How I lose weight with volume eating tendencies....

[S B]

I am posting this at the request of a fellow McDer. I apologize for it ending up much longer than I intended. However, putting all this into words has helped me become stronger and more confident in my constant war against volume eating. So, thank you (you know who you are) for requesting this! I hope this helps! (Please pardon my bad grammar and typos!)

First of all, I have volume eating tendencies -- usually when I am stressed or upset. Some days these tendencies are hardly noticeable and on other days I can’t stop stuffing myself on everything in sight. So, I (rightly or wrongly) consider myself merely someone with volume eating tendencies rather than a full-blown volume eater -- if there is any difference?????

Next, I am a homemaker (but NOT one of those Desperate Housewives ), so if you work outside your home and if you want to eat the way I do, you might want to get yourself a big cooler that you can transport/keep your HUGE salad in.

As you will notice, I eat a lot of raw veggies when losing weight. When I eat more cooked veggies (usually during the winter) I can easily maintain my weight but I have a harder time losing it.

Also, most McDougallers, even most MWLers, do NOT need to calculate calories and/or measure food portions. However, as someone with volume eating tendencies, I feel I need to follow a slightly MODIFIED version of MWL -- because I often tend to overeat ANYTHING in front of me regardless of what it is! (However, it seems that the ACT of eating gives me more of a high than the TASTE of a food -- with perhaps desserts, fruit, and especially chocolate being the few exceptions.)

Therefore, I feel I NEED to measure and estimate the calories in SOME foods BECAUSE the only foods I CAN eat UNLIMITED amounts of (and lose weight) are the VERY LOW calorie dense McD-legal ones. As it appears, most starchy foods have MODERATE calorie densities. Of course, I (and all of us) NEED a certain amount of starchy foods a day and I am NOT RESTRICTING them (the way some dietary programs do). I am simply being careful NOT to OVEREAT them (or anything else that does NOT have a VERY LOW calorie density). So, differing from MWL, I DO estimate the calories in my starchy foods -- which I keep MWL-legal. Of course, like MWLers, I avoid the very high calorie dense (nuts, seeds, olives, etc.) and highly refined/processed foods (bread, cakes, candies, refined sugars, etc.).

Another big part of my strategy is…I ALLOW myself to volume eat to my heart’s content once a day (if possible)! Yes, you read that right!

The secret is, during these certain times, I pig out on JUST raw “green and yellow” veggie salad and nothing else. That way, I get the “eating high” that I crave without feeling guilty! The time of day that I do this might not always be the same, but it is NOT at breakfast time.

This is because, at breakfast, I eat a medium serving of starchy food and do the “30-minute trick” (my name for it) mentioned in the article about volume eaters (Nov. 2005 McDougall Newsletter) which is very similar to the “20-minute trick” mentioned on pg. 68 in the “McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss” book. (I guess we volume eaters eat so fast that the 20-minute wait had to be increased to 30 minutes! ) Basically, the trick is to eat a moderate plate full of food and wait about a half hour for some of the starchy food to reach the small intestine and for some carbohydrates from it to enter the bloodstream. After about a half hour, if you are still hungry, you can eat a little more food -- but by then you are beginning to feel satisfied and should not want a lot more, if any more!

Eating the amount of raw cabbage and other raw veggies that I eat might cause a lot of digestive distress (gas) for some people. By now, my digestive system has gotten used to this way of eating. Plus, I do a lot of yard and garden work (meaning -- I am outside and not around people for good lengths of time, a few times a day, thus I can usually avoid embarrassing myself and others.) If you are around lots of people most of the day, you might want to use Beano (there is [or use to be] a vegan variety available) or activated charcoal. However, even though Dr. McDougall says it is OK to use activated charcoal, he gives this warning, “Charcoal absorbs and inactivates many substances, including medications” (pg. 81 in “The New McDougall Cookbook”). I have used Beano, on occasions, and it helped to stop much (but not all) of my gas from forming, but I have never tried activated charcoal.

