Trying this again

[bookworm_mom]

Hi, my name is Gillian. I am a (nearly) 37 year old mom of two and have been married for almost 14 years. I love reading, gardening, cooking, art and hiking. We have homeschooled all the way through so far (one in 3rd grade, one in 1st), so that's a BIG interest to me too. I work part-time out of the house as a grocery clerk, and am in college fulltime working toward a teaching credential.

I am also about 60 pounds overweight. I have struggled with my weight since puberty, though I stayed on the slimmer side until going on Norplant at the age of 20. I haven't been on any hormonal birth control in years, but the weight has never come back off. It is definately limiting - it affects how I feel about myself, and my energy levels are usually pretty low. While I LOVE hiking, it is pretty hard.

I have tried McDougall before, and have always given up on myself. But as I am getting closer and closer to that magical age of 40, I don't want to be like this anymore. So today is DAY ONE! I look forward to finding recipes I can share with my family, who will not be McDougalling, although they'll still be eating a lot more healthfully. I am really excited, and I hope this time I can do this!

[Letha..]

Welcome Gillian,
It’s nice to meet you. Since you are looking for recipes let me share a couple of things with you. I have a blog with my favorite recipes and they all have photos. Also, there are a couple of threads in the recipe forum that have clickable links to recipes that have appeared in the McDougall newsletters. One thread is for maximum weight loss (MWL) recipes and one thread has regular McDougall plan recipes.

Since you are interested in losing weight you might want to check out our monthly MWL support thread . Although optional, many of the participants report their weekly weight loss results on Thursdays. Our group has reported losing 1,269.3 pounds so far in 2009.

We also have a virtual web walking game where we report our exercise every Thursday in order to move a fictional character, Garbanzo, across the country on the American Discovery Trail. She started in Delaware a few weeks ago and has now made her way to Ohio.

The journal forum has many active journals you might enjoy reading. You can create your own journal to track your exercise and food consumption, or you can ramble on about whatever is on your mind like I do.

Best wishes.
Letha

[Faith in DC]

Welcome. Keep it simple. Some folks try and complicate up mcdougall. The simplier I kept it the better and easier it was for me to stick with it.
This is more important with you having a family and all. If it's too much of an effort it's hard to stick with it. I'm assuming the hubby and kids aren't joining you.

[f1jim]

You are to be admired for getting back into the program. Dr. McDougal always says that this is not always easy, but it's simple. Be patient with yourself but do take it very seriously as you would with any aspect of your health. Do plug in and ask for help if you need to. 60lbs is very attainable and the stories here are many of those achieving that and more. There will always be something in our brain that says I know I'm too heavy and we instinctively know our health is in danger when we are in that place.

I look forward to your posts informing new people of your success and how they can turn their situations around. If it helps you there are forums for journaling your progress and specific forums related to exercise, etc. Your observations and past experiences will be valuable to others.
Thanks for being here.
f1jim