Discussion Board

Isn't it annoying the way the media will overdramatize fear, and blow things like this Swine Flu out of proportion? It's true that they say that this influenza might come back during the colder season with a serious vengeance, like that outbreak during the early 20th century, but we have much better medical technology now than we did then. I expect that there may be some recorded deaths among the elderly and very sick this winter, but somehow I don't see many millions dying. Maybe a couple thousand, globally. We'll see, though....

Dear Gentle Reader

Hamster will be unable to keep his journal updated for several days. We have rented a cabin in the country near Toowoomba. The reason is to celebrate Hamster being no longer obese and loosing 75 pounds. I've been seriously looking forward to this. Hamster will probably get very drunk and make a big fool of himself - I can only hope.

The dreaded swine flu has proved to be a pathetic little thing and has been totally outmatched by the Hamsters' immune systems. It's little more than a bad cold plus headache.

Today has been pretty much a standard day for me. Lunchtime walk of 4 kms and then in the gym 2 kms on the rowing machine, 19 minutes walking up random hills and then 2 kms walking on the flat.

Hamster - have a great celebration in the country in the cabin - I'll bet it is beautiful there! I was only around briefly for the last few days, and didn't read everything on the boards very carefully. I've been giving full credit to Letha for the great idea of the virtual walking group, and now I understand that it was your idea! Great idea, and I'm so sorry that I haven't been giving you any of the credit!! Take care, LauraA

Hi Hamster,
I’m so glad you have a rock solid immune system. Must be all that healthy McDougall food you’ve been eating. You better be nice to Mrs. Hamster. Pay back is a bitch.

Good job on getting over the coffee cravings. I used to drink multiple lattes every day and it was quite a process to step off that drug. I appreciate you sharing your experience about the improvements in your sleep apnea with weight loss. That gives me hope.

We now have a virtual walking thread in the exercise forum.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13008

It’s probably different from what you initially envisioned but I think in the coming months we’ll get lots of participation from folks who are exercising. Thanks again for inspiring me with your wonderful virtual walking idea. Take care.
Letha

Hamster has made a resooolution - I will NEVR drink alcohocomol again.

Gentle Reader,

Pure sweet water is a gift from God. Beer, wine and spirits are concoctions of the devil.

The weekend away went well – the weather was good, warm without being either hot or cold. At the place we went to there is a communal kitchen – Hamster was genuinely amazed at the amount of food that people eat, and some of the food choices also leave much to be desired, three fried eggs, 2 sausages, lashings of bacon and toast with heaps of butter can’t possibly be healthy on this or any other planet. What makes it even worse is that it’s widely believed that it’s healthy to eat like that.

Hamster out of curiosity read the label on a bottle of salad dressing – there was 160 calories in a single serve. Wow! Hamster can make a complete meal and only consume 160 calories. Why ruin a perfectly good salad with a concoction of oil, egg yokes etc? Over the past couple of weeks I watched several cooking shows. It is truly amazing how much fat they use. It’s no wonder that people don’t know what good food is.

Gentle reader, you might remember that last week I had only lost 200 grams and was fairly disappointed. This week success, I’ve lost 2.6 kg giving me a loss of 2.8 kg for the fortnight. This returns me to my average rate of weight loss. My clothes are getting decidedly loose, even my metal watch band is loose. All is going well and the diet is working a treat. For me at least the real trick was the elimination of dairy. Highlighting the adverse dietary implications from a high consumption of dairy products is something I have to thank Mr McDougall for.

Another thing that I’m noticing is that as I loose weight my goal weight also keeps dropping. Once I considered a goal weight of 90 kg to be good, then that was lowered to 80 kg and now I’m beginning to think that something just over 70 kg is more appropriate. I have always believed that I have a large frame, however I now believe that I really have a medium frame, hence the goal weight reductions. Regardless of what my ‘ideal’ weight should be I not there yet. Even when it’s achieved the real battle of maintaining it will commence.

It is really good to see that the virtual walk is taking-off. There are many benefits from regular exercise and even if only one person takes it up and begins exercising then it will be well worth while.

Hamster, I'm glad you had a nice vacation; you absolutely deserve it. I'm with you on the salad dressing! I've gotten into the habit of comparing everything to potatoes, and you could have a huge, immensely satisfying potato for 160 calories! Take care, and keep up the good work.

