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MEET THE KROCKS: We are a married couple who started on a life-changing whole food, plant-based weight loss journey in June 2018. To date, we have lost over 335 pounds combined and we aren’t done yet! Read Our Story
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It has been two years since we started this weight loss adventure and just over one year since we started Krocks In The Kitchen. We’ve had a lot of new subscribers join our little community recently and we thought it was time for a bit of a recap!
We realize it can be difficult to dig through a year’s worth of videos, so hopefully this video and post will answer some of your questions and direct you towards additional videos with more information.
NOTE: We are not doctors or nutrition experts. You should consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet. READ MORE >
We’re going to start out with one of our favorite topics… POTATOES. We often get associated with eating potatoes, but the truth is, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s dig in…
POTATO DIET FAQ
1. Did you really lose weight by only eating potatoes?
Yes, we did! We ate nothing but plain baked potatoes for TWO full weeks back in June/July 2018. Some people seem to think that we ate potatoes for an entire year or two, but that is definitely not the case!
2. Why on Earth did you eat plain baked potatoes for two weeks?
We were inspired by Ray Cronise (aka CrayRay, co-author of The Healthspan Solution) and his work with Penn Jillette, as outlined in Penn’s book Presto. We figured if Penn could lose 100 pounds starting out this way, we could too!
3. What kind of potatoes did you eat?
If it was a potato, we could eat it. Russet, red, Yukon gold, fingerling, sweet (even though they aren’t actually potatoes)… it didn’t matter. As long as it was plain, we could eat it – nothing added, nothing taken away.
4. But why were the potatoes plain?
Why not? We are crazy and needed something drastic to help us transition to this new lifestyle. Eating plain potatoes for two weeks helped us “cleanse our palates” and draw a line between our old and new way of eating. If you really want to go down this path, you can learn more by reading Presto, but honestly, potatoes are not required to do what we’ve done. Remember, we are not experts, so be sure to consult with one before you make any drastic changes!
5. What did you drink during your two weeks of potatoes?
I drank plain water and Brian drank iced tea without sugar.
6. Getting back to the weight loss… how much did you actually lose during those two weeks?
After two weeks of eating nothing but plain potatoes, Brian lost 25 pounds and I lost 20. We are sorry we did not say that in our first video. We didn’t know what we were doing. 😂
7. Okay, can you stop talking about potatoes now?
Yes! We’ve already done a ton of videos on this topic, so feel free to check these out for more information:
800 Pound Couple Tries Potato Diet For 2 Weeks
What We Learned From Eating Two Weeks of Potatoes
One Year After Potato Diet: Former 800 Pound Couple Gets Emotional Eating Plain Potatoes
Q&A: Two Week Potato Diet (Inspired by Penn Jillette)
Baked Potato Throwdown: Russet vs. Yukon Gold vs. Red vs. Sweet Potato
300 Pounds Down: Former 800 Pound Couple Reacts To Their 2 Week Potato Diet Video
To recap: We only ate plain potatoes for two weeks. During those two weeks, we lost 45 pounds (20 for me and 25 for Brian). You do NOT need to eat potatoes to switch to a whole food, plant-based diet. It was just the crazy thing that first got our attention and led us to this lifestyle!
Now that we are done with potatoes, let’s get into how we actually changed our lifestyle and lost all of this weight!
WHOLE FOOD PLANT-BASED DIET FAQ
1. What did you do after potatoes?
The next day after the two weeks of potatoes, we switched to a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) diet.
2. But what specifically did you do?
We started out by following the guidelines from the “Six-Week Plan” as outlined on page 216 of the 2011 paperback edition of Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.
3. Why did you pick Eat To Live and not one of the other WFPB diets?
Honestly? We didn’t know they existed at the time. We didn’t know ANYTHING about a plant-based diet when we started, let alone a “whole food” plant-based diet. We were literally just trying to follow in the path CrayRay had Penn Jillette on as best we could.
During our “potato time,” I kept busy researching everything I could about what Penn did after he finished his two weeks. The best answer I came up with was a “Nutritarian” diet as described in Eat To Live. So we decided to do that.
