DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Share your McDougall successes here in order to inspire others.

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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:01 am

LIndsey - sorry, I meant to translate swede for you! Thanks for that :-) Haha, yes I watched Gamechangers and had a similar reaction.

Weight is holding steady which I'm happy with at this time of year. Navigated an outdoors Xmas social gathering pretty well but ended up eating too much of the dessert. I had a main course and dessert that were vegan but calorie dense and the dessert was too easy to keep nibbling..... Am continuing to track food using the 10 point Regular Program checklist which I'm finding helpful. Also did a couple of days weighing food and entering details into MyFitnessPal which was instructive. How easy it is to go overboard on fat content with just a few packaged items!.....

For those of you that are having celebratory meals this week/next week what are you cooking?

Best wishes to all and Happy Hannukah for this week and Happy Christmas for next week to all who are celebrating!

Sue xx
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Starchyme » Fri Dec 18, 2020 8:13 pm

Hi, all. First time I've posted in quite awhile. But I'm happy to report December 12th was the second year anniversary of my reaching my goal weight. As a matter of fact I'm 10 lbs below that. I am proud to say I'm a very happy McDougaller!
Happy McDougalling!
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Sun Dec 20, 2020 5:57 am

Hi Starchyme!

Wonderful news - congratulations on your 2 year anniversary and on being 10 pounds below goal weight! :D
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:04 am

Hello,

Sue I’m planning to cook a chickpea spinach tart a new recipe so I will let you know how it tastes. I thought it looked pretty and I didn’t feel like doing a lentil loaf. Also making a chocolate pumpkin pie that will have some oil in it so not compliant.

This week was good. Got a lot of walking in and ate lots of veggie soup and fries. Went sledding with the kids which was fun and enjoyed taking in some Christmas lights.

Made a big batch of refried pinto beans which I freeze in clumps on a cookie sheet so I can bag them and just remove a small portion at a time.

Hard to believe how quickly this month has gone. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.

Erin
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:22 am

Sue - The New York Times has a winter vegetable soup recipe that is very similar with turnips that is blended. I keep running into a paywall, though, so I need to circumnavigate that (or finally pay the subscription). Well done on doing your best at social gatherings, those are notoriously difficult to navigate. I’ve used MyFitnessPal in the past. Have you tried Cronometer?

Starchyme - Great to hear from you! Excellent update. Congratulations on your 2 years!!

Erin - The tart sounds good, please let us know how it turns out. We had a bit of snow here, too, and got some sledding done as well. Enjoy your holidays!

This past week Dr. McDougall posted a COVID Update. It’s always good to hear from him! I’m looking forward to a more in-depth review of the COVID-19 vaccine. His discussion of how he has formed his opinions regarding other vaccines was good to hear, because his recommendations are science-based.

There is a lot going on in my personal life. My husband and are are divorcing, and a couple weeks ago I moved into my dad’s house temporarily while we figure out details (my dad is at his winter home, so this worked out nicely). Unfortunately, the stove is leaking gas and can’t be fixed until after Christmas. I’m going to do some batch cooking at my mom’s today so we have food to reheat. With the changes this past couple weeks we ended up getting food out, so my current goal is just to maintain weight through this week and then focus on the fine tuning after the holiday. We are doing a Christmas Eve dinner with my mom and sister (they are part of our “bubble”), so that can be a little tricky to navigate, but I’m planning on bringing a couple dishes to share, which should keep off-plan eating to a minimum. What are you guys planning?

Happy Holidays everyone!
Lindsey
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Daydream » Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:39 pm

Lindsey, I'm so sorry to hear you are divorcing. I know that has to be extremely stressful. I'm sending you virtual hugs!

My husband and I don't have any special plans for the holidays. I take care of our 2 young grandsons for our daughter and her husband while they work during the week so we will see them (they are temporarily living with us). Unfortunately, we won't be able to see our two sons due to social distancing. They work in higher covid risk areas and they won't risk possibly bringing the virus to us. I'm deeply saddened at what the pandemic has done to our country. It certainly is a strange time for everyone.
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby victw » Sun Dec 20, 2020 8:08 pm

I'm still around. I won't be able to weigh for a couple of weeks.

My last week was good. Lots of homemade food. I did make the dill pickle soup. Not a repeater. But good. I like potato soup - and this was a good twist.

