SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Share your McDougall successes here in order to inspire others.

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Lyndzie » Fri Sep 03, 2021 1:16 pm

Welcome to the McDougall Maintenance support group! Let’s join together for support and camaraderie while we strive to maintain our successes.

Many of us have lost weight and/or reached other health goals. We’re ready for that next chapter, maintaining the gains we’ve accomplished.

This group will have Friday check ins, where everyone can touch base. Weigh-ins are optional, and will not be tracked. Please feel free to share your non-scale victories (NSV) as well.

In order to foster group participation, we do ask that only participants post, so please do join! You can join at any time simply by hitting the “post reply” button and saying something along the lines of “I’d like to join.” As they say, the more, the merrier.


Hello friends!

How is it September already? Where did the month of August go?

A couple good reads I saw posted recently:
Did you know Dave’s Killer Bread is not compliant? Oh man, another one bites the dust.
Also, Jeff updated his Top Ten Reasons for Failure to include #10 Adherence Fatigue (something I think most of us can relate to).

Looking forward to everyone’s updates!

Lindsey
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sat Sep 04, 2021 7:08 am

Lindsey, thanks for keeping us organized by posting September’s thread :-D

The good this week was I made a batch of yellow split pea soup. No recipe, just chopped up 3 yellow onions, sautéed those in pressure cooker for a bit, then added 3 cups peas and 9 cups water. Added some garlic powder and rosemary and a few bay leaves. Cooked under pressure for 9 minutes and then left to natural release about another 10. Puréed it with my stick blender. Very tasty soup and so quick to make. It’s great as a preload or a meal. I added some fresh diced tomatoes sometimes. I didn’t soak the peas which I usually do overnight, but it is nice to know I can just whip this up without the soaking.

The bad, I bought a cheesecake with coconut oil. Pretty much ate the whole thing over 3 days. At least it was quite small, I think 1800 calories overall. I liked it while having it, but it’s really not worth how I feel afterward. Duh...no good reason for eating this, but only thing to do is learn from it and move forward.

Also made a batch of oatmeal burgers, they have thyme which gives them a sausage flavour. Recipe below. To form the patties, I use my 1/3 measuring cup, scoop it up and press into side of pot. Then smack it down onto baking tray. Press down slightly. Between each patty I dip the cup into water so batter doesn’t stick. These do freeze very well. I was out and about all week and they are good just left at room temp for a bit. I often reheat in air fryer which makes them a bit crispy. I may experiment with this recipe and try adding some roasted peppers or other veggie.

https://www.copymethat.com/r/TIJU7G5t/sunburgers/

Have a good week!
Erin
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Sat Sep 11, 2021 12:29 am

Hello everyone,

Thanks LIndsey for setting up the September thread and for sharing those two links. How's things with you this week? IS there any news on the kitchen front?

Erin - the pea soup sounds delicious and I'll take a look at the oatmeal burger recipe.

Last week we had some buddha bowl style meals with Baked Tofu, Roasted Potatoes (using the Plantiful Kiki warm potato and white bean salad potato flavourings), mixed salad and hummus. Hadn’t tried the McDougall baked tofu recipe before and it went down well with my husband who’s not a massive tofu fan. It was easy to do and will definitely do it again. We've been given about 7kg of muscatel grapes and some aubergines from very kind friends. We’re eating the grapes for breakfast, in salads and as snackand tasted bitter so I’m keeping some seeds to see if we can grow them in Spain. Haven’t had much success with them in the UK as I think they need a consistent warm temperature.

We've had family visiting this week which has been lovely. However, we've eaten out more and I've eaten more off-program foods and my digestion is rebelling! Heading to the UK tomorrow and going to aim for much higher compliance next week.

Best wishes, Sue x
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:21 am

Sue, how nice you had family visiting. I can totally relate to digestion issues eating out :-D

Yams were on sale this week so I stocked up a bit. Made this loaf, was very tasty. I did half white and half whole wheat flour and substituted applesauce for oil. I used half the maple syrup and next time I would not add any. Will try making the recipe with date paste next. I did add a few walnuts. It’s the spice combination that makes it great and it’s also very moist.

https://dontfollowthecrowd.net/spiced-v ... tato-cake/

I also made sushi a couple times this week as I’m trying to use up some white rice. I like brown much better usually. I put cucumber and peppers in the middle.

