Not that I’ve tried to persuade them but, my family has been very resistant to my current lifestyle choice to be Vegan. Yesterday my sister us to her house for dinner, and to celebrate her son’s graduation from college. Being the great cook that she is, she laid out one of the best traditional Alabama Soul Food Dinners that I’d seen in a long time. The soul food dinner consisted of fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, corn bread, corn on the cob, barbecue ribs, dark cabbage and rolls. Dessert consists of peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, cheese cake and ice cream.

Normally, I would be one of the first to dig in and one of the last to finish eating. So, when I didn’t dive into the food upon entering my sister house everyone was shocked. After all, it was only at this New Year’s annual family gathering that I was filling my face uncontrollably at our Aunt’s house.

The first person to notice was my cousin Debbie who asked me, “What’s wrong with you? You only got a pay cut, not fired!”. Next, my sister chimed in with, “Just give him a minute because, Brian will eat us all under the table before its all over”. Finally, I told them both that I’ve made a lifestyle change. That I’ve decided to become Vegan. My sister said,“Vegan! What the hell is that?” Then I explain to them what being Vegan meant. Needless to say, they were all looked at me like I lost my mind. That’s when my wife said,“…He tripp’in out isn’t he!”.

At the gathering I was limited to only eating the veggies and drinking some water. Before we left my sister told me,”Brian I’m going to pray for you. You’ve really lost your mind this time.”

I was so proud to get my debt reduced to $6,201.54. For me this is a lot. The last time I can remember having such little debt was over 20 years ago.  Now I find out that my salary may get cut by up to 15% beginning next month.

Although getting a salary cut is always better than loosing my job completely it will cause significant changes in my monthly budget and lifestyle. It will especially effect my current debt reduction pace.

What bothers me most about this is the fact that anyone in the auto industry could have seen this coming. Management had to be aware of the fact that with the steady rise in the cost of gas people would not purchase as many trucks and SUVs as usual.

I took it as a challenge from a PETA member co-worker. She said, “I dare you to try going 30 days without eating any meat or dairy! And, I guarantee you that you will not only loose more weight than you have all year but, you will also feel more energetic than ever before.” Honestly, one of my greatest weaknesses is meat. All of my life we ate meat at every meal. While growing up, sometimes meat would be the only thing that we would eat at a meal. I can still remember days when we only ate dogs for lunch or dinner, or hamburgers for lunch or dinner. Especially, on Saturday when our mother was very tired from a hard week at work, we would cook fried chicken for lunch and eat the remainder for dinner. So, when I accepted my co-worker’s challenge I was embarking on a journey that I never honestly thought I could finish.

The first days were easy. I always kept some freshly cut carrot sticks or celery sticks nearby to munch on during the day. I alternated between lentils and green peas for dinner and stuck to seeds and fruit for breakfast and lunch. But, by the third week I was beginning to get weak for the taste cheese and milk. So, after reading a Vegan Food Guide I went to the Whole Foods in West Bloomfield and stocked up on more foods. But, I still wasn’t satisfied. So, I finally asked the same co-worker what foods are considered Vegan and how much can I eat. She gave me the following link: http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/ and told me that I could eat as much as I wanted. And, now exactly 30 days later I’ve lost over 17 lbs. and 3 inches off my waist!

I’m thankfully a born again Vegan! I thank my co-worker for the challenge and intend on maintaining this lifestyle for the rest of my life. My veganism is not a matter of what I can conveniently achieve. It’s an concerted effort to participate in something that I know is right for me and my body.

Next Monday I have a doctor’s appointment for a routine check-up. Its my hope that in review of my numbers he will find that my blood pressure is back to normal, my Triglycerides are normal and my over health has improved. Whooo Hoo!!

First I had like to thank everyone who has ever posted a constructive comment on this blog. They have ALL helped me more than you can imagine. Has you probably already realize by my writing skills that I am not much of a writer. So, please forgive my lack of proper punctuation, grammar etc. but, I try.

Back on March 6th I declared that I was “Finally Back on Track” and every since then, it seems that “Life” has been trying to prove to me that I am not, here is an update:

• March - Recovering from depression after deaths in the family, regained all the weight I lost.
• March - Laid off indefinitely from job.
• March - Stopped debt reduction completely. Stopped exercising and started looking for another job.
• April   - Found new job doing the same work as a contractor at a 35% pay reduction.
• April   - Gained 5.2lbs.
• May    - Called back to original job as a contractor with a 20% pay reduction from my original pay.

During the last few months it has been a real roller coaster.  But, my mother use to tell always us that “nothing beats a failure but a winner”. So, now I am planning to get back into the gym and back on my diet today! And, once I get our emergency fund back up to $1,000 I will start back on the debt reduction.

Thanks again for your support!  It really helps.

Although, I’ve been in this world for the last 43 years and I’ve been living on my own, providing for myself and later my family since I was 17 yrs. old its only been over the last several months I’ve discovered something about myself that I don’t think I’ve ever known before. And, that is that its much easier for me to stay focused on reducing my debt than it is reducing my weight. For whatever reason I’ve been much more successful at staying focused with eliminating my debt, (as my chart on this blog would indicate.)

