JUNE 2021 Maintenance Thread

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Re: JUNE 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby CindyD » Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:53 am

Hi Suey! Exercise class with music you like sounds great, actually! Maybe I will look for one. I have zero interest in joining a gym these days, especially year-long contract types, but maybe I will see what's out there. Also, your one pound above goal weight might actually BE goal weight depending on your glycogen stores, what you ate and how long ago you ate it, water and etc. But you knew that. :D

Re: Instant Pot - you can actually sauté in the Instant Pot! Despite the fact that is does indeed have a Sauté button, I never thought about it until I saw Chef AJ using it and now because I do add onions to all my soups I always start with the onions. Also, the chickpea no soak experiment was a success! I just poured in half a giant bag of chick peas, then added a lot of water, maybe two inches over the chick peas. High pressure for 40 minutes and eventually I went back to check and they were done great. I haven't used aquafaba for anything yet, so I just drain the water off. If you use aquafaba for anything interesting let me know.

Thank you for asking about the painting. I have so far attempted two cows and I'm planning a pig and piglet this weekend. Once I post them somewhere I'll post again with a link.

Re Community. Oh geez, I would love one so much. Right now there's this forum, and the MWL threads were just excellent as I was losing weight and I appreciate this place so much. But I would really love some local people to meet up with. I've been looking at some potential Meetup groups, but I'm not quite in Chicago and the closest ones are in the city. I've seen a couple posts for potlucks in the suburbs but I don't know if I'm ready to show up at a stranger's place. If I do it I'll let you know! I haven't found anything specifically McDougaller - mostly either vegan or whole food plant-based, either of which would be great if I could find some events. I really do think there's so much value in real life social connections, but so far it's just me living with a partner/friend who still eats dairy and not knowing anyone who eats this way.

Wow Suey, it sounds like you've had some really nice social events with McDougaller people! I would love to go to one of the WFPB conferences when they start up again. Hopefully they will be affordable. I've really been a YouTube WFPB fanatic this past year so there will be so many people I would recognize. Though, I am also rather socially awkward so I don't know how it will go, but I am willing and very interested in giving it a shot.

I do have my first lunch out since the pandemic began, scheduled at a Cheesecake Factory, with some ex-coworkers. That place has actually added more vegan items since last time I was there. Since I don't go out like that much I'm not going to worry about the oil too much, but of course I'll stick to vegan options as close to the McDougall way as possible. I've lost another pound since I started with the trainer despite adding healthy fats every day, so I feel confident this one visit won't derail me. :D
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Re: JUNE 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Sun Jun 27, 2021 8:06 am

Sue, that’s so wonderful you’ve been to a few McDougall potlucks and such. And found some local meetups. I’m more like CindyD so far, I haven’t really searched for local groups or potlucks. I really should as it would be nice to meet in person with like minded people. Maybe I will try and find some McDougall walking partners as I would rather walk and chat than eat, at least at first. I do follow and watch several WFPBNO youtubers. I think this forum and website as well as YouTube is what keeps me motivated every day. Would be much more difficult to stay adherent without the daily online reinforcement. My spouse has tried to follow this plan, but never removing the fats and bread. He then doesn’t have success quickly enough and tries another “diet”. It’s quite difficult watching a person struggle with their health day in and out, but it’s been many years and we now just do our own thing. It’s really great that my 2 daughters don’t eat meat and very little dairy. You had asked if I always enjoyed rice/salad bowls. No I didn’t. I never ate much salad, but I have found the more I eat it the more I want it. Sometimes I skip my large salad bowl, but then I’m really craving it so I pretty much have it everyday. I am finding that I sometimes overeat as I make it in a huge bowl so I’m trying to listen to hunger/fullness cues and put some back in the fridge for a later snack. That is still a work in progress!

Eating out is still a struggle, but with covid the issue sort of just went away. I did eat out this week and made a bad choice (veggie burger and fries). I have 2 more social things coming up. The first is at a restaurant and I will likely eat before I go and have a cup of tea. I’m not there for the food anyway. It’s an Italian restaurant and I guarantee there will be oil in everything. There is one option I could potentially order the beet salad without dressing, but I’m not confident the beets won’t be drenched in oil either. The second social event will be easier I can bring my own food as it’s outdoors. Others will pick up restaurant food, but I won’t need to do that. Like CindyD, in the past I normally don’t worry much about eating out one meal with oil, but I’ve had too many exceptions lately with the birthday celebrations. Perhaps for restaurants, if it seems too awkward, I should just always plan to order a plain tossed salad and bring my own dressing and rice or potato to add. This way I am guaranteed to avoid oil. I would be interested in hearing from others on how they navigate restaurants on an ongoing basis.

CindyD, I am looking forward to seeing your paintings also. I always admire people with artistic talent and I don’t have any lol.

