Weight loss journey
Hi All, I'm a recent vegan and new to this forum. I wanted to share my weight loss journey and progress on this forum. I hope it inspires and motivates others out here.
I look forward to your feedback and comments.
A bit of background. I've been a SAD eater most of my life and in the course of the last 4-5 years I've gained a lot of weight and developed heath issues as a result. I've had a lot of indigestion, bloating, diarrhea, gas, and chronic fatigue. In January 2012 I started to feel chest pain and pain around my liver area. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with high cholesterol, fatty liver, had intestinal inflemation, and protein in my urine.
My doctor said he's never seen anyone with those cholesterol values and put me on cholesterol lowering meds right away.
My total Cholesterol was 9 mmol/L or 347 mg /dL, my bad LDL cholesterol was 7 mmol/L or 270 mg/dL. The meds made me feel worse so I stopped after a month.
As I was looking for alternative treatments I happened to watch the forks over knives documentary and so I decided to cut out the dairy and reduce my meat intake to once a week. Immediately my digestive issues started to settle down. The bloating went away and I could digest my food better. For a few months afterwards I called myself a Flexitarian eating mostly plant food and having meats and fish occasionally. Eventually I cut out meat all together and decided to become a full time vegan.
I started exercising on March 15th this year. My measurements at the time were 175Lbs, 26% body fat. I'm now 146Lbs and 16% body fat. In the last 4.5 months I lost almost 30 Lbs and I'm still dropping. Did my blood test again and the doctor was astonished at the results. From comparing the blood test and urinalysis results he couldn't believe this was the same person. Cholesterol went back to normal levels and no protein in my urine. He asked me what I was doing I told him about my lifestyle and dietary changes and asked that I come back for another checkup in 6 months.
my diet consists lots and lots of raw fruits (Bananas, Dates, Mangos, oranges, apples) vegetables, rice, potatoes, Oatmeal, whole grain breads, and some beans.
I eat Tofu and soy products occasionally and stay away from nuts and oils. Basically the 811 diet. High Carb, low protein, low fat.
One of my biggest challenges was controlling my cravings for refined sugars, chocolate, and desserts. I overcame that by stuffing my face with lots and lots of sweet fruit. I eat so much fruit to the point of being sick of eating all together.
I also practice Intermittent Fasting (IF) where I get most of my calories / meals between 1pm-6pm and I don't eat anything outside of that window. I would have my last meal on Sunday evening at 5pm and then I won't eat anything until 1pm the next day. I would do this for 1-3 days a week. I also exercise in a fasted state. I would wake up in the morning after having fasted 15 hours and hit the gym for a 1 hour work out, then I would come home and wait until 1pm before having my first meal.
My goal is to get to 7% body fat and gain lean muscle mass. At the moment I'm dropping about 1-2 Lbs a week
here are my before and after pictures. look forward to any comments, questions, etc..
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