Buns Again

[deweyswakms]

Bravo!! potluck sounds amazing, so wonderful to SEE people again. And good for you to stay compliant. I think this is a breakthrough for you.

Marsha

[bunsofaluminum]

Bravo!! potluck sounds amazing, so wonderful to SEE people again. And good for you to stay compliant. I think this is a breakthrough for you.

Marsha

Hi Marsha...It is TOTALLY a breakthrough for me. My normal is "this is a special occasion. I'll just have one cookie...awww, someone made this potato salad homemade...just one scoop out of appreciation" Choosing absolutely ONLY compliant dishes...and there were only two such on the table...well, I didn't starve before my next meal due to eating only beans and fruit, right?

Sunday, July 18, 2021

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. yes
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. no....I had some baked tortilla chips with fresh salsa when Wylie got out the baked Cheetos.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). yes

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Another victory, when Wylie got out his favorite junk snack: Baked crunchy Cheetos. Boy did I ever want some of THOSE! But I went and got some baked tortilla chips with some fresh salsa (salty though...why is salt the only flavor out there?) (I mean, it's tomato based. Tomatoes are already salty. What's up with that? )
So, the tortilla chips are a flour product, but they aren't deep fat fried potato/corn powder with neon orange cheese powder on them.

And looky here! I'm on the other side of the weekend, where my habit has been to treat/cheat and I DIDN'T DO THAT woot! I do still have my PT Monday and Tuesday, where I have to make myself leave late enough not to give myself time to stop and grab sushi, and not stop at the grocery store on my way home either. But things are looking good for a compliant week so far

[bunsofaluminum]

Monday, July 19, 2021


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. yes. So glad I found a good salad dressing!
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. yes
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. yes
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). yes

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Monday, down! Getting through all the days

[bunsofaluminum]

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2021


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. yes
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. yes...still having the occasional starlight mint. They help me keep sane
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. yes
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). yes

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: The scale was up a couple of pounds this morning, which got me thinking. If this is the way I eat, then the scale is less important than anything else. I'll keep on training myself to the guidelines and enjoy the health benefits that come with it. For instance, I feel LIGHT, you know? Like...clear gut. It's hard to describe. My interior is just unburdened and it feels really good. Almost the same sensation as after a colonoscopy, when you've spent a couple days emptying out your intestines. Clean. I mean, my intestines aren't empty, but it just feels really good.

I made it through the danger zone of the grocery store after work last night. Just put my head down, got the several things I needed, and got out And when I got home, had some watermelon and cantaloupe to top off my day.

Very glad that I found a salad dressing I enjoy. It's lovely, having a giant salad for lunch

[bunsofaluminum]

Thursday, July 22, 2021

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. yes
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. no. Had part of a chocolate truffle
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. yes
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). yes

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Posting this early in the day and I'll finish after dinner.
Just wanted to note that the scale shows up an additional two lbs, for a total weight gain of six pounds this week. This is day 7 of 100% adherence to the above guidelines.

Plus which, my knees are killing me, so I'm having a hard time finding the "other health benefits besides weight loss" that this plan offers. The "lightness" I was experiencing the last couple of days has turned to regular old gas and some other IBS symptoms...So I am VERY cranky right now.

[deweyswakms]

Just wanted to note that the scale shows up an additional two lbs, for a total weight gain of six pounds this week. This is day 7 of 100% adherence to the above guidelines.

So I am VERY cranky right now.

Ahh, so sorry. It is frustrating and discouraging. But, use your thinking brain; don't panic or give up. Instead, change the combination of the MWL guidelines. I realized that I wasn't actually following #2; actually eating non-starchy veggies with every meal. So I focused on that. I buy bags of chopped salad greens, and add some to EVERY MEAL I EAT. It seems strange to me but I am eating steamed green beans with my breakfast oatmeal (yes, not the flavor profile I would choose, but I am eating for nutrition now and not for the taste buds).

Example: try the salsa over a baked potato (and not chips, baked or not, of any kind). Actually I like veggie chili with salsa over a baked potato.

Good luck, you really do have the power to do this. Marsha

[bunsofaluminum]

Just wanted to note that the scale shows up an additional two lbs, for a total weight gain of six pounds this week. This is day 7 of 100% adherence to the above guidelines.

So I am VERY cranky right now.

Ahh, so sorry. It is frustrating and discouraging. But, use your thinking brain; don't panic or give up. Instead, change the combination of the MWL guidelines. I realized that I wasn't actually following #2; actually eating non-starchy veggies with every meal. So I focused on that. I buy bags of chopped salad greens, and add some to EVERY MEAL I EAT. It seems strange to me but I am eating steamed green beans with my breakfast oatmeal (yes, not the flavor profile I would choose, but I am eating for nutrition now and not for the taste buds).

Example: try the salsa over a baked potato (and not chips, baked or not, of any kind). Actually I like veggie chili with salsa over a baked potato.

