August 2018 McDougall Weigh In Thread

[amandamechele]

If you can please post your weigh-in for this week here, and not in the September thread.
I wish you all much success!
Thanks

Amy

[Idgie]

294.8 today, down 1.4 pounds for this week, 35.2 total since June 10. Averaging 3 pounds per week. This week would have been better, but I had an off-plan blow-out on Monday. Got right back on track, though, so I'm not too upset about it.


Started June 10th at 330 pounds
June 30th: 318 -- 12 pounds lost in June
July 31st: 306.8 - 11.2 pounds lost in July
August 31: 294.8 - 12 pounds lost in August

[Jobet]

Hard to believe another month has come and gone!

I'm down .6 this week. Which is surprising since I enjoyed my son's Alfredo and daughter-in-love's blueberry bars and apple cinnamon bars at my son's birthday dinner. Plus I brought a couple bars home with me for the next day. All the food was McDougall compliant, although not MWL.

My daughter-in-love is a busy mom of two teenage girls and works full-time. She looks for ways to make food prep easier. Once I'm no longer on MWL, and can add a treat once in a while, I'll be making some of her delicious blueberry or apple bars. She finds awesome no-oil, WFPB muffin recipes, adjusts the sugar and salt, and bakes them as bars rather than muffins. Saves her time, both in prep and clean-up.

I'm a minimalist, which carries over into my daily eating habits. I like keeping it simple and I've found that simple means less expensive for me too. One thing I do basically everyday is to steam veggies. I love veggies steamed and find them a lot less time consuming to prepare than pan sauteed. Same amount of cutting and/or chopping time, but while steaming for ten or fifteen minutes, I can walk away and do something else with that time, rather than having to stand at the stove. The veggies can be eaten along side a starch, other fresh veggies, or as I like to do, put them on top of my starch; baked sweet potato, baked winter squash, quinoa, rice, or whatever. I also pressure cook veggies quickly in my instant pot. I'll cook two whole bunches of kale in the IP at once, and can add some of the smaller stems, which are normally tossed out. The IP tenderizes them beautifully. Then I have kale for the week, or freeze part of it.

I would love to hear your tricks to save time and money preparing your MWL food.

One of my favorite steamed veggie combo is broccoli, carrot and red onion (snapped a photo of this combo as I had it for breakfast this morning). Another simple one is red cabbage, carrot and onion.



Wishing everyone a terrific and successful new month!!

[moonspirit]

Hi Jobet,

I like to steam veggies too. My other low-cost/low-effort trick is to make a big batch of hearty soup once a week and eat it for one meal all week. And then I also save money by eating oatmeal for breakfast most days.

My way of making oatmeal is super simple too:

Boil water in a pot. Add dry oatmeal and stir. Turn off heat and cover. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

What I like about it: you can walk away after adding the oatmeal; oatmeal doesn't become goopy like wallpaper paste. You can vary the water/oatmeal ratio until you find what works for you.

I add chopped up apples to it, and a dash of salt.

[Idgie]

One time-saver for me is having a partner who's willing to make compliant foods for me.

Every night at 9, my alarm on my phone goes off and tells me to prep something. Usually, I'll cook a pot of potatoes or rice or something, then put it in the fridge to use for the next few days. If I can just grab a starch for work lunches, my compliance is halfway taken care of, since it's HUGELY important for me to have compliant foods handy at work, as we're surrounded by cakes, candy, bagels, pizza, etc., almost all the time. I also have some pouches of starches at work in case I don't pack enough food in my lunch -- a favorite is this one: https://smile.amazon.com/365-Everyday-Value-Barley-Lentils/dp/B074MFRTWN/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1535726096&sr=8-3&fpw=pantry&keywords=barley+and+green+lentils (Yes, I know it has a little oil, but I didn't know that when I bought it, and now I seek out non-oil alternatives.)

[Jobet]

Hi Jobet,

I like to steam veggies too. My other low-cost/low-effort trick is to make a big batch of hearty soup once a week and eat it for one meal all week. And then I also save money by eating oatmeal for breakfast most days.

My way of making oatmeal is super simple too:

Boil water in a pot. Add dry oatmeal and stir. Turn off heat and cover. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

What I like about it: you can walk away after adding the oatmeal; oatmeal doesn't become goopy like wallpaper paste. You can vary the water/oatmeal ratio until you find what works for you.

I add chopped up apples to it, and a dash of salt.

Moospirit, yes, I make soup once or twice a week. It cooks quickly in my IP. I've just started that recently and it is less expensive and time consuming than the fresh salads that I was making daily.

I so wish I could eat oats, I love them. They cause joint pain for me, so I pretty much stay away from them. I've tried all sorts, organic, non-organic, non-gluten, etc. My DIL does use oats, made into flour, for some of her bars but I have those only once or twice a month, so no problem. It's when I eat oats for several days consecutively, I begin to have problems. Your method of cooking oats is super. When I "was" doing oats my favorite way was to soak overnight with frozen blueberries and eat them uncooked, add a sprinkle of cinnamon in the morning and a little bit of brown sugar, easier than ever. The blueberries tend to get expensive though, so your idea to use apple is much more cost effective.

Idgie, congrats on the great loss this week!! You're doing super, and I'm so glad you've decided to continue in this MWL part of the forum.

I'm alone, no partner, but it's awesome you have that help. My son and DIL both share the prep and cooking. Makes me a wee bit envious. My heart breaks for you and others who have to face all that junk food at work. I'm retired now, but remember what that was like. Of course, back then, I was adding to the problem bringing junk to share. Can't imagine that today! Planning ahead is definitely key, as you've said, and the phone alert to prep is a super idea.