Gentle Reader

There is really very little to report. The diet is going well, apart from a very small amount of butter the dreaded dairy is totally out of my diet. Not certain if the elimination of dairy has made me feel any better or not but it has certainly made it much easier to loose weight. Since eliminating dairy my weight graph has headed south big time without any annoying detours north.

Coffee has also been effectively eliminated as it is over a week since I last had any. I’m still drinking tea, but over time the tea will also drop away and be replaced with rooibos which is rather enjoyable.

My exercise program is also going along ok. I did my normal 4 km walk yesterday lunchtime followed in the evening by 19 minutes of walking up random hills, 2 kms of rowing and then 2 kms of walking on the flat. I still intend to increase the hill walking out to 24 minutes but I’ve decided to slow the rate of increase slightly and will stay at 19 minutes for the remainder of this week before progressing to 20 minutes.

Mrs Hamster’s brush with Swine Flu is virtually at an end, her only remaining symptom is a cough and that is getting less and less.

Things have settled into a routine and I feel confident of reaching my new goal weight of 72.5 kg (160 pounds).

Here's a link to an interesting newspaper article that I just found.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/food-p ... ml?page=-1

Just got done skimming through your journal...my friend, you get me riled up for exercise!

sounds like you live in a similar neighborhood to mine: hills if I want, and flat if I want. Reading you makes me want to go out HIKING! YAH! and that is the plan for today, after yard work and lawn mowing.

glad your bout with swine flu was a KO for you, and it didn't get you guys down too bad.



blessings, HeidiW

I'm very happy to hear that Mrs. Hamster is feeling better. Congratulations on your recent weight losses and the dropping of coffee from your daily rituals. Now, if only I could have the same degree of complete success with diet soda. I've cut way down on it, but there are just times I gotta have the stuff. It's not caffeine either, because most of the time I get the stuff without it.

Gentle Reader,

Yesterday was pretty much a normal day with nothing much happening. I felt tired most of the day and a little light-headed so I didn’t do my gym session in the evening. I suspect that my blood-pressure was a little low, so today I didn’t take one of my half tablets. I still did my lunch-time walk. Exercise was down and calorie consumption slightly higher, but still low enough to ensure weight-loss so all-in-all a good day.

Kirk

I wouldn’t worry too much about the diet soda, ok it’s not the ideal drink but hey we have to get liquid somehow and what you’re drinking could be a whole lot worse. Personally I had never considered dropping diet soda. I have a bit of a thing for Bundaberg diet ginger beer http://www.bundaberg-brew.com.au/defaul ... =2&smid=14

You’ve been doing really well so please keep up the good work.

My BIG problem is dairy followed by fats generally followed by excess protein. My reason for dropping coffee was more to do with the added milk than the caffeine.

Buns

Glad to hear that you’re motivated to get some exercise.

Gentle Reader

Hamster has just attended a meeting with a related company – they had sausage rolls, cheesecakes and fruit on the table for morning tea. Hamster was strong and resisted the call of the cheesecake and had several strawberries and a handful of grapes instead.

The dreaded dairy looses again and another win to the mighty Hamster!

Feeling muchly proud of myself.

Hamster,

Well done my friend, well done

Gentle Reader

Earlier this week Hamster was feeling tired, weak and kinda light-headed, yesterday after not taking my blood-pressure tablet I felt just fine - actually better than fine really good in fact. I'll stay off it for a few days and then start taking it again and see what happens. I'll be seeing my doctor again in a couple of weeks so we can have another chat about my medications again then.

Hamster is pleased to report that people at work are now noticing that there is a lot less of Hamster. One guy even used the words "looking really good". This all makes Hamster very pleased and more determined than ever to loose more weight.

All is good with the exercise. I did my normal lunch-time 4 km walk. In the gym I increased my random hill walking up to 20 minutes and my flat walking up to 2 1/2 kms but kept the rowing at 2 kms. I'm begining to notice that the speed of my rowing is slowing increasing, this is not a deliberate increase but just occurring naturally.

The diet is continuing to be good and I see no problem with continuing to eat like this forever. The problem is that I cannot eat like this forever as at some point I will have to increase my calorie intake to a maintenance level without gaining weight. Weight maintenance will be the BIG challenge. Remaining dairy-free will be a major component is avoiding weight gain, as I am convinced that dairy is the major cause of my previous weight.

This weekend Hamster is going to have to buy some more clothes because everything seems to have stretched and Hamster hates buying clothes.

This link to a newspaper article might be of interest.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/financial ... ml?page=-1

Your doing real good, real good ..