May 2017 McDougall Weigh-In Group

[Qwerty988]

HELP! I am trying to update my ticker. I went to tickerfactory.com and did the update but when I copied and pasted my code to edit my signature it just came up as the old ticker. What am I doing wrong?

Hi! As far as I know, all you need to do is edit the ticker at the tickerfactory site. It automatically updates in your signture here on its own. Sometimes it takes a while to kick in, though! As long as it shows as updated on their site, you should be fine.

[Suey51]

Hi,
I've been eating mostly wholefoods / mostly plant-based to address some health problems for the last 18 months or so and I feel soooo much better After losing an initial few pounds, my weight has settled about 10 pounds higher than I'd like. Thought I would try the MWL and started today. Have stuck to simple meals today while I learn how to cook the MWL way and haven't felt hungry, which is great.

I'm looking forward to sharing this process with all of you and hoping that knowing I have to share the weigh-in details will help me stay focussed!

[RoseKatherine]

Thanks Querty988. I just checked and it did update, it just took awhile.

[cambitsgirl]

Hi everyone. I am down 1 pound this week. Hope everyone is having a good week.

Carol

[amandamechele]

Qwerty988 - Some weeks are better than others. What starch are you using for your Mary's Mini?

Anna - Congratulations! Good luck this week. We are all rooting for you to get to your first goal.

BMcCloud - Great! Best wishes this week.

Kathy - I hope you had a great week, otherwise.

Loralei - I'm sorry it was fleeting. You'll get it back off in no time.

RoseKatherine - Great loss. Oh no, post-concussion syndrome, is everything alright?

Chris - That's a good one...onward and downward!

ForestGoddess - That's the spirit! Have a great weekend.

Anne(57) - Happy Friday to you too! Thank you for checking in.

Mark - No worries, we will all do well this May!

Anne (donaldpetemc) - Thank you for checking in. Best wishes this week.

Suey51 - Welcome to the group! We look forward to sharing the process with you too and cheering you through those last 10 pounds.

Carol - Good show! I hope you feel very good about yourself this week. Effort is paying off.

[Svenja]

Good Morning!

I am one pound down this week!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Svenja.

[LadyM]

Good morning fellow McDougall peeps.

I am up .8 lbs. this week. Sorry!

I was not near a computer last week to check in and let you know that I had stayed the same. I have been doing a lot of thinking this week (this is a very dangerous thing for me to do) and was wondering when will I know what weight my body wants to be at? Sometimes I feel like I am just chasing a number on the scale. A number that "I" want to achieve but does my body want to be this number? I have been trying to get to 130 for 6 months just so I can brag about how much I have lost but I just keep going up and down the same 3-5 lbs. Am I being unrealistic in what I think I should weigh?

I was going to ask Dr. Lisle this question but his section on here is gone. I also was going to ask him how long does it take for my eyes and my brain to catch up to what my body really looks like. I look in the mirror and still see myself as obese even though rationally I know that I am not. Oh well I guess I'll just keep pondering these questions.

I hope everyone has a great week and to all the mother's on the board I wish you a Happy Mother's Day!!!

LadyM
(Dee)

[Svenja]

Very exciting non-scale-victory!

Right after I understood more about this way of eating, I handpicked a few clients "to try it out on them"

Today, 10 weeks after giving the starch solution to a couple (both in their eighties), she reported back that her cholesterol went from 264 to 201 and her HbA1C went from 8,5 to 7,4 ... I am so excited for this!!!!
Even in older age it is possible to see a turn for the better!



Svenja.

[Qwerty988]

Qwerty988 - Some weeks are better than others. What starch are you using for your Mary's Mini?

Thanks, Amy! I'm doing potatoes.

Today, 10 weeks after giving the starch solution to a couple (both in their eighties), she reported back that her cholesterol went from 264 to 201 and her HbA1C went from 8,5 to 7,4 ... I am so excited for this!!!!
Even in older age it is possible to see a turn for the better!