How much starchy food you should eat each day depends on your weight and how active you are. So, I can’t tell you how much starchy food you should allow yourself. Only YOU know that. Remember, you NEED starch for your brain to work properly, for energy for your organs to function, and for energy to exercise (which burns fat from our bodies) -- so do allow yourself the FULL amount of starch that you NEED every day. The KEYS are NOT to eat MORE than you need and NOT to eat ALL of it at one time (leaving yourself with nothing but salad to eat the last half of the day -- that is rough)!

I divide my total allowed amount of starchy foods into about 4 or 5 portions that are eaten throughout the day. (I estimate the measurements to keep things simple.) I eat a medium portion at breakfast, a light portion at lunch, one or maybe two very light portions with snacks, and a decent size portion at suppertime. I also DO eat my two servings of raw fruit (allowed on MWL) -- usually one serving at breakfast and one at suppertime. Some days, when I am UNUSUALLY physically active (lots of very hard yard/garden work) I might even eat some fruit for dessert after my lunch -- as a reward for working so hard. However, I usually make my starch serving a tad smaller to allow for the extra fruit.

Here is a typical weekday when I am trying to lose weight….

1- I start out by getting up before my husband. I do some kitchen chores and sometimes even squeeze in some squats and a few other exercises before time to prepare breakfast.

2- For breakfast, I usually eat either a small bowl of chilled cooked brown rice or a small bowl of rolled oats soaked in cold water for a few minutes (I do not cook them) or a cold mixture of both (amazingly good together!). On them, I use mostly water and a little lumpy banana milk or banana-carrot milk and sometimes a pinch of some sort of spice. (No more than a ¼ banana’s worth of either of the milks and NO sugar.) With this, I usually have a small serving of some sort of deeply colored raw fruit such as papaya, mango, cantaloupe, Fuyu persimmons (currently ripening on our trees!), watermelon, etc. During the coldest part of the year (not long lasting here in Florida), I often eat my oatmeal hot because, then, I usually cook-up a pot full of oats (or a mixture of oats and other whole grain) to divide between my husband, my brother (who stays with us during the winter), and myself.

It seems that I have the fewest volume eating tendencies at breakfast time -- probably because I am too busy rushing around in the kitchen trying to get things done to have much time to sit down and eat.

3- Before I leave the kitchen, I make sure I prepare a HUGE raw “green and yellow” veggie salad that is all ready to eat and waiting for me in the refrigerator for whenever I get a volume eating attack!

4- By the time I get through all of the kitchen chores, the “30-minute trick” has taken effect and I usually feel satisfied enough to leave the kitchen without eating anything in addition to breakfast -- except for maybe a few nibbles of raw cabbage or carrot while cutting up the salad, if I want some.

5- After doing my morning chores, I often give myself a chance to indulge in volume eating during my late morning break (starting between 10:30 & 11). I gorge on the raw salad (with usually only a sprinkle of vinegar for the dressing). At this time, I OFTEN eat ONLY salad with NO starchy food. When I begin to feel PHYSICALLY full, I stop stuffing my face and get back to doing whatever needs to be done. In addition to feeling physically full, I usually feel very satisfied because I just had a frenzied (but guilt free!) volume eating “high” (:evil: !!!) AND because the starch I had for breakfast is still in my small intestine still giving me a little constant energy.

6- At lunch time, I eat more salad AND a small to medium MEASURED amount of an MWL-legal starch. I eat as much salad as I want, but do NOT allow myself a second serving of starch. Then I go back to doing whatever needs to be done.

7- At my first afternoon break, I eat more salad -- sometimes with a VERY SMALL measured amount of starchy food -- sometimes, not. (The amount of starch I allow myself during a day depends on how physically active I am that day.) Then I get back to doing more of what needs to be done.

8- At my second afternoon break, I eat the rest of the salad -- with some starchy food. If the salad is gone by then, I will just eat a small amount of starchy food. To keep from overeating, I tell myself how good the popcorn (that we are going to have later) is going to be and that I MUST save ROOM for that! This little mind trick usually works -- IF I am not extremely stressed out about something.

When I am very stressed and all of the salad is gone, if I do not grab a few raw carrots or some celery or the like, I might be in big trouble! So, I try to keep carrots and celery always on hand!

