veggie tales

Yesterday marked my fourth week into vegetarianism. Also, I still can't spell vegetarianism without sounding it out slowly and narrowing my eyes at the screen while I type. Because, you know, making weird faces makes spelling easier.

So why did I cut meat out from my diet? Well, except for fish. I was raised Catholic, and joke that I'm too Catholic to give up fish. Plus I really like sushi. Not that this matters because I haven't had fish either. My reasons for going vegetarian have been slowly growing the longer I continue on this little journey.

It all started when my friend B gave up meat and dropped 5 pounds in, like, a week. Naturally, I jumped on this wagon for two reasons.

1) I wanted to lose 5 pounds.
2) I viewed it as a challenge. Psh, if B can give up meat for a week, so can I. I will totally win this contest that I created in my head.

A week went by and I didn't lose any weight. I summed up B's weight loss to the fact that he's a boy and they lose weight easier than girls. That, or he's the devil. It's definitely one of those two things. Regardless of not dropping a measly pound, I decided to keep it up because

3) B was still not eating meat, and I'll be damned if I let him win.
4) I wasn't missing chicken or beef or bacon or anything, so why not?
5) I was finding new foods I enjoyed (like artichoke hearts), and it was fun ordering new things from the same old restaurants.

Last week was my toughest week of this whole vegetarian thing, and I imagine that one week a month will go about the same way. I've been taking a multivitamin every day... okay, fine. I've been taking a multivitamin nearly every day; I keep forgetting. My body was craving protein and iron. So I went up to the food court on campus (I work on a college campus, so I always have plenty of food options), and got some veggie nachos with pinto beans and was good as new. Which brings me to reason

6) I'm learning how to listen to my body.

Which is so important, you know? And I know that that sounds kind of hippie-dippie, but it's something I've never really thought about before. I'm realizing now when I'm hungry versus when I'm thirsty, and when I need certain nutrients. And since I'm on my hippie eco-friendly, free-trade all-natural soap box (I'm not making fun, since I'm a huge fan of eco-friendly free trade all-natural soaps), here are my other reasons for going down the veggie path:

7) The treatment of animals can be horrible and cruel. Not all places treat the animals inhumanly. I've lived on a cattle farm, and the cows have plenty of room to roam and be free and all of that. But I hate thinking about the ways some animals are housed and killed. And if me not eating meat can help a chicken or pig, then I'm all for it.
8) All the crap they inject in animals - the hormones and all of that? Fuck that noise. I like not having chemicals go into my body. Well, except for Diet Coke. But you get my drift.
9) B is still going strong on the vegetarian front and, like I said, I'll be damned if I let him win this one.

i be up in the gym workin' on my fitness

I'm actually looking forward to going to the gym tonight.

What kind of monster am I becoming???

Starting Stats... sort of.

Just got in from a gym visit with B. Today has been my second time on a bicycle-type machine and it completely kills my abs. I also used an ab machine, and that has me sore. Oh, and I'm on my period so I also have some cramps going on in that particular area too.

So pretty much from my chest down to my thighs is not a particular happy place right now.

Anyway. My starting stats. But only sort of. Since this is a girly time of the month for me, I'm using my measurements I took January 11.

Left arm: 12.5
Bust: 39
Ribcage: 37.5
Waist (at belly button): 38.5
Hips: 42.5
Left leg: 22.1

Weight: 185.

I would like to get down between 155-160. According to one of those height/weight charts, a large framed 5'6 girl such as myself should weigh between 140-159. Even though anything above 154 is considered "overweight" on the BMI chart. But that doesn't take in to consideration the fact that my wrist is the size of a normal person's ankle. So, screw you BMI.

I wanted to give more information about my lifestyle and weight and all of that.

2003. This was taken the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. And I know the quality of this picture sucks, but I have a limited number of pictures from high school here with me. I'm probably around 175-ish here. I done the Atkin's Diet my senior year of high school and started college out weighing around 160. At which point I stopped watching my carb intake.

I started college and the Freshman 15 hit. Like three times.

But God bless the Marilyn Monroe dress I wore Halloween 2005 (my sophomore year). I feel like it hid problem areas well. And that wig is horrible, I know. I upgraded the wig the next year when I recycled that costume.


I don't think that I have to tell you that my diet in college was pretty much potato chips, pizza, and liquor once my friends started turning 21.

