Here are the results to my Lose 5 Pounds in 31 Days Plan:  I lost 3 pounds!  Yay!  I'm happy with that result.  The plan that I came up with was just a motivator to keep me on track and continue the effort of losing weight so that I can reach my goal weight...and I'm 2 pounds away from that!  I lost 3 pounds in one month and didn't even work hard to do it.  I exercised maybe a total of 10 days out of 31 days, something I'm not proud of, but am working to improve every day.  I DO, however, keep active all day, doing housework, errands, miscellaneous chores, etc.  That actually counts, as far as burning calories. 

I ate an average of 1500 calories each day (some days 1600 or 1700, and other days 1300, 1400, but on average 1500 a day), and still lost 3 pounds in 31 days!!!  I DIDN'T starve myself!

What really helped me lose weight easily is continuing to follow a plant-based diet, eating whole foods (foods that are from the ground, tree, or vine) and NO processed foods!  The closest thing to processed foods I ate this past month is half a loaf of Udi's Gluten Free Millet and Chia Seed Bread (and I won't be getting a new loaf in a while because I want to stop using jam, and you know you have to have jam on bread!)   http://udisglutenfree.com/products/millet-chia-bread/

A recent article I read stated that whole, unprocessed foods take more energy to digest, so in essence, I'm burning more calories just by eating a healthful diet!  Processed foods have already done the work for you, by being so processed and denatured, your body doesn't have to do much to digest them, so you don't burn as many calories in the process.  The article went on to state that they gave people the same amount of calories in either candy or nuts to snack on, and the people who ate nuts only gained 1/3 the amount of weight as the people who ate the candy.

Here's a list of things I've been eating:

Amy's gluten free bean and rice burritos   http://www.amys.com/products/product-detail/gluten-free/000352

Sunshine Burgers (burgers made out of sunflower seeds, brown rice, carrots, spices)   http://www.sunshineburger.com/products/garden-herb-veggieburger/

vegan protein powder  http://myvega.com/

whey protein powder

unsweetened almond milk

unsweetened flax milk (only 25 calories)

raw mixed nuts

dry roasted mixed nuts

walnuts and dried cranberries

chia seeds

home-made baked sweet potato fries

no-salt-added frozen crinkle cut fries from Whole Foods Market frozen section

100% cranberry juice

coconut water

my veggie soup:  organic carrots, organic celery, ORGANIC KALE, organic tomato soup, mini heirloom tomatoes (with or without beans or lentils)

organic tomato soup http://figfood.com/

avocados

organic spinach

organic celery

green peas

raw almonds

raw almond butter

mini heirloom tomatoes from Trader Joes

bananas

blueberries (you can get a huge bag of frozen blueberries from Target!)

organic apples

cherries

dates

carrot juice

unpasteurized orange juice from Trader Joe's

occasional Omega 3 eggs, but I'm thinking about going fully vegan!

garbanzo beans

white navy beans

red lentils

brown rice

roasted seaweed snack from Trader Joes

Lemon Larabars http://www.larabar.com/products/larabar

Dark Chocolate Berry Pure Organics Bar http://thepurebar.com/pure-products/pure-organic/dark-chocolate-berry/   (This is to die for!  Very tasty!)

I now have two more pounds to lose to reach my goal weight by the end of September (my new goal).  I'll keep you posted.