I have officially gone one week without meat or any meat product and want to report how it is going so far.

First, there are times where it is difficult to stick with it, primarily when I am between meals and get hungry. In the past I could just grab something out of my cabinet and not think twice. Now I need to be much more careful and selective in what I choose. As for meals, I do not have any difficulty there, but I would prefer something with a bit more flavor and perhaps substance. I believe with time I can overcome that as I slowly accrue recipes, but right now my selections are a bit limited.

I have lost around 3 pounds in the past week. Can this be attributed to being plant based? I think part of it can, but I think the bigger impact has come from processed foods and lack of sugary foods (obviously I am getting sugars from fruits and veggies). I believe if I just cut out processed foods and sugary items but continued to eat meat I would see somewhat similar results.

The most interesting result just started to become noticeable over the past few days. That is, my heart rate has been lower, both my resting heart rate and my heart rate during easy runs. Again, I take this with a grain of salt since I question the accuracy of wrist based heart rate monitoring, but the variance from normal has been enough for me to pay more attention to it. I have not done any harder workouts so I cannot comment on performance other than described above.

So far, those are my big takeaways. I will continue to keep you updated, both good and bad, assuming I can stick with the diet.