Britt's Vegan OMAD Journey
brittdee88
Posts: 1,873 Member
Hi, everyone!
I am starting (again) with OMAD today as a vegan, and I am super excited. I tried it once before and had great success, but I couldn't make it past week 2. This time around, I am hoping to really stick it out.
I have overcome struggles with two EDs in the past, and I am currently working now to recover from binge eating disorder. I have established some really good habits from another way of eating that have greatly increased my peace around food and my body and have helped nix my binging, but I just wasn't losing enough weight. As a very short person who is currently 30 pounds overweight, I cannot afford to carry around so much for my health. I am also getting older and weight loss has gotten much harder, especially because nearly-lifelong EDs have done a number on my ability to lose. I would like to reach my goal weight before my 30th birthday in January. As a result, I am going back to what worked (OMAD) and tweaking it with the rules I learned from my other plan.
My Stats
4'9" with a large frame
HW: 179 (I'm sure this got higher, but I stopped weighing because I didn't want to see 180)
CW: 159.2
GWR: 125-129
Planned weigh-ins
7/6: 159.2
7/15:
8/19:
9/16:
10/21:
11/18:
12/16:
1/20/18 (2 days before 30th birthday!):
Tweaks to OMAD
I plan to follow something similar to what David created on the 1 Mad Diet site.
Weekdays: one main meal with a protein bar and green juice between 10:00 and 2:00
Weekends: one meal with a piece of fruit between 10:00 and 2:00 and one meal with a dessert and wine between 6:00 and 10:00
I have learned that snacking is a huge no-no for me, so I will not snack as David did on some Saturdays. This has been the single most important rule that has led to my success with my previous WOE in terms of reducing my obsession with food and helping me to avoid binges. Additionally, I am limiting sugar/desserts to the weekends or special occasions only, which is another rule from my previous WOE that I also found very helpful. The protein bars have some natural sweetness to them, so I won't feel deprived during the week, but I will avoid refined sugars while also reaping the benefits of increased protein consumption.
I have found that tracking my food leads to obsession for me, so I will not do that until I feel it is absolutely necessary (ie. to break a plateau). For now I am sticking to using the plate as my guide, and my weekday plate is a 6" square. Since my plate is so small, I am not going to try to force my protein bar on it. I will use a 10.25" square plate on the weekends, so I will ensure my fruit and dessert are included then. I will adjust the plate size as necessary.
I hope OMAD sticks this time around!
I am starting (again) with OMAD today as a vegan, and I am super excited. I tried it once before and had great success, but I couldn't make it past week 2. This time around, I am hoping to really stick it out.
I have overcome struggles with two EDs in the past, and I am currently working now to recover from binge eating disorder. I have established some really good habits from another way of eating that have greatly increased my peace around food and my body and have helped nix my binging, but I just wasn't losing enough weight. As a very short person who is currently 30 pounds overweight, I cannot afford to carry around so much for my health. I am also getting older and weight loss has gotten much harder, especially because nearly-lifelong EDs have done a number on my ability to lose. I would like to reach my goal weight before my 30th birthday in January. As a result, I am going back to what worked (OMAD) and tweaking it with the rules I learned from my other plan.
My Stats
4'9" with a large frame
HW: 179 (I'm sure this got higher, but I stopped weighing because I didn't want to see 180)
CW: 159.2
GWR: 125-129
Planned weigh-ins
7/6: 159.2
7/15:
8/19:
9/16:
10/21:
11/18:
12/16:
1/20/18 (2 days before 30th birthday!):
Tweaks to OMAD
I plan to follow something similar to what David created on the 1 Mad Diet site.
Weekdays: one main meal with a protein bar and green juice between 10:00 and 2:00
Weekends: one meal with a piece of fruit between 10:00 and 2:00 and one meal with a dessert and wine between 6:00 and 10:00
I have learned that snacking is a huge no-no for me, so I will not snack as David did on some Saturdays. This has been the single most important rule that has led to my success with my previous WOE in terms of reducing my obsession with food and helping me to avoid binges. Additionally, I am limiting sugar/desserts to the weekends or special occasions only, which is another rule from my previous WOE that I also found very helpful. The protein bars have some natural sweetness to them, so I won't feel deprived during the week, but I will avoid refined sugars while also reaping the benefits of increased protein consumption.
