AUGUST 2019 Maintenance Group

[Lyndzie]

Welcome to the McDougall Maintenance support group! Let’s join together for support and camaraderie while we strive to maintain our successes.

Many of us have lost weight and/or reached other health goals. We’re ready for that next chapter, maintaining the gains we’ve accomplished.

This group will have Friday check ins, where everyone can touch base. Weigh-ins are optional, and will not be tracked. Please feel free to share your non-scale victories (NSV) as well. Each week I plan to post some “food for thought” also, either some helpful information or just a little motivation for the week ahead.

In order to foster group participation, we do ask that only participants post, so please do join! You can join at any time simply by hitting the “post reply” button and saying something along the lines of “I’d like to join.” As they say, the more, the merrier.

Hello everyone!

Where has summer gone?! The days are already starting to shorten, and we are having surprisingly chilly mornings here in the Midwest. Between the heat waves that have effected many parts of the world to the unexpected cool temps, climate change is becoming more evident than ever in our everyday lives.

While poking around the McDougall website for some information I came across this amazing treasure trove of informational videos. I am constantly astounded by the amount of information that is shared freely here in an effort to help us live our best lives.

First check in for this month is tomorrow, Friday, August 2nd, 2019.

Best to you all,
Lindsey

[Suey51]

Hello everyone,

Pleased to report down 0.4 this week so 0.2 above goal weight.

Thanks Lindsey for your feedback to Starchyme's great question on the July thread about maintenance weight ranges and for sharing your numbers. Looking back at my numbers since I hit goal weight in early March 2018, my weight has stayed within a 5 pound range, apart from a couple of weigh-ins on other scales while travelling abroad. It's a wider range than I imagined at the start but I'm comfortable with the results.

At some point, I'd like to reset my goal weight a little lower. It was a fairly arbitrary decision to stop at that weight and gives me a BMI of 21.4, in the middle of the healthy range. However, I'm not ready at the moment to make the changes needed to take (and keep) my weight down further. Happy to stay bobbing along on the weight maintenance wave for now!

How about others? Have you set a target range?

Best wishes, Sue

[Lyndzie]

Hi Sue! You brought up a good point I also wanted to touch on: how do you choose a goal weight? Jeff provides a BMI range, and suggests that the lower half is better, but then again I know a couple people who can only get to those ranges when training for marathons. Part of it is finding the energy balance you can maintain, figuring out how adherent you want to be considering your personal energy needs. A trainer once told me that we should try to maintain the weight we were when we graduated high school, but I’m not sure if that is realistic. Maybe Jeff can chime in if I’m incorrect here?

For my check in, I’m at 112.7, which is a little high for me, so I will focus on better adherence. To be totally honest, we eat a ton of veggies and hummus, and I could really use a good store bought hummus that doesn’t contain oil.

[sirdle]

Hi Sue! You brought up a good point I also wanted to touch on: how do you choose a goal weight? Jeff provides a BMI range, and suggests that the lower half is better, but then again I know a couple people who can only get to those ranges when training for marathons. Part of it is finding the energy balance you can maintain, figuring out how adherent you want to be considering your personal energy needs. A trainer once told me that we should try to maintain the weight we were when we graduated high school, but I’m not sure if that is realistic.

In High School I weighed 160-165. I had not finished puberty and I was racing bicycles, so I was fit, had very strong legs, and almost no upper body. I have no idea what my body fat % was, but I was wearing size 32" jeans.

In college I weighed 170-175. My upper body had filled out -- not buff, just normal size -- and although I was no longer racing, I was still bicycling 10,000 miles a year. My jean size was still 32".

I reached a peak of 245 in 2016 while working a desk job, getting no exercise, and eating CRAP. My jean size was 39". I am now back in the low 170s (BMI = 23.5) and my jean size is 33". For my height, the midpoint of the BMI range would put me at 161 lbs... at the low end of my high school weight, before I had finished puberty. This seems too low... but when I look at the following measures: BMI, % body fat, height-to-waist ratio, waist-to-hip ratio, looking at my stomach in the mirror... they all indicate that I can lose more weight.

But my triceps are wasted and my shoulders and knees are boney. (I need to sleep with a towel between my knees so they don't cause discomfort.) I'm trying not to confuse the effects of losing weight with the effects of growing old.

My goal is to try to get down to 160 and see how I look and feel. I think I will need to get that low to eliminate my 'belly fat'. Then if I feel like I am too thin, I'll slowly add weight in a McDougall way.

I'm currently walking, practicing Qigong (for back pain) and T'ai Chi (for balance, flexibility, and meditation), and strength training.

Cheers.

[victw]

Well it took 2 tries. I posted in the July thread - twice. Uggh.