4. What is a whole food, plant-based diet?
According to Forks Over Knives, a whole-food, plant-based diet is based on the following principles:
Whole food describes natural foods that are not heavily processed. That means whole, unrefined, or minimally refined ingredients.
Plant-based means food that comes from plants and doesn’t include animal ingredients such as meat, milk, eggs, or honey.
Read more on the Forks Over Knives website.
5. What is this “Six-Week Plan” you keep talking about?
The “Six-Week Plan” from Eat To Live includes three categories: things you can eat an unlimited amount of, things you need to limit and things that are completely off-limits. In the beginning, we stuck to those guidelines as closely as possible.
6. What did you do after six weeks?
We continued the “Six-Week Plan” much longer than six weeks. Even to this day, it is still a part of what we do to lose weight. Some people only need six weeks to get to their weight loss goal, but obviously we had a LOT of extra pounds to shed.
7. Are you still following the “Six-Week Plan”?
Yes and no. Since we literally knew NOTHING about this way of eating, we needed structure when we started. The “Six-Week Plan” provided that. After learning so much over the past two years, we have adapted the plan to fit our lives. We don’t follow all of the “Nutritarian” guidelines by ANY means. Over time, we have each learned how much we can eat of certain things to still lose weight. Our focus has shifted to just following a whole food, plant-based diet as closely as possible without driving ourselves completely nuts over too many small details.
8. What do you actually eat?
Well, we are glad you asked! The food that you see in our videos is the food we actually eat. One of our meals each day is generally a massive salad. We’ve actually made several “What We Eat In A Day” videos, which you can watch here! These will give you a better idea of what we actually eat.
Here are some of our favorite (and most popular) recipes:
Super Smoky Oil Free Hummus
Weekly Salad Prep Guide
Our Favorite “Weird Green Soup”
Four Super Simple Breakfast Ideas
Brian’s Super Tasty Vegan Chili
Smoky Herb-Crusted Tofu
Jessica’s Daily Salad For Weight Loss
Spicy Buffalo-Style Chickpeas
Jessica’s Super Chocolatey “Nice” Cream Shake
Check out our full Recipe Playlist for more! Brian is always coming up with something new.
9. Do you count calories?
No. We eat until we are satisfied and then move on.
10. Do you exercise?
Not really. We do go on walks to stay active, but we do not have a formal exercise plan. Our weight loss has been based solely on changing what we eat. We plan to incorporate more exercise after we lose the weight.
11. Are you still losing weight?
Yes! We are both still losing weight.
12. What are your current weights and how much have you lost?
We started at 799 pounds combined. We currently weigh a combined 460 pounds, for a total loss of 339. Brian started at 514 pounds and he is down to 310, for a total loss of 204 pounds so far. Jessica started at 285 and is down to 150, for a total loss of 135 pounds.
13. What is that app you used in the 2 Year Weigh-In video?
We track our weights using a RENPHO Smart Scale, which has a corresponding app. The scale connects to our phones via bluetooth and records our weights (along with a bunch of other information). You can use the app to review charts of all of the information as well.
14. What are your “goal” weights?
Brian doesn’t have a goal weight. I am still trying to figure mine out, but I want to lose at least 10 more pounds.
15. Is there anything else we need to know?
There is a lot more information! This video and post are just the most basic questions. We have made a ton of videos and I know it can be overwhelming trying to figure out where to start. Here are a few that I recommend checking out first:
How We Lost 270 Pounds: Our Whole Food Plant Based Weight Loss Journey
Q&A Session: Our 290 Pound Weight Loss Journey
Weight Loss Attempts That Didn’t Work (For Us!)
Q&A: Weight Loss Update, Loose Skin, Advice on Going Plant-Based + More!
Top Ten Tips For Switching To A Whole Food, Plant-Based Vegan Diet
Q&A with Ray Cronise & Julieanna Hever – Part 1: Introduction to The Healthspan Solution
Q&A with CrayRay & Julieanna (Part 2) Goal Weight, Metabolism, Potato Diet, Protein, Vegan Junk Food
Q&A with The Krocks: “Cheat” Foods, Fasting, Stress Eating, Going Organic, Children + More!