I have found that tracking my food leads to obsession for me, so I will not do that until I feel it is absolutely necessary (ie. to break a plateau). For now I am sticking to using the plate as my guide, and my weekday plate is a 6" square. Since my plate is so small, I am not going to try to force my protein bar on it. I will use a 10.25" square plate on the weekends, so I will ensure my fruit and dessert are included then. I will adjust the plate size as necessary.
I hope OMAD sticks this time around!
2
Replies
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Best to you this time around, Britt! I'm not a vegan, I'm an omnivore, but I really like a lot of vegan and vegetarian foods. Welcome back :-)1
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wsandy8512 wrote: »Best to you this time around, Britt! I'm not a vegan, I'm an omnivore, but I really like a lot of vegan and vegetarian foods. Welcome back :-)
Thank you so much!0 -
You're welcome
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Welcome Britt, You made the all important step to coming back and starting again. You are among friends here and we will be here to cheer you, encourage you, and sometimes give you that tough love (Thanks Sandy )... You can do it!! 2
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Finished my meal of the day, which I had to adjust since I didn't think about OMAD when packing my typical lunch this morning. I had a suspicion that I didn't pack enough, and when I decided to calculate it just to be sure, I realized I'd only packed 493 calories worth - 230 of which came from the protein bar I grabbed at the last minute on the way out of the house. I grabbed a few things from the vending machine to make up enough calories, and tomorrow, I will make sure I pack my meal with OMAD in mind. As such, today's meal didn't fit on my plate and wasn't exactly what I'd want to eat habitually, but I will chalk that up to a learning opportunity. I already know that I will get enough calories tomorrow because I have veggie lo mein and rice planned.
Mealtime: 12:00 - 12:40. I am working on eating slowly, and I am hoping to make it to one hour at some point. I am training myself to savor and that hunger is not an emergency that warrants vacuuming up an entire meal in 5 minutes as I have in the past.
Intake: brussels sprouts, steamed rice, roasted honey gold potatoes, protein bar (planned); strawberry-orange juice, and a bag of chips, and a bag of popcorn (from the vending machine).
Calories: 963. I won't be tracking calories regularly, but I think I will do a check-in on an occasional meal as a record for myself.
Ideally, I would like to eat closer to 1:30 in the future so that I don't have quite as much time left in the work day (and because it will work well with my class schedule in the fall), but I was definitely hungry at 12:00 today and ate.
Just like with my previous WOE, I am not experiencing true or psychological hunger. My body has gotten used to going about 5 hours between meals with a "pleasant" feeling of hunger surfacing around 4 hours post-meal. The kicker is that I was used to having my last meal at 6:30, so I am hoping tonight won't be a complete disaster.1 -
brittdee88 wrote: »Finished my meal of the day, which I had to adjust since I didn't think about OMAD when packing my typical lunch this morning. I had a suspicion that I didn't pack enough, and when I decided to calculate it just to be sure, I realized I'd only packed 493 calories worth - 230 of which came from the protein bar I grabbed at the last minute on the way out of the house. I grabbed a few things from the vending machine to make up enough calories, and tomorrow, I will make sure I pack my meal with OMAD in mind. As such, today's meal didn't fit on my plate and wasn't exactly what I'd want to eat habitually, but I will chalk that up to a learning opportunity. I already know that I will get enough calories tomorrow because I have veggie lo mein and rice planned.
Mealtime: 12:00 - 12:40. I am working on eating slowly, and I am hoping to make it to one hour at some point. I am training myself to savor and that hunger is not an emergency that warrants vacuuming up an entire meal in 5 minutes as I have in the past.
Intake: brussels sprouts, steamed rice, roasted honey gold potatoes, protein bar (planned); strawberry-orange juice, and a bag of chips, and a bag of popcorn (from the vending machine).
Calories: 963. I won't be tracking calories regularly, but I think I will do a check-in on an occasional meal as a record for myself.
Ideally, I would like to eat closer to 1:30 in the future so that I don't have quite as much time left in the work day (and because it will work well with my class schedule in the fall), but I was definitely hungry at 12:00 today and ate.
Just like with my previous WOE, I am not experiencing true or psychological hunger. My body has gotten used to going about 5 hours between meals with a "pleasant" feeling of hunger surfacing around 4 hours post-meal. The kicker is that I was used to having my last meal at 6:30, so I am hoping tonight won't be a complete disaster.
