Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

I've been gaining weight on McDougall's Starch Solution.
I was eating essentially just potatoes, beans (homemade no-oil hummus) and brown rice, and put on 20lbs in 3 months.
Mostly I was eating lots of purple sweet potatoes and small yellow potatoes - about 15-20 / day.
The weight gain is simply not acceptable.
When I emailed the McD office, they suggested cutting down on the starches and upping the green veggies.
It's harder for me to do so, because of the cooking time challenge - whereas potatoes I just throw into a steamer and I'm set.

Eating high proteins (mostly lean meats, previously), sadly, actually did work to lose weight and maintain a low weight - must be ketogenic effect.
But that's totally not acceptable ethically to me, and I do believe that eating animal products is unhealthy in other ways (cancer, vascular disease, etc.)

So now the question is, how to actually lose weight and keep the weight off once it drops.
Stick to green smoothies, steamed veggies only maybe?
Keep in caloric deficit?
I'd still get hungry maybe. I'll have to steam a LOT of veggies.

I am quite desperate for advice and help, and I was so sad that the starch solution failed so badly.
I am a huge admirer of Dr McD and I don't get why this didn't work.
I find potatoes so comforting and easy to make.
I wanted this to be the solution so badly.

earthwalker7 wrote:I've been gaining weight on McDougall's Starch Solution.
I was eating essentially just potatoes, beans (homemade no-oil hummus) and brown rice, and put on 20lbs in 3 months.
Mostly I was eating lots of purple sweet potatoes and small yellow potatoes - about 15-20 / day.
The weight gain is simply not acceptable.
When I emailed the McD office, they suggested cutting down on the starches and upping the green veggies.
It's harder for me to do so, because of the cooking time challenge - whereas potatoes I just throw into a steamer and I'm set.

Eating high proteins (mostly lean meats, previously), sadly, actually did work to lose weight and maintain a low weight - must be ketogenic effect.
But that's totally not acceptable ethically to me, and I do believe that eating animal products is unhealthy in other ways (cancer, vascular disease, etc.)

So now the question is, how to actually lose weight and keep the weight off once it drops.
Stick to green smoothies, steamed veggies only maybe?
Keep in caloric deficit?
I'd still get hungry maybe. I'll have to steam a LOT of veggies.

I am quite desperate for advice and help, and I was so sad that the starch solution failed so badly.
I am a huge admirer of Dr McD and I don't get why this didn't work.
I find potatoes so comforting and easy to make.
I wanted this to be the solution so badly.

The devil is in the details: "essentially" just eating potatoes, beans and rice is not necessarily implementing the McDougall Program correctly.

It may help for you to review the Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines on this Board. Here is a link to the Ultimate Guide to MWL (Calorie Density Principles):
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=48609

Were you able to completely eliminate the added oils from your diet?

With all due respect, I note that three months ago you were a proponent of oil consumption: "hi, I've been consuming MCT oil and coconut oil for brain health, and in the belief that these are sources of healthy fats and for additional brain benefits.
I've been turned on the MacDougall's diet.
I'm clear that the diet would dis-recommend coconut oil.
But what about MCT oil?"

Best of luck.

Thanks for the feedback.
No I'm not consuming any oils.
Prior to starting the McD program, I was consuming MCT oil, in limited quantities, then stopped.
I do not cook with any oils nor consume MCT oil or coconut oil for over 3 months now.

Hope that clarifies.

What's your current height, weight, and gender?

I'd say you need to get some veggies in there. I make a bag of frozen veggies and have them in the fridge ready to eat with my starches. Or make a big salad and put your beans in there.

Make it a rule to eat green/yellow veggies with each meal.

Start a journal entry in the Journal forum. Log EVERY MORSEL you consume. This will provide a great picture of your diet and allow a complete analysis of where the problem lies if it's diet related. I am assuming no thyroid problems or hormone issues.
Jump in and start logging.
f1jim

I would gain weight as well. Any vegies? Any exercise?

Just an observation as I don't know what your activity level and caloric needs are but 20 small potatoes adds up to around 2,600 calories and sweet potatoes are even higher. Perhaps it's simply too great an amount of food for you to manage to lose weight on. Perhaps if you start your meals with some greens or salad, it may help fill you up before your starch consumption.

I assume you don't LITERALLY mean that for 3 months you only ate 3 foods? I've never heard of that.

Since you posted in the MWL section, it may help to look at the MWL guidelines that are pinned at the top of this section. Maybe you can build a plan around that.

To stay the same weight, I can eat an enormous amount of starches. To lose weight, I have to follow the MWL rules.

I have to agree with other answers, eat less potatoes and more variety of other fruits and veg (particularly leafy greens and non starchy vegetables as these foods fill you up and have less caloric density.)
Keep off the nuts and processed foods.
Have you considered going SOS free?
I found that this kept me well away from any snacky or non MWL related foods as there is no SOS free snack foods (not in my country anyway.)
Obviously we don't know all of what you've been eating so it's hard to pin point the problem, but it does sound like too many calorically dense foods and not enough foliage .

Wishing you all the best and I hope this helps.