mandybee's journal

[Ejeff]

Mandybee, just wanted to say I’m enjoying your journal and I love how you are excited about this way of eating.

I began McDougall almost 6 years ago and I remember also feeling very excited. I felt I had finally discovered the “secret” to enjoying food while at the same time not gaining weight.

Wishing you every success and a long healthy, starchy journey.

Erin

[mandybee]

Tuesday 10/13/20

I'm back from my time off. I feel like I lost some enthusiasm and momentum which really helps in that beginning phase while trying to establish a solid habit. I never took any time off this year and the 3 days I did take off (last Thursday, Friday and Monday) to collect myself, I really just stressed about work, the phone calls I was getting, the emails piling up and the work to be done upon return. It was definitely not worth the loss of momentum. I feel like I need to be doing something for at least a month to really be in the beginnings of a habit...it was just too new to give that up.

Anyway, today is a new day.
b: 1 small potato; soup
l: soup; black beans and brown rice with frozen veg mix
d: salad with some starch (rice, beans and potato)

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too.
Yes.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,)
Yes.

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily.
Jogged 2 miles, not pretty but we did it. Did 15 minutes of yoga. Plan to walk 2-4 miles tonight after work.

I was tired today. Didn't sleep well last night, anxious about getting back to work. At lunch time, I left and went to the dollar store to walk around, I do this sometimes if I need a break. Literally picked up some Pringles. I stopped and really thought about why I did not want to do that. I put the chips down. I have felt so anxious and really wanted to binge on some chips despite having healthy food at my office. I went back to my office and ate my healthy food. Glad I did.

Activity:
Thursday: Ran 3 miles, did yoga and walked 4 miles
Friday: Did full body Week 3 KI HIIT workout, walked 4 miles
Saturday: Hiked 10 miles
Sunday: Went shopping full day; not sweating into the oldies but not sitting around either
Monday: Did legs Week 4 KI HIIT workout; walked 4 miles

Overall Food Thursday-Monday:
Not the worst. Not the best. Had some cereal. Had some toast. Had some peanut butter. I feel better without these in my diet. Had some unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

[AlicefromBelgium]

Picking the Pringles and then putting them back on the shelf that is awsome.
Congrats !

[mandybee]

Friday 10/16/20

Well, today is weigh in day and I'm up 1 pound. I wish I was down a pound but I didn't put in the work or commitment for that result and I feel like I got about as much as I put in this week. But today is a new day.

b: 2 small potatoes; soup - I wish I could skip breakfast, I'm not a big breakfast person but my workouts typically burn at least 500 calories and I start to feel off and I don't eat something...so I ate something...soup for breakfast is so funny to me.
l: soup; eggroll in a bowl with brown rice and chickpeas
d: salad with some starch (rice, beans and potato)

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too.
Yes.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,)
Yes.

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily.
Jogged 1 mile for warm up, did week 4 KI HIIT full body and 15 mins. of yoga to stretch it all out. I felt really strong today pushing through this work out. Sometimes on Fridays I feel tired and like I don't have the energy. Today was a good day Also stoked that I completed 4 weeks of workouts without missing 1. It's been a while I could say that so that's one achievement I'm proud of.

[VivianS]

VivianS October 16, 2020 Friday
Congratulations, Mandybee, on not missing a workout!

[VivianS]

