Frustrated !

[frozenveg]

How about this: rather than counting the calories--which is a bunch of work and a very inexact prospect, in any case, you simply write down what you eat, measurements and all (i.e., 2 cups brown rice, 2 cups steamed broccoli, etc.), and list a couple of days' menus. If you don't mind critiques and comments, we might be able to help you spot trouble areas.

Give that a try--sharing your food log with us for advice!

[mcfruitarian]

That sounds great. Of course, I do welcome any feedback, including critiques.

I can start immediately starting today.

Day 1 (7/6/2012) - weight : 74.3 kg
Exercises : 30 min swimming, 5.33 km run

Breakfast - 2 cups of Super Simple Overnight Cereal
Ingridients: rolled oats, water, cinmon, raisin, currant and goji and banana.

Lunch - 4 cups of Mixed Beans Soup
Ingridients: beans, lentil, chikpeas, broadbeans, mungbeans and wheat, salt, garlic and onion power.

Snack - 1 x Persimmon (Middle size)

Dinner - 250 g steamed cauliflower, 2 cups of mixed beans soup ( same as lunch)

Snack ( after dinner) 10g goji and raisins ( while preparing overnight cereal)

NB: all home made. 1 cup=250ml

Cheers

[mcfruitarian]

Day 22: Weight 73.1 Kg
Exercises: 30 min swim

Breakfast - 2 x cups of Oats Cereal
Lunch - 2 x cups of mixed beans soup
Snack - 1 small banana & 1 large pineapple
Dinner - 500g grilled skinned potatoes ( ingredients plain whole potatoes) and 70g lasagna ( ingredients - lasagna sheets, carrot, corn, tomatoe sauce, salt)

Comments:
1. Actually, it is a 22 days since I started the McDougall journey.
2. My weight fluctuations between yesterday (day 21) and today (day 22) is white noise and to be ignored. I have not lost a gram over the past 3 weeks.

[faithslanding]

I was actually gonna ask how many calories you think you consume in a day...I still wonder if too low in cals slows weight loss? Also are you a gal or a guy? Sorry to ask if you already stated it...
The reason I'm wondering about cals is cuz it seems if I go too low, my body seems to retain water or something?? I remember this from past restriction.. and then when I would binge all that weight would seem to fall off the next day!!
I like the thought of eating more cals, rather then restricting. I am not sure how Jeff Novik feels about this?? But I was just reading one of Dr McDougalls book and it said there are three ways to eat to lose weight...low carb... starve w/low cals... or low fat~high 'carb'.. Sooo wouldn't that mean we get to eat more calories and not restrict?? I would hate to start having 1200 cals only a day but does that happen on this way~o~eating???

[mcfruitarian]

Day 23 (9 June) - Weight 73.1 kg
Exercises: road run 5km, cycling 17km, rowing 4 km, swimming 75 min

Breakfast: 3 x cup cereal

Lunch: 2 x whole grain brown rice ( plainly cooked with spiced with frozenveg dressing salad dressing)

Snack : 1 x cereal (left over from morning)

Dinner : 700 g baked potatoes ( sweet and standard)
1.5 cup of Vegies (YGR capsicum, zucchini, mushroom, onion, garlic, and some other yellow Vegies )


Comments :
Hi faithslanding, I am middle aged male. Judging from the portions, my calories consumption is definitely on the high side.

[frozenveg]

Just from a quick overview, and in light of your desire to lose weight, it looks like you might be having too much fruit (I had to look up goji to see what that was!) and too many beans, at the expense of starches. Beans are starchy, but their protein content is quite high, and Dr M suggests that they be kept to no more than a cup per day.

The 2 cups of oatmeal--that's cooked or dry before cooking? And then no more starch on day 1. I eat that (2 cups cooked) daily for breakfast. And I'm a 5'3" female.

And if I'm converting right, 500 g. of potato is only about a pound. I eat more than that at a meal, both lunch and dinner.

So my initial thoughts--more whole starches! Potato, yam, rice, quinoa, barley, etc. And fewer beans.

[Faith in DC]

from the looks of it, the first day you had 6 cups of this soup. It's hard to calulate since it is mixed beans. I just looked up chickpeas and unless I'm not following it, chickpeas are 400 a cup. Lentils and peas are more. So just using the chickpea calorie count that alone is 2400 calories.

One whole pineapple (I love that fruit) is 200 or so.

It didn't seem like you ate many veggies either.

[sharonbikes]

To add my .02 -- the plan here is to balance starchy foods with non-starchy foods. In MWL, the goal is 1/2 of your food starchy and 1/2 food non-starchy -- even on the regular plan, it's about balance. It looks to me like you are eating pretty much all starchy foods with a few fruits. Starchy foods include - beans, potatoes, grains, corn, winter squash, sweet potatoes, etc. Non-starchy foods are what Dr. McDougall calls the "green and yellow vegetables" - broccoli, cauliflower, green leafy vegetables, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, etc.

Go look at Jeff Novick's forums about his suggestions - especially where he talks about sequencing food -- eat your green leavies first, then your green-yellows and then eat enough starch to fill up.

Shaorn

[mcfruitarian]

Thanks for your feedback.

I have updated my day 23.

I was not aware of one cup of beans per day.

I will adjust accordingly. I will add whole starches and non-starch rainbow vegies. Please keep checking and post your suggestions.

