My 3/4 Vegan March challenge

I’ve let my weight creep up a bit lately. I got down to 75kg but I’m now hovering around 79kg. This is a far cry from the 127kg I was a few years ago but it’s still on the borderline of overweight/obese according to the BMI indicator. I’m going to try a 3/4 vegan diet for March. I’ve done a vegetarian diet for a few weeks before as a challenge and I’m been meaning to try this one out for a while.

The challenge: for the month of March, I will pick vegan for 3/4 of my meals.

Dietary requirements

Because of the stomach restrictions (I have 1/3 of a stomach) my main dietary requirements are to get to 60 grams of protein a day and have a daily multi vitamin. I should probably try to avoid going over 6000kj too but I’m not going to focus on counting calories. I’m not going to beat myself up if I have a few days over this.

Rough Food Plan

Breakfast

• True protein shake – 30 gm of protein
• 1/2 English muffin with avocado and cherry tomatoes

Technically the protein shake isn’t vegan, it is from whey but this is one of the few compromises I’ll make to help me reach my nutritional goals. True protein sources their milk from happy grass fed cows in New Zealand. You should try out their sample flavour packs. I’ve got 2 flavours floating around; vanilla and coconut. I’ll probably alternate these so I’m not getting bored.

Lunch

Some sort of bean or lentil curry (20 grams of protein). I’ve been rocking my lentil curries recently. I could totally do these as meal prep on the Sunday and take them into work during the week.

Afternoon

Home made hummus and carrot sticks (10 grams of protein). I’ve been munchin on this awesome combo lately. Again I need to do meal prep on the Sunday or day before for this but it’s super tasty.

Dinner

Some sort of salad or soup. Edamame could be fun. Mushy peas is also a nice easy staple when I’m cooking for just myself and my tiny stomach. up to 10 grams of protein (it’s not really needed for this meal because I should have already have reached my target protein amount).

No Alcohol

I’ve had the best success with my weight loss when I’ve had a dry month or two. March will be no exception for me. I will allow myself tasters because there are too many craft beers in Sydney to not try but I won’t have a whole one myself. I might be able to stretch a whiskey on the rocks if a special occasion comes up.

Meetup events

There’s always beer and pizza at meetup events, and I now get paid to attend them – le sigh. This creates a huge temptation to each too much, drink too much and stay out too late at the pub afterwards. This challenge will help my avoid those unhealthy situations.

Friday evening steak

I go over to my partner’s place every friday and we usually enjoy a nice home cooked meal. I don’t feel inclined to force veganism on them so I’ll make sure we have some really nice grass fed sustainable beef to eat instead. This will make sure my iron levels don’t drop too. This is where the 3/4 vegan challenge comes in, there will be some compromises.

If someone else cooks for me

I will be grateful for the food no matter what it is. If they ask for my preferences I may say vegetarian or that I’m trying a vegan challenge at the moment but I won’t be asking anyone to accommodate this.

Any tips?

Have you tried a vegan challenge before? What worked/didn’t work for you? Do you have any ideas for quick solo meals that work for a tiny stomach? I’d love to hear them.