Summer 2007. First off, that shirt was a horrible choice. Also, it took three tries to get all my arm into this photo... I had to use the Snipping Tool on my computer to get this image since Facebook is being a bitch and not letting me save pictures to my computer... even though they're my pictures. Whatever. Weight gain getting serious here.


2009. Same ol', same ol'. And yes, I kind of really love Harry Potter.

And this is the most recent full-body picture I have, from September 2010. I got a total muffin-top going. And that shirt is a xx-large. Not cool. Not at all.

So, there's my starting stats and a nice timeline of my face getting pudgier and pudgier. Never again will I go through my Facebook photos in chronological order again. Man, that was depressing.

man, that's a lot of water - first post

How in the hell do people drink this much water every day?

This is what I asked myself as I was reading through answers I found while searching "how much water should I drink a day". The most common answer is eight glasses. Which is all well and good, but I don't know how you measure a glass. Now, a cup is a cup and is however many ounces is in a cup makes up a cup. But a glass comes in all shapes and sizes: tumblers, wine, shot (a personal favorite that always ends with my head over a toilet). And if glasses are anything like plates, then they've increased in size since the whole "8 glasses of water a day" rule started up. But maybe when they say "8 glasses" they really mean "8 cups". But there's only, what, 8 ounces in a cup? That would mean 64 ounces of water a day. And even though I'm struggling right now with my third 20-ounce bottle of the day (that I've been reusing - look at me, Ma, I'm trying to save the planet!), 64 ounces just doesn't seem right.

So I try another website that says you should drink however many ounces that is half your body weight. Like, if you weight 100 pounds, you drink 50 ounces of water a day. So, okay. That means I should be drinking... oh dear God.

And that brings us here. Half of my body weight should not be that. Or should I say, "half of what I think is my body weight"? I use the rusty old-school doctor scale located in my gym's locker room because it says I weight five pounds less than the digital one in the weight room says. And say what you want, but five pounds can make a big difference to a girl who is fighting the battle of the bulge. But for the sake of this blog and to myself, I am going to go by what the digital scale says from now on. Which will probably mean some serious mumbling and grumbling and running my little overweight heart out on the treadmill at the gym.

I will be posting my starting stats here in the next day or so. I look at inches lost more than pounds lost because, well, it makes me feel better. Simple as that. But if the numbers go down, I'm a happy camper.

I guess I should give you some basic information about my lifestyle and all of that.

I've always been a chubster. Ever since I was a kid. And nothing has really changed. I always used the Cartman excuse: "I'm not fat, I'm big boned!", which is halfway true. And it does sound like an excuse, but I do have a large frame. It's something I inherited from my mom's side of the family. I know that I'm not meant to be a size two, four, and maybe not even a six. But the jean size I'm sporting right now isn't what I'm meant to be either.

After I graduated high school and went to college six years ago (side note - holy crap, I graduated high school six years ago? Shit, I'm getting old), I started gaining weight. All in all, I've gained about forty pounds since my senior year of high school.

At one point last year, I weighed the most I ever have. The scale jumped right into the 200s. At that point, it was get healthy or just completely give up. And I tried getting healthy and managed to get the scales to drop a little, but then I got lazy again. The most exercise I got was walking to and from the bars on weekend, and then ordering a greasy pizza once I got back home. Hell, I've ordered the pizza during the walk home since I keep all those numbers in my contacts. Papa John's is nestled right above my grandpa's phone number for Pete's sake. When the Chinese delivery guy knows your voice over the phone, you have problems. And I have problems. But, hey, at least Tom's a nice guy, and he never puts more than one fork in the bag with my food.

Since August of last year, I've lost about 11 inches off my frame (I measure my left arm, left leg, bust, ribcage, waist, and hips) and around 15 pounds. I have no idea how, really. I think I've just been moving around more in general? Seriously, I have no idea and I wish I did because I'd like to lost another 11 inches and 15 pounds off my body. In the past two weeks, I've joined a gym with a friend who has also talked me into vegetarianism since 1) I'm a total pushover and 2) he's the most persuasive bastard on the planet. So, there's that.

All in all, I'm keeping this blog to motivate myself and keep myself on track, and to hopefully meet other people going through the same thing and have them inspire me and maybe even I can inspire them...

Hey, a girl can dream, right?