9- Supper at our home is often just air popped popcorn (mine is plain) and a serving of deeply colored raw fruit. This is because my husband likes only a few McD-type foods. Since he enjoys popcorn at night (with a good movie and snuggled up to me ) before bed, we decided to let this be our supper on many nights.

10- At various times during the day, I try to get some exercise whenever I can squeeze in a few minutes. This is very important because it burns calories and fat.

Also, I try to take into consideration that oats and corn (although are MWL-legal) are a little higher in fat than many other grains. Therefore, I try to make sure that the starch I have between my "breakfast oats" and "supper popcorn" is very low in fat (rice, potatoes, beans, etc.) to help average things out.

As a rule, I do not get bored eating the same basic things everyday. However, I do make little minor changes to my daily salad -- such as using a different salad green or different other added veggies or a different kind of vinegar. I have been eating large salads almost everyday for a few years -- and I have not grown bored with salad, yet! This is because, with me (and probably most volume eaters), the act of eating is the main thing that makes me “high”. The taste of the food does not matter a lot (as long as the food has not gone bad, of course!)

SOME POINTERS TO REMEMBER -- (These pointers repeat much of the above but repeating things helps us to remember them better...)

1- NEVER EVER RUN OUT OF RAW “GREEN AND YELLOW” VEGGIES!
ALWAYS have raw cabbage and/or raw other raw salad greens and other raw “green and yellow” veggies in the refrigerator. When they start getting low, get more, and rotate the “stock” to keep from losing any.

2- KEEP READY-TO-EAT SALAD ALWAYS AT HAND!
Every morning while preparing breakfast or while cleaning up after breakfast or while still doing things in the kitchen, cut/shred/dice enough raw cabbage and/or salad greens and other “green and yellow” veggies to fill a HUGE container with a lid (that tightly seals). Eat out of right out of this container (you might want to write you name on it so no one else will accidentally dip some salad from it). Of course, eat some starches throughout the day, too. More on them in #5.

3- INSTEAD OF TELLING YOURSELF YOU CANNOT EAT, SIMPLY ALLOW YOURSELF TO VOLUME EAT ALL YOU WANT ON RAW “GREEN AND YELLOW” SALAD
Of course, doing this might give you a lot of gas but Beano and activated charcoal can help. The amount of calories you would consume would be very low and veggies are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other healthy things -- so doing this is NOTHING to feel guilty about! In time, your digestive tract should get accustomed to lots of raw veggies and should be get so distressed. Also, just think of all of the fossil fuel and precious time that you are saving by NOT having to COOK all of these veggies!

4- MY VOLUME EATING SEEMS TO BE STRESS INDUCED -- SO I TRY TO FIND A REASON OR A WAY TO ENJOY WORK OR CHORES
Most of us enjoy hobbies and can get so engrossed in them that we can get our minds off of food for a while and then WHEN we DO finally eat we are usually still thinking about the fun hobby and can’t wait to get back to it.

When I am not stressed (like when enjoying hobbies), my tendency for volume eating is not very strong -- so, I figure that it might help if we can enjoy our work or chores almost as much as our hobbies. I have not “officially” worked outside of the home for a good while, but I still remember how things can be at work -- if we are not careful, breaks and lunch can easily become times that we try to “volume eat away our frustrations” on the WRONG foods.

Of course, if you can’t get rid of work related stress, you will at least have that HUGE container of salad that you packed in your large cooler to volume eat on to your heart’s content at break time -- and hopefully some of it will be left over to eat with a measured amount of starchy food at lunchtime!

5- ALWAYS HAVE MWL-LEGAL STARCHES ON HAND
By cooking large amounts of whole grain brown rice, potatoes, winter squash, etc., at a time, and by ALWAYS having some of them the refrigerator, I am not tempted to grab my husband’s bread, cereal and/or other NON-MWL foods.

Of course, we DO have to be careful NOT to overeat these very healthful MWL starchy foods, but we DO need to eat several small to medium servings of them THROUGHOUT the day to AVOID becoming REALLY AND TRULY HUNGRY -- which can cause us to BINGE on anything in sight!

