Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...
Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:34 pm
Hi,
I'm Stephanie and I love starch... I am forever grateful to Dr. McDougall for empowering me to take charge of my health back in 2003 - when I picked up his book on Women's Health (purple cover) at Half Price Books. I was seeking help - as I had a severe case of JRA from ages 3-17. When as an adult, I felt similar symptoms beginning to emerge, I promptly gave up meat, followed by dairy -- and ramped up potatoes and veggies (with some fruits and no added oil). This way of eating stopped aches and pains in their very tracks! I have continued to follow a diet that doesn't include animal products since I read Dr. McDougall's book. (Have also read as much as I can that he has written!)
However, I have gone through periods of eating higher fat plant foods and leveraging convenience vegan foods (which have continued to grow in number)! As you may imagine, this has resulted in my weight and general health fluctuating based on the concentration of these types of products in my diet. Over the years, I have "fallen off the wagon" and re-started to adhere to some of the core principles of the program (like minimize processed food).
In 2018, I had short-term success at achieving my goal weight on this program and remained compliant for a year - over all of 2018.
Then, "life got in the way", as it has a tendency to do when you least expect it. Unfortunately, I coped by going just a little bit off course... A veggie burger here, some peanut butter there... Soon a little bit became a big bit and instead of following 10 MWL principles, I was only following my top 3. Well, that changed 7 good habits for bad habits - which made my health degrade and packed on some unwanted weight.
I really believe in this program - I know it works, but you have to comply with all 10 points. I had been looking for the right time to jump back in and was inspired to see the participation and enthusiasm on the MWL forum. If not now, when? So, here I am (again) - ready to go!!
I want to discover the secret to permanently changing habits (as I am sure not proud of yo-yo-ing). In order to get back on track, my objective is to follow the 10 pt. checklist for all of 2020. I have written it on note cards - I am tracking my food in an off-line journal. Would like to embed the habits for life. So, I am starting one compliant bite at a time which I expect to translate to compliant meals / snacks - over a period of days, weeks, months, years...
I started on 1/3 at 146.4 lbs. and am currently at 144.2 lbs. A good weight for me is 115 lbs. I am 51 years old female at 5' 5".
Here is the checklist....
10-POINT CHECKLIST FOR MAXIMUM WEIGHT LOSS (MWL)
1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2 Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches.
Choose fruit for desert.
3 Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6 Eliminate any added oil.
7 Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e. bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.
8 Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9 Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
I will post my food eaten since I've been tracking below.
Cheers,
Stephanie
I'm Stephanie and I love starch... I am forever grateful to Dr. McDougall for empowering me to take charge of my health back in 2003 - when I picked up his book on Women's Health (purple cover) at Half Price Books. I was seeking help - as I had a severe case of JRA from ages 3-17. When as an adult, I felt similar symptoms beginning to emerge, I promptly gave up meat, followed by dairy -- and ramped up potatoes and veggies (with some fruits and no added oil). This way of eating stopped aches and pains in their very tracks! I have continued to follow a diet that doesn't include animal products since I read Dr. McDougall's book. (Have also read as much as I can that he has written!)
However, I have gone through periods of eating higher fat plant foods and leveraging convenience vegan foods (which have continued to grow in number)! As you may imagine, this has resulted in my weight and general health fluctuating based on the concentration of these types of products in my diet. Over the years, I have "fallen off the wagon" and re-started to adhere to some of the core principles of the program (like minimize processed food).
In 2018, I had short-term success at achieving my goal weight on this program and remained compliant for a year - over all of 2018.
Then, "life got in the way", as it has a tendency to do when you least expect it. Unfortunately, I coped by going just a little bit off course... A veggie burger here, some peanut butter there... Soon a little bit became a big bit and instead of following 10 MWL principles, I was only following my top 3. Well, that changed 7 good habits for bad habits - which made my health degrade and packed on some unwanted weight.
I really believe in this program - I know it works, but you have to comply with all 10 points. I had been looking for the right time to jump back in and was inspired to see the participation and enthusiasm on the MWL forum. If not now, when? So, here I am (again) - ready to go!!
I want to discover the secret to permanently changing habits (as I am sure not proud of yo-yo-ing). In order to get back on track, my objective is to follow the 10 pt. checklist for all of 2020. I have written it on note cards - I am tracking my food in an off-line journal. Would like to embed the habits for life. So, I am starting one compliant bite at a time which I expect to translate to compliant meals / snacks - over a period of days, weeks, months, years...
I started on 1/3 at 146.4 lbs. and am currently at 144.2 lbs. A good weight for me is 115 lbs. I am 51 years old female at 5' 5".
Here is the checklist....
10-POINT CHECKLIST FOR MAXIMUM WEIGHT LOSS (MWL)
1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2 Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches.
Choose fruit for desert.
3 Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6 Eliminate any added oil.
7 Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e. bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.
8 Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9 Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
I will post my food eaten since I've been tracking below.
Cheers,
Stephanie