Beyond Willpower

So on Tuesday I went down home to visit my  mom, my sister came too, I'll be posting some of her pics on my blog, Never Quit Playing  tomorrow so keep an eye out. She took this pic of me in my apron above, as I made slaving over a hot stove look easy and glamorous ;) (Photo by Mara Pranzarone )  I had a great time, I am teaching my mom how to ease into a vegan/whole foods/gluten free/soy free diet to try and ease some of her health problems. Sooner or later I will get her doing physical therapy, because the temporary pain of therapy is worth the relief you get after. I am so thankful for Etty, my physical therapist who I used to see and I hope she's reading this since I gave her my card and I hope she knows how much she has changed my life for the better.  I made my vegan alfredo for my fam down home and it was a hit!  Even my stepdad who told me that grilling veggies and tofu on the fourth of July was unamerican liked it and came back for more!The picture above is made with

Where has my spark gone? So the other day I commented on a blog post written by  Rejecting 300  that was about, where do you find motivation once it's fizzled out? Basically, I am committed, I keep plugging along, whether I'm motivated or not. It's not as fun when you're not motivated, but it still gets the job done. I haven't been to the gym in forever, I've been lucky to have one day off a week. BUT, this past week I had some time to relax and this coming week I will have two days off IN A ROW! (I'll be out of town staying at my moms since last week didn't work out, but it's okay, she has a treadmill!). I told Rejecting 300 that I was going to go to bed, and wake up the next day and hope that spark had returned. It didn't though. But, I stayed on plan, I tracked, and at the end of the night when Joey asked if I wanted to go out to eat, I said no, I'd had my cals. I must say I made myself proud. :) Getting it back Then today, I woke

Unfortunately, Forks Over Knives did not come to my city when it opened, but we did go to Cleveland   to see it. For those of you who haven't seen it (or who have and want to learn more), here are some goodies for you to win! If you've ever been curious about what a more plant-based diet can do for you this is a great way to get started! *US residents only* Forks Over Knives DVD The China Study, which is often referenced in the film  Companion book Here are the rules: (When posting this graphic plz chose "large" so the type can be read) The winner will be announced September 3rd and will be chosen at random. Deadline is September 2nd at midnight. Once a winner is chosen they will have 3 days to contact me with their shipping info and if I don't hear back another winner will be chosen at random.  U.S residents only. Sorry! Thanks for entering and good luck! NOTE: If you do NOT have a blog, you can post the link to this contest on your facebook/google

So, I'm having a hard time lately. I'm having weird cravings, I don't know if it's a pms thing or not since my lady parts are wildly unpredictable, but my boobs do seem bigger overnight so maybe it is. But I haven't been tracking and I've been a mess. This is where having this blog really comes in handy. I feel accountable to my readers, I feel like if I were to stop writing tomorrow and give up on all of this and gain back the near 80 lbs I've lost, I wouldn't only be disappointing myself.  I know there are plenty of you out there who are struggling just like me, and I assume that since that makes the struggle a little less painful for me, that knowing I'm out here struggling maybe makes it a little less painful for you too. None of us would wish obesity on anyone else I think, but, sometimes it feels nice to know that you aren't alone. I'm still working crazy days. I had an 11 day stretch this time before I had a day off. Before that

Hi everyone, I'm not entirely sure yet who nominated me, (thanks to who did!) but I have been nominated for Pittsburgh's most valuable blogger in the health category. You can vote once a day, I would really appreciate it if  you guys would all go here and vote for me! Thanks!

Have you seen Julie & Julia? I'm currently in the middle of watching the movie Julie and Julia, my mom told me about it, I had no idea what it was about. I do adore it so far though. Speaking of my mom, I just want to say how excited I am that she is interested in my way of eating and I hope that these dietary changes help with some of her health issues as they have mine. I don't consider myself to be a preachy type of vegan, but I definitely love to give people information when they ask and my mom has been asking for a few months now. She just has all sorts of questions and her inquisitiveness is kind of cute to me. :) Also, I am a firm believer in he concept of leading with your fork. I love to cook for people and tomorrow my sister and I are going down home. I will have a lot to write about the cooking adventures we have Wednesday night. My sister is an amazing photographer and she will be taking pictures of the fabulous soy free, gluten free, vegan food! Keep a look

I have been informed that if you use firefox the 'follow' button doesn't work. I use google chrome so I didn't realize this was an issue. For one, I suggest chrome, I absolutely love it, but 2, if you can't 'follow', does anyone have any suggestions other than subscribing by email? I'd like my follow button to work for everyone. blah.

So my mom has asked for my help with weight loss. I'm going to give it a shot. She has some health issues that limit her diet. She can't do soy or dairy, wants to stop eating meat, and most likely shouldn't be eating gluten. We have some similar health concerns. Anyhow, due to this fact, I've offered to take some of my gluten free vegan recipes and modify them to make them soy free! I know there are many soy free vegans out there so I hope you follow my page and check out future recipes made without soy and also some of my old favorites  will offer some soy free options as well! I'm really excited about this, since it will force my hand in making things more creatively and I'm really happy to be able to help my mom. I hope I can help!

