My new fast food go-to. Chicken soup with extra chicken, no tortillas, cheese, guac and pico on the side. Sooooo good.

seeking minimalism
My new fast food go-to. Chicken soup with extra chicken, no tortillas, cheese, guac and pico on the side. Sooooo good.
I had an indiscretion with some Atkins bars earlier today and my blood sugar shot up 60 points and has been slow to come down. I skipped dinner to try to make up for it, but haven’t been able to sleep for all the stomach growling. I finally made myself a ham/cheese omelet. And now I’m even more wide awake. *sigh*
This mug is huge so it takes two teabags. New theater adventures starting tomorrow…resting and trying to kick the last of the nasty cold I’ve had!! #dreambig #neverstopdreaming #youmaysayimadreamer #butimnottheonlyone #vegan #stopanimalcruelty #stopanimalabuse #endanimalcruelty #endanimalabuse #stoptheviolence #stopthesuffering #endthestigma #veganmama #govegan #phxvegan #animalrights
Focusing on adding fiber and reducing bad oils, hoping to help break this weight loss stall!!! #vegan #govegan #veganbreakfast #veganmom #veganmama #almondmilk #cereal #fiber #fiberone #weightlossjourney #weightloss
#diet #dietcoke #neededatreat #caloriefree #bloodorange
#vegan #veganfood #veganlife #vegansnack #vegansnacks #strawberry #strawberries
Lol. #train #iheartqueencreek #queencreek #az #phx #veganmama
#kefir #waterkefir #kevita #probiotics #kevitadrinks #veganmama
#poodlesofinstagram #poodle #poodles #minipoodle #miniaturepoodle #heartdog
Couponing often seems to be geared toward for people with few to no dietary restrictions, right? Been feeling left out eating a plant-based diet?
Much of what we buy today is much more stable and longer lasting. The “faux” meats come frozen, or if refrigerated, they’re good for 3-4 months after purchase. Tofu, vegan cheeses and plant-based milks have long shelf lives in the fridge and all the dried legumes, nuts, seeds and grains we’re eating are good for what seems like practically eons if stored properly. The only potentially problematic area still is produce, but we eat so much more of it eating plant-based, that we hardly ever toss anything these days. In fact, since we began feeding our dogs a more plant-based diet, we’ve realized they often will happily take some less-than-perfect produce off our hands, and same with our pet rats! So, in a way, you do have an edge if you’re plant-based or vegan! Your food will last longer, so stocking up is less risky, and you can eat more of what you buy before it goes bad!
Truth, you’re not going to find tons of coupons for vegan or vegetarian items in the circulars. It might not even be worth getting them and going through them weekly, unless you just enjoy it. But particularly if you use only cruelty-free products, there isn’t going to be a lot for you. If that’s not your thing, there are lots of coupons for personal care items. If you combine sales and coupons, you can save a LOT.
(1) Coupons!
I prefer to use a coupon clipping service, where you pay a small fee for the act of clipping coupons and mailing them to you. My favorite is The Coupon Clippers (affiliate link) but there are others as well. This way, about once a month, I visit and grab any coupons I’ll actually use, and they show up in the mail about a week later. Keep an eye on expiration dates and other details, so you won’t pay for coupons you cannot use! You can also find coupons on Ebay and Craiglist, and check your local Facebook groups for people who will sell you JUST the circulars. You can get multiple copies inexpensively and share the coupons you don’t use with friends or family.
(2) More coupons and deals!!
Get in touch with the companies who make the products you use and love. It may be a matter of filling out a contact form, or composing and sending an e-mail, but most companies I’ve contacted have sent me anywhere from $1 to $6 in coupons in the mail! Totally worth it! Feel free to copy and paste my list of links to get started! Keep track and please don’t contact the companies more than 1-2x per year…we don’t want to overwhelm them and discourage them from sending coupons in the future! While you’re checking out those websites, check for printable coupons as well on the websites and/or the companies’ social media pages! Many companies have coupons online, free for the printing. They change them semi-regularly, so it’s always a good idea to check back a few times a year! Also, check Groupon and other deal sites for deals at vegetarian/vegan restaurants in your area. Or conventional restaurants with vegan options. You can often save up to 60% or so…great way to get yourself a treat or have a datenight without taking too much funds away from the grocery budget.