Good luck, you really do have the power to do this. Marsha

Hi Marsha

It's a good thing I have a decade with Dr. McDougall under my belit, and I know how good I feel when I do it right. If I was a newbie and gained 6 lbs in a week, I'd turn and run the other way, no lie.

Too bad about the painful knees though.

[bunsofaluminum]

Monday, July 26, 2021

I didn't weigh yesterday. Forgot all about it tbh to go along with the crappy attitude that has developed. I'm sort of meh about MWL, at the least. Ticked off about it, at the worst.

So I'll finish up with July's MWL and then I think I'm going to commit to zero processed and maybe not worry about MWL for August. Zero Processed is pretty much MWL. It's McDougalling without flour products, caloric drinks, and dried fruit. Also avoiding high fat whole foods due to needing to lose weight. Zero processed moves you away from the calorie dense foods. I just keep thinking that tracking the guidelines hasn't been that helpful to me and my frustration at following almost perfectly and having the scale go up four lbs and then two more lbs...Yeah, that was too much. I got into diet mentality and very dependent upon the scale and when it

My knee is still hurting really bad, so I haven't walked since Thursday. Went out this morning just up to the near corner and back, and that was more than enough. I really REALLY need to keep walking every morning. I can't set it aside. I mean, physically I am so much better since starting this habit, and I'm not going to stop doing it. Period. Maybe time to see a dr. booooooo.

[bunsofaluminum]

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. mostly
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. no
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. no. Ate a fake tuna samwich for lunch
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). it's been a week. I wrenched my knee. The diagnosis is tendonitis in the hamstring ligaments??? tendons??? and my left knee is all but non-weight bearing and super painful/weak. No morning walks for I don't know how long

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I'm feeling so much more relaxed since I decided not to worry so much about the guidelines. I'm still following pretty closely, but just not feeling guilty when I flub. My weight is staying right where it has been, and I'm peaceful about things. I'd rather do it this way than hang the guidelines over my head and go through the frustration of not following perfectly, or following perfectly and having the scale stay put or GO UP.

At this point I am following 85% MWL overlying a basic 100% Starch Solution (bread, pasta chiefly being the difference) Enjoying salads now that I have a good salad dressing; enjoying the fresh produce of the season...watermelon FTW! We'll see what happens with my food choices. I'm considering a complete 100% refined sugar ban. Possibly going the no-salt direction. Maybe.

My knee has some inflammation, and salt is inflammatory, so is sugar...maybe it's time to quit both of those.
Meanwhile, I made myself a little golden milk (non-dairy) this morning: turmeric, powdered ginger, black pepper, honey. Mix it into a paste, and pour boiling water over it. Makes a funky drink, but I think it worked to reduce my knee pain. I think I'll do it daily in the morning.

I visited the dr. about this knee, and was diagnosed with tendonitis of the hamstring tendons where they join the knee. The treatment is rest and time, and if it's still bothering me in two weeks, call the doc and arrange for physical therapy. There's a little bit of osteoarthritis in both knees, nothing unusual for a 60 year old woman. But I want it to be better so I can get out and walk again. Huh, one day in the past week I thought it felt better so I went for a very short walk (five doors to the corner and back) and paid for it BADLY the rest of the day. Now that I have a cane, I am more mobile. But dang, kids. I want to go for walks!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Heidi,

Your journal rocks!! You have great goals and recipes and motivation to move forward (and I get it that you have a strong McD background)...

I am writing on your journal to implore you to be extra cautious with introducing exercise based on what you have stated about your knee issues / based on what I have experienced. (And I do apologize for providing unsolicited advice )....

Soft tissue (i.e. Ligaments, tendons) can be harder to heal than bones.

Just a big caution sign --- Please be extremely careful when you add exercise with these types of injuries...

I am stating this with my own experience of 2 patellar tendon rebuild surgeries and a few miscellaneous other OP surgeries (which take a good 6 months + to recover from)... Also, have had a casted ankle sprain (soft tissue).

Don't put weight on it!! Rest Ice Compression Elevation (like I am sure your doctor told you)... Try to be patient and let your knee heal!!!

It totally stinks... Hang in!! You are a strong woman! Wishing you all of the best!!!

[deweyswakms]

Good morning,
sorry to read about the knee. Yes, it is a Bummer. Definitely be careful while it is so acute. I'm a big PT fan, so hope you can get some of that work.

As you reconsider your dietary plans, think about making one change. Look at MWL guideline #1, and commit 100% to it, no matter what else you may eat. Just do that. It can be overwhelming thinking of all the things we have to change; so just decide "I will change 1 thing".

Keep going.
Marsha

[squealcat]

I am going to "butt" in if that's ok. Marsha, your words of wisdom are what I needed to hear. Yes, just following one MWL point can be valuable. I need to remember that next time when I am having trouble with the program. I always think I need to do it perfectly. That leads me into trouble.

Buns, I hope you are well ! Heed Marsha's advice ! I know you are very familiar with all this as I have seen your postings as long as I have been around but we all need friendly input once in a while. I do for sure !

