Back in July, I posted my progress after 90 days of really compliant MWL eating.
https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=59859&start=15#p603065Here it is almost October, and I’m still at it. I blew past one goal weight, then another. I am now a pound lower than my "ultimate" goal, the one I never thought I would make. The one I’ve never seen since high school.
I thought I was doomed to be more or less fat forever. I thought I would always be somewhere on a weight-loss continuum. I thought every new year's resolution would be headlined with "lose xx pounds by xx date."
My fattest — and I mean stuffed-Goose-for-foie-gras fat — was 237. That was 15 years ago. I managed to do strict portion control and measured food for a year and get down to 160. But a year later, I was back up to 200. I went up and down 20 pounds from 180 to 200 for several years after that.
I started eating vegetarian 7 years ago. I knew Dr. McDougall had the right idea. I knew Jeff Novick's calorie density lecture made sense. But I couldn’t get out of the Pleasure Trap. So I stayed a fattened-up-for-Christmas-dinner Goose for all those years. Never went all the way back up to 237, but never got anywhere near 160 again either.
And I was a sicker, pain-filled, older Goose too. Arthritis, high blood pressure, collagen-vascular issues (doctors never quite said lupus, but several of the markers were there), rosacea, kidney stones, constant UTIs, anxiety, depression, anger — the list got pretty long.
The end of March, I made a consultation appointment with Dr. Doug Lisle. I weighed 190 at the time I booked the appointment. And I was a little more motivated, just knowing I was going to talk to him. By the time we had our consultation in mid-April, I had lost 6 pounds. But after that, I got serious. Maybe I just didn’t want to fail in front of Dr. Lisle, maybe what he said finally got through to me, maybe I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired.
I had tried Dr. Lisle's "slow fast way" before — aiming for 80% compliance on 6 "starch targets," focusing on the process rather than the outcome. This is a great idea, and it works for a lot of people, but that flexibility wasn’t good for me. I had to be close to or at 100% to stay on track. Dr. Lisle suggested I go all-in, eating very simple, minimally processed food: steamed vegetables and starches, some fruit, no salt, sugar, oil, or gluten. This is a suggestion he tailored for me (based on my symptoms and history), and it’s not necessarily for everyone.
Essentially, I've been doing — and am still doing— strict MWL. It worked. I now weigh 144.4 pounds. At 5’ 10.5”, that makes me a BMI of 20.4. I have lost 45 pounds since the 26th of March. I’m never hungry. I have no cravings. I have a simple, basic eating plan that I can stay with forever. I eat out very rarely, and my introverted self isn’t bothered at all by that. I can travel and stay compliant. My only issue now is to figure out what to do so I don’t lose a lot more weight and still stay well away from the Pleasure Trap. Nice problem to have.
My blood pressure is still low: 97 to 105 over 68 to 72. My joint pain is 75% improved and getting better. No rosacea. No kidney or urinary problems. I haven’t done a lipid profile yet, because I know what dumping all that fat will do to my numbers until I stabilize for a while. I’m actually contemplating moving my tail feathers, something I haven’t done for years (exercise was not part of my success, but I’m wanting movement to be part of my future). I’m mentally more stable too — not perfect, but much improved.
Thank you, Dr. McDougall. You've had it right all along. Thank you, Jeff Novick. Keep on preaching calorie density. Thank you, Dr. Lisle. You helped me break out of the Pleasure Trap and convinced me my problem was physical (i.e. what I was stuffing down my gullet), not psychological.
And thank you to a lot of people on these boards whose posts and journals helped me, a Goose who mostly just lurked at the side of the pond and didn’t say much but read a lot. Your stories kept me from giving up.
Goose