It’s all completely gluttonous. And I don’t think I’ll be eating meat for another couple days as a result, since even thinking about steak right now makes me feel a little queasy.

I really enjoyed having my vegetarian week. Sometimes it was a challenge, mostly when I went out to restaurants. At home was not a problem. I think if I permanently adopted that lifestyle, I’d be eating at home a lot more, which would be a good thing.

Although I am definitely a bit of a foodie and would pretty much try anything (I did eat haggus as the Ren Fair two years ago, and the only thing that turned me off was the texture; the taste wasn’t bad), I wouldn’t say I eat a lot of strictly vegetarian meals. After this week, I’d like to change that. I want to have more truly inspirational meals that are vegetarian on a more regular basis.

First thing: do any of you have suggestions for good vegetarian cookbooks? My friend Anna said William Sonoma has some good ones. I would like to pick up a couple strictly vegetarian cookbooks, because I find things geared toward vegetarians tend to be more inspired.

My sister, who was participating with me, said it’s difficult to find things that don’t involve pasta. I disagree. I only had one meal with pasta the entire week: orzo stuffed peppers. I had a variety of meals that involved myriad vegetables, and some had tofu.

It’s also interesting to me to see how some of the vegetarian things may not actually be healthier. Falafel, for instance, is still fried, as was some of the tofu. Many of the dishes at restaurants had gobs of cheese. It still boils down to how you cook it.

I did end up losing three pounds this week, which was certainly not my intention because I really don’t think I need to lose more weight!

I do think, however, that being a vegetarian would be a heck of a lot easier in a place with a decent farmers market. I could easily whip up dishes from the produce offered at the Sacramento farmers market I went to, for instance.

I think my next challenge will be to eat things I make at home. My friend Anna said that it’s a new “diet” she’s trying. I was actually doing very well making food at home, and then my life got slammed with being busy. It’s really about having the will power to still come home and make something, even if I’m not getting home until 9:30 p.m.

This week, as an experiment of sorts, I’m going to be a vegetarian. I thought about going completely vegan, but I think I’d have a hard time avoiding cheese and things that use eggs or butter. I am trying to avoid too much cheese because it’s really not the healthiest thing in the world. I don’t eat eggs that often, but I’m sure many of the things I eat are made with them.

Today, I made up a list of dinners I’m cooking for the week. It was exciting because I’m trying out new things I haven’t tried before. I’m particularly excited about the tofu stir fry and the falafel sandwiches I have planned this week.

Last year when I was doing Weight Watchers, I was doing very well at making sure I had pretty balanced meals. Although I’d always been good about eating fruits and vegetables before doing Weight Watchers, I probably wasn’t quite eating enough. Since I officially stopped doing Weight Watchers in October, I’ve fallen off the wagon a little bit. Amazingly, probably because I was keeping up with exercising and kick started my metabolism from eating better, I have managed to stay steady at the weight I ended at.

I hope this week I can start to get myself back on track being more balanced and healthy. Robert and I have been eating out a bit too much lately, mostly because I had a drastic change in schedule after I got my new job.

Robert and I decided today we’re going to start getting up in the morning and jogging. Yikes. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t exactly like running. Honestly, I don’t like how I feel afterward: like I’m going to collapse and die. I’m hoping that now that I’m more in shape, I’ll like it better.

This year, my goal is to make a lot of positive changes in my life. I’m trying to figure out the best ways to get happy and stay happy. I’m going to try to get out of this quarter-life crisis (QLC) and figure out what exactly I am doing with my life.

Although lately I’ve been having some kind of dark days, I think I’m ultimately going to come out of this QLC a better person. I’ve made quite a few goals for myself this year; first and foremost personality-wise, I’m going to be more assertive and confident. I’ll try to keep up-to-date with that on the blog.