As you probably already know, getting back into the routine is the hardest part - I find if I get really hungry in the evenings on my full fasting days (my normal OMAD is dinner on regular days) a BIG cup of flavored, caffeine free hot tea does the trick for me.2 -
Ha, Britt, have you tried or even heard of Carrot Dogs? I didn't, until today. I saw this from Forks Over Knives on my FB newsfeed. I might try these sometime.
http://nutritionstudies.org/recipes/meal/carrot-dogs/3 -
Misty, you've read my mind! I started thinking about eating despite not being hungry about 20ish minutes ago and immediately poured a glass of water and put a pot on to boil for tea. I can't wait til I am back in the routine! MFP will be my distraction/accountability until this becomes automated!
Wsandy, thanks so much for sharing! I have heard of them, but I have never made them before. My fiancé and I are in the process of moving, so we are mostly eating takeout since we're packing the kitchen. But when we get into our new place, I will definitely try it out!2 -
Yay a vegan - I'm a vegetarian who aspires to be vegan... Welcome! 3
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Welcome back. Sounds like a feasible plan as long as you don't have problems eating after you eating window. I've tried eating at lunch but once I start eating, I like to continue so that would be hard for me but if it works for you go for it! Good luck.2
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Welcome back. Sounds like a feasible plan as long as you don't have problems eating after you eating window. I've tried eating at lunch but once I start eating, I like to continue so that would be hard for me but if it works for you go for it! Good luck.
Thanks so much! It seems like I experience real hunger at midday, which is when I feel like I really need to feed myself to avoid binging at a later mealtime just for the sake of waiting. At night, I seem to only eat because of a schedule I've created or because of psychological hunger (i.e. need for comfort, boredom, longtime habit of late night binging). We'll see how it goes, I guess. I'm opening to adjusting as I go!0 -
brittdee88 wrote: »Welcome back. Sounds like a feasible plan as long as you don't have problems eating after you eating window. I've tried eating at lunch but once I start eating, I like to continue so that would be hard for me but if it works for you go for it! Good luck.
Thanks so much! It seems like I experience real hunger at midday, which is when I feel like I really need to feed myself to avoid binging at a later mealtime just for the sake of waiting. At night, I seem to only eat because of a schedule I've created or because of psychological hunger (i.e. need for comfort, boredom, longtime habit of late night binging). We'll see how it goes, I guess. I'm opening to adjusting as I go!
Good idea! Try things out and find what works for you... And for me hot tea does the trick every time in the evening, hope it helps nyoub as well☺️2 -
Man, I wish I had realized I couldn't edit my original post after an hour! I really need to update it after thinking things through some more.
Well, anyway, some updates (hopefully the bold will get my attention when I read through this in the future):
I had no intention of weighing frequently because I get caught up in the fluctuations, but I felt really light this morning and got on the scale to see I have lost 2.4 pounds after just one day on OMAD! I know this is completely water/food weight from all of the celebrations from this weekend and this week (my cousin's 3-day wedding celebration, July 4th celebrations, and visiting Disney World). Basically I lost what I gained from last Saturday to this Wednesday, but getting back on track with my weight after just one day is amazing! After a long period of celebrations, it usually takes me anywhere from 1-2 weeks to get the weight off, so I am stoked!
In terms of more frequent weighing, it is always better for my psyche to avoid weighing right before/during TOM and during fertile week/ovulation. I am rethinking monthly weigh-ins, though. I like them because I don't have to go through the emotional roller coaster every week or worry about hormone-related fluctuations, but then I also can't adjust if needed before a whole month goes by. I am thinking that I will just weigh on the Fridays that are not during the aforementioned times, and that's anywhere from 2-4 times per month. I will just check my hormonal calendar on Friday mornings to guide me.
Also, I am going to follow "vanilla" OMAD for the full two weeks like Joe recommends instead of my original plan. Afterwards, I will decide whether or not I want to add in another meal on the weekends via David's plan. I will still avoid sweets during the week.
