Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Hi there. This is my first post ever. I’m in for the 2021 Weigh Loss group. I find this forum very complex to use but I’ll do my best. I’ve been sorta following the program for a while now and have lost 16 lbs. The group support sounds great.

kiminredbluff wrote:Hi there. This is my first post ever. I’m in for the 2021 Weigh Loss group. I find this forum very complex to use but I’ll do my best. I’ve been sorta following the program for a while now and have lost 16 lbs. The group support sounds great.

Hi! Please review the Orientation Materials, and follow the directions therein to register for the group. Thanks!

Starting weight 222.2

Restarting today. I think my last post was back in Oct. Have been struggling with activity and snacking far too much. Ready to get back to better habits.


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. No
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. I'm pretty good here
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).Have had a little dairy in the last couple of months
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).I have been a nutaholic lately
6. Eliminate any added oil.Pretty compliant here
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.Let's not talk about this one and just move forward
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).Had a few holiday coffees
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Well I can only move forward from here. I have removed the offending snacks and vegan convenience foods from the house. I have also prepped some oatmeal and potatoes to have on hand as well as a veggie soup. These things seemed to work for me before. I'm hoping that getting being here and logging in every week will help me be accountable for activity and what I'm eating.

I have spent an hour in the Orientation materials and I thought I had registered. I’m hoping I get the hang of this forum. Thank you.

Orange bird, thank you for replying and encouraging me.

kiminredbluff wrote:I have spent an hour in the Orientation materials and I thought I had registered. I’m hoping I get the hang of this forum. Thank you.

You're all set.

Weight change +/- in lbs: +0.1

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 7 days
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. 7 days
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. eliminated sugar and reduced salt
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). had trouble with this on three days
6. Eliminate any added oil. 3 troublesome days
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.3 troublesome days
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).no problem
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. went beyond full on those 3 days
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). because of the ice and cold I started back at the gym for my 3 mile walks. I did get outside once when it was warmer. I walk for 3 miles on five days and do other exercises almost daily

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: As I look back at last week's habit tracker I see 2 days that are blank and one day that I tracked that wasn't a good day as far as eating. Last Sunday, Tues., Wed., and Thursday went really well. Tuesday is a day I will keep in my mind for a long time. I was at the grocery store and had a very intense urge to get something sweet and rich. they have single serving desserts in the bakery section and I pass by them when getting bread for my husband. I hesitated and thought about it. "No one will know.....it is only one time....one last time and I will be perfect !" Those were the voices I heard and started paying attention to until I had a thought.." I wonder how long it will take for these urges to go away. I wonder if they taper off or just stop.
How will I feel if I don't have those things that tempt me? " Well, I put both hands on my shopping cart and went to the check out and then home. I gritted my teeth and after 40 minutes that feeling had tapered off and was almost gone. I also just thought about my oatmeal breakfast that I would have when home. I love my oatmeal ! A couple hours later I felt so happy and free ! I made the right decision ! I can do it again ! That cram circuit feels powerful but it isn't. All those voices are lies ! When those urges show themselves again (and they will) I must again be curious and set a timer in my mind. I bet those voices will fade quicker and hopefully go away .

Sorry about this length of this but maybe someone else can be helped as I am sure I am not the only one that this happens to.

See you next week !
-squealcat (Marilyn)

Weight change - .6 lbs.

1) Start each meal with soup/salad/fruit. 4/7
2) Follow the 50/50 plate. Yes
3) Reduce or eliminate sugars/salts. 4/7
4) Eliminate animal foods 4/7
5) Eliminate higher fat plant foods. 6/7
6) Eliminate oil. Yes
7) Eliminate higher calorie-dense foods. 4/7
8 ) Don’t drink your calories. Yes
9) Eating when hungry and stop when full. Yes
10) 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. 6/7

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: It's been a rough couple of weeks but hanging in there and working on improvements. I was not whole food plant based before starting in July 2020. I had spent 2 years reading books and watching videos and was convinced in my head that it was the healthiest way to eat but had only been able to stick to it for a week before going back to eating animal products. My husband is not wfpb although he will eat an occasional wfpb meal. I batch cook for me and make him something extra on the side.

