Down by 10

[frozenveg]

Teresa,
I know how you feel! I too was doing all things right and not losing. Then I read the study that says Aspartame can cause you to produe more insulin and not lose weight. I stopped a 4litre of Diet Pesi a day habit and in the last 5 weeks have dropped 12 #'s. I am doing everything else the same so for me it was so true!
Sue

Sue, you have given a good example of how people self-reporting can be deluding themselves, to their detriment. There is no way that an observer would consider a 4-liter-a-day Pepsi habit "doing all the right things" while McDougalling, but I can understand how you managed to delude yourself that it was OK in this way of eating. What a dramatic difference it made!!

[luvdachiess]

Hey Deb!! I would totally do a post together kind of thing again. I think it would really help me. I just started today to follow your Mom in not fat what so ever. I just got home from a wedding where they served, bread with cream cheese on it, I had none! Cesar salad, I asked for my lettuce plain, =). Then the main dish was veggie soaking in oil, rice cooked in chicken broth, 2 big pieces of chicken, I had none! BIG b basket of fruit on the table that we were able to eat. So I did great!! lettuce and fruit!! I need help!! Diet soda is not my problem either I have not had it for maybe 10 years, I only drink water and my coffee every morning. Nothing in the coffee, black!!

So Deb, how do we start this?? Thanks for the email as well, that is what brought me to this page!! =)

[Suebcallahan]

FrozenVeg: I am not sure what self-reporting is and I was by no means saying that drinking Diet Pepsi was "doing all the right things:". My point was and still is that if you can look at what you have been eating FOODWISE and are sure you are staying on the McDougall plan then you are most likley missing something you are doing wrong. For me it was what I drank, constantly. I looked at the "zero calories" and "zero fat" and said, well its not food so it doesn't count. Well obviously everything we put in our mouths counts and that study just brought it to my awareness. I am a typical 50 something person, well educated and yet was completely bamboozled by the Pepsi hype, for years! I was trying to encourage people who look at their food log and know that it is on plan but aren't losing. There IS a reason, keep on plan, write everything you put in your mouth down until the culprit reveals itself. Something that seems harmless and has no fat and zero calories can be sabotaging your whole health and eating plan. It did mine, I hope by sharing my "didnt have a clue" mistake it might help others. Being honest and admitting we aren't perfect is part of the journey.
Thanks

[frozenveg]

Sue, by "self-reporting," I was referring to when case studies are done in the area of diet, and the participants are asked to report what they ate, or even less reliably, asked if they ate (let's say) a diet 29% in fat, 30% in protein--that sort of thing. It has been brought up in other threads that it is hard to do a scientific study on human behaviors outside of a controlled environment...and your story is a great example of why it's so difficult. It was your perception that the beverage, being zero calories, wouldn't do any harm (so, in a study, perhaps, "wouldn't affect the results"), and therefore, you left it out of the consideration of how it could affect your efforts toward better health.

So thank you! I was not being snarky in my previous post, I was agreeing with you, and saying that it is easy for us to overlook things that can trip us up, or in any case, affect what we are trying to do.

[Suebcallahan]

Frozen Veg: Gottcha! Thanks for clarification.