Amy’s – https://www.amys.com/contact-us
Back to Nature – http://www.backtonaturefoods.com
Banza – https://www.eatbanza.com/pages/contact-us
Beanitos – http://www.beanitos.com/#contact
Better Bean – https://betterbeanco.com/connect/
Blue Diamond – https://www.bluediamond.com/contact
Bobo’s – http://eatbobos.com/contact-us/
Bragg’s – http://bragg.com/contact/contact.php
Crofter Organic – http://croftersorganic.com/ContactUs.php
Daiya – https://daiyafoods.com/find-us/contact/
Dr. Praeger’s – https://drpraegers.com/contact/
Dream – http://www.dreamplantbased.com/contact-us/
Earth Balance – https://earthbalancenatural.com/con…
Earthbound Farm – http://www.earthboundfarm.com/conta…
Enjoy Life – https://enjoylifefoods.com/contact-us/
Explore Cuisine – http://www.explorecuisine.com/en/about-us/contact-us.html
Farm Wise – https://eatveggiefries.com/contact-us/
Field Roast – https://fieldroast.com/contact/
Follow Your Heart – https://followyourheart.com/contact-us/
Gardein – https://gardein.com/contact-us/
Go Veggie – http://www.goveggiefoods.com/about-us/contact/
Good Karma – http://goodkarmafoods.com/contact-us/
Hilary’s – https://www.hilaryseatwell.com/about-us/#contact
Hope – https://hopefoods.com/contact/
Justin’s – http://support.justins.com/
Lightlife – http://lightlife.com/consumer-inquiry
Mamma Chia – http://www.mammachia.com/contact/
Melt Organic – http://www.meltorganic.com/contact-us/
Naked Juice – https://cu.pepsico.com/nakedjuice
Nasoya – http://www.nasoya.com/contact-us/
Nissin – http://nissinfoods.com/contact
Quorn – https://www.quorn.us/contact
Ripple – https://www.ripplefoods.com/contact…
Sabra – http://sabra.com/contactus.html
Silk – https://silk.com/contact-us
Smart Balance – http://pinnaclefoods.com/index.php/…
So Delicious – http://sodeliciousdairyfree.com/contact-us
Sweet Earth – zenfarmer@sweetearthfoods.com
Tasty Bite – http://tastybite.com/contact-us/
Texas Pete – https://www.texaspete.com/contact/
Tofurky – http://www.tofurky.com/contact/
Tofutti – http://www.tofutti.com/about-us/con…
Yves Veggie – http://www.yvesveggie.com/en/contac…
Zen – http://zensoy.com/contact-us/
(3) Sign up for rebates and bonuses!
Ibotta and BerryCart are my favorites (affiliate links). Ibotta has a $10 bonus just for getting started and I saved $5 on my very first receipt, by buying Ripple milk, which my family LOVES and I buy ALL THE TIME! On my second receipt, I saved $6 on a $20 receipt. They often have Daiya, Gardein, Go Veggie and other awesome brands on their program. Getting started seems a little daunting, but it’s easy once you jump in.
(4) Tar-jay
If you live near a Super Target or one with a good grocery selection, get yourself a RedCard debit card (credit is the evil!) and sign up for Cartwheel. 5% off for using RedCard AND you can get deals with Cartwheel. Gardein was 25% off for the better part of a month!! I had some $1 off coupons so I ended up getting a lot of Gardein products for $2-2.50. Such a deal!
(5) Sign up for store and restaurant discount cards and app programs.
Sprout’s has one, Natural Grocers has one….I think most of the major grocery chains have them. Often they have huge sales where you save $1 extra per item by buying in increments of four, etc. Lots of the stores have mobile coupons associated with their savings clubs. I’ve found a lot of the items I buy will be on these programs and it can lead to significant savings, especially as plant-based diets become more main-stream. Red Robin, for example, has a program and I’ve earned several free burgers (they have a yummy veggie patty) over time.
