Anyone up for Another MARY'S MINI CHALLENGE?

[kpolninja]

My husband (YEAH-no joke, I got my SAD husband to do a mini with me for 10 days...I'm so excited. We have a no meat rule in the house since I'm ethically vegan, but I can't believe he is going to do it with me for 10 days!!!) and I are starting on the 29th of October so if you want to put it up now we woudl love to participate (me mroe than him). We have a wedding to attend on the 8th so we are doing a 10 day from the 29th to the 7th of november.

I'm hoping for great results that will inspire him to continue with MWL...maybe I could talk him into 5 out of 7 days a week or something.

[proverbs31woman]

kpolninja,

Congratulations on being able to get your husband to follow Mary's Mini! Wow...MM seems extreme to most regular McDougallers, so it's amazing that he would take such a big step.

Please keep us updated, and I hope that both of you receive the results that you are searching for.

[kpolninja]

Thanks!
I think seeing the success (which is minimal considering I've only been faithful to MWL for 2 weeks - and I've was off track a bit this weekend) I've had, and him being so used to my vegan-ness for the past year.

He loves potatoes so it should not be too terrible for him...my hope is that he will eat just slightly more healthy when it is over.

We are going to weigh in daily...I'll keep everybody updated! It should be an interesting!

[Vanilla Orchid]

I noticed that if I eat a big salad every day, I lose weight. I'm using the oil free tofu-based caesar salad dressing from the Millenium cookbook, and it's so delicious that I actually crave salad. I don't like it with any of the commercial oil-free dressings I've tasted, and even though tofu is not permitted on MM, if it keeps me eating salad, I'm doing it. And I don't use all that much.

[cowgirrlup]

I noticed that if I eat a big salad every day, I lose weight. I'm using the oil free tofu-based caesar salad dressing from the Millenium cookbook, and it's so delicious that I actually crave salad. I don't like it with any of the commercial oil-free dressings I've tasted, and even though tofu is not permitted on MM, if it keeps me eating salad, I'm doing it. And I don't use all that much.

That sounds really good!

[dcfit]

I noticed that if I eat a big salad every day, I lose weight. I'm using the oil free tofu-based caesar salad dressing from the Millenium cookbook, and it's so delicious that I actually crave salad. I don't like it with any of the commercial oil-free dressings I've tasted, and even though tofu is not permitted on MM, if it keeps me eating salad, I'm doing it. And I don't use all that much.

Any chance you could post this recipe? I'm really struggling with salad dressings and could use some ideas.
And I would love to join this weight loss challenge....

[cowgirrlup]

Ok everyone, the end of October is almost here! Those of you who are interested, please join me on the November MMC!

Its up and posted. I hope to see all of you there..even if ya just stop in to say HI!

[Vanilla Orchid]

I noticed that if I eat a big salad every day, I lose weight. I'm using the oil free tofu-based caesar salad dressing from the Millenium cookbook, and it's so delicious that I actually crave salad. I don't like it with any of the commercial oil-free dressings I've tasted, and even though tofu is not permitted on MM, if it keeps me eating salad, I'm doing it. And I don't use all that much.

Any chance you could post this recipe? I'm really struggling with salad dressings and could use some ideas.
And I would love to join this weight loss challenge....

I hope I'm not violating copyright laws, and if I am, I hope Millenium would rather have the publicity than my skin (or money). So, here goes:

Oil-free caesar Dressing:

Makes 2 cups

one 12.3-oz package low-fat silken tofu*
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, mincec, or more to taste
3 tablespoons capers, drained
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup water**
Sea Salt to taste***

In a blender, puree all the ingredients until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Thin with more water if needed to reach the desired consistency. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Nutritional information per 1/4 cup dressing:
41 calories (22% from fat), 4g Protien, 4g Carbohydrate, 1g fat, 0 Cholesterol, 302mg Sodium, ,1g Fiber.

*I often use a 16 0z tub of silken tofu, because it's easier to get than the 12.3 oz packages. I don't bother adjusting the other ingredients. It's still good.
**I often skip the water, and add it later or not at all. That way it saves room in the frige, I don't have to bother drying the lettuce after I wash it, and I just use less dressing. Also, this thicker consistency makes a great dip.
***I never add the sea salt. The lemon juice and capers are already intense flavors, and I'm trying to get my blood pressure down by avoiding salt.

Enjoy!

[star]

Okay, without making this a long, drawn out email, I want to say that I did not reach my goal. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing if I would have reached it if I had not strayed here and there for a period of nearly 3 weeks now.

I'm a little bombed but not too much as I always consider these things part of the learning process of what works and doesn't work for maintenance. Basically, I gained back 3 lbs and earned everyone of them by eating a ton of illegal sweets.

I will join the Nov thread to see if I can reach my goal before my race.

Hope everyone did well. Overall, I am very pleased as all of my clothes this fit and the gain is only noticeable to me.

[janeellen]

Hello Star!

Are you up for another a second round of Mary's Mini Challenge?

jane ellen

[MichaelBluejay]

Mary asked me to post about this here.

Back in 2005, before Mary introduced her mini diet, I embarked on my own kind of mini diet. After seeing the movie Supersize Me, I decided to make a parody of it, going the opposite direction, about my effort to lose weight. I was perhaps 20 lbs. overweight but I was already a low-fat vegan and bicycled everywhere, so what more could I do. I decided I'd go even stricter: I'd train for and run a full marathon, and for a month I'd eat just five foods: brown rice, potatoes, chickpeas, broccoli, and bananas.