We are on the road. Trying to keep our heads down. Mostly visiting National Parks. Food is getting a little tricky - but we are eating vegetables.

Vicki
11/1/19 Sloppy - 137.6/21.55
1/1/19 Still maintaining - 134.8/21.11
10/12/18 Maintenance wt - 136.4 BMI 21.36
5/6/18 151.8 lbs 23.8 - Normal. 4/8/18 154.6 lbs BMI 24.2 - Normal. 3/11/18 161 BMI 25.2 Overweight.
3 years staying on plan is the goal.
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Mon Dec 21, 2020 7:40 am

Hello,

Erin - the chickpea spinach tart sounds very good, if it turns out well, I'd love to have the recipe please! Glad you had a good week; how lovely to be sledding with the kids and enjoying the lights - sounds very Christmassy!

Lindsey - so sorry to hear that you are getting divorced, I understand how difficult that can be. Sending you a big virtual hug! It's good that you have support from your family. What dishes are you planning to make for the Christmas Eve dinner? No I havent tried Cronometer? What do you think of it?

Vicki - glad you had a good week. Never made a potato soup so will add that to the list to try. Visiting National Parks sounds fun. What's happening on the food front? Are you able to find shops OK while you are travelling?

Daydream - strange time indeed. Sad that you won't get to see your sons but as you say better not to risk bringing the virus to you.

We aren't really planning any special meals for this week. As we are near the coast in Spain, my husband and I are hoping to do a walk and take a picnic to the beach on Christmas Day. In the UK we live a long way from the coast (well as far as you can get on a small island :lol:) so this will be something different! If we were in the UK we wouldn't be able to see family anyway as our area has gone into a very strict lockdown due to increasing Covid infection rates. Apparently there is a new strain of the virus which seems to be easier to transmit. Some of my family have recently tested positive, but only have mild symptoms.

Best wishes to all for a safe and peaceful week, Sue xx
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:54 am

Daydream - Thank you for the well wishes. That is so nice that you will be able to some of your family this holiday, hopefully you’ll be able to reunite with your sons soon. Here’s to looking forward to next year!

Vicki - Thanks for the soup review. What parks are you visiting? Staying down south in the warmer areas? If you make it over to Indiana, I’m always up for meeting fellow McDougallers (socially distanced with masks, of course)! Enjoy your travels.

Sue - Thanks for the hug. Your plans for Christmas sound absolutely lovely. I had heard about the new strain of COVID, gosh this pandemic has had it’s twists and turns! Actually get a vaccine, then the darn thing mutates and becomes more contagious. Sorry to hear your family has caught it, hopefully they recover quickly.

I’m making a couple repeat recipes of Thanksgiving for Christmas, stuffed acorn squash and roasted brussel sprouts. Happy solstice everyone! It’s the longest night of the year. Here is to brighter days ahead.
Lindsey
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Mon Dec 21, 2020 12:45 pm

Lindsey, hugs from me also. Glad you have family support in a difficult time.

Sue, I have used MyFitnessPal for the last 6 years, every Friday I record my weight. I also have used it to enter a recipe from scratch or to import from a website. I only do this very sporadically if I am interested in nutritional breakdown or number of calories per serving. I also use Cronometer from time to time. Usually to compare nutritional values of various foods. Mostly I just eat when hungry and repeat. :D

Vicki, enjoy your travels.

Daydream, I so agree with you. I keep praying this pandemic will end, humans are meant to be together, I miss my friends.

I discovered Dr. McDougall 6 years ago while listening to the radio. I thought it was a good time to do a quick review of my weight progress. Wanted to share my history in case it should provide some insight to others. Below is a breakdown of each year with starting and ending weights. Interestingly, in the 3rd year I had a small gain. Which just reiterates to me that this is a process.
Year 1 2015 141 - 122
Year 2 2016 122 - 113
Year 3 2017 113 - 116
Year 4 2018 116 - 112
Year 5 2019 112 - 107
Year 6 2020 107 - 105

Erin
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Plumerias » Mon Dec 21, 2020 7:55 pm

Deck the homes with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la. Holly, abundant here and often a tree, is just one of the many plants used to decorate the homes in our neighborhood. There are so many evergreens and other plants with cheery red berries that people have cut and fashioned into wreaths, swags, garlands, baskets and jingle bell fillers. It's really quite lovely. Sure, there are many that are doubtless professionally made, but I think my favorites are the ones that allow me to paint a picture in my mind of a family working together to make those that are not so completely symmetrical, with bows that look like they were difficult to fashion, especially for little fingers. And that's not all here either...... they even decorate the trees. No, I don't mean the ones in the house, I mean the now leafless ones in the yards. From small inch 'round ornaments on an azalea and wee Japanese maple, to appropriately sized ones on large trees, there are so many! They're all securely fastened, I've seen nary a broken one. It's delightful!

