Hi people who I soon hope to be friends with!
I have been posting here under the Foods and Recipes for several days, but am making my first post here tonight.
By way of introduction, I have been working with Dr. Hans Diehl's C.H.I.P. program for several years. In case you're unfamiliar with the program, C.H.I.P. stands for Coronary Health Improvement Project, not potato chips or chocolate chips! Seven years ago, I lost over 90 pounds, partially due to the lifestyle changes recommended by Dr. Diehl, which largely parallel those in Dr. McDougall's program. I have spent the last 3 1/2 years writing a set of vegan cookbooks, by invitation of the dietitian who was facilitating the program in our area. At the most recent Advanced Learning Seminar, I presented Dr. McDougall with a set of the books, which contain over 700 pages and over 500 recipes, arranged in 76 family-friendly menus. BTW, many of the recipes in the books are McDougall-friendly. (This is not meant to be an advertisement for my books - I am just introducing my self and sharing my story, please read on).
So, if I lost 90+ pounds, and am a happy vegan, why am I here? Well, because, after 3 1/2 years of basically spending my life either in the kitchen developing/testing recipes (more food), or at the table or computer researching and writing (less exercise), a LOT of the weight I had worked so hard to lose had "found" me again! Despite all my healthy recipes and study of nutrition, I have found myself fighting a losing battle against weight for the past 3 to 4 years!
Explaining WHY would be a long story that I won't go into detail about now, but several other things besides the cookbooks were probably working against me (even though I thought I was making good food choices most of the time), among them were sleep apnea (sleep deprivation has been shown to cut metabolism by 40%!) and a period of deep depression (very likely an effect of the sleep apnea, which praise the Lord, has been discovered and is being treated). Probably my age (52) and changing hormones didn't help either. WHATEVER the causes, it's been very discouraging! (I imagine a number of you here can identify). It seemed, no matter how well I ate, or how hard I worked at it, I wasn't making much headway losing the weight again. (I will confess, I did have short periods where I "let up" a bit!) Not only has my weight gain been bad for my morale, and bad for my health, but it's NOT a very good advertisement for my book either!!! Here I am, trying to promote a book advocating a style of eating that was very helpful to me in losing weight initially, but now I'm 60 pounds overweight!
Then I attended Dr. McDougall's Advanced Learning seminar last month. I LOVE to study nutrition and am an avid collector of vegan recipes and cookbooks. I saw the seminar as a perfect opportunity to listen to cutting edge information from some of todays leaders in plant-based nutrition. We had a couple of lectures on weight loss by Dr. Doug Lisle, author of The Pleasure Trap, which I had already read. It wasn't Dr. Lisle's lectures that made the biggest impression however; in fact, it would be hard to put my finger on just WHAT made the largest impression. If anything, I think it was the ATTENDEES, rather than the speakers, EXCELLENT as they were. I just can't say enough positive about them, really! It was a THRILL for me to see and listen to them in person! BTW, if you were there, I was the lady sitting front row center with my little 9-year old girl! But, it was people who shared their stories at a table over lunch, or standing outside after a meeting, or sitting beside me between meetings, that most RE-inspired me. Maybe too, it was the lady who blatantly, having seen my cookbooks there at the seminar, together with a picture of myself taken with Dr. Diehl taken about 3 or 4 years ago, said, "If you're eating like this, why do you look like that?! It hurt...but it helped. Why indeed! Maybe because for ME, it wasn't enough.
When I got home, I decided to start reading or RE-reading Dr. McDougall's books. Each one, so far, has been good, but I got about halfway into one, and decided I AM GOING TO DO THIS! It is his Maximum Weight Loss Program. I wish I'd shared more during my first 12 days, so you could've tracked how I've changed already, but the best news is that by kicking my vegan diet up a few notches, as recommended in the MWL program, I've lost 7 pounds, without being hungry - and with minimal exercise, though I'm hoping to add more. AND, best of all, instead of counting the days until I can be "off the diet," after finishing the first 12 days days, I am ready to hop right back into the saddle, eager to see where the NEXT 12 days will find me! (And yes, I've decided to break this down into 12 day increments, for surely, I can commit to that long at a time! LOL)
Now, for the results:
12 days on the Maximum Weight Loss Program and 7 pounds lost! (I don't expect the weight loss to continue at this rate, but I've been encouraged by some of your testimonies - thank you for them)! Stay tuned for my next report!
P.S. I rather shame-facedly admit that I did something Dr. McDougall specifically asks us not to do, I stopped my blood pressure medication. However, I have been monitoring my blood pressure for years, I also have a husband and a daughter who are RN's. Had any of us seen anything alarming happening with my blood pressure after I stopped the meds, I would've contacted my doctor and/or gone back on the meds immediately. What I DID see, is that on day 14, my blood pressure is as low or lower than it was with pretty heavy duty meds! THis morning it was 110/74. I think my doctor would be very pleased; I know I am!