(6) Avoid processed/pre-packaged vegan foods and/or use them sparingly.
This is a biggie!! The more you spend on processed vegan foods, the more eating a vegan diet will cost. It’s kind of the opposite of eating the conventional “Standard American Diet.” Vegan cheese, cream cheese, ice cream, plant milks, yogurt and sour cream tend to cost about up to double (or more!) their conventional counterparts. If you were an omnivore who bought organic when possible, that gap is closed quite a bit. I find that meat substitutes usually are less expensive or at least comparable to their meaty counterparts but you need to remember that you don’t need to buy as much, since they are lower in fat and thus more nutrient-dense. If you usually used three pounds of ground beef in your tater tot casserole, and you want to replace that with three pounds of Beyond Meat crumbles, you’re not going to be happy with the cost. The good news is that I find that everyone I’ve spoken with who has recently began eating a plant-based diet has noticed they are satisfied with less “meat” and less “dairy.” I often would use 16oz of shredded cheese (or even more!) in a casserole, mexican dish or lasagna. Vegan alternatives taste great and for some reason, are more filling yet leave you feeling less “heavy” after eating. The addiction-inducing casein in cheese, for example, is gone, so you likely won’t find yourself wanting to dump a pound of cheese on your mexican dinner. As far as plant milks and ice creams go, they do indeed cost more per ounce, but again…now that we’re no longer “addicted” to milk, we are satisfied with far less. Of course if your really want to save $$, just eat plants!
This package of 10 slices of cheese was purchased on sale for $2.50 and lasted for 10 faux-bologna sandwiches. Not too shabby!
(7) Get back to basics.
Those expensive vegan cheeses, cream cheeses, sour creams, ice creams and cream soups that you can buy? Pretty much ALL of this can be homemade ~ and easily! You don’t need a Vitamix or an expensive blender to do it (though they are nice to have) and it isn’t as difficult or time-consuming as you might think. Here are two words that will change you life ~ dried beans! Yes, I’m serious. They are as little as 1/10th the cost of prepared canned beans, and you control the amount of salt and doneness. Super-easy in a slow cooker (grab a new one for $10-15 during the holidays, or even less at a thrift shop if you’re on a tight budget) and even easier if you have a pressure cooker. Electric pressure cookers often cost as little as $60 during the holidays and during sales and are life-changing. If you own neither, a pot on the stove works too! Same for grains like rice and quinoa…don’t buy the frozen or shelf-stable premade ones…a waste of money. If you are tight on time, cook beans and grains in quantity once every few weeks and refrigerate or freeze, and you’re set. I cook beans, rice and quinoa a couple times a month and then I have small containers (two for $1 at the Dollar Tree) ready for meals all week. Lastly, buy your grains, legumes, nuts and seeds from the bulk bins and you’ll save even more!!
Hope these seven ideas for saving money on vegan food is helpful! Feel free to add tips, ideas, comments and questions!!
I hit 205 about a week ago but then I gave into temptation and ate way too much Halloween candy. Two much of it is vegan, I tell you! I got back up to 207/208 and came down about a pound every-other-day, so now I’m 205 again. A week isn’t bad, right? In the past I would have let the binging/gaining throw me off course but I’m stronger than that, and I knew I could get back on track and in the grand scheme of things, a week is nothing, right?
I’ve actually been pretty bad having discovered yummy vegan brownies at a local bakery and I’ve been eating 1-2 of them a day for the past several days. Oooooops. I had two for breakfast today and have now sworn off baked goods until Thanksgiving Day! It’s not that far off…I know I can do it. Plus fruit tastes so much better when I’m not eating sugar and I’ve been missing fruit!!
PayPal handed down its decision that she DOES have to send the dolls back to me at her expense, so I will be getting the TWO dolls she claims arrived back. I am hoping beyond hope that she packs them as well as I had, and that she has a non-smoking and clean home, etc. because dolls with odors don’t sell well. I have to absorb the value of the missing doll and the $20 I contributed to her shipping, plus PayPal’s fees. It leaves me out almost $100 with no help from PayPal what-so-ever. When I finally got a real person on the phone, I was told that their buyer experience is paramount and that they don’t offer any sort of seller protection in cases where the buyer claims “not as described” even though the dolls that made it there clearly are as described and USPS was at fault for the damaged box. Moral of the story…require insurance and pay out of pocket for it if the buyer refuses to pay for it!!
