Question for a freind or mine

[guitarplayer007]

She's 5'2 not really overweight but wanted to lose some weight. Started on SS and went from 128 to 121, but hasn't lost anymore in like a month. She keeps telling maybe this isn't working for her, but maybe she really doesn't have anything else to lose?
Any suggestions?
Ken

[Lesliec1]

Often the reason is that some detail is being overlooked. For starters, is she strictly eating non-starchy veggies as half of her intake? Maybe she could review the rules of MWL. If she is paying attention to details, she should be losing. Of course there could be some medical reason, but that's usually not the case. We usually ask people to post their menu for a couple days as a double check.

[guitarplayer007]

Thank you, she's also 56 years old...I try and get menu from her

[guitarplayer007]

Here's her typical day.

Banana or apple and oatmeal in morning

Veggies and potato for lunch

Piece of fruit mid-day sometimes

Bean burger and veggies for dinner with piece of bread (depends on how much time I have to eat)

Snack when I get home (dry cereal or piece of bread or bean burger if I don’t eat much before going to TJ)

I don't think she eats enough

Ken

[Lesliec1]

My thoughts are:

What's in the bean burger and bread? Normally those are not MWL items.

Any beverages?

Possibly not eating enough veggies. "Bean burger, bread and veggies" sounds like not enough veggies. Veggies should be half her intake.

You may be right that she's not eating enough.

[guitarplayer007]

My thoughts are:

What's in the bean burger and bread? Normally those are not MWL items.

Any beverages?

Possibly not eating enough veggies. "Bean burger, bread and veggies" sounds like not enough veggies. Veggies should be half her intake.

You may be right that she's not eating enough.

The bean burger is from Dr. Esselstyn's son called Engine 2 so they are approved and usually eats it Rye Bread.
Thanks for your comments!
Ken

[guitarplayer007]

My thoughts are:

What's in the bean burger and bread? Normally those are not MWL items.

Any beverages?

Possibly not eating enough veggies. "Bean burger, bread and veggies" sounds like not enough veggies. Veggies should be half her intake.

You may be right that she's not eating enough.

Btw I never seen anywhere written by Dr. Mcdougall that half your meal should be Veggies, he always says Starch is the center of your meal, so that statement doesn't make sense to me

[Lesliec1]

Btw I never seen anywhere written by Dr. Mcdougall that half your meal should be Veggies, he always says Starch is the center of your meal, so that statement doesn't make sense to me

You posted in the Maximum Weight Loss (MWL) section so I assumed you wanted info on that. It is slightly different from the regular plan. The guidelines are posted at the top of this section. If she wants to stay with the regular plan, that's fine but weight loss might be slow - which again is fine.

Also, if she doesn't have much to lose, it does take longer. She may want to do the MWL for some amount of time just to shake it up. For sure it would be an interesting experiment if she's up for the challenge. It's actually pretty amazing the difference small changes make. (Or even Mary's Mini which is a subset of MWL. I personally think that's hard to do but some people don't mind it at all.)

To correct myself, technically he says a third OR a half should be veggies. I always just say half because I think very few people will eat veggies for breakfast. So I think realistically, if you aim for a half, you probably hit a third for the whole day.

I don't know the ingredients to the Engine 2 burger but it's prob not MWL. Bread is not MWL.

[Lesliec1]

Also, I'm not a numbers person but when I check the BMI chart, her weight/height says "normal."

[greentea]

I'm her height, close to her age and was at her weight, and getting down to your desired weight is very slow and difficult. Expecting major changes in a month is unrealistic. What worked for me is really sticking to it, and in time it will come off. I agree with what leslie said in that upping the veggies helps a lot. I also think she should cut out the bread and cereal snacks and if she is hungry to eat some veggies. I like to use cronometer to see how many calories I'm actually eating (it works for me). Cereal is calorie dense and she might be snacking on it, but lets say she grabs a couple of handfuls of cereal, might be 1/2 cup...she might be inadvertently adding an extra 150 calories to her diet. It's a good eye opener.
What also helped me chip away at it was to incorporate some fasting. I haven't done it in a while but when I fast, I'll do 1 or 2 days a week where I eat breakfast and lunch (don't pig out), then skip dinner. I won't eat until the next morning to give me a minimum of an 18 hour fast. I might do this on a monday, then on a Thursday, so in a 1 week period, you are skipping 1 or 2 meals so not a big sacrifice.
This WOE works, it's not a miracle though, you have to put in the time and make it part of your life.

[Katydid]

Let's not forget the second half of the equation. The less you weigh, the more exercise you have to do to burn the same amount of calories you burned when you were heavier. At some point calories in = calories out. At that point you can either lower the calorie density of your meals (more green and yellow veggies) or pick up the pace. If you're walking for 20 minutes, walk for 40. If you're walking slow, try light jogging. If you're swimming, add more laps. You can't exercise your way out of a bad diet, but extra exercise can do wonders when combined with a good diet.
Kate

[Franchesca_S.]

I thought our target was to have half of our plate be veggies?

Franchesca.

[frozenveg]

I thought our target was to have half of our plate be veggies?

Franchesca.

Just for clarification; from the guidelines in the book and the first post (emphasis mine):
Program outlined in the MWL book, page 60.
1. Eliminate All Animal Foods
2. Eliminate All Oils
3. Eliminate All High Fat Plant Foods: Nuts, Nut Butters, Seeds, Seed Butters, Avocados, Coconut, & Olives.
4. Eliminate All Flour Products
5. Eat Whole Grains and Potatoes
6. Eat Legumes
7. Make Green & Yellow Vegetables One-Half to One-Third of your meal
8. Eat Uncooked Foods
9. Restrict Fresh Fruit to No More Than Two Servings a Day, and Avoid Dried Fruit, Fruit Puree, and Fruit Juice
10. Use Simple Sugar Sparingly