Saturday, March 8, 2025

Saturday, 8 March 2025

 Hi, everyone!

Well, the taste-testing operation was, on the whole, a pretty significant failure. 

The kettle corn was really good, but that was about it. All of the dairy substitute products (including the yogurt I thought I liked when I tried it before) have bad textures (namely, way too hard/dense) and a violently offensive aftertaste that can only be described as "stale coconut farts." The Hippeas had kind of a funky aftertaste, although not nearly as bad as the Babybel rounds or the "cream cheese." 

To reward myself for surviving such indignities, I decided to invoke my right to order in once per week today, and I ordered in from the only vegan place in town. I got a grilled buffalo chickpea flatbread with vegan mozzarella (that did NOT taste like tropical toots,) roasted corn, little bits of tomato, chickpeas, pickled onions, and green onion. Y'all, look how gorgeous this thing was: 


It was a good bit spicier than I typically like, but it was 100% worth it. (I drank, like, a quart of water while I was eating it.) It was so good! 10/10 would get it again, although they have a few other items I'm interested to try as well. Most of their items have nut products in them, but some don't, and I'm excited to try those. 

Oh, and the vanilla version of the vegan protein powder came in the mail today. I'll be trying it out tomorrow and I'll keep you posted. 

Also, for the record, I did not forget to weigh in this morning-- I just forgot what the number was between then and now. Derp. ðŸ¥´

Until next time,

Simone

-----

Saturday, 8 March 2025
(Saturday after Ash Wednesday)
Location: Ohio (home)
Reading: On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins
Weight: unknown 

Friday, March 7, 2025

Friday, 7 March 2025

 Hi everyone! 

It's a Friday in Lent, so just water today. It's also officially spring break! Apparently, I need the break, because I got home around noon today and took an unplanned nap from 2 PM to almost 9 PM. Probably not the best thing for my circadian rhythm, but I'm not mad about it. 

I also ordered some groceries today, including some plant-based things I've never tried before that I'll be trying. Tomorrow’s plant-based taste test will include: 

  • My usual KOS vegan chocolate protein shake but with vanilla coconut yogurt instead of the soy yogurt, in hopes that will help with the aftertaste
  • Nacho Vibes Hippeas (I’ve heard a lot of vegan kids really like them, so that’s promising.) 
  • Vegan Babybel rounds
  • Boomchickapop Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn Popcorn 
  • Triscuit Whole Grain Vegan Crackers (I thought Triscuits were vegan by definition, but the more you know…)
  • Philadelphia Plant-Based Cream Cheese (I have high hopes for this one. I've heard universally good things.) 

Hopefully at least some of them will be winners so I can keep shopping at Kroger/Aldi/Giant Eagle and not have to surrender my entire net worth to Thrive Market for a membership and their overpriced bougie food. 

I also bought, but have not yet received, the vanilla version of my current protein powder, because I want to see if that's any better. When I get the vanilla stuff, I have an idea of trying it with coconut yogurt and some vanilla non-dairy creamer and maybe some chai spices? That might be good. Enough cinnamon and clove will cover a multitude of evils in the taste department.

I'm not finding the fasting difficult overall, but of course, it's only been Lent for like three days at this point, so I'm sure it will get harder. My stomach did decide to start singing the song of its people in the middle of my Church History class today (which gave my friend Joanne, who sits next to me, the giggles) and it was a little embarrassing, but I wasn't too physically uncomfortable. I've found that drinking as-cold-as-I-can-stand-it ice water really helps. Well, sipping more so than drinking. 

Also, I unexpectedly ended up having to walk home from school today, and while it was inconvenient, it wasn't too hot today, and I found it to be a lot easier and quicker than I remember it being when I had to do it 70+ pounds ago when I moved here. 

To do this weekend: Vegan taste test and report results, order some documents online from my home state's vital statistics (because I need to renew my state ID), catch up on sleep, maybe try to get out and take a walk one morning, find my bus pass, and otherwise, spring break mode activated!

