what the......????

So today I had a great vegan breakfast at Lola's Commissary. I had a VLAT-vegan lettuce, avocado, tomato wrap. It was good-a little too much wrap for me, but the vegan bacon was tolerable. The coffee was terrific too, a nice italian blend.

Lunch? Don't know yet....maybe spaghetti and mushrooms.

I have cabin fever or something, I am just itching to get out of this place. It's so freakin' freezin' outside but I am willing to risk it.

So here I go.....

maybe.

photo.....

Sicilian Collard Greens with toasted pine nuts....made it myself!

whoah....what the heck?

Hmmm why has it been so long since I posted?

Honestly I don't have a good answer....I have been in some sort of funk lately to include a nasty headache that I just can't get rid of. Don't get me wrong, I am keeping up with the Kind Diet. I have found that I don't want to cook anything in the book this week-I want to focus on raw food-especially salad. For some reason, I am craving salad.

So the weight is fluctuating ....sometimes up .6lbs (like today) and yesterday down 1 lb. I have come to the conclusion that I have to make some changes. So I have come up with the following:

-I will be more consistent with hot yoga
-I will be keeping better track of calories

After all...the goal to losing fat in my case is to have 500 calories less per day in my life. Why not split it evenly between exercise and eating?

Wish me luck on improving my attitude.


*I will point out that there are (of course) other issues interfering with my goal/journey at this point. I am hoping that I can find some kind of outlet for those things as well.

Does the Kind Diet take life into account?

I am not so sure after today. I am also going to post this on the Kind Life forum because I really want to know how other people are getting along. The cooking alone takes me hours per day and preparing ahead of time defeats the purpose of having fresh food, yes?

So I am going back to my roots....as far as food is concerned anyway. I am thinking salads with tofu, veggie burgers, and occasionally a sandwich or two (vegan of course).

Suprisingly despite my busy schedule I was able to do some cooking. I made the collard greens again. I also did 4 loads of laundry, cleaned the house, and went out for errands. It was hectic and I think my dog felt ignored but d*mn I certainly tried! I also did manage to get my wii fit on!

Here is my Monday morning greatness....in a visual form.

it's Sunday

and I just have this extreme craving for Brunch.....unfortunately, no one to go with and didn't feel like venturing out myself. I hate when I get wimpy like that but I just went with it this morning.

Had a bowl of oatmeal, and did my wii fit. I was going to have a snack but decided against it in the name of weight loss. If I am going to do this without Simeon, I am going to have to be super careful about what goes in my mouth.

In other things, I am on the prowl for either a really awesome exercise class, or a non-intimidating dance class. If anyone knows of any of these in the GTA and not outrageously priced, let me know. I am open to suggestions (of course)

holy frustration.....

it's time to try new food people!

I made the mixed berry cheesecake and while it was good....it definitely didn't satisfy my sweet tooth. Of course, that could be because I had to use regular tofu instead of silken.

SO going through and assembling ingredients for a brand new round of recipes. Made the Tuna Salad (kinda) and that was delicious and Super hero! I have to be careful because I did notice my weight up one pound. However, that could be due to my 'female' time. That would also explain the increased moodiness.

I am trying to conjure up a polite way to tell my 'other half' to stop eating my vegan food. I am noticing a steep decline in my oatmeal. Go vegan or go home I say. He does ask at times, but I really just don't want him eating it at all....

So of course completed my wii fit routine for today....30 minutes of strength on 'hard' difficulty. I had full intentions of completing another 30 minutes tonight but I was actually productive this afternoon and evening....on the job search front that is. Made some progress with more applications and stuff....

What's on tap tomorrow? wii fit, grocery shopping, laundry....and cooking, cooking, cooking.

Wednesday, which you working people call Hump Day

Soooo its officially a week today that I walked out on my horrendous job. I can't say I am still as pleased now as I was then or that I am miserable....can I use the word melancholy here?

Anyway, did my 30 minutes of wii fit this morning. I have lost weight already and my BMI has decreased a little as well, although BMI is a joke of a measure to me. I have always had a more muscular frame and BMI doesn't take that into account.

As far as food, had some of the Mom's Granola (from the book) and then a veggie burger and collard greens for lunch. I know in between then I had a good handful of organic tortilla chips, 6 baby carrots and 2 tbsp hummous (organic). I also had a bowl of miso soup, and an apple. I just finished baking a mixed berry cheesecake (from the book as well) and probably won't eat it tonight as it is still hot!!

So I am trying not to beat myself up about all the 'challenges' (ahem) that I seem to be encountering at the moment. I only had one mini breakdown today but my status messages on various social networks and blackberry are indicative of one troubled soul. Just hope that I can try to look at the bigger picture...

it has to happen....

Before I type out my 'daily' post at the end of the day, I wanted to mention that I am going to work very hard on NOT including many personal events in this blog. I really want to focus on the changes going on in my body. However, I have come to realize that these 'events' are also part of the changes in my body.

