mandybee's journal
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 12:45 pm
Well, I love Dr. McDougall. I'll start with that. Seems like the best place to start.
It was serendipitous that I even came across him. I was doing law of attraction affirmations on YouTube and then High Carb Hannah came up as something else I might like to check out...her cover mentioned she lost a good amount of weight eating potatoes. I thought the girl was bonkers, but I was intrigued because I thought potatoes were the devil and I love potatoes. Low carb was all the rage, or so I thought. I wasn't losing any weight doing it, not sure I knew anyone who did. Basically knowing this girl was peddling some sort of scam (but I'll follow anyone into a dark alley if they are offering potatoes) I promised myself 3 weeks hardcore, no cheating, to see if it *could* be possible. Also I figured 3 weeks I couldn't gain that much weight when it all went to hell. I also did the research, she mentioned Dr. McDougall so I stalked his site and followed his MWL guidelines exactly.
3 weeks later: I was shocked, I lost like 12 lbs in 3 weeks. It was insane and I never felt better. I ended up losing over 25lbs. This was around August, 2017, thinnest around March, 2018. I stayed the course and didn't deviate. I was already an avid exerciser, I love jogging (I'm not fast, but I can go the distance with a good playlist) and HIIT exercises with weights, etc. I love a walk outside under any circumstances. I was doing great. I no longer craved pizza, I could say no to any food temptation. I didn't want to wreck how good I was feeling. I brought my own food everywhere I went. I was pretty close to a goal weight, not quite there but I wasn't worried, I honestly just felt and looked great and I was planning to stay the course.
In January 2018, I started a new job, bought a new house, sold an old house and things were better than ever (hectic with all the selling and buying) but I was staying the path. Even with a move! I was so focused nothing could shake me, or so I thought...
In March, 2018, my brother-in-law committed suicide. It was a shock; our family was beyond devastated. He left behind all of us (he was my brother, he married my sister when I was 13, he was in my life much longer than not), but most importantly my sister and her 3 teenage daughters. Funeral food is the worst and it started me down a slippery slope. I stuffed my face because honestly, I just felt so empty and I wanted to numb the pain. I feel like I'm the sort of person who could say I lived a charmed life to this point and nothing so tragic had ever happened within our family. I always thought we were so lucky. We are still lucky, that situation only proved how much love still remains in our family and we are all healing.
For the past 2.5 years, it's just been a rollercoaster and I would get back on track with the starch solution and fall off the wagon again. I suffered with depression the entire time, but didn't really do anything about it. I mean, I was sad, wouldn't anyone be?
Finally though, I feel like things are finally starting to feel normal again and it feels good. In the meantime, I probably put back on about 15 lbs.
I'm so so so excited about the October weigh in group. I'm so pumped and I don't know why I haven't done it before. I think I thought I could do it on my own, afterall, I had before, but for whatever reason, I'm sick and tired of the start and stop. I'm sick and tired of feeling disappointed in myself. I'm ready for the start and keep going for the rest of my life.
My plan is to follow MWL, continue with my exercising. Journaling. Eating simply. Meal prep. I have no problems eliminating oil or animal products. I actually love vegetables. But my job is stressful and it seems like after my brother-in-law's death, I was less able to cope with stress and turned to food. So I'm going to continue on my path of healing and really work on ending emotional eating.
It was serendipitous that I even came across him. I was doing law of attraction affirmations on YouTube and then High Carb Hannah came up as something else I might like to check out...her cover mentioned she lost a good amount of weight eating potatoes. I thought the girl was bonkers, but I was intrigued because I thought potatoes were the devil and I love potatoes. Low carb was all the rage, or so I thought. I wasn't losing any weight doing it, not sure I knew anyone who did. Basically knowing this girl was peddling some sort of scam (but I'll follow anyone into a dark alley if they are offering potatoes) I promised myself 3 weeks hardcore, no cheating, to see if it *could* be possible. Also I figured 3 weeks I couldn't gain that much weight when it all went to hell. I also did the research, she mentioned Dr. McDougall so I stalked his site and followed his MWL guidelines exactly.
3 weeks later: I was shocked, I lost like 12 lbs in 3 weeks. It was insane and I never felt better. I ended up losing over 25lbs. This was around August, 2017, thinnest around March, 2018. I stayed the course and didn't deviate. I was already an avid exerciser, I love jogging (I'm not fast, but I can go the distance with a good playlist) and HIIT exercises with weights, etc. I love a walk outside under any circumstances. I was doing great. I no longer craved pizza, I could say no to any food temptation. I didn't want to wreck how good I was feeling. I brought my own food everywhere I went. I was pretty close to a goal weight, not quite there but I wasn't worried, I honestly just felt and looked great and I was planning to stay the course.
In January 2018, I started a new job, bought a new house, sold an old house and things were better than ever (hectic with all the selling and buying) but I was staying the path. Even with a move! I was so focused nothing could shake me, or so I thought...
In March, 2018, my brother-in-law committed suicide. It was a shock; our family was beyond devastated. He left behind all of us (he was my brother, he married my sister when I was 13, he was in my life much longer than not), but most importantly my sister and her 3 teenage daughters. Funeral food is the worst and it started me down a slippery slope. I stuffed my face because honestly, I just felt so empty and I wanted to numb the pain. I feel like I'm the sort of person who could say I lived a charmed life to this point and nothing so tragic had ever happened within our family. I always thought we were so lucky. We are still lucky, that situation only proved how much love still remains in our family and we are all healing.
For the past 2.5 years, it's just been a rollercoaster and I would get back on track with the starch solution and fall off the wagon again. I suffered with depression the entire time, but didn't really do anything about it. I mean, I was sad, wouldn't anyone be?
Finally though, I feel like things are finally starting to feel normal again and it feels good. In the meantime, I probably put back on about 15 lbs.
I'm so so so excited about the October weigh in group. I'm so pumped and I don't know why I haven't done it before. I think I thought I could do it on my own, afterall, I had before, but for whatever reason, I'm sick and tired of the start and stop. I'm sick and tired of feeling disappointed in myself. I'm ready for the start and keep going for the rest of my life.
My plan is to follow MWL, continue with my exercising. Journaling. Eating simply. Meal prep. I have no problems eliminating oil or animal products. I actually love vegetables. But my job is stressful and it seems like after my brother-in-law's death, I was less able to cope with stress and turned to food. So I'm going to continue on my path of healing and really work on ending emotional eating.