Weight gain

[ccooke86]

I've been following the program and I'm gaining weight instead of losing. I don't know why.

[greentea]

It would help a lot if you could post a few days worth of what you are eating.

[ccooke86]

I can do that. Although these next few days should be interesting as I'm going out of town on vacation. Going to stick to it as best I can since it will be a lot of eating out. I'll post my food for today later tonight.

[judyb108]

I have to admit that when I decide I AM going to stick to something and finally lose these 50 pounds, I tend to go on an eating binge and eat everything except the refrigerator. I go up a pound or two, get frustrated, and give up. Last Tuesday I decided, OK I will do this. so what did I do, but sabotage myself and this morning I was up a pound.
Very frustrating.

[ccooke86]

Sorry I didn't get anything posted like I said I would. I ended up getting sick and so diet was completely off. I got back to it yesterday. Here's what foods I ate yesterday. Breakfast was homemade granola and almond milk. Snack was a piece of whole wheat pita with hummus. Lunch was spaghetti, marinara sauce and mixed veggies. Snack was salad of romaine lettuce, carrots, beets, onions and black beans with honey mustard. Dinner was hash browns with green peppers and onions and bowl of French onion soup.

[roundcoconut]

Hmm, a couple quick thoughts:

Go ahead and do as much reading as you can about a whole-foods minimally-processed way of eating. You start to see how the more processed a food is, the less satiety it offers, and the easier it is to overconsume. So, you probably could only eat four apples or so, but you could probably scarf much more than that in the form of applesauce, or even MORE than that in the form of applebutter (i.e. applesauce cooked down into an even more concentrated form). So if what you really want is to experience more satiety, greater health, and a smaller body size, then you really want food in its minimally processed form. Eat potatoes. Eat rolled oats. Eat apples. Eat cauliflower.

Also, keep an eye on the calorie density of what you're eating. If you're eating whole foods (food as grown, like strawberries or celery), then you want to make sure much of it is calorie dilute, and only a portion of it is calorie dense. So, a cup of kidney beans or lentils might be fine, especially if combined with some carrots, some cucumbers, some spinach. But a cup of kidney beans combined with some bread, some avocado slices, some chopped nuts might indeed be a formula for weight gain.

My main point is, do a bit of reading! There are many good reasons why animals out in the wild do not deal with obesity issues -- they have no way of blending or concentrating their food, and they cannot buy calorie-dense foods in bulk (i.e. two cups of pre-shelled walnuts). We are just like those apes and elephants who, if we put lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in our environment, things tend to go well for our health and our size.

Another quick thought: Animals in the wild do not sit on couches or hang out in front of computer screens, so it may be helpful to disrupt some of the most sedentary patterns in your life. I don't mean anyone needs to go to the gym, just that it may be useful to one's appetite regulation to find ways to move, even if that's just setting a timer in front of the TV, and cleaning the shower when your timer goes off. Something, anything, to ensure that the patterns that led to sluggishness are reversed or cancelled out.

Hope some of this is useful! Even small changes can be helpful! A vegan version of SAD diet is not health food, but you'll understand that over time. Welcome!

[ETeSelle]

Sorry I didn't get anything posted like I said I would. I ended up getting sick and so diet was completely off. I got back to it yesterday. Here's what foods I ate yesterday. Breakfast was homemade granola and almond milk. Snack was a piece of whole wheat pita with hummus. Lunch was spaghetti, marinara sauce and mixed veggies. Snack was salad of romaine lettuce, carrots, beets, onions and black beans with honey mustard. Dinner was hash browns with green peppers and onions and bowl of French onion soup.

Hummus from where? The grocery store or made by you with no oil or tahini? Hash browns cooked with NO oil? French onion soup--from a can or box or did you make it yourself? Ditto the marinara sauce. Granola is usually made with oil or butter--is yours? The pita probably had oil in it as well.

Unless you're making all these things from scratch, using no oil, your problem is probably that you're consuming too many processed, packaged products.

[ccooke86]

I've followed this diet before and lost all my weight. I followed it for 4years before gradually going back to the sad diet. I'm rereading the books right now to refresh my mind.