134.2 Still in good range. Which always perplexes me when I feel like I ate so much junk. I am getting veggies.

This morning was an oat bean burger. And some mini peppers Lucky for me I found some sugar snap peas that my husband forgot about.
The fridge is now clear. So need to do some shopping.

The kung pao mentioned in the July thread - I get that from the local chinese. It probably has too much oil. I get it to go. At home I measure out the rice and cabbage. And I add baked tofu. It turns out when you don't stuff your face. It's really 3 servings and not just 2.
Looks alot like Jeff's healthy plate.

I suppose even though I still struggle with the sweets I'm eating more veggies than I have before.

I'm watching the iThrive videos. They keep talking about fatty liver for "skinny" people. This has me wondering - how would I ever know if I had a fatty liver. And even though the weight is holding steady - I still know I'm eating too much junk.
It's easy to see how people go off plan - the head chatter is ridiculous.

Still enjoying my swims in the heat. Hikes have been shorter.

Vic

[Ejeff]

Back down 1.2 pounds to 106.8. It is an interesting question about how to set your goal weight and like Sue I just picked a random number. I hadn’t been checking my BMI, but I did and at 5’ 2” that gives me a BMI of 19.6. I wanted to see what weight would move me into the unhealthy (BMI too low) and the lowest weight I should go is 101. So this will be my target weight. And for a range 101 to 104. Not sure if this is achievable or not. I try to keep my focus more on eating lots of veggies and fruits and then I feel like I am giving my body all it needs to stay healthy, along with all the good starches which goes without saying. Like sirdle I can still feel and see unnecessary fat in stomach and rear so there is always room for improvement.

I did have success this week stopping the night time endless eating. What seemed to help was having a more satisfying snack or dessert after dinner. So I had 1/2 cup cooked spelt cold, with 3/4 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup plant milk, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves. The spice seems to make it taste so great and I just love the chewiness of the spelt. I don’t normally measure my food, but since I was trying to find some reasonable snack alternatives I did. For meals this week kept it simple, cooked lentils which I topped with steamed bok choy and mushrooms. Made some not as great choices also, like French bread and garlic toast which was not compliant. I also made onion soup which was so simple sort of funny I had never made it before. The recipe was from the original McDougall book that recently circulated. Next time I am going to try making a French version with stringy cashew cheese on top and croutons and then bake in the oven, I think that might be very tasty. I don’t have any new recipes planned for this week, but Costco had purple sweet potatoes which I hadn’t seen there before, so I bought a bag of those to eat. Hope everyone has a good week.

[Lyndzie]

Sirdle - You bring up some really good points about what you would probably be most comfortable at, vs what the numbers suggest. It sounds like you are really close to reaching your goal! The last ten pounds can be slow, but then again, slow and steady wins the race.

Vic - I think when we eat so much junk food, we are forgetting all the things we did right because it's habit at this point. Out of curiosity I googled fatty liver and skinny people, and it appears that the fatty liver will coincide with other health issues, such as metabolic disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc. All the more motivation to eat those veggies!

Erin - Congrats on the weight loss and ending the nighttime eating. This probably goes without saying, but women are suppose to have a little more body fat than men, so keep that in mind when finding the right weight. As Jeff has pointed out, a BMI of 18.5-22 might be good, but lower is not always better. Just curious, do you have a healthy high school weight to compare to? Your meals look great as usual. Let me know what you thought of the purple sweet potatoes!

Tomorrow is weight in day again, and I am late in responding. Please accept my apologies! Last Saturday I weighed in at 110.7, but have been super bloated for some reason (probably the oil that has been sneaking in) and wore a dress on Wednesday for jury duty that I hadn't worn in years and split the rear when I went to sit down. Oh man, what a day. Looking forward to hearing what everyone has going on!

[Mark Cooper]

Hello all!
My BMI this morning is unchanged at 20.2.

My trip went quite well, no major pain flares. I think the elimination diet was definitely helpful, my pain was at the most mild for the 4 days I was eating only sweet potatoes; when I reintroduced more foods, I think I wasn't gradual enough and I wasn't able to find any specific triggers - I didn't have any flare-ups returning to regular MWL, but my pain was not as mild as it was on the elimination diet. It is hard to narrow down possible confounding factors - eating only sweet potatoes, I was basically doing no kitchen work and when I transitioned back to MWL I was cooking and preparing foods as usual. I have definitely noticed that standing in the kitchen doing chores is something that aggravates my CRPS pain somewhat, so it could have had as much to do with activity as food. I'm going to try the elimination diet again in a few weeks here at home. Still a success, the last time we had to travel by air and I was out of my routine I had major pain flare-ups, so this trip was a great relief.