The way I keep from overeating these starches is I eat UNLIMLINTED amounts of salad whenever I feel hungry and eat PREDETERMINED (but NOT restricted) amounts of starches at various times during the day.

6- NEVER EAT EXTREMELY CALORIE DENSE AND HIGHLY REFINED FOODS
Things high in fat such as nuts, seeds, olives, avocado, etc. and things like refined foods, like breads, cakes, candies, etc. are OFF LIMITS! The problem is with most volume eaters is that we are not able to stop at just a little taste -- once we get started on something, we often empty the serving platter and sometimes go searching for MORE!

6- EXERCISE
If you are not exercising on a regular basis, start doing so and then gradually increase the amount of exercise you do. Almost every day, I try to exercise to my limit to get the maximum benefits from doing it. However, I often take one day off a week to give my muscles a little extra time to rest and repair themselves. Otherwise, I might become overworked and over sore and be tempted to quite exercising altogether!

Also, try to make exercising fun and try to combine it with other things to save time -- thus giving you even more time to do more exercises! (I often dance with music while doing household chores and do Winsor-Pilates while watching the evening news.)

[baron]

Hi SB.
Are you sure you're not talking about me? I especially like the way you say:

"Some days these tendencies are hardly noticeable and on other days I can’t stop stuffing myself on everything in sight."

I'm the same way! It seems to sneak up on me. I can only have what I think of as safe foods in my kitchen, because if something with fat or some dense processed item is around, sooner or later, I will eat it to excess.

I too have found that allowing myself to do the volume eating once a day with something safe or low calorie, helps immensly to relieve the stress. I'm going through some dental challenges right now, so I have to use soft vegetables or soup.

I recently restarted with the McDougall plan and tonight I got into a bit of trouble. For the past few days I was happy with just one vegan muffin a day, but today I couldn't have just one. I have decided to do MWL and was so glad to see your post!

Thanks so much for sharing.
from one with volume eater tendencies to another!

[Lin]

You've posted this for me in the past and it has been a big help. Our volume eating tendencies are so similar it's eerie. You describe me so well when you're describing yourself!! At least I know that somebody else here knows and understands my eating difficulties!!

[Malva]

You've found your groove, and it looks like you're dancin' the McDougall
MWL Salsa!

Thanks for the detailed info.
This will be helpful for many.

[S B]

I wonder if any of those professional dancers and stars on that "Dancing with the Stars" show ever heard of Dr. McDougall and I wonder if McDougalling would make their performances even better???

Yes, I have finally found "my groove" and I am doing the "McDougall MWL Salsa" the best I can with Salsa meaning everything -- diet, exercise, and lifestyle.

....And I guess you can LITERALLY say that I am doing the "McDougall MWL Salsa" or maybe "SB's Uncoordinated Wiggle" whenever I do household chores to 1963-1964 fast tempoed Beatles music! I am SO glad no one sees me when I am doing that! If I were on that show I would not be politely voted off -- I would picked up and thrown off!

[chewy]

What a helpful post to me and I'm sure,many other MWL followers.Although I don't need to lose anymore weight,I am a volume eater and do enjoy large amounts of raw green and yellow vegetables with my allotted starches(my preference is for plain brown rice cakes for starches) but may switch it up with air popped popcorn.
Happy Mcdougaling to you and dance it up!

[Anne]

SB, your posts are always so helpful!

I am a volume eater, and everything you say rings true. Unfortunately, I have trouble with too much raw food, so the huge salad has derailed me a couple of times. I've learned to make steamed green and yellow vegetables instead. I even use my fatfree Italian dressing on them.

The other thing I've discovered is that a grapefruit stops my binges, so if I am having a plow-through-all-food day, I pull a grapefruit out of the fridge to stop the madness.

So, is your Beatles music one of the exercise mix tapes, or do you just load up the CD player? I love to do housework to music (it amuses the cats to see me dance).

