18 Months a Vegan. Pictures before and after

September 2013

August 2014

    That's me in September 2013 on the left and me August 3, 2015 on the right.  Weight loss is achievable and sustainable.  I didn't have surgery, take a magic pill, join a gym or get hypnotherapy. All I did was spent some time reading about a whole foods plant based way to eat, bought 1(one) cookbook to get some basics, set a date and changed course.       
     It took about 3 months to unlearn what I thought was a healthy diet and accept that everything my body needs can be provided by plants.  I lost 40 lbs in 2 months.  Then I learned about calorie dense, nutrient poor, harmful food like oil. Make no mistake; there is no such thing as healthy oil. Learning to cook without it took less than a minute. No kidding.  The list of alternatives to oil is long and deliciously simple.  I picked vegetable soup stock for cooking and applesauce or bananas for baking. When I cut down on nuts, which are healthy but calorie dense, my weight loss gained momentum.
      After a year I plateaued.  THAT's when I joined a gym and started getting some exercise.  You can't out exercise a bad diet, but you can benefit tremendously from exercise and a healthy diet.  I broke through my plateau and lost an additional 15 lbs.  Now I'm 13 lbs away from my goal of losing an even 100.  Now, in the home stretch, I'm drinking more water.
     I didn't start out with a step by step plan.  There was that 1st step that put me in motion.  The steps that followed were small and simple. I learned by making mistakes, reaching out for guidance and making small changes that led to more small changes.  When you put a lot of small changes together, EVERYTHING changes!

Dr. Kalmus
01Reluctantvegan.blogspot.com