Discussion Board

I didn't know it was a challenge, but away we go! Glad you had a good day today. My eating was on plan today too!

I would love to make it to 200 by my 1 year anniversary date, but I haven't taken the time figure out how many weeks that is or how much I would have to lose per week. My oldest daughter will be 31 in February and the last time I was under 200 lbs. was before I was pregnant with her! I moved from the "morbidly obese" category down into just "obese" when I hit 256 lbs. I printed out this chart online and I am graphing my weight loss on it as I go.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.pdf
At 190 I will be in the overweight section. (As I get under each weight on my height line, I cross it off.)

I'm a visual person and it helps me to see stuff like that -- hence the graph on my signature line here!

TY Vanessa for the good thoughts on last week's weight loss. blondie and I are both trying for 2 pounds this week. We both er, slipped a bit this weekend but were moving forward. I think two is doable on this program: I sincerely believe if I deliver on this program, it will deliver too! Other programs I have been on didn't and it was really discouraging, sigh...But I think this is not going to fail me!

b-oatmeal
s-apple
l- canned soup (pretty salty but otherwise compliant
s- totillia - rice,beans& green salsa
d-pumpkin/black bean soup & potato
s-banana

Hey blondie - yeah we are both challenging ourselves together, hehehehe, to get on program and stay there. I used a canned soup today, really high salt but otherwise on program. I have some of these in the cupboard and can't afford to not eat them.

The bmi chart is a cool thing I'll do the same and hang in my office. Especially, right now as the tracker chart isn't too motivating until you've been on for a while and then that line really goes south, well I hope.

I am 5'9' and was really close to the extreme obesity. The thing that got me was ordering my first and only size 20 online. That scared me to death. Luckily, by the time it got to the house, I had lost enough to send it back. Sometimes slow snail mail is a good thing

Hey calendar that getting to 200 out soon as you have time. I did that last night and then found out that, if it works, it will be the week before I meet my best friend for our birding and kayaking vacation in mid-December. I have to get to 203 by then because for sure we will eat out at our favorite restaurant up there. She'll make vegan the whole time I am visiting her - but she isn't up on how strict this program is, oil get's into her cooking. You know those "heart healthy oils", hahahah!

Anyway, charting it last night gave me a big boost when I realized I could do it and surprise my friend!

Thanks for sharing the weekly goal and the chart -- it's great to have a partner in this. It's so cool how we are all cheering each other on here!

Thanks so much for the chart. I am a visual person too so this really helps.
OMG you are both so much taller than me
I am only 5'2
It is so hard..every pound you gain looks like five.

Good luck to you both on your challenge and your vacation sounds like so much fun.

blondie
I figured you were near my same height, as we picked the same target weight.

Vanessa
My best friend is 5'3" and she says the same thing! Her weight got out of control when she got married though, feeding hubby. But she got back into exercise and nutrition again and now, if she turns sideways you can't see her! But her husband is a different story, sadly!

I've been reading more and have now seen a couple places that the I ultimate healthy weight is at 17.5 BMI. Funny at my peak of health that was exactly what I weighed and I couldn't budge from that weight no matter what I did! But I am going to see how I feel at 150 and then decide if I think I should go much lower. Now, I can't move from 218 and yes I am still there 218.5 again today! I am blaming the canned soup and the excess salt therein. I think the needle will move again tomorrow, or I guess I should say digits, hehehe.

Not getting any weight loss on the scale, pushed me out the door for swimming. It was so good to see our trainer, Nathan, again and the water felt fabulous. He wore me down though, I think I need a nap! I have also talked him into reading "The China Study". I told him it's mandatory reading for all health professionals now. He just graduated from college with a sports medicine/gerintology major/minor - and they take no nutrition courses. I guess that doesn't surprise anyone here!

I have to go unpack more groceries! Not one processed vegan food in my bags! And I am loving the bill. All organic veggies, herbal coffee too (this is going to be a big sacrifice, but I will go there) and the final tally for the week $40. Usually, it's $100 or more and it's just me. I live in one of the countries most expensive places for food though. This boggles my mind, since California veggies & fruits are sold less expensively outside of the State than in the State. Go figure that out!

