Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

That's really lovely! My partner is also gravitating more toward this food. First, it was just to cook me stuff (I work out of the home, and partner doesn't), and then I heard this gem today, "Well, when I first got the sous vide rig, I was cooking a lot of meat. I'd kind of like a new sous vide rig, but that means I'd eat more meat, and that's not a goal of mine." So hey, progress!

Thanks Idgie!

Great news about your partner

We're away in Southern Spain at the moment and I'm not 'officially' weighing in until we get back to our home scales. Based on the scales here, my weight is up by a couple of pounds which wouldn't be a surprise due to some richer foods, some oil in restaurant prepared meals and more salt. I'm not going to worry too much, but will cut back on some of the salty/fatty snack items that have crept into my diet.

One of the many things I love about being here is the locally grown fruit and vegetables, including oranges, lemons, avocado, mango and tomatoes. Not only do they taste amazing but it gives me a thrill to talk to the farmer who grew them and harvested them a day or two before we eat them



Best wishes to everyone xx

Suey51 wrote:We're away in Southern Spain at the moment and I'm not 'officially' weighing in until we get back to our home scales. Based on the scales here, my weight is up by a couple of pounds which wouldn't be a surprise due to some richer foods, some oil in restaurant prepared meals and more salt. I'm not going to worry too much, but will cut back on some of the salty/fatty snack items that have crept into my diet.

One of the many things I love about being here is the locally grown fruit and vegetables, including oranges, lemons, avocado, mango and tomatoes. Not only do they taste amazing but it gives me a thrill to talk to the farmer who grew them and harvested them a day or two before we eat them



Best wishes to everyone xx

Gosh, Spain! Hope you're having fun, and glad that you are remaining mindful.

I know someone whose ex in-laws had an avocado tree in their yard in So Cal...oh man, was I jealous! Just walk out in the back yard and pick an avocado. How would it be. But I've read that avocados don't fully ripen until after they are picked. Still...oooh, baby. It would be near impossible for me to take off the poundage with an avocado tree in my yard!

That looks like a wonderful place to visit from pictures I've seen and that fruit bowl just made me hungry. laugh.

Thanks buns! Yes we are having a fun trip! We are visiting Portugal for a few days and have been eating locally grown yellow sweet potatoes, so good! Sorry, it was only when I read your message that I realised I'd included an avocado in the picture which is on the list of occasional delicacies.... I'm with you, I didn't have any when I was trying to lose weight and only have them occasionally now Hope all is well with you.

Thanks Rosey. Yes, it's a lovely part of the world. Sorry for making you hungry! Hope all is well with you.

Suey51 wrote:Thanks buns! Yes we are having a fun trip! We are visiting Portugal for a few days and have been eating locally grown yellow sweet potatoes, so good! Sorry, it was only when I read your message that I realised I'd included an avocado in the picture which is on the list of occasional delicacies.... I'm with you, I didn't have any when I was trying to lose weight and only have them occasionally now Hope all is well with you.

Thanks Rosey. Yes, it's a lovely part of the world. Sorry for making you hungry! Hope all is well with you.

You're visiting Portugal? Where in Portugal? I live in the north! Would be great to meet you but I assume you're going to the south or Lisbon, right?

Yes, we were in South Portugal for a few days but now back in Spain. Whereabouts are you? It would have been lovely to meet up if we were closer! We have visited friends near Coimbra and been to Lisbon, Porto and nearby areas a few times. It's a beautiful country. We brought back some souvenir sweet potatoes

Suey51 wrote:Yes, we were in South Portugal for a few days but now back in Spain. Whereabouts are you? It would have been lovely to meet up if we were closer! We have visited friends near Coimbra and been to Lisbon, Porto and nearby areas a few times. It's a beautiful country. We brought back some souvenir sweet potatoes

Replying via PM so we don't flood this thread with personal messages!

Good point

Hi Sue,

I love this thread! It's good to hear from you and the people maintaining. Do you think it gets easier? Or, can that even be a fair question? I know even eating a SAD diet we all struggle to know what to fix for dinner sometimes. I guess it's really no different. The struggle seems to be to keep reaching for the fruit and veggies. I think if my lifestyle required me to eat out a lot it would be a harder lifestyle to be WFPB. Maybe this will change. I read that young people are organizing climate change rallies to get people's attention. Maybe we will begin to see more people realize the production of meat has a significant negative impact on our environment.

Thanks Moonlight! Great question I'd be very interested to hear other maintainers on this one.

My two'penn'rth is that yes, for me it is getting easier, although I still find certain environments tricky. Since losing the weight these are some of the things that have helped:

- Carrying on with good habits from MWL days, for example, batch cooking, taking food with me when I'm travelling, speaking to restaurants ahead of our visits, getting back on track after off-program days.
- Meal planning so that I don't have to think too hard what to fix for dinner (or breakfast or lunch for that matter!)
- Keeping foods simple most of the time but doing more complicated meals at weekends or for special occasions. This and meal planning reduce decision making which helps me preserve willpower for tricky situations.
- Exploring new books on topics like habits and making changes in other areas of my life, for example, getting more organised.
- Staying in touch with the lovely people on this forum, continuing to read and watch videos/webinars.
- And as Jeff Novick would say 'getting a life'

There was a short period this summer when I had a slight sense of fatigue, but that passed. It helped that a couple of friends and my husband decided to do MWL for a while. If I veer too far 'off-piste' then my body kindly sends me a reminder of why I'm doing this I'm still working on being confident enough to ask for what I want in resturants. We don't eat out very often at home, so this is mainly when travelling and I'm working on my Spanish to help with this!

I've been reading a couple of books about addiction recently and they've got me very interested in the interplay between the conscious and subconscious elements of our pysche or the logical and emotional parts. I''ve realised that, when I'm in certain situations (restaurants or big celebratory family meals) I can feel deprived. I'm caught between the conscious thought that 'I'm not going to eat that because its not good for me' and the subconscious feeling that 'it'll taste good and make me happy, so just do it'. Most of the time, I really enjoy this way of eating, so this insight has been helpful for dealing with the occasional sense of deprivation.

Yes, I hope you're right. Recently there's been discussion in the UK media about the environmental impacts of different foods so that's good.

Sue - I just saw your link to your Instagram pics. You take lovely photos and make delicious food!

Thanks Lindsey!

It's been a few weeks since I've logged my weight on this thread so here goes! My weight is currently 3.8 pounds above my goal weight. I'm not surprised given the richer foods that I've eaten during a trip abroad and the festive feasting season. It's been a longer than usual detour to those richer foods, and it's proving more tricky to get back on track. Having super-palatable foods in the house is still difficult and I did eat some This morning, I happened to look back at my weight from a year ago today and last Friday, and both numbers were exactly the same as the respective numbers this year - weird!

I'm determined to get back to goal weight. Inspired by Dr Lisle, I've started a simple checklist to track starches, veggies, fruit and exercise to help me keep focussed on the process each day. If I do that consistently I'm confident the results will come.

On a positive note, my family were very supportive, for example, cooking separate oil-free potatoes and green veggies on Xmas Day. It was lovely to see them all as well as some friends visiting from the Netherlands on Boxing Day. My husband made a delicious veggie and bean soup yesterday and even specially cooked some potatoes and brussels sprouts so he could make an oil-free version of our traditional Xmas leftovers dish, bubble and squeak!

How did other people fare over the festive season?

xx