VivianS October 16, 2020
MandyBee, it's the food! Eggroll is a fried food. Is that right?
Egg roll with soy sauce or sweet and sour sauce...spasms of delight! Food to make me fat. I used to think I could eat that, exercise it off and be just fine. Not true! My cholesterol kept being high. My waist line kept being fat. Calories in, calories out is a lie and a formula for bad health.
Exercise is great. Keep doing it. Work on realizing what each of those 10 check points mean. It took several weeks...3 months for me to find the fat that has been keeping me fat. It has taken longer for me to sift out the refined foods that were keeping me fat: flour based foods and ultra processed foods containing sugar, salt and oil.
I used another phone app other than Cronometer that let me think of my meals and calories like a bank account. I would exercise more to be able to enjoy a certain food. Then I would spend those calories I had earned by exercising or had saved by eating lower calorie foods.
I was always getting in situations where there was a pig roast, but I didn't want to eat the meat. Or I'm at the hospital in a distant city at night, the cafeteria is closed and my sister saved me half her hamburger. I no longer have to be in those situations. I can take my food with me. I thank God for that.
As I have gotten older I realize that my body has suffered injuries like a twisted knee (torn inside..arthroscopic surgery required, followed by therapy, bed rest with knee above heart to prevent swelling) that took away the exercise to burn calories. Now what? It's the food. Eat the whole food plant based diet.
Your comment about your plate being not 50/50 helped me realize that I was hungry because I was missing my beans on two nights and I was reaching for saltines to satisfy my hunger.
I am going to follow your example and list some of my meals, but as Dr. Doug Lisle and Jeff Novick have told us, develop a few good meals and eat them over and over. Your health in the next few years depend on the high quality nutrition you give your body. It's the food!
I recognize that seasonal changes make a difference in fresh produce that is available. Frozen foods have made life great for me. I am not the best cook in the world...not even among the average ones, but I can prepare and eat the basic plant foods and be satisfied. I hope you can make time to prepare simple healthy meals and leave old ways and old foods behind.
I hope you realize I am trying to return your kindness to me. I think you are going to have great success on this MAXIMUM WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM!

[mandybee]

VivanS thank you so much for your feedback, it is much appreciated!! You are so right! I had a realization that I have been eating too many calories. I'm going to check out Cronometer. I was confused because I feel like I keep reading if you are low fat plant based you don't have to count your calories, etc. but I don't think that's true for me. I exercise because it's a wonderful destressor and I feel like it clears my mind but I'm not doing it for weight loss-- I agree for that to happen, it's all about the food. I am with you, when I don't add any fat, the fat on my body slips off with little to no effort. I feel much more relaxed this week. I'm working on smaller meals and not feeling like I need to "eat enough".

Egg roll in a bowl isn't an egg roll- just the stuff inside. I used green and purple shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, celery, green onions, grated garlic, onions, I sauteed with a little low sodium soy sauce, rice vinegar and garlic and then I just put that over some brown rice with a little asian chili garlic hot sauce. Turned out really good. I love pretty much asian anything. I thought it was mostly on plan, but probably more salt than ideal from the soy sauce?

VivianS October 16, 2020
MandyBee, it's the food! Eggroll is a fried food. Is that right?
Egg roll with soy sauce or sweet and sour sauce...spasms of delight! Food to make me fat. I used to think I could eat that, exercise it off and be just fine. Not true! My cholesterol kept being high. My waist line kept being fat. Calories in, calories out is a lie and a formula for bad health.
Exercise is great. Keep doing it. Work on realizing what each of those 10 check points mean. It took several weeks...3 months for me to find the fat that has been keeping me fat. It has taken longer for me to sift out the refined foods that were keeping me fat: flour based foods and ultra processed foods containing sugar, salt and oil.
I used another phone app other than Cronometer that let me think of my meals and calories like a bank account. I would exercise more to be able to enjoy a certain food. Then I would spend those calories I had earned by exercising or had saved by eating lower calorie foods.
I was always getting in situations where there was a pig roast, but I didn't want to eat the meat. Or I'm at the hospital in a distant city at night, the cafeteria is closed and my sister saved me half her hamburger. I no longer have to be in those situations. I can take my food with me. I thank God for that.
As I have gotten older I realize that my body has suffered injuries like a twisted knee (torn inside..arthroscopic surgery required, followed by therapy, bed rest with knee above heart to prevent swelling) that took away the exercise to burn calories. Now what? It's the food. Eat the whole food plant based diet.
Your comment about your plate being not 50/50 helped me realize that I was hungry because I was missing my beans on two nights and I was reaching for saltines to satisfy my hunger.
I am going to follow your example and list some of my meals, but as Dr. Doug Lisle and Jeff Novick have told us, develop a few good meals and eat them over and over. Your health in the next few years depend on the high quality nutrition you give your body. It's the food!
I recognize that seasonal changes make a difference in fresh produce that is available. Frozen foods have made life great for me. I am not the best cook in the world...not even among the average ones, but I can prepare and eat the basic plant foods and be satisfied. I hope you can make time to prepare simple healthy meals and leave old ways and old foods behind.
I hope you realize I am trying to return your kindness to me. I think you are going to have great success on this MAXIMUM WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM!

