veg week day 1 / long-range planning

vegan week day 1: success!
when i signed up for this 7-day challenge, i had my doubts. after all, i had attempted just one day’s worth of totally plant-based eating a little over a year ago, and let’s just say . . . there was a little cheese incident. oops.

this time, though, i feel like i am more prepared — perhaps because with a week of meals to think about, a little more planning is necessary. some things that surprised me about yesterday’s vegan experience:

✰ my meals/snacks didn’t really seem different from what i usually eat

✰ it wasn’t any harder to put them together — really, there was no extra prep time involved

✰ i didn’t miss cheese or meat. however, i think that is because i know this is temporary — if you told me i couldn’t have pizza or sushi for the rest of my life (please don’t, btw), immediately i would begin to fixate on the perfect gooey slice, served with a side of spicy tuna roll.

the recap: food-blogger style
you all know that i don’t usually do this, but this week it seems reasonable to share my vegan adventures with you all! [note: unless specified, you can assume that for breakfast i had the usual. if it ain’t broke . . .]

snack #1 (post-workout)

brown rice cake + sunflower seed butter + dried apricots
yep, i followed up my carb + nut butter breakfast with . . . more carbs and nut butter. this is in part reflective of the plan my RD suggested, and who am i to argue with that?

lunch (@ work)

ww wrap (yes, vegan) with hummus + tabbouli; veg; some flax/corn chips
snack #2 (during marathon-length monday meeting @ work)

how am i always the ONLY one that needs to eat during this thing!? it’s from 2:30 – 5!
dinner (while watching glee)

curry tofu scramble amped up with kale + sweet potato rounds with organic ketchup
i am not 100% sure that the ketchup qualifies as vegan, given that it contains organic sugar and some sugar is processed using non-vegan ingredients. however, i decided to take a big-picture stance and not care.

i was still a little hungry after this and knew i needed something to get my to the calorie level recommended by the RD. hence, THIS:

no explanation needed
i’ve actually had coconut milk ice cream before, and i love it (yes – as much as the dairy kind). it is pretty rich and certainly does not qualify as health food — but it was vegan, and helped me meet my requirements for the day.

overall thoughts on day #1? that it was fun, not too hard, and i’m still excited about continuing for the week. i guess we’ll just have to see if i end up doubled over in the fetal possession demanding cheese by day #7 . . .

longer-term goals
before we left for vacation, i received an inquiry about how i track longer-term goals.

the truth is that usually, i don’t think much farther ahead than a month. this helps me to not get too bogged down in big projects (which tends to get me overwhelmed). for example, if i had a grant due in april (so glad i don’t!), instead of worrying about finishing the whole thing, i would focus on getting a draft of certain sections done by the end of february.

i use my planner for this long-range planning — the one i have (details here) is wonderful in that it has space for daily/weekly/monthly activities, plus plenty of blank space for long-range scheming and dreaming (for me, this part is more for fun stuff!).

monthly plan example

here, you can see my february projects — kept down to a realistic level, i think. below (not shown), i wrote out my life goals for the month, to serve as a reminder since i refer to this page fairly often.

long-range dreams + schemes
in the back of my planner, there are a lot of blank pages — really, almost a whole notebook attached, with different color paper (ooh) and gridlines (ahh). i use these sheets to track mostly fun things: blog ideas, movies i want to see, outing ideas, and the like! recently, i’ve also liked keeping a record of the movies/books/music that i’ve taken in over the course of the year (i promise, i’m not OCD . . . it’s just so much fun to look back on).

Q&A: how do you track your long-range goals? i am sure there are many great methods out there!

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2.7.11

workout: 25 minute elliptical (levels 9-11) + NROLFW workout #1, which consisted of:

— 2 x 15 squats with barbell (at my gym, this had to be using a smith machine) — i used 30 lbs the first time and 25 the second.

— 2 x 15 pushups (2 x 11 standard, 2 x 4 knee each time)

— 2 x 15 seated row (40 lbs)

— 2 x 15 step-ups — i used a pretty high bench for this and it was HARD! the first round i held 8 lbs total; the second i just used 4! plus body weight, of course.

— 2 x 8 plank jack-knife (jack-knives?)

i am a little bit sore in the legs this AM but nothing major.