Discussion Board

Thanks forzenveg,

You are right. I can easily binge on fruit as it happened on day 22. I do not feel guilty about it as I rather binge on fruit than on junk vegan food (chips & bread) as in the past. I have a new binge but a fruity one.

As for getting into a new eating rhythm and having the power to skip dinner all together, I have tried eating late afternoon a big quantity of fruit with the hope to shut down my appetite for the evening but no avail. Next week, I will try again with rice/potatoes & vegies. Shall I take extra food or shall I simply delay/stagger my lunch meal for late afternoon ? How do you do it on Thursday ? Do you eat lunch time as well as at 4 pm ?

Cheers

Day 24 (10 June) - weight 72.8 kg
Exercises: road running 5.2 km, swimming 50 min, rowing 3 km

Breakfast: 3 x cup the usual oats cereal
Lunch:
2 x cup vegetable tabbouleh - see The Starch Solution p. 233 for ingredients.
250 g whole potatoes ( washed and baked and grilled in oven) toped with 1 x cup rainbow Vegies (augmented with green.

Snack : 2 x Brussels sprout, 1 sweet potato (small)

Dinner:
1x cup of oats (left over from morning)
2x cups of vegetable tabbouleh


Note:

I dished myself double the above indicated portions of potatoes and Vegies. I was very full at half mark. So I stopped and kept them for another time.

Day 25 (11 June) - weight 73.2 kg
Excises: run 5.2 km, swim 45 min, rowing 4 km

Breakfast - half banana & 2 x cups oats cereal

Lunch : 1x corn on the cob ( simply half grilled), potatoes & Vegies - did not measure but about 500g potatoes and 2 x cups of Vegies

Dinner : mixed green salad, 3x potatoes, 2 x cups of greens (3 types of Spinach, bok chou).

Snack : 400g grapes

Day 26 (12 June) - 73 kg
Exercise: 25 min swim, 16 km cycling, 2 km rowing

Breakfast - 2 x cups of rolled oats cereal

Lunch, 4 x cups of Vegies & potatoes x 6

Dinner : 2 x cups of vegetable tabbouleh, 2 cups of rice (favoured with sushi seasoning), 1 x cup of Spinash steamed and half of cup of beans.

Snack : a couple of berries as I was preparing overnight oats cereal.

Day 27 - Weight 73 kg
Exercises : 25 min swim

B - 2 x cups of overnight oats cereal, 2 spoons of vegetable Tabbouleh when packing for lunch for office.

L - 2 x cups of vegetable tabbouleh, 2 x cups of brown rice and 1 cup of Vegies

S - 2 x cups of white rice ( take aways) and 200g of cherry tomatoes
( late afternoon 5 pm)

D - 1 cup beans with tomato sauce, 0.5 cup brown rice, 1 cup Vegies, 1 medium sweet potato.

Thoughts on the day :
1. I just read that dried fruit are 'calories bombs'. As of tonight, I will be preparing my overnight cereal without dried fruits I.e. only rolled oats and cinnamon. Today I did not add a banana. A step in the right direction.

2. After office today, I will be going for classes. So I packed extra for dinner for just before the class. Today I intend to go directly to the gym after classes. This way, I will get home around 9h30- 10h00, in time to go straight to bed as I wake up daily at 5h00 or earlier.

3. Looking back over my first month on starch diet, it has been a mixed bag. On the one hand, I did not lose any weight so I am not closer to my goal. On the other hand, I learnt a lot about the strach diet and in particular MWL. I made many mistakes by overeating : fruit, dried fruit, beans, ... I also did good progress by eliminating oils and bread from my vegan diet and this is an achievement.
On balance, now I know enough to get closer to my goal and steadily I shall progress.

4. Last thought for the day: I still feel that I am eating too much and I could do with half the amount.
On the positive side, I am eating the right food. Tonight, I prepared my overnight oats cereal without dried fruit. This is another step in the right direction.

Nice! I think you are doing well. It takes some trial and error to find out what works for each of us. I have one other thought to add... You say that your goal weight is 65kg -- that's about 143 lbs. And you are currently at 73 kg -- which is about 163 lbs, correct? How tall are you? These seem to be pretty low weights for a man, depending on height -- it seems that the closer to you get to your goal weight, the harder it's going to be to lose. Also, as you exercise frequently, you may have a lot of muscle mass, which weighs more. Anyway, something to keep in mind. Keep up the good work!

-marmoset

Thanks for the encouragement. I am not sure of my height. I will check it later.

I have been to 2 sport institutes in Pretoria South Africa and they measured my skeleton dimensions and bones and was told that my ideal weight is 65 kg and the capacity of my lungs.

Yes, I do exercises and I did road running over 20 years including ultra marathon (50 km) so I have muscle mass in my legs. But I also have a moderate tummy and a lot of fat. Lighter is better for running; less to carry.

Day 28 (June 14). - weight 72.7 kg
Exercises: 25 min swim

Breakfast - 2 x cups Oats cereal ( rolled oats, water and cinnamon only)

Snack - 600 g truss tomatoes (raw)

Lunch - 2x grilled sweet potatoes (medium size), 5 x white potatoes (medium to small size)
2 x cups of steamed Brussels sprouts

Dinner - Bulgur with tomato pure, topped with mushroom ( stir fried with water ) - did not measure but I ate 3 servings. 1 serving = ~ 2 cups.

Food Journal:
For my lunch in the office, I packed grilled sweet potatoes and grilled white potatoes and 2 cups of steamed Brussels sprouts.

