Oona's Ogham

[OOnaOwl]

Still here, still on the plan! I had a few meals with a visiting friend that were not low fat, but I bounced back after that. I have a pot of brown rice simmering on the stove top. My goal is to have as many meals as possible be MWLP style, and not sweat the rest. I am for at least 95% MWLP until I reach my goal weight, and then I will do the regular McDougall plan from then on. I will keep trying until I succeed!

[seacat]

Good for you!!

Hi Oona, I have been reading your journal. I too have restarted again, but only since last Saturday. I have been pretty compliant so far. Got on the scale and am down only .2 lbs so far. I know it's early still, but got impatient! I love eating this way, and every time I do it, I feel so good. I need to lose about 60lbs-yikes!

Had pumpkin oats for bfast just now and will be on plan for the rest of the day.

Have a good day.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Oona,

Wishing you good luck!! It sounds like you've got this!!

I think that we like some of the same stuff... your meals sound awesome!! I love the oven fries,... period!! LOVE! Also, the oats and the lentil stuff.

Keep on going; you are doing great!!!

[OOnaOwl]

Hi Oona,

Wishing you good luck!! It sounds like you've got this!!

I think that we like some of the same stuff... your meals sound awesome!! I love the oven fries,... period!! LOVE! Also, the oats and the lentil stuff.

Keep on going; you are doing great!!!

Thank you so much! Just taking it one day at a time so I don't get overwhelmed. Wishing you great health!

[OOnaOwl]

Good for you!!

Hi Oona, I have been reading your journal. I too have restarted again, but only since last Saturday. I have been pretty compliant so far. Got on the scale and am down only .2 lbs so far. I know it's early still, but got impatient! I love eating this way, and every time I do it, I feel so good. I need to lose about 60lbs-yikes!

Had pumpkin oats for bfast just now and will be on plan for the rest of the day.

Have a good day.

Great SeaCat!
Thanks for posting.
I have yet to lose any weight at all, but I will keep at it-one day at a time.
Sending good wishes for you!

[OOnaOwl]

Today's meals were as follows:
B: Oats with banana & raspberries with almond milk.
L: Curried brown rice with tofu, shitake mushrooms, onion & garlic. (I meant to add steamed greens but forgot!)
D: Casserole for one with brown rice, baked potato, black beans, daiya cheese & salsa.
I need to up my non starchy vegetable intake each day. The daiya cheese is almost used up & I will try not to buy anymore.
I would like to lose some weight by my birthday which is in one month.
I have been surfing YouTube for inspiring plant based vloggers and have discovered a few I find inspiring.
Life inside a box
High Carb Hannah
Unconventional Living
Jenny Mustard
My goal is to lighten up in every way, so I have also been decluttering & learning tips on minimalism.
I won't ever be a true minimalist but I can simplify & streamline!
I will be going to the food market tomorrow, and will be buying more vegetables.

[OOnaOwl]

Today I mainly stayed on the path. Here is what I ate:
B: Oats with raspberries, banana, a few sunflower seeds & almond milk.
L: Leftover curried brown rice with green peas, daiya cheese & avocado (very little avo & cheese)
D: Homemade borscht! A vegetable stew of beets, purple potatoes, brown rice, mushrooms, garlic, onion & spices.
S: 1 piece of sourdough bread with almond cheese on it.
Well I made so much borscht that I will be eating that for the next day or two for lunch and dinner. I think I will make some salad & oven fries to go with those meals, or perhaps chickpea crepes. Breakfast will be oats & fruit, I have found a routine with the cold weather. The daiya cheese will be used up soon & I will try not to buy more. I have some organic tortillas I need to use up, not sure how I will do that yet. Perhaps simply toasted with the borscht. I could make buckwheat blinis with it also. What could I put on the blinis that would be McDougall friendly? I will have to consider this.

[OOnaOwl]

Does anyone else here have eating disorder issues? Apparently I do, but at sub-clinical level. It has changed over the years-from restricting in my teens and twenties, to orthorexia in my thirties and early forties, now to overeating in my late forties. I am very stressed out in life, so I am sure that is a big part of it. I hope I can get it under control soon because I cannot afford to buy another wardrobe for myself. I have yet to grow out of anything but I am on the verge of it, so depressing. Equally embarrassing is that I am not eating junk food or sweets for weight gain. I do pretty okay until I go out to a restaurant & then I hoover my meal in entirety! Which would be ok if I were an average frame & height, but I am child sized so it is far too many calories. Last night I ate an entire cheese pizza from a Lebanese place. Breakfast & lunch were very healthy and MLWP meals, but as soon as we went to dinner that was all over. Woke up to a pound heavier, hoping it is at least partly salt. I am teetering at the top weight I have ever been (and this weight only in the past couple years from the overeating) & want desperately to lose & feel and look good again. I have lentils and brown rice simmering on the stove today, and a fruit oat breakfast I am about to eat. Not giving up!

[OOnaOwl]

It was a case of one step forward & two steps back yesterday-but today I stuck to the plan as I ate all my meals at home.
B: Oats with chopped apple, blueberries & banana with almond milk (unsweetened) cinnamon.
L: Brown rice & lentils
D: Borscht & a tortilla
Tomorrow I am going to try for more fresh vegetables. It is cold, wet & windy here-so I am not gravitating towards uncooked foods except fruit. Going to try for one salad and/or lightly steamed greens in addition to my cooked foods. I have the ingredients for both right now.

