From a very young age, I had always eaten meat. I remember my mom always cooking Belly Pork and steak or chicken adobo (chicken in vinegar) and being reminded of that heavenly smell of cooked meat. As I grew up, I started to put on weight. By the age of 14-15, I was a lot bigger than a lot of the other kids that I would hang with. My sister was 11 and she was nowhere near as big as I was. But there was so much junk food in our house, that at the time, I didn't really care. I just ate whatever I wanted and kept putting on the weight.
By the time I was 18 I fluctuated with my weight but was pretty much where the whole weight loss thing started. I was walking down the stairs ready to go out one night in a pair of jeans and a cute crop top which showed a bit of my belly, that unfortunately overhung my jeans. My mom turned to me and told me to go change, and that I was getting fat and that If I got any bigger I wouldn't be able to fit through the door. She wanted me to go on a diet, or do something but I was so depressed at that time, that I started smoking and not eating. The cigarettes suppressed my appetite enough for me to never be hungry, and I dropped to a size 10. Ecstatic with my new slimline physique I ran to my mom and was beaming saying "look, I am a size 10". She never knew the extent of what I had been through and I smoked and never knew how I got to be that small. All she said to me was 'well done keep it up'
In a way it was motivation but It was the wrong way to do it.
As I got older and older, and through many traumatic relationships, to which the guy that I was with had violent tendencies towards me, made me more depressed and more aware of what I was doing with my body.
I got married in 2009 and I was a US size 14. I weighed 155lbs. To me, that was still too big and still too heavy. After 4 hard but wonderful years of marriage, and after going on this Cambridge diet to which I had lost 35lbs in 6 months just by drinking soy/milk based protein drinks and eating one meal a day that was 600 calories or less, I became pregnant. Unfortunately after 3 short months, I miscarried and that was hard for me emotionally not only for my mentality but for my eating habits as well. I started to comfort eat. I didn't care about anyone or anything at that point in time. I just wanted to eat. I ate whatever I felt like eating. Donuts, pie, chips, cream cakes, cheese, Anything that would make me feel better from losing my son. I know that food isn't an escape but at the time I felt it was and I ended up putting on more than what I had lost previously on my diet and went up to a whopping 185lbs which is the heaviest I have ever been. I started to have blood pressure problems. Now my blood pressure has always been high and is one of the reasons why I decided I needed to change the way I eat. I went vegetarian for a short while (about 3 months) when I lived in California, and I lost a lot of weight again. My body was regular, and I had so much more energy. At that point, I was still eating eggs but I had given up all meat but Chicken and substituted milk for Almond Milk. Although it was hard with a husband who is a meat eater and almost every fast food place around that sells meat, I managed to persevere through it. However, once coming back to PA after leaving Cali, I ended up going back to eating meat because his parents own a farm, and we get free ground beef and eggs. All the processed food I was eating was starting to make me feel lethargic and like I had no energy. They are also full of salt which for someone like me with high blood pressure wasn't the best thing to do. One night I woke with palpitations and anxiety and my heart felt like it was skipping and it was scary, to say the least. I couldn't sleep at all that night. I kept pacing up and down the house trying to drink lots of Water I took my blood pressure that morning and it was dangerously high. 125/103. I decided to go back vegetarian. I was drinking only water and ate only salad and fish pretty much every day. I had a bladder infection a few weeks later, and when I went in they take your blood pressure etc. They took mine and it was normal. I was surprised because all my life it had been high so I knew I was doing something good. A few weeks ago I ended up reverting back to eating the meat again because it was getting expensive to buy what I wanted to be vegetarian. My decision to be Vegan pretty much started after I had my blood pressure taken again when I went to get my eyes tested. It was 125/106 which was even higher than the one before. That made me think very hard about my health. So that's when I decided to try Veganism. I value my health. I want to be healthy and have energy like I did before all those years ago. The transition going to Vegan wasn't that difficult for me because I had been vegetarian in previous years So I found it quite easy. I replaced 2% milk with almond or cashew milk I always have fruit and vegetables in the house and I eat a lot of rice, beans, and rice noodles.
I used to think that being vegan was going to be just me sitting there eating salad every day which would be boring, but then again I have done that before lol.
My husband is still a non-vegan, and still eats meat and I will still cook it for him because I will not force him to do a diet or change his lifestyle just because I am doing it because that's not fair. He should want to do it for himself. I will, however, suggest healthier options but again it's up to him and it's his choice, not mine.
I have now been vegan for over a week. I have not touched butter, cheese, milk or eggs. I don't eat dairy anymore, and I don't have headaches or feel lethargic like the meat used to make me feel. I do take multivitamins every day too which gives me all the vitamins that I need because I am not eating meat so B12 is included in those vitamins.
I also drink a lot of water, I stay away from caffeine and I don't drink alcohol anymore so I don't have to worry about the effects that it gives me also. I am hoping to stay vegan so I can keep this lifestyle and hope I start losing weight as well. Going vegan is not only a Good way to lose weight but it's a lifestyle change to stay healthy and being healthy keeps you on track with life.
Believe me, go and try it. And if you don't like it then that's fine but u won't know unless u try. U will feel the benefits within a few days, well at least it was a Few days for me and everything is so delicious u won't think about eating meat after u start eating clean.
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