Thoughts of an animal loving meat eater...

**Note: Despite today's date, this is not an April Fool's Joke. I am completely serious. **

Lately I've been conflicted. I've been eating a basic bodybuilding style diet (with lots of cheats, hence the reason I am not at my goal weight) for years now. I dabbled in Paleo too here and there, doing a Whole 30 every now and then. But the thing these diets have in common is a lot of meat.

Then I look at my cat, or someone's dog, and I think "What makes this animal different from a cow, chicken or turkey? Why does this animal deserve my love more than other animals?" And I have a moral dilemma.

So I've been wondering if I could do it. If I could slowly make the transition to vegetarian, or even (gasp) vegan?

I've started with research. I haven't changed anything in my diet yet. I'm still following standard 21 Day Fix meal plans (tightening up on those this weekend, by the way, but that's another post).

I guess my next steps are going to be to try to replace meat with non-animal products. I'm not going to cut out dairy immediately... (because OMG I love cheese!) but I will start with the substitutions listed in the 21DayFix guide. I'm also switching to Vegan Chocolate Shakeology, which will not be that big a deal I'm sure. I already drink Shakeology, just now without any animal products (mostly dairy/whey protein)

I'm telling you all this because I plan to document it all here.

Now, there was a time when I was a raw vegan. I felt really healthy, and my skin was amazing. I did it as long as I could, but the biggest problems were 1) food was really expensive and 2) I spent all my time in the kitchen. So this time, I would like to avoid those problems and hopefully be a little more successful. I have considered starting off with the 21 day Ultimate Reset, but that would be more of a crash course/sudden "OK I'M 100% VEGAN NOW!" and not at all gradual, so I may wait until I have transitioned a little more. Plus, on the Reset you're not supposed to workout strenuously, and since I see myself doing either 21 Day Fix or 21 Day Fix Extreme for the foreseeable future, that's me out.

Have any of you successfully transitioned to a vegetarian or vegan diet? Do you have any tips? I would love to hear them...