One Month Check Up!

It has been a little over a month since I made the decision to cut out meat product from my diet. Here is a little snip of how my health has been effected.

Protein Deficiency
Because I am not yet in expert in the vegetarian world on how to be sure I am getting all of the nutrients my body needs I have been neglecting my protein needs. The amount of protein you need in a day depends upon your own height, weight, and body type; the number is different for everyone. The U.S Department of Agriculture recommends that all men and women over the age of 19 get at least 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (or 0.37 grams per pound). I weigh 145 pounds so I need about 54 grams of protein per day.

I decided to research the signs of protein deficiency to see if I had any and sure enough I was guilty of almost everything on the list. Here's my bad side effects.....

#1 Constant Cravings: 
I crave bread (and pasta of course) , and think I need a lot of it all the time to make up for other nutrient losses that I would normally get from meat. This in not necessarily bad but I have to be careful to make sure that the breads I am consuming are whole grains.
The bad is that I crave sweets a lot more than I used to. Chocolate, cookies, and frozen yogurt galore! I read Self magazine and almost every issue says something along the lines of treating yourself at least once a week. Leave out one day like Friday or Saturday to not "watch what you eat".

#2 Sleep.. and a lot more of it than I care to admit!
I have been hitting the hay at about 10 or 11 p.m. these days which is not so bad compared to a lot of people I know. But then for some reason, if I don't have any morning plans or work, I hit that snooze button and sleep another two hours before I wake up and think "crap, half my day is gone!".

#3 Stress
Normally, a good yoga session or an episode of my favorite comedy show can tame the beast but lately its has been a steady stream of headaches and frustration. That should be proof enough that too much sugary foods create moody people (and children so watch out parents!).

And this is all when I knew I needed to keep a food diary! I normally use MyFitnessPal but it mainly focuses on calories so I decided to start using this site called Cron-O-Meter which focuses more on all of the nutrients your getting and making sure that you don't under or over do it!

Now, for the bright side....

#1 Weight Loss
With the combination of steady workouts, and a diet full of more vegetables I have gone from 155 pounds to 145. That is just one month! Now, I am not the type of person who strives to be a twig so I have been adding weights to my workouts to buff 'em up!

#2 Fun
I have so much more fun in the kitchen and ordering food because I am trying so many more restaurants and recipes than I ever have before.

Overall, this vegetarian adventure is turning out to be a more exciting lifestyle and when I get my protein count right I will be the best I have ever felt in my life!

If your a newbie, how is your progress going?