APRIL 2019 Maintenance Thread

[Lyndzie]

Happy April everybody!

This is the fourth month of this group, and we have had a solid start to something new. Right now I'd like to get some feedback from you guys about how this group is working for you. What do you like about the maintenance thread? Is there anything that can be improved upon? Maybe you have an idea for something that we can be doing that we haven't thought of?

Feel free to post here, or PM me if you prefer a less public discourse. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Next "weigh in" is next Friday, April 5.

[f00die]

hello lyndzie
just a quick question
about framing
how is maintenance not like treading water?
or reaching the top of everest (cant stay there)?
thx

[Ejeff]

Yes nothing processed I just meant non complaint food in packages. We had bought some treats like dark almond bark and coconut clusters and some other stuff, it’s still in the house but I’m staying away from it. I always have store bought salsa and marinara on hand and if they are compliant I will use them. I don’t want too spend all that much time in the kitchen to make everything from scratch Yes MyFitnessPal gives a simple graph. I have a Fitbit now so I am tracking in there also and I like it because I can also input body fat percentage which MyFitnessPal doesn’t allow. My scale has that function that shows the % of body fat. Some people don’t think it is very accurate but I do and at the very least it is relative, so if the % continues to drop I’m heading in the right direction. I googled how to cook Farro and I decided to cook it like I do my brown rice. I just boiled in lots of water, tasted it until it was the consistency I like and then drained the excess water. Lyndzie, thank you so much for leading this thread! You are really amazing doing all this and having a baby to take care of. I guess the only thing I struggle with is what to post. As long as we contribute we can chat about anything, as you never know what might help someone else right? It works for me in the current format and I’m not sure how it could be improved. Perhaps others have ideas for content, as I think the format works fine. I don’t weigh myself until Saturday so not sure if the Friday date is up for discussion. Of course I could change to Friday, but Saturday seems more like the end of the week (at least in my little mind lol). I consider a week Sunday to Saturday. Thanks again, really appreciate your willingness to be our leader!

[Lyndzie]

hello lyndzie
just a quick question
about framing
how is maintenance not like treading water?
or reaching the top of everest (cant stay there)?
thx

It’s probably more like treading water than climbing a mountain. It’s a continuous small effort to stay in one place.

I think of maintenance more like the concept of sobriety, because we live in a toxic food environment and need to create a community of support to avoid eating unhealthy food that is manufactured to be irresistible.

Weight is the easiest metric to measure at home. It is totally reasonable to think of a person having a healthy weight all the time, but we are constantly bombarded with advertisements and misinformation to influence us to eat stuff that is just downright deadly. The majority of Americans struggle with maintaining a proper energy balance. That is not to say it is impossible, but it definitely requires concerted effort.

Some people are able to lose their excess weight (or lower cholesterol, decrease blood pressure, etc) on their own by following the program independently. We are social creatures, though, and some people may want more community and support. The goal of this group is to provide online support to people who have reached their goals, but still want the accountability of checking in with others regularly.

[Lyndzie]

Yes nothing processed I just meant non complaint food in packages. We had bought some treats like dark almond bark and coconut clusters and some other stuff, it’s still in the house but I’m staying away from it. I always have store bought salsa and marinara on hand and if they are compliant I will use them. I don’t want too spend all that much time in the kitchen to make everything from scratch Yes MyFitnessPal gives a simple graph. I have a Fitbit now so I am tracking in there also and I like it because I can also input body fat percentage which MyFitnessPal doesn’t allow. My scale has that function that shows the % of body fat. Some people don’t think it is very accurate but I do and at the very least it is relative, so if the % continues to drop I’m heading in the right direction. I googled how to cook Farro and I decided to cook it like I do my brown rice. I just boiled in lots of water, tasted it until it was the consistency I like and then drained the excess water. Lyndzie, thank you so much for leading this thread! You are really amazing doing all this and having a baby to take care of. I guess the only thing I struggle with is what to post. As long as we contribute we can chat about anything, as you never know what might help someone else right? It works for me in the current format and I’m not sure how it could be improved. Perhaps others have ideas for content, as I think the format works fine. I don’t weigh myself until Saturday so not sure if the Friday date is up for discussion. Of course I could change to Friday, but Saturday seems more like the end of the week (at least in my little mind lol). I consider a week Sunday to Saturday. Thanks again, really appreciate your willingness to be our leader!