[OOnaOwl]

Today I stayed on course. Here were my meals:
B: 1/4 cup dry oats with chopped small apple, banana & blueberries with a tbsp. of sunflower seeds, cinnamon & unsweetened almond milk
L: leftover borscht, leftover lentils and brown rice & a tortilla
D: leftover lentils & brown rice, cheesy tofu & veggie soup.
I made an interesting soup tonight, sort of French peasant style.
I sautéed mushrooms, tofu, courgette (zucchini)& mixed greens, then added a cheese sauce made from nutritional yeast, braggs and almond milk. It was very good!
Tomorrow I will work to make my ratios of veggies to starches more balanced. I am planning a salad from grated beet, carrot & cabbage. This I will have with leftover lentils & brown rice. I should be through the batch of lentils & brown rice by end of tomorrow. I will make something similar on Sunday to last a few days.
Today's exercise was 10 minutes stationary cycling & 10 minute walk (I am recovering from migraine so I took it easy).
No weight lost so far.

[OOnaOwl]

Wheee! Some small bits of success at last. I have been listening to a weight loss hypnosis app every day for a few days, and it is working on my overeating problem already. I am down 1 1/2 pounds today, and I haven't been stuffing myself sick either. I have also been listening to stress reducing hypnosis. Today's meals so far:
B: 1/4 cup oats with 1 chopped small apple, 1 banana, handful of frozen blueberries & tbsp. of sunflower seeds, cinnamon, almond milk.
L: shredded vegetable salad with "cheese" dressing. Beet, carrot & cabbage. Dressing is nutritional yeast, braggs aminos and almond milk. Dressing is too salty, I didn't measure it out. Salad is yummy but am saving part of it for tomorrow because of the high sodium issue.
Dinner will be potatoes I think, mashed with side of peas & maybe corn too.
Tomorrow I will go for at least one raw dish, perhaps two. If I can eat two per day I am sure I will speed up the weight loss. My birthday is just over 3 weeks away, I would love to be closer to my goal. I really like shredded veggies, but I need to learn to love making salads. Part of the issue is that I share a fridge with 4 other adults, so space is limited. Time to get creative! Watching vegan low fat whole food vlogs on YT is inspiring me to succeed even more!

[viv]

Hi Oona, congratulations on sticking with it and not giving up! Hypnosis is a wonderful tool. I'm a clinical hypnotherapist (I trained in California in the 90s) Hypnosis has been a lifesaver for me. I used it daily to help recover from breast cancer and it helped me with acute anxiety when my son was serving in Afghanistan. Now they call it mindfulness meditation and/or guided imagery, but it's all really hypnosis, getting you to a deep relaxed place where you can focus on the present moment and the breath. Keep it up, it will really help you!

Viv

[OOnaOwl]

Hi Oona, congratulations on sticking with it and not giving up! Hypnosis is a wonderful tool. I'm a clinical hypnotherapist (I trained in California in the 90s) Hypnosis has been a lifesaver for me. I used it daily to help recover from breast cancer and it helped me with acute anxiety when my son was serving in Afghanistan. Now they call it mindfulness meditation and/or guided imagery, but it's all really hypnosis, getting you to a deep relaxed place where you can focus on the present moment and the breath. Keep it up, it will really help you!

Viv

Thank you Viv! I have studied hypnotherapy professionally also, in the late 1990's. I didn't make it to clinical level yet, though. Congratulations on your improved health!

[OOnaOwl]

I am still working to stay on the path. I do well for most meals, but then slip up every few days or so. I have not lost any weight still. I am within healthy BMI but I am about 15-25%% over the weight I was when younger when I was thin. I also live steps away from dozens & dozens of restaurants & stores to shop & eat at. I keep away from them mostly, but then a friend or family member will want to go & then I lose control & overeat. I also have been overeating at about one meal every day or every two days this week. That is an improvement from a few weeks ago when I became aware of a new pattern of overeating for most meals. So, there is some progress at least! When I overeat, it is never on sweets. I was overeating on snack foods for a while-like organic cheese puffs. Then it changed to pasta or pizza. It could also just be white rice or vegetable stew or oatmeal. I seem to eat until I am very full & there is no more room in my stomach. I feel a sense of pressure & weight there. This is new in terms of it's frequency. I have always had moments where I overate on rare occasion before, but it was seldom & didn't lead to weight gain/overweight. I am not sure how to change this, but change this I must. As I mentioned before, this is disordered eating that has morphed over the years-from restriction, to orthorexia, now to overeating. I will find a way to be healthy with food & my body again!

[OOnaOwl]

Still mostly staying on the path. Yesterday I had one meal off plan, but the other two were on plan. Today I was on plan all day. I haven't overeaten for a few days-which is a small success! I have the next 3 days of meals planned out, all on plan. Lots of brown rice, beans, tofu & vegetables, some oats & fruit. Thanksgiving will be off plan as we are going to a restaurant that doesn't have anything vegan & oil free. I will be eating fish and vegetables & rice with pumpkin pie. I know there will be two other meals that will be off plan between now & Christmas due to family celebrations. I plan to stick to healthy eating for all other meals besides those. I have some new apps that will help with the disordered eating. I am also planning to visit the naturopathic clinic to sort out my female health issues. This is all so very humbling! For my whole adult life I was in good health with a slim figure until my early 40's. I will find a way to get healthy again!

*Back to add, there is a long list of foods I need to stay away from due to my migraine issue. Here is a list of just some of what I must avoid (they can trigger migraines/make them worse): tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, citrus, peanuts, corn, olives, sparkling water, all caffeine (even decaffeinated), sugar.
So this adds extra challenge to my situation!
Here is a list of foods I CAN eat(only a partial list): brown rice, oats, quinoa, millet, beans, peas & legumes, all green vegetables, beets, carrots, turnips, parsnips, onions, garlic, shallots, bananas, berries, stone fruits, seeds, some nuts, tofu, tempeh.