First Day Today

[droxine]

I'm starting the Maximum Weight Loss Plan today, and am very excited about it. I'm 54 and it's been difficult to lose the 20 lbs. I'd like to in order to feel good. I know my metabolism has slowed, and although I do a lot of walking and physical work around our property, the pounds are persistently hanging on. No matter how little I eat nothing changes. Well, I read the MWL book, and also have the 12-week book (which I bought first), as well as two of the cookbooks. It all makes a lot of sense to me, and the foods are appealing. I never cared for red meat, and ate fish only occasionally. My Achilles' heel is dairy, but now that I look at my eating patterns, I see that reaching for dairy was more for convenience than anything else. If I plan ahead a bit I can have tasty foods available that are a lot better for me. So I've been stocking my fridge and cupboards with lots of good things. I made up a few meals and put them in the freezer so I won't be tempted to quit before I've given it a chance.

This board seems to be really active, and I hope to meet new friends and get some advice along the way. I've been reading the recipe section, and printed out a bunch of the 3 and 4 ingredient meals. That's my kind of thing, easy and tasty.

Droxine in NC

[toadfood]

Welcome! You might want to join us on the May MWL "on plan and planning to stay that way" thread. It's very active and there's lots of support.

[Faith in DC]

droxine - welcome. I can relate on the dairy thing. If you had a habit of popping cheese when you were getting hunger (a common problem I have) what I've learned to do and it works better even, is to have steamed potatoes in the fridge for popping. Harris Teeter sells these teeney taters called creamers. They are yellow like yukons. They aren't expense like those small potatoes either. They are mouth sized which I adore. But you can buy some new potatoes and just quarter them. That subsitution really helped me.

[dlb]

Welcome Droxine -

I was happy to read about all your planning. I think it should pay off for you. It really helps - especially in the beginning when you are learning new recipes, figuring out what to shop for, etc. Seems that you are setting yourself up for success

Glad to have you with us.

Donna

[txjack]

Hi droxine,
Welcome -- This is a great forum. It's a great place for questions, ideas and support. Also, there are a lot of links that people will list that associates with a particular issue. So, check out past posts. I think you will find great info.

[droxine]

Thanks, there sure is a lot to read here, and so many knowledgeable people. I'm doing fine so far and haven't been hungry at all. Thanks for the welcome,

Droxine

[Karo]

Droxine, i too am starting DrMc on Monday June 1st. I ordered the books on Amazon and just waiting for them to arrive. I hope I have learned enough by searching the web so far to do the first week or so.

I am 54 and need to lose about 70lbs, how did I ever let myself get to this place I will never know, yes I do, somewhere along the line I gave up on myself. Well I am taking myself back, dusting her off and going to start feeding her good healthy foods, and take her for a walk daily. I will succeed because I am worth it, I want a thin happy life.

I am a vegetarian already so it shouldn't be that hard, and like you dairy is hard to give up, but if it means i won't have anymore cheese thighs then so be it.

[droxine]

Hi Karen,

I understand exactly where you're coming from. I look in the mirror and don't recognize myself. But I do know that dairy is what is looking back at me. Cheese has always been my comfort food, combined with bread. I thought I would have terrible cravings for them when I started McDougalling, but I feel really good and haven't had a problem, once I threw out the temptations.

I think you'll do fine if you don't feel you're denying yourself anything. I used to look at those foods as a reward, but now I see I was hurting myself by eating them. Not only did it cause my weight to go up, but it contributed to my sinus headaches. My head feels great now, and I haven't had to take my prescription decongestants since Wednesday.

I have a few newbie tips if you'd like them. I found that making some dishes ahead and having snacks ready helps a lot. I made a big casserole of roasted potatoes with onion soup mix, for instance, and divided it into portions and froze them. I also cooked a bunch of sweet potatoes up and have little containers of them in the freezer, ready to microwave. I've always like stir fry, and making it without oil is easy. I still use my wok, but put some water and soy sauce in the pan instead of oil. The other day I made a big batch with onions, garlic, celery, mushrooms (I used canned and added the water from the can in for flavor), frozen veggies, brown rice, and ginger for spice. I made extra plain rice to have a bowl for breakfast the next day. Opening the fridge and seeing there are good things to eat makes all the difference to me. The recipe section here has so much to offer. I found the 3 and 4 ingredient recipes very helpful (and very economical).

The May'09 - MWL, "ON PLAN, PLANNING TO STAY THAT WAY!" is a good thread to post in for encouragement and reporting your progress. The people here have been very helpful and friendly. I don't feel alone, and that's a big part of trying a new way of eating. I didn't mean to bend your ear, and hope you do well and reach your goals.

Droxine

[MaryW]

Welcome, Karo! Have you seen the free program on the McDougall site? Here's a link if you haven't.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html

Cheese was hard for me to give up too. I've been McDougalling since January. I slacked off a bit in February, but I recommitted in March and I haven't had any dairy since then. Woo hoo! The best way I've found to get over cheese is to NOT EAT cheese. If I have just a tiny bit, I want more and more and more. Cheese it evil!

[txjack]

Welcome, Karo! Have you seen the free program on the McDougall site? Here's a link if you haven't.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/free.html

Something I found handy are the downloadable DVDs and audios under the electures on drmcdougall.com. You can purchase/ship them, but if you are in a hurry, you can download chapters or the whole dvd (or the audio versions) pretty reasonably and instantly. I enjoy the lecture dvds the most. I like the cooking ones, too, but they don't have so much teaching. Either way, these may appeal to you. Dr. McDougall is a really interesting speaker.

[MaryW]

Droxine--the potato casserole you mentioned with onion soup mix sounds interesting. Where did you find it?

[droxine]

It's in the MWL book. I use 1/2 cup water instead of the 1/4 cup they suggest. I cut up around 6 potatoes (skins on), mix them with the onion soup mix and water, and bake them covered for 30 min at 400 degrees. Then I stir them up and bake another 30 min. without the cover. I check it during the last 15 minutes to see if it needs more water.

Droxine

[MaryW]

Thanks for mentioning the recipe. There are SOO many recipes that I haven't tried yet between my McDougall, Ornish, Esselstyn, etc cookbooks. But sometimes on paper they just don't sound that good to me. When someone here makes one and recommends it, then I'm more likely to try it.

[Karo]

I'm reading the 12 day diet book, walking 2 miles a day and trying hard to cut out fats. I don't miss the meat, eggs, or dairy, but the fats such as peanut butter or butter is hard, cheese is less and less troublesome
I guess there will always be some foods that call my name that I must not answer too.
I want to do this I really do.
Am waiting the the MWL book also.

[Faith in DC]

peanut butter is a comfort food for many of us I think. I know I have to ignore it or else I get on a kick of pbj.

the butter you should get use to. I use to love garlic bread and still make it without butter, just sprinkling on the garlic powder.