[Lyndzie]

I’m down 1.9 lbs.

Only 10 lbs to go! Labor Day is Monday here in the States, and I have a couple tricky food related gatherings to navigate. Going to make the mustard potato salad someone posted, and some pretzel wrapped tofu dogs (not compliant) for the kids/SAD crowd.

Best to everyone! Keep crushing it!!

[Rosey]

276.7 lbs from 278.3 lbs so 1.6 lbs lost this week. Still swelling on feet and legs if it keeps up going to talk to doctor about it.

[squealcat]

I had a good week but alas, I must post a gain of 0.4 pounds.

Sometimes that happens and I have to keep talking to myself about it until I feel better. I'm OK with it now. Hopefully a loss will show up next week.

Not any big plans for this weekend. My children are all busy with their own families. I told my husband it will probably be just him and I this weekend. Not sad about it. It makes my menu easier to plan.

Have a great weekend everyone !

I plan to continue with this in September !

-Marilyn (squealcat)

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi to Everyone and congrats on your progress!!

I'm down 3 lbs this week - haven't done anything different, just keeping on. If I look at as an average of 1 lb / week for 3 weeks, makes more sense.

Jobet / Moonspirit / Idgie - I loved the tips you all shared for more efficient food prep! So great to make this as easy as possible. The big pot of soup is a favorite must- have!


I have a few thoughts that I'd like to add on saving time and / or money...


Maybe too basic or obvious - cutting produce right after buying it and storing it where it's easy to grab for a snack or to add to soups / stews / rice or potato bowls. I don't do this for all produce, but makes sense for me with ones that we either regularly use or are onerous to cut up for 1 serving -- melons, red onions, celery, carrots, radishes, etc. I keep the crudite type of veggies in fridge in water and change the water each day.

Kind of like Jobet's tip on the steamed veggies. I like to roast veggies in the oven on parchment paper at about 400 and walk away for 20-25 minutes. Then, add to bowl of starch - usually rice or potato - along with any raw veggie additions.

Jeff had this post a bit back on dehydrated soup. viewtopic.php?f=22&t=58399
I tried a couple of dehydrated soup mixes this past month and loved them (just veggies and starch). Easy to dump into slow cooker, add water, turn on appliance -- and walk away. Can doctor them up with additional fresh veggies and spices of your choosing.

Hope everyone has a great weekend !

[Mark Cooper]

I'm up 3.75 lbs this week, which is a little puzzling since I think I was very compliant the past week. I'm really pleased though - I think I finally got rid of my "cramming" instinct and am better and better at distinguishing when I'm actually hungry.

Congrats, Idgie - your continued success is really inspiring!

Thumbs up, Jobet - I really appreciate your thoughts on simplicity/frugality.

Great week, Lyndzie! Hope you have a great time on the holiday weekend.

Congrats, Rosie - best of luck with your edema, I know it can be worrying - take care and be well.

Way to stay positive, Marilyn! I think those sorts of tiny fluctuations are pretty normal. I find I really enjoy a quiet holiday at home with family, too.

We're having a meetup with a youth / parents group at the NJ State Museum tomorrow, and a picnic if weather cooperates. A few of the other families are vegan as well, so may even be able to share some food.

I see the hematologist / oncologist on September 13, so I'll update on my health situation once I know more. I'm actually feeling pretty good, although the pain is still usually about 5/10 by bedtime.

I'm DEFINITELY in for September, as well. This group has been so great and I'm seriously thinking I may just eat MWL for the foreseeable future.

[Mark Cooper]

Great week, VegSeekingFit!

Thanks for the link on dehydrated soup - I had meant to give them a try when I read the post originally, and then totally forgot about it.
Really appreciate the reminder!

[Idgie]

I kind of wish I liked the dehydrated stuff more, but there's something about the texture that hits me kind of wrong. I'm way more likely to use canned foods for convenience than dried, so I'm really glad it's getting easier and easier to find salt-free, non-BPA canned foods. I don't eat either thing that often, but sometimes we need all the help we can get to eat well during busy or stressy times.

[Jobet]

VegSeekingFit . . . Congrats on your awesome loss this week!

Thanks for your tips too. I love reading tips from others here, as I always learn something new every single time. I use red onions, celery, carrots basically every day. I'm going to start cutting those up right away when I bring them home. This will save me more time, for sure.

I used to roast veggies in the oven but haven't lately, since it's been so hot. The flavor is out of this world. I loved sweet potato, red onion and garlic. Since fall is right around the corner, I'll oven roast more veggies soon. Thanks for the reminder.

Jeff had this post a bit back on dehydrated soup. viewtopic.php?f=22&t=58399
I tried a couple of dehydrated soup mixes this past month and loved them (just veggies and starch). Easy to dump into slow cooker, add water, turn on appliance -- and walk away. Can doctor them up with additional fresh veggies and spices of your choosing.

I saw Jeff's post but haven't tried dehydrated veggies yet. Will put it on my to-do list to try soon. Thanks again, for the reminder.

Mark . . . Yes, please update on your health situation once you know more. Once I get to goal, I'll probably have an occasional McDougall allowed treat, but I expect I'll stick to eating the MWL plan pretty much the rest of my life.

[moonlight]

Congrats to everyone! We are so smart for being here and taking the big plunge to improve our health! We are definitely in the minority. I am happy to report a 1 lb loss this week.