Stir fry, oats and a veggie burger!

Yesterday I managed a workout on the treadmill and it felt good! I wish I could just go running out around where I live, but I feel very self conscious, and there are some mean boys around here. Arfff! But I promise that one day(hopefully in the next few months) I will have the confidence and not care about what others think. Meanwhile, I use the treadmill. Today I didn't get a good workout, but I went for a long walk with my mom, so I'm going to count that;)

On to the good stuff:

I wanted something easy for lunch, so I decided to whip up a "stir fry."


I lightly steamed broccoli, cauliflower, red bell pepper, cabbage, green beans and frozen peas. Meanwhile I cooked tofu(fortified kind), which I had sauteed with Braggs liquid aminos. Later, I added in the veggies, some salt and pepper, and a bit of soy sauce. At the end I added in some leftover quinoa to warm up. It was yummy, simple and nutritious!

I hadn't gotten my oats fix in the morning, so I was craving some oatmeal as a snack in the evening. Therefore, I combined 1/4 cups of oats, stevia, about a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk(40 calories per cup!) and a tablespoon of this awesome stuff:


Check out the stats:

It's low cal, no sugar, has fiber, and a pretty good amount of iron.

So then, I microwaved the oatmeal for two and a half minutes, left it in for a few minutes, and then placed it in the fridge to thicken. Later on I reheated the oatmeal, added banana slices, and a tablespoon of this awesomeness:


Result:

Yuuuuuummmm!!!!

For dinner I had something quite simple as well:


It's a bit of black beans, half a roasted butternut squash, and sauteed garlic cabbage. Also picture is a Moophrey veggie burger(delicious!) with a slice of tomato, and on whole wheat bread. I also added some of Hunt's ketchup, which I use since it has no high fructose corn syrup.

So that was most of what I ate today. Now I'm off to read other blogs:)

PS I also, I thought this was inspiring:

http://www.hercampus.com/life/hc-team-weighs-what-cause-most-important-you

It's nice to read these kinds of things, and I learned of a few new organizations. I hope that I will be able to help animals and children. Right now, I can only help a little bit, but hopefully I will get more involved.

Story Time!

December 4, 2010 is when I first started my lifestyle change, and I have lost over 30 pounds since then. I realized that dieting is not the best solution because that only causes deprivation. I'm only seventeen years old but I have struggled with my weight starting in kindergarten. At age twelve, at over 200 pounds, was when I went on my first diet. I was eating rice cakes and Lean Cuisine and feeling miserable. My diet was crappy and I was getting less than 1000 calories a day as well as exercising. If I went over, I felt very guilty and because of that I picked up some eating disorder tendencies. That didn't last too long and a few months later I was heavier than when I started dieting. At age fifteen I went on a similar diet. I lost nearly 60 pounds in less than four months. But that didn't last and I got back to where I was.
So on December 4, 2010, weighing 235 pounds on my 5'5.5" height, I decided I needed to do something for real. But I didn't want to suffer through crappy frozen dinners and 100 calorie snack packs. Those things aren't healthy at all! So I decided to learn from my past mistakes and change my lifestyle for good. I became a vegetarian on that day and a vegan a few weeks later when I cut out yogurt from my diet. I did it mostly for ethical reasons but also for health. I feel great and I don't personally feel like I'm missing out on anything. Of course I don't think it's necessary to give up meat to be healthy, but I feel like it's the right choice for me, personally.
I'm not afraid of olive oil, avocados, nut butters or carbs in moderation. I try to balance out what I eat and I'm enjoying a wide variety of foods. I now weigh 199 pounds, and I feel like I could go on with my new lifestyle forever. It sounds like common sense but I'm eating in moderation now. All my life I ate too much until I felt ready to explode, or starved myself. It was always all or nothing for me, and I hope to never end up in either way. My only issue is to exercise more regularly.
I guess that's my life history(hehe). If anyone cares to read my blog, it would make me so happy, but I created this blog mainly to document my new lifestyle and write about other things I like as well.