Kelly's Weight Loss Mission

[PerenniallyKelly]

Hello McDougallers! I am on a mission to lose weight.

Brief history
I have been overweight since childhood, always taking comfort after school by binge eating. During puberty, I developed an extremely pear shaped body and lipedema and started using bulimia as a weight control method. I am 5'7 and my highest weight as a teen was 200 pounds, but hovered mostly around 180. So even through multiple purging episodes per day, I was still overweight. Throughout my 20s, the bulimia continued, but I embraced a largely plant based diet- going from vegetarian to vegan when I was 26 (seven years ago). My weight fluctuated from 180-195.

I am now 33, have be in bulimia recovery for over a year, and now am weighing in at the highest weight of my life- 220. My heart is broken because for more than half of my life, I used bulimia out of the complete fear of gaining weight, and now that it is gone and I eat clean, the weight has increased and left me here. The weight seems to be concentrated in my stomach. I've gone up just one pant size during this 25-40 weight gain over the past 1-2 years.

My biggest obstacle
My biggest obstacle seems to be information overload. I have dedicated hours of my life daily to the pursuit of a diet breakthrough for literally decades. I am a speed reader that devours information from books and the internet at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, all of these studying of "information" has not resulted in me finding the answer to my problem. Reading thousands of articles on pub med has not made me slimmer. Watching internet debates of keto vs. vegan advocates has not helped me lose weight. A

There was once a time when I would jump full force into a diet/exercise regime- spending hours pre-planning and setting myself up to be successful. Nowadays, I have no faith that anything will work. I go through the motions, but easily get off track because I don't see results. One step off the road- like attending a celebration, a vacation, or a gathering with friends- leads into days of poor eating choices. Everything I eat is of course vegan, but burgers and French fries, Girl Scout Thin Mints, and loads of vegan dark chocolate find their way in to my diet, as my bogged down brain justifies it by telling myself that the WFPB plan I was following wasn't paying off anyway.

Recommitting Myself to the Starch Solution
I have followed WFPB 80% of the time over the past 7 years- even through bulimia. But I believe that I need to commit fully to this lifestyle in order to see the scale move. I intend to post what I eat daily and write a brief blurb about how the day went as a whole. I so appreciate all of your expert help as well as those who have had minimal success at sticking to a healthy lifestyle, like myself. Thanks for reading! Next post- Day 1!

[PerenniallyKelly]

Day 1- 2/24

Breakfast- 5:30 AM
1 cup organic mixed berries
2 small bananas
2 scoops (1 serving) of Orgain chocolate protein powder (4 grams of fat)
2 tbsp flax seed
1 cup of coconut unsweetened yogurt
1/2 cup of oats (thrown in the blender raw)
1/2 tsp of Rhodiola (adaptogen for stress- no idea if it works)
2 oz black coffee (I love the flavor, but am sensitive to large amounts of coffee so I just have a taste of my husband's morning coffee in the AM)
*Normally I put kale microgreens in the smoothie, but I forgot*

Lunch #1- 10:00 AM
5 small-medium potatoes with Coconut Aminos

Lunch #2- 2:00PM
Plate of white rice with Coconut Aminos and Sriacha (appx 2 cups)

"Dinner"- 4:00PM
This is disgusting, but I was bringing some leftover Asian food home from my work's catering event- lots of white rice and a bunch of kung pao tofu with vegetables... I got stuck behind a train driving home, so my 20 minute ride turned into 30 minutes. I began eating (with my fingers, not a fork) fried tofu, vegetables, and clumps of rice drowning in the oil laden red colored kung pao sauce. I also ate one fried spring roll stuffed with cabbage. These foods were room temperature. I was licking my fingers after leaving work (I work at a low income doctor's office). I am definitely a food addict. Just taking one piece of fried tofu from the tray lead to me "binging" with my hands from the tray sitting on the passenger seat while I drove home. I turned on a food addiction lecture featuring Dr. Lisle to listen to while I was chowing down. I would estimate that I ate 600-1000 calories of this food and who knows how many grams of fat. I had intended to bring this food home to my thin husband, which I did and felt very bad that I had eaten this rich food and left a smaller amount for him. I did not eat anything else the rest of the day, but did go on a 30 minute dog walk immediately when I got home.

