JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Starchyme » Sat Jul 17, 2021 12:35 am

Hi, all. I lost a little more weight and have been maintaining now for 2 1/2 years. Easy peasy when one makes up one's mind to do it. It's really second nature to me now. I am working on gluten-free choices and finding I'm fine without bread, which was the hardest thing to release from my food choices. I'm wishing every one of you the same success.
Happy McDougalling!
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sat Jul 17, 2021 7:16 am

Good for you Starchyme. I agree bread is tough to give up. I still have bread sometimes, but I do find the more I have it the more I want it. So it is a bit of a slippery slope. Nice you are off it totally.

Sue, I probably was hungry when returning home from the restaurant, but I also have a years long habit of night time snacking which is still a work in progress. That’s great you are able to discuss tougher issues with your spouse and that you are figuring out better strategies for yourself.

CindyD, I hope the plans to visit your Mom worked out for you.

This week I made a chickpea salad. Recipe called for cashews, but instead I just puréed chickpeas for the dressing. It called for curry spice which I had never put in this type of recipe before and also cherry tomatoes. The spice was nice and the tomato good for the first day, but not so much as leftovers since the moisture makes it a bit too wet. All the talk of cooking beans from scratch inspired me so I bought black and navy beans and will cook them up tomorrow. I want to do a comparison to see how much cheaper it is to make my own. I’ve made chickpeas many times, but not other types of beans.

I have many ripe bananas and I don’t want to freeze them all so will make banana oat cookies. Will include some prunes and flax also.

That’s all for today, have a good week.

Erin
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:58 am

Congrats Starchyme on maintaining for 2.5 years now! So pleased that its become second nature for you now :) Bread is also a challenge for me to cut out.

Erin - I'd be interested to see how the costs for tinned and dried beans compare if you're happy to share them here. The chickpea salad sounds tasty!

Some warm and sunny Summer weather has finally arrived this week which made me feel more like eating salads and less hungry overall. We have some homegrown lettuce, dwarf beans, courgette (zucchini) and carrots from the garden. I cooked another batch of dried chick peas, roasted some in the oven, and used the others in salads or to make hummus. My husband likes to take sandwiches when he plays cricket and usually has hummus and salad. Can anyone recommend any other fillings that are tasty and easy to eat 'on the go'? I sometimes make a chick pea no-tuna filling but it tends to fall out of sandwiches so he doesn't like to have those when he's standing around the cricket field!

This week I've continued to work on managing my emotions and behaviours, and revisited the McD program guidelines and my own list of the calorie density of various foods. I was reminded of how even small amounts of those very rich foods can affect the oveall calorie intake so have cut back on those. After listening to an Exam Room podcast about fibre, I thought it might be helpful to focus more on what I do eat and less on what I don't or shouldn't eat! Overall, another week of learning and it feels like something has shifted inside me in a positive way.

Have any of you watched the new video of Dr Lim talking about vegetable oils? It's one of the top two questions I get asked about this way of eating.

Warm regards, Sue x
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:57 am

Hi Sue. I did calculate the cost of the beans, cooking from scratch worked out to 0.36 per can or 1.5 cups. That’s a pretty good savings as I just picked up chickpeas on sale at Costco and they were 0.87 per can. Next time I will try cooking in the pressure cooker, but for now I have a good inventory of frozen beans. Nice you are getting some good weather.

Yes I watched that Dr. Lim’s talk on oil. He makes some excellent points. This is the problem with all the packaged plant based foods like beyond burgers etc. They all have so much oil. My hubby wanted me to buy a bag of Plant based meatballs so I did and I noticed at Costco they now have about 4 plant based products in that freezer section. I will rarely eat this processed stuff, but I do sometimes if I’m at someone’s house for supper and that is what they prepared. Even though it takes more time and effort to prepare burgers and loafs from scratch I enjoy them so much more knowing the ingredients and that there is no added fat.

Maybe for sandwiches a large slice of baked tofu with some mustard could be a filling, at least it wouldn’t fall out when he bites it. I’ve even used sliced baked potato in a sandwich.

