We feel like we have something to add to the conversation, even though the blogosphere is already well-stocked with really great vegan content (which we will be delighted to introduce, and hope you will join in and do the same.)
I (H) clearly remember being put on the Scarsdale Diet by my mother when I was probably about 8. Boy does that date me!
My weight has crept steadily up since childhood- starvation diets mixed with periods of regain with interest- to a top out at about 115kg. I would lose weight (and I do mean weight- not fat- because I whittled my lean body mass down to nothing, killing my metabolism even more with each cycle).
I did well on Atkins ( I did a very "clean" version, eating mostly unprocessed foods) but hated the meat-heavy way of eating. Palaeo diets made a lot of sense to me, but my inability to enforce any kind of portion control on myself made them healthier, but not a way for me to shed kilos.
In 2011, I made the decision to have weight loss surgery. It was an idea I always hated- I felt that gluttony was my only problem, and that I should be able to deal with it myself. I decided on a vertical sleeve gastrectomy, after doing my research.
Basically it is a permanent, irreversible surgical reduction ithe size of the stomach. There is no other change to digestion or fat metabolism, it simply reduces appetite (or at least capacity) to match my metabolism. Many sleeve patients seem to have very very tiny stomach capacity- mine seems more like what a normal person would have. I can eat a normal small meal- but not two meals at one sitting, and finish everyone's dessert! I can drink as much as I want (a lot) and generally feel like a normal person for the first time in my life. I get hungry, I eat, I get full. Amazing. As I mentioned, my stomach capacity is still enough that I could easily "eat around" it by grazing or eating high calorie, low nutrient density foods. Hence I have a great tool in my smaller stomach, but I have had to make major lifestyle changes too.
The first of these was that I began running. At about 90 kg I suddenly had heaps of energy, so I started the Couch to 5 km programme. Every day I expected to be the one that would injure me or be too hard, but I loved it and haven't looked back. Proud to say that I completed my first half marathon in November 2011.
Running led to reading about running, and I realised that many if not most endurance runners are vegetarian or vegan.
Skimming vegan health and diet books, I stumbled upon "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman and really that was the turning point for me. Evidence based, sensible nutrition that rang true with my own experiences as a lifelong dieter and on again off again vegetarian. The evidence implicating an animal-based diet in carcinogenesis scared me badly and made me force my friend K, a cancer survivor, who has her own weight loss journey to share- to read "Eat to Live" and "the China Study", which caused her
in turn to ditch Jenny Craig and start a new, vegan life! K is also working her way through C25k at the time of writing.
So here we are- two mums in their early (cough) 40s who are learning to run, and learning to be vegan. I reckon our combined weight loss to date is approaching 80 kg or so. Since we are both gigantic (but shrinking) nerds, a blog seemed like the logical next step.
That's my long introduction- I'll let K write her own as she has her own story to tell.
So here we are- two mums in their early (cough) 40s who are learning to run, and learning to be vegan. I reckon our combined weight loss to date is approaching 80 kg or so. Since we are both gigantic (but shrinking) nerds, a blog seemed like the logical next step.
That's my long introduction- I'll let K write her own as she has her own story to tell.
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