Week 2 Recap

For those following along, I've completed 2 weeks of a vegan diet.

Workouts:  5 CrossFit classes.
Percent vegan diet: 100%
Weight: Minus 8.4 lbs since May 7.
Mood: Remains overall upbeat.

It's getting easier, y'all.

I haven't experienced too many cravings for meat but thought about cheese more times than I think one usually would in a normal day.  Years ago I took a meditation class and worked with a technique to gently push intruding thoughts away from my mind's eye.  I've been calling on that method to deal with intruding thoughts of cheddar and mozzarella.  I imagine the back of my hand ever-so-gently pushing the thought off to the side. It's working so far.  In reality, simply acknowledging that I'm THINKING about cheese during the day tells me that I probably haven't thought about it enough. It was an easy grab from the refrigerator when I was hungry and I fooled myself into thinking it had something I needed to sustain me. Don't get me wrong. It's delicious. I simply ate more of it than was healthy for me.

The other epiphany I had this week was around my use of food as entertainment. I stayed at a friend's house this weekend - watching his place and his dog. I do this fairly often (every month or so) and previously, I haven't taken much of my own food because there are so many great restaurants close by.  I rationalized not cooking because: I didn't want to dirty up the kitchen, he uses different oil/condiments/etc, and I was allowing myself the "treat" of hamburgers, fries, chinese food, chicken caesar salad, beer.  You get the picture.

This weekend I carted all my own food to his house. I cooked all my meals. I drank oceans of water.  I still felt as if I'd been treated but the difference was I was treating myself better.

None of this is earth-shattering and I'm aware of that.  I hope that by putting some of my thoughts into words, I can start to cement the changes I'm experiencing into my behaviors. Maybe someone reading will be encouraged.  I certainly appreciate the encouragement I've received from those who are reading along. Your kind words mean the world to me. Thank you.

One more thing. I received a HUGE dose of inspiration watching the team from CrossFit Central Houston compete at the regional CrossFit competition.  Congrats to them for their strong showing.