Until next time,
Simone

-----

Friday, 6 March 2025
(Friday after Ash Wednesday)
Location: Ohio (home)
Reading: On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins
Weight: 314.0 lbs. (142.0 kg)  

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Thursday, 6 March 2025

 Hi, everyone!

So, today was my first full plant-based day. Here's what I ate: 

  • A burrito from the student union at school (rice, black and pinto beans, guacamole, roasted corn, some kind of chipotle spice blend) and it was delicious
  • The chips that came with the burrito (just classic Lay's-- definitely vegan; I double-checked)
  • Cinnamon applesauce
  • A few Saltines
I am feeling pretty good. I probably ate too much applesauce because my stomach feels a little sloshy. I think I am going to start buying single-serve applesauces instead of the big jars I normally buy, so it'll be pre-portioned. But I don't feel like I had a hard time finding something to eat today or anything, which was good. The one thing that was hard was that the coffee shop in the student union was selling snickerdoodles, my favorite cookie ever, but you should be proud of me-- I resisted!

Tomorrow is a water fast day because it's a Friday in Lent, and I think Saturday I will probably make some spaghetti or something. I have Rao marinara sauce that I can doctor up with some canned lentils, frozen spinach, and maybe some onions or garlic or something. That actually sounds really good. Oh, and I bought the coconut yogurt (for my protein shakes), and I didn't have one today, but I will let you know on Saturday if that improves the shake situation at all. 

Also, next week is spring break! Yay! I'm not traveling anywhere, but it will be nice to have some time to catch my breath, get some housework done, catch up on reading for school, and maybe Skype my best friend or something. I miss him. And a new Sims 4 expansion pack came out today, and I'm looking forward to diving into that over break, too. (Any other Sims players here? You'll have to let me know what you think of the new pack.) 

That's all for now! Until next time,
Simone

-----

Thursday, 6 March 2025
(Thursday after Ash Wednesday)
Location: Ohio (home)
Reading: On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins
Weight: 312.9 lbs. (141.9 kg)  

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Wednesday, 5 March 2025

Hi, everyone! Just got out of the shower and I'm headed to bed pretty soon here. 

So today was Ash Wednesday, which was a full water fast for me, and Lent has officially begun. 

Yesterday, Shrove Tuesday, I intentionally ate as much dairy as I possibly could, but that backfired on me, because I ended up throwing up from overeating. (Although, bright side: I felt sick to my stomach for a lot of the day today, which made the fast much easier. Can't get tempted by food when you're disgusted by food!) 

Tomorrow is my first day of eating vegan. I think I'll probably get a burrito bowl at school (rice, beans, guacamole, corn, maybe some salsa, just no cheese or sour cream) after class and Adoration, just to make things easier. It's like $5, which isn't bad, and it's filling. Then when I get home, I'll probably have a protein shake or something. Maybe some pasta and red sauce. I don't know. 

For now, it's well past my bedtime, and I need to sleep.

Until next time, 

Simone

-----

Wednesday, 5 March 2025
(Ash Wednesday)
Location: Ohio (home)
Reading: On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins
Weight: 316.0 lbs. (143.3 kg)  

Monday, March 3, 2025

Monday, 3 March 2025

Hi, everyone! 

I'm just now breaking the fast that I started on Saturday night (a vegan protein shake and a bunch of applesauce) and I feel great. I'm sharp and clear and calm-- I love the way fasting makes me focus on something other than my emotions and experience. It's amazing for my depression. 

I also made an interesting discovery tonight as I was making my smoothie. I took a bite of the soy vanilla yogurt I've been adding, and the taste was... not good. And I think the soy yogurt might be the real culprit for the icky aftertaste I've been blaming on the protein powder. I'm definitely going to play around with the way I make it-- maybe I'll try coconut yogurt instead, since there's a brand of vanilla coconut yogurt that I know for sure I like, and see if that helps. My local Kroger does seem to carry that specific yogurt in cartons, too, which is lucky for me. I've come up with some other ideas, too, of how I might make this daily shake taste a bit better-- adding raspberries or strawberries instead of just the banana, maybe trying the vanilla flavor from the same brand, adding chai spices-- and I'm looking forward to experimenting. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Well-- most suggestions, keeping in mind that I'm extremely allergic to all nut products, and no earthly tongue contains a word strong enough to express how much I hate sunflower butter. My current smoothie situation doesn't taste bad per se, but I am excited to mess around with the recipe and find ways to make it actually taste good. 