16. But what about PEEF?
What about him? 🤔
Okay, fine… here is everything you need to know.
BONUS!
If you are new to our channel and want to learn more about us (Jessica & Brian), check out these videos:
Q&A: Ten Personal Questions With The Krocks
The Story of Our Relationship & How Weight Loss Has Impacted Our Marriage
Ten “Weird” Things You Probably Don’t Know About Us
My Life With Anxiety: How Weight Loss Helped (But Wasn’t Enough)
Thank you for joining us for this recap! I know many of you probably have even more questions, so feel free to leave them in the comments of the video using #question and we will try to address them in a future Q&A video!
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RENPHO Bluetooth Smart Scale, Digital with Smartphone AppThe Healthspan Solution (by Ray Cronise & Julieanna Hever)
Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear & Other Magical Tales (by Penn Jillette)
Eat to Live (by Dr. Joel Fuhrman)
I’m really enjoying your channel!
Thanks Margaret!
Hi Jessica, just wanted to let you know about a new Doc Series starting soon. Dr Fuhrman forwarded info about it and thinking of you. It is a 9 part docuseries, called Finding Peace. It looks like it will be really good and the first showing is free and of course later you have to buy it. Here is the web link to register, not sure if it comes through on this message thingy or not but if it doesn’t just give me an email and I will forward Dr Fuhrman’s email letter to you.
https://findingwholehealth.com/?orid=145&opid=1&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=91576028&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8-p4sRDcXB4KnDxx6ZxwGsWnemua37US9P3bOd3a_QV0e4hLFP6D5JNi768DDzZXoPfoznTdUqV0fB3j7Lmb-xiTP_xQ&utm_content=91576028&utm_source=hs_email
Thank you, I am determined to make my plant based weight loss plan work . You are ready such a help and when I am battling I go to one of your videos
Once you meet your weight goals will you continue with your PBWF diet?
Thanks.
Yes!!
Thank you both so much for the time you put into your channel and blog – it is one of the best ways that i keep up my motivation and get new ideas to try for WFPB recipes! Your black bean soup recipe is amazing!! My husband has also decided to start making some dietary changes, and monitoring his progress i think would be a strong motivator for him!
However he is over 400 Ibs and i have been looking into a scale that can be accurate for that weight. We bought one that was supposed to have a high limit but have found for both of us it gives wildly inaccurate fluctuations, even for myself under 250 lbs, and stepping on and off only seconds apart.
Has the scale that you use and linked to on Amazon worked just fine for Brian? The maximum weight is listed at 396!
This is the one Brian has used to weigh when he was over 400 pounds – https://amzn.to/3JdY814
I’ve watched several of tour videos and I am loving them! Thank you all so much for sharing your journey! I had a few questions (I know you all are busy so if you can’t respond I totally understand)
1. Were you all vegan or vegetarian prior to this major change?
2. Do you think this could be combined with a meat or seafood source once or twice per week and some dairy? I’m pregnant and just concerned about getting all of the protein/nutrients that I need for baby. I know a lot come from my prenatal vitamin, but protein isn’t supplied and I would rather have a food based iron source for better absorption.
3. Do you only eat organic? If not what things do you think are worth the organic price?
4. Do you have any budgeting tips for switching to plant based? I already know I tend to get the best deals on produce at Aldi, but is there anywhere else I should check out?
5. Besides water, what do you all drink? I’m asking most specifically about coffee I guess, do you drink it or just skip it?
Thank you all so much for your time!
Thank you for the comment!
1. Nope, we ate whatever was around before the switch.
2. We aren’t doctors or anything, but I know several people who are 95% WFPB and are doing great. But I would probably avoid dairy.
3. We do not eat organic unless the organic stuff is cheaper or if it is a specific item that we love but that also happens to be organic.
4. Just find the best deals you can. Jessica shops at multiple stores to find the best deals. But things like dry beans and rice are always going to be fairly cheap.
5. We are tea drinkers in this house. But Jessica primarily drinks water.
I hope this helps. 😀