Day Sixteen: Back on the Wagon!

Although I probably won't get any work done, I plan on using my day off for more than just binge watching the last season of Gossip Girl on Netflix. And rather than spend an hour writing one post before bed, I'm going to start now and update throughout the day. 

Even though I have off, my body still woke me up in time for work. I finally fell back to sleep and woke up around 8. After bumming around for a while, I made my way to Stop & Shop to get groceries for the week. Then I headed to the gym for a half hour on the elliptical. My neck and shoulder pain has been bad so I figured I would go easy on myself. 

Then I got started and this song came on:

How encouraging of you, Ice Cube! It was easier than I thought. I don't think I looked at the timer until I was 13 minutes in. The arm motions actually helped ease my shoulder pain. I didn't feel winded or anything. As I neared the 30 minute mark, I decided to up my time to an hour. Forty minutes in, this song came on:

Nothing motivates me more than this song. It makes me feel like Mystikal is chasing me and yelling in my ear. I was still feeling good. At 57:00, this song came on:

Another huge motivator for me! And perfect timing - I ended my workout going even faster. And finally, my cool down consisted of this gem from Zumba class:

About 18 months ago, I used to go to the gym and do an hour on the elliptical 7 days a week. I'm not back to my old speed, but I was pretty close. After my workout, I felt better - and more pain-free - than I had in a long time.

I felt like doing a victory lap around the gym

Looking a mess but feeling fabulous

At this point, I had had more than 2 bottles of water, but no food. Yesterday I committed to starting my detox today, so I decided to whip up a green smoothie. I'm not sure what this is going to do to my stomach yet, so I figured for today, the earlier I tried it, the better. 

Brunch: Green Smoothie

I realize that it's not Sunday. I'm not sure what else to call it when a day's first meal happens around 1:00. I was intimidated to begin this whole process, but I had to start sometime.

I am using the Raw Green Organic's 2 Week Detox system. It's vegan, caffeine-free, soy-free, and gluten-free (wait, we have issues with soy now?). The smoothie recipe I used consisted of 3 tablespoons of vegan protein powder, 1 tablespoon of organic super greens powder, and then from my own kitchen: 1 banana (I added this, totally randomly, to hopefully cover up the stank taste that I assumed would go along with the stank smell of these powders), 1 cup of almond milk, 1/4 teaspoon of (imitation) vanilla extract (since I realized the recipe that comes with the system advises using vanilla-flavored almond/soy/rice milk), and 3/4 cup ice. 

Ignore the trash in the corner

The initial sound of ice crushing in my Ninja damn near gave me a heart attack, but everything blended together quickly. As I began to pour the green sludge into a pint glass and saw that it was amounting to just over a pint (I guess because of the banana), my heart sank a little. I poured the excess into a small juice glass and started there.

...it wasn't as bad as I expected! 

It took me a while to drink these down because it wasn't fantastic...I really don't know how to describe it. Then I took the recommended supplements that came with the system - 1 capsule of super aloe ("a natural laxative and stool softener"), 1 capsule of vegan probiotic (which led me to question my regular probiotic, but it's safe), and 1 capsule of super fiber (another natural laxative). All of the above worry me. I took note of the time - 1:27 - expecting the smoothie and supplements to work something like this: 

Shortly thereafter, my eyelids started getting heavy. I got into bed around 2:00 for a lovely 2-hour nap. It's currently 5:08 and my insides are still intact.

Snack: I don't want to get started on dinner just yet, and I know I have a lot of calories to intake today. I went for my leftover artichoke heart and tomato salad.

Dinner: Israeli Couscous with Peas, Carrots, and Red Wine Vinegar and Seared Cauliflower with Garlic and Tamari

Oh, what a disappointment this is. Also, the nutrition facts on the Kickstart website are way off - 168 calories when this is really 347 - but luckily I could really eat in excess today.

I started by boiling 1 1/4 cups of vegetable broth and then adding a cup of Bob's Red Mill whole wheat pearl couscous. I removed that from the heat and stirred it every now and then. It never really fully absorbed. I have never used whole wheat Israeli couscous before so maybe it just needed more time.

I mixed this together with 1/4 cup of peas, 1/2 cup shredded carrots, a diced stalk of celery, 1/2 red bell pepper - diced, 1/8 red onion - diced, 1/4 cup of shredded red cabbage, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. This makes 2 servings.

The cauliflower recipe called for a head of cauliflower, cut into florets, but I already had a bag of frozen, steam-in-bag cauliflower florets. I steamed them in the microwave and then sauteed them on medium for a few minutes. I added 2 tablespoons of tamari and cooked that for about 2 minutes, and then added 3 minced cloves of garlic and cooked it for about 3 more.

The verdict:

At first I was like, yesssssss this is so much food! I started with the cauliflower - I love cauliflower - and it was okay, but something about it tasted a little fishy to me. Maybe I'm used to using soy sauce on sushi so I just made the association.

Now the couscous, to put it plainly, sucked. I don't know why I continue to buy/use red pepper because I really don't like it. The cinnamon was totally out of place and the red wine vinegar was overpowering. 

I could only eat half of this. I have another serving for lunch tomorrow and I'm already dreading it. 

These are today's totals, although I may end up eating something else since I barely ate today and can't stomach my dinner.

Totals	654	100	13	34	1,685	19
Your Daily Goal	1,701	213	57	85	2,300	64
Remaining	1,047	113	44	51	615	45
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

My Fitness Pal is telling me that if every day was like today, I'd be 4 lbs away from my goal in 5 weeks. Every day is not going to be like today, but did I mention that I'm officially 5 lbs. down and only 15 days in to this diet? 

I'll leave you with this:

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!)