So the past 2 months, I have been drawn back into eating an occasional animal product - enough to derail me for a few days before coming to my senses. Even tho I am off my blood pressure meds ( my goal), I have an appt. with Dr. next Tuesday to make sure my blood pressure stayed down enough to not have to resume the meds. That is what has kept me from giving up entirely. I would say 60% of the recipes I have tried are not enjoyable to me. But I keep trying new recipes.

I was just trying to put together a chart so I can check the 10 boxes at every meal to increase my compliance. I fear I am addicted to food. I thought it was sugar but found out from this experience that it is harder to give up the fats, esp. butter. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Gina

Weight change +/- in lbs: +2

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit — 90%
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert — 80%
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them — 90%
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood) — 100%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy) — 80%
6. Eliminate any added oil — 90%
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit — 90%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages) — 90%
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself — 100%
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking) — 100%

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: OK, starting new year and I am going to do better. I really really love salmon and tofu, but I am going to drop them, at least until I get to my goal weight. I lost 25 pounds last year, I can do it again. I really don’t know how to eat my air fry french fries without salt or other condiment. Just plain potatoes is well yucky.

jkcook wrote: I really don’t know how to eat my air fry french fries without salt or other condiment. Just plain potatoes is well yucky.

@jkcook I can relate to this. I don’t use salt or added sugar either, but I like my easy homemade ketchup to dip fries into. Maybe something like that would work for you.

Goose

177.6 Weight change +/- in lbs: -1.2 pounds

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. YES except Christmas
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). YES except Christmas
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES except Christmas and one night takeout
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. YES except Christmas
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES except Christmas night
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: All in all I am very happy with my continued progress. On Christmas I ate my Christmas morning cinnamon rolls and I ate a few cookies and some vegan ice cream pie, but I maintained 1, 2 and 8 and stayed strong at 10 all week. I also had one night of takeout with my husband but I got a mostly compliant meal and was happy with it. I think this week taught me that I can make mistakes and just get it right the next meal, every choice is a new one. I am so grateful for this group as it really helps me stay strong. When I started in October I had no idea I’d still be doing it into the new year, but I’m so blessed to have found this group. Happy New Year everyone!

Hi! I would like to join this group for January. I've read through everything and am ready to to give it a go!

Happy New Year all!

Weight change +/- in lbs: + 0.8 lbs.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. Ate out-- it had sugar and salt in the meal.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Eliminate any added oil. Take out had added oil.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Had a water leak inside the house so things were a little crazy and we ordered take out for a few meals. Tried to order healthy options but I am sure they had salt, sugar, oil, etc. Leak is fixed - repairs to come later. Things are settling down but the thumbs down are for eating out and not exercising everyday.
Was feeling like I needed to take stock of my year to get refocused. My first post was in April of 2020 and have lost a total of 12.6 pounds. I went from a BMI of 25 to a BMI of 23 and I lost enough weight that I had to shop for new clothes. Even with setbacks over the year, I have continued to loose weight. It has been slow but for the first time I feel I am developing a lifestyle I can live with and learning tools that help me to navigate the bumpy patches. This week we ate out several times, but I learned to choose better options than I have in the past. My goal for this next year is to find that groove and learn how to stay in it despite what is happening around me. My goal for this next week is to prep my food this weekend in batches so I am ready ...soup, rice, quinoa, potatoes and big batch of beans.
Hope everyone has a great week, and if you don't ...stick with the program anyway. Slow and steady.

jnc wrote:Hi! I would like to join this group for January. I've read through everything and am ready to to give it a go!

Welcome to the group!

jan_npr

I have to say your honesty and the way you responded to the MWL principles gave me a chuckle. thanks for that!