So, when I started this journey at 299 lbs, I wanted to weigh 145-155 at goal. But the closer I get to that goal, the less it seems like where I want to be. I had posted on a weight loss support forum, and said that at 220 lbs, my current weight, that I feel pretty good about myself and my blood work and health is in order and that my new goal is more like 175-190. I remember being 190 lbs in 2004 and feeling very confident and good about myself, although I was far less healthy because I didn't lose it in a healthy way. (atkins/crash diet), but now, I feel great! This is me at 280some lbs and now at 220 lbs This is me at 190 lbs I want to have a realistic goal that I can maintain for the rest of my life, instead of a goal that will kill me trying to maintain only to get frustrated and re-gain it.  I feel like I looked good at 190 and I think I'll look great at 175, but I honestly can't see myself smaller than 175.  I kind of like being chubby. I've always been a c

10 Random thoughts on juicing 1.) If you are juicing enough greens you will get about 10 grams of protein per 16 oz cup. 2.) I've been juicing oanges and strawberries and blending them in the ninja with a frozen banana and some flax meal for added fiber and protein. 3.) My juicer is a breville je900 , I love it and suggest breville if you chose to get a juicer 4.) Joey is having some problems drinking the mostly veggie juices. I've been experimenting and have found two that I REALLY like. One has tons o' veggies and a bit of spicy V8 thrown in because I hate tomatoes so I won't juice them, but they are 'ok' (tolerable) in V8. I also REALLY like cucumber celery juice with a smidge of salt. Adding salt to any veggie based juice is going to up it's 'salad' flavor. ;) Also, joey is juicing mostly fruit early and then eating raw veggies at night for dinner this way he's not eating a ton of sugar and skimping on veggies. He just hates them juiced. 5.

Well, today was the easiest day I've had so far. Hunger is becoming a non-issue, no headaches or fatigue at all, not even a little. My shoulders hurt less than they have recently, which is good. Was having a bit of a fibro flare for a week or so there. Joey is doing well too. So as of this morning I weighed 221, down 7 lbs in 5 days. Joey is down 8 lbs. Go us! Now that I'm through the worst of it I might stop blogging daily about it and only blog if things of note happen while fasting. I am going to post some tips tomorrow though, so for anyone interested in juice fasting keep an eye out and be sure to click 'follow' over there on the right. Although I am not pining for food, I do miss the actual act of cooking, although I don't miss the act of doing dishes. ;)

So I noticed that a lot of my traffic sources are coming from google and people searching specifically for 'beyond willpower blog' or 'beyondwillpower blogspot' If you guys are returning readers and having trouble keeping up/finding my blog, you can always subscribe either by email or by 'following' the page. Just click the 'following' tab or add your email to the subscription box on the right hand side here. Thanks for reading!

Well, today was another good day. I must say it was my hungriest day, but I didn't drink much because I was out most of the day and didn't have time to juice a batch before I left. It was kind of last minute. I have decided my fave veggie juice is the 'everything but the kitchen sink' recipe from the complete book of juicing. broccoli, carrots, celery, red pepper (instead of green that they ask for), apple and cucumber. I also add a little spicy V8 to it for a little tomatoeyness. :D I was pretty proud of myself for being out where there was pizza and chips and not feeling the need to 'control myself' because it was pretty easy. The pizza part, because I'm gluten free, there is just NO WAY I'm willing to put my body through that no matter how hungry I may be. well, I've lost 7 lbs now, I'm hoping to be down to 220 in the morning. :D TWOTEENS HERE I COME! :)

I must say today was the most difficult day, and it was barely difficult. I'm having tomato sauce cravings, I must be missing some tomatoey nutrient so I'm adding some v8 to my juice (I hate tomatoes, and I know v8 is tomatoes but it seems less gross. Although still a bit gross. ;) Anyhow, twice today I felt super nauseous and sick and tired and both times it hit seemingly out of the blue. It didn't exactly build up to crazy nausea, it just WAS. I had gone too long without drinking my juice twice, I'm trying to juice 5 times a day, it seems if I do less or spread it out too far I feel like crap. I did take a 30 min nap today, which I hadn't needed to nap the last two days but I was just physically unable to keep my eyes open. I feel like I just need to keep on top of staying within proper nutritional ranges, which means 5 juices, and plenty of veggie juice at night, mostly fruit earlier in the day (don't want to sleep on a bunch of sugar.) My progress so

Well, day 2 was actually easy. I was shocked. I had a juice for breakfast, all fruit, then a fruit/veggie for lunch and then a fruit/veggie for a snack, came home from work/movie date with a friend and had a mostly veggie juice, then for dinner had a smoothie. I was a bit hungry so I mixed fruit juice with a frozen banana and added some ground flax meal. Now I feel fine. So far no headaches or fatigue, I'm thinking it's because I already eat pretty healthy so I'm not really having horrible detox effects.  We shall see how tomorrow goes. Joey seems to be doing fine. his caffeine withdrawal headache is gone so that's a plus, but he does feel kind of crappy overall. Hopefully in a day or two he'll start feeling better. I'm also taking a high potency multi and lots of vitamin c, as this juicing book I have recommended, and also my usual b12. I feel good. :)

Well, today was the first day of our juice fast. Bf is having caffeine withdrawals. I'm fine so far, I've had a little hunger, but nothing I can't handle. Some juices I've tried: pomegranate cranberry strawberry, orange, banana smoothie cucumber watermellon celery with a touch of salt We went grocery shopping early this afternoon, we spent about 100$ on fruits and veggies and got an entire grocery cart full! We're hoping to do this for 10 days, if it goes well we will stretch it out a bit. I don't have a headache yet and I feel okay, I'm actually pretty surprised at how good I feel. I imagine tomorrow might be a touch worse, but maybe my detox won't be too bad since I already eat very healthy as it is. It's not like I'm detoxing from mcdonalds. :P I hope this kick-starts my weight loss which has been stuck for soooooo long. I am ready for bed!

So, bf and I are going to do a (hopefully) 10 day juice fast. I'll be posting here my experiences throughout each day. We are on our way to buy fruit now. If he will ever wake up. Fat, sick and nearly dead was so inspiring! My IBS is bothering me, I'm hoping that this helps. I have a breville  (<<<review!) and can't wait to get the day going. Will write more later!