JANUARY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Share your McDougall successes here in order to inspire others.

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Re: JANUARY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Daynz1975 » Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:56 pm

Thank you for the welcomes!

Wow this last week has gone pretty quickly for me! Busy with life and work but still managing to eat 100% compliant on MWL. A quick snapshot of my day - wake at 4.45am and head out for a 1.5 hour walk/jog with my husband before work. We live in a hilly harbour side city so our walks consist of hills with some light jogging in places to get the heart rate up. Head to work at 7.20am, get home at 5.30pm and have dinner. Do usual chores (make lunches/washing/cleaning etc) and catch up on TV shows/YouTube videos before heading to bed at 8pm. Rinse and repeat for the weekdays and then in the weekend we usually do a longer walk, grocery shopping and catching up with family (both my children are young adults that no longer live at home).

It finally feels like summer here but we are known for being the Windy City in NZ and this summer we have definitely been living up to that name! The sea breezes (gales) certainly make the temperature drop but we've managed to have a few lovely sunny days interspersed with the colder days and this makes it more bearable! It's lovely today with only a slight breeze and I think it's supposed to be nice for the weekend. We have Monday off as a holiday so will enjoy having a little sleep in :lol:

How has everyone's week been going? Seems like you had a lot going on in the USA these last few days so hopefully that settles down for you.

Dayna
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Re: JANUARY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Sat Jan 23, 2021 3:37 am

Hello everyone!
Welcome Dayna - congratulations on your weight loss and on keeping it off!

Sorry for my absence last weekend. I started with some cold-like symptoms last Saturday and tested positive for Covid 19 on Monday afternoon :( It was a big shock. Luckily my symptoms are pretty mild; sore throat, tiredness, loss of senses of taste and smell and, the last couple of days, sneezing and runny nose. Am being well looked after by my husband who tested negative.

I'll check in with a longer update next week. Best wishes to all, Sue x
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Re: JANUARY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Sun Jan 24, 2021 8:57 pm

Erin - Happy Birthday! The simple soup sounds tasty. What is the rhubard lentil dish? What an interesting combination of ingredients. This winter has been very mild here, too. Enjoy it!

Dayna - Wow! You are an early bird!! That is a very impressive practice to go on a walk every morning before work. Enjoy that summer weather! Does it get very hot in your area? Thankfully here in the US it seems that the concerns about addition domestic terrorism have come to pass.

Sue - Oh my! Thank you for checking in, please get rest and get well soon. If you are feeling up for sharing, someone in the Lounge was asking if any McDougallers have had COVID. You are in my thoughts.

It’s been a crazy time here! The US had a contentious time politically, but hopefully that is done for a while. On a personal note, divorce has hit a bumpy patch, and with that stress I’ve lost my appetite. Trying to be positive, though, it helped kick start losing those recent additional pounds.

Wishing everyone a great week!
Lindsey
My food journal: Adventures in Eating
My pregnancy journal: Maybe a Baby 2017
www.lindseyhead.coach
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Re: JANUARY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:55 am

Sue hope you feel better soon.

Lindsey I hope you can get through the bumpy patch very soon. This was the recipe for the lentil rhubarb dish
https://www.freshcityfarms.com/recipes/ ... nd-rhubarb
It was tasty, a bit sweet with the raisins, but it was nice over rice.

Dayna, good for you walking early! We have hit a cold patch this week temperatures will stay around -15C. Burrr. We have a treadmill and have just bought a spin bike so I have lots of indoor exercise options. I seem to have developed a bit of a sciatica issue not a lot of pain, but numbness in the leg. Trying to work through that with heat, massage and stretches.

I’ve been buying the big bag of frozen mixed veggies at Costco which has cauliflower, broccoli and carrots. It’s very handy to microwave so I can have a 50/50 plate. I made the Smokey potato sauce and also ranch dressing which has been tasty. I used sunflower seeds in both of those. Other than that not much cooking, just eating my starches as usual.

Hope everyone has a good week, hard to believe how fast January has zipped by.

Erin
"The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don't swim upstream."
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Re: JANUARY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:31 am

Thanks Lindsey and Erin for your good wishes. I'm feeling much better; still tired, nose is a little congested and senses of smell and taste much reduced, but improving. I consider myself very lucky to have got away with mild symptoms. We both went for a second test on Tuesday which came back negative so I am able to get out of the house again!

Erin - brr, that does sound like chilly weather you're having! Good for you having those indoor exercise options and hope the sciatica improves.

Lindsey - sorry to hear about the bumpy time divorce-wise. Hope things settle down for you soon. Yes, I'll write a reply to the post in The Lounge.

Dayna - your early walking and daily routine is impressive! Hope you had an enjoyable day off!

My weight is holding steady just a little above my goal weight. The whole eating experience is very different at the moment due to reduced senses of smell and taste. I'm trying eat mindfully, focussing on texture, mouth-feel, temperature and trying to notice which flavours I can and can't taste. I'm back to walking each day but haven't done anything more strenuous as haven't felt up to it. Going to try a pilates class next week.

Best wishes, Sue xx
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Re: JANUARY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sun Jan 31, 2021 10:17 am

Sue, great strategy to focus on mindful eating. Hopefully your senses and strength are back to normal very soon.

Lately I have also been trying to eat more mindfully. I have a terrible habit of always doing something while eating either reading or TV. Of course then I don’t necessarily chew my food enough. It’s quite amazing how much more enjoyable the food is just by focusing on chewing more. Better for digestion and nutrient absorption also.

This week I steamed red Swiss chard. I use the stems also and gosh it’s like eating candy. I just put a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar on it. Also bought bok choy which I haven’t used yet. I made a large batch of marinara sauce. I sautéed the veggies some and then slow cooked for several hours. I used a lot of basil and oregano. Turned out excellent.

Another birthday celebration this past weekend. Always seems to be a birthday lol. We have homemade pizzas. They turned out really great, each person assembled their own. My daughter baked a vegan chocolate cake and it was so good. Not low fat though, so a rare treat.

Hope everyone has a great week. The cold weather is hanging around now, but the sun is nice. Daytime highs will be around -15C this weeks. It’s actually so refreshing to spend 30 minutes or so outside in the cold air.

Erin
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Re: JANUARY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:17 pm

Sue - Glad to here you are on the upswing so quickly. Hopefully your sense of taste/smell recovers quickly as well.

Erin - -15C is chilly! Our lows at night will be getting down there this next week. Stay warm! The pros and cons of family nearby are all the celebrations. Pizza sounds like a crowd-pleasing and delicious way to celebrate with loved ones.

Not much to report here. We’ve been eating a rotation of the same meals each week, and they are starting to get a bit boring. Weight has been very steady, a little bit higher than I’d like (117), but less than where I peaked this winter (121). Hopefully as things move forward that will start the slow and steady process of finding a lower equilibrium. Best to you all!
Lindsey
My food journal: Adventures in Eating
My pregnancy journal: Maybe a Baby 2017
www.lindseyhead.coach
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