Had the family over for burgers and fries. Made black bean oat burgers from forks over knives. Super easy. Just 2 cups black beans, 1/2 cup oats, one onion, lime juice, 2 tsp Chili powder. Pulse it all in food processor. Add enough liquid either bean juice or water until it sticks together well. I put the patties in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then I cooked on griddle about 7 minutes each side. You would think after all these years I would have already perfected a burger. Nope. I usually bake them and then they fall apart. I usually bake as I thought I couldn’t make enough for 8 people and have them ready all at once. Double this recipe made 8 patties which fits nicely on my electric griddle pan. Anyone else have an easy burger recipe that’s their go to?

Green cabbage was the vegetable this week as it was on sale. Obviously I shop the sales! Anyways I just steamed it with some Chili flakes and spices. Very good.

Have a good week.

Erin
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:00 am

Erin - your food sounds delightful! Hmm, sorry I don't have an easy burger recipe that I use. My fav recipe is a bit complicated which is probably why I don;t do it that often! :lol:

We are in the UK and adjusting to the cooler weather. We picked some tomatoes and cavolo nero from the veggie plot. My husband has gone to our allotment this morning and hoping some of the potatoes have survived our absence....

Our UK scales seem to weigh us about a pound heavier than the Spanish ones and I'm currently 2 pounds above my goal weight. It's interesting to observe how much the home and external environment impacts on my eating. In the cooler weather we've been eating hot foods - banana porridge, baked potatoes, lentils with rosemary, brown rice and veggies, baked potato fries - instead of muesli and salads. Also, I've mostly been able to drop some off-program eating habits that I'd acquired while in Spain. However, my husband has been buying cakes and chocolate sweets (candies) for himself and apart from a slip-up last night, I haven't eaten them.

We had a company-made plant-based frozen dish for yesterday's lunch, which contained oil, coconut milk and more salt than we would use. A kind friend gave us a box of them as a thank-you and I haven't had the heart to throw them away. We've been having them occasionally, either when my vegetarian step-daughter is with us or when we're in a hurry and haven't got anything ready to eat. Once they're gone I won't replace them.

PS Earlier this year I had the results of some blood tests and discovered my cholesterol had dropped from 4.3 to 3.8 (166 to 146 mg/DL numbers) since December 2017. I started the McDougall program in May 2017 and had been hoping to get my cholesterol down below 150 mg/DL since I heard Dr Esselstyn mention that number:
Strong evidence from a wide variety of sources shows that total serum cholesterol levels must be kept below 150 mg/dL to stem America’s epidemic of coronary artery disease.


Best wishes, Sue x
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sun Sep 26, 2021 8:52 am

Have been enjoying some beautiful fall weather. Normal average temperature is 15, but it’s been low 20s. The leaves are changing and the colours are spectacular. We spent 10 days out in our RV not too far from home. Visited a couple lakes and small towns. Rode our ebikes around the lake and explored the town. Did much better not bringing too much food. Kept the food quite simple and junk food to a minimum. I made a simple version of steel oats that I hadn’t tried before. Just poured boiling water over the oats and let sit for a few minutes. Then added the usual berries and flax. Quite tasty and fast. I still enjoy the texture of cooked steel oats better, but this is a nice change.

We plan to be leaving again in about a month so I will likely not do too much food shopping, will keep using up some inventory. This week I will make a red lentil stew as I have lots on hand.

I have been a bit lazier on the exercise front, should be doing more walking than I am. Will focus more on that this week. Hope everyone has a great week!

Erin
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Fri Oct 01, 2021 1:29 am

Erin - your weather sounds beautiful and must have been lovely having a trip in the RV trip at this time of year. Good job on the food front :-)

Here the past few days have been cooler, wet and windy a we head into Autumn. Exercise-wise have been out for walks and to a pilates class but not done much else. My weight is still hovering a couple of pounds above goal. I've done much better this week on avoiding off-program items but have had quite a few calorie-dense foods like bread and dried fruit. My husband has stopped buying the off-program snacks and is trying to increase his level of compliance to his own program where he aims for 80+% McDougall Regular Program. We chatted about how we can help each other so that's been helpful. This week I've made a huge batch of root vegetable and pearl barley soup which lasted us 3-4 days. We've also had potatoes, cavolo nero (dinosaur kale) and caulfilower from our allotment. I've made hummus so he can have that in sandwiches instead of the off-program filling he was having. He bought some watercress which we hadn't had in ages and that made a very tasty sandwich with hummus and tomato.

