Since my last update, I have survived my first month as a pescetarian and have officially hit the 40 pounds lost mark weighing in this morning at 160 pounds.

Its kind of interesting to note some of the physiological changes that occur when becoming a vegetarian. My husband told me that  I would notice some changes with my hair and nails since vegetarians often get more protein than they actually need and apparently unused protein causes hair and nails to thicken and/or grow faster. Its been awhile since I’ve had biology classes and whatnot, but I can definitely say that after a month my fingernails have never been so strong in my entire life. I normally kept them short because they were really thin and bendy and would snag and split no matter what I did with them.  Also, seeing as I dye my hair, which is an easy way to actually measure your hair growth, that my hair has been growing insanely fast this month. I dyed my hair one week and the following week I looked in the mirror and said to myself  “What the hell? I need to touch up my roots already? There’s no way I could have missed that much area???” I was hoping to hold off on getting my hair shaped up until next month, but had to make an appointment for today. What my hair lacks in volume it makes up for in weight, which makes it hard to deal with sometimes.

I often joke that I snack on vitamins and supplements like some people snack on candy during their work day.  I even have a small bowl I keep them in on my desk so I remember to take them. I revamped my vitamin regiment a little bit over the past couple months and I have to say I absolutely adore GNC’s new line of  wellBEing vitamins and supplements for women. I’m usually fairly ambivalent to marketing, branding, product packaging and other gimmicky things. But, I have to say, as a creative minded person their vitamins and supplements are so pretty. Its hard to get excited about sucking down a pile of yellow, white and beige pills on a daily basis… but with the wellBEing line, the pills are in bright colors with opalescent or shiny finishes, which makes them more visually appealing.  I haven’t tried out the entire line as of yet and doubt that I will, but as far as my daily regiment goes… I take the be-Whole multivitamin. I have had a hard time finding a multivitamin that I can tolerate, most make me feel sick or upset my stomach. I haven’t had any problems with this one regardless of when I take it or what I have eaten.  I also take the be-Restored Antioxidant Stress Formula (I think this is only available in stores and not on the website), which I like a lot despite the fact that it makes my pee kind of a neon goldenrod color. I take a few additional supplements to support my fitness endeavors. The only one I don’t like is the be-Energized, any type of  “energy” pill  like this tends to make me feel kind of cracked out. They are great on days where you have low energy and even then I only take one instead of the recommended two per day. I think I am just sensitive to something that is in these types of pills. The three supplements I really like are be-Flexible, be-Defined and be-Enhanced. be-Flexible is great if you have stiff joints. While I don’t have any major flexibility issues, I do, however have some hip joint issues and my right side is definitely less flexible than my left side. I’m hoping that I will start to see some improvements over time. I just started taking this supplement last week, so its hard to tell. be-Defined is a toning and sculpting supplement that supports lean muscle and be-Enhanced complements weight loss programs.  Since I’ve been focusing more on toning and sculpting my abs/core and other problem areas I welcome a little supplemental help in the interim.

I have to say that I have been missing my daily yoga ritual while focusing on my abs/core work. I still close out an hour long work out with some restorative and yin poses. I’ve become an avid fan of always doing a 5 minute shoulder stand on a daily basis. I’m starting to see more definition in my abdominal region, but the skin is still loose.  I am probably going to be working on that for quite some time. I picked up one of the Skinny Bitch workout DVD’s from Netflix this week. Aerobic workouts are weird. I find I lack coordination to do moves with multiple sequences where one leg is kicking one way, one arm is raised in one direction, you twist this way, and then punch the sky twice and then squat and then recite Ayn Ran’d Atlas Shrugged from memory… I like the work out all in all, its broken down into 20 minute segments focusing on different areas of the body. I’ll have to give it another whirl. Its so different from the yoga dvds I have and love.  Although, I do like the brunette, she reminds me a bit of Eliza Dushku. I really enjoyed the Skinny Bitch book. Its a little over the top, but it gets the point across and hey it helped forge my decision to become a pescetarian.

Since my blog posts get dumped into Facebook notes automatically I am adding a link to the original blog post: http://www.jennifervatza.com/2009/10/milestones/