Basically I feel good. It is invigorating to transition away from the addictive food that I know contains hormones and other elements that can cause bad health. I’m not a blogger by nature so this is all very new to me. I can text like a maniac, but I don’t do Facebook well, and other social media just sounds like work. So you may be asking why read anything that I put down??? Really I don’t know, but I thought it would be interesting to see what it’s like for a regular person who isn’t a fitness model to write about this topic in a real, honest way that it not propaganda or advertisement.
So me — I have old school German ancestry, and I love meat, cheese, beer, pizza, burgers etc. Why switch to a plant based diet? Right? That sounds horrible. Ok, so this is what I thought for the past 20 or so years. Except that I’m about 25lbs overweight. I hate being over my optimal weight. I live in one of the richest, sought-after countries in the entire world. To live here and not be in optimal shape is total bullshit. (I curse. Will try not to, but if something slips out, it is what it is.) Also, we have come to manufacture animals in a way that is completely ridiculous. I don’t want to go into too much depth on this angle– there are plenty of people who are all about making lives better for animals. I will just say that there are a number of industries where the dollar has won out over everything else.
(the quality of my grammar may wax and wane) I work out on average twice per week. Why only twice? Probably because I’m a working mom and my work is not at a gym. Plus, unless you do 2-a-days you probably can’t burn enough calories to make up for the tiny cupcake or cookie that you ate to reward yourself for the time you spent doing cardio or whatever. Now there are runners who can sprint around town at 7:45min pace and post on FB that they burned 1800cal per jaunt — I say good for them. But that ain’t me. When I run, my body gets pissed off and I spend more time icing and whining than burning calories. Most sources will say that weight loss or health or whatever you call it is about 75-85% diet and only 15-25% exercise. My mantra is that diet will get you the size you want but exercise will get you the shape.
I was an athlete from childhood through college. My personal metabolism still thinks that I’m an athlete – my basal HR is usually in the high 40s; systolic BP in 90-100s. My temp is usually low, in the 97 range. So if you combine all these factors you will see that my basal metabolism is just under 1000. What!!?? Right. Estimated is around 1400. When I had it measured professionally, it was actually much lower than the estimated. I think that this is representative of more women than you may think. There is not a ton of literature on this — I know because I have tried to find it. Most people will say there is a thyroid problem or some other hormone irregularity. But I’m fit as a fiddle so to speak. I have had just about everything under the sun tested, and I’m all good. Just maybe a little too well-conditioned???– don’t know, but I have to work with what I got.
So, knowing this low BMR problem, I sought some advice from a nutritionist. She told me to eat more, eat more often, eat more protein, make sure I eat breakfast, and add more weight-lifting to my workouts. Ok sure. Thanks. After a legit 4 weeks of doing this, I gained an extra five pounds. I felt the same otherwise, except now a little bitter. Over the past decade, I have tried cutting total calories (My Fitness Pal is the best site for this), changing my macros (protein up/down, carb up/down, fat up/down), going almost full ketogenic (which was crazy hard), intermittent fasting, and hCG. Intermittent fasting is intriguing because it follows an evolutionary path for humans — we didn’t always have a McD and Starbucks on every corner. The most successful long term success I had was with MFP– it keeps you accountable for what you eat. You wouldn’t buy a new car if you only had enough cash in your bank account for a box of Ramen, so why do we treat our bodies any differently?
The problem with cutting something out of my diet was that my body knew something was missing. The human body has been specifically engineered to fight starvation. When you want to lose weight, the body says whoa there lassie (or lad), lets take a step back. Cravings can be absolutely out-of-control fierce. They can also signal a micronutrient deficit in the diet. Hence the conclusion that many Americans are overweight and undernourished. So what is the best way to limit the intake of hazardous foods and increase the intake of nutritious sources? Is it possible that a plant based diet could provide all of the necessary macros to live a healthy life and still be satisfying?
This is the ultimate question that I am trying to answer. I have fought going plant based because it’s just not in my DNA…or is it?? Can I switch from burgers and pizza to a plant based alternative? Will it make me feel any different or will I just be lonely for pizza and burgers? Will I shed excess weight?
tbd
