One week down, three to go
So far so good. I lost 1.5 kgs, then gained some back. I am still on track to reach my goal, but I lost a lot of the head start I had at the beginning.
Here is what I learned so far:
- Being a vegetarian AND trying to lose weight AND maintaining a high protein intake is hard: I simply could not do it. As long as I'm actively trying to lose weight, I will eat tuna. I do not feel guilty about it: I am a vegetarian because I believe that it is a healthy and viable lifestyle requiring no sacrifices. That is currently not the case, and I do not see me sticking to this diet if I can not guarantee good results. I worked too hard to get this far.
- social events are fun, but they wreck any diet plans.
- I have a fancy scale that measures my body fat percentage. If it were accurate, I could lose 5kgs of body fat by drinking a glass of water and bending my knees slightly. Do not buy these scales, they are junk.
- One would think that the formula "weight loss = calories out - calories in" would make sense. By carefully keeping track of my weight, food intake and exercise, and I can now safely tell you that my body refuses to adhere to the formula. I lost more weight on the days that I ate too much. There are a few possible explanations for this.
1. I could have made mistakes in calculating calories in & out, but I doubt that. A fair bit of guesswork is involved, but overall it should be reasonably accurate.
2. I have started taking Creatine supplements, and that might account for the extra weight. I will look into it. People say it makes your muscles retain more water.
3. There is a significant lag between body weight and the calorie balance (like .. say ... two days). So if I overeat I would notice it two days after. This is possible, and I will find out over time if the weight changes correspond to it.
If it looks like I will not make the goal I set up, I intend to start jogging or cycling. I will see how it goes next week.
Here is what I learned so far:
- Being a vegetarian AND trying to lose weight AND maintaining a high protein intake is hard: I simply could not do it. As long as I'm actively trying to lose weight, I will eat tuna. I do not feel guilty about it: I am a vegetarian because I believe that it is a healthy and viable lifestyle requiring no sacrifices. That is currently not the case, and I do not see me sticking to this diet if I can not guarantee good results. I worked too hard to get this far.
- social events are fun, but they wreck any diet plans.
- I have a fancy scale that measures my body fat percentage. If it were accurate, I could lose 5kgs of body fat by drinking a glass of water and bending my knees slightly. Do not buy these scales, they are junk.
- One would think that the formula "weight loss = calories out - calories in" would make sense. By carefully keeping track of my weight, food intake and exercise, and I can now safely tell you that my body refuses to adhere to the formula. I lost more weight on the days that I ate too much. There are a few possible explanations for this.
1. I could have made mistakes in calculating calories in & out, but I doubt that. A fair bit of guesswork is involved, but overall it should be reasonably accurate.
2. I have started taking Creatine supplements, and that might account for the extra weight. I will look into it. People say it makes your muscles retain more water.
3. There is a significant lag between body weight and the calorie balance (like .. say ... two days). So if I overeat I would notice it two days after. This is possible, and I will find out over time if the weight changes correspond to it.
If it looks like I will not make the goal I set up, I intend to start jogging or cycling. I will see how it goes next week.