Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

KensCircus wrote:FunCrunch,

Please do not let the fact that you are not 100% McDougall compliant keep you away from or avoid this forum! The percentage of 100% compliant people on this forum is quite small. The important thing is that your style parallels close enough to be an enormous benefit to others. I, for one miss your posts. Your level of inspiration is a rare gem.

Thanks so much for saying that, Ken. I really believe that McDougall's actual message - that eating a starch-centered diet free of oil and animal products and low in fat, is healthy and satisfying - is a sound one. But it gets distorted so much by certain people on here that I really don't feel like contributing. Plus, I really don't like having an "I'm on a diet" mentality and especially with New Year's coming and lots of people looking to lose weight quickly, I don't want to encourage that mindset.

I'm in this for the long haul, and the only way I found lasting success was to create my own diet and exercise program, which does follow the McDougall principles but is not 100% "compliant" with his plan or anyone else's. In fact I don't have a "program" or "plan" at all at this point; I just eat intuitively, and get in regular physical activity.

KensCircus wrote:Love your new name, Pax Ahimsa! Will you stay FunCrunch here?

I wish you health and happiness,

Ken

I will remain funcrunch everywhere always! Thanks again

dteresa wrote:size 2 ???!!! would that be toddler or regular? I can't imagine ever being that thin. Right now I am a size 10 or sometimes a 12. congratulations on working hard and achieving your goals. bet you are super successful in other things as well.

didi

Thanks. Wish what you said about being super successful in other things were true!

Part of my transition experience has been to give up on most women's clothes. Men's pants go by waist and inseam, which makes far more sense than arbitrary sizing like 2, 10, 12 which could mean just about anything depending on the brand. Although I've found that even in men's pants, one 29" waist (I can almost never find anything smaller in adult pants) could be much larger than another, so even there there may be some vanity sizing going on.

As the others have mentioned, good to see you posting again! Long time mostly lurker here who misses your thoughts and perspectives in the discussions on the boards but completely understand stepping back.

Good fun that you and your partner did a 10K together. Whee!

Fantastic choice for a new name too! Checked out your blog entry and love the meanings for all three names.

Happy adventuring!

An update as it's been a couple of months since I checked in. I came down with a nasty cold or possibly flu that put me out of commission for the last two weeks of December, then got another cold a couple of weeks later. My exercise routine suffered greatly as a result, and I have yet to get back on track. My diet was not great in December either, but has gotten better since then. While I still often have food with oil in it when I eat away from home, I've been stricter about avoiding it at home (I never cook with it, but sometimes we end up having prepared foods that contain a bit of oil). I hope that this may help ward off the worst of the acne that normally accompanies testosterone therapy. I also need to work on reducing my caffeine (mostly in the form of black tea) and refined sugar intake.

My weight now is around 120, waist about 27 inches. I credit the lowfat vegan diet with helping keep my weight in check despite the reduced exercise. Once I get back to regular weightlifting I'll be fine seeing the scale go up a few more pounds as long as it's muscle weight and not fat. Though I do expect my waist size will go up a bit more as my body fat pattern gradually shifts away from my chest and hips. At least that will make it easier to find pants that fit; not too many come in sizes under 30 inches.

One month comparison photo below (Jan 3 to Feb 3); no visible changes yet. (My voice is a bit lower though!)

Hey Pax! Thanks for checking in. Sorry to hear you've been ill. You look great in both photos. Maybe a trace of a mustache in the one month?

Nean wrote:Hey Pax! Thanks for checking in. Sorry to hear you've been ill. You look great in both photos. Maybe a trace of a mustache in the one month?

Thanks! I'm feeling much better now, and finally getting back to a normal exercise schedule. I already had a trace of mustache and beard growth pre-testosterone (comes with being middle-aged), which I think has grown in a bit more in the eight weeks since I started hormone therapy, but my spouse says he can't tell. *shrug* Gotta have patience...

By the way, I wanted to say that I appreciate you checking in because you have created such great results on a plant strong diet that is NOT MWL or strict McDougall. I'm on two different forums - the greens based guy and the starch based guy. My goal is to find the happy middle way. Sometimes it's hard to hang in when there are so many who are dogmatic about which brand is the gospel. So it's nice to have reminders that plant strong is the way to go and the exact dogma may be secondary.

Nean wrote:By the way, I wanted to say that I appreciate you checking in because you have created such great results on a plant strong diet that is NOT MWL or strict McDougall. I'm on two different forums - the greens based guy and the starch based guy. My goal is to find the happy middle way. Sometimes it's hard to hang in when there are so many who are dogmatic about which brand is the gospel. So it's nice to have reminders that plant strong is the way to go and the exact dogma may be secondary.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I was never able to find success until I stopped trying to follow any diet (or exercise plan) to the letter, and instead looked to the essentials to plan a way of eating (and exercising) that made sense for my own tastes and needs. Though I am strict about avoiding animal products (other than honey), that is primarily for ethical reasons.

