I changed my diet to a vegan diet after seeing Alicia on Oprah and then reading her book.  I have yo-yo dieted for years and each time I did lose weight, but I would gain it back and then some when I "fell off the wagon". 

After learning about this healthier lifestyle and the cruelty to animals, I decided to stop eating the "nasty" foods because frankly, it's now just plain gross to me. 

Since turning vegan 5 weeks ago, I feel SOOOO much better and have already lost 15 pounds!  All my friends and family are asking me, "what diet are you doing?"  The funny things is, I didn't turn to the vegan lifestyle to lose weight.  Losing weight has been a welcomed bonus! 

I do not deprive myself of foods because there are so many delicious recipes in Alicia's book that there is no way you can deprive yourself.  I eat what I want to eat by choosing from the healthy options and I can't believe how many healthy options are out there.  They have been in front of me all these years and I just didn't see them!

So thank you Alicia for helping me remove the blinders and opening my eyes to a whole new world, a whole new attitude and a new body that contains NO moo, NO cluck and NO oink! 

Sincerely,
Kristin Thayer
Concord, NH

Good for you!  Thats so amazing and fabulous!!!

That's incredible!!  I'm two weeks in...lost three pounds last week, and weigh in again tomorrow...so we'll see how much I have lost in two weeks then!  I too, have yo-yo'd all over the place, and chose this lifestyle - not diet - for reasons other than losing weight but the weigh loss is definitely an added bonus!!  Keep it up and enjoy your healthy new life!

Can you give me an idea Kristin of what you typically eat in a day?  I'm struggling and I NEED to lose weight.  Congratulations on how well you are doing!

Hi Laurie.  Sure, I'd be happy to do that.  For bkfst, I always have organic coffee with silk light soy milk and equal.  (I haven't been able to kick the sweetener yet).  I then have either 2 slices of toast w earth balance butter w either organic jam, organic pb or a slice of vegan cheese.  If I don't have the toast, I will have oatmeal with a little bit of soy milk and a couple teaspoons of pure, organic maple syrup.  I pretty much stick to the toast or oatmeal for brkfst as I'm a very lazy cook.  For lunch I might have a salad consisting of fresh spinach leaves, sunflower seeds and dressing.  Or I will fry up a burger (Amy's bbq flavor veggie burger is delish!) and serve it on a whole wheat bun.  I also made a "chicken salad" with garbanzo beans, vegenaise, raisins, sea salt and pepper and some garlic salt.  It's very good btw!  I've been experimenting with dinners but my 2 most recent fav's are enchilladas and I also recently made a veg. pot pie.  The enchilladas were made with beans, whole wheat tortillas, onions, refried beans, can of amy's spicy chili & once I was done baking it, I would put a couple tsp's of tofutti sour cream and mix it in on my plate.  Mmm delicious!!!  I didn't like the sour cream when I took a taste of it alone but when I put it on the enchilladas, it tasted just like sour cream to me.  The veg. pot pie was also delicious!  I bought 2 organic, vegan frozen pie crusts, thawed them on the counter and then made the inside by frying up some onions and garlic.  I steamed a package of frozen veg's along with some fresh veg's (broccoli, asparagus, carrots, etc.)  Once onions & garlic cooked for a few minutes, I added about 2 cups of veg. broth, a few tsps of whole wheat flour, salt and pepper and some other seasonings i had in the cupboard.  I then added the steamed veggies to the sauce and baked for I think 30 mins or so.  Delicious!!

I ran out of room so had to start a new post.  Laurie, I've been finding A LOT of great recipes (in addition to the ones in Alicia's book) at www.vegweb.com.  I just barely baked a "mac & cheese" with tofu (first time ever using tofu) and it's unbelievable!  My son used to dislike the real mac & cheese that I would bake but he loves this.  :-)  I also snack on organic tortilla chips and salsa, the pb cups in Alicia's book, the corn muffins in Alicia's book are also great.  I've made those twice.  Here's the funny thing... I used to hate cooking.  I am now enjoying it so much and hope I will eventually have enough great recipes to open a restaurant here in my area.  We have no vegan pizza shops or cafes that I have found and whenever I go out to eat, it's so hard to find good, vegan items on the menu so I want to open my own place.  I'm going to be realistic as I am in the commercial financing world and I know start-up restaurants have a high failure rate but I really believe vegan restaurants would be a hit due to people like Alicia.  Ok, I'm rambling now so I will stop.  LOL  I am just so passionate about it now!  Good luck with your weight loss and feel free to contact me anytime!  Kristin