My mom booked me 3 sessions with a physical trainer while I was visiting; it was really wonderful - I've never had a trainer before and exercise is one of my favorite activities - a real treat for me. Had a great visit overall, and my daughter loved spending a whole week with her grandmother!

Wishing everyone an awesome and healthful week to come!

[Ejeff]

Week has been good, I’ve been using up the food on hand. Lost 0.8 of a pound. Will need to get some produce soon. I will try the purple sweet potatoes this week. Lindsey yikes that must have been shocking to split your dress. Were you selected from the jury pool? I have never been selected for jury duty. Mark glad your trip went so well and your pain was better. This week will be more challenging as I am working again just for a couple weeks. I plan to take potatoes, oat burgers that are frozen and fruit. Not sure if there is a fridge, but I can eat all these things cold or room temperature. Amazing I stopped baking and am eating less...funny how that’s works! Except for yesterday my hubby made cookies to take to our daughters tonight and I had too many of those.

Like Vic, I have also been eating more veggies. The more I eat the better I seem to feel. This week I would like to make the corn chowder that Jane Esselstyn cooked. Super simple and I love corn. I am also making spicy refried beans as I have a bag of pinto beans to use up. Wishing you all a good week. I have noticed the summer is really flying by and the days are getting shorter now.

[victw]

Well to my surprise my weight is up half a pound.
134.8.

I actually had a good week food wise. The only junk in the office was on Monday. And I successfully ignored it.

I continued to watch the iThrive series. Some interesting take aways
* Dr. Esselstyn talking about eating out. It should never be about the food.
* Jason Fung describing food as gas in a car. Why do we continue to fill up even though we are full. It's created a really nice visual in my head. And I did have dinner one night this week when I wasn't really hungry. I'm going to have to make some different decisions in this area.

For most of 2018 I recorded my food in cronometer. I looked back at the same time this year to get a sense for what I am doing differently. So I'm not prepping as much food as I was last year. I made pasta salad this week. I also made bean burgers. Normally I make one batch at a time which is a little more than a weeks worth. But I accidentally overcooked the beans - half of which where supposed to go in my pasta salad - and I ended up with about 3 weeks worth of bean burgers. I froze the extra 2 weeks. This should make this weekends prep easier.

My hiking pants were tight last night. So the extra half lb can't be ignored. I haven't been recording my food lately - so I might need to go back to it for a little while.

Hmm - I wonder if I need to go back to the weight loss thread. Mostly because I think my original intent had been to post once a month in the maintenance thread. But I really like the once a week weight loss format.

I finally found some good melon this week. And I bought the quarter watermelon. I love the summer fruits.

Vic

[Starchyme]

Hi,all. I have been weighing once a month now.I was 1 pound down from my goal.So,I'm a very happy McDougaller! Wishing everyone HappySunday.

[Suey51]

Hi all.

Lovely to read everyone's updates Sorry to hear about your dress Lindsey, how horrid! Hope the rest of the jury service is less eventful Glad you had a good trip Mark. Interesting observations into the differences in your pain while travelling. How lovely that your Mum organised some training sessions for you

My weight on Friday was down 0.6 which is 0.4 below my goal weight - woo hoo! It's bobbed up a little since then which I'm putting down to eating out on Friday evening. (Asked for my meal to be oil free but suspect it had a fair amount of added salt, which I've not been using at home.)

The topic of target weight and BMI came up recently in another thread here and Jeff's response with links to other posts was interesting.

This week, we've eaten a lot of courgette soup due to the annual glut, plus some lovely home grown potatoes and swiss chard. I've cut back on baking as it's mostly me that eats the results, but have made some jam to use up frozen plums from last year.

Had a couple of lovely days in London catching up with some family and very close long-term friends who I only get to see a couple of times a year. Beforehand, I was a teeny bit anxious about eating out as the plans were fairly 'free-flowing'! but was able to make pretty good choices. Afterwards, I realised that I was much calmer about this than I used to be and didn't let it get in the way of having a good time with people I love Vic, Dr Esselstyn's comment about eating out:

It should never be about the food

rang so true for me this week

Erin - I like your idea about stopping the evening eating by having a more satisfying snack after dinner. When I first started the MWL programme, I used to have some leftover porridge with fruit so will start that again. Have been tending towards grazing recently.

Best wishes, Sue x

[Lyndzie]

Hi all! It's Friday AGAIN. Where did the week go?!

First off, I am sorry for not responding to everyone sooner. Things in the "real world" here have gotten busier, and I am dropping the ball here. While I can definitely continue to get the monthly threads going, I'm not able to get back to people as quickly as I'd like. I would love if anyone would like to help keep the momentum going, or just post an interesting McDougall article or video, anything really. Or, if you'd like to take over completely, shoot me or Jeff a PM.

Mark - So glad to hear that your trip went well! Sounds like you gained some new insights.