So true!! I put my dad on McDougall's plan in his late 70's and within months he had dropped 60 pounds, completely cured his Type 2 diabetes, was taken off his cholesterol meds, and his MRIs revealed he had reduced the plaque buildup in his arteries and significantly increased blood flow to his brain. This was especially important as he had a history of strokes at the time.

[Svenja]

So true!! I put my dad on McDougall's plan in his late 70's and within months he had dropped 60 pounds, completely cured his Type 2 diabetes, was taken off his cholesterol meds, and his MRIs revealed he had reduced the plaque buildup in his arteries and significantly increased blood flow to his brain. This was especially important as he had a history of strokes at the time.

Wow ... this is so cool!
Thanks for sharing!

[amandamechele]

Hi Gang!

Thank you to everyone who checked in here yesterday and today.
It's encouraging to see you all come back week after week. It's also encouraging when someone checks in after an absence (short or long). Following the regular McDougall or MWL program can be difficult sometimes. There are so many situations that can send you off track.
I have been on and off of the regular McDougall plan for many years, with much greater success in recent years. It took time for me to recognize how much better I do with strict adherence to the guidelines. It took even more time to gain enough knowledge and understanding of myself, my triggers, and the limitations of my environment and personality to be able to apply what I, then, knew to be true.
If you are someone that struggles with staying the course, please take heart, with enough dedication to learning about yourself, and why the guidelines are as they are, you will get there! Just keep at it.
Last year, when I started updating my online journal again, I received a lovely post from Jim, a forum moderator and Star McDougaller, that explains what I am trying to say. He was responding to a post where I had shared a small bit about my struggle.

It sounds like you have a great grasp of the journey you are on to better health. That's already more than half the battle won. Executing the steps along that journey is the other half. I call that the "no mans land" of healthy living. All the day to day challenges pull us away from our journey that our mind says we need to follow. There is no shortage of people and situations ready to derail us. We can be derailed early in the process and late in the process. Because you have a good sense of what healthy eating requires there is no going back mentally. If you slip back your knowledge will plunge you into a world of guilt. Yet the daily challenges are not going away. The only thing that changes is your view of those challenges and the way you address them. We have pretty elaborate feedback systems that tell us how we are doing on the journey. It sounds like yours are working well and providing you with the right feedback.
Let's do this!
f1jim

I'm thankful that there are people here, like Jim, to act as a guide. So, as he said: Let's do this!
Amy

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all of our moms here! I wish you all the best navigating any social situations. I went out today with my mom and grandmother to an all-you-can-eat buffet. There weren't any pre-made items that I could eat other than salad fixings and fresh fruit. The kitchen staff were nice enough to steam some veggies for me and I managed to eat my fill - with no resentment for what I could not have, and minimal cravings. The only thing that was unsatisfactory was that they had NO POTATOES for me to eat. Here is a look at my very simple plate of food (I also had some salad greens and a couple of bowls of fruit that I didn't photograph).


Here are the results for the second week in May:

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, May 19th, 2017

May 2017 Weight Loss Group :: Weekly Weigh-In Results
Total group loss reported in 2017: 441.96 pounds
Total group loss in January 2017: 137.25 pounds
Total group loss in February 2017: 102.91 pounds
Total group loss in March 2017: 111.3 pounds
Total group loss in April 2017: 56.1 pounds
Total group loss in May 2017: 34.4 pounds
Week ending 05/12/2017: 17 participants reported a total loss of 5.0 pounds
---------------------------------------
Loralei - 2.5
Galooop - 2.6
Hazelrah - 1.0
LadyM - 0.8
---------------------------------------
Total gains: 6.9
---------------------------------------
Qwerty988 - 0.0
AnnaUK - 1.0
BMcCloud - 1.0
Yomom - 0.0
RoseKatherine - 3.2
ForestGoddess - 0.0
Anne57 - 0.0
Donaldpetemc - 0.0
Suey51 - 0.0
cambitsgirl - 1.0
Svenja - 1.0
amandamechele - 0.0
Veggierunner - 4.7
---------------------------------------------
Total losses: 11.9
---------------------------------------------

Total group loss in May 2017: 34.4 pounds
Week ending 05/12/2017: 17 participants reported a total loss of 5.0 pounds
Week ending 05/05/2017: 18 participants reported a total loss of 29.4 pounds

(Edited to add a participant)

[amandamechele]

Svenja - Congratulations on your loss this week and your non-scale victory. It is so motivating to hear how well others are doing. I hope you feel very proud of yourself for vetting this and passing along this valuable information to your own patients. Very cool!