It's about time here for the "Christmas Star", the planetary conjunction. Sadly, it's still raining, so we won't see it. I really hope some of you in times zones ahead of me were more fortunate!

Okay, let me catch up. My winter blues tendencies are showing themselves, and I'm not generally chatty when that happens, so apologies for my absence.

Lindsey, I'm so sorry. Hugs from here too.

You said you were looking for more soups that are not bean based. Does that mean no beans, or just not as the starring ingredient? What about lentils, whole or split? This is my favorite cookbook this time of the year, although my copyright is older. If you don't have it, see if you can borrow it from the library to see if you like it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001N ... tkin_p1_i1

Did you find Christmas cookies to make with the kids?

Sue, considering the latest developments in the UK, I'm guessing you're extra glad you're already there and had not planned to go back for the holiday. Yikes!

Don't get you started on Brexit?! Good grief, do you even have any reliable information yet? Ah, sighing, a picnic at the beach for Christmas sounds just wonderful. Depending on produce availability this week, we're thinking of making lemon rice, a couple of vegetable dishes, and some cranberry chutney for Christmas.

Erin, how do you use those frozen refried pinto bean clumps? Samosa bites?

Starchyme, congrats on that anniversary.

Hello Daydream.

Years ago when we were here in the RV we ate at a restaurant called Laughing Planet Cafe. I had a wonderful burrito that included sweet potatoes and plantains. It's something I've wanted to experience again, but of course that cannot happen at present. Oh, and it's not on their menus right now anyways. However, yippie, hubby found this: https://foxflat.wordpress.com/2010/10/2 ... to-remake/ We tweaked it to suit us, and it was delicious. In fact, there is another pair of plantains in the ripening basket so we can use up the rest of the lavash he made before it gets freezer old.

Although there are some leftovers to be had, there was some rice in the fridge that really needed to be used sooner rather than later. Once again, clean out the fridge to the rescue..... fried rice. A chunk of this and that, partial packages, etc. And once again we had that discussion...... isn't is just really nice to be able to cook? To just grab stuff like that and have a good meal. And again we wondered about all the people who cannot, who depend on restaurants to feed them, how difficult that must be now. The last time we ate in a restaurant was February 27th, Sweet Tomatoes in Henderson, outside of Las Vegas, on our cross country relocation journey. It was fitting, but little did we know it was goodbye to our favorite restaurant option.

As we spent a number of Christmases in Hawaii when we were working, it is our custom to wish you all Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sun Dec 27, 2020 8:45 am

Plumerias, to use the refried beans I just heat them up add some salsa and either use as a dip or spread on a tortilla.

If you want to make the chickpea tart just google Dreena Burtons Festive Chickpea Tart. It turned out okay, but was a bit too sour. That was likely because I used frozen cranberries chopped up instead of dried. I didn’t use a shell. It was also a bit dry, could use a flax egg to get it to hold together better. It was a pretty dish with the hints of green and red.

I’m glad Christmas eatIng is done now. I’m having a craving for sweet potato fries so will make some later today.

Erin
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Mon Dec 28, 2020 8:40 am

Erin - thanks for sharing your weight progress - well done on 6 years of McDougalling! So interesting to see how your weight has reduced over time. Do you notice any differences over the years? Have you become more compliant or made other changes over that time? If you'd like to connect on MyFitnessPal, my userid is the same as here. I downloaded Cronometer but then figured I couldn't be bothered to create another user account. :eek: Do you think if offers any advantages over MyFitnessPal? I use it for recording my weight most days and only very occasionally record my food to check nutrients, fat percentages or calories.

Plumerias - yes I'm very glad that we are here! Re: the B word, they have approved a trade deal on Xmas Eve so assuming that gets agreed by respective parliaments it will be in place for 1st Jan. We are starting to get more information, but I'm very relived not to be in business at the moment as there will be a lot of extra red tape. You paint a beautiful picture of all the Xmas decorations made from plants! We were lucky to have a clear sky so we could see the Christmas Star/saturn and jupiter conjunction and it was a special moment.