I was away last weekend visiting a very close long-standing friend who lives a couple of hundred miles away and who I haven't seen properly in a couple of years. We shared some of the cooking so I was able to introduce her to the Plantiful Kiki Roasted Potatoes and Vegan Ranch Dressing that I recently discovered. I appreciate it's difficult for non-McDougallers to embrace the oil-free element of this program and was pleased that she really enjoyed this dish. It's been so good to spend time with people in-person again after 18 months of restrictions.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, Sue x
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sun Oct 03, 2021 9:56 am

Sue, great you caught up with a friend! Sounds like you really had a great time. Your soup sounds delicious. It’s so wonderful you and your spouse are so on the same page and can share and encourage each other.

Not much new here, still getting outside a lot to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather. Our daily highs have been above average, but will be coming down to around 12 degrees Celsius for the highs this week. I haven’t been quite as good getting my walks in, but still lots of pickleball.

On the kitchen front, enjoyed chickpea salad on toast or sweet potato flatbread this week. Made another batch of red lentil soup. It’s the smoked paprika that I love in it. I guess my nut/seed free experiment is over. I have started to make salad dressing with tahini again, but also using white beans. When I used to make tahini dressings I would thin with water, but using a bit of tahini with the beans is very nice and creamy. I don’t really have a recipe, I add lemon juice, garlic powder, balsamic vinegar and a bit of salt to taste. It’s so good! For the past week I also haven’t been adding in the 3/4 cup of beans deliberately, but I’m going to start that again.

Have a great week.
Erin
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby JeffN » Sat Oct 16, 2021 7:02 am

Greetings all!

I spoke to Lyndzie and sadly, she’s not going to be able to continue facilitating this group anymore.

If anyone else wants to volunteer for the role, let me know here or via PM.

Thanks everyone!
Jeff
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sun Nov 07, 2021 11:03 am

Perhaps we could have a thread in here entitled “just checking in”. And not have a new thread for each month. There aren’t many regular posters in the monthly thread so might be easier.

Thanks
Erin
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:00 am

That sounds like a good idea Erin. I'm not able to take on facilitating monthly threads at the moment, but it would be helpful to be able to check in every so often.

How's things with you? Are you still playing pickleball? We're in Spain at the moment and have been lucky to receive two carrier bags of mangoes from a friend's friend who grows them :-D Used some of the less ripe ones to make a Thai-style mango salad at the weekend and the ripe ones with my morning porridge/oatmeal or muesli.

Best wishes, Sue
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby JeffN » Fri Nov 12, 2021 6:30 am

Ejeff wrote:Perhaps we could have a thread in here entitled “just checking in”. And not have a new thread for each month. There aren’t many regular posters in the monthly thread so might be easier.

Thanks
Erin



Sounds good.

I will set that up in here this weekend.

Jeff
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sun Nov 21, 2021 10:53 am

Jeff, thanks for that.

Sue, you are lucky to get all those mangos, nice! Hope you are enjoying Spain, I would love to visit there one day. No, Pickleball is finished for the season. Outdoor at least. Doing more walking now. I haven’t been spending much time in the kitchen just keeping things simple. Eating a grain and veggie bowl most days. I was craving a grilled “cheese” sandwich so I made a batch of the stretchy cashew mozzarella. It’s was good, but the funny thing is I need to sprinkle salt as I eat it. It’s the saltiness in cheese that people crave, or at least it seems to be for me. I don’t miss the saturated fat in cheese that’s for sure.

Erin
"The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don't swim upstream."
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby deweyswakms » Sun Nov 28, 2021 9:46 am

JeffN wrote:
Ejeff wrote:Perhaps we could have a thread in here entitled “just checking in”.
I will set that up in here this weekend.

Jeff


Thanks Jeff! I also miss the accountability of a group. Marsha
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Re: SEPTEMBER 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby JeffN » Tue Nov 30, 2021 2:44 pm

JeffN wrote:
Ejeff wrote:Perhaps we could have a thread in here entitled “just checking in”. And not have a new thread for each month. There aren’t many regular posters in the monthly thread so might be easier.

Thanks
Erin



Sounds good.

I will set that up in here this weekend.

Jeff



Sorry for the delay. The thread is now up.

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=62051
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