I wanted to post again because tomorrow will be my one year anniversary WFPB (though I joined this forum a bit later). I am down 72 pounds (and working a bit with a strength trainer! these days) and because I stuck to this thing, I don't have much in the way of cravings anymore and I have developed a good routine of simple eating. It's a lot of shopping! But that's ok. Assuming my dogs and I don't turn into a stalk of broccoli (for most of the past year, we all have broccoli or sometimes brocc and cauliflower, steamed twice a day, every day.) I have brought my lunch to work every day for the entire year, with no plans to stop. There is still a lot of pizza and donuts at the office, but people there have been asking for advice these days, instead of trying to goad me into eating a donut. Though, luckily I didn't have to deal with too much of that. I know others are not so lucky.
When I first posted I was new and I'm sure considered a bright-eyed newbie by many people! And maybe still, as a year isn't such a long time, either. One thing that helped me was to open my eyes even more to the suffering of the animals, so even though I finally quit dairy, fish and eggs for weight loss, I'll never go back now for that and ALSO for the animals. Maybe having more than one reason to stick to it makes this easier. Maybe I shouldn't be so confident until 5 years have passed instead of one.
In any case, I am going to visit my diabetic sister, who I mentioned previously, in a couple weeks. I have convinced her to cut her dairy drastically, and also to have oatmeal (any but instant oats - my personal preference is steel-cut) every day for breakfast. These are the two things I suggest to anyone who asks me what I have done, yet balk at making what they see as drastic changes. The oatmeal suggestion was inspired by a Doug Lisle story, about a woman he had counseled for many years but who had been unable to make the necessary changes, but who he convinced to eat oatmeal for breakfast every day instead of the animal products and processed foods she was eating. And with this one change she lost 60 pounds in a year! So I tell that story and have convinced three people to try that. It's a start!
Anyway, many many thanks to Jeff and Mark and all the folks on this forum. I've been trying to come up with some plan to add my voice to this movement that has the potential to save the earth! Seriously. I mean, I don't think we'll see much change to the meat and dairy and pharmaceutical industries in my lifetime. There is so much money and power, greed and unethical people, wrapped up in keeping the status quo. I can't think about the millions of animals that are suffering every day too much, or I wouldn't be able to get out of bed. But I sure would like to help a few people and animals if I can.