This morning, when I weighed myself before I rushed to the pool for my daily swim, I was surprised that my weight was slightly down. I do not understand it. Yesterday, I stuffed myself and I was expecting that I gained weight. This makes me wonder. How does it work ? For the first time since I started this diet, my bowel movement was different. Until now, I have had sort of mild constipation. What has changed ? For the first time, in a long long time, I did not have fresh fruit yesterday. I also did not have any added salt and I had more veteqable than I am used to. Today, I will not be using salt and eating fruit neither. I wonder whether the steamed Celon spinash and Bok Choy have any effect. People do not like to recount bowel movement but to me it is a good indicator how well or how my badly I am eating (and combining).

Last night, when I got home after classes, I was lazy to hit the gym. After watching the business news while I was having dinner, I played the piano for 30 min before retiring to bed.

I stuffed myself again and I hate myself for it. I gorged my food. Not a nice feeling upon reflection and soul searching.

Day 29 (June 15) - Weight 73.00 Kg

Extercises: 30 min swim

Breakfast - cereal ( ~ 2 cups as I did not measure )
Lunch - ~ 4 cups of bulgur with tomato sauce and topped with mushroom and 2 x medium size grilled sweet potatoes.
Dinner - 1.5 medium sweet potatoes, 3 x cups of bulgur and Vegies ( carrot, pecans and corn)

Food Journal

It does surprise me that I am back to 73 kg. Last night, I overate. I still feel full and bloated. Yet, I still had breakfast. It does not make sense. Am I simply a creature of habit or is it a compulsive behaviour ? Or both?

I felt bloated all day through. Not a nice feeling.

I am seriously considering living on sweet potatoes for a couple of days. I start for one day and extend it further as I develop the willpower. I need to kick off my weight loss. I am now one month on the programme and my weight seems to be stuck. It is so frustrating.

Why don't you try "Mary's Mini" for a week..see if that jump starts your progress

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2006nl/june/marys.htm http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2006nl/july/marys2.htm That version of the McDougall ..

Day 30 (June 16) - weight 73.5 kg

Exercises : swim (20 min), run ( 5 km), cylcling (17 km), rowing (2 km), body balance ( 55 min)

Breakfast - 2 bowls of potato salad ( grilled potatoes, tomato, cucumber, cupsicum, spiced with 100 % fat free French dressing )

Lunch - 4 x cups of vegetables ( aubergine and cupsicum)

Snack - 4 cup of oats cereals - this was a binge

Dinner - 1 x sweet potato and a bowl of bulgur and Vegies

Will be updated throughout the day

Food thoughts on the day:
1. I enjoyed the potato salad. It was just the right amount after 3 hours of grilling exercises. Then I spoilt my lunch by overeating. The food tasted so good and I overate. This is a problem. I feel bloated. This morning while on the road running, I kept telling myself that there is no need to overeat. I can simply keep the prepared food in the frige for when hunger strikes again. I must be responding to my hunger strike and not indulge in the food. I also though that I must keep my thinking about food to bare minimum.
Thanks PotatoHead for responding and introduce me to Mary's Mini diet. I will definitely move in this direction. I will start with 2 starches for a couple of days until I consume all prepared food and switch to potatoe only diet. I am willing to try anything. I am now 30 days on the programme and I have not lost any weight. Now my problem is overeating. Today I experienced the nice feeling of not overeating in the morning.

2. Today I started great and ended up the day very disappointed. First i ran for 5 km before driving to the pool...and all the other activities that followed. I enjoyed my potato salad for breakfast... I really intended to live on potato today... Then in the afternoon as I sat on the panio for practice... I started going to kitchen for breaks and ended up binging on the cereals that I prepared last night. How can I stop it ? This not normal ! Am I suffering from compulsive eating disorder ? ? ? Why don't I stop eating when I am no longer hungry ?

Day 31 ( Sun 17 June) - Weight 73.5
Exercises :

B -
L -
D -

Will update throughout the day

Thoughts on the day:
1. I just need to eat less and less every day.
Just say NO to overeating. Just stop eating when hunger satisfied. Stop thinking about food.

Just stop eating when hunger satisfied. Stop thinking about food.[/quote]

Yes! Think about other things!

I have a suggestion....cut back on the cereal...it might cause you to bloat...I know when I eat too many oats...I bloat...try snacking on raw veggies and cold cooked potatoes...limit the beans...they can cause bloating too...you exercise a lot, which is good, but because you don't have a whole bunch of weight to lose, all the exercise might be stalling you too....your body might be trying to hold onto "food", because you need it for your workouts..sounds crazy, but a good friend of mine can not lose when she exercises too much..she use to run 3 miles a day...she was only trying to lose 5lbs, but the scale would not budge..she cut back to running 4 days a week, and in a month she had lost the 5 lbs

Thanks pinkrose and potato head.

Please refer to my daily journal under McFruitarian Journal 2012 in the journals forum.

I have questions though :
Are there any daily restrictions for eating sweet potato? For me, grilled sweet potato is as sweet as a banana. So if fruit name should be limited to 2 serving per day, why not sweet tomatoes ? Is it ok to eat the skin of the grilled potatoes?

Refer to my journal, here are responses to your questions and proposals:

As of today, I stopped eating oats. Today, I had sweet potato for breakfast.

Unless hunger strikes, I am restricting my intake to 3 servings per day. Starting today, I carry with me grilled sweet potato so it is ready when hunger strikes. I will experiment with this for a week.

I have been swimming daily for 3 years now. My running is still limited to short distances 5km for few times a week. Actually, I was thinking of intensifying my runs to 10km and then 21 km over the coming month. At the moment, I do not sweat with 5 km as I am used to long distance running ( 21 km, 42 km, and 50 km).