Ben's Journal

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Ben's Journal

Postby Ben » Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:45 pm

Hi everyone

I am starting the 30 day unprocessed food challenge today, and I thought I'd start my own journal here as well. My aim is to write at least something in this journal every day. Below is what I have posted on another thread this morning......................

Here is a bit of an intro. I am 37 years old and live in Australia. This morning I weighed myself and I am the heaviest I have ever been in my life (323.4 lbs). I am 6 feet tall.

I have been overweight my whole life since childhood. There were a few years where I was not though - when I was eating low fat food (inspired by Susan Powter) and exercising regularly. The first year or so I ate a lot of unprocessed food but as time went by I started eating more and more processed food.

I have had an atrocious diet for over 10 years now. It is a miracle that I am not fatter than I am, or very sick. Particularly in the last two years I have eaten at least twice a day from places such as McDonalds or KFC. As well as that I have eaten at least a pound of chocolate a day (and that is honestly probably underestimating it). In addition to that, all my other food choices each day have been very unhealthy. I have been eating A LOT of food each day and 99.9% of what has gone into my mouth has been trash.

I have not felt good about what I have been doing. I know better. I have been reading this board, and the old Vegsource one, at least once a day throughout this whole time. I have read every book written by Dr McDougall and others, and I own most of the dvds. I agree with everthing Dr McDougall (and people like Nettie, f1jim and Sactobob) say. I am deeply in the Pleasure Trap. I consider myself a vegetarian at heart (despite eating crap for many years it's only been in the last couple that I have reintroduced meat) but have been eating meat several times a day.

So I am starting the 30 day challenge today. It's going to be very interesting to see how my body and mind react!

Ben
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby Peacebloom » Thu Oct 07, 2010 4:01 pm

Good luck with beginning your unprocessed challenge! I am interested in all the results folks have been experiencing. I am not quite there just yet ... :-D. But soon!

Oh and welcome!
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby Ben » Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:11 am

Thanks Peacebloom.

Oct 8, Day 1
323.4 lbs (147 kgs) - the heaviest I have ever been.
B - oatmeal and a pear
L - Beef and onion pie, vanilla slice, small banana milk
D - KFC chicken burger, mixed berry smoothie, a chocolate bar
Yikes. This is not what I had planned to eat today. I want to give lots of justifications for it but I am not going to try to bullshit you all. I want to keep at it, and I will. I am determined to post here every day. One of the benefits will be awareness - something which I have not been really wonderful at. The good news is that believe it or not, todays food was much better (by a long way) than a normal day's food for me :oops:
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby Peacebloom » Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:34 am

I reckon there are going to be false starts.

Which also means new beginnings ... like breakfast! <grin>

Good luck!
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby nomikins » Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:14 am

Welcome, Ben!

After a start to the day of oatmeal and a pear, you were probably ravenous by lunchtime. That makes it too easy to make poor choices later.

The key to success is planning ahead. It's Saturday for you in OZ. Spend some time and plan out next week's menu and shopping list. Prepare some meals to carry you through. Include prebaked potatoes to carry for snacks. Don't let yourself get so hungry.

We are here to help each other, so jump in and get going. You said you know what to do, so just do it!

Another thing: maybe it would be better for you to do the standard McDougall 12 day program to get off the fast food NOW and not go so "extreme" with the full on non processed challenge some others are doing. You need to stop the putting the poison into your body immediately at risk of death. Let's face it, you are on borrowed time with the way and what you are currently eating. I want to read your success story.
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Fri Oct 08, 2010 8:10 am

Hi Ben,

I was reading your journal this morning and wanted to welcome you. I am very new to the board and just learned of the McDougall program a couple months ago, so I am not really one to offer much advice yet, but I sure do want to offer encouragement. :)

I hope you find the strength each day to do what you need to do in order to regain your health. There is much support on this board, as you have obviously seen. I look forward to following your journal and seeing you succeed. :) Debi
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http://healthyandknowit2012.blogspot.com/
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby ETeSelle » Fri Oct 08, 2010 8:48 am

Ben, I am going to counsel you to NOT do the unprocessed challenge. You need to get with the regular program first IMO. If you haven't yet given up meat and dairy, it is WAAAAY too big a step to try to give up all unprocessed food as well.

Baby steps, my friend!!! I recommend that you wrap your head around the 12-day plan instead. Get solid on that for a month or 2, gradually moving to MWL.

I think this will result in better results for you!!
Elizabeth
Weight now: 124 (20.0 BMI)
Weight in 2010: 207 (33.4 BMI)
Star McDougaller Story
Testimonial thread

Trust me on this: One day you'll wake up and realize that it no longer feels like "being strict." It just feels GOOD. :)
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby SactoBob » Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:55 pm

Ben, I have a personal challenge or proposition for you. I have often thought that one of the toughest things for new people is that, despite the wealth of information of information Dr. McDougall provides here, there is no real road map of how to get to compliance. There are cooking tools, recipes, practical problems, psychological issues, and you name it.

