September 10, 2008

Non-scale victories

Yesterday was a major victory for me, for several reasons. I’m up at Cornell to do various recruiting events, and yesterday was the big career fair (today there is a second smaller one just for engineering students). I knew I’d be seeing a lot of people from my past, so like a high school reunion, I wanted to look sharp. I brought my favorite suit to wear… and then I put it on in the morning and found that it was a little baggy! On the one hand I was disappointed that I wouldn’t look super polished, but on the other, I was thrilled that my clothes are starting to fit a bit more loosely 🙂

I had stopped at the health food co-op in town on Monday night, so for breakfast, I had a really nice juicy red pear I had bought. When I got to the career fair, there was a continental breakfast laid out for the recruiters. I wasn’t even tempted by the muffins and danishes and pastries – I just grabbed a small plate of the fruit and was all set. For lunch, I only had a few minutes to duck away from the students (I collected over 300 resumes in 5 hours – craziness), and the buffet happened to include a ton of salad, so I piled that onto my plate, and then later in the afternoon, I had a Raw Revolution organic live food bar (similar to a Larabar, if you know what that is). I picked the green spirulina and cashew flavor, because I’m not afraid of green foods like most of you. Dinner was the true test: I was attending a formal networking dinner, and I had no idea what the food would be like. I lucked out that it was a buffet, but that still meant there was a ton of food sitting right there in front of me that I knew I shouldn’t eat. I piled my plate high with salad, had a few “steamed veggies” (even though I could see that their version of “steamed” meant “steamed and then slathered with oil), and then took one very small piece (about 3 oz – most people were taking two) of broiled salmon. The biggest coup was dessert – there were these delectable-looking pieces of cheesecake, as well as some sort of chocolate mud pie. And no fresh fruit! So I walked right past the dessert table to hit up the coffee station for some yummy Harney’s tea, and promised myself that I would have an apple and a Larabar for dessert when I got back to my hotel. I was so proud of myself, and instead of feeling stressed throughout the dinner about all the crap I was eating, I felt confident and content. It was fantastic! Even though I didn’t get a chance to work out yesterday, and even though I “indulged” on a high calorie Larabar when I got home, I was still just hitting my calories for the day. Awesome!

Several of you have asked where I get my willpower for losing weight, and my big thing now is this pseudo raw vegan diet. I am by no means eating a 100% raw vegan diet. However, the idea that I trying to eat raw vegan means that processed foods like breads, pastas, and pastries are off-limits. It’s just really refreshing to see food like that and not have to wrestle with the decision in my mind of whether or not to try “just a bite.” It’s simple: I’m not having it. Period. What’s great is, I’m getting to the point where I rarely miss stuff like that too!

In other news, did anyone else struggle with doing the hundred pushup challenge every other day? When I woke up this morning, my arms are just now sore from the pushups I did on Monday night. But I need to do my pushups now! Today it doesn’t really matter, but in the future, I want to be on a morning routine so that in the future I never have a chance to miss doing them. I think I might wait until early evening to give my arms at least a little more of a break.

Finally, I just accepted an offer for a new project… in New Jersey. Not the exciting locales I’m usually jetting off to (if you can call the St. Louis airport area exciting), but the partner and senior manager are supposed to be incredible to work with (some of the other analysts with whom I spoke offered such high praise like “the best guy I’ve worked with”), and one of them specializes in exactly the type of marketing work I want to do. This project is supposed to be six months and isn’t marketing, but I think I’ll get a lot of responsibility and it will be a good chance to impress two really influential people while setting myself up for a great next project. So – I’m in. Hopefully there will be a perk of at least getting a rental car? We’ll see!

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17 thoughts on “Non-scale victories”

  1. Way to go! I’ve been reading your blog for a while and your raw vegan thing is very inspiring- I haven’t been doing it half as much as you but it’s made me realize that a bowl of vegetables or fruit is a reasonable meal.
    But I still couldn’t drink a kale smoothie… 🙂

  2. I love everything about this post. I’m so glad you enjoy the benefits of adding more vegan options to your diet… it’s nice to see someone else react positively!

    Good luck on the next business venture!

  3. Good for you. Willpower is hard to come by sometimes for me, but sounds like you’ve got it down.

    I didn’t know you were in marketing. I knew you consulted, but not on marketing. I’m in marketing and I think it’s the funnest work there is.

  4. I had to lay off the push ups for now because life has been so crazy that we never had a chance to get them done. I totally intend to pick the challenge up again in the future though. As for the sore arms I am used to working through soreness and sometimes working the muscle helps it to loosen up a bit.

    I have been adding more vegan to my life and I try to have one day a week that’s raw vegan. I am wondering if that is why I have been loosing so much weight lately. HHHmmmm… Could be!

    Jenn

  5. I resent that green implication 😉

    Good for you with staying on track for the fooding, and especially trying to maintain a mostly raw diet! Most of us have a hard time just cutting down on cookies!

    Mmmmmm…cookies…

  6. I am so proud of you for following this diet!! It does get easier and sometimes even better!!!

    I know your real busy but when you have some spare time maybe we can meet up for a raw dinner?? Think about it!!

    Michelle

  7. Yay! It’s such an awesome feeling when clothes get too loose! You are doing a great job of losing weight the healthy way and I bet it will really improve your running times. I noticed when I lost a little weight, I was able to run much faster without feeling like I was putting in extra effort.

  8. You are doing so great with the dieting and a true inspiration. It’s good to hear the real struggles of someone going through it, come out of it a winner, and grow strong will power. That’s great!!

    Congrats on the new project. Sounds like a new exciting change for you!

  9. Lara’s great but you might also like to try the Kardea gourmet nutrition bar. 7g fiber, 7g protein, 1g plant sterols, low saturated fat, only 150 calories—-and these taste great and have great aroma. All four are vegetarian — utilizing no dairy and utlizing lower glycemic agave and brown rice syrup as the primary sweeteners. 2 are vegan (chai spice and banana nut). We would be glad to send you samples for trial. rleighton@kardeanutrition.com

  10. Whoo hoo! Traveling usually puts quite a damper on eating healthy. Good job my dear.

    There is a really cool vegan-raw place here that does a 2 week detox where they prepare all your meals for 2 weeks. I am seriously considering it after my marathon. BUT does that mean no vino? Not sure I could deal with that. ha ha.

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