Fighting the plateau!
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:06 pm
Having discovered Dr McDougall last year (I wish it had been sooner!) I started following his guidelines to eat better. My main goals were to reduce my hypertension, get rid of medication and also to lose weight.
Eight months into the journey, I did lose a significant amount of weight (nearly 22 lbs), my pressure came down around 10 points. However, I did hit a plateau. I've pretty much managed to maintain my weight since December 2020, but the downward trend has stopped. Along the way, I've obviously been sneaking in some no-no's for me right now - like tofu, vegan junk very occasionally (sauces/burgers), take-aways (when I'm bored with my own cooking!) etc. In general, I eat healthy and stick to the guidelines but tend to go off at least once a week.
Would like to start a 10 day stint again, following Dr McDougall's MWL guidelines on April 1 and log my journey to be accountable.
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. ✅
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.✅
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).✅
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).✅
6. Eliminate any added oil.✅
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.✅
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).✅
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.✅
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).✅
Eight months into the journey, I did lose a significant amount of weight (nearly 22 lbs), my pressure came down around 10 points. However, I did hit a plateau. I've pretty much managed to maintain my weight since December 2020, but the downward trend has stopped. Along the way, I've obviously been sneaking in some no-no's for me right now - like tofu, vegan junk very occasionally (sauces/burgers), take-aways (when I'm bored with my own cooking!) etc. In general, I eat healthy and stick to the guidelines but tend to go off at least once a week.
Would like to start a 10 day stint again, following Dr McDougall's MWL guidelines on April 1 and log my journey to be accountable.
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. ✅
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.✅
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).✅
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).✅
6. Eliminate any added oil.✅
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.✅
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).✅
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.✅
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).✅