Ultra Low-Fat is the only way to go

[slimkat]

Hi McDougallers!
I did Mary's mini in March and have been dabbling in McDougall-land for the last 1 1/2 or so, vegan for two years.
Living in southern California, there are lots of unhealthy, high fat vegan options.

I've finally gotten the message: added fats are NO good.

Last month I finally took my own advice, kicked the added oils/fat habit, and have lost over 10 lbs. in one month: Unheard of weight loss for me!

I always thought it was "hard" for my body to lose weight.
I never lost more than 4-5 lbs. in a month -- busting my butt to achieve that.
This weight has just fallen off!

I have a ways to go, but I know I can do it now!

Best to all of you,

SlimKat

[Cindee]

Congratulations!!!

I love reading posts like yours. I just finished reading another section in Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live" and I just finished a chapter where he spoke of the added fats and oils. He specifically said that oil would halt the weight loss process.

I'm doing MWL and of course incorporating much of Fuhrman's ideals because they are so close to McDougall's recommendations.

It's amazing how the pounds just fall off. Truly amazing.

Congrats once again
Cindee

[Malva]

That's why McDougall says: NO OIL!

You have to learn to trust him, and you'll discover that he's right.

Congrats SlimKat! You've just crossed over to a new dimension.
Some folks never get this far.

[Cindee]

It's all trial and error too. There are so many hidden oils in foods we have been used to buying. It's tough, but well worth the ride.

I still am so happy about Dr. McDougalls recent DVD where he uses the analogy of his wind surfing to his program. It takes time to transition and we need to be patient with ourselves.

It works...tried and true. Doing our best with what we have and realizing in the long run, those so called healthy fats and oils are what get us.

Eliminating oils, nuts, seeds, avocados, olives have been challenging. I guess the latter two are the most challenging as I don't add oil or nuts and seeds to anything. My Avocado sandwiches I miss. Two strikes...bread and avocade, and my manzanita olives...well...i feel better without them, but I miss them.

Way to go all.

Cindee

[rchess]

Hi

I've had McDougall books lying around for years. The beginning of this year I started working on weight loss and felt drawn to the raw food movement. I took an Alyssa Cohen class and did feel good for a while but all of my friends were eating lots of nuts and avacados. I wasn't losing any weight. I got out my old books by Ornish and McDougall and started moving toward very low fat. I'm down 35 pounds now and making good progress. I find I am getting better at understanding the MWL program. I have a lot of control and can increase the low call veggies and decrease the grains and starches if I want to lose more. Also increasing exercise makes a big difference. I've found buying my own produce, beans and grains and cooking my own food is the key to gaining complete control of the fats.

With regard to taking time to transition I believe we all need to committ to a willingness to keep trying and not to let failures cause us to give up. When I lapse into non-MWL eating I just come back to the basics. Read the rules and start over. One of the tough ones for me is to stay off of all products with flour. Sometimes I'm not even sure where the line is between flour and flourless. Somewhere in there is whole grain flour but still flour. I'm trying to be more disciplined about being on the safe side and not eating it if I have any doubt.



Best Wishes,

[Cindee]

Thank You. Very helpful and enlightening. There just might be hope for me.

I need to re-dedicate myself this week. I'm doing that right now.

Sincerely,
Cindee

[rchess]

Hi Cindee,

Congratulations. Certainly there is hope for you like there is for all of us. Just make that committment to keep starting over as many times as is necessary and I promise you're failures will be fewer and farther between.

Best Wishes

[slimkat]

Willingness.
That really is it, isn't it?
What good does a McDougall book do, lying around like a paperweight?!
LOL!
I read McD, Fuhrman, Campbell all the time to stay motivated.

It's really clear now -- the difference between being satisfied and "full" from very low fat, high fiber veggies, beans, and grains
and from being "stuffed" and icky feeling from consuming added fats, oil, and dairy.

It took a while to get used to the new "full" and it doesn't last as long, so I eat every 2-3 hours.
However, briefly straying into added fat and a little dairy territory for a birthday celebration left me with a vicious case of McD's revenge.
I was left feeling like I had lead weights in my stomach until three in the morning.
The same dinner at the same restaurant 3 or 4 months ago wouldn't have phased me. After completely eschewing added fats, though, my body protested mightily!

Paradigm shifting, one day at a time!

Kat

[havfaith]

It's amazing how quickly our bodies adjust to healthy foods and react to unhealthy foods after eating cleanly. I had some ice cream a few days ago and my skin has been broken out since. Funny thing is, the ice cream I always enjoyed wasn't all that great.

Just never give up - always get up every time you fall and you'll be the better for it. Every healthy decision you make is one more step in the right direction.

[rchess]

Just never give up - always get up every time you fall and you'll be the better for it. Every healthy decision you make is one more step in the right direction.

That's it. "Never Give Up". Some people think if they can't stick to it 100% that they are failures and don't keep trying. But if we keep trying we keep improving. When I fall off the wagon I always look at the situation and ask "How could of I prevented this?" and then I try to put a plan in place to do better. It's all about progress and improvement.

Best Wishes,

[marybeth0051]

Slimkat....I have to agree...it's the fat that counts!! I've cut it out 99.5% and now use fat free soy or rice milk. I have found some wonderful tastey filling recipes...but had to search for them. Now I have a great cookbook started with about 30 recipes that are excellent. In fact...my husband's favorite spaghetti sauce is my fat free recipe!! I've TOTALLY cut the fat and am down 4.5 pounds in the last 10 days.

[ladynnred1]

But, let's keep reality in perspective. The reason for weight loss is not the lack of fat. It's that you're eating fewer calories. There is only one way one loses weight: fewer calories consumed than burned. That's just reality in this universe. I keep having to remind myself of this.

Cynthia

[marybeth0051]

Yes...True...its consuming more calories than we are expending that causes weight gain...we can't gain unless we consume more calories than we need.....but fat packs the most calories of anything.

[rchess]

Another important point is that fat calories are usable and can easily be stored as fat. The way calories are measused they are not all digestable calories. Fiber can be burned and produces energy that is measured as calories but it is not usable and does not contribute to weight gain. In fact it helps carry other usable calories through our systems and helps with weight loss.

Best Wishes,