ain't no party like a vegetarian party

the official first weigh-in occurred this morning for the vegetarian south beach diet and the results are awesome! two pounds lost, lots of energy gained, and every morning easier to wake-up than the last.

all this and i only exercised once this week. i've been busy almost every night, so exercise took place on monday, my only free time. with that said, here's a rundown on how my first full vegetarian week progressed:

monday: with the lunch dilemma fixed, i found myself enjoying my first full day of fruit snacks and low-sugar, low-fat, low-carb, meat-free meals. i was incredibly hungry between meals, and at night i thought i was going to chew off my right arm. this stems from the fact that i finished eating at 7:00 p.m. and didn't touch anything else until tuesday morning. i felt alert all day and didn't experience the afternoon slough. good first day.

tuesday: still throwing down the fruit, and finish eating by 6:30. resist snacks at small group but still feel like i could eat two pizzas if they were set in front of me. wondering if my appetite will require me to re-think the "no food after 7:00" deadline. hoping so. awake all day, not a hint of tiredness. woke on time and wasn't sluggish or tired at all. i like the benefits of the new diet on this, the second day.

wednesday: wake up before my alarm, giving me a good half an hour to pray to start my day. nice. food stays the same, only notice my appetite becoming satiated with only two oranges as opposed to my standard three. alert and awake, the only thing slowing me down is work. work can be so dull sometimes it's a drag, but i never feel tired so much as restless. break my 7:00 p.m. deadline because i'm not done with errands until almost 8:00. don't eat after that, though, and don't notice any effects on my sleep. have my cheat snack tonight, but it was small enough as to be negligible. get to bed at midnight, at least an hour later than what i'd like.

thursday: awake before the alarm again, pray some more. resist snacks at young adults ministry. feel tired in the afternoon, but not my normal exhausted. when i was eating poorly i would feel completely run-down, like i just wanted to lay out on my desk and take an hour to sleep. today i just felt tired, nothing that would stop me from being active. attribute this to two things: 1) late bedtime the night before, and 2) ran out of oranges for breakfast, forcing a switch to apples. from what the south beach book says, apples are higher on the glycemic index, translating into more sugar and, consequently, a small trough come afternoon. think it had more to do with late sleep the night before than anything.

once i leave work, though, i'm alert again and ready for anything. also noticing my appetite isn't as large now as earlier in the week. i'm still doing three oranges mostly just to make sure i'm full until lunch. other than that i'm not really digging on the in-between meal snacks like i was just a few days ago. i like the satisfied feeling. nights are getting easier, too, as this night my hunger wasn't nearly what it had been other nights. finish eating by 7:00 and am done for the day.

friday: got to bed late again last night but woke on time and not feeling tired at all. food went back to my regular routine. stepped on the scale this morning to see i dropped 2 pounds. sweet!

while i technically have two more days left, i count the first week a success especially given that i've been tempted a few different times this week and didn't succumb. the weekend won't see so many temptations, so i think i'm good to go. i will have pizza for the super bowl, although it'll be of the south beach-compliant kind so it won't be out of bounds. other'nat the weekend looks like a smooth cruise to gaining momentum for the second week.

here's to healthy eating!