As week 2 of my vegan slow-carb diet comes to a close, I would like to remark upon a couple of discoveries I’ve made:
My Monday weigh-in will likely bear this out, but based on my casual (read “OCD”) morning and evening weigh-ins, I don’t seem to be gaining weight even though I’m consuming a lot more nuts, seeds and oils than what I normally allow myself (normally I stick to a low-fat, high-carb diet). As I recall from The Four-Hour Body (I’ve already returned the ebook to the library), the diet is intended to accelerate weight loss through ketosis – that is, attacking your fat stores to fuel you when carbs are scarce. This is essentially a low-carb diet with beans as a stand-in to provide “caloric load” and help keep you from feeling hungry and miserable. Which brings me to my next point:
I haven’t felt hungry and miserable at all since I started! One reason is that I’ve been chomping on peanuts and enjoying things like carrot sticks and hummus that Cousin Tim (OK, not my cousin, but we’re about the same age) discourages in the book. I am vegan, after all, and what good vegan doesn’t live and die by the chickpea?
The third “discovery” is really a qualification of the second: I feel fine at rest. Actually, I feel fine when I’m running, too, but I’ve been shocked this week by how much my easy running pace has slowed down. Before FATS, I was regularly running right around 8:30 miles, hills and all. Over the last two weeks, I’ve averaged more like 9:00 or 9:15 on all my runs! Not that speed really matters for either of my next two races, but it’s still a bit deflating when you’re used to running faster. 9:00 isn’t that bad, but for me that’s more of a coming-back-from-injury pace. I’m honestly sort of dreading finding out what kind of toll the relative lack of carbs will take when I start ramping up the miles on my Saturday runs later this month to get ready for One Epic Run. Since I won’t really be able to carb load the night before, it might be a good idea to plan on taking extra Gu.
FRIDAY
Exercise: 5 sets of 30 burpees + :30 side planks
Breakfast: Pinto beans, kale and tofu scramble. The red cabbage yesterday morning was all right, but kale just makes me happy!
Mid-morning: Finished off the peanuts in my desk drawer with two mugs of Matcha tea
Lunch: A big helping of red cabbage (cooked with apple cider vinegar and ground cloves) and a big helping of pintos with salt, cinnamon and cayenne topped with guac
Mid-afternoon: Nearly tore my hair out at one point when I was working on something kinda complicated, felt the hamsters spinning in their cage and I really wanted to graze on something (like the Kashi bars that were up for grabs in our breakroom today…But I was strong and rode it out with some mint tea.
Dinner: A few carrot sticks with hummus while dinner brewed in its cauldron, and then spinach and romaine salad with the lentil and carrot stew pictured here.
SATURDAY
Exercise: Easy 13-mile run through Forest Acres. It was noticeably cooler out with a calm breeze. I like to think that this, along with some degree of acclimation to the diet, made a more normal (8:38/mile) pace possible.
Breakfast: Pineapple smoothie, tea with sugar (not stevia) and pancakes!
Lunch: All 6 of the banana muffins pictured here!
Dinner: A spinach salad topped with warmed leftover lentils and carrots (despite a major sweet tooth, I needed something salty) followed by two bags of Boy Scouts Kettle Corn and another pineapple smoothie.
It’s been a quiet weekend, mostly spent working on some freelance writing gigs when not stuffing my face. I have a bad habit of stress-eating, but the cheat day meant that I was able to indulge while I worked. From now through Friday, it’ll have to be peanuts while I’m busy spinning words in the mental loom…
plantpoweredrunning.blog 