I'll never forget one winter I was on break visiting a friend in Vermont. I found something in the grocery I never saw before and actually took it to a clerk to ask what it was. He said in the most amazed voice "that is a California Avocado." For crying out loud, the thing was the size of an ostrich egg - I have never seen anything like it and have lived in towns with avocado orchards out the back door . When I got home I looked at the same variety of Haas avocado in my store and it cost three times as much and was 1/8th the size, did I say go figure?

I love coffee..tell me more about the herbal one.
I know all about the scale not moving. I have been at 133 FOREVER

I thought going vegan would help me lose some weight too but i know now that the olive oil and yes to much sodium is my problem. I also took a lot of fish oil pills. That is something i will be saving on..all the supplements i use to buy.

Swimming sounds wonderful. I use to swim all the time when i was younger. I do miss it.

Hi Vanessa:

So I haven't tried the coffee substitute as yet. I will tomorrow AM. One of the people here that chimes in a lot about recipes is Chile. Chile also has a blog that you can find on her page or profile, Oh, found it ...

Chile's Little Weight Problem http://chubbychile.blogspot.com/

She has done a whole analysis of all the different uncoffees. So I read that last night and today went looking to see if I could find any of those. I don't think I did, but I did find one teechino MAYA Herbal coffee. It came in two flavors French Roast and Mocha. I got French Roast for the first trial. It's organic, free trade and is not acidic and of course caffeine free.

It will probably taste nothing like french roast, but now that I am eating plant-based I am noticing that coffee bothers my tummy, so here goes! Oh did I mention that it's like twice as expensive as regular french roast, sigh! But I am saving lots being plant-based about half my usual grocery bill, so the sticker shock is there, but an expensive treat is allowable now

Speaking of savings; I am glad you got to the part of the book that says please throw away your vitamins. Colin Campbell is on the same page. I didn't take too many, but the ones I took were pricey. Yay, more savings! And I am getting my B 12 through nutritional yeast anyway, so really it's an ingredient not a supplement.

And OMG, fish oil, me too. 5 grams a day, which a doc told me to do. since then I have read lots about the amount of mercury in many. I think a few weekends back the NYT did an article on how not good some of the most taken vitamins are for us.

Hopefully now, the weight goes down, the other health indicating numbers go down, and the cost of eating does too. I will miss my doctor though, she's so nice and I am positive she's a vegan too!

Hope your seeing and feeling the results already too ! Glad to know another newbie, even if she complains about 133, hahaha!

Hey blondie,

OMG how wrong is that, your background is nursing and you don't have medical insurance. Luckily you know how to get the basics. Still this breaks my heart. Hopefully when you get that foot in the door job, it will come with benefits!!!! And not long after that all your numbers will be so good you won't need a Doc!

The tea article is great! I can see why you picked the tea you did, I never heard anything about oolong helping with diabetes and I LUV it! Dr. M knows everything nutrition. An aside here, today I demanded my swim trainer read Colin Campbell's "China Study", but pulled it off my shelf tonight and found out I hadn't finished it myself. Guess what I left off just as Campbell was writing about his high regard for Dr. M! Campbell says he is the most informed Doc on nutrition, hands down!

Back to tea, because of the fibro I shouldn't have caffeine. I have done decaf coffee and am now cutting it out too, because of the acid and the fact that it still has a bit of caffeine in it, which seems to be affecting me. Tea does come decaf as well, but I just found out that it's less decaf than coffee, because all they do to wash the caffeine out is just brew it once, This IMHO, makes it taste like sucking on a used tea bag! I am bummed about this because I completely love tea, I have to my Mom's family is English. Does your chinese restaurant tea have aname or do you actually buy it from the restaurant?

So now with all these health benefits, I am just going to have to figure out how to get some in in the early AM. Actually I do a black tea, Earl Grey because an old bf sends it to me and it's truly wonderful, but like green tea it makes me nauseous sometimes. Funny Doc M. says it doesn't mess with tummies. Still that mix you have found sounds so wonderful and drinking it right with breakfast sounds like the best way. Surely with a good base of oatmeal our stomachs are fully protected!

Oh, the B12 thing gets weird again, I thought it was Jeff that recommended the National Nut. Yeast, oh no - who ever did say that, haha.