Thoughts on the day
My breakfast smoothie is easily 600-800 calories but only tides me over for 2-3 hours. I am going to make an effort moving forward to eat a starch filled breakfast instead of this smoothie. I had been eating the same thing for weeks- smoothie mentioned above/ potatoes-beans-veg for lunch/ pumpkin seeds and chocolate for a snack/ and vegetables and baked tofu for dinner. But alas- no weight loss. So I think it's time for the tofu, nuts and seeds to get out of my diet. Moving forward- more rice, more potatoes, more beans- and no oil, nuts, seeds, or tofu. This uncontrollable binge eating that I described above happens only 2-3 times per month now. It used to happen 4-5 times per week.

I woke up in the middle of the night hungry and struggled to fall back asleep due to my grumbling stomach. I am tired today but think the oily, early dinner caused me to have an insulin/blood sugar reaction. I am trying to eat more earlier in the day and less in the evening. This is the opposite of how I've lived my life for 20 years- eating mostly at night. Thanks for reading!

[Ejeff]

I wouldn’t try to eat more earlier and less later. Following this plan you should eat when hungry and stop when comfortably full. Keep cooked starches ready in the fridge so you have quick access to something healthy. And good idea to stop the smoothies. Protein powder is not necessary, you will get all the protein you need eating whole foods like potatoes, rice, veggies and fruit.

[PerenniallyKelly]

Thank you! I appreciate this input!! I will listen to my body and fill up on starched when full. It is great advice to make a refridge full of starches. I plan to make a bunch of rice, boiled potatoes, and beans on a weekly basis in preparation for the week.

Day 2- 2/25
Breakfast- 5:30 AM
2 cups of white rice with Coco Amios and Sriacha

Lunch- 10:45 AM
8 small (2" diameter) potatoes
1 brazil nut for selenium (maybe I should invest in a supplement?)

Dinner- 4:30 PM
3 cups white rice
1 cup steamed broccoli
1 apple
1 orange

Thoughts on the day
I realize that's a large load of rice in one siting. I was uncomfortably stuffed after dinner so I will make an effort to eat smaller portions. I often get famished when waiting too long between meals. I took my blood sugar throughout the day- 140 one hour after eating and 107 two hours after eating.

[Lyndzie]

Here is some info on selenium for you:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=54667&hilit=+Selenium#p555500

[Zoey]

Welcome to your recommitment, Kelly! I'm a fellow information-overloader. I look forward to reading more about your journey!

[chrisadonner]

Hi, Kelly. My partner has lipedema. It went undiagnosed for decades and the swelling in her legs and torso have been debilitating. Since diagnosis, we've been working with an excellent certified lymphedema therapist, doing compression therapy. She's now lost 50 pounds just in water weight in the last six months. It's been amazing.

We haven't tackled the eating part of therapy yet. There are a lot of people in the lipedema community pushing keto, but that scares me. It's such a dangerous way to eat. Plus, I don't get why anyone who has a disorder of fat metabolism would want to take in more fat. It doesn't make sense. WFPB makes much more sense to me. We're slowly changing things in our house but haven't done it long enough to be able to tell you how it's working.

My heart goes out to you. I know what it is like living with this disorder. Have you checked the FDRS website? They post their annual conferences on you tube and you can get some great info there. https://www.fatdisorders.org/

We're sharing our lipedema journey on our website, https://ceelipedemasisterhood.org/

Blessings! You aren't alone.

[kirstykay]

Hi Kelly!
Just popping on here to say I'm rooting for you. I understand the struggle, the loss of faith in yourself, the hunt for the "perfect plan" that will "fix" me, the frustration of not knowing why you don't do what you know you should and genuinely want to do...I really do get it all. Food Addiction is a B! I am determined to make this MY year to kick it in the butt! It would be fun if you joined me! My biggest advice is to stop looking for another program...McDougall is where it's AT! You will be successful if you do it. It's simple, inexpensive, and there are soooo many people who have gone before us and PROVED that it works! If you want to read, immerse yourself in McDougall's website. Read all the success stories, listen to all his talks, read all of his newsletters...there's so much. But, mostly, JUST DO IT! Focus on starch and vegetables with some fruit and a few beans...simple, basic meals of whole food. You can do it! Tell yourself that all the other garbage is not food. Suck it up. Suffer through your cravings. You are stronger than you think you are, and you are not beyond repair!

Just wanted to tell you to keep on keepin' on! You only have to get up one more time than you get knocked down. Focus on today. You can do today...

I also wanted to invite you to come on over the the MWL weight loss thread. We weigh in on Fridays, and the support is awesome. Here is the link:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=60699

Hope to see you there!