Britt's Vegan OMAD Journey

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  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    I am back in the game after a good OMAD day yesterday, which felt really nice. I had the urge to do some emotional eating for comfort later in the evening, but I decided to take a second shower and wash my hair instead, which not only distracted me from eating but the steam helped my cramps immensely.
    As previously stated, my only goals now are to build the OMAD habit and change my mindset around perfection and failure. I will no longer be strict about what I eat, though I eventually will readopt a more ayurvedic way of eating in the near future when I have begun cooking again. Also, since my only unpacked plates are all small (<6"), I am going to eat until satiety instead of worrying about fitting everything onto them for now on. I may or may not pick that rule back up once I am fully moved in and have access to bigger plates, but I really like the idea of listening to my body and stopping at a natural point. We'll see how it goes.

    Mealtime: 4:50 - 5:34
    Intake: Amy's veggie loaf dinner, 3 Enjoy Life cookies, B&J non-dairy, and 2 watermelon Starbursts

    I slept MUCH better last night having eaten around 4:50 PM than I did when I was eating earlier in the day. I did have a headache by mealtime, though. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely time to eat. I am going to play around with eating when I get home from work between 4:30 and 4:50. If nothing else, I will actually get to have wine with my meal from now on.
  • minigrrll
    minigrrll Posts: 1,590 Member
    Glad you had a better day...

    I do way better eating at night (personally) - I am properly hungry by the time my mealtime rolls around though, that's for sure!

    I have tried a few times having a meal at lunchtime when there were some family gatherings and it backfired every time and I ended up having another meal at dinner time. Of course, that could just be because I'm used to eating at night and if I did the lunchtime thing for long enough I'd adjust. But I think, for me, it's like flipping a switch - once I have that first meal, all bets are off!
  • arguablysamson
    arguablysamson Posts: 1,706 Member
    brittdee88 wrote: »
    No, cravings will not follow you forever.

    I think you may have missed the part where I said they were related to PMS and TOM. I have been having them monthly for 21 years now, and the women in my family don't hit menopause before their mid-50's to mid-60's. The absolute youngest has been ~50, which is why I said at least another 20 or so years. I appreciate your input, though. I wish there were more women here who could help with this.

    I certainly understand that. And I'm not saying you will never again feel a moment of hunger, but what cravings mean to you and how they impact you will change. So even during PMS and TOM, you won't lose your mind with them. And that makes up for a small percentage of the month anyway, and so saying they will be there forever is like saying you will be facing temptation from co-workers to eat because every Friday people bring donuts.

    I'm emphasizing that you are looking at a pitfall unjustifiably negatively, as though it's just going to get the best of you, rather than accepting it as a part of life, but not letting it be more than that by saying to yourself how bad it is. Things are only as bad or as good as you let yourself believe they are. It's hard to see that right now, but it will become clearer as the months progress.
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    edited July 2017
    @minigrrll that makes sense! I seem to do well eating at lunchtime in terms of willpower (except during TOM obviously - ugh), but the hunger seems to interrupt my sleep eating that early. The past two nights I have gotten much better sleep, so I am definitely going to stick with eating after work/early evening.

    @arguablysamson thank you for that, and I absolutely agree. There is a markedly huge difference between my hormone-related cravings and my everyday food temptations, both of which are amplified by my ED, but I get what you're saying about just knowing that it is coming doesn't mean I have to set myself up for defeat ahead of time. I appreciate that perspective. It is definitely overwhelming to think that it is this insurmountable obstacle, so I think giving myself some flexibility will really help with just accepting that it happens, and it's not the end of the world. Thanks, Joe :)
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    Another great day yesterday, and my meal was awesome! It was much more balanced than the meals I have been eating, and there was a real difference in how I felt afterwards as opposed to when I was eating mostly takeout last week. Since we're packing our kitchen, I am not cooking, but I have been using the toaster oven to roast veggies and buying these cool microwaveable packs of organic rice mixes. I am not a fan of using the microwave at all, but at times like this, it's working out very nicely!

    Mealtime: 5:00 - 5:50ish :#
    Intake: brown rice and lentil pack (sooooo good!), salad with roasted potatoes and fruit-seed mix, half a blood orange, 2 cookies, a glass of red

  • carlae199
    carlae199 Posts: 6 Member
    Hey, I'm new to OMAD. My goal is to lose the last 40 lbs. I just started July 4th. Keep it up and I look forward to hearing great things in the future.
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    Hi, @carlae199! Thank you!
  • minigrrll
    minigrrll Posts: 1,590 Member
    Great stuff - moving is so stressful - it's awesome that you are staying on plan.
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    brittdee88 wrote: »
    Another great day yesterday, and my meal was awesome! It was much more balanced than the meals I have been eating, and there was a real difference in how I felt afterwards as opposed to when I was eating mostly takeout last week. Since we're packing our kitchen, I am not cooking, but I have been using the toaster oven to roast veggies and buying these cool microwaveable packs of organic rice mixes. I am not a fan of using the microwave at all, but at times like this, it's working out very nicely!

