Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Hi all,
I am so ready to start, but having such am anxiety for some reason. I am scared and have no idea what I am scared of. What to do?
Yana

Yana, don't burden yourself with the weight of doing it perfectly. Just think of doing it today and see how it goes, evaluate, improve. Tomorrow just think of tomorrow and so on...If you do it that way, in 6 months you will have worked out many of the bugs and be on the path to better health by taking it one day at a time. And if you have trouble, just come here and there will be a lot of people with tips on how to improve. Don't expect perfection.

yana wrote:Hi all,
I am so ready to start, but having such am anxiety for some reason. I am scared and have no idea what I am scared of. What to do?
Yana

Dr. Doug Lisle (psychologist and co-author of the Pleasure Trap) told us in 10 day program that some people have a difficult time committing to changing their lifestyle "forever". The thought is just too daunting and is often more than a person wants to deal with. He recommends that we commit to a shorter time frame (e.g. 90 days, or 60 days, etc.). Then we are not "giving up" something that we are comfortable with "forever". We are just running an experiment for a finite time limit to see how something works. Then if it works well we can extend the time frame of the "experiment" to see if it continues working.

See if you feel less anxious if you apply this idea and only commit yourself to a short time frame. Make it long enough to see results but short enough that it isn't too "scary".

I hope this is useful.

Scott

For me, I think that having as much knowledge as I could gather right from the start helped allay my fears about whether this way of eating was feasible, healthy, etc. Have you done much research into the subject? Dr. McDougall's books, _The China Study_, Dr. Esselstyn's new book, _The Pleasure Trap_, etc., are all good resources with the same general themes. I would especially suggest stuff by Dr. McDougall, including his website, plus this discussion board, as good places to start. If you are armed with lots of information that supports this lifestyle, you'll likely have stronger motivation to dive right in, plus it might help keep your mind occupied with helpful stuff so you don't have time to question yourself!

Best wishes, and welcome to McDougalling!

Just think of what you are doing this for...it is an anti cancer, anti-chronic disease diet and you will have a healthier life for doing it. Also, if you have been eating the SAD diet, you will feel better on this and notice a difference within the first week. The menu available online is very helpful for ideas, also the DVD's are a big help with encouragement and meal planning.

Here are some meal plans and recipies to get you started.

http://drmcdougall.com/free_4a.html

And wisdom from Burgess.

Radical change and progressive change
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:51 am

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I usually prefer radical change over progressive change. If I know I need to do A, B, C, and D to become healthier, then I make the changes immediately -- if I can.

In the real world, however, two factors make instantaneous radical change impossible.

- First, I need time just to find out what I need to do (for example, avoid added fat).

- Second, I need time to find out how to do each item (for example, first throwing away the butter and the bottles of veg oil, and, as a second step, examining the labels of prepared foods or, better yet, stop buying prepared foods and eat whole foods instead). We aren't born knowing these things; we have to learn them, and even an ambitious learner needs time.

So, in one sense of the term, all change is "progressive." The key question is: At what rate should I make the change?

To decide how fast I should change, I need to know:

1. Why I want to change: Is it to save my life from an imminent heart attack? If so, I am not going to waste any time making changes. This step tells me how fast I should change.

2. What my goal is: Is it, for example, to eat only (a) plant foods, (b) foods with no preservatives added, (c) foods with no salt added, (d) a wide range of plant foods, and (e) foods that are high fiber? This step gives me a list of changes to make. I should put them in a priority order, with most important coming first. Cutting out dairy products is probably much more important than cutting out coffee.

3. What my plan of change is: Is it to (a) dump all animal products, first; (b) concentrate on increasing the variety of plant foods in my diet, second; (c) eliminate preservatives, third; and (d) reduce salt last? This gives me a step-by-step procedure with dates attached -- in other words, a schedule -- to follow to make sure I am not losing sight of my goal.

In this sense "progress" is an acceptable alternative to immediate wholesale change. But if a person has no clearly defined goal or a definite schedule, "progress" can easily become an excuse for laziness or evasion of the need to make changes.

My summary is that change should be amibitious but achievable. Not one or the other, but both. Adding one new veg to my diet every ten years is achievable, but it isn't ambitious. Making a completely knowledgeable total change in my diet between now and the next meal is ambitious but it isn't achievable.

Both are need: Ambitious and achievable.
_________________
Burgess Laughlin, Star McDougaller
http://www.aristotleadventure.com -- The Aristotle Adventure
http://www.aristotleadventure.com/anti-itis/ -- How I solved inflammation (-itis) problems


Good luck!

WOW!
I really, really appreciate ALL your support and advise!
I was always overweight and struggle from compolsive overeating. I told myself that I kind of got used to being fat and have no idea how live is when you are thin. I am afraid to lose weight

Love to all,

Aside from the great information here, I just want to add that if you're new to McDougalling altogether, it may be an easier transition for you to do the regular program first and then switch to Maximum Weight loss when you're comfortable with the regular program.

I lost about 17 lbs doing the regular program (about 10 of that in the first month) and then switched to MWL the first of April. Within the first two weeks I found myself cheating on MWL MUCH more frequently because it was more difficult for me to stick to that program. I couldn't just grab a whole wheat pita and stuff it with veggies for a quick meal (if I didn't have 45 min to cook up a batch of rice, or whatever) and I'd end up snacking later on on much worse foods (like cookies or candy).

Anyway, I've decided to stick with the regular program for now (with MWL meals mixed in) and am much more comfortable on it. I don't have the desire to cheat (aside from those dratted werthers candies) and I don't have the post-cheat guilt, so even if the weight loss is slower, it is overall much better for my mental health

You are afraid to lose weight because- that is the question you have to answer. Imagine being thin and healthy strong Yana running joyfully through the fields, climbing up mountains and swimming in the oceans with dolphins. Imagine wearing that prefect outfit attracting whomever you want and being ask how you ever got that beautiful healthy glow. Whatever, imagine yourself healthy strong and beautiful because you are healthy! Then take the first step and the next step until there you are. Trust, faith and love with deternination. I just wrote this for myself also.

Yana,
I can understand how you feel about being afraid to loose weight. Even though you've been through the health problems, unthinking or unkind teasing people, clothes shopping depressions, etc, being overweight is comfortable, it's what you know. But are you really comfortable? Change can be scary, but it can also be great. I too have always been overweight to varying degrees, when people ask me how much I want to loose I really don't know because I've never been trim as an adult, so I don't know what my ideal weight is in that broad 20 pound range they give, and so maybe like you, I just have to guess and go for it and just wait and see when I get there. Perhaps relate this scary change to something else you've done in the past that was new that has turned out to be great.
Don't let your fear overcome you. Don't be afraid to "mess up", don't think that your diet and life are ruined by a slip. Just like everything else you don't give up if you mess up- Like, say you did bad on a math test, you don't just drop out of the class, or you messed up on a song while learning to play the piano, you don't quit playing just because you missed a note. Take every day, every meal, and every minute as they come.
Perhaps keeping a journal about this process will be helpful. Acknowledge, the slip-ups, but also what you learned from those slip-ups. Then take that knowledge and add it to your box of tools to fight with and work with in the future. Sometimes when we write we learn much about ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, our habits, our thinking process, and we have become more powerful and can be courageous because we have learned all of these things about ourselves. Give it all you got, but remember, it is a process.