On the D 3. turns out Campbell's last chapter in China Study is on D3. I can't read another word today, but I think he says just get it from sunlight like 10 mins of morning a few times a week. I am albino pale but am doing this, without bad effect so far. The real thing we need is the supercharged D and the only way to get that is sunlight, but it doesn't have to be much and it's FREE blondie!. So that's what I am going for. BUT I better read the chapter to be sure, cuz my head is just spinning with so much to learn.

OK, another simple thing you can teach me. I did guess WOE, just before you told me..so next is DH - let me guess, Dear Husband, Darling Husband, Dumb Husband, Deadbeat Husband, D'Best Husband, all of the above, none of the above, and/or sometimes one of the above?

Also - very jealous of your freezer and the ready to go bags in there. Old bf, just remodeled his kitchen all by himself pretty much and got the best appliances, including a freezer. He doesn't mean to make me feel green with envy, but danged if I don't. I don't even have a dishwasher, let alone room for a freezer. Well, actually there is a freezer down in the basement, but I don't think it's been plugged in in 10 years - so I am afraid to even try it.

OK, one more question, how did you find the McDougall program? I am dying to know this - when you got time to divulge

Sorry this is so long, but it's so much fun to be able to talk nutrition with someone, really, really , really! And finally may our scales be kind to us this week

Good Morning,
I can see my next reading project will be The China Study. I heard about it first when i was watching Forks Over Knives.
I am fair skinned to and i try to spend 10 mins a day out in the sun. It is cheaper than the pills.

My husband also still eats meat. He grew up on a farm but as long as he supports my efforts everything is fine. I just hope on day he will see the light. I know being preachy is not the way to win people over.

I do love my coffee and i hate to say it is one thing i could never give up.
I figure if that is the worst thing i do i am ok

I know i will be saving a ton of money and time not taking all those pills and it is so true what i read in the book..i can't tell a difference when take them or not. I was even thinking last week about how i was eating all this healthy food..why was i taking vitamins..

LOL @ 133...I know i have a friend who weighs 104. She is five feet tall but still says she is overweight.

Hope you have a wonderful day

Well, Weighed this AM and I am down a pound this week finally. I think I am out of the offensive, salty - previously thought to be healthy canned soups. I had the weirdest dinner, had planed a MWL dinner, but found myself lacking a can of tomato sauce. This left me with bok choy and potatoes - in my estimation these are not a match. Potatoes and kale, yes but bok choy demands rice! I knew better:)

I am sipping the Maya French Roast coffee and it's definitely not french roast, but I like it and will be using it from here on out! I can't even say what it tastes like, but it has a roasty toasty flavor that's just fine

blondie - 5 brothers! Any sisters? Glad you have family that turned you on to China Study and helped with the med bills, and that we all have the tools now to get healthy and get out of the medical care racket! I just try and try to get folks to read all these guys, because there is no reason to accept heart attacks, strokes, cancer and diabetes, like it's in our genes! We just typically inherit a type of eating that's not good for us.

When I was in college I remember telling my Mom, who grew up on a farm and ranch - that I had decided to be vegetarian. She literally cried and then asked me where ever did I think I'd get enough protein! Breakfast on the ranch was porridge, with fresh out of the cow CREAM AND BUTTER, along with eggs and bacon or ham and coffee. As orange juice didn't grow on the ranch no one thought of that! No one was the least bit over weight though from all the work, but I can't believe that people think a ranch breakfast is the thing - when all they do with their day is sit at a desk.

Thanks for the name of the tea - I'll find some or order some and have it after my healthy oatmeal and almond milk breakfast each day!

Vanessa - yes you absolutely must read "China Study", it is beyond eye opening! I am so indebted to all these Doc's and Colin Campbell for going against the mainstream of medicine. All of them had a really hard row to hoe professionally because of it --but I hope it's edifying that they have helped so many become healthy and happy!

As for the weight - well you're almost to normal BMI and the regular McDougall Plan Vanessa!!! And you best give your friend a copy of blondie's BMI chart and let her find 104, then tell you she is over weight, hahahaha!!!!

Oh, the walk was so nice today! I love fall and there were lots of busy critters about. It's going to be a huge acorn season here. I live under redwoods (California[ cliche, hehehe) and oak trees, and our squirrels are beside themselves with the work of TOO many acorns!