It's a slow and steady climb

Since January 1st two of my goals were to: incorporate a fully veganized diet into my life and lose weight. Becoming fully vegan has been a snap. I'm enjoying the foods I eat and my body is thanking me so much for cutting dairy out of my life. The weight thing on the other hand...

Within the first few weeks of going vegan I shed about 5 pounds. But since the weight has been coming off extremely slow, in incremental baby steps. I'm very much a "make it happen" type of person and always seeking immediate results, so this is certainly a test of my patience.

I can't beat myself up though, and I must attribute all of the lost weight so far to my diet - not activity. Unfortunately I have a really bad back; we're talking wicked bad. I have 3 herniated disks and all three of them are rapidly degenerating. I've been in physical therapy since February and have seen numerous doctors. Although they aren't telling me to just lay down all the time, which was a common treatment 5-10 years ago, I can't just jump on a treadmill or go for a jog. So needless to say, exercising has been extremely limited. I do my PT exercises which are extremely mild but focus on strengthening specific muscle groups so I can better support my back, and occasionally I do some mild exercises on the WiiFit.

I'll be 100% honest with myself though; I could be doing more to shed the pounds. Sometimes, if I get starving at work and don't have a snack with me, I reach for that scone at Starbucks. I also bake weekly, which is needed since I'm running a baking service, but I need to find people to hand off the excess baked goods to so that they aren't laying around our house. Yes, the baked goods are vegan, but that doesn't mean they aren't high in calories or fat.

I jumped on the WiiFit this morning and found that I'm down another 4.6 pounds, bringing me to 15 pounds lost. I'm hoping that if I start getting in the habit of bringing healthy snacks to work, find more taste testers to give my baking loot too, and regain some of my mobility through PT and an injection I'm getting tomorrow, that maybe these pounds will shed a little easier. At the same time though, slow and steady is probably the best way to lose the weight and keep it off! I know that losing the weight will really help with my back, so I will just keep at it!