Dee - You sound stuck. That sucks! I don't think you are being unrealistic in wondering what is going on.
Jeff Novick has written about metabolic equilibrium of energy intake vs expenditure (AKA a plateau). The thread is called Can you really eat as much as you want?, and I have linked to the exact post that I found most helpful...but the whole thread is a very worthwhile read. If getting those last few pounds off is very important to you, you may need to take an inventory of exactly what you are eating in order to lower the calorie density even more (that way you don't have to lessen the amount of food you get to eat).
Another thread of Jeff's called Optimum BMI discusses different health biomarkers that we can use to assess if we have reached a healthy weight.
I'm not sure that I can answer your question about body dysmorphia. If it is something very pressing for you, Dr. Lisle will do phone or online sessions. You can book a session on his website Esteem Dynamics.

Qwerty988 - Nice. Potatoes are my favourite Mary's Mini. I would guess that they are possibly the most popular choice for any North Americans doing an MM. Good luck with it. Let us know how it goes. Like, what is your favourite way to eat potatoes? Is that different on Day 2 vs Day 9? And...congratulations on your Dad's success!! I think we all wish to have that same influence on our loved ones. Thank you for sharing that it is indeed possible.

[veggierunner]

I am down 4.7 pounds after my first week! Focusing on eating 3 meals per day and honoring my hunger! Got my mom on board too! Yay!

[ANNAUK]

I am down 4.7 pounds after my first week! Focusing on eating 3 meals per day and honoring my hunger! Got my mom on board too! Yay!

That's awesome work. Well done xxxxxx

[Qwerty988]

Qwerty988 - Nice. Potatoes are my favourite Mary's Mini. I would guess that they are possibly the most popular choice for any North Americans doing an MM. Good luck with it. Let us know how it goes. Like, what is your favourite way to eat potatoes? Is that different on Day 2 vs Day 9? And...congratulations on your Dad's success!! I think we all wish to have that same influence on our loved ones. Thank you for sharing that it is indeed possible.

Hi, Amy! Yeah I'm a big potato fiend, like mostly everyone else fortunate enough to have access to them I did High Carb Hannah's potato cleanse for 10 weeks -- which was basically a potato MM with the addition of sweet potatoes. I really enjoyed it and did lose inches (I didn't own a scale back then) but unfortunately the weight crept back on when I returned to the McDougall plan without 100% compliance. For me, not only do I need strict compliance but I also need to be on the MWL plan to lose.

I'm on Day 4 of the Mini today and so far it's been smooth sailing on the eating front. I'm having some sleep issues that are messing with my energy levels, but eating so far hasn't been a problem. I've been enjoying oven fries, baked in a blend of chili powder, paprika, black pepper and cayenne. I top this with tabasco and -- yum! Today I've made up a batch of potato-carrot cheez sauce, which is great over steamed potatoes and veggies or baked in a casserole. I also like to make a potato lasagna, layering slices of cooked potato along with thinly sliced onions, zucchini and tomato, then smothering the whole thing in cheez sauce and baking an hour or so.... so good!!

My dad's success was really remarkable and confounded his doctors as none of them ever conceded that diet can influence your health. Incredible! To anyone else who's yet to enroll their loved ones in this way of eating, I urge you not to give up hope! My dad and my teenage son -- both committed carnivores with no interest in changing how they ate -- did both eventually come around on their own. You never know what the future will bring!