Discussion Board

Well. Friday I had a (vegan, at least) binge. Saturday I started eating 100% MWL. I did go out for sushi and compromised with white rice and a few sesame seeds on the vegetable rolls, but I didn't get any avocado or tofu (last time we went to this place, I had both). So far, so good. Here's what I'm eating, approximately:

B: oatmeal or oat bran cereal from 1 c dry, 1 fruit, 1 T ground flax
L: 2 c starch, 1 lb non-starchy cooked veggies, optional fruit
D: same as L, eat fruit with either L or D but not both

I am allowing sugar as an ingredient in an otherwise healthy dish -- for example, I made Brunswick stew over the weekend and it contains brown sugar, molasses (I used blackstrap), and BBQ sauce -- but I have eliminated recreational sugar completely. I had the Brunswick stew for dinner last night, and also had some soup which contained a little molasses, and they didn't seem to give me cravings.

My OA sponsor has encouraged me to see a dietitian to make sure my diet is adequate and not setting me up for cravings. I actually think that's a good idea and have started looking online for an RD who is comfortable with plant-based diets and, if possible, also with OA and eating disorders.

Here's what I cooked over the weekend:

Brunswick stew (from the fat free recipe archive -- a McDougallized version of the Moosewood recipe)
Cabbage-carrot-leek stew (my McDougallized version of a SAD recipe I found in the Penzey's catalog; it's really good)
Lentil-potato medley (McDougallized from a Lorna Sass recipe)
A big pot of brown rice
Some boiled russet potatoes (I was going to bake them but when I washed them I discovered they all had green skins, so I peeled and boiled them instead)
Some huge baked Japanese sweet potatoes. These babies are a revelation. They have dark winy purple skin and pale yellow flesh. They seem drier than the usual orange sweet potatoes and did not ooze as much caramelized juice as I'm used to. They. Are. So. Delicious. I swear I could eat one of these in place of birthday cake. I ate it just plain, with no seasoning or sweetener, and it was fantastic. They are expensive -- $2.50 a pound at MOM's Organic Market -- but so worth it. A real treat.

I also have some bits of food left over from the last time I cooked. One portion of chili, which I'm eating for lunch today. One portion of white bean and vegetable ragout -- probably tomorrow's lunch. A small portion of Maryland vegetable soup, which will fit in somewhere.

That's awesome about the cool starches. I've seen some and will get them. I did, however, buy 50 pounds of red potatoes (or is that 25 pounds ) at about .55 cents a pound so I will get an asian sweet potato as soon as I can. Do you have any asian stores close by? If you can afford the organic-kudos. I know that asian stores sell vegetables cheaper though.


I find if I can limit those things to once a week, then skip to every other week, now and then, things are better for me. I used to be better and limit it to once a month. Somehow I want to rationalize that winter makes it harder. I also think my back going out has made it too easy to focus on eating when I should be finding some time to stretch. However it slowed me down and then I become anxious and want to cook more, then I eat more. Finding balance is so challenging! Yet..I try to never eat or add 1)dairy or 2)oil (that oil that sent me to the hospital has a lasting affect!)

Today will be in the 60's? I want to get back to mostly salads so I can be ready to enjoy the Spring. Soups and salads!

Be well

Hi Starchbeet, thanks for your support. There is an Asian supermarket that I love, called H Mart, but it is on the other side of town and I don't drive, so I only get there once in a while. It has a wonderful produce section with huge variety and good prices. It also has really good prices on stuff like dried mushrooms, which are so expensive elsewhere.

My problem with the treats is that things start to snowball -- for a while I am able to limit them, then more and more start creeping in. I don't want to accept this, but I think it is true that I am better off not having these things at all. At least for now.

Take a gander at my ticker, peeps.

Below target weight.

That is all.

Yea Yea Yea Yea Yea.!!!!!!!!!! I can't say Yea!enough.Sooo very happy for you.Keep up the good work.Lets get a new pict.of you too!!??ok RAS

Thank you, RAS! I really am not sure I ever expected to get here.

