Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Good luck with the water! Our pipes froze for four days last winter. Canned beans to the rescue! That’s when we started keeping gallons of water on hand. Eventually you have to flush the toilet, you know?

Thanks, Lindsey! Fortunately, our water is on and the only thing we can't do is let anything go down the kitchen drain.

First of all, I should say that I'm giving myself a compliance day even though I accidentally ate a little dairy. It's okay with me if you think I shouldn't; it's my game, my rules, and it was a total accident.

We don't eat that much prepared food, but we bought some for this time with plumbing issues, just in case. We picked out some vegan stuff for us to share and a couple things for my partner to have while I'm at work. When partner was making dinner, one of the packages said "veggie curry" and partner assumed that was one of the shareable ones, and didn't read the label carefully.

The really interesting thing, though, is how I found out about this: I ate about half a bowl of food, and about a third of it was the veggie curry with a little cream in it (9th ingredient). About fifteen minutes later, I felt something I haven't felt in weeks -- inflammatory pain in my joints. Immediately, I said to my partner, "Did I accidentally get dairy?" and went to look at the labels. I mean, I knew already that giving up dairy has practically eliminated my inflammatory disease symptoms, but it was SO DRAMATIC to start feeling the change in such a short time!

Added $5 to reward fund; total is now $35

Symptoms: inflammation pain; slight headache (both after accidental dairy consumption)

Meds: reduced thyroid pill (now taking 225mcg 6 times a week, instead of 250); reduced beta-blocker (down from 100 mg a day to 50 a day); antibiotics for infection; no glucose, caffeine, ibuprofen, aspirin, or probiotic (I ran out, but I will probably go get more)

Things I did to support myself today:
* did my best to manage work stress
* asked partner to deal with the plumbers and make dinner
* ate lots of veggies

Exercise: 14-minute mail run (fast walk with hills and stairs)

Food prepped for black bean hummus, fat-free red pepper hummus

Plan for tomorrow:

B: waffle-iron hash browns; fruit
L: rice and beans and okra
D: bean tacos or whatever partner makes
S: soup, three-bean salad, fruit

Plan for today:
B: waffle-iron hash browns; fruit
L: rice and beans and okra
D: bean tacos or whatever partner makes
S: soup, three-bean salad, fruit

Actual:
B:
S: McD soup
L:
S: McD soup again
D: Baked potatoes, bean salad

The plumbers are almost done replacing our standpipe, and we have only been without water for a total of about a half hour so far, yay! Jaw infection seems to be gone, though I had a headache all night, presumably from the accidental dairy I consumed, but I feel fine now. Partner is planning to make ratatouille for dinner, but you never know; if the water is out, we'll probably just have prepared food again, this time with more carefulness about the labels.

I like how you make note of how you took care of yourself. It is so easy to constantly do things for others. Making yourself a priority is so important. Well done.

Thanks, Lindsey!

Day 6 wrap-up (I went to bed early and didn't wrap up last night).

Added $6 to reward fund; total is now $41

Symptoms: Other than a very mild backache, none, woo-hoo!!

Meds: reduced thyroid pill (now taking 225mcg 6 times a week, instead of 250); reduced beta-blocker (down from 100 mg a day to 50 a day); antibiotics for infection, probiotics while I'm on antibiotics; no glucose, caffeine, ibuprofen, aspirin

Things I did to support myself yesterday:
* did my best to manage work stress
* asked partner to check all dinner food for hidden milk
* stopped eating before I got full
* did not eat even one piece of the massive amounts of halloween candy at work

Exercise: 14-minute mail run (fast walk with hills and stairs)

Plan for today is still in process. I'll post it in a few minutes.

Even on antibiotics, weight is coming off, and I'm sure that's because of the 100% compliance. Onward!

Since I'm not having any trouble staying on plan, I'm going to keep tracking my food here, but stop doing it in the SparkPeople calorie tracker. That's effort I don't need to spend anymore -- it was largely to make sure I wasn't fooling myself, and to get a good idea of how many calories and fat grams I eat when I am on MWL, but I've got that info now, so it's no longer necessary.