[pollkat]

I am not, so much, a volume eater as I am a constant eater. I sure wish I was as disciplined as you, S.B. I enjoy eating salads, but I HATE making them. I buy all these fresh veggies & hubby always asks, why aren't you eating them? I've tried making up salads in the fridge, but if you don't eat the stuff in one day then they get ucky. I like my salads fresh. I also don't eat many raw veggies. I prefer them cooked... unfortunately in olive oil and butter (vegan butter). I have a really boring job where I sit at a desk alllllll day. I get very little exercise & find I have the need to snack all day while I'm working. Now if I do have a busy day, I don't snack as much, but those days are few between. I know I'm not hungry & I know I shouldn't be snacking (especially on junk food), but I can't seem to get thru more than one day without doing so. Everyone thinks because I'm vegan that I should be skinny, but over the last several years I have packed on the pounds. Now I'm probably 30 to 40 lbs overweight. I prefer my carbs... even if they are the Good carbs, I think I eat too many. I have them at every meal & I know I shouldn't eat so many of them. And getting home late in the day doesn't help either. I work outside the home & by the time I get home its getting dark. I'm so tired & want to grab whatever is handy (& we aren't talking carrots & celery here!!) Hubby is a total carnivore & doesn't like the word diet, so after preparing him a meal, I'm way too tired to worry about my meal. I grab whatever is available... toast, pasta, chips & salsa, etc.... I don't do that EVERY night, but quite often my meals are very incomplete. Last night my dinner was 2 slices of ezekiel bread with smart balance peanut butter & a banana sandwich!!! I guess I will have to spend my evenings making up huge bowls of salad & taking them with me when I go to work. BUT, I enjoy olives & avocado on my salads... not the most slimming of foods. My tastes are not only on the "expensive" side, but they are on the fattening side!!! Two strikes on me for that!! I have one of the McDougall books, can't remember which one. Guess I'll have to dig it out & see if I can find some fast meal ideas. You have given me some motivation though, S.B. I hope I take it to heart & get my butt in gear!!!

[S B]

WOW, Anne! I never realized grapefruit could do that! I should try that! Thanks!

I like to dice up tree-ripened red grapefruit into shredded raw greens and carrots for a DELIGHTFUL salad. This salad needs no dressing because the little bit of juice that comes out of the pieces of grapefruit does the job! Tree-ripened grapefruit tastes so much better and sweeter than those that are not. (It's funny that our property is too cold for growing grapefruit trees without winter protection [too much trouble for me], yet, our neighbors [who live real close to a lake] can grow them without having to cover theirs -- unless a winter is unusually cold. They usually give us a grocery bag full every winter! )

The Beatles music is just from music CDs (that my husband and brother have given me). One of my Beatles CDs contains all of their #1 hits (with some of them being single-record recordings that are not on their albums) and the rest of my Beatles CDs are their record albums -- from their very first one in 1963 (I turned 8 years old the summer of '63) up through Yellow Submarine. One day, I hope to be able to finish my collection with CDs of their remaining albums. However, I like their early years the best because, then, they seemed so young and innocent (and cute) and sang mostly love songs! Also, their early songs have just the right tempo for me to dance (wiggle) to while I am doing housework!

However, they are best for just dancing (wiggling) to. I do NOT do Winsor-Pilates or yoga with the Beatles because they are a little too distracting for me to concentrate on exercising correctly and for keeping count of repetitions. The evening news is usually not too distracting and I often do my routines with it to save time.

Actually, I do NOT have a lot of exercise tapes/CDs or even routines.

My favorite is the Winsor-Pilates Accelerated Body Sculpting 3-CD set. The 1st CD in the set has just the 7 basic exercises from the Accelerated Body Sculpting routine explained in great detail -- I call it the Beginners Routine. The 2nd in the set is the 20-minute workout which basically is only the main exercises from the Accelerated Body Sculpting routine...and, of course, the 3rd is the full Accelerated Body Sculpting Routine which lasts about 50 minutes.

When I first got these, while simply watching the CDs, I jotted down the names of all of the exercises and drew stupid-looking little stick illustrations for each one (just to remind me what the exercise is -- DEFINITELY NOT for an ART CLASS ). Then after I had worked up to the full routine and knew how each exercise was supposed to be done, I made corrections to my drawn outline and started doing them with just my outline -- to keep from wearing out the DVD player. Now, I have done the routine so much that I have it memorized and do not even need to use my outline, anymore. (….but I still keep it for reference.)