My account was in a negative status after they put the buyer’s payment on hold, so I transferred in the $181 to cover it. Now I’m back at zero but PayPal won’t let me use PayPal shipping or pay for any transactions without adding funds to my account via bank transfer, even though I’m still set up for instant transfers via my two debit cards. I was told on the phone that there were no account restrictions and that there would be no punitive actions against me, other than having to accept a return that will be short about $80 in value.
I am starting to feel even more distrusting of PayPal, so I tried to delete my debit cards and checking accounts and the system would only let me delete two of the four.
I will no longer be using a PayPal account and will be closing my account as soon as I receive the returned dolls in satisfactory condition. It’s interesting to note that is IS possible to purchase things using PayPal checkout without creating an account, and that’s what we will do from now on, when it’s our only option of paying for an online purchase, as it was with the tickets I recently purchased for our local Thanksliving celebration. It’s still scary to give PayPal any personal information considering the way they conduct themselves, but we will using a low-limit credit card reserved for online purchases and sketchy situations.
by admin 2 Comments
I have been a customer and user of PayPal/Ebay for over 20 years. Over the years, PayPal/Ebay has screwed me over a few times, but I’ve always gone back to using them out of sheer neccesity.
After this latest incident, I am 100% FINISHED.
On October 1, I sold three American Girl dolls and a doll wig to a buyer in Hawaii. We discussed shipping cost and the buyer expressed that she needed the cheapest shipping and did not care about the speed. That ended up being Parcel Select. The price was still nearly $40, and I just wanted the dolls out of my craft room, so I offered to split the cost. I packed up the dolls and the wig in a good box (a moving box, book-sized, which are sturdy and reinforced for heavy books) and shipped them. Each doll was wrapped in several feet of bubble wrap, which was held closed with tape. And I used about 60 pieces of tissue paper for padding so nothing in the box would move during shipping.
Somewhere along the line, something went wrong on USPS’ end, and the tracking movement stopped after 7 days. At that point the dolls should have already made it to their destination, but they were delayed somewhere. They began movement again 13 days later and arrived at their destination within another day.
During this time, the seller had contacted me, worried, and since the last tracking update was in her state and not mine, I advised her to contact USPS and to please let me know what happened. She said she was told there was no record of the shipment. We decided to give it more time and I was quite relieved when I started receiving tracking updates again! The box finally arrived on October 25th.
The seller claimed that the box arrived but was damaged and one of the dolls was missing. USPS did not label the damage on the box, which they usually would…and she seemed unwilling to speak to USPS about it. She sent me pictures of the partially crushed box and there was a gash in the side, but it didn’t appear large enough for a bubble-wrapped doll to just slip through. Plus, the wig, which was packaged in a quart sized ziplock bag, flat, managed not to escape the box, so I was a bit concerned that maybe she was trying to scam me.
She asked me if I had insured it, and I reminded her that she asked for the cheapest shipping and did not request insurance. (Tip…any time you are shipping something to an online buyer without insurance, make sure you put “Insurance Declined” in the description, so that you are protected if they don’t request it, or they decline it. Hindsight…be more specific in spelling out that you aren’t liable if they decline insurance.) She didn’t ask me to refund or partially refund her, she didn’t ask me if there was any resolution I would offer. I would have advised her to contact PayPal and see if they could help compensate her for the missing item, and I know from experience that sometimes they will, without involving the seller as though they seller had any wrongdoing.
The following morning, I awoke to an “item not received” complaint and my PayPal account in a $181 negative balance. I immediately responded to the complaint and escalated to a claim, and submitted my proof that the items were delivered, and stated that it was out of my control if after shipping in good faith, USPS delays and damages the package. My PayPal account status soon after stated that PayPal had ruled in my favor and that the dispute was CLOSED.
Within five minutes, I had won the dispute and moved on with my life. Or so I thought.