I actually would like to lose about 40 more pounds, which would put me at what I weighed in high school (when I thought I was so fat). I'm not going to change my target weight, though. At this point I just want to keep doing what I'm doing and see where the universe decides my weight should settle. I'm trying to remember that I am not in control of the outcome. So I'm just going to keep updating the ticker and letting the number be below the target weight.

I should put up some "before" and "now" pics, I guess. There are no pics of me at my current weight, but in this era of digital cameras I have no excuse.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We'll be anxiously awaiting the before and aft photos!

CONGRATULATIONS, TOADFOOD!!!! I'M REALLY REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!!!

Thank you, everyone! As I said, I'm still overweight, but had doubts that I would even get this far.

Congratulations Toadfood, on getting to your goal!!

Congratulations! I can't wait to see the new pictures.

Thank you, everyone.

Today I went clothes shopping in search of a replacement for my favorite black skirt, which is now too big. I didn't find one I liked at a price I was willing to pay, but I did buy some new bras. I have gone down another cup size! I know for many women this would not be welcome news, but I started this journey wearing a DDD and am now a D cup. I'm happy. My clothes look much better on me with a properly fitting bra underneath.

To shop for my new skirt I went to the misses department after more than a decade of shopping in plus sizes. I was overwhelmed by how many more choices there were. I was also angry -- why shouldn't fat women have the same choices? Why should I have four times as many choices in a misses size 16 as I did in a 16W? It just seemed cruel and unfair to me. My partner still wears plus sizes and I was upset that she has so many fewer choices than I do now.

Well, I'm plugging along, following MWL and eating my greens. I discovered that I can get frozen kale and turnip greens at Safeway, so I have been chowing down on those. Turnip greens are yummy with a little chili sauce. I did eat some guacamole on Sunday, but other than that I have been 100% MWL.

Today I sent my health info and 3 days of menus off to a dietitian who specializes in plant-based eating. It will be interesting to see what she has to say.

Happy March, everyone! I did an "official" weigh in this morning (drumroll): 187 lbs! I am 37 lbs away from my high school weight.

I adjusted the height on my ticker (for BMI purposes) to 5'7" a while ago. My adult height has always been 5'8", but when I started working with this chiropractor in October she measured me at 5'6 3/4"! I was very upset. The last time she measured me I was just over 5'7". At my internist's office I am still 5'8", but her height chart is a bunch of pencil marks on the wall, so is probably not as accurate as the ruler the chiropractor uses (attached to her scale). So now I am sort of vacillating between calling myself 5'7" and 5'7 1/2". I want to be honest and not fool myself about my BMI.

I'm feeling good. I am working late tonight and doing a lot of running around tomorrow, so I brought today's lunch and dinner and tomorrow's lunch to the office this morning. Last night I did some cooking, realizing we were about to run out of food: a big pot of dal, and some baked potatoes. The dal is based on a recipe from the Happy Herbivore. I want to like that book a lot more than I do. A lot of the recipes seem to have errors in them, so I am using them for inspiration more than as something to follow to the letter. For the dal I used red lentils, onions, carrots, potatoes, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and garam masala. I added some frozen mustard greens at the end. Tonight's dinner is two cups of dal over a pound bag of frozen cauliflower. Om nom nom. I will have to do some more cooking over the weekend but haven't figured out the menu yet. Maybe some mushroom-barley soup, or (yum!) cholent. Something with mushrooms, since I have two boxes in the fridge. Maybe shepherd's pie.

Yesterday I joined the YMCA again. I used to be a member, then stopped going because I wasn't happy with the cleanliness of the locker room. My apartment building has a nice gym, so I thought that would be enough -- but my apartment building's pool is only open in the summer. Swimming really is my favorite exercise, and my chiropractor has recommended it to me more than once. Back problems plus knee problems = I really need to swim. They were running a special on membership, so I joined (on the last day of the special) and I'll see how it goes. It's a short walk from my house, and every other pool option involves a bus ride, so this really does make sense. If I hate it, I can cancel the membership with 30 days' notice. They have a deep water jogging class that sounds like it would be really good for me.

In other milestone-related news yesterday, I packed up another bag of clothes for the Goodwill. This bag includes my favorite skirt, which is now unwearably big (sniff). I'm planning to visit a bigger mall on Saturday and see if I can find a replacement -- which will not be a plus size!