I simply soak rolled oats overnight with dried fruit. In the morning, I topped it with a banana, measure 2 cups for my breakfast. The wife eats the balance. Is oat high protein ? Do I also need to reduce it ?

Yesterday afternoon, I went to a fruit & vegoies market close to my office and I ended up buying the pineapple. I thought if I eat in the late afternoon, I will eat less in the evening. It did not work.

[sharonbikes]

I think your oatmeal in the morning is fine - I eat 3/4 c. oatmeal in 1.5 cups water in the morning with frozen cherries in the bottom-- yummy! Oatmeal is a good start for the morning as it has good protein in it and a little fat and some carbs -- the perfect get your engine going food!

Myself, I eat more earlier in the day and less and less as the day goes on - I sometimes have to remind myself to eat dinner because if I don't I am STARVING in the morning. But, we are all different, so find a food eating rhythm that works for you. I think it is how much you eat all day that really matters and not so much when you eat it.

Sharon

[TerriT]

Here's a few things to read, if you haven't discovered them already:

Dr McDougall's article on "Pushing Your Set Point to the Limits"

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/ ... ushing.htm

The calorie density thread on Jeff's forum:

viewtopic.php?t=6032

[mcfruitarian]

Sharonbikes, how do you manage to eat less in the evening ? This is a major problem for me. When I get home in the evening, the first thing I wanted to do is to eat. I feel that I have been overpowered by the need to eat in the evening. Eating late afternoon does not tame my appetite in the evening. How can I break this habit?
In the evening, I feel that I am reacting and driven by instincts and that contrasts totally with my morning where I am mindful, in control, composed.... I would love to be able to not have dinner at all.
How did you get to set your food rythm?

Thanks TerriT. Your links ate very helpful. I am getting more convinced that that I should be getting MWL book. Only when frozenveg highlighted to me the facts that beans are high in protein and that it should be limited to one cup a day that i realised what i was doing wrong. This now explains how I have not lost a gram in 3 weeks as I was eating mainly beans, daily and in large quantity. I know that today I ate a lot of potatoes. I just love potatoes, specially the golden sweet ones. Can I eat potatoe to my heart's desire or should it be restricted also?

Frozenveg and all,

Now that I updated my food intake for day 23, can I have your feedback for day 23. As of tomorrow, I would be able to get 2:1 Vegies:Starch.

Keep your feedback and reference coming. I really appreciate them. With your support, I am changing the way and what I eat and this is life changing.

Kind regards

[VeggieSue]

To add my .02 -- the plan here is to balance starchy foods with non-starchy foods. In MWL, the goal is 1/2 of your food starchy and 1/2 food non-starchy --

Why do you say this is the *goal* of MWLP? Actually, Dr. McD refers to this much veg as the desperation plan, if you're not losing any weight to have this much veg. He calls it "hasty" and according to dictionaries, "hasty" is not something that's a good thing. It's certainly not a *goal* and something to aspire to.

[serenity]

To add my .02 -- the plan here is to balance starchy foods with non-starchy foods. In MWL, the goal is 1/2 of your food starchy and 1/2 food non-starchy --

Why do you say this is the *goal* of MWLP? Actually, Dr. McD refers to this much veg as the desperation plan, if you're not losing any weight to have this much veg. He calls it "hasty" and according to dictionaries, "hasty" is not something that's a good thing. It's certainly not a *goal* and something to aspire to.

I agree. This is clear in the book. In addition, in another thread (maybe the Starch Solution one) he expresses less enthusiasm for MWL because people do not tend to eat enough starches to be satisfied.

To the OP, consider eliminating the dried fruit too. It's calorically dense and may be slowing your progress.

[frozenveg]

Day 23 (9 June) - Weight 73.1 kg
Exercises: road run 5km, cycling 17km, rowing 4 km, swimming 75 min

Breakfast: 3 x cup cereal

Lunch: 2 x whole grain brown rice ( plainly cooked with spiced with frozenveg dressing salad dressing)

Snack : 1 x cereal (left over from morning)

Dinner : 700 g baked potatoes ( sweet and standard)
1.5 cup of Vegies (YGR capsicum, zucchini, mushroom, onion, garlic, and some other yellow Vegies )

Now there are no fruits. You can have a couple, but it may be hard for someone coming from major fruit consumption to gauge "a couple". I like some with my oatmeal (usually frozen blueberries), and one serving --like an apple or a cup of strawberries--in the afternoon.

And I would suggest having some rainbow veggies at lunch as well as the last meal of the day. What I find is, because I have a desk job, it takes me all afternoon to eat my rice and my veggies, in between meetings and stuff. I eat them in two stages. It doesn't seem to matter which one I have first, they each fill me up for an hour or so, and then I finish up the other. But the rainbow veggies have so few calories and so many wonderful nutrients, that they can be a great boost to you not being so hungry at night.

I had the same problem as you my whole life, until I got into the rhythm of this way of eating. I will on occasion eat, not fruit, but rice or potatoes at about 4pm, especially if I am going to be busy that evening, and then I find it very easy to skip the last meal. I started from the beginning doing that every Thursday, because I do karaoke immediately after work that day and I don't like to gum my voice up with food--so I have a long habit (from before McDougalling) of skipping the last meal on Thursday. It's not nearly as easy to eat lighter if I come home, though. I know what you mean. It's a comfort thing, more than an actual hunger.