A few days later, PayPal allowed the seller to not only file an appeal, but to CHANGE her claim from “items not received” to “items significantly not as described.” Again, they removed $181 from my account. Incidentally, I had a $100 payment come in around the same time my account went into a negative unexpectedly, so they just held onto that money as well…and my account is now negative $81. I also cannot print a shipping label for another item I sold on PayPal late last week without paying back the negative balance. This put a HUGE financial strain on me, as it’s the end of the month and my personal account doesn’t have much $ in it. I was counting on being able to transfer that incoming $100 payment to my bank account and now I can’t.
The buyer now claims that she ordered a trio or dolls and I only sent two, so this is why the “lot” she purchased was “significantly not as described.” She also notes that even if I did included all three dolls and USPS caused the damage to the box that allowed one to become lost, that I should refund her and take the issue up with USPS myself because I didn’t insure the package. I have no proof she did not want insurance, since the Facebook message where we discussed it will not load for me, so she has the upper hand there. She also said that I should owe her a refund because shipping took so long, and that I had told her I would ship Priority and not Parcel Select. Again, I don’t have proof because I cannot load the Facebook discussion.
Moral of the story…get and keep everything in writing. Put every detail into the invoice before sending it, so when the buyer pays the invoice, they’ve esssentially agreed to all the details. I was in a hurry and did not specify shipping method or that she did not request insurance; I only put that I was selling her three dolls and a wig. My husband says that I should automatically insure all packages at my own cost, but I haven’t done this. It never made sense to me since often the things I sell this way are already steeply discounted and the last thing I want to do after having to pay PayPal fees is to spend $5-10 on insurance that the buyer claims they don’t need.
Of course she can’t prove that all three dolls did NOT arrive (and I’m not sure I believe her that one is lost!)…but PayPal is still letting her have the advantage here, particularly since they have stated that this new decision will be FINAL and neither party can appeal. I have to admit I’m quite livid that she had the opportunity to appeal AND change her claim, but if I lose, I won’t be able to appeal.
I also was not able to submit my explanation of why I disagree with her claim (PayPal.com timed out and the option to submit an explanation disappeared upon reloading it) and when I call PayPal, I simply get a recording that they will let me know their decision within 30 days. I haven’t been able to figure out how to talk to a real person about the fact that I cannot submit my explanation (I did submit one in .jpg form with my other documentation, but I have no idea if anyone will actually read it!) or about they fact that they really shouldn’t be removing money from my account until AFTER they’ve proved I have done something wrong ~ remember, tracking shows this package delivered.
I have an excellent history selling through my PayPal account and linked Ebay account, so it’s easily clear to see that I am not in the habit of defrauding buyers and not sending everything they purchased.
PayPal is offering all their protection to the buyer, and ZERO to me as a seller. This has left me stressed and worried for days about my bank balance and how I will pay for other things when I have had $181 removed from my account unfairly and they are holding the incoming $100 I received hostage and I may or may not ever see it. I am ALSO out the $20 I paid torward her shipping PLUS the three dolls and wig I sold.I have proof I shipped, I have proof the box was delivered. There is photo proof (submitted the photos the buyer sent me) that the box was damaged.
(photo sent to me by buyer)
First things first, if you aren’t sure you are ready to give up meat, eggs and dairy, watching a few more documentaries will probably help. I find that once people truly know the source of animal products, and how they’re handled, it’s not difficult to give those things up. Even if you don’t give a damn about animal cruelty or global warning, the health implications of consuming animal products are a good motivator. But the gross factor is there too. Meat, eggs and dairy are produced on such a large scale today in the US and Europe, that sanitation can’t be maintained and bacteria, antibiotics, hormones and blood products, etc. abound. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817683/)
I’m a true believer that every person should TRULY UNDERSTAND where their food comes from, how it’s handled and processed and the true effects of how CAFO and other large scale meat/egg/dairy producing organizations handle their business from start to finish.
