Being vegan

In December of 2019 I watched three programmes on Netflix.

Game Changes

Forks over Knives

What the Health?

I watched them in quick succession and decided to become a vegetarian. A successful transition completed in January I then became vegan from February.

For me, I don’t miss meat or dairy. I do miss eggs and found that protein is really important to stop me feeling hungry all the time.

Of course Covid has impacted during this transition. When I worked in an office I almost always missed breakfast and lunch by going straight from meeting to meeting and generally being too busy to remember to be hungry. From the middle of February I felt hungry all the time and was at home with saved travel time able and willing to eat breakfast and dinner. This coincided with no outside walks or non-obvious exercise. Not the best combination.

So now although I love how I feel, I have put 4 pounds on and don’t love that.

I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app, loaded my data into the free version and off I go. I’ve never counted calories before so it was a bit of a surprise to see the peanut butter in my wrap double the calorie content and made breakfast the most calorie dense meal of the day.

I am lucky, I’m only usually interested in food at mealtimes, my husband cooks all our family meals (and whatever I want if it’s different) and my body has so far always responded when I’ve cut back on food for a while.

I’m also doing the past versions of PE with Joe Wicks every other day after having a break from exercise for a while. My kids often hear me say ‘damn you Joe Wicks’ when my body aches from the workout.

I really enjoy being vegan but am not militant about it so when my 7 year old made meatballs and spaghetti for the family as her first meal, I did eat a meatball and still considered myself a vegan. Maybe in time I will graduate to being a better vegan. But for now, it’s good enough.