and Brizsa.

The age old question: Are there any benefits to quitting coffee? Okay, that’s not an age old question at all but that doesn’t mean I didn’t spend over 5 extra hours in bed this morning trying to find the answer. 

What triggered my research:

About 6 months ago I made the switch to start eating a plant-based diet. I can’t even remember why, I think I just needed a new challenge and some motivation because whatever I was doing before was NOT working. To further challenge myself, I decided it would be a great idea to forgo coffee at the same time. You see, I’ve always been an obnoxious coffee drinker. When a friend ordered tea; I’d make sure they knew that they were now a JOKE. HA! Right? Because who does that?? Well, I started to. I went a full 30 days without coffee and saw huge improvements... everywhere in my life. Don’t get me wrong, the withdrawals were TERRIBLE: migraines, nausea, almost falling asleep at my desk at 2 in the afternoon, etc, etc. BUT once those withdrawal symptoms passed, I also saw a huge amount of weight loss, no bloat, clearer skin, and a seriously positive attitude adjustment (not that I needed it..). I pinned all of this to my new Vegan diet.

Once my 30 days were up, I reintroduced coffee into my weekend routine.

(This picture is to represent my enjoying a cute, relaxing, afternoon coffee downtown - NOT to show off my dog. Who is more adorable than pretty much every dog ever btw.)

And then I started drinking it after swim practices (2 or 3 mornings/week) and then I have no idea what happened after that, all I know is that it escalated so quickly and soon it was part of my regular morning routine once again. My weight loss halted. I still kept the weight I had lost off (approx 15 lbs),  but I was still eating beautifully and yet for some reason I was bloated. All the time. I went back to the very basics to see if I could figure out why my tummy was so angry and NOTHING helped. Was I getting enough fiber? Was I getting too much fiber? Not enough protein? Not enough fat? I spent about 4 and a half months playing around with my diet with zero success.

Finally this morning, it dawned on me - maybe I pinned too much of my success on my diet and not enough on that other challenge I accepted that same day. Mind you, this is after I got up to get my boyfriend’s lunch together and had 2 cups of coffee. Damnit.

So, starting now,  no more coffee for me!! I am actually really excited about it because I let myself get to this point with coffee where I don’t even enjoy it. It makes my mouth feel gross, it always kinda tastes just meh. One thing I really liked about the couple of week of moderation after those 30 days was that when I did have a coffee, it was from a cute cafe on Jasper Ave (Coffee Bureau *drool*) or when reconnecting with friends. It was a taste I could sit and enjoy and not spill all over my brand new light grey jacket (DON’T ASK!) while frantically trying to catch my bus to work. 

Crazy girl BE GONE

What I discovered in my research:

I’m not the only one!!! Women everywhere have discovered that ditching coffee has helped them make huge progress with their weight loss. There is tons of research about how coffee aids in weight loss (appetite suppressant, metabolism revver, etc), but, like with all things in the diet world, everyone’s body is different. Had I not reaped the benefits from cutting out coffee before, I would likely never have figured out that this is a problem for me. I’d urge anyone dealing with bloat to read up on the topic and try it out! You might be surprised with how “present” you feel in every aspect of your life when you cut out coffee.

The plan:

I will post progress in 30 days but want to let you in on my life right now. Cutting out coffee & eliminating my everyday bloat will show that I:

follow a balanced vegan diet. 1800 kcals on rest days - 2500 kcals on workout days.

have 3 swim practices/week (competitive swimming - laps on laps & sprints)

each practice is followed by a gym sesh: Heavy legs, arm endurance (til failure), and abs.

spend 1-2 hours walking with the dogs everyday.

stretch regularly and practice yoga (which I’m super excited to blog about soon!)

Making these points known because cutting out coffee is obviously not some weight loss miracle. Stoked to see if this change will benefit my dummy tummy as much as I expect!! 

Hey, I’m Brizsa! That’s pronounced like “Lisa” but with a Br. Say it with me - Breeeesssuhhh. Rolls right off the tongue. Don’t let the above picture fool you - this is not cool/hip person blog.