Suffice it to say that I am upset at the moment. I only hope that God will take me through this situation and guide me.

Day 3 triumphs and tragedies.....

I am probably exaggerating with the 'triumphs and tragedies' title-perhaps I need the attention?

My Triumphs thus far:

-I have a lot more energy
-I feel 'lighter'-walking for miles doesn't wind me like it used to
-The food is good and I really enjoy cooking different and 'new' meals
-I have found an awesome grocery store where I can buy 85% of the ingredients I need to make my food

My Tragedies:
-GAS o-m-g am I bloated!
-I feel like there has been an abundance of 'meat' commercials on TV
-Restaurant choices are limited
-Sometimes, I miss meat

In other happenings, I completed my Wii Fit strength routine (medium difficulty). It was difficult. At 8:00pm, I will be doing another 30 minute yoga routine. I feel like its only right to get in an hour of exercise every day. This is in addition to the 2 miles I logged completing various errands around the city.

I am looking forward to trying 2 new 'protein' type foods:

tempeh
seitan

Has anyone out there worked with these and if so, in what way and in what dish?

Day 2....almost through

So I wonder how long it will take me to 'learn' to sleep in? Having recently earned the title of 'unemployed' (by choice though), I thought for sure sleeping would be the best/easiest thing for me to conquer these days. For some reason, I haven't been able to sleep past 7am....

Thankfully I had a loooong list of errands/tasks to be completed today. I can say that they have been accomplished!

As far as the Kind Diet, I did very well today! I had a nice bowl of Mom's Granola for breakfast, an Amy's veggie burger for lunch, a peanut butter cup, and for dinner, sweet potato lentil stew, and Sicilian Collard greens with toasted pine nuts and raisins....it was SOOOOO good. I have pictures, and will be posting them tomorrow. I feel like I ate too much. I am really suprised at how delicious this food really is. Looking forward to the future-hoping that I continue feeling this way (good, that is).

Exercise... 30minute wii fit weight loss routine medium difficulty. I have an inkling this is going to be one of those I-am-going-to-feel-this-later workouts. It was challenging but not impossible. Hoping to work up to an hour a day on the Wii by the end of this month.

*one thing I must mention.....I weighed myself today on my trusty digital scale and came up with 142. Note: do not weigh yourself in a store that sells scales. Bad idea.

why the Kind Diet? Why now?

Oh where oh where do I begin?

This is my first blog....and I don't want to make it one of those things where I go on and on forever with all this superfluous information that makes no sense to anyone except me and then have people be like-what? What is this girl really getting at?

Hello, I am Meredith and I definitely have struggled with my weight from about age 10 up until now. That would be 26 years of struggling. 3 years ago, I thought I was in the best shape of my life. I was on my way to competing in Figure (google it-it takes a while for me to explain), and had been published in major women's magazines (SHAPE and oxygen to name a few). Plus I was a personal trainer....can't get any better than that, right?

Wrong. Inside I was miserable-and no matter how thin I was (and at one point I was pretty thin, try 114lbs on a 5'7" frame), nothing could conceal how miserable I felt. I gained a ton of weight back in no time at all (ballooned right up to 182lbs in less than a year).

Fast forward to my current situation....recently unemployed BY CHOICE mind you. Now sitting pretty at 150lbs-but unwilling to be photographed. Still feel like I am missing something-but what you ask? Oh, let's see....energy, enthusiasm, great skin and hair. HEALTH....it's health. I have come to realize that I have always been at these extremes-either really thin and miserable or big and fat and miserable. I have never learned how to be 'in the middle'.

I am not a slave to Oprah by any means but for some reason, my inbox contained an email from the great one talking about who would be on the show this past Friday. I read about the Kind Diet and Alicia Silverstone and thought, grrrrreat another celebrity diet. I mean these people have personal chefs and trainers and assistants-how in the world do they know what us 'real' people go through every day? Am I even going to be able to get any of the food on this diet? So after reading this, I went on about MY day-runninng my errands and such. As luck would have it, there was a bookstore in the plaza I needed to be in so I wandered in. Was it a sign, I will never know....the KIND diet staring me right in the face. Since it STILL isn't available for Kindle, I made my way up to the register with my rewards card and paid the pretentious clerk.

I read the entire book in one night! Its that good people. That being said....instead of just 'flirting' (read the book), I am jumping in with both feet. This blog is going to cover the ups and downs of that and some random other issues in my life. I may try to tie everything together and it may work or may not. I am taking any suggestions/info/advice from anyone who reads this and hope that you will find it informative as well. I am officially swearing off animal products as of this moment which is HUGE for me. My goals are to feel better, and achieve that balance (oh yawn doesn't everyone say that) and finally toss the size 14's and the 4's....no more extremes!

let's see how it goes.....