    Mealtime: 5:00 - 5:50ish :#
    Intake: brown rice and lentil pack (sooooo good!), salad with roasted potatoes and fruit-seed mix, half a blood orange, 2 cookies, a glass of red

    UGH I feel you - we're moving before the end of the month and it's goign to be a ROUGH transition...but hopefully the lack of access to food will mean I just eat less (I've never been a big "eating out" person unless my SO is already stopping).
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    @mistymeadows2005 man, I WISH I wasn't a big eating out person. That is where most of our food budget goes. We both LOVE to cook, but since our diets are so different now, we don't do it together or for each other anymore. That's the only thing I regret about fully adopting veganism. But even before I switched, we were always ordering in to try new things, especially on the weekends. Now that I'm vegan, our takeout days are the only times we really enjoy a dining experience together. I'm really trying to cut back on that to reduce food and packaging waste since I am working to adopt a near-zero-waste lifestyle, but I know that I will likely have at least one meal "out" each weekend. That's part of why I needed a plan that didn't depend on calorie counting like OMAD!
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    I had another good meal yesterday, and I am hoping to at least be back at last Friday's weight of 156.8. I ate A LOT during my second meals on those two days, so maintenance would be perfectly fine with me. I'm trying not to focus on weight as I have been advised, so I will not let it ruin my day if I don't, but I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be happy to see that number (or lower!) tomorrow. My lowest weight in 2 years was on last Saturday at 155.6, so I would be overjoyed to see that again.

    Mealtime: 4:55 - 5:30ish
    Intake: Amy's tamale verde meal, blood orange, 4 cookies, a glass of red
  • Brendalea69
    Brendalea69 Posts: 3,863 Member
    No counting calories is why I love OMAD too...What is your drink you call Red?
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    No counting calories is why I love OMAD too...What is your drink you call Red?

    I think she means red wine :) My kinda girl ;)
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    No counting calories is why I love OMAD too...What is your drink you call Red?

    I think she means red wine :) My kinda girl ;)

    Yep! What she said :#
  • Brendalea69
    Brendalea69 Posts: 3,863 Member
    brittdee88 wrote: »
    No counting calories is why I love OMAD too...What is your drink you call Red?

    I think she means red wine :) My kinda girl ;)

    Yep! What she said :#

    Oh ok :p
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    edited July 2017
    Results are in:
    7/7: 156.8
    7/14: 155.8

    So I am down a pound from a week ago, up 0.2 from last Saturday. Hoping to be back down to below where I was last Saturday for an all-time lowest weight in the past 2 years! I'm not going to weigh daily (I keep saying this!), but I really want to see that low number tomorrow!

    It is crazy how just those two days really set me back so much. It makes complete sense, as those two second meals were 2000+ calories by themselves. I'm definitely happy about the weight being gone, but of course, I can't help but to think where I would be without those two huge splurges. But as I said before, I would be happy to maintain from last official weigh-in day, and I lost a pound from that. I think that planning to be flexible around PMS/TOM will result in two normal-sized meals instead of the one smallish/normal-sized one and a HUGE second one like I did this time, so I think there is only improvement to be had in the future. Removing the guilt/feeling of failure always results in me making better choices. I am actually happy to have learned this lesson early on before I really dropped a lot of weight. It may have been harder for me then.

    Yesterday was another good one, and I had half of a Daiya supreme pizza, 1.5 blood oranges (my fiance keeps stealing orange halves after I've done all the hard work to peel them!), a protein bar, and a glass of red.
    Mealtime: 5:05 - 5:40
  • Mom2annie
    Mom2annie Posts: 177 Member
    I'm trying to catch up with people's stories without reading entire threads. Do you mind telling me how long you've been eating OMAD? OMAD plus vegan sounds tough. I went strictly vegan for 30 days. It was rough on me.
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    Hi, @Mom2annie! I started OMAD last Thursday, 7/6.
    I don't find it to be tough, but I think that is because I am not a vegan for weight loss purposes. I am an ethical and dietary vegan and have been for about 8 months now. I was a vegetarian for 5 years, dabbled in veganism for a few weeks, started eating meat on and off for about 5 years, moved to strictly pescetarian for 6 months of last year, and then back to veganism. Since I follow this way of eating for my convictions, I don't view it as a challenge in any way. My meals are typically very nutrient-dense (not since starting OMAD because my kitchen is packed), so I know that OMAD will be that much easier when I am back to eating well-balanced meals. But save those two PMS/TOM days, I haven't found this to be difficult at all. But only time will tell, I guess!
  • mistymeadows2005
    mistymeadows2005 Posts: 3,737 Member
    NICE WORK BRITT! A pound down is AMAZING on a week with 2 crazy days off the wagon! I've had PERFECT weeks where I only lost 1 pound! Awesome!

    Keep up the good work, and I like you're plan of attack!
  • brittdee88
    brittdee88 Posts: 1,874 Member
    Thanks, Steph! And I also had to remind myself that I started out at 159.2 last Thursday, so 3.4 in a little over a week is a great loss even though it's not exactly where I wanted to be.