In July of this year I had temporarily dislocated my knee, which lead to two months of physical therapy. My doctor told me that in order to keep from having further knee problems I would have to lose the weight that's been putting a lot of pressure on my knees. Which means that if I didn't lose the weight I would end up like my dad who has screws in both knees, holding them together-I don't want that. I have been told many other occasions by my doctors that I need to lose weight because I am considered "morbidly obese" but I am very healthy its just my weight that's the issue. So one day I decided to research vegetarianism. I came upon a lot of information and that being vegetarian, if done correctly can be a very healthy life style. In November I will have been a vegetarian for four months.

Why did I decide to become vegetarian? Well its simple, I am doing this to lose weight but also maintain a healthy living style because the way I was eating before was not good for my body. I constantly ate every two hours and it was unhealthy junk foods. But I mean what junk food is healthy right? I didn't mind eating meat but with constantly having to eat processed chicken nuggets in the freezer almost every day because that's pretty much the only meat we had in the house, made me think. I was getting tired and sick of these disgusting processed pieces of "chicken". I didn't know how my parents would react to this so I didn't tell them at first and I told my best friend. I decided that I would go out to eat with her instead of eating with my family, who eats meat. I came home one day, and I was a little hungry so I ate what my mom made for dinner, note that I haven't eaten meat in almost a week at that point and I felt horrible after eating a bowl of meat and potatoes. Thus, why I am now a full time vegetarian.

There are different kinds of vegetarians if you didn't know. Vegetarian diets split into different categories: vegan, which is when you don't eat anything that has dairy in it and with this one you have to be careful because you can become malnourished very quickly. Lacto Vegetarian do not eat red meat or white meat, fish, eggs or poultry products but do eat dairy products such as cheese and milk. Ovo Vegetarians do not eat red or white meat, fish, poultry products or diary products but do eat egg products. Lacto-ovo Vegetarians do not eat red or white meat fish or poultry but do eat dairy and egg products which this is the most common vegetarian. There is Pollotarian which is partially vegetarian because the only meat they eat is poultry. Pescetarian is much like Pollotarian but just replace poultry with fish, and this is also considered partially vegetarian but I see it as vegetarian because I am technically not eating meat. Lastly there is Flexitarian who occasionally eats meat but mostly still eats a plant based diet.

I consider myself a Pescetarian because I do eat fish and other seafoods. However, I do not consider my diet as partially vegetarian because in my mind fish is not meat. There are many vegetarians who would sit there and argue with me that I am wrong but I am not here to argue. With being vegetarian you have to take into consideration all of the vitamins and minerals you will lose from cutting meat from your diet. For me because I still eat fish I still retain many of the vitamins someone who doesn't eat fish wouldn't have. I also take a women's multivitamin that helps out with the vitamins and minerals I am missing although I do my best to eat as many of those as possible. This kind of diet or whatever you like to call it, I think of it as a lifestyle is very obtainable if you research and know what you're doing. As I am entering my fourth month of being Pescetarian I have lost a total of 24 pounds which is very successful in my book. If I can do it, you can do it also!