I will also keep my plate the same size for consistency's sake everyday, so I will commit to having a dessert that is around the same calories as my protein bars (210-230) so I don't have to force it on my small plate. I wasn't planning to calorie count much at all, but I really don't think doing so twice a week for one food item will trigger my obsessive behavior. Obviously there will be some desserts that I can't accurately calorie count, but I will do my best. I'd love to get to the point where I can trust myself to eat to satiety with sweets, but I am definitely NOT there yet. Here's to hoping for success with that in the future!1 -
Mealtime: 12:42 - 1:15
Intake: Veggie lo mein, steamed white rice, Vega greens mint lemonade, protein bar
I'm happy I fasted a little longer so I could have a later mealtime. I actually didn't think I was even hungry around that time and was thinking I'd make it to 1:30 today, but then I started getting a headache and knew it was time to eat. Eating later will be easier on the weekends, of course, but not eating after midday will be harder, especially because I will be doing a lot of physical activity while we're packing up our apartment. I will try waking up early to pack instead of sleeping in - that way I don't have to worry about getting hungry later in the day, and I can always take a nap if I need to later.
I am also rethinking what I said earlier about using the same plate all the time. That size works perfectly fine for my desk job, but I think I may need to use a bigger plate when I will be exerting sustained effort (ie. packing). I'm going to try it out tomorrow and see. This will be helpful to figure out now so that once I start lifting again in a couple of months, I will already know the best plate size for packing my lunch. My appetite always goes through the roof when I'm weight training, and I don't want to undereat. That ALWAYS leads to binges for me.2 -
I need to make veggie lo mein! I'd say you did well listening to your body that it was time to eat. Yeah, definitely use a bigger plate if possible and definitely make sure you don't undereat for weight training. I'm with you on that, slowly working up my calories so I can retain lean muscle and build as well!
Happy packing and moving :-)1 -
It's always easier for me to eat my meal at night because that's when I'm the hungriest, Just knowing that I'm going to have a big meal was enough to keep me going during the day 1
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White knuckling through cravings again, and it's much, much easier today than it was yesterday thankfully! The cravings came again around 30 minutes before I used to eat dinner, so I'm hoping that my body will get the clue in a few weeks that the scheduled eating is off! I'm not even hungry! A big cup of lime slices in water always does the trick, and I have tea in the wings just in case.3
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Another successful day down! Today is the dreaded 3rd day, though, so I am happy I will be busy with packing up my stuff for the move. I'm getting ready to start phase 1 of packing now with hopes that I will finish before my OMAD. Afterwards, I'm going to rest and maybe hang out by the pool. I'm experiencing some PMS symptoms, so I think some sun will do me some good, and it will get me out of the apartment and lessen my chances of hormone-fueled eating.1
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Awesome Britt! You're doing great!1
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Mealtime: 1:08 - ? I wasn't paying attention today!
Intake: vegetable fried rice, broccoli in garlic sauce, one blood orange, and three cookies
Dessert calories: 180 for three Enjoy Life double chocolate brownie cookies
I had a bigger plate today and felt really full, but I think it's because more than half of my plate was broccoli. I didn't feel hungrier than normal despite being really active this morning, so I think I may just stick with my smaller plate for a while.1 -
Thanks, @mikseyniha!0
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Cravings came early today, and I can't stop thinking about food! Probably because no work to distract me. I'm going to fill up my water cup again and do some reading.0
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Well done Britt! Positive juju sent your way on your path and getting through these first few weeks. :-)1
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Looks you are off to a good start. Good luck!1
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Thank you, @wsandy8512 and @ArizonaToast! I'm really struggling right now. I want to eat SO bad.0
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Maybe tomorrow, load up on some vegan/vegetarian proteins and fats. I find those help maintain satiety really well. 1
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Hi Britt totaly the strugle is real but you can do this...0
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Well, I failed
I couldn't take the cravings anymore and ate.
I guess the silver lining is that I am at least 95% sure they were hormone-related as TOM is coming in 2 days, and the foods I was craving are what I always crave during PMS. It happens every month so I should know better, but it really makes me so upset that I failed OMAD.
I wonder if I need to allow myself a PMS pass. I hate making excuses and not being perfect with the rules, but I suffer horribly with numerous symptoms before and during TOM. I feel like maybe if I give myself some wiggle room, I am less likely to feel like a failure and go on a downward spiral. I think it might be best to set some restrictions on the pass, such as just having ONE extra one-plate meal if I need to on ONE PMS/TOM day per month. My PMS cravings are only usually unbearable on one day, and maybe I just need to allow myself that for now.
Any thoughts, readers?0
This discussion has been closed.