Well, here it is. The post I have been dragging my feet to write. The one where I have to admit to not achieving my goals, failing, in my opinion, a medial test, and owning that given my schedule and lifestyle I’m never going to be a plant strong princess.

Major bummer.

I’ve completed the E2 Challenge a few times, each feeling a little lighter, spreading the gospel of a vegan, plant based diet. This go, however, I can’t say the same. With the goal of maintaining my increased discount dangling above my head, and knowing I’d need to document it all here, I went into panic mode worrying over consequences if I didn’t maintain a perfect diet. That, is a lot of pressure, self imposed pressure. Coupled with the day to day working mom stuff with and a stressful on the go job (and a serious eating hobby)? Fuggadabout it.

I did a lot of cheating on my diet. Mostly when it came to added fats and refined sugar. Hey, emotional eating. Giving in to coconut oil and girl scout cookies pushed my total cholesterol just 4 points over the 150 limit to maintain my platinum status. When my results came in I was gutted. More than gutted, I criticized myself for all those, “oh this bite won’t matter”.  Apparently my will isn’t always stronger than the holy trinity of sugar, fat & salt.

I’m not any skinnier after this diet, my skin isn’t necessarily any clearer, my life hasn’t changed for the better and I’m not glowing from the inside out, but would I recommend this diet? Absolutely.

As I mentioned before, I’ve completed this diet a couple times with success- mostly internal results, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol keeping my weight the same place it has been for the last 5 years (sans pregnancy) and a killer breakfast routine of steamed kale and veggies.

Where did it fall apart for me this time around?

Trying to limit my diet beyond E2’s recommendation, shunning wheat and soy. Over restricting an eating plan is a pitfall any dieter knows. The result ends up in a hangry binge. Giving it a go in the dead of winter didn’t help either- summer is the best time for this diet, not just for the obvious abundance of produce, but multiple courses of salads sound better when the weather is warm. Finally, when I count, I was on the road 10 of the 28 days in this challenge, 4 dinners at Moda Center and 2 dinners out for work.

For my dad, (who specifically asked me to share what went well) here’s what I am proud of. Almost 28 straight days of writing- the subgoal in this whole deal. The diet gave me an excuse to write daily, though frequent travel and an ever changing daily routine proved tough. It wasn’t the highest quality writing, but the goal was consistently, not Pulitzer content. High five for remaining dairy free with the exception of two meals, two of 84 meals. Well done me.

I’ll be going E2 again here pretty soon, spring has sprung and the farmer’s market is abundant with spring veggies, shaking up my kale dependency. I won’t be tracking it day to day here. Now that I’m back at blogging, there are plenty of better things to write about.