I like what you said about focusing on getting more fibre. Too bad the majority of the population wouldn’t do that. I am still eating my extra beans with flax each day. I have 3/4 cup with 1 T flax, split into 2 portions. Plain black beans with the flax are quite tasty.

This week of eating low fat was very successful. I am finding the longer I’m abstaining from peanut butter, tahini and nuts the easier it is getting. Which I think is further proof for myself that taste buds really do adapt. I cooked up lots of navy beans which I’m planning to use to make some creamy sauces and salad dressings this week. I had a butternut squash to use up so I made a new recipe. It wasn’t good, but I ended up tossing in some canned tomato’s and it was much better. I never throw away healthy food, I always figure out a way to use it up. :-D

Enjoy the week!

Erin
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby JeffN » Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:10 am

Suey51 wrote:Have any of you watched the new video of Dr Lim talking about vegetable oils? It's one of the top two questions I get asked about this way of eating.


The interview is great except for one point, his allowance for some oil and that olive and coconut are the healthiest. As we all know, we do not recommend any oil and coconut is the worst. He is on vacation right now and apologies for it and we will hear more when he gets back.

Many of us struggle with allowing for small amounts of even lower calorie density foods (bread, pretzels, popcorn, etc) and the impact of oil would be double most of those.

In Health
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Mon Jul 26, 2021 6:39 am

Erin - The weather this summer seems to be all over the map everywhere. Extremely heat, droughts, excessive rain, etc. Climate change has arrived unfortunately. Ordering in restaurants is always such a disappointment, as you pointed out. You did fairly well considering the circumstances. What is your granola bar recipe?

Sue - You do such a good job of self-reflecting and recognizing why situations became difficult and then figuring out how to handle them differently in the future. Getting used to groups of people again does have it’s unique set of challenges after a year of solidtude. We are all putting on our social training wheels again. Your trip to Canada sounds fun, do you know when you are going? I’ve only been to the east side, Toronto, Montreal, and Niagara. Beautiful country and lovely people. As far as sandwich ideas, what about using whole wheat pita for the bread? It makes a nice pocket for fillings. Like Erin mentioned, thinly sliced potato is a surprisingly nice sandwich addition. I would do it with grainy mustard, lettuce, tomato and maybe avocado. Also, did the torrential rains in the London area impact you? Everything ok?

Cindy - It sounds like you have a great walking routine with the dogs. That is one great thing about canines, they get you outside and moving, even with all the pauses to sniff and pee.

SunshineDay - Hi there! You are welcome to post here if you like, but the MWL thread is also a wonderful supportive group with a real focus on dropping weight. I was part of that group when I was losing my post-pregnancy pounds and really enjoyed the camaraderie and tips & tricks.

Jeff - Thanks for stopping by, twice! The video from Dr. Lim was great, but I did notice his take on oils was inconsistent with your messaging. People may run with it and then it’s the whole “just 5%” idea again.

Starchyme - Thank you for stopping by and keeping us posted on your continued success! Looking forward to the next update around the 3 year mark. Woohoo!

In my world, I finally got internet! Food has had it’s challenges this week, I notice when I’m on the verge of getting sick that off plan foods start looking tempting. Plus, I made a trip to IKEA for home goods, and that store is covered in delicious imported delicacies. I’m very much looking forward to getting appliances installed, the countertop and a kitchen sink. Life’s simple pleasures! Until then, we’re grilling everything.

Have a lovely rest of the month, everyone. I will get the August thread posted in the next couple days.
Lindsey
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:16 am

Lindsey, glad you’ve got internet now. I cannot find a link to the original recipe, it came from the Jaroudi family. But here it is:

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raw walnuts (or any nut/seed)
1/2 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup prunes
1 TBS chia seeds
1 TBS flax meal
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS non dairy milk
1 tsp spices (pumpkin pie, cinnamon, apple pie etc)

Add all ingredients to food processor. Pulse several times. You should be able to pinch the mixture, if it’s not sticking add an extra date or bit more milk. Press down evenly into square pan. Bake 350 for 10-15 minutes.