We are in a strange heatwave right now, I say strange as we don’t normally get temperatures in the 30s very often, but it will be hot for the next 12 days. It’s so wonderful to have blue skies and sun.

Erin
"The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don't swim upstream."
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Re: JUNE 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Thu Jul 01, 2021 4:43 am

Hi CindyD!
Yes, the exercise class was enjoyable! Before I lost the weight I was going to a couple of aerobics/dance type classes with music whichwere great. Sadly, after a while my left knee had some problems - most likely caused by the impact of carrying around those extra pounds all day :( The gym now has a different schedule so those classes are no longer available. It's taken me a while to pluck up the courage to try out some new classes but I’m glad I did!

Re: goal weight and an extra pound. Thanks for the reminder! I’m working on not eating later in the evening and I think that helps lower the morning scale reading :)

Re: Instant Pot. I love the sound of being able to saute, pressure cook and slow cook all in the same gadget! So pleased the chickpea no soak experiment well :) The batch of white/cannellini beans cooked well in the slow cooker with a short soak in boiling water beforehand. I’ve also done some chick peas that were lurking at the back of the cupboard and they really do taste better than tinned ones.

Re: aquafaba. I haven’t used it for anything, although I’d like to!

Re: potlucks. Yes, I was rather nervous going to a stranger’s house for a potluck, but I’m glad that I did it. It was lovely to meet two other McDougallers in-person, share food, chat about experiences and then come up away with leftovers and a new recipe to try! The fact that we had the McDougall experience in common really helped break the ice when meeting new people.

Hope you have an enjoyable lunch out with your co-workers! Congrats on losing another pound :)

Hi Erin!
Walking with another McDougall-er sounds wonderful; I wish I was closer to you so we could walk together :)

Re: salad/rice bowls. That’s so interesting that you’ve found that ‘the more you eat it the more I want it’. I’m sure I’ve heard Jeff or Dr McD say we grow to love the foods we eat. Which always reminds me of the old song 'Love The One You’re with’! :lol: That’s good that you’re aware of trying to listen to the hunger/fullness cues. That’s still a work in progress for me too!

Re: navigating restaurants. Hmmm, I’ve tried a few different approaches, but still find it tricky. In the early days I would ring/email the restaurant ahead of time or talk to them on arrival and explain how I eat and ask them to suggest something. This seemed to be too complicated so my husband suggested I just ask them to make something specific (plain baked potato and boiled veggies) to eat. If the restaurant has those as side dishes I will sometimes order those and try to get them without oil. Sadly, they are sometimes cooked in the same pan as veggies with oil so you still get a trace of the oil. On occasion I’ve taken a baked potato, or another cooked starch and seasonings with me and ordered a salad or boiled veggies. I’m still a little a little uncomfortable doing that unless I can be away from the waiter’s gaze! In Chinese restaurants I order plain rice and boiled broccoli and add a little chilli or soy sauce. More recently, I’ve got a bit lazy/ have been going for a vegan option and trying to choose the least bad option. In the current times, I am conscious that it’s very difficult for the restaurants, so don’t want to make their life more difficult. In an ideal world, I would find a restaurant that we liked, go there repeatedly and get to know the staff so that it was easier to order off-menu. Since becoming a McDougall-er, I find that the food we make at home is much tastier than any fully-complaint food I can get in a restaurant so we tend to eat out much less than we used to. Going out to eat is now all about the social aspects for me. Apart from when I was in Santa Rosa of course, where many restaurants served McDougall compliant dishes. Perhaps we could arrange a meet-up there when travel rules allow?!!

Re: compound exercises. Is this the post you were thinking of? In the same thread Jeff shares a bunch of links in response to GlennR’s question about muscle growth.

Re: weather. Enjoy the blue skies and sun!

Look forward to chatting on the July thread! x
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Re: JUNE 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Suey51 » Thu Jul 01, 2021 4:53 am

On the subject of eating out I found this thread from Jeff that I'd previously missed: Dining Out.

The July threadis now up.
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Re: JUNE 2021 Maintenance Thread

Postby Ejeff » Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:52 am

Sue, yes wouldn’t that be so great if we could walk together! Thanks for all your thought on eating out. It’s good to know we all struggle the same with this, makes me feel more normal haha. And you are right, in an ideal world we would have a couple restaurants that would make exactly what we want without oil. Too bad there aren’t more restaurants like those in Santa Rosa. Sure would be fun to meet up there that’s for sure.

The restaurant I’m going to next week is Italian. I would do as Jeff suggests and order plain pasta with marinara, but I would bet there is oil in the sauce. Guess I could order plain noodles :D That would make me seem really weird I’m sure. A salad is less conspicuous. Not that I care much what my friends think or say about it really. A salad with my own starch added would likely be more enjoyable. Decisions decisions :)

And yes that is the thread on exercise. Way to go in finding it!...obviously I don’t know how to search properly lol.

Erin
"The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don't swim upstream."
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