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oh no , I make my soup every day... myself..

it has onions, celery,vegetable broth,yams,squash, barley,quinoa,carrots,and sometimes white potatoes, i vary it, tehn pour it o ver fresh spinach

Agreed!
f1jim

Sounds great! Watch the veg broth, as it's very high in sodium (even the so-called "low sodium" variety). I use water and no-salt added tomatoes instead (see Jeff's Fast Food DVD).

everything is chunked not scrambled so to speak, so it is more of a stew .. and I add either spike or mrs. dash original for spices..

I didn't think it was processed, but he being on this for 11yrs, told me it was and to watch out.. but it was working great!

ahh ok.. well I don't add any salt to anything either.. I try to leave out tomatoes only because I use them in other th ings and I just can't do tomatoes every day.. blah..

my vegan father ; ALL his meals were tomato sauce based..

I realize in this plan each has to find his own way that works for him.. and I felt this did, then jeff said that. yikes.. so I am glad I am doing ok with it then... cuz I love it!

food isn't that important to me as far as a big sit down dinner th ing.. I prefer to make something up in the morning that i can eat all day long and not have to stop to cook again.. eat then get back to work

thanks!!

and since I don't have blood pressure issues or anything YET LOL

hmm.. will need to decide what to do about the veg broth thingy

ET,
Upon reading your post, I realized that we all struggle with the same things - whether we want to loose 100 lbs. or 10 lbs. it takes the same amount of will power to get started and stay consistent. I started McDougalling in Nov. 2007 and by Jan.12 2008 had lost the 15 lbs. I had tried YEARS to loose. It felt effortless. But recently I have caved to cravings (started so gradually) because I have 4 kids (who like their sweets) and a hubby who (used to) not be on board. Wait...those are excuses. It's really all my fault for losing my will power and gaining back the 15 lbs. I am trying to get just one perfect "MWL" week under my belt - but I keep failing. I don't know why it was so easy for me before? I mostly cheat on sweets (baked goods) that are around for the kids cause I can't bring myself to ban the food from the house - I feel like it will cause them eating disorders if I am too controlling. Also, I enjoy oil in my salad dressings, and in my stir fries etc. etc.
I just want to be in control and fit in my clothes and feel great again like I did. So here goes nothing... Maybe my first posting will be motivation enough to get some stinkin' will power! Geeezzze!! I'm stuck in the pleasure trap for sure, and the only person who can get me out is ME!!

Wonderful!!!!

I am a former, falling off the wagon, McDougaller too. I am so inspired by your testimonial! I'm about half way on my second time around and hope to be able to follow your good example for all the world to see later this year. You look GREAT and I hope to be able to see how you maintain and keep it off! That is where I fell flat on my face the first time around!

well you go girl ... you look fabulous, and you deserve the best in life...

I am excited for you, which makes me excited for me... I still had weight to lose last time I did this, but began going through my divorce, so I wasn't really in a situation to continue a lifestyle change of that proportion since I had no kitchen for a while.. hence my big excuse for getting away from the plan...

my newly diagnosed diabetes will keep me going, being an ex RN of 20+yrs, I am not interested in losing my legs or eyes et c... so I will be pursuing this for ever..

good luck and keep in eating!!

wow wow wow.

You look amazing. im so delighted to hear of your success and it is motivating me even more!

Thank you!

I just saw your ticker today and had to click over here....congratulations! When I grow up...I want to be you hehe

I think you know this, but you inspired me to start this program years ago when I was in college and cursed with my freshman 15 (or 20...) and I will never forget how encouraging and helpful you were. I didn't stick with it b/c it was "too hard" in school and I wasn't committed enough since I was still at a decent weight (just not my skinny high school weight). Now years later at 27 when I am needing to lose a ton of baby weight I was brought back here again and so happy you are here too, and that you've reached your goal!

Thanks, Jenny! I think it's really commendable that you're sticking to it--I know it's hard w/ a kid AND a non-compliant hubby. At least I only had to convince ME, LOL!

ETeSelle- You are my hero! Thanks for sharing your story and continuing your journey here to inspire all of us! I want my next 6 months to look like your last 6 months! Rock on, girlfriend!!!

ETeSelle - well done and congratulations! Talk about trim and terrific!

UPDATE!

Got my labs. See below (and be sure to check out the BP thread if you haven't seen it, b/c IMO it's very instructive--I had NO IDEA caffeine could make that much difference!

I posted what's below on the first post on this thread as well, but here are the vital stats--all very good news!!

In all lists below, the 1st number is from 11/09 (BEFORE) & the 2nd number is from 1/11 (AFTER)

LABS:

Total cholesterol: 181. . . . 137
HDL chol: 62. . . . 40
LDL chol: 109. . . . 81
Triglycerides: 49. . . . 82
Blood glucose: 113. . . . 89

Blood pressure/HR (see also long discussion of this issue HERE]:

BP: 155/96. . . . 146/81 (in office) and 126/80 (at home)
HR: 88. . . .55