My notes: I’m skipping nuts for now so I omitted the chia and walnuts. I didn’t use milk, just water. I found I needed to add at least 3/4 cup water before it was clumping together. I used pumpkin pie spice and a bit of chai spice. I doubled the recipe and used a 9 x 13 pan.

Erin
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:54 am

Thanks all for the great sandwich ideas. I'll test out some of those with him and let you know. :-D

Erin - thanks for sharing the cost information on the canned and dried beans - that's good to know. I definitely prefer the taste of the home-cooked beans so just need to get organised with the batch soaking and cooking! Good for you on abstaining from nuts etc. and finding alternatives. For the granola bars, do you chop the dates before adding the other ingredients?

Jeff - thanks for clarifying that point in the video.

Lindsey - Thanks. Now just have to put things into practice ;-) Haha - yes it definitely feels like I need social training wheels! Re: Canada. No firm plans as yet but likely to be 2023 or afterwards. We've been to British Columbia before and want to revisit that but also see some of the east side if we can manage it on hte same trip and include a walk with Erin! Yay to having internet! Do you know when you're likely to get the kitchen sorted? Just think how much you'll appreciate it once its all working :-) I'm the same if starting to feel unwell. Hope you're on the mend now x
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:03 am

Sue, yes I quartered the dates and prunes before I added to the processor. Trying to help it out 8)

Erin
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:37 am

Thanks Erin :) My teeny tiny food processor struggled with whole dates so I will chop them next time! I had some prune puree in the freezer and that seemed to work well instead of prunes. The bars were delicious!

Lindsey - re: London rain. No we weren't affected by the recent flooding thank goodness. It was in the area where I grew up and my Mum lived until last year. The hospital she used to work at had to cancel surgeries and evacuate patients :(
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sat Jul 31, 2021 8:01 am

Hello. Week has been good, didn’t do much cooking as I’ve been using up some freezer food. Sure is super handy to have ready made meals like soups and stews. I’m also finding having frozen cooked brown rice ready is great. One thing is did make are pasta chips. They are quite calorie dense, but if you are needing a crunch they hit the spot. I used bow tie pasta, boiled it as usual. Then I sprinkled spices on it, paprika, garlic, Chili etc. Air fried for about 5 minutes. Leftover they are extra crunchy lol, so watch your teeth.

It’s been almost 2 months since I started doing more compound weight exercises. And 2 months of purposely eating more beans. One month of eliminating nuts and seeds (2 days failed). I looked back and at the start I was 107.8 pounds and 27.5% body fat. This week I am 104.6 and 25.5%. So it does seem to be working. So it’s nice to have the validation. Will keep on going and see what the numbers look like at the end of September. I really do quite a short weight routine and likely need to get heavier weights pretty soon. I’m a firm believer in doing as little as possible to get the desired results lol. Well not exactly, it’s more like whenever I establish a new routine I try to set a schedule or goals that I can actually stick to. For example when I first changed my weights to the more compound exercises I was doing them every second day. After 4 weeks I realized it was too frequent so I now do the weights every third day. Seems to be working better. One thing I have noticed this week, I am definitely eating until past full. Maybe this is okay for now, perhaps it might even be required on occasion to not lose weight, but to change body composition. Time will tell, let the experiment continue. :D

Our weather is still amazing, in the high 20s most days. I can’t seem to stay away from the pickleball courts so playing every second day has become mostly daily. So far so good, leg pain hasn’t returned.

Have a great week everyone!

Erin
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Starchyme » Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:38 pm

Hi, all. So here it is 2 1/2 years on maintenance and 8 lbs lower than my goal weight. It's so easy because I only choose what our good doc approves. Works like a charm. I don't usually follow recipes. Just have plain and simple meals. My big hurdle is going out to eat. Not because I want something off program. But because it's hard to have things made that don't have salt or oil. LIke yesterday, I asked for a plain baked tater with nothing on it. Seemed to me they basted it with a little oil. In a couple restaurants the chef came out to see if I want just a little something on it.
Happy McDougalling!
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Re: JULY 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Fri Aug 06, 2021 8:33 pm

Lindsey
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