Thanks for sharing your festive meals! We did go to the beach and took some bulgur with roasted veggies, hummus and tomato sandwiches and some satsumas. My husband had a quick swim in the sea but I stayed in some warm clothes as there was a cool breeze. In the evening we had some root veg and barley soup from the freezer with boiled potatoes and spinach. Brussel sprouts are a traditional Xmas Day veg in our family and one of the few veg that I don't like. I eat one each Christmas in case my taste buds have changed and it was good to keep up that tradition this year! Perhaps I ought to try roasting them next year like you Lindsey!

Image

This morning I started to consider what my goals might be for 2021 and then quickly realised that that is waaaaay too big a question and too long a timescale for me to deal with at the moment......There are one or two areas where I think I can make some improvements in my McDougalling, for example, after dinner snacking, so I'm going to work on that for the next couple of weeks. I have a couple of strategies that I'm going to try. Firstly, asking myself whether I'm actually hungry or not. (Mostly I'm not hungry, just bored or listening to the siren calls of rich foods!) If I’m hungry then I'll reach for a piece of fruit. I recently noticed how filling a satsuma or apple can be when eaten after dinner! Secondly, moving myself out of the vicinity of the rich foods. The apartment has an open plan living area and when I'm sat on the sofa. And if I'm not hungry then I will try not to have anything. I am within arm's reach of food. I'm going to try moving myself to a different room and / or different activities. Oh and thirdly, I will watch of Doug Lisle's Cram Circuit video again.

How about anyone else? Are you setting any goals for next year/shorter periods?

Best wishes, Sue x
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Tue Dec 29, 2020 10:55 am

Sue, not sure I notice the difference each year other than I enjoy the food and how great I feel a little more the longer I eat this way. I would say yes my compliance gets a bit stronger each year. I tend to follow several health blogs and such so I’m reading health related articles often. I consume less alcohol than in prior years. I believe reading about how it damages health has influenced my choice to consume it. I only used MyFitnessPal to track weight and for recipes. If it can give nutritional breakdowns when you want it then I don’t think you need Cronometer. I know what you mean creating all these user accounts is annoying sometimes.

Thanks for pointing out how filling fruit can be. I haven’t been reaching for fruit as often as I should. The one goal I am contemplating is zero dairy for 2021. Not that I have it often, but I will occasionally eat chocolate or a dessert that does have dairy. I was reading a few journal entries and a people were talking about how they never consume meat as they can literally see the suffering on the plate. I am never tempted by meat, but dairy seems to be hidden in baked goods so I can ignore it more easily. I want to get to the point where I never have any dairy, just like I never have any meat. I’m trying to figure out how to achieve that mental resolve. Is anyone in the same boat as me where meat is an absolute No, but diary is consumed rarely?

Erin
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Re: DECEMBER 2020 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Fri Jan 01, 2021 8:54 pm

Erin - Thanks for posting your yearly weights. I found it very comforting to see the little ups and downs over the years. You have had a very steady downward trend overall. What did you think your end weight would be when you started this journey? Also, the chickpea tart recipe looks great. Thanks for the tips and tricks. I wonder if it would work in a loaf pan as well. You bring up a really good point about the “hidden” foods, like dairy. I am in the same boat, having been vegetarian for 23 years, meat is an easy no, but it is easier to turn a blind eye to dairy when it is mixed in with chocolate.

Plumerias - We had the same predicament, clouds blocked our view of the planets. That cookbook looks great, I’ll see if my local library has it! I appreciate the recommendation. What a lovely remembrance of Sweet Tomatoes.

Sue - I haven’t used MyFitnessPal in a while, but I know that Cronometer will let you adjust specific nutrients (Jeff has written about a few) to align with his way of eating. Your Christmas sounds lovely, and I’m glad to hear all the end-of-year politics are not getting in the way of a good time (we’re having a fair amount of it here, too). How long are you planning on staying in Spain?

We had a lovely Christmas, all things considered. I’ve really struggled with my eating (again) with being relocated and holidays on top fo that and seem to have gained back everything I had just lost. Ugh. My BMI is 21.4, so definitely not disastrous, but also not where it needs to be. Well, now is a good time to tackle it (again).
Lindsey
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My pregnancy journal: Maybe a Baby 2017
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