Anyone who knows me knows how much milk I drink and steak I eat. It’s almost an addiction, to be quite honest. So when I was elected to become a vegan for a week, I had to mentally prepare for one of the toughest adventures of my entire life. Besides, I was a little curious to see what it’s like to live like a rabbit. Nevertheless, I set out on this ridiculous challenge.

Note: breakfast was always these vegan, grainy waffles. Not the best.

Day One: Already struggling to finish the day. Lunch consisted of a quinoa salad with red pepper, green onion, and a lime olive oil dressing. Dinner was a baked potato with (sadly) only vegan butter and pepper, along with a grilled corn salad with red peppers and onion. The cravings have already set in—I had a dream about a fat steak and a fully loaded baked potato.

Day Two: Almost forgot I was vegan, but then I looked in my refrigerator and wept for the lack of any dairy products. Being vegan is definitely harder than people make it out to be; I already want to quit by the second day. Lunch was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (everything was vegan—I triple checked, trust me). Dinner was Indian takeout: rice and curry (classic).

Day Three: I had to psych myself up to pull my vegan butt out of bed; it was almost a failure, but I made my way out of bed, telling myself that I only have five days left in this hell. Lunch was another miserable vegan peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an apple. Dinner was some (actually pretty good) vegan pasta and marinara sauce with an arugula salad.

Day Four: I already ran out of ideas of vegan things to eat that I would actually enjoy a little bit, so I almost had the exact same thing as Day Two, eating a lame and dry peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and some leftover Indian food for dinner (did not sit well, by the way). Morale is running low, but I tell myself that I only have a few days left and it makes me feel a little better.

Day Five: At this point I feel weak with the lust for meat. I almost quit here; my body actually feels weaker than usual (not a joke). Lunch was the quinoa salad I had on the first day. Dinner consisted of a grilled corn salad with peppers and onions that was actually quite good.

Day Six: This is where it all ended. My family was celebrating a belated Mother’s Day, and we went to John Howie Steak House. I couldn’t take the torture of just eating a plain salad while the rest of my family chowed down on the delicious, juicy steaks, so I caved. I order a fully-loaded, twice-baked, stuffed potato with an eight-ounce filet, topped with béarnaise (a sauce made with a lot of butter) and a large glass of milk. It was the best meal I’ve ever tasted in my entire seventeen years of life.

I learned many things from this torturous venture, the first being to not take the finer things for granted—you only know the true value of things when they’re gone, so try to appreciate what you have while you have it. I also learned that meat and dairy are just too good to give up, and I will never do so again.