I don't remember how much I lost but I think it was around 10 lbs., though I was also doing a lot of running during that time. Then again, I've done a lot of running at times since then and didn't lose a significant amount of weight. I've been traveling a lot for the last two years but that's coming to an end soon, and when it does I may try the 5-food diet again.

I found the diet surprisingly easy. The hardest part was the first few days, and not from being bored, but with being *worried* that I was going to be bored for the rest of the month. In truth I never got bored of it. And also surprisingly, I had a hard time coming off the diet when the one month was over. I went to the grocery and bought all kinds of food that I had previously enjoyed, but it was somehow hard to actually eat that first thing that wasn't part of the 5 foods. Of course, after I came off the diet, it was easy to eat anything, but the point is that while I was on the diet, my body really got accustomed to the simple way of eating and resisted efforts to go complex again.

The reason I picked those particular five foods was because I wanted a good representative of each of the food groups. (The real food groups, not the 4 Food Groups they taught in school.) That would be a whole grain, a bean, a starchy vegetable, a green leafy vegetable, and a fruit. You could argue that yellow vegetables is also a group, but I wanted to keep it simple with 5 foods, not 6, and yellow vegetables seemed the least important.

"Potato" meant any kind of potato, so I had a little variety with russet, red, and sweet potatoes. I allowed myself salt, herbs, spices, and essentially zero-calorie condiments (e.g., mustard). I also allowed myself things made from the 5 foods, so that means I also had brown rice cakes (nothing but brown rice and salt), mochi (ditto), and brown rice syrup. I also bought some garbanzo flour but I never got around to using it.

I didn't do a lot of creative cooking. I basically boiled everything (except the bananas) and ate it with some salt and/or spices. I might have rice+potatoes, or rice+chickpeas, or rice+broccoli, or rice+(2 of potatoes, chickpeas, or broccoli).

Jeff Novick mentioned in another thread about how well Wendy's baked potatoes and salad alone fared on a nutrient analysis. I imagine this 5-food diet would score even better.

[Letha]

Mary asked me to post about this here.

Back in 2005, before Mary introduced her mini diet, I embarked on my own kind of mini diet. After seeing the movie Supersize Me, I decided to make a parody of it, going the opposite direction, about my effort to lose weight. I was perhaps 20 lbs. overweight but I was already a low-fat vegan and bicycled everywhere, so what more could I do. I decided I'd go even stricter: I'd train for and run a full marathon, and for a month I'd eat just five foods: brown rice, potatoes, chickpeas, broccoli, and bananas.


I didn't do a lot of creative cooking. I basically boiled everything (except the bananas) and ate it with some salt and/or spices. I might have rice+potatoes, or rice+chickpeas, or rice+broccoli, or rice+(2 of potatoes, chickpeas, or broccoli).

This looks good to me. I’ve been doing some calculations myself for various repetitive menu plans. I was thinking of oats, blueberries, potatoes, carrots, & hominy.
Letha

[janeellen]

Hello MichaelBluejay!

Thanks for your very informative (and encouraging) post. I too am a runner and a low-fat vegan and have about 10 to 15 pounds to lose. I'm currently training for a half-marathon, although I have done lots of running and biking and weight-lifting for years. Like you, I sometimes wonder when the scale doesn't budge: What more can I do?

Your list of five foods is very appealing. I love them all. The nutritional content of the diet seems just fine, even more than fine. I am just sitting here wondering if there's any possible way I could fit in apples -- for the crunch, and because I love them. I keep thinking - A month without apples?

I guess I could eat raw broccoli for the crunch. Decisions, decisions....Do you think it makes any real difference if it's five foods or six?

In any case, I intend to embark on a one month trial of a five (or six) food diet after a short trip to Southern California this week. Thanks again for your post, especially your comments regarding how surprisingly easy the diet was to follow, the hardest part being"worried" about being bored.

[MichaelBluejay]

For me I was worried about doing without oranges for a month. And Odwalla bars.

I'm not sure it matters whether it's five foods or six, but I think the fewer it is, the more impressive it is when you tell people about it. So I think the fewer the better, but I think five is a good minimum to ensure proper nutrition (speaking as a layperson).

It's interesting that boredom wasn't a problem, but *fear* of boredom was. Perhaps if you tell yourself, "If this is too hard, I can stop." It likely won't be too hard, so you won't stop, but the feeling that you have an "out" might remove that worry.

I realize I didn't mention my marathon results. I finished in 3:59:56, which put me solidly in the top half for my age group. That was pretty surprising to me since I started the project as a non-runner, trained for only 3.5 months (I think you're supposed to do 5-6), and trained minimally for even that 3.5 months, averaging only 2.4 runs/week and 25 miles/week.

The 5-food diet came in the middle of my 3.5 months of training. The rest of the time I ate typical low-fat vegan. I do credit my performance to healthy eating.

[janeellen]

Hello again MichaelBluejay!

I'm the type of half-marathoner that just wants to finish with ankles and knees intact. While I count lots of things -- calories, miles run, number of times I've exercised per week -- race times are not one of them.

I think that "fear" of boredom is why I'm worried about missing apples. My hunch is that once I get going, it won't be a problem, which is the way it is with so many things in life. You're probably right about sticking to five foods.

Thank you for your encouragement, congratulations on your impressive marathon time, and Merry Christmas.