Switched to WFPB 4 Weeks Ago - Big Loss Then Small Gain???

kmcosgrove115

Hi all -

About 4 weeks ago after watching Forks Over Knives I switched my eating to whole foods only plant based - so no meat, no dairy and no oil. I surprisingly did this easily and love the food - it is the first time in my life I cannot wait to go home and cook new things - use Happy Herbivore or Engine 2 or the Forks Over Knives cookbooks.

I lost initially 11 lbs in less then 2 weeks - a friend at work who also went on this found a week later she dropped 9 lbs in 5 days - and my other half as of the 3 week mark lost 13 lbs. We all know that is alot initially and not the norm - we attribute this to possible inflammation and the body letting go of that with the whole foods............

This week I weighed and gained 2 lbs - please see my food journal to know that I seriously have done only WFPB - other then wine sporadically, it is no meat, no dairy and no oil - all whole foods and not processed. My GF calls me hard core plant strong - we soak our beans (nothing canned), make our own plant strong mayo, etc.

If you look or run reports (whichever) I am under my 1200 calories a day and yes, I just read today all the posts reg starvation mode and such and am now thinking I need to eat more or even "buffer" by an extra 100 calories more as alot of WFPB is way low in everything and I could be underestimating things..................

I also noticed that after the 2nd week, my sugars went up and exceeded my "goal" alot of days - I was having 3 servings fruit and realized the kinds of fruit like bananas and citrus had a ton of sugar - don't think this is the main culprit but think it is contributing and will go to Wegmans tonight for alternative fruit selection.............

I also read that you should weigh every 2 weeks however I am wondering with these "tweaks" I am needing to do to keep on losing if (for now) I should weigh weekly in case the scale stops moving or goes up so I can always be on top of what is happening and where I can adjust to maximize weight loss.

I do view my switch in foods as a lifestyle change - I have done a ton of diets in my life and I absolutely see this as very different and a life change - I simply cannot go back and put in the foods that seriously cause obesity and all sorts of health issues - the documentary and all the studies were quite powerful. I also noticed in that first week I felt unbelievable - I sleep thru the night and like a baby, not tired ever during the day with the sleepy's after lunch, ton of energy, and so much more!

My question is do any of you see anything else I am not doing that I should adjust??? Also, I just realized that for those recipes I plug in on my own (Engine 2, etc) I need to enter in more nutritional info like protein, carbs, etc - I went back and re-added it in for the things in the past but MFP only updates going forward - so if you pull up reports on protein, carbs, fiber, etc they are not accurate at all and look awful and I know I get a ton of protein for example now - this will be more accurate in 4 more weeks as I move forward with more complete nutritional info.

Any info would be great and I am still upset over the slight gain (which came down by half this AM - go figure???) so please be gentle - after eating the typical Western diet and making this huge shift, I am learning, I am still a plant strong "virgin" (LOL!) - also I got a pedometer as I work at a huge company and do almost 10,000 steps a day - a friend encouraged me to translate the steps to "miles" which the device does and plug in as cardio b/c they may also give a more accurate picture of true calories needed.

It is still a foreign concept to me to "eat more" to lose - the ONLY time (I kid you not) in my life I lost weight where my body responded was during therapy and dealing with a difficult childhood issue - my appetite just left as I hit the really hard issues and I literally gagged down one or two, 90 calories snack bars a day - only in that severe starvation did I lose and no, I do not think this healthy - I am noting that severe absence of food triggered my body to lose so now I eat, trying to get a full 1200 and with GREAT FOOD now and it seems I am still not eating enough...........

For instance, I am planning to make the Engine 2 Candle Cafe Lentil and Rice burgers tonight - I calculated out calories, etc and if 4 patties it is 123 per burger or if 6 patties it is 82 calories - even with an Ezekiel bun, I will be about 300 short and that is not calculating in my steps per day - we made plant strong brownies that run about 150 a serving - maybe double up there???? Plan to really go thru Wegmans Natures Marketplace tonight for plant strong snacks or something that could boost the calorie intake and not shoot the sugars up.............hoping this adjustment shows in the scale - fingers crossed

Anyway, just some examples and I think you should all be able to see my journal - thanks in advance for the help and support after seeing that scale!

Kristen

kmcosgrove115

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