Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

When I first lost the weight over 5 years ago, I relied on a pedometer to make sure I would get over 10,000 steps a day. It worked and kept me motivated, but it was easy to lose and the battery would go rather quickly.

I eventually upgraded to a FitBit Charge and that was a big upgrade from the pocket pedometer. I actually had three FitBits over the last couple years. It was cool as it would vibrate on my wrist whenever I reached my goal of 10,000 steps. The only thing I didn't use the FitBit for was to track the sleep, which didn't interested me.

This is significant to me. If anyone were to have told me six years ago that I would have lost the weight... and would manage to keep it off for 5 years, I never would have believed them. You see, I was one of those yo-yo dieters, but could never mange to lose the weight. So what exactly changed that caused me to lose the weight?

I think I was honestly getting sick of the bad foods. I don't know if psychologically, my mind was telling me those foods weren't good for me anymore, but I no longer enjoyed eating them. I used to lose Reese's, but suddenly, it didn't taste good to me anymore. The nearly half gallon of ice cream I would consume daily didn't have the same appeal. I think my desire to get healthy and my drive to finally succeed played a role in the way the food tasted back then.

Before going plant based last year, I always worried about protein. How would I get enough protein to build muscle. Oddly enough, I was not building muscle as efficiently as I am now being plant based.

One thing I've learned is that if you're eating enough food, you'll have more than enough protein. There are so many bodybuilders at the gym I go to that just do not understand this concept. Protein powders are not necessary to build muscle.

My dad and step mom came to visit this past week. I had expected ted them to criticize the way I eat, as they did not understand it last year. In fact, my step mom called the diet "borderline anorexic", which made no sense at all.

But this year, aside from the few comments that they could never eat the way I do, there was no criticism. They instead commented on how healthy I looked. I think the 20 pounds of muscle helped too, from the last time they saw me.

There's a term I've heard for a few years now, that being orthorexia nervosa. The term is not actually recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and I don't think it should be. I think the term is misleading and causing undue tension for someone who just may be following instructions of a diet they follow.

I think a lot of vegans and whole food plant based eaters are unfairly targeted with the orthorexia label. I noticed in some plant based groups on Facebook, a few people have concerns because their family mentioned they might have the "disease".