6 Month Experiment     

6 months ago I decided to give a plant based lifestyle a try.  I was feeling sluggish most of the time and I had been meeting with a couple different cardiology doctors.  I had talked with Amy and we decided to give it a try as she was feeling much the same way as I was.  Having support definitely helped in the beginning.  I was just going to do the 6 months and see what happens.  I wanted to keep it very non-scientific and just base it more on how I felt, because the reality is Google will give you all the scientific data you could need.

I decided I would base it on just a few criteria:  my overall energy levels, the dark circles that I had developed, my weight, body fat percentage, and my cardiology numbers.  I had gone to the doctors a month before starting and I have my next follow up coming up in a few weeks to see if there was any improvement there.

So what about my other results? 

     First let me say that I did not go 100% plant based.  I still take my whey protein and I still have cheese once in a while as well as eggs.  Though I would say that the number of eggs I ate in the past 6 months is probably less than what I would normally eat in a month. 

     Even though I still average the same amount of sleep a night, my energy levels have definitely improved.  I will not say that I jump out of bed ready to take on the day but I normally don’t feel exhausted when I wake up.  I also no longer suffer from that midafternoon slump where I looked for some type of caffeinated drink.  And speaking of caffeine, I have stopped drinking my morning and afternoon coffee about a month ago and still feel great. 

     I asked my wife about those dark circles and she doesn’t really remember me having them but said they are not noticeable now.  Score!

     My weight is about the same.  6 months ago I weighed in at 211 and currently I am 209.  My goal with this wasn’t to lose weight so I’m happy to see those numbers stay about the same.  My body fat percentage dropped a little going from around 11% down to about 9%.  My abs, which have been hidden for some time are finally making a comeback.

In order for me to maintain my lifestyle and my weight I definitely had to eat a lot more.  Plants do not contain nearly the amount of calories as animal based foods do.  Below is a breakdown of what my macros looked like during the past 6 months.

                Carbohydrates: 360g

                Protein: 185g

                Fat: 85g

                Total Daily Caloric Intake: 2945

So what’s next? 

I originally planned on doing this for just 6 months and going back to my old way of eating.  I had no intentions of making this a permanent way of life, but things change.  I have more energy, I look younger (though some of the greys may say otherwise) and I just feel better overall.  I think my 6 month experiment just turned into my lifelong lifestyle.