The second routine I do is one of two to keep me from doing the Accelerated Body Sculpting routine all of the time. I do not have a tape/CD of it. It is the short but very complete yoga routine that Dr. Dean Ornish put in his book on reversing heart disease. It has easy to understand instructions and very nicely drawn illustrations. I have this memorized, too, by now.

The third routine I have is on a CD. It is just a different yoga routine that I do not do very often -- and do NOT have it outlined or memorized. I mainly use it to keep from doing the Accelerated Body Sculpting or "Ornish's yoga" all of the time.

The only other thing that I do that is close to a routine is just some regular ole' exercises like sit-ups, push-ups, squats, very light weight lifting, etc. I try to squeeze some of these in whenever I have time.

I do not plan on buying anymore exercise tapes/DVDs unless I come across something EXTRA SPECIAL!

Happy McDougalling!

[victw]

Just for those that are interested - this is Dr. McDougall's article on volume eating.
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/ ... 100vol.htm

I have alot of these symptoms but would actually describe myself as an emotional eater.
Dr.McDougall seems to be describing a medical condition - although it does seem a little blurry.

It is important for me to distinguish. Because if something is going on emotionally I need to recognize it or at least recognize that I am numbing by eating.

Because I eat alot - I embraced McDougalling with a vengeance - it meant I could keep eating. All I had to do was switch to lower calorie foods. I am starting to wonder if this is only a partial solution - certainly eating low-fat nutritious foods is important. But as for total health - I'm wondering if I'm missing a piece of the puzzle - by not addressing the emotional eating as a seperate problem.

Also wondering - is this the S B that was sewing a dress for a wedding? Wonder how that turned out?

Vicki

[S B]

You know, I just might be both!

I have ALWAYS been a rather big eater regardless of how I feel emotionally and I do have somewhat of a volume eater personality. (I always strive for success in everything I do because I HATE to fail at something -- even though I do fail, sometimes.) However, I can be a laid back “Type B personality” person, too. Maybe I have an AB personality, if there is such a thing? Of course, when I am upset or worried, I eat MORE than that -- and can polish off more food than I want to admit to!

....and, YES, I think anyone who "emotional eats" needs to find the root of his/her emotional distress. With me, however, I usually know what the root is -- a silly spat with someone, worried about not getting something done on time, stress from having an all around BAD DAY where everything goes wrong, worried about bills, worried about not succeeding at something, etc. Usually, I mull over whatever is upsetting me WHILE I am pigging out -- so, as a rule, I do not have to dig for the root of my emotional distress.

So, am I a volume eater, or an emotional eater, or both??? What do you think? (I think I am some of both.)

Yes, I am the same S B who was sewing that dress (and made that ridiculous watermelon cake, etc..... )

The dress turned out great, except I ended up not using the original material I had gotten for it. It frayed too easily and was too hard to sew on. (I'll probably give it to someone who can use it.) I ended up using a cotton material that has a fine/delicate linen texture to it -- so it has a "little dressier" look than just a simple regular cotton or cotton/poly blend cloth.

My dress is medium teal green with small (but not tiny) light teal green flowers on it -- just enough to be feminine but NOT enough to make it gaudy. These flowers are outlined and shadowed with dark teal green. (In other words, the dress is only in shades of teal -- no other colors.)

....Anyway, my husband says the material (color and print design) suits my coloring and personality, that the pattern style also suits me, and that the dress fits me JUST RIGHT! (I had to make a few simple alterations to the pattern to get that "perfect fit. Thank goodness, the pattern came with instructions on how to make alterations -- so they were not very hard to do.)

The wedding was postponed from this past Sept. to Spring 2007, but that's OK -- I have my dress, now -- and MORE time to do Winsor-Pilates to make my body look even better in it!!! (I should be ashamed of myself for letting jealously be one of the motivators behind the dress -- but I have to honest with myself and others and admit to it...... The funny thing is I have NO REASON to be jealous of my husband's ex's appearance (according to my husband, anyway) or anything else about her......

But, I guess I am only human............

