Veggie Diet Update #2

I thought when I started that I might try to keep this blog updated after every meal with recipes and all, but it turns out I'm just not a dedicated enough blogger to post that often. I haven't even tweeted about every meal, although I should mention you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/ergophobe. So I'll just post as often as I can and keep you updated that way.

My second day as a vegetarian, didn't go quite as smoothly as the first. We went over to my folks' house for dinner. They knew I had started the diet, but apparently didn't plan around it. We had Chicken Plops, potatoes, and salad. Naturally, the latter two were fine, but I was hungry after not having eaten breakfast or lunch, so I sacrificed the diet in favor of a plop.

Day three.. Well, I didn't eat much at all on day three. I worked from home, skipped breakfast, skipped lunch, and skipped dinner.. I periodically ate some nuts or crackers throughout the day to prevent myself from getting too hungry. I had a Cup-o-Noodles a little while before bed.

I almost repeated the same thing today. Skipped breakfast as I'm wont to do when I go to the office. Almost skipped lunch, but got a hunger pang while I was out at the bank, and popped into Sweet Tomatoes. Some of you readers may be more familiar with Sweet Tomatoes by the franchise's other name: Souplantation. I guess that's the left coast name. Had a salad (of course), which was almost completely vegetarian (I think one of the pre-mixxed salads had a little bit of bacon in it) and Veggie Chili. I didn't expect much from the Chili, but it was actually pretty good. Almost as tasty as the real thing.

Of course, that was nearly 10 hours ago, and I haven't eaten dinner yet. I'm hungry enough to eat a horse, but that's obviously not on the diet, so I'll probably heat up another Cup-o-Noodles. Question though.. Does "Chicken Flavor" count as vegetarian even if there's no actual meat in there?

I think I'm turning Vegetarian I really think so!

I haven't blogged in a very long time, it's true.  It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about, but rather that I haven't had the time (or rather haven't wanted to spend the time) to maintain my blog since I left CNN nearly two years ago.  I'm not even sure I'll be able to continue to maintain it after this post, but I'm going to try.

Today is the last day I'm going to eat meat.  I actually just got back from lunch.  I had one of Burger King's new Angry Whoppers.  I can't say that it was very angry.  Had a little bit of kick to it, but at least for me, wasn't nearly as spicy as I'd hoped.  But it was meat and I enjoyed every last bite.  I even licked my fingers when I was done to make sure I savored the grease that it left behind.

To be clear, I'm not going vegetarian for humanitarian reasons.  I love meat.  I love eating dead animals.  I don't want animals treated in an inhumane way while they're alive, but if they are going to die anyway, I'm more than happy to be among those who will devour the meat they leave behind.  The very fact that I'm going vegetarian probably means that the animals I would normally eat will continue to live unhappy lives in cages or boxes or wherever it is that they live their lives -- at least until someone else eats them.  Cows living longer lives means more methane gas in the atmosphere, which will cause more global warming, so not only am I extending the suffering of an innocent animal, I'm hurting the planet as well.  I'm a terrible, terrible person.

But I'm fat.  I'm not morbidly obese.  I don't weigh 400 lbs.  I'm terribly out of shape as compared to my college and military days, but I can get out of bed in the morning, pull on my pants, and tie my own shoes.  I can even still see what I'm holding when I use the restroom.  The last time I checked, I weighed about 235 lbs.  Not terrible, but not great.  I went skiing recently, and the one time I fell and had to hike a little way back up the mountain to fetch my skis I wore myself out to the point that I had to take a break once I got to the bottom.  Of course, the fact that I was able to go skiing at all is a tribute to the fact that I'm not beyond hope.

I'd like to lose about 45 - 50 pounds.  I'm hoping to get down to 180 lbs.  I tried Atkins.  It worked 8 years ago when I was single and could afford to eat a steak every day for dinner, an Arby's Big Montana (sans-bun) each day for lunch, and snack on Slim Jim's and beef jerky throughout the day.  I lost 40 pounds in 6 months.  But this time, I'm married.  My wife cooks our dinners, and I have to share my grocery budget with her and two children.  All that meat is just too expensive, and since my wife is cooking for the whole family, it was just too hard to stick to a low carb diet.  So Atkins just isn't a viable option anymore.

That's why I'm taking the opposite approach.  I've never met a fat vegetarian, and most vegans look downright anorexic.  I'm pretty sure vegetarianism is bad for your health long term, but as long as long as I eventually resume eating meat, I don't think it's going to kill me before I lose the weight I want to lose.  Also, a vegetarian diet is much easier to budget for.  Celery, broccoli, and lettuce are significantly cheaper than Slim Jims and Angus.  Also, my wife makes many dishes that are vegetarian friendly, and when she cooks meat, she can easily leave it off my plate.  I don't know too much about vegetarianism.  I don't know if it's better for me to go vegan, or if I can still eat products with eggs and milk as ingredients.  I'm going to start researching this and learning about it and blogging about what I learn.  And I'm going to keep my readers (all none of them) updated about my progress.

So wish me luck folks.  I hope I don't die of malnutrition in my quest for a smaller waistline.  If I do, you'll know by the lack of blog posts.. :)  Of course, that could also be the result of me getting lazy about the blog and not posting...