[mandybee]

Monday 10/19/20

b: 1 small potato; soup - I didn't feel too great when I woke up today, maybe I did it up a little too much on the weekend; 1 small pluot
l: soup; 1 small pluot
snack: brought some rice and veg for lunch but wasn't too hungry so I ate about 1/4 of it for a snack. I'll save it for tomorrow lunch?
d: salad with some starch (50/50 method with a little brown rice, chickpeas and potato)

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too.
Yes.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,)
Yes.

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
This was interesting today and I think probably my biggest overall issue that I'm going to put as my #1 effort for the next few weeks. I had a great realization on Saturday when I felt just beyond bloated and uncomfortable at a fall festival. I preventative ate because I knew there wouldn't be good choices there but it was too much. I should have gone and been prepared to be hungry and wait to eat.

I've been plant based a while, so besides my great love affair with all flour products and nuts, this is my biggest underlying struggle.

I keep thinking I can eat a big bowl of veg and rice since I'm eating so healthy but in hindsight, I realize I'm eating too much. I often feel bloaty after I eat. It's too much food. Today I haven't eaten much and I actually feel better. I imagine my body will tell me the days I need a little more. But today, it hasn't been a struggle eating smaller portions. No preventative eating. I made a great tomato based vegetable (no starch) soup and I've had 32 oz. of that with a little bit of starch. But I don't feel as hungry as I thought I would. Not that I want to be counting calories but I think I lost track of a typical day's worth of calories.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily.
Didn't feel great most of the day. Decided to skip a workout.

[mandybee]

Picking the Pringles and then putting them back on the shelf that is awsome.
Congrats !

Thank you AlicefromBelgium, sounds silly but it felt like a real victory! Thank you for the support! The struggle is real, some days worse than others! I'm so glad to be part of such an awesome community!

[VivianS]

VivianS October 19, 2020 Monday
MandyBee, thank you for giving me the recipe for Egg roll in a bowl. I always have a lot to learn and I am grateful for your reply. I am going to try it, too.
You should direct your question about the salt to Jeff Novick. It sounded great to me- "low sodium soy sauce", but I only started reading the forum in July so I really don't know much except that following the guidelines and daily checklist works. I have lost at least 16 pounds in the last 3 1/2 months. Finding the places where I have not understood or adhered to the checklist has really been where I have made progress.
When you said that your 50/50 plate was a little different, I realized that is why I was feeling hungry. I forgot to add beans! I thought my plate was 50/50, but it was tilted more toward the non starchy side and that's why I was hungry. When I eat the foods that comply with the MWL CHECKLIST, I am not hungry.
The calorie counting is done for you on Cronometer. As to weighing and measuring, it is an advantage to me because of my poor cooking skills. I cooked 1 pound of brown rice in my big pot. It made 10 servings. The package said 3/4 cup servings. I scooped the rice into individual servings and put them in the refrigerator. I can dump them into my lunch pail with beans etc. So easy! Preparation makes my life easier. I'm learning to speed up the process.
Iron sharpens iron, MandyBee! Thank you for being a friend and replying to me. I'm learning a lot from you!
VivianS

[VivianS]

VivianS October 20, 2020, Tuesday
https://www.rightfoods.com/products/all-products/
Dr.McDougall sells products like Asian noodles. I have never tried any of them, but for someone on the go or cooking for one, these may be just the thing to make a quick fix for Asian food a healthy option.

I was so excited by your recipe that I made Asian vegetables as soon as I got home. I shredded a few dark green lettuce leaves, a little onion, garlic, celery and carrots. I had some boiling water from cooking my steamed collard greens so I poured a full cup of that "pot liquor" in a small pan and stared that batch of vegetables to cook. As they sautéed, I added a few CAPERS since I didn't have any low sodium soy sauce. I dumped in one of my individual servings of precooked brown rice and let it heat with the vegetables. I enjoyed every bite!
Capers added a nice little salty kick with some king of whang (vinegar?)for zero calories. I dipped out just what I could get on a fork from that small jar of capers. That was similar to sprinkling salt on my dish MWL style..
I also drank some "pot likker" as my preload soup.
Thank you, MandyBee for sharing your rrecipe with me. I adapted it to fit what I had on hand: CAPERS! The meal was fast, easy, hot and I had no leftovers! I even made a fortune cookie note for myself, "YOU WILL HAVE THIS MEAL AGAIN SOON!" I wrote that on the index card where I copied your recipe.
No cookie, no calories, but I still had the fun of envisioning a pleasant future.
Thanks for my fortunate surprise, Mandybee!
VivianS

[mandybee]

Tuesday 10/20/2020

b: 1 small potato; soup; 1 pear
l: soup; 1/2 cup brown rice
d: salad with some starch (50/50 method with a little brown rice, chickpeas and potato)

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too.
Yes.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,)
Yes.