Sending lots of love and healing prayers your way !

Keep in touch !

-squealcat

[deweyswakms]

I am going to "butt" in if that's ok.
-squealcat

Good morning,
oh my goodness, yes, I am rather speechless how effective this has been for me JUST by giving more attention to MWL #1 and #2 guidelines. I admit I hadn't done it before. Yes, I knew "eat your veggies" and I like them, but I never gave them the same importance as the beans and starches I ate. So I decided, what happens if I actually DO #1 and #2. Ha. Jokes on me because I am rather speechless at the new #s on the scale. Could it be this easy?

Good luck, keep going. Marsha

[bunsofaluminum]

Thanks for the input, everyone!

Hi Heidi,

I am writing on your journal to implore you to be extra cautious with introducing exercise based on what you have stated about your knee issues / based on what I have experienced. (And I do apologize for providing unsolicited advice )....

Soft tissue (i.e. Ligaments, tendons) can be harder to heal than bones.

Just a big caution sign --- Please be extremely careful when you add exercise with these types of injuries...

I am stating this with my own experience of 2 patellar tendon rebuild surgeries and a few miscellaneous other OP surgeries (which take a good 6 months + to recover from)... Also, have had a casted ankle sprain (soft tissue).

Don't put weight on it!! Rest Ice Compression Elevation (like I am sure your doctor told you)... Try to be patient and let your knee heal!!!

It totally stinks... Hang in!! You are a strong woman! Wishing you all of the best!!!

VegSeekingFit, I'm with you 100% on overusing this joint.

I should have rested it MUCH more at the beginning than I did, but because it didn't hurt THAT much, and not ALL the time, I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. I thought I'd be able to walk it off. Finally saw an orthopedist last Tuesday which was five days after the pain started. She diagnosed tendinitis, prescribed an anti-inflammatory, advised icing it and resting it. But she didn't take it all that seriously because my pain at that moment was about a 6 rather than the 20+ levels I'd been experiencing.

Then Monday morning I did something coming down the stairs (I cannot avoid stairs, as I rent a basement apartment) and sent myself into worse pain than anything I've ever experienced. I'm talking screaming out loud with it. Couldn't so much as shift my leg or move it in any way, let alone straighten or bend it. It was brutal! I was able to get an appointment for Thursday but NO WAY was I going to live with the agony from Monday to Thursday.

Long story short, I ended up at the ER on Monday where the doc lectured me on staying on top of the pain by taking the anti-inflammatory plus Tylenol (not something the orthopedist mentioned) and he also prescribed hydrocodone, six tabs, to get me through to Thursday. So that stuff made Tuesday just a smidge more bearable. That plus some small doses of cannabis. I was still non-functional mind you, but from the meds, not the pain. And thanks to the sleepiness of the hydrocodone, I stayed off my feet except to go to the bathroom. If I needed anything, Wylie brought it to me. And today is almost pain free. NOT going to go out for a walk, though. Nope. Let's wait and see what the cortisone shot does for me.

Honestly, I don't know why I don't just milk this, eh? "Ouch my knee...hon, will you bring me a nice cup of tea and a book?" "Ouch my knee...hon will you do my laundry?" "ouch my knee...hon, will you wash the windows even though that wasn't really on my to do list?"

but it sucks to be grounded like this. My morning walks were the best part of every day, and they're out. Even going outside and looking at the garden is too much.

At any rate, I am going to be a lot more careful with this FOR SURE. I never want to go through that kind of pain EVER again. It made me feeble, no lie.

Good morning,
oh my goodness, yes, I am rather speechless how effective this has been for me JUST by giving more attention to MWL #1 and #2 guidelines. I admit I hadn't done it before. Yes, I knew "eat your veggies" and I like them, but I never gave them the same importance as the beans and starches I ate. So I decided, what happens if I actually DO #1 and #2. Ha. Jokes on me because I am rather speechless at the new #s on the scale. Could it be this easy?

Good luck, keep going. Marsha

I also appreciate this advice to focus on one guideline for a 100% adherence. It's great advice! Though I'm an "old hand" at McDougalling, I lost my moxi back in 2014 and haven't been able to get my mind fully back in the game since then. But I got back to these forums again in 2018, and I am 25 lbs less than I was in 2018 even though I have struggled so hard to keep myself compliant. But it should be much easier/less stressful to commit to one. I can do that.

[deweyswakms]

Friday

Oh dear, that knee! What foods heal knees! ha. I like that you are STILL HERE, keep writing and sharing. But seriously, baby it, right now.

And yes, frankly for me, I really wasn't following MWL guides 1 and 2, especially 2. The other guides are easy for me, yet the weight never got beyond a certain #. Now they are the center of my meal, along with the starch component. Even if you eat something off the plan, also add something from guides 1 & 2 to the meal.

I learned a lot about the nutritional quality of what I was eating by logging in my daily foods to the https://cronometer.com/ tool. Maybe play with that while you are resting the knee.

Good luck, Marsha