Congratulations Kristen!  I've been vegetarian for 5 years, but not Vegan and that's that's what's been stopping me from losing the weight that I need to.  I'm so excited to be getting the book in the mail this week...Your dedication to the lifestyle is a real inspiration!

Loved your post Krisin, you're inspiring me that much further to stock up on vegan groceries and get cooking.. yay!!!  All the foods you mentioned are making me hungry.. lol

Thank you so much Kristin for all the great ideas.  I have already made the vegan macaroni and cheese and I loved it also.  I also took the leftovers on  different day and added some leftover broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts to it so it was kind of like a casserole.  My son...who still eats meat saw it and asked if this was for him.  I told him it was mine but he tasted it and loved it.  I will keep you posted on how I'm doing...I hope you continue to do well.  I'll let you know how I like some of there recipes you talked about.  I a lot of the times have oatmeal for breakfast as well with rice milk and brown rice syrup.  I most of the time have a smoothie and sometimes the wheat toast and peanut butter as well...but I think I'm having trouble with the what products...so I'm cutting them out for a few weeks to see if it makes a difference.  Thanks again.

CONGRATULATIONS KRISTEN!!  I am 23 days vegan today! (As of February 25th, 2010 I ate meat/dairy 3 meals a day).  I also gave up all alcohol (ohhh, my single malt scotch), caffeine (including my ABSOLUTE ADDICTION to Sonic Route 44 Diet Cokes), sugar, white flour & as many processed foods as possible)-- As of Yesterday I have LOST 13.5 pounds!!  I am very excited, and am embarrassed to say there has been very little exercise.  I lost 7.5 lbs. in the first 7 days.  My nutritionist was SHOCKED!  She has since asked to borrow my copy of TKD.  WOW!  My nutritionist is interested in becoming vegan.  This really must have impressed her!  I am so looking forward to the weight when I am no longer counting pounds lost and am just eating healthy so that the weight stays naturally balanced.  It all seems way too good to be true!  However, regardless of continued weight loss success I am so happy to be eating healthy.  I really do feel like my soul is at peace (quite corny!)

What is so beautiful about this lifestyle for previous Yoyoers like myself is that when you are a vegan - the yoyo doesn't exist!!! 

It's not like that time when I gave up desserts and then one week later found myself scarfing a banana-split, or when I was loyal to the atkins diet for three months but at a late night diner could not avoid shoving my face full of french fries and gravy.

When I learned of the atrocities to animals in CAFO's, the poor health risks involved with consuming them, the detriment to our environment that consuming them caused... I simply couldn't do it any longer.  There is no chance to backslide because there will never be a day my stance on these issues changes.  I will not be tempted because there is literally nothing tempting about it! 

I have never been happier then when I became a vegan and removed the guilt and burdern associated with the existence of the yoyo!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  xoxoox

Congratulations Kristin and Laurie and everyone else for your fine efforts and enthusiasm.   I've been Vegan for 2 years, but just reading your stories inspires me even more!  There is so much to read and learn from all of you!  BTW, you really must give up dairy to lose the weight.  Giving up meat alone will not do the trick, I've discovered. 

I have given up the dairy.  I use rice milk for smoothies and anything else that I would normally use dairy for.

I have been vegan now for 11 days. Coming from a canivorous caffiene addict, i'm pretty proud. and like you others, have three boys and a meat eating husband to contend with. I too am fighting that battle of the bulge. Did anyone else find that they got bloated and retained water in the beginning? being a yo-yo dieter for 33 years, and having not eaten bread or grains in the past year, now i feel HUGE and bloated and gross! any suggestions how to get through this?