Veganism

Hello, my name is April and I’m a Vegan. (Positive thinking will make it so, right?)

Veganism is a word that means different things to different people. I will only be exploring the eating style strictly from a health/weight loss perspective. To be frank, I have no interest in any of the other concerns that many in this community have (specifically regarding animal cruelty).

I laughed out loud as I reread the above paragraph. I assure you that I’m not an animal sadist but that I’m far too busy trying to manage my health and life than to care about the lives of animals. #RealTalk

I’ve been struggling with my weight for years ….. nearly all my life ….. and I feel like I’m approaching that fat statistic area where life and death are on a collision course and as those inevitable dates get closer and closer, I’m starting to get nervious.

Am I afraid to die? No.

Am I ready to die? Not yet.

I’ve never really thought about death ….  until recently.

Yeah, I’ve been in the morbidly obease category since I was like ten but death never seemed imminent. And even on the rare occasion that I did, I kind of assumed the death would be something quick like a heart attack. (Never had heart problems but isn’t that how fat people die?) The lingering slow impending death of obesity never crossed my mind.

So why now?

Yes, that pep in my step had slowed but I never expected to lose my swag and become a person I didn’t recognize. The partially broken outside of my body in no way matched the full of energy and zest for life inside that once exsisted.

The above realization plus a couple of other things have me rethinking life and embarking on a journey of radical change.

Radical Change !!!

So, today begins my quest to radically change my life.

First step …… healthy eating.

I’ll be keeping  food diary with the hope that i will be more diligent in my healthy eating quest. I’ve read article after that states that those  most successful with losing weight and maintaining weight loss were diligent in keeping a food diary.

Wish me luck !!!

09/09/09 — Today is The Day

The above tweet was sent out by me on Twitter last night at about 1:30 am.

I forgot about it until I saw a link to an article on Yahoo titled Why 09/09/09 Is So Special. From calculated marketing activities such as film openings to the most personal celebrations such as weddings, people around the world have attached some significance to the date. Some good and some not so good.

One of my first thoughts was to radically change my life by making a radical change in my daily lifestyle. My second though … why are you lying to yourself … seriously. Am I really gonna exercise an hour a day everyday? While I’d like to, I don’t want to disappoint myself with such a lofty goal right now.

Procrastination

Yesterday I wrote what was supposed to be the first of 30 blogs in 30 days. I wrote what I think is a great blog from my Blackberry. However, I just posted it five minutes ago. This blog was supposed to answer yesterday’s questions.

Not happening.

The Reluctant Blogger

Over two years ago, I started an online magazine (AroundHarlem.com). The original idea was to hire great writers, get rich and live happily ever after. I only expected to write an occasional article if something inspired me. (I call my column Reflections.)

To say there have been bumps in the road on my journey to become a media mogul is an understatement. I won’t go into details about the collapsing publishing industry, market forces, finances, tech issues, etc. that have changed my initial direction, but I will say that even in the midst of the chaos, (change/growth of the original vision) I still love my new career.

While I have always been a great writer (Honors/AP English in school) I never though of journalism as a career. Now, as an entrepreneur, I find myself doing what every business owner does … a little bit of everything.

Including writing.

Hence the reluctant blogger title. (I even use it in my bio.)

Number 5 — The Investigator

• You’re independent – and a logical analytical thinker.
• You love learning and ideas … and know things no one else does. Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations.
• You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it.
• At Your Best: You are sharp, inventive, and creative. You have the skills to lead the world.
• At Your Worst: You are reclusive, weird, and a bit paranoid.
• Your Fixation: Greed
• Your Primary Fear: Being useless or incompetent
• Your Primary Desire: Being competent and needed
• Other Number 5’s: Bill Gates, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Bjork, and Stephen Hawking.

What Number Are You?

My Political Persuasion — New School Democrat

• You like partying and politics. It’s likely you are young and affluent.
• You’re less religious, traditional, and uptight than most Democrats.
• Smoking pot, homosexuality, and gambling are all okay in your book.
• You prefer that the government help people take care of themselves.

What’s Your Political Persuasion?

We’re Fuc*ed — Thoughts on the U.S. Economy

I was listening to BBC Radio about a week or two ago during the Republican convention and they were interviewing this economist from France. Apparently he wrote a book about 10 years ago that was 100% correct regarding future global economic conditions.

They were interviewing him about the current economic climate and the dude got me scared with some of the stuff he was saying about the American economy.

The short version, we’re FUC*ED. I don’t curse so I’m not using that word lightly.

Weight Loss — The Daily Challenge

So I’m reading an article on maintaining weight loss, 4 Reasons We Regain Weight, and checked out the comments section when I finished. The comment below was sooooo on point.

I am astounded how much weight loss maintainance is like remaining sober. That is, I am an alcoholic and in order to stay off the booze there are several things I must do, either daily or weekly. If I don’t do them, I may drink again, or crave it. Weight loss appears to be the same for some people.

I found her comment to be a very good analogy. I don’t think people really realize how difficult it is to lose weight and maintain the weight loss.

Every day is a challenge. EVERY DAY.

I’ve only been successful when I totally altered my life. Not just what I eat or whether or not I exercise. Check out some of the reasons why below.

• There’s not as much hanging out with friends or doing the after work thing. Why? Because the all social activities involve food and/or drinks. (At least with the people that I know.)
• I have to go to bed no later than 9 or 9:30 pm. Why? Because by then, I’m starving and if I stay up any later, I’m gonna eat again. (When tracking calories in a food diary, it was this extra meal that was always the difference in weight loss.)
• TV becomes annoying. Why? The tempting and teasing of the food commercials ….. LOL. I’m serious. I start to crave things that I don’t even like just because the commercials make food look so appetizing.
• Less leisure time. Why? No more downtime because I have to shop and cook more. Fruits and veggies don’t have a long shelf life. I find myself going shopping about three times a week just to eat right. Then add in the time it takes to cook and do dishes. (vs. the usual eat something out or order in). It’s hard to find time to just chill, talk on the phone, surf the net, etc. And, of course there’s the recommended 5-6 hours a week of exercise for someone my size.

There’s probably a couple of other things that I find challenging when trying to lose weight that I can’t think of right now.

I know there are benefits to the weight loss and I’m going to try to focus on those more. Kind of like the light at the end of the tunnel.

Have any tips for me? Put them in the comments section below. Thanks. 🙂

The Journey Begins — Again

The situation has gotten out of control.

I’ve always been a big person, but I’ve never really felt fat. I’ve always been able to hold my own as a big girl when getting around and doing whatever I wanted.

Lately, things have changed. I feel myself slowing down, can’t do as much as I used to. I get tired doing simple things. One of my friends says it’s age. Some of it probably could be attributed to that, but the extra weight is the primary source.

I went grocery shopping yesterday and the five block walk home almost killed me. I actually had to stop and rest for a minute. After I got home, you would have thought that I did a workout the way I was sweating. NOT GOOD. Yes the bags were kind of heavy, but I should not have been sweating like I was.