While I have lost 5 kg = 11 lb the last 10 weeks by just calorie counting I didn’t really feel like I was moving off my plateau much. So last Friday, after getting my latest blood test results, I decided to be more pro-active and “come home again” to a vegan, non-oil diet.
In just one week I’ve lost 2.6 kg = 5.7 lb! So over half of what I have lost these past 10 weeks was just in the last week!
What I’m doing differently this time:
- I’m paying more attention to calorie density (calories per lb) as recommended by various vegan, non-oil doctors. The idea is that you should get full on whole, vegan foods which are lower in calorie density (e.g. potatoes, rice, legumes, non-starchy vegetables, fruits) and avoid those which are extremely high in calorie density (e.g. noodles, breads, and oils in particular).
- I’m limiting tofu. It’s not high in calorie density, but it is almost half fat. And not particularly filling.
- I decided to not have any diet colas. I think they trigger sugar urges. I’m mostly drinking just water, and sometimes unsweetened green or black tea.
- I am avoiding foods where the main ingredient is sugar, such as sorbets or icicles.
I’m not eliminating all sugars from my diet. If a particular vegan, non-oil food has some sugar in the ingredients I don’t really care.
What I found is that that I went from having sugar cravings for sorbet this summer to no sugar cravings at all within just the first few days.
I’ve also been eating a lot of potatoes and almost no rice. I think that’s a major difference from my first go-round with vegan, non-oil dieting. Rice is ok, but it does trigger some hunger urges. Also the calorie density of rice is considerably higher than potatoes. I’m not completely avoiding rice. If I’m outside and all I can get is a rice ball to eat for lunch and I’m hungry, I’ll have it. But I have no rice at home.
I have lots of salad stuff, little packages of corn for the salads, legumes like garbanzo beans and red kidney beans, non-oil dressing, potatoes, other non-starchy vegetables and other things I might get for a snack like some pickles, or the occasional fruit. I’m not eating much fruit though. I’m not having any cravings for anything sweet.
I really like potatoes microwaved, moistened with some soy milk, and topped with nutritional yeast, which gives it a cheesy flavor. A huge plate is only a few hundred calories and filling for hours.
It’s only been one week but I find my hunger urges are largely abated, so I’m not really eating in-between meals. I’m also not eating late at night. So basically I’m fasting ever day for over 12 hours – from my dinner until breakfast the next morning. I’m not really doing that intentionally, I just find if I eat a filling meal at around 6 or 7 pm that I’m just not hungry after that.
My meals consist of a nice salad with corn and non oil dressing, followed by something like 300-400 g of potatoes. There is some variation, but it’s mostly like that.
My energy has increased, and I’ve been taking more bike rides. The fact that the weather has cooled off a bit may have contributed to that.
I am logging calories. Calories do count (whether you count them or not). I notice that eating this way my net calorie intake has dropped a lot. Which of course explains the weight loss.
I feel this way of eating could be sustainable. So I look forward to going back to the doctors in three months and blowing them away with fantastic blood test results!