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes. Doing a little chai tea yesterday and today without splash of almond milk...I think the almond milk was a routine but didn't add as much pazazz as I thought.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes. I'm eating so much less but feel great! I was going to eat a piece of fruit after lunch and stopped because I was perfectly full. I realize now how I think I used to eat out of habit or because it was there (and healthy) way too much. It all adds up. And I felt like I was about to explode way too often.

Yesterday was AMAZING. I'm shocked how much better I feel eating probably about half of the food I normally eat. I'm definitely going to keep this going. I went to bed with my belly feeling nearly flat last night (which is so unusual) and I slept better. I think I've really been overeating healthy food.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily.
Yes. Did a little rebounding to warm up, did Week 5 of KI HIIIT workout (2 rounds, BOOM!) and yoga to stretch. Hope to get in a walk tonight after work, weather permitting...it's been a little rainy around here. Really excited to get to week 5 of my workouts, I kept getting hung up around week 3 and feeling like I needed to start over. So this is progress. I feel stronger.

[VivianS]

VivianS October 20, 2020, Tuesday
I am adding "7 Fortunate Surprise" to my Cronometer list of recipes. By typing 7, I will get the calories and nutrients listed for the day. That's another bonus for a quick, easy and nutritious meal!
I will have my index card as the paper back up when this cellphone dies of old age or is killed by the new 5G network.

[mandybee]

Ejeff, thank you so much for the shout out--you are so close to your goal weight--you are a wonderful motivation. I have no doubt I'll get there too! I feel lucky to have found a healthy plant based diet that actually works, makes me feel amazing-- and I can get carbs... Hope you are off to a great week!

Mandybee, just wanted to say I’m enjoying your journal and I love how you are excited about this way of eating.

I began McDougall almost 6 years ago and I remember also feeling very excited. I felt I had finally discovered the “secret” to enjoying food while at the same time not gaining weight.

Wishing you every success and a long healthy, starchy journey.

Erin

[mandybee]

Wednesday 10/21/2020

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Perfect day of eating
I was left fully satisfied and not hungry. watched portions in a very serious way; really asked myself if I was hungry.

b: 1 medium potato;
second breakfast. 1 pear
Snack/third breakfast: soup; technically 3rd breakfast but I realized I wasn't hungry so I decided to save for when I was hungry.
l: ate a little later than usual, about 1 p.m.- salad with a small amount of brown rice and chickpeas
Snack: soup with a little brown rice stirred in; surprised how the brown rice really made it stick. and I didn't even need a lot of brown rice to get such a filling effect.
d: I ended up not eating dinner, I just wasn't hungry. I thought maybe I'd feel hungry around 8-9 -- and it never happened. I didn't even wake up hungry. I'm almost baffled by this. But it goes to show maybe my body doesn't need as much as I thought it did.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes, but my timing is changing if I'm really thinking about how full I am after just some soup.

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.
Yes.

3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too.
Yes.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,)
Yes.

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes. Still chai tea today without splash of almond milk...gasp. I can do it!

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes. I'm eating so much less but feel so much better. Every day seems a little easier. One big thing I'm doing is doing a small portion of something and just know I can eat my next little meal when I feel hungry again, even if it's 2-3 hours.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily.
Felt like a bum this a.m. My allergies (I think) are bugging me. I feel low energy today. Went to head out for a walk but it was raining. Did walk 4 miles after work. I felt much better by the end of the day. Throughout the day I did not feel full of energy but okay. Everyone around here is having allergy issues. Claritin stopped working for me, I tried something Zyrtec and it made me feel like I couldn't wake up so I'm trying to just grin and bear it up and go all natural but I just wanted to take a nap