I made it!
I sailed through this three-week vegan kickstart experiment with flying colors (if I so say so myself), and I feel like I’m better off for having done it. I’ll be writing a few posts to cover the various aspects of the kickstart and my takeaways during the next week or two, but here are some quick-and-dirty stats:
- Over the course of three weeks I’ve lost about five pounds without feeling like I’ve deprived myself.
- I shaved five minutes off my personal best for the Rock and Roll Half-Marathon in DC (and felt great all the way through the race).
- I have a TON of energy – more than I’ve had in quite awhile.
- I feel like I’m putting my money where my mouth is (so to speak) in terms of environmental sustainability.
- Speaking of money, I’ve found that eating clean, whole foods doesn’t cost any more than my usual grocery bill.
… all in all, not a bad three weeks!
Now, I did have one pre-planned slip-up. One of my recipes – for vegetarian sausage cheese balls – was recently accepted into a magazine (!), so I did have to make said cheese balls once during these three weeks for recipe-testing. But other than that, I stayed completely vegan throughout the process – and will be tacking on one more day to my kickstart tomorrow to make up for my slip-up! I feel that is fair.
Tonight, LeeLee and I sat down to what was supposed to be a cookout but ended up being another cook-in because of the wet weather. We enjoyed chickpea patties – which tasted great but were a bit soggy (so I’m glad we didn’t try to cook them on the grill!) – along with some braised Brussels sprouts and pearled couscous. Not to mention some great beer from Right Proper Brewing down the road in DC!
What’s next for me, post-kickstart? It’s really too early to tell. But I’ve got to say, I feel great on a dairy-free diet, and my workout stats have really seen a positive upswing as a result. I feel great and have so much energy, I can barely contain myself. How can I argue with that? The kickstart has taught me so much – I’m looking forward to whatever comes next. Kickstart Round 2, perhaps? Who knows!
:)