Thanks, Erin! I am totally with you on the packaged non-compliant stuff. The Easter candy keeps trying to jump in my cart at the store these days. Saturday seems to be the day that I hear from everyone for checking in, so that works just fine. Thanks for being a part of the group, we have a small but mighty team here!

[Starchyme]

Weighed yesterday and I am excited to tell y'all I'm back to my goal weight. Wishing everyone a happy McDougalling week to come.

[Suey51]

Hi everyone!

Not sure exactly what my weight is this week as I've used two different scales (neither of which is my home scale!) and got a range of readings; so going to say its the same as last week! I've eaten out a few times and am grateful for my family's support in going to restaurants that have suitable options for me. Excited that I've now got a Fitbit tracker which gives me lots of lovely stats, including working out the average weight for the week (from my daily weigh-ins) so I think I'll start using that when I post here, rather than the weight on the day I post.

Lindsey - here's the Tabbouleh recipe I used. I know what you mean about feeling it is missing something without the oil. Have you tried using a little oil-free dressing on top? How's things going in the new kitchen?

Ejeff - well done on sticking to the unprocessed foods! Congrats on reaching that weight Will look out for some farro as I haven't tried that. And I like the sound of the sweet potato mix so will give that a go. How are you getting on with slowing down and eating more mindfully?

Lindsey, you asked us:

What do you like about the maintenance thread? Is there anything that can be improved upon? Maybe you have an idea for something that we can be doing that we haven't thought of?

Here's my two penn'orth: I love the accountability and support; the information you share; the sense of being part of a like-minded tribe and hearing how others are doing;. I read everything even if I don't post that often, and it helps me feel connected to the McDougall community Like Ejeff, I am immensely grateful to you for facilitating the group and am sometimes unsure what to post, other than my weight and any random thoughts on the week. Perhaps we could ask the group a question each month, for example: what's your typical day's food; what's your favourite McD soup recipe; how to set up a potluck in your local area; what's the most confusing packaged food label you've seen recently? Things that might be useful to the rest of the group or new maintainers or might be just for fun I figure there's a lot of experience in this group that we can tap into.

The Friday weigh-in has become a habit, because that's when I used to weigh-in for the MWL weigh-in thread, but I often don't get around to posting until a Saturday so I'm happy with either date

Best wishes, Sue x

[Lyndzie]

Starchyme - Yay! Goal weight feels so good. It’s just nice to get that validation on the scale that the program works and see that reflection of your commitment. Now the hard part, staying there.

Sue - that is great to have family support while gone. Scales seem to vary so much, and weight can vary drastically during the course of the day. Thank you for the recipe. I found this one from an old newsletter. I’m heading out to the store to pick up ingredients shortly. I appreciate the feedback as well. Conversation starters seem like a natural item to include.

My weight a little up from from last week (113.7 this week, 112 last Friday). Finally all that traveling and eating out caught up with me. I’ve had a few days of complete compliance under my belt, and it feels good to eat well.

Thanks again for the feedback. I’m glad to hear that this thread is appreciated!

[Starchyme]

Thanks, Suey, for sharing all I wanted to share also. I would miss this thread if the time ever came. I love the input from all, as well as aiding me in keeping accountable and focused on my way of eat for the rest of my years.

[Suey51]

Weighed yesterday and I am excited to tell y'all I'm back to my goal weight. Wishing everyone a happy McDougalling week to come.

Woo hoo! Congrats Starchyme

Thanks Lindsey for that recipe! I like the idea of including some cooked beans

[Starchyme]

Thanks, Suey. I'll report the same for this coming week! Count on it.

