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Any suggestions please! First to explain... I was 100% Raw Vegan for 3 1/2 years before trying the McDougall way and I also tried the 80 10 10 for 3 months just before McDougall. I have been eating the McDougall way for about six months and am slowly gaining weight!! I have put on 8 lbs. I was riding a bike and slow jogging just before I started McDougall but injured my leg and stopped for 3 months. I am riding a recubant bike at home for 30 minsper day 5 days or more per week. I do like to eat and missed rice and potatoes and such. I think I eat approx 2-3 cups of brown rice per day and some days I eat 1 cup of beans or a lg baked potato and lots of veggies twice per day. I eat about half my meal in veggies and just increased it to 3/4 of my meal. I do drink a glass of merlot wine maybe twice per week.Once everyother week I make homemade bread and have a thick slice I love rice cakes and eat some daily. I drink green smoothies every morning with spinach kale banana beet blueberries and then snack on carrots, celey and apples. My husband says I am not eatting enough and to increase exercise. I also need to drink more water. I am 52 yrs old and I feel I eat too much for my 5 ft 1 1/2 inch size.

HELP!!! What do I do? When i was 100% Raw Vegan I never had to count calories or watch what I ate. In fact I made sure I ate avocado and olinves otherwise I got too skinny!

Thanks!!

Do you use any added fat? Oil to cook with? Margarine? Etc?

No I don'y use any oils, vegan butters. none at all. I cook with water only and I dont eat the avocados or olives and I don't eat tofu.

What is your current weight and height?

Could it be menopause? I started gaining a lot of weight when I went into menopause at age 52 even though I wasn't eating anything differently at the time.

yeah. Menopause. That combined with a low carb diet...don't even get me started.

Maybe it's the bread...I know my weight stalls with even one slice or anything wheat not to mention a recurring pain in my hands...I was juicing a bit when I first started and I gained on Juicing...had just bought a Vitamix ..so I rarely have one now..so I switched to potatoes...rice stalls me also...now it's potatoes and veggies for me....with a bowl of oats and fresh fruit....

A couple of ideas.....

You mentioned that you had been doing the 80/10/10 just prior to starting the McDougall plan. Had you lost any weight while on the 80/10/10? The reason I ask is because if you had, then what you are experiencing may partly be due to replenishing your glycogen stores (at least 2 to 4 pounds of the 8 you have gained).

This may or may not apply to you but I have seen people on the recumbent bike doing what I would consider the equivalent of a leisurely stroll which just doesn't burn many calories or improve cardiovascular fitness to any significant degree. Are you breathing hard and working up a good sweat during your workouts?

Lastly, have you considered tracking your food for a couple of days using something like Cron-o-Meter or Fitday? McDougallers shouldn't need to count calories but I personally think it is wise to have some idea of what you are taking in.

~ Erin

Do you use much salt?

Hi,

I am not sure if I can help you but I have been experiencing similar problems, if that's any consolation.

Before my 2nd child, I was effortlessly, without counting calories or exercising a lot, at a healthy and trim 119 for my 5' 5" frame.

I had a super healthy pregnancy with my 2nd child, but then after that delivery, quite immediately, it seemed, I couldn't lose the weight. I have been between 135 and 140 ever since then, nearly 5 years ago.

I have tried everything I can think of, to no avail. I am finally trying Cron o Meter. It says that I have to consume 863 calories a day if I want to lose 2 pounds a week. 863 means I drink 3 green smoothies of spinach, kale, chard, cucumber & a banana, plus one potato and one rice and bean meal. It is sad beyond sad because my life was so easy before and I never paid attention to amounts.

I also now have cellulite when I didn't before. It's all very sad and contributes to some depression, that I also never had before! Based on this, I think I would be enormous if I ate a SAD diet right now.

My pregnancy (when I was 35) and your possible menopause causing this, hormones might very well be to blame, but what can we do? That is where I've clearly been stuck.

The good news is that menopause won't hit any of us super hard because of McDougalling

I feel semi confident that Cron o Meter, and limiting and counting calories is going to be the only thing that will get my weight off. I am also very thankful for my Vitamix and the green smoothies as they are filling.

Hang in there. I totally understand your frustration so I hope that helps a bit.

Julie

Oh my goodness! Veggielibra, pay NO ATTENTION to the calorie suggestion from Cron-O-Meter, if it's telling you to limit your calories to 863!!!!!!

This way of eating is not about counting calories! And 863 is starvation--not enough calories to support an adult. If you were counting calories, a strict diet might have you consume 1200 a day, but not much less, and not for too many weeks. And rather than having 3 smoothies--eat those foods whole, and see if you lose by getting those foods that way. It's certainly worth a try.

My suggestion to beagletrixie is to forget the wine--I gain a pound just thinking about it!--and probably the rice cakes--they are so dry and calorie-dense. If you are only overweight by the weight you have agined, then those pounds will probably go down again. Stick to whole foods, and eat fewer processed foods. See what happens. Drink more water, as your DH recommends, and eat more watery vegetables, and enjoy your brown rice and potatoes!

its that morning smoothie and the rice, you're body is too busy burning sugar from that smoothie, skip it and switch to more potatoes than rice

I agree that Cron o Meter is making me starve, but I can't live with an extra 20 pounds anymore. I have emailed Dr. McDougall, had my thyroid checked, etc. etc. and I don't know what is going on other than to say that it was a very black and white change - easy and fun life before my 2nd child, difficult RIGHT after I had him.

It doesn't have to do with the exhaustion of having him - it was my pregnancy or, more, delivery (which was drug free and I'm STILL feeling this way!).

Thank you for your suggestions. I'm only having one small banana a day in the smoothie but I could probably cut that back to making it only green veggies.

Eating potatoes and vegetables all day long wasn't working either.

There is just something wrong and I truly can't figure out what it is. If I get back down to my former weight I might try potatoes and veggies again, which makes me perfectly happy.

Holding on to unexplained weight as a strict McDougaller is frustrating beyond frustrating, as the first poster here mentioned.

Thank you for your suggestions, concern and help. I totally appreciate it

Some great responses to your post already.

Here are a couple of articles that may offer insights:

6 reasons you might have gained weight on a plant-based diet when your goal is to lose weight

To smoothie or not to smoothie? The skinny on blending your fruits and greens

Lani

I'm looking forward to meeting those blogs.

My smoothies consist of spinach, kale, chard, cucumber and one small banana. I can't see how that's a ton of sugar. That is what I drink for the whole day - the Vitamix is filled with the veggies until they are ground down, at which point I can add the banana. I will cut it to 1/2 banana.

Still, maybe 1 banana a day is what is making me hold onto weight?