Plan for today:
B: soup and potato waffles
L: potato salad (made with leftover potatoes and the rest of the three-bean salad)
D: sweet potatoes and slaw
S: soup, fruit, raw veggies

Actual:
B:
S: sweet potato
L:
S: McD soup
D: (plus a little ratatouille the partner made)

Added $7 to reward fund; total is now $48

Symptoms: None!

Meds: reduced thyroid pill (now taking 225mcg 6 times a week, instead of 250); reduced beta-blocker (down from 100 mg a day to 50 a day); antibiotics for infection, probiotics while I'm on antibiotics; no glucose, caffeine, ibuprofen, aspirin

Things I did to support myself yesterday:
* baked some sweet potatoes for the next few days
* let my boss know I'm bringing my own food to the work retreat so I can make sure I have food
* bought some fruit for tomorrow's lunch

Exercise: none

Plan for tomorrow:
B: Sweet potatoes and slaw
S: cherries
L: Sweet potatoes and slaw
S: orange
D: Ratatouille and pasta
S: sweet potatoes

I weigh 280.8 today, which is 49.2 down from where I started about 20 weeks ago. Woo-hoo!

Today's plan:
B: Sweet potatoes and slaw
S: cherries
L: Sweet potatoes and slaw
S: orange
D: Ratatouille and pasta
S: sweet potatoes

Actual:
B:
S: fruit salad
L: sweet potatoes and cherries
S: sweet potatoes and salsa
D: Ratatouille (no pasta)
S: spiced waffle potatoes (added cilantro/garlic/ginger/gochugaru to shredded potatoes before waffling)

I've been listing my meds every day and forgetting to mention that I use a medicated cream (ketoconazole) for a skin condition. When this tube is finished, I'm going to try going without it and seeing if my McDougalling has helped any.

Hi Idgie!

I just found your new journal. Congrats on being symptom free! I bet you feel like $100 bucks! Speaking of, your reward account has grown since the last time I checked in! Woot Woot!! Have you been thinking of how you'll spend it? I bet new clothes are needed! A <<<BIG>>> congrats on 50 lbs gone! You rock! I love it!

Thank you so much, moonlight! I'm planning to use the money for clothes, yes. When I hit $100, I'm gonna start back at $1, or I'll quickly be not-rich-enough to reward myself.

Super-happy with my compliance today. Went to a work "retreat" and didn't have a menu beforehand, or any input into the menu, so I took sweet potatoes and fruit on an ice pack and had a delicious lunch.

Added $8 to reward fund; total is now $56

Symptoms: Very very mild aches and pains, possibly from the stress of the retreat.

Meds: reduced thyroid pill (now taking 225mcg 6 times a week, instead of 250); reduced beta-blocker (down from 100 mg a day to 50 a day); antibiotics for infection, probiotics while I'm on antibiotics; no glucose, caffeine, ibuprofen, aspirin

Things I did to support myself yesterday:
* decided to have as good an attitude as possible for the work thing
* took my own food
* at lunch, took a long walk instead of just sitting out in my car or something
* made up my mind not to complain today

Exercise: long, slow walk at lunch

Plan for tomorrow:
B: savory oats
L: bean tacos (no oil -- we have some corn tortillas to use up)
S: soup/veggies
D: partner's enchiladas

I commented in the weigh-in thread also, but wanted to let you know how thoroughly impressed I am with what you’ve been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. You dove right in head first and are having tremendous success. Congratulations!

Thank you, Lyndzie!! <3

On June 10, I weighed 330 pounds (I had slowwwwly come down from a high of 350 but not in any kind of deliberate way).

Tomorrow will be 20 weeks since that day. Here's my latest milestone:

Awesome! Averaging 10lbs a month loss is a remarkable achievement! So impressive! Congrats to you