My story...

I just joined. This is my first week making the plunge.

I've been fat my whole life, obese for the past 10 years at least. A few years ago I was able to start bike commuting to work (28 mile round trip at the time) and was knocking off pounds but I still ate a turkey sandwich and stuff like that. Eventually I fell off the wagon and gained all the weight I lost back. Also I got a job that put me on third shfit, and have a kid. The energy drinks and coffee with cream etc and I ballooned up to near 300 pounds.

I've had high blood pressure, psoriasis, IBS, and my eyelids flaked, peeled, and blistered regularly. I had regular headaches. My blood pressure, with meds, was around 150/100. I got sick early January and the doctor weighed me in at 297.

This year I decided it was time to address this issue. I told my wife I wanted to join the local YMCA. She looked at me like I was crazy but went along with it. (We are not christian.) I started working out, but wasn't very successful at first, I'd stop for a burger and fries on the way home since I didn't feel like cooking with a toddler to take care of.

I officially started this journey on Feb 1, 2013.

But then I saw a documentary on Netflix (I'd seen Food, Inc a few years ago and that got me going to local markets more often instead of grocery store, but I was still eating dairy and meat pretty regularly)

The documentary was called "Hungry for Change." and they got into the benefits of a vegetable diet and juicing, as well as talking about how bad "diet" soda is and talked about detox. Something clicked and I immediately went to a fruits/veggie diet. I'd gone gluten free. In fact, I'd gone vegan for a few weeks and hadn't realized, except we'd had small steaks and cheese on valentines day. My stomach issues were a living hell, but I was determined to get through it. Two weeks in I'd lost 12 pounds.

After going to fruits/veggie diet we watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" where two guys go on a 60 day juice fast. Now we talked it over and bought a juicer. We ended up only doing a four day juice fast. After the juice fast we sauteed a ton of vegetables and it was one of the greatest tasting dinners we'd ever had. Since the fast I no longer feel the crippling effects of IBS. The skin of my eyelids started to heal, and my psoriasis started clearing up.

So I continue to work out, and except for 1 steak a few slices of cheese, as well as having some fish and chicken salad I was doing well. In February I lost 28 pounds in 28 days. Phenomenal.

I thought I was doing really well, staying gluten free, and tracking my calories I'd been having HUGE calorie deficits, so I start adding blue cheese and other small amounts of cheese to my diet as well as more fish. My weight loss just stopped. In fact, it started to reverse. I was still feeling better, but I wasn't going anywhere on the scale, and my psoriasis was coming back

This was when I saw "Forks Over Knives" which got me to cut out dairy and fish right then and there. It made sense. And then "The Engine 2 Diet" was another one and that taught me to get rid of oil.

I went vegan this past Monday. I'm back to losing a pound a day, and yesterday I had a 2000+ calorie deficit for the day, but I am not starving. In fact, I feel fuller and more satisfied now than I've ever been.

I work out 1.5 hours a day most days of the week and now I'm 100% gluten free, 100% dairy free, 100% meat free. Two months ago, if you told me I'd hit veganism I would've laughed at you. But the benefits are outstanding.

Here are my stats:

Weight loss so far: 32 pounds
Blood pressure meds: Almost OFF meds. dosage has been quartered and doctor is talking about taking me off them soon.
Psoriasis: Clearing up
Eyelids: No more dark circles around my eyes, no more peeling of my eyelids and no more blistered: Whatever this is, it is gone.
IBS: All but gone

I'm still kinda pissy that I was lied to for some many years about grains and 'needing protein' from animal products, but with time I'll get away from this. This is not what I expected it to be.

But I'm welcome to any feedback or suggestions. The further into this I get, the less I crave any meat or cheese. In fact, the thought of a cheeseburger disgusts me.