[Ejeff]

Up about 1.5 pounds this week to 108.8. The staying away from the processed food was less successful this week lol. We have a bag of trail mix in the RV which found my mouth this week. Sue the mindfulness while eating is good. It might not always reflect on the scale, but I just enjoy the taste and textures more and it gives me a deeper appreciation for food. So much to be grateful for! I have been very bad at following recipes so I need to somehow commit to making at least one planned thing a week. I have been more of a throw it all in a bowl eater for the past while. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I do feel like a lazy cook lately. I will definitely be having some potatoes with gravy and green peas as I am craving that. I make the forks over knives recipe which has a bit of tahini, but it is super tasty. Oh I just realized I did try a new recipe this week, I made falafels with a lemon tahini sauce. Put it in a wrap it was so good. I need to add falafels to the rotation each week as they are super quick to make and the flavour is great. One herb that elevates rice bowls or salad is mint. I haven’t been able to find fresh mint lately, but if you add just a few tiny pieces to your dish it’s like wow...if you haven’t tried it let me know what you think if you do. Hope the week is happy and full of lovely whole foods for everyone

[Suey51]

Thanks Ejeff, that's good to hear about the mindful eating. I've noticed that I've been eating fairly quickly, including eating food out of the microwave while it's still too hot - ouch! Will try out mindful eating this week.

Is this the recipe you used for your gravy?Heather’s Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Creamy Golden Gravy The falafels with lemon tahini sauce also sound good. Also, do you have a recipe you could share please? I haven't made them before and would like to try!

Interesting that you mention using mint in salad. I use it when making tabbouleh and love the smell and taste, so will try it out with rice and other salads and let you know how it goes. By coincidence, my husband added some to a plate of papaya and strawberries last night

Best wishes x

[Suey51]

Hi again.

Inspired by the conversation here, I made tabbouleh for lunch today and realised afterwards that I'd used those two recipes as suggestions rather than instructions Partly because I don’t really like raw green pepper (in Mary McDougall’s recipe) or raw garlic. Also I forgot to buy more parsley so didn’t have enough for either recipe and I just kinda ignored the quantities of cucumber and tomato. Oh and I always add pomegranet seeds if I have them. I usually add a little salt, but in line with my new focus on this, I didn’t add any. I liked Mary McDougall’s suggestion of adding chick peas or beans but kept them separate and made hummus with half the jar, again without salt. This is how my plate looked and it was mighty delicious! The purple onions are marinated in lemon and were made by husband. I noticed today that he adds salt so have asked him next time, to make me some without

I tried out mindful eating part way through my meal when I noticed I was using a fork as a spoon (some would say, more like a shovel ) and tried to spear the chick peas, sweet corn, pomegranet seeds individually instead. Certainly slowed things down and gave me a greater appreciation of the individual items.



So, it's been another day of learning about McD maintenance with 2 useful lessons:

1. Salt is a sneaky devil, ongoing vigilance is needed.
2. Don't share recipes that you don't actually follow yourself haha!

Hope you're all having a good weekend x

[Ejeff]

Yes that is the gravy I like to make, I didn’t realize it was from Heather I thought it was from Forks over knives but I don’t exactly keep good track of recipes lol, it’s out of control really. The falafel recipe was a picture a friend sent me from a vegan cookbook called But I Could Never Go Vegan by Kristy Turner. Found the recipe on her website yay! Here you go
http://keepinitkind.com/falafel-tacos-w ... ini-sauce/
Glad you tried the mindful eating, it is an interesting experience that makes one appreciate their food more. Your plate looks so lovely and thanks for mentioning the purple onions in lemon I will try that. I agree salt is so tricky I still sprinkle some on and I really should stop, I say that but don’t do it lol. I have gotten better at sprinkling spices on dishes like oregano and basil so need to do that more. Next couple of days I will be eating mostly brown rice, potatoes with mustard and veggies and fruits. Keeping it simple and clean I hope.