Day 3, my first experience with tofu

I realized today that I actually like oatmeal! I made it on the stove, not the microwave kind. With almond milk and a little sugar, it wasn't bad at all! It kept me full, I wasn't hungry at all. I'm kind of excited to try different things with it - bananas, cinnamon, almonds, possibly some vanilla.... Definitely a t of potential. Ooh - I wonder if Nutella would work... Or if I can even have Nutella on this diet. I'll have to look into that.

Since it was New Year's Day, and breakfast was actually lunch, I hit dinner next. TOFU. I'm slightly terrified.

Fajitas. I made chicken fajitas for my family, and tofu for me. I realized after i made my kids fajitas that the main reason I like fajitas is thhe sour cream. ugh! well, to give it a pop I sautéed the tofu (firm tofu, cubed) with a sliced tomato - to give it a little acidity and a bit more flavor. I added some water and the vegetables and water sautéed red and green bell peppers and some onion with the tofu and some fajita seasoning.  I added a little salt, threw it on a tortilla... It honestly wasn't bad! I was surprised I actually liked it without the sour cream and guacamole. The tofu was the firm kind, and about the same consistency as scrambled eggs. The nice thing about it is that it really doesn't taste like anything, it's kind of like a sponge - it just soaked up the flavor. I'm glad I sautéed it with the tomato first - I think that gave it a tiny pop - but I might be crazy! I'll learn more about tofu as I go. Especially over the next couple of days, I have to use the rest of this brick of tofu before it goes bad.

But read the directions, you have to store it covered with water. Weird.

Evening munchies were HORRIBLE. So I had spaghetti and red sauce. And I've figured out that I LOVE Martinelli's apple cider! It's funny, I've always hated it before,but I got some for New Year's Eve - mainly for my husband. He loves the stuff. I looked on the bottle, the only thing in it is apple juice and carbonation - no sugars, no preservatives, no nothing! I'm officially hooked! I can drink it and not feel guilty! LOVE!!! When it goes on sale I'm going to stock up. I wish it came in a 2 liter instead of just a fancy bottle.

I'm getting a little excited - I feel like I can eat like this. The hardest part of any diet is the first week. I just hope I can actually loose weight doing it. I took my measurements last night and it was utterly painful... Oi. I hope this works.

Day 2

Started the day with a couple of slices of bread and a green smoothie. Ice, a banana, an apple , spinach and vanilla almond milk in the blender. (I did use sugar in it as well, not sure if that was the best idea, but it needed some sweetener!) And a couple of slices of bread, keeping up my starches.
Lunch, hummus and tortilla chips and an orange.
Snack, a bagel with honey.
Dinner, spaghetti with marinara. (I love a good meat sauce, so that was the only bad part)

The worst part abut today was the MUNCHIES!! I'm craving sugar like crazy. Not starch sugar, like a king size twix, a kit kat and a few Reese's peanut butter cups sugar... I had a couple of mints and a few peppermint patties, and a piece if candied pineapple and a bite of pineapple candy I made. Just sugar and fruit, so nothing too bad (and I made them myself so I know what is in it). I need to be better about drinking more water, and I know I need to be better about actually eating my starches. It's kind of a difficult thing - more starch, more starch. It goes against all I've been programmed to do for weight loss! I did Atkins for crying out loud! My munchies are kicking in again.... Time to go find a starchy snack. Maybe more spaghetti.

I did go to the store tonight, thinking of what I can make. I got some tofu and some sauces that I figured I'd try. Tofu is supposed to soak up the favors of whatever you cook it in, so lets see if we can make it taste any good.

I also had a crazy realization tonight. I hate salad! Which is stupid, because I love salad - but only when it is absolutely DRENCHED in a good dressing. Ranch, green goddess, poppyseed, Caesar.... All dairy based. I tried a salad with lemon and salt - epic fail. Oi. I need to find and/or create some good dressing recipes.

Day 1

I tried to start this diet the other day. I started the day with oatmeal, but ended it with a ham sandwich... I'm not exactly predisposed to NOT eat meat or dairy. That being said, I do love to cook. One reason I'm doing this diet is because I desperately need to loose 90 pounds. And i mean desperate! The other reason is the challenge. I'm going to attempt to learn to cook vegan style, and will share what I learn here. I'm sure a lot of it will be nothing shy of epic failure as I try to make things taste good without the staples: sour cream, butter, olive oil..... But there's no learning without trying. I know my first few weeks will be interesting as I'm learning the ropes, but that being said... Here we go! 

Breakfast, Chex Cereal with almond milk and sugar

I honestly wasn't hungry all day, but I was SO tired, so I did have a coke at work. 

Lunch, chips and salsa.

For dinner I had triscuts and hummus. The 'reduced fat' triscuts cuts are actually the healthiest ones! And I had a few slices of bread to round out the day. 

So far so good. I'm a bit shocked at how hungry I WASN'T. But it could possibly be that I loaded up on all of my favorite yummy meats that I know I won't be able to eat later!