[erin]

a word of warning about eating mostly only low calorie vegetables. you should be careful and make sure you are eating enough calories. bingeing is caused by eating too few calories, ignoring signals to eat and going long periods of time without eating

most everyone here knows that permanent fat loss requires a lifestyle change. what that means is that anything you do to get rid of the fat you will have to continue to do forever if you plan to keep it off. that is why it is important that your food plan is both satisfying to you and results in fat loss.

i don't know of any reputable weight loss doctor or expert who recommends going below 10 calories for each pound of ideal weight. anything under a 1000 calories is considered starvation and should never be done intentionally.

your exercise plan should be enjoyable and sustainable as well. for example, running five miles a day to lose fat is fine so long as you continue to do so. but for most people it is more realistic to walk 3 miles 4-5 times a week and do some strength training. this is the type of exercise you will be able to do right up to the end of your life.

it is easy to lose sight of these facts when you really want to be rid of extra fat but success requires that you be real with yourself.

~erin

[S B]

Erin, you are right!

I apologize if I was unclear in these areas in my original post.

Dr. McDougall recommends that from 75 to 90 percent of our calories come from carbs (mostly starches), between 7 and 15 from protein, and from 5 to 10 from fats (MWL - less than 5) in a whole foods, plant based diet.

I SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED in my original post that approximately 80 to 83 percent of my calories come from carbohydrates (with a very high amount of them coming from of whole starchy foods) and that I try to keep my fat intake below 5 percent of my total calories (MWL guide for that) and my protein intake at approx. 12 percent. (Of course, I only estimate these percentages and they vary a little each day.)

I DO eat a good amount of starchy food and I eat it throughout the day. I DO ALWAYS get OVER 10 times my weight in pounds in total calories a day -- so I am NOT starving myself! I did not mention the "10 times your weight" calculation in my original post because I was not sure what Dr. McDougall thinks about using it -- but I DO use that rule of thumb.

The reason I have to eat so much raw salad is because I am NOT a NORMAL McDougaller. I have a PROBLEM with volume eating -- regardless if stress or if simply having that volume eater personality or if some of both is the cause.

In order to control my problem with volume eating AND to lose weight down to my goal weight I HAVE to allow myself to pig out on something to relieve some stress or to simply just to make my tummy feel stuffed or both. Obviously, I cannot pig out on medium or high calorie dense foods, so I am left with mostly green and yellow veggies with most of them being raw.

I know what I do is NOT suited for MOST McDougallers and I should have made that clearer. The amount of salad I eat most everyday is way too much for many people. BUT, if I did not eat this way, I would end up obese -- like I used to be! I do get more exercise than a lot of people, but not as nearly as much as a some. However, I enjoy my exercise and the amount I do seems right for me.

Yes, we have to be realistic in how we eat and in how we exercise. BUT what suits one person might not suit another. What I do suits me.

ANYWAY, I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT JUST BECAUSE I STUFF MYSELF WITH A LOT OF RAW SALAD EVERYDAY DOES NOT MEAN THAT I EAT ONLY SALAD. I DO EAT THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF STARCHES (ACCORDING TO DR. McDOUGALL'S GUIDELINES) AND I DO EAT ENOUGH OVER-ALL CALORIES EVERYDAY.

Erin, thanks for posting. It gave me a chance to clear up any confusion on these points.

[erin]

you're welcome . i mainly posted because i personally have a problem with this. i have to fight the temptation to do stupid things like starve myself or workout like crazy just to see the scale move so it was partly just to remind myself, lol!

~erin

[Donna R]

I used to do a good job of volume eating but as I've gotten older I get heartburn from over-eating. now that I don't eat as much I don't need to. but I do eat often! I think it's because (since I was diagnosed with early diabetes II) when my blood sugar drops I'm hungry, really hungry! cranky and mean! and my blood sugar won't be very low at all, it just feels that way to me. the McD plan has helped so that I don't always need to eat every two hours! and has helped the need to eat "just to be doing something."

but my question is--there have been shows on tv, like Dr. Phil, with children who eat and eat because they don't feel full. does anyone think they have that disorder?