Pippi Lemon - I'm glad to hear that you're feeling human again...lol. Being sick is no fun. Neither is doing the weight loss shuffle. There's always next week! XO
Sue - Your time in Bath sounds lovely! Is your step-daughter team staff or a competitor? How exciting to be working with a national level sprint team. Great loss this week for you! You may have given yourself scores of 6 and 9, and I'm giving you a 10 for overall effort.
May I ask more about this butternut squash risotto recipe? Was is difficult to make?
Sirdle - Wonderful! Best wishes this week.
Susan - Yay for new shoes and sticks! I just drove through the most beautiful forests decked out in autumn colours today. I hope you your walk is just as beautiful and that the weather cooperates. The pictures in the news out of Santa Rosa are heart wrenching, I'm also so glad for the McDougall's safety.
Chris - You too!
katie3 - I love so many things about your post. It's very thoughtful and reflective and humorous. I had a little giggle over picturing your best friend quizzing you on the enjoyment of her wedding cake...as if! LOL You did great this week! Sorry I don't know where to get those sweet potatoes in your area.
Qwerty988 - Good luck this week! Thank you for checking in. XO
Linda - Welcome! Just do your best this week, no matter what percentage that entails. I have noticed that everyone has to figure out which little tricks work best for their particular situations. For example, I'm a night time snacker who is working towards stopping that - so I make tea, drink sparkling water or if I must chew on something eat some chopped veggies. I plan a stop time of not eating after 7pm - this strategy I'm not so great at, but is a work in progress. Another example, in my home there are sometimes off-plan foods laying about waiting for me to scoop them up under the cover of night...the best strategy for this is to NOT have any of this stuff in the house, but since I share my space with people I love in spite of their dietary patterns I've had to learn to adjust. I will place items in cupboards that I don't tend to go in, and sometimes I do forget about the calorie-dense foods. As long as I have lots of potatoes and soups and stews pre-made and ready to eat if I do feel tempted then I eat those first, and often that does the trick. Those a just random strategies for my own personal challenges. What have you found to be difficult in successfully adopting this plan? Maybe we can all brainstorm with you. Definitely watch the video recommended by Qwerty988, it's from the McDougall program staff psychologist Dr. Doug Lisle. His book, The Pleasure Trap, was extremely helpful for me in helping remove the negative emotions that I felt surrounding my previous
dieting failures. He has a website
Esteem Dynamics that has a number of video and voice recording that you can listen to. Dr McDougall has many
webinars you can also watch.
Talita - Good work holding steady for your maintenance phase . Your blood work sounds great. In most cases B12 levels can be raised with a supplement or the injection your doctor is recommending. Easy peasy. With regards to your ferritin, that is a test to assess your stored iron levels. These can be slowly depleted, so keeping track of this level over time is important. What units of measurement are being used for your tests? In Canada the normal range is 5-272 ug/L. In the States, I think it is measured in ng/ml, with the normal range being 20-200 ng/ml.
Here is what Dr. McDougall wrote on anemia:
AnemiaAlso here is website that I use that can help you understand your blood tests:
Lab Tests Online. I have linked directly to the serum ferritin testing, take a look at the common questions tab. There are many possible reasons for low iron stores that you may want to have your doctor consider.
If you do have to supplement here is what Jeff Novick has to say about choosing a good brand to use:
If you must supplement....
peach1 - Woohoo! Great job this week.