August Challenge: Go Vegan!

So many of you know that I have spent the past 6 weeks in NYC completing my first semester of an intensive 14 month school principal "bootcamp". Although my mind was stimulated to the extreme and I tried my best to work out pretty frequently, my body definitely suffered. I was out of sync with my usual eating habits, out of my element and plain ol' influenced by the habits of those around me -- stressed out Type A grad students with little regard for their health. Most of them did not just lose 40 pounds like me and I should not have expected to find many allies in the healthy lifestyle this summer.

I know that I can only blame myself and instead of a pity party, I decided last week that I would kick it up a notch with a new FitNista challenge. Those of you who know me well know that I am a woman of intense extremes so I could not pick something simple. Nope.

So I have decided to go vegan from August 4- September 4 and possibly beyond. I am currently a vegetarian but do eat seafood occasionally so this will be a challenge, but not totally out of my grasp. I did research last week to assess how feasible it would be. With that said, I am mentally prepared but socially concerned. A big struggle of maintaining the vegan diet is how one is able to manage in social settings ie. restaurants, work, etc. I will need to turn down some dinner offers or trips to grab frozen yogurt with the girls from work. BBQs and parties will be interesting to navigate when cheese, milk or butter are a no-go. However, I am pumped about the challenge and look forward to re-invigorating my healthy lifestyle and accomplishing a goal. I struggled with sharing this choice via any social network but am hopeful that I receive more encouragement and love than naysaying Negative Nelly comments...Hopefully. (If not, I'll throw a chickpea @ you)

In an ideal world, some of you all would be inspired to go vegan with me-- even for a few days. But, I totally understand that for many this is not practical, interesting or currently feasible. If so, find your own challenge to motivate and drive you closer to your health goals.