Discussion Board

Hi there,

My husband and I have been McDougalling for nearly a month now to help with my MS, but I'm new to the forum. It's great for me, but... he doesn't have any known health problems and has never been overweight. He wants to be supportive and we both think this is the best way to live for us, so how can we make this work and not have him lose weight?

He's already lost quite a lot of weight in the last month. We don't have a scale, but his clothes are hanging off him and he's starting to look underweight. He's too busy to snack between meals and doesn't get hungry between meals anyway. At meals he eats a normal-sized portion of food and never eats beyond when he feels full. He cycles to and from work every day, getting his heartrate up to 140 for 40 minutes each way. I don't know how to make his meals more calorie-dense without adding things like cheese or bacon or keeping chocolate in the house for him to have in the evenings (what we used to do). What else can I do without adding these junk foods back in and without relying on him to eat when he's not hungry (which he won't do)? We had no problem maintaining his weight when he ate dairy/meat/eggs/chocolate.

By the way, this website has been great and I'm glad to join the community.

PS:
Just as an idea of what we eat... Yesterday he ate -
bkfast: eggless French toast (used a chickpea flour to batter), banana
lunch: whole-wheat penne with a vegetarian tomato-based sauce, apple
dinner: tacos filled with bean/rice filling, guacamole, salsa

Of course I have no idea of portion sizes, but that doesn't look like very much food. Try adding higher fat plant foods like tofu, edamame, full fat soy or almond milk, nuts & seeds.

Welcome aboard, Mrs. A!

It seems your man needs more fuel. If he likes bananas, he could carry them with him and also keep some at the house. He could eat a few daily. I am not sure if this would enable him to gain weight (or that gaining weight is essential for his health) but it may help to stabilize his weight.

How are you doing with the program? Are you feeling and functioning better?

Please keep us posted!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! The newsletter had a lot of helpful hints and I do see that in fact he doesn't actually look underweight - just thinner than what we're used to him being. But we don't want to have to buy him new clothes LOL.

The portions in the sample menu I gave are definitely dinner-plate and pasta-bowl filling portions, but we're going to try adding him a snack of bagel w/ nut butter and a couple of bananas and a dessert after dinner. I'd been putting off desserts as I've never baked without oil, butter, etc. I'll also try making something with tofu next week - never cooked with it before but we've had it plenty of times in Chinese restaurants and liked it a lot (pre-McDougall oil-laden versions, but I'm sure we can make it taste good too!)

Thank you pinkrose for asking about me. I'm feeling better with this new way of eating. The biggest change is just having waaaay more energy, which tells me I'm on the right track as I usually really suffer from fatigue. I have a feeling that some MS symptoms are going to take a long time to go away if they do at all, but I can cope better with anything when I feel more awake and more like getting out and doing things. Exercise has a neuroprotective effect and I've been able to walk a little faster for a little longer so I'm excited about this change. My biggest goal is no more progression, so we'll see!