Sandra

Well, February is a month of seeing sweets and treats everywhere in just about every store, isn’t it?

I know I did. And, to be honest, I did buy several bags of Unreal Candy for my son who, we found out through testing, is allergic to dairy. The Unreal Candy was on sale at Whole Foods for $3.86 a bag (sadly, that’s a good deal for this candy) so I couldn’t help myself. I bought a bunch of bags to store in our cupboards. We gave him some for Valentine’s Day, and now I’ll have some on hand for birthdays and celebrations throughout the year.

But aside from that, I was mainly able to resist the temptation to purchase a lot of candy outside of the Unreal chocolates and some gummy treats for the rest of our kids.

As far as weight loss goes, I started the month around 168.8 lbs. (remember I didn’t lose weight in January) and when I stepped on the scale this month, I weighed 167.8 lbs.

So I’ve lost one pound since my last official weigh-in. But, if you remember, I started out at 168.6 lbs. so, technically, I’ve only lost .8 lbs. which is 12.8 ounces.

But you know what, I’ll take it. 🙂

I’m just happy to be losing and not gaining. Now let’s take a look at what I’ve been eating so far this month.

Plant-Based Foods I’m Eating

Some plant-based foods I’ve been eating this month are:

• Peas
• Hummus (oil-free)
• Tomatoes, lettuce, corn, onions, broccoli, carrots, green beans
• Soup (My husband made pasta e Fagioli)
• Popcorn (of course! I love my popcorn and I eat it plain)
• White rice
• Mexican rice (made with vegetable broth)
• Plant-based milk rice (I adapted my own recipe and now make the “milk” rice with jasmine rice and Oatly Oat Milk)
• Coffee with Silk Almond Creamer
• Lentils
• Potatoes
• Waffles
• Potato soup
• Bread
• Pasta

I tried a recipe using millet for the first time and that didn’t turn out well. LOL! It was a recipe for chai-spiced pudding using millet and I’m so glad it only made two servings because it was difficult to get down. I’ve never eaten millet before so I, unfortunately, don’t have a previous experience to compare it to. But I made the recipe almost exactly as it was written (I left out the ground cloves spice because I didn’t have any) and while it was edible, it didn’t taste great. The author stated that you could eat the pudding hot or cold and while eating it cold was definitely better, it isn’t a recipe I want to try ever again. 

Now even though this “pudding” wasn’t something I liked, I’m going to give millet another whirl with a completely different recipe. If you have any suggestions for how to enjoy millet, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. I think the next time I make it, I’ll try it with a savory recipe instead.

Let’s Talk About Exercise

Lastly, I thought I could update you on what I’m doing as far as exercise. Honestly, I’m not doing a lot of exercise right now. I’m on my feet most of the day cooking, cleaning, helping the kids with school, etc… so I get a lot of steps in that way. For actual intentional exercise, I simply walk on the treadmill at an elevated but comfortable pace several days a week and I try to lift weights a few times a week as well. That’s it for right now.

I do want to try to start using a new Cable Home Gym thing that my husband just bought. His employer gives a generous reimbursement on exercise equipment for their employees so my husband decided to get the MaxPro Fitness Cable Home Gym that’s super compact (we live in a small home so we don’t have a lot of extra space).

Hubby was showing me how to use it the other day and it seems easy enough. I want to start using it a bit before going to bed and see how that works out for me.

Anyway, I think that’s it for now. I hope if you’re working on losing weight this year that you’re making progress. And if your weight loss is slow-going, you’re not alone. I lose weight very slowly but I heard that may be a good thing because it gives your body time to adjust. Then you’re less likely to gain the weight back.

That’s encouraging. 🙂

Do you exercise regularly? What’s your favorite way to exercise?

It’s the end of the month so I thought I’d update you on my progress so far.

In my last post, I let you know that my weight was sitting around 168.6 lbs.

When I stepped on the scale in January, my weight was 168.8 lbs. So I actually gained a little weight. LOL – Oh well! That’s how my body works. I think I’ll drop a bit in February so we’ll see. My body takes a while.

Anyway, I’m pretty happy with my weight at the moment but, as you know, I have a goal to lose at least 15 lbs. this year. I want to do this for health reasons and as motivation to continue to eat more plant-based foods. Some of the foods I’m currently loving and eating are peas, pasta, beans, bread, popcorn, fruit smoothies, coffee with oat creamer, sweet corn, rice, broccoli, pancakes, and potatoes.

Lots of times, I’ll eat a combination of these foods. For example, I may have a big bowl of peas with some jasmine rice mixed in along with some Ocean’s Halo Teriyaki Sauce. This is a delicious and filling meal I’ve had many, many times. I actually had it for lunch today.

For an afternoon snack, I drank a fruit smoothie that my daughter, Breanna, made for the family. She put frozen strawberries and cherries in the Vitamix along with orange juice and a little honey for sweetness and whipped up enough smoothie drink for the family.

Then, for dinner, I made plant-based pancakes and I may have some plain popcorn for a snack later on.

So, as you can see, I’m eating pretty simple, yet, in my opinion, quite deliciously for my taste buds. I don’t eat a lot of meat, eggs, and dairy, and I keep oils low. I know some plant-based people are salt, oil, and sugar-free, but that’s not for our family. 🙂

I don’t think we could eat this way as a family if we didn’t flavor our foods with salt, sugar, and a little oil as needed.

Plant-Based Resources

Anyway, I thought I’d share a few resources with you in this update. The book below is a great one by Dr. John McDougall called The Starch Solution that teaches you all about this way of eating and why it’s good for your health.

This next resource is one of my favorite vegan cookbooks, Fuss-Free Vegan. The recipes in this book are straightforward and easy to adapt. My favorites are the vegan pancakes, waffles, and chocolate chip cookies. Although I don’t make these exactly as the recipe is written, it’s pretty close. I typically don’t add oil where a recipe calls for it and, instead, I substitute either applesauce or mashed bananas. But, overall, this is the vegan cookbook I’m currently reaching for the most.

This last resource is great, too. The recipes in Plant-Based on a Budget are easy to follow with simple ingredients and I would recommend it to anyone just starting out with this lifestyle.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you with this update. I hope if you’re working on losing weight in 2022 that it’s going well for you. 🙂

Are you working on getting healthier this year? What are your goals for the New Year?

*This post includes Amazon referral links.