certainly is not healthy for you. Brown sugar is its 2nd most plentiful ingredient and the calories were staggering. It made me feel thankful the apple pie was comparatively low in calories.

However I should note gorging yourself on apple pie is still not good for your waistline.

Another thing I saw at the grocery store was Textured Vegetable Protein.

Wow. Just wow.

I had to read the ingredients and check the calorie info, and it looked interesting, but I struggled to think of something I would actually use it for. I could not think of something to use it in, beyond oatmeal or cereal or mixing with yogurt, and therefore I didn't buy it because I have no clue what it actually tastes like and was unsure what to use it for.

Besides if I feel really low on protein I have whey protein powder I can use.

Personal + Measurement Notes

I cannot wait for this experiment to be over. My girlfriend keeps eating hamburgers, pasta with meat on it, chicken salad and other things in front of me. It looks soooooo tasty...

After seeing me buying pie yesterday my girlfriend decided to make homemade pie, so the store bought pie hasn't even been taken out of the package yet... but the homemade pie will likely disappear later today as there is only about 2.5 slices left.

My weight this morning, before breakfast, was 194.2. The two helpings of apple pie probably did not help... Waist at widest point is still 41 inches. At very least the apple pie is a nice break from the routine and I can hopefully power my way through the next 18 days.

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