Not losing weight, but healing my illness?

[Mikenessmonster]

Hi all, I am new to this discussion board!

I am very excited to be joining the McDougall way of life, and have great hopes of feeling better very soon. Here is a little background information about me -

I have struggled with both my weight and my health for most of my life. I was a sickly, overweight child and suffered from many manifestations of my poor diet (chronic migraines, IBS, constipation, depression, anxiety, poor immune function, tonsillitis etc). In high school, I suffered from depression and lost much of the childhood weight I had been carrying... then in about junior year of high school I switched from bagged lunch to school lunches and gained about 30 pounds in one winter. I believe my weight rose from about 120 to 150 at that point. Since then, my weight has steadily been climbing. Im almost 25 now and I weigh about 177 lbs (with a height of 5'4"). Not to mention I have been battling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome on and off since 2012, and have been in a constant search for the answer to my health and weight issues. I have always been focused on being the healthiest I can - before I was diagnosed with CFS, I was a personal trainer - I was muscular, but could never get rid of the fat no matter what I did.

I have been on the starch solution for about a month now. I have been receiving B12 injections for my fatigue, and together with the diet change (I was previously vegan since last Jan) my energy levels are rising. I have started a fairly intense exercise program of weight training and cardio. While I'm excited about regaining my energy, my weight really has stayed the same. I cannot express how exhausted I am from attempting weight loss programs and never seeing any results. I have done everything under the sun - Paleo, Weight watchers, Atkins (at a young age), Fast Metabolism Diet, etc. I know I'm not alone when I say that I've never felt right in my skin. I've always felt that I was supposed to be slimmer than I am - I've never experienced feeling completely natural and comfortable in my body and that is truly all I want - to be healthy and trim!

I know I am on the right track to regain my health and heal my CFS - I am however a bit discouraged that I have only lost two pounds on the scale this month. Maybe my body needs some time to just heal first? What do you all think? I'm in need of some encouragement, this has been a hard journey. I am thinking about starting Mary's Mini - what has been your experience with it?

And just to give you an example of a day's nutrition -
Breakfast:
10 oz black coffee (switching to tea)
Oatmeal w/ sprinkle of blueberries and small sprinkle of sugar w/ cinnamon

Lunch:
Mashed potatoes w/ green veggie (no oil)

Snack:
Kashi whole grain vegan crackers
(about 3g fat for a serving... maybe this is too much fat??)

Dinner:
Brown rice w/ steamed veggies
Coconut aminos (no fat) with sriracha

1 cup almond milk (again, there's a couple grams of fat in this... should I cut this out??)

Thank you all for taking the time to read this ... Please let me know what your suggestions are!!

[Franchesca_S.]

I would be suspicious of the Kashi. It may be whole grain but its still flour and that is really adding to your otherwise low fat food.. I wasn't losing until I cut out bread, tortillas and crackers.

[Mikenessmonster]

Is the almond milk no good as well? Its 3g fat per 8oz. At what rate did you normally lose per week?

[Kerrilyn]

That is the kind of weight loss I am maintaining too. I am a similar weight to you, though a bit taller and older. I started in June at 176 and have jut scrapped in under 170 three months later. I was not super strict with MWL at the start as I was still reading about it and I found it hard to transition to a much lower fat diet. It has become easier. My meals look similar to yours minus the snack and the Coconut aminos (no fat) with sriracha. I have a very small amount of soy milk on my oatmeal(porridge). I will occasionally have an 1/8 th of an avocado in my salad, and I have had a boiled egg about 3 times in the last few months. I have been having a slice of bread 2-3 times per week as well, 100% wholemeal, no oil, but still...

Last week I downloaded the calorie density chart from UC Davis (taken from Jeff Novick) to have visual to reminder of where I should be eating as I would forget what was what with somethings. The link is in one of the posts at the top of the MWL Programme group somewhere. Found it http://www.ucdintegrativemedicine.com/2 ... -calories/

I have actually found my weight loss a bit surreal as it just goes down little by little each week. I have never seen the likes of that before. I have never been able to do diets as I can't stand being hungry it drives me nuts. This WOE works for me and still achieves my weight loss ambitions. Slow and steady...

[Lesliec1]

My advice would be to cut out the crackers and almond milk and raise the quantity of non-starch veggies. You should see results pretty fast and then you'll know.

What I learned from this plan is that ONLY the ingredients list is what matters. Do not read anything else on a food label, INCLUDING the nutrition panel. We only look at ingredients, not grams of anything per serving.

I also learned that it doesn't take much to derail progress when trying to lose weight. It doesn't seem fair but even a little "whatever off plan substance" added to coffee or cereal can make a difference.

Anyway, experiment by ditching those items and raise your veggie intake and that should help right away. Let us know!