An update since it's been awhile. My partner Ziggy and I are planning to run a half-marathon next month (his first, my fifth) to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. So I've increased my workout schedule, which along with the healthy diet and exercise I've been getting in the course of my volunteer work is keeping me in good shape. (Weight is hovering around 117 lbs (BMI 20.1), waist 26.5 inches.)

My diet has been even healthier lately, since I re-read The Pleasure Trap while doing a five-day locavore challenge. Most of my meals are now free of sugar and salt as well as oil and animal products. I'm also avoiding caffeine. And Ziggy and I are both loving the food! We made eight recipes from Cathy Fisher's Straight Up Food site last week alone.

I'm seven months into my gender transition, and noticing more subtle changes, though the most dramatic is my voice which has dropped quite a bit. Working on building more upper-body strength.

Seven month comparison by funcrunch, on Flickr

T day 213 by funcrunch, on Flickr

You are such an inspiration! You look amazing and you sound like you're in a really good place.

Congratulations on your anniversary!

VegMommy wrote:You are such an inspiration! You look amazing and you sound like you're in a really good place.

Congratulations on your anniversary!

Aw, thanks so much

You look great! But when do you stop loosing weight?
I want to loose some weight but it doesn't. I do the MWL program, so no bread etc and I run 2-3 times per week and do weight lifting. My BMI is around 20.7. Do you something special or how much starches do you eat? And beans?

ickromhout wrote:You look great! But when do you stop loosing weight?
I want to loose some weight but it doesn't. I do the MWL program, so no bread etc and I run 2-3 times per week and do weight lifting. My BMI is around 20.7. Do you something special or how much starches do you eat? And beans?

I eat to the satisfaction of my appetite. I don't do MWL, don't count calories, don't do portion control, don't weigh or count grams of anything. I simply eat a starch-based vegan diet and stay physically active. The removal of sugar and salt was not to lose any more weight, but because those substances are not needed and I'd rather concentrate more on the natural flavors of foods.

If your BMI is under 22 and you don't have any health problems, I don't know why you would want or need to lose weight, so I can't give you any advice on that.

funcrunch wrote:I eat to the satisfaction of my appetite. I don't do MWL, don't count calories, don't do portion control, don't weigh or count grams of anything. I simply eat a starch-based vegan diet and stay physically active. The removal of sugar and salt was not to lose any more weight, but because those substances are not needed and I'd rather concentrate more on the natural flavors of foods.

If your BMI is under 22 and you don't have any health problems, I don't know why you would want or need to lose weight, so I can't give you any advice on that.

I so love reading this post from you. I have issues with control, especially when it comes to food, and trying to lasso in a strict definition of my diet by the food I eat is crazy making. I know I need a good variety of non-starchy veg to round out my nutritional day, but darn it, I hate the idea that sometimes takes over my mind that non-starchy veg is the focus. They aren't! My focus is, first and foremost, on making sure I have enough starches to keep me full and keep me from obsessing over being hungry or full or overfull. I can't afford to concentrate that much of whether I'm eating all the foods I should be eating.
Thank you for stating your ideals on the McDougall diet. You have such clear vision.
Robyn

nayasmom wrote:

funcrunch wrote:I eat to the satisfaction of my appetite. I don't do MWL, don't count calories, don't do portion control, don't weigh or count grams of anything. I simply eat a starch-based vegan diet and stay physically active. The removal of sugar and salt was not to lose any more weight, but because those substances are not needed and I'd rather concentrate more on the natural flavors of foods.

If your BMI is under 22 and you don't have any health problems, I don't know why you would want or need to lose weight, so I can't give you any advice on that.

I so love reading this post from you. I have issues with control, especially when it comes to food, and trying to lasso in a strict definition of my diet by the food I eat is crazy making. I know I need a good variety of non-starchy veg to round out my nutritional day, but darn it, I hate the idea that sometimes takes over my mind that non-starchy veg is the focus. They aren't! My focus is, first and foremost, on making sure I have enough starches to keep me full and keep me from obsessing over being hungry or full or overfull. I can't afford to concentrate that much of whether I'm eating all the foods I should be eating.
Thank you for stating your ideals on the McDougall diet. You have such clear vision.
Robyn

Thanks. Part of why I haven't been participating in these forums much lately is that I think many of the participants have strayed so far from McDougall's original point: That all successful human societies have thrived on a starch-based diet. Not on carefully measuring how much of the plate contains starchy vs non-starchy foods. Not on daily weighing to the nearest tenth of a pound. Not on BMI (and certainly not on striving for a BMI of 18.5). Not on calculating calories and other nutritional information with an online tool. These are all modern "luxuries" that are distractions from the point of achieving robust health!