Other than that, not much going on. I'm pretty sure Spring Break is next week, and my plans are to do as little as possible (probably some housework and other equally exciting stuff.) I'm not traveling or anything-- I'll see my family (and hopefully also some friends) this summer. 

And that's actually something I've been thinking about lately. The last time I saw my friends in North Carolina (where most of my friends live-- I went to undergrad there) was in mid-January, when I was there for my best friend's solemn monastic vows. I weighed 320 pounds. The next time I see them will likely be June or July. I wonder where I'll be weight-wise then. I wonder if my weight loss will be visible by then. I hope so-- it would be amazing to get some compliments on all this hard work. I will almost certainly be under 300 and maybe even close to or under 275. So that's cool to think about. I hope I can make the people I love super proud.

On that fluffy note, I'm going to get off here and go rinse out my blender cup. 

Until next time,
Simone

-----
Monday, 3 March 2025
(Monday in Shrovetide)
Location: Ohio (home)
Reading: On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins
Weight: 315.7 lbs. (143.2 kg)  
Sunday, March 2, 2025

Sunday 2 March 2025

 Hi, everyone!

I know it's been a minute-- I'm sorry. Things got wild with midterms being last week, plus I think I might have gotten some kind of food poisoning or some other GI nonsense in the middle of the week. I'm fine now, but that was a rough couple of days. 

As far as how I did on that one oral midterm I was worried about-- well, let's put it this way: as the person who took the exam before me left the room, the professor told him he did amazing and had nothing to worry about. As I left after my exam, she said, and I quote, "You were really fun to talk to!" ðŸ˜¬ Yeeeeeahh. So that was a thing.

I've water fasted all day today (not for any particular reason; just because I wanted to) and I feel pretty good. I really like the clarity that fasting gives me-- it makes my brain feel so...unfoggy. I have epilepsy and a brain injury (which is what caused the epilepsy,) and I deal with a lot of neurological crap, and I've noticed that intermittent fasting helps. (Not to mention, it's clearly great for weight loss, too.)

Ash Wednesday is this week! Obviously, I'm making a lot of spiritual preparations for Lent, but I'm also doing some practical things to get ready for the dietary shift. For example, I've already bought all the ingredients for my vegan protein shake (KOS protein powder, oat milk, soy yogurt, bananas) and started getting used to making and drinking it instead of the Fairlife Core ones (which contain dairy) that I was drinking before. Here's what else I need to do: 

  • Total fridge clean-out (partly to get rid of dairy/make room for new stuff and partly because I haven't cleaned my fridge in a while and miiiiiiight have some science projects starting in there.)
  • Buy and try out a bunch of vegan products that Kroger carries (I will for sure keep you updated on this.) 
  • Use up the last little bit of parmesan cheese I still have. 
  • Restock pantry staples like applesauce, canned tomatoes, legumes, corn, soy-flavored ramen noodles, and plant-based canned soups.
Also, I have a few extremely low-effort recipes that I am going to try during Lent and I'm looking forward to trying them out. I will post and share any that turn out well! 

Since I kinda-sorta burned all the teflon out of my only good pan last year (my smoke alarm LOVED that), I'm thinking of replacing it with a pan I've been hearing a lot about lately: the Always Pan. Have you guys heard about this? Have you used it? I would love to hear your experience. I've been on a deep dive of YouTube reviews, and it sounds like a pretty good investment. I've never paid $125-150 for a pan before, but it seems like you can do a lot of different things with it, it's easy to clean, and I really like that blue color it comes in. What do you think?

It's probably about time for me to call it a night, though. I have class in the morning and I need to get up before class so I can do the reading. 

Until next time, 
Simone
 
-----

Sunday, 2 March 2025
(Quinquagesima Sunday)
Location: Ohio (home)
Reading: On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins
Weight: 316.0 lbs. (143.3 kg)