If you are in earnest about wanting to try this program, and willing to spend some time on the computer, I would propose a thread about starting from square one and getting to the point where you have all the tools you need and actually get to a good place. We could call it Ben's Excellent Adventure to Health - or you could think up a better title.

I think that trying to do a processed foods challenge is not a good idea because you don't have the background yet. To analogize to music, it would be like starting a musical instrument and beginning with one of the hardest pieces of music written for the instrument. There is just no substitute for starting at the beginning. I would be happy to lead you on that adventure using the roadmap that I had, which was helped by a lot of great advice from Jeff Novick as well as many books.

But I think it would be great to have a thread where a newbie could see just what this journey entails and how the many practical problems could be solved. I'm sure others would pitch in too, although I would prefer to keep the help limited to people who have a solid record of accomplishment with the program and know it well. You wouldn't want to take musical instrument lessons from a person who knew the theory but couldn't play the instrument.

I think that this could be a really valuable thread, and we could chart your progress and see how it goes. You might search for poster rlandis. He PM'd me some time ago and was in similar shape to where you are now. I saw him recently at the McDougall 10 day program and he has lost over 100 pounds and is off all meds. Unfortunately, we don't have a daily journal of what he (and I also) went through, and that could be helpful. What do you think?
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby nomikins » Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:58 pm

Bob, that's a GREAT idea. Ben, I hope you really consider this and take Bob up on his offer.
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby SactoBob » Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:18 pm

Ben,
I created a journal for us in the Journal section. If the idea interests you, I asked some preliminary questions.
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby afreespirit » Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:24 pm

Greetings, Ben! As you can see, there is plenty of wonderful support and help here. Just to add my 2 cents, I personally started my McDougall journey by going "cold no-turkey" :-) with almost 100% unprocessed foods--straight from a very SAD diet. It worked for me...so I wouldn't say it can't be done...guess it just depends. I can confirm what others in the unprocessed foods thread are saying, too---I marvel every single day now, at my relative lack of hunger, compared to the old days. I feel that in my case it is a downright miracle! Never, never, never, would I have thought that this could happen to me--with a lifetime history of obesity and yo-yo dieting.

Although, it did take me awhile to get to my current state of relative no-hunger. But I just ate and ate all the McD foods (unprocessed) I needed to get through, until the need slacked off. Lots of beans helped me too.

Anyway, we are all very excited to have you aboard, and hoping to hear more from you! And no matter how you choose to launch your McDougall adventure, just get started---don't waste another day. You can make adjustments along the way.
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby Ben » Sat Oct 09, 2010 2:04 am

Thanks peacebloom, nomikins, Pacificfords, ETeSelle and afreespirit for your support and advice. It is much appreciated.

And Bob! What a wonderful offer! Thanks very much. I would love to take you up on your offer! even though I am not very sure about what the process would look like. I am ready to be led though.

I know I have begun this process very poorly in the last 48 hours, but I am no less committed to get there, and to overhaul my eating, body... and whole life really. I currently feel like a shell. I feel exhausted all the time, and embarrassed about how totally out of control I look and feel.

Today I have eaten badly. I had a vey large serving of oatmeal for breakfast. For lunch I had a sausage and barbequed onion on white bread, and I have not really had a dinner...the afternoon has all been a long graze but it has been chocolate.

I feel embarrassed to write that after so boldy pronouncing here the other day that I was going to change how I ate. I am going to though. And I will not stuff you around Bob. Once you get on board with me and we have worked out a plan I will not stray from it. I appreciate that you have asked me those questions on the other journal entry thread. I must admit that I had not even considered the level of problem solving that you have even done already by even thinking to ask those questions. I can see that it is an attempt to do the opposite of setting myself up to fail :-)

Thanks Bob and everyone

Ben
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby Pacificfords » Sat Oct 09, 2010 6:33 am

I am so happy for where this is going! :) Support and encouragement are everything. I will be standing on the sidelines watching you succeed.

SactoBob wrote:...although I would prefer to keep the help limited to people who have a solid record of accomplishment with the program and know it well


As a newbie - I need to comment on this. It is difficult to know who those people are without spending hours reading journals and such and even then it is questionable at times. It seems that this is one of the most important aspects is getting the RIGHT advice. Is there an easy way to pick out the people you are talking for those of us that don't really know anyone yet? (that is, without causing any hard feelings because of what many "thnk" they know)
Debi

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http://healthyandknowit2012.blogspot.com/
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Re: Ben's Journal

Postby Mrs. Doodlepunk » Sat Oct 09, 2010 7:16 am

No emoticon here for jumping up and down with excitement. :shock:
But I am! This is EXACTLY what is needed, IMHO, a picture of what it looks like to follow this program. I wish I had it in the very beginning. The books are great, the live in program is best. This might be a close second to actually being at the live in program.

Ben, you have a great coach! Can't wait to read your success story.
It IS the food! :unibrow:
(... do these earrings make my butt look big?)
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