"One of the first obstacles I ran into on the vegan diet was under-eating calories," he said. "I'm partially to blame, because I didn't prep well... for the first two weeks, I didn't have much of an appetite. I'm not a huge fan of just eating vegetables and rice and beans, so I didn't have tremendous portions, and because of that I was calorie-deficient."
Mike lost a few pounds during the 30 days, perhaps due to that initial calorie deficit, but said he didn't feel as lean, possibly due to the amount of pasta and rice he was eating. He also found that his overall sense of motivation suffered, as he was expending so much of his decision-making and willpower on keeping to the diet. "I was lifting strong and I felt good," he said. "When I went to the gym, I lifted fine... it was getting to the gym that was the problem."
Most embarrassingly, he recalled experiencing a lot of gas and bloating throughout the challenge (a commonly cited complaint among people who are trying the vegan diet for the first time).
"I don't generally recommend veganism as my first option," he says. "I do know it's a restrictive diet, and we know restrictive diets have a high failure rate. Plus the benefits of a vegan diet aren't that much better than some of the alternatives that are simpler to follow."
Overall, Mike tends to advise that his patients follow a "plant-focused" diet where they would get the majority of their calories from fruits and vegetables, with reasonable amounts of fish and lighter meats.