I was vegetarian for years and was firmly convinced I would have weak bones without dairy (https://nutritionfacts.org/2017/01/31/why-is-milk-consumption-associated-with-more-bone-fractures/) and wouldn’t get enough protein or iron without eggs. (http://www.vegetarian-nation.com/resources/common-questions/vegetarian-vegan-sources-protein-calcium-iron/) Wow, was I fooled!
I often would go back to eating meat (mostly chicken and fish as I’ve never cared much for beef and pork) because of some ailment that someone would claim was lingering because I wasn’t eating meat.
Then there were those years I power-ate grassfed meat and dairy and fat and forced myself to forgo most carbs (including all fruits and most veggies) in order to be “keto” (20 grams of carbs or less per day) to try and reverse the effects of type 2 diabetes, which came on after my fourth pregnancy and years of PCOS and insulin resistance.
Did keto reverse my health problems? No. I actually saw them worsen. I was on blood pressure medication for 10 years and needed higher doses on keto. I lost and gained the same weight over and over. I felt terrible. Even when blood tests showed I was in ketosis, I wasn’t seeing the benefits so many touted. I craved fruits and veggies and experienced blood sugar swings all the time. I saw my A1C rise to 12.5 over a 5 year period. I was on insulin for a short time and gained another 40# that took 6 months to lose. I developed thyroid nodules and often issues with my thyroid function. I was still on oral diabetes meds (metformin, which I don’t tolerate well, and glimepiride) with that A1C of 12.5.
I saw my doctor in August of 2017 right around my 44th birthday and agreed to two new diabetes meds – Tanzeum and Jardiance (the lower of two suggested doses). Tanzeum comes with a high risk of thryoid cancer and really isn’t supposed to be taken by people with thyroid nodules (me) or a family history of thyroid cancer (my paternal half sister and paternal uncle). That drug seemed to help the most out of the two, but I developed worrisome site reactions after my 3rd and 4th weekly injections. I figured the universe was trying to tell me, that wasn’t the drug for me. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but decided I should probably go on a higher dose of Jardiance, which I was tolerating well.
I was up late one night, unable to sleep due to Tanzeum-induced severe reflux, and stumbled across What the Health on Netflix. I had been avoiding watching it, or Cowspiracy, and all the other more-recent documentaries because I knew if I watched them, I’d feel compelled to become vegan. And I didn’t really want to not be “allowed” to eat a “normal” diet. Not that keto is normal, but it’s more accepted than vegan lately! And I was tired of eating a special diet…keto, paleo, primal, gluten-free…I’d been on one of them for the better part of the past six years! And I’ll be honest…I loved cheese with a passion and enjoyed a big greasy burger or filet mignon occasionally. And crab legs. Yum. But, I digress…something compelled me to watch.
I thought I was aware of what goes in on CAFOs (I was a PETA member for years in my teens/20’s and I’ve since joined again) but I still believed that free-range, organic eggs and dairy, and organic grass-fed or free-range meats, were handled differently. I also was told all my life (I’m of Jewish descent) that kosher meats are raised and slaughtered humanely, and that no “gross” parts went into them. I wondered why my Hebrew National hot dogs had as much gistle and bone in them as other brands, but you know…they were kosher, so it was ok? Certainly my people wouldn’t be inhumane to animals (WRONG!).
It was not difficult to go to bed Keto (though choking down very little meat at this point) one night and get out of bed Vegan the next morning. I felt a little silly telling my husband that I was giving up meat, eggs and dairy and that I wanted the family to follow my new eating habits, because I can barely stay on top of groceries and cooking for one style of eating…and I knew I couldn’t handle doing both. I also was so sick of handling meat (and usually not eating what I made because I was so disgusted) and I was just done. I couldn’t do it anymore. It’d been in me since I was a small child and I was tired of supressing it out of fear.