Not to say that my debt reduction isn’t important but, according to family physician if I don’t reduce my weight to at least the 190’s, the repricotions could far out way any that I would experience from being in debt free.
So, with this observation I’ve come to a point where I’m looking for ways to motivate myself to put more effort into my weight reduction.

I have managed to reduce my weight a little since my last post but, I need to up that effort drastically if I’m ever to accomplish what I need to loose for better health.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Over the last two months I fell into a major depression following the death of a very close family member. But, now I’m finally getting back on track.

I’ve started back getting up at 4:30am to go to the gym and I’m refocusing my efforts on eliminating my debts.

Let’s Get It On!!!!!

Its been 14 days since I’ve made my declarations and here is where I stand now:

• No flour : ( (On Track )I’ve stuck to this one pretty good so far. There was one exception when I ate 2 slices of toast but for the most part I’ve been consistent.)
• No sodium: (Slacking: I’ve just realized recently that one of my favorite nuts is high in sodium..so, I’ll need to cut it out also)
• No fat: ( (On Track ) Consistent with one caveat, to be perfectly honest I’ve had low fat meals, not NO fat meals)
• Green vegetables only such as Spinach, Greens, etc.: (Consistent)
• No fried foods (On Track )
• Water only 1 gal a day: (Slacking: I’m finding it difficult to drink this much in a day. Although, I carry a bottle around with me to all of my meetings. Any suggestions.)
• (2) - 35 min. cardio session per day, 6 days per week (Slacking: only doing 5 days per week. Knee trouble.)
• 5 to 6 small meals per day with 70 to 80% protein 20 to 30% carbs (Slacking: I’m finding it difficult to eat this much in a day. Too many meetings.)
• No more than 1500 to 2000 calories per day (On Track )

The above effort resulted in only a 4lb. weight loss. I’m open for any suggestions in the areas where I’m slacking.

Thank you in adavance !

1. I got the report back from my doctor and it wasn’t very good. He says that if I don’t reduce my weight to at least 200lbs. my health situation may continue to deteriorate and he may have to increase my BP meds and Cholesterol meds. This was not a good report and due to this I’ve decided to change get more strict:
   • No flour
   • No sodium
   • No fat
   • Green vegetables only (such as Spinach, Greens, etc.)
   • No fried foods
   • Water only ( 1 gal a day)
   • (2) - 35 min. cardio session per day, 6 days per week
   • 5 to 6 small meals per day with 70 to 80% protein 20 to 30% carbs
   • No more than 1500 to 2000 calories per day
2. The other thing that I’ve decided to do is start attending church regularly again:
   • join a local church
   • buy a Bible
   • pray regularly
   • stop seeing……
   • throw out all pornographic material
3. After reading about and hearing all of the successful stories of debt free people on the radio and in books. I’ve decided to get very serious about my personal finances:
   • Eliminate cable television, internet access and VOIP phone
   • Eliminate all carryout for wife and kids (I’ve stopped eating it long back)
   • Use Mass Transit and car pooling
   • Eliminate all entertainment expenditures

This is by far the most difficult time of the year for me. Its during this time that my family meets for a Thanksgiving dinner, my wife’s birthday, Christmas name exchanges / dinner, Christmas day /dinner, New Years day / dinner and my mother’s birthday. Each of these gatherings are centered around dinners or meals of some type. And, unfortunately for me I’m exposed to all of my favorite foods.  Up to and following our annual Thanksgiving gathering I’d been doing exceptionally well with my weight-loss but, immediately following my wife’s birthday and our Christmas name exchange I gained an extra 3lbs. Now I’m back in the gym doing morning and evening cardio in an attempt to loose those 3lbs.

Overspending is also a difficult flaw of mine during these holiday/birthday seasons. Especially when it comes to my mother. But, I’m hoping that the budgeting methods that I’ve learned in “The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey”, combined with my will to stay debt free will help me this year.

Growing up on the east-side of Detroit in the Brewster projects our mother’s major objective was to make sure that we avoided the drugs, gangs and other obstacles found in our community, and to make sure that we graduated from high school and college.  I succeed in graduating from Wayne State University with a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering  but,  my younger sister unfortunately dropped out of high school , got married, had children then later divorced.

After a couple of years she got involved with another man who was a reputed drug dealer and had two more children and, they are still together.

This past weekend my sister invited my wife and I to her 40th birthday party celebration.  It was held in a very exclusive upscale restaurant. They had all of the typical flashy, expensive things there, none of which really impressed me or made me feel jealous. But, when he had us all look out of the front window of the restaurant in order to see the driver pull up in her new car, (Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano) I must admit I was enraged.

I was enraged not so much due to the fact that she had gotten the car, but more so because,  I’m working my tail off everyday trying to make a honest living and its the CRIMINALS like him who pry on innocent people that live debt free and prosper year after year, and can afford bags of organic food delivered to their home. While my wife and I have to shop at the local grocery store in order to save money.

That’s all. I got it out of my system!