The Last Supper

It has been just a couple days short of six months since I was pronounced the winner of the Renal Center of Philly's Biggest Loser contest, losing a whopping 24 lbs in six weeks following a low-carbohydrate, 1500 calories/day, vegetarian diet. Interestingly enough, I was able to maintain the weight loss for three months...until I was prescribed a change in medication that made my appetite shoot through the roof. Of course, I can't blame the medication entirely, but my weight has been creeping back up at astonishing speed. That's why I was thrilled when my boss called me into her office last week informing me that another Biggest Loser competition was about to take place. The competition begins tomorrow, Friday, August 12th and will be running for six weeks and three days (who's counting?) until Monday, September 26th. I've decided to take a slightly different approach than the last time around, this time going entirely vegan...well, almost entirely. The one exception I'm allowing are the Morningstar Farms black bean burgers - My boyfriend decided to buy a couple boxes of these burgers to "help" me on my diet (He told me he plans on cooking these once a week to give me a break from cooking - awww). This was so heart-warming, I'd hate to let him know they are not vegan. But otherwise, that's it for me - no more cheese (I've already cut out milk, butter, and eggs). I haven't got as structured of a plan as last time, partially because we are planning a trip to Connecticut tomorrow through Sunday so it's difficult to get a set diet plan in place. Today of course, I am eating like it's my job and am happy (albeit uncomfortable) to report that I ate Guiseppe's pizza for lunch and a nice home-made macaroni and cheese for dinner (complete with milk and cheese - soon to be forbidden - as well as delightful notes of dijon and nutmeg), pictured above.

For tomorrow, I have some kiwi fruit to eat for breakfast, a vegan chili for lunch, and a vegan burrito for tomorrow's road trip to CT. I am employing a cooler for the road trip so that I can bring tofu to CT (not because I think CT doesn't have tofu, but because I'm thinking about making scrambled tofu for breakfast and don't want to worry about going grocery shopping before breakfast time) and I think there might be some vegan Pad Thai on the menu - along with exercise. I'm planning about an 1800 calorie restriction for the first week or two and this will taper down as we approach the final weigh-in, ultimately getting down to 1000-1200 calories with a modest carbohydrate restriction. There are definitely going to be some challenges along the way. We are going to a wedding on August 20th, we're attending a Halloween convention on Labor Day weekend, my college roommate is coming down to party with me September 8th-11th, and the weekend before the weigh-in my parents are having an open house...not to mention this is the time of year when my favorite beer becomes available: Oktoberfest (drooling). I'm looking forward to the challenge - it should be an interesting six weeks. Now its time to sleep off this macaroni & cheese bloat.