I understand that switching or transitioning might be more difficult for someone who didn’t start with an aversion to most animal products. It was not hard for my younger kids, who both had always felt eggs are gross. They were fine switching from scrambled eggs to a good tofu scramble. Giving up eggs in baked goods and cookies was harder. Giving up meat was a no-brainer for my youngest son, who had proclaimed himself veggie for years, but he missed dairy milk and cheese. My carnivorous daughter was reticent to give up meat and dairy, but I asked her for two weeks to see if it helped her Crohn’s break-through symptoms that she usually had regularly and she agreed. She used to take Immodium 2-3 times weekly to manage it. It’s been 8 weeks and she hasn’t had even one bout of diarrhea or constipation, which were usually daily battles for her ~ and she has taken zero Immodium! After a couple weeks of no tummy pain, less bloating and some weightloss (both kids were moderatly overweight despite eating a predominently “healthy” diet) she was sold on the idea.
My supportive husband said he’d gladly eat what I serve at home, but that he wasn’t ready to commit to remaining vegan while not at home. I said I’m 100% fine with that…it makes me feel good that the majority of our food dollars no longer support animal agriculture. He also often WILL choose plant-based options while dining out, particulrly if we are together. A bonus is that he’s loved basically everything I’ve cooked, and he’s noticed that even with some of the plant-based milk and cheese being priced, we’re spending a LOT less on groceries and have almost eliminated dining out for convenience or lack of planning (it’s easier to eat at home unless it’s a planned occasion). He also has lost 13 pounds and a total of 9 inches without limiting what he eats. He’s pretty pleased. He’s also noticed improvements in inflammation and mental acuity.
I myself have IBS and would deal with attacks 3-4 times a week or more…often related to something I ate or some stressful experience (hey, I’m easily stressed!). I have only had three attacks in 8 weeks. I have lost over 20 pounds and finally broke a plateau I hadn’t been able to surpass in over 18 years! I’ve gone down 2-3 sizes and can now buy clothes in the misses department and am not stuck in the plus size department! I still have 25-35 pounds to lose but I feel confident I can do it! I feel better, my psoriatic arthritis flares less and my blood sugar is steadily improving. It’s not overnight, but I think healing insulin resistance takes time and I’m ready to give it a year or two.
I also had to stop taking my blood pressure med…even at the lowest possible dose, my blood pressure was dropping too low upon standing up from lying down or squatting (which I do a lot of in the garden or while cleaning…the squatting). My resting heartrate has dropped from around 115 to 80-90. Still faster than a lot of people, but slower for me!
I hate the idea of pushy, judgemental vegans…but I feel so called to share my story. So here I am…I’m 44 and lighter and feeling better than I have in years, just over 8 weeks into a completely vegan lifesyle.
I have a slew of size 18/20/22 stretchy mom jeans and shorts, from Just My Size. They’ve basically been my wardrobe staple for years and years. I had a few size 16 but they fit for about a minute in 2011 and I could never get into them again (skin tight) and I let them go about year ago. Kicking myself for that. But I think it’s time to let all those baggy pants, that are falling off of me and have no belt loops. I’m tempted to try them all on and maybe keep the smallest one or two (“petite” length are smaller all over and I have a couple) but I think it’s probably time to just let them go. Because they have no belt loops so I can’t use a belt to keep them up, and I feel like wearing totally loose clothing all the time makes it easy to fill said clothing back up through overeating.
Sayonara, pants. (I’ve already said this to most of my over-sized shirts.)
207. Wooooo hoooo!
I bought two pair of size 18 jeans the other day. With buttons!!!! The 16’s actually fit, but were a little snug in the calves (I have huge calf muscles) and I was afraid they’d shrink and make me feel like I couldn’t breathe, so I sized up so I could wash/dry on medium or high without worry. I only bought two because I hope they won’t fit long!!
60# from my all-time high of 267. I’m seeing my doc tomorrow for a follow up. I was 227 last time I saw her (in mid-August…so only about two months) and I can’t wait to see her face when I walk in wearing clothes that didn’t come from the PLUS sized department!!
I’m getting a new tattoo when I hit 199…I’m hoping I can get there by Thanksgiving!!
I kept going back and forth about Thrive…I do still take the supplement. I’m on the fence as to whether or not I’ll continue long-term. I guess it depends on what else I find. I usually forget to wear the patches.
I discontinued the shakes again when I became vegan since they are whey-based. I felt good on them when I was vegetarian but I feel even better eating vegan. I use Vega’s Protein and Greens now and LOVE it.