About Me and the Challenge

So I have been vegetarian for a little more than a year now. At first I started being one of those vegetarians that still eats fish (I know...I know...) which was probably necessary because at the time I didn't think I could live without fish and it gave me something familiar I could eat as I was figuring out what my non-meat options were.

Then, for all intents and purposes, I kicked the fish habit and have been living vegetarian ever since.

But it is not enough. I got into begin vegetarian because it was a healthy lifestyle, but I want more. So I have challenged myself to spend 90 days as a vegan to see how it affects my health and weight. I'll be tracking my progress here on this blog and share my inner thoughts, my recipes, and my fears as I attempt to do this.

I also have decided to make a few other changes in my life during this time as well. As I control what I eat, I will also be doing the following:

• Working out at least 5 times per week
• Not eating fried foods
• Really monitoring my portions and controlling how much I eat
• Eliminiating non-essential spending (This one is a bit off topic, but its important to me to put it out there so that I do it.)

So this becomes an challenge about remaking who I am through diet, exercise, and impulse control. I'll discuss them all throughout the next 90 days.

Lastly, I wanted to post the rules for what being vegan means to me:

• No meat or eggs
• No cheese or milk or other dairy products
• No honey
• Conditionally, no sugar. Basically I plan to avoid sugar whenever possible unless I know for sure it has not been processed using animal products.
• No gelatin
• Vegan is determined by the ingredient list, not the processing plant. I have started reading labels and if the product list does not have animal products in it, I am less concerned about the fact that the plant also might make diary or animal products.

Are there any rules I am forgetting?

Well...here goes nothing.