Stature of Limitations
Week 3. Whew.
So, the spouse has been surprisingly on board with this whole “weekday vegan” thing. And we have been eating outstanding, meaty, salty, cheesy dinners on the weekends (and even on the weekends, we begin lunch & dinner with a big-ass salad.)
Sooooo…three weeks in & the spouse has dropped 12 lbs. And you can SEE it on him. His face is cut, his midsection is whittling down, his clothes hang differently–he looks good. He has even started working out–and bought a new pair of running shoes.
I hate him.
I’m doing the exact same plan as he, and I have lost–wait for it–2 lbs. Damn it. I have been even stricter on the plan than he–and I’ve been working out–HARD for 2 weeks.
Two. Lousy. Pounds.
OK, so my clothes fit a little differently (thank God for small favors.) Nothing groundbreaking. I still have a lot of clothes from graduate school–even some high school stuff. It still fits–just differently since I’ve had kids. (And–for the record–I was not a thin high school or grad school student, and these garments fall into the extra-baggy category.)
But this tells me a few things: A. The manner in which I was eating before was not terribly high in calories, B. I must get more exercise than I think, just chasing my kids around & doing housework and C. I can go back to having my fancy cocktails. (Right???)
This was lunch today. That is a half-pound of salad greens, topped with salt-free, fat-free black beans leftover from last night’s dinner. (I included the coffee mug to give a sense of scale–I’m not sure that it was effective. That is a big muthatruckin’ salad.) No dressing, just a squeeze of lime juice and nary a dash of salt. It was actually pretty tasty.
And here’s my dinner salad. A generous half-pound of salad greens. With tomatoes and a puree of avocado, raw garlic & lime for the dressing (note the lack of salt.) 
The rest of my dinner was this:
White beans simmered with carrot, celery, pepper, onion, rosemary & oregano. No salt, no oil. Kale steamed, with garlic. No salt, no oil. Brown rice, less than 1/2 a cup. My snacks for the day included a nectarine and some carrots & celery. And I ran this morning–at 5:45am. (All this salad must be negatively affecting my judgement.)
Suffice it to say, I must remember that I can not diet and exercise my way to a 5’7″ frame. I actually do feel better, and as the good doc has suggested, I do not crave salty foods or starches. I think about them, fondly…but I do not ferociously crave them, as I did before.
But my birthday is coming up…and I feel some fried chicken coming on.
i don’t see how you do it.. good for y’all though!!