The First Weekend: Days Seven and Eight

Well, it's Sunday night and I'm reflecting on my first vegan weekend. Yesterday was my "cheat" day, which basically means nothing, except I can drink. I resolved to only drink once a week for January, but that's already going to be shot next week, since I have a concert on Tuesday and two events over the weekend. 

Anyway, here's how yesterday panned out:

Totals	1,558	177	10	28	805	35
Your Daily Goal	1,503	188	50	75	2,300	56
Remaining	-55	11	40	47	1,495	21
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

I'm pretty sure I missed something and really consumed more calories, but whatever. 

I had to drop off my cable boxes and equipment at the cable store, since I cut the cord about two weeks ago. The gym chain that I go to has a location next door, so I decided to try it out. I wasn't a fan, but I stuck it out. I also had to pick up groceries for the week, and luckily, there is also a grocery store in the shopping center. It was also possibly the worst grocery store I've been to in a long time. 

At this point, I had had about six cups of water, but I was starving. I had a little leftover green glamour smoothie, so I threw it in the Ninja with some additional kale, banana, blueberries, and strawberries. To be honest, I don't remember if I put in more almond milk or not. 

Why aren't you beer?

But look how pretty all of the colors are

Now I'm just getting artsy

So, yeah, breakfast was a green glamour smoothie. 

For lunch, I had the last leftover curried tomato lentil soup and a TJ's Middle Eastern flatbread spread with homemade hummus, basil leaves (which I think should be tossed because they were pretty pungent), pea shoots, sun dried tomatoes, and black pepper. 

Since I was running all of these errands, my day started pretty late, so I didn't have lunch until 3. I had plans to go to the bar at 6, so I wasn't yet hungry by the time I left. Oops. Therefore, dinner was beer.

Dinner
Dogfish Head - Raison D'etre, 12 oz.	220	18	0	0	0	0
Six Point Beer - Sweet Action, 16 oz	235	17	0	1	0	0
Weyerbacher - Verboten (Belgian Pale Ale), 12 oz.	180	0	0	0	0	0
Ithaca Beer Company - Flower Power Ipa, 16 oz	225	0	0	0	0	0
	860	35	0	1	0	0

Like I said, I think I forgot one. This led me to the following conclusions:

A) MyFitnessPal is awesome for having craft beers in its database

B) I clearly got fat because I love craft beer

C) I wish I still liked/could drink light beer

Today, I felt so ill from having beer for dinner that I basically couldn't eat or move for a long time. I guess if you're going to overindulge one day, it's good to be physically unable to eat the next, right? (insert eye roll here)

I think it's safe to say I'm done eating for the day, so here are my totals: 

Totals	555	111	6	16	977	42
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	645	39	34	44	1,323	3
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Breakfast was a nap and some Advil. Oh wait, I also had a Sunkist strawberry fruit bar.

Lunch was a cup of Dr. McDougall's Vegan Tortilla Soup

See, this is the bad thing about a vegan diet. When you're hungover, you can't just run to the McDonald's drive thru or get Chinese delivered. Greasy junk food is pretty much out of the question. When you're straddling that line between nauseous and hungry, but you're pretty sure you need food in your stomach now, there aren't many instant options (OMG, I am just now realizing that I have Amy's vegan enchiladas in my freezer, which would have been epic). I grabbed this soup because it was the quickest thing I had on hand. It basically works like a ramen Cup o' Noodles: Take out the flavor packet, add water, microwave...

I don't think I would buy this again, though. Even though lime is one of the last ingredients listed, it was pretty overpowering. I also didn't take a picture of the soup itself, but it looked a little barfy, which was not what I needed at the time. 

Snack: Nap #2

Dinner: Couscous Confetti Salad (with imitation garlic naan)

This was right up my alley because I actually cook stuff like this all the time. I absolutely love Pita Grill, which, if you're not familiar with it, is a chain in the New York City area. Although I'm lucky to reunite with PG this upcoming Tuesday, I don't get it very often, so I starting making my own version of their rice bowls years ago. And since I'm not very good at cooking rice, I usually make mine with couscous. 

To make four servings, I made 3/4 cup of TJ's whole couscous. While that was going on the stovetop, I mixed together 2 chopped green onions; half of a red bell pepper, diced; 1/2 cup of shredded carrots (grated? julienned? whatever comes in the bag. I'm too lazy to get up and look); a cup of shredded red cabbage; 1/4 cup diced fresh parsley (I'd omit this next time. I'm so over parsley); and 1/4 cup of golden raisins. Once the couscous was done, I mixed it in.

In a small bowl, I whisked together a little over a tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil (oh, how I missed you, EVOO!!!), 1/2 teaspoon curry powder, and some salt. Then I dumped this on top of the couscous salad and stirred it all together.

My TJ's flatbreads are past their prime, so I decided to use one up and make fake garlic naan. I gave one flatbread a spritz of Smart Balance cooking spray, doused it with a healthy sprinkling of garlic powder, and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It was no garlic naan, but it was definitely healthier. 

I just killed off the rest of the green glamour smoothie that was leftover in my Ninja (I need to make hummus!). After a day in the refrigerator, it was more like pudding, but it was still good.

Well, that was my weekend. I still have some things to do before bed, especially if I'm going to make it to work tomorrow (my neck pain is so bad today I'm basically immobile. But that's another story). The moral of the story is that beer is not meant to be dinner, and hangovers are not healthy dieting strategies. But MyFitnessPal is not very encouraging when it says things like:

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 117.6 lbs in 5 weeks 

If every day were like today, I'd be a very unhealthy person. 

Oh, and here are some bonus links:

21 Meals with Tons of Protein and No Meat (not all are vegan, though)

Steve-o's Vegan Kickstart page (I had no idea he was vegan!)