Erin - I was not selected for the jury pool - it was a case of domestic violence than involved a child, and I am grateful that I did not have to listen to the details. How is working going? Do you have a compliant cookie recipe? It'd be nice to have something to take to cookouts and the like.

Vic - Pants never lie! My shorts have been very honest with me lately, too. If you'd like to hang around here, you are welcome to, but I know that the MWL thread is much more active.

Starchyme - Thanks for checking in. Well done!

Sue - I've read through those BMI posts, too. They are so insightful! I love courgettes/zucchinis, how do you make your soup? How far are you from London? I've been a couple times, it's such a nice place to visit (it's quite a distance from here!).

[Suey51]

Hi again!

Lindsey - yes hasn't the week flown by! No need to apologise; I'm so grateful to you for keeping this thread going I'll certainly aim to share any interesting McD resources and chip in as and when I can.

This is the courgette/zucchini recipe I've been making as it's my husband's fav (of the many courgette recipes I've tried!) and certainly uses up a lot of courgettes

Courgette & Basil Soup.

1.173kg (approx. 7) courgettes,
19g (approx 4-5 cloves) garlic,
"handful" basil (c. 15g),
1 cube vegetable stock,
60g dried chickpeas - cooked (I use about half a tin of cooked chickpeas c. 120 g)
1 tbsp lemon juice
Cook courgettes, basil, garlic & lemon juice until soft and reduced. Add stock, add chickpeas, blend and season with salt and pepper.

Recipe is from kaitsfarm on Instagram
I leave out the salt and use very low salt veggie stock.

I also like this one which I make in a normal saucepan instead of a pressure cooker:

Creamy Dreamy Zucchini Chowder
Makes 4 servings

2 cups finely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups zucchini or summer squash, cut into 2-inch chunks
1/4 cup ground red lentils
1/4 cup almond flour or meal (I used ground almonds)
2 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh basil, for garnish

Heat a stovetop pressure cooker over medium heat or set an electric pressure cooker to sauté. Add the onion and dry sauté for 1 minute.
Add the garlic and sauté another minute. Add the squash, lentils, almond flour and stock.
Lock on the lid. Bring the cooker to high pressure. Cook for 4 minutes. Let the pressure come down naturally. Remove the lid, carefully tilting it away from you.
Stir in the nutritional yeast. Using an immersion blender, a blender or food processor, blend soup until creamy.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour into bowls and serve, garnished with basil.

*Don't think it would be suitable as-is for people on MWL due to ground almonds. I use very low salt stock and leave out the salt.*

Recipe was recommended by squealcat / Marilyn on August 2018 MWL weigh in thread. Taken from Vegan Under Pressure by Jill Nussinow – based on using pressure cooker


My Mum still lives in the house where I grew up in North East London which is about 50 minutes by car from my home in Hertfordshire. (By train it's about 30 minutes to central London.) Although I haven't lived there since I was 18, London still feels like home and I love to visit I feel lucky to have two very close friends from that time who each have one parent still living in the houses where they grew up. Do let me know if you're ever visiting London again!

Oh, I nearly forgot, my weight this week is up by 0.2 so still just under my goal weight. The weather has turned cooler and we've had a couple of days of very heavy rain. I've been indoors more and sat at the computer doing some work for a local not-for-profit. Looking at my Fibit, I've done a lot fewer steps than usual. However, we were lucky to have a beautiful evening on Tuesday for the last of our Summer evening health walks

How's everyone else's week been?

Best wishes, Sue x

[Ejeff]

Week sure did fly by. Working is okay, but it does make me appreciate retirement more lol. I made some bad choices this week and the scale shows that so up about 1.5 pounds. The bad choices were potato chips that were given to me and a cinnamon bun which I’m sure wasn’t compliant. I didn’t actively pursue these things, but I sure could have not put in my mouth.

As for a cookie recipe I like to make the oat clusters from Well your world, or even just bananas, oats and cinnamon for the healthiest version of a cookie. I picked sour cherries this week so was planning to blend with dates and oats to make some bliss balls for the freezer. I also got more rhubarb, but I think I will just chop and freeze that for now. Well your world also had a recipe for a hearty pasta bake so I will try to make that this week. I am really disgusted today as our government has just given the diary industry 1.36 billion dollars. Very frustrating how tax dollars are spent. I got far fewer steps in this week, and really no excuse for being lazy.

Lindsey I will try to post links as well. I don’t necessarily think we need links, but just this place to be able to check in on a regular basis. I enjoy reading about how everyone is doing and the wins and struggles they face. Makes me feel like we are all in this together. If it takes too much time to set up the new monthly thread, as this is maintenance, we could have a thread for the whole year if that simplifies things. Thanks for what you do!