Extremely frustrated and I gained over 40 Lbs :(

[Verlaine001]

I am a 47 year old woman 5 foot 9, and I presently weight 212 pounds. My usual weight is around 170and for all of my life I have had to diet and control carbs in order to keep my weight and cravings down. Every time in my life that I have fluctuated, it is because I began eating carb foods.

About 2 years ago I began following the starch solution and every month thereafter slowly the weight has crept on. The scale just went up, and up and up. I thought, just give it time, your body needs to adjust to the change. Well, I’d say 2 years is more than enough. Hubby says I should just go back to low carb and just eat meat again. but I actually don’t like meat anymore, I also don’t believe in animal consumption and I believe the scientific data on meat and fat consumption linked to health problems. But my now obese body also doesn’t feel like it is very healthy either.

My diet usually consists of potatoes, mixed vegetables, beans, some fruit and oats sometimes in the morning. But lately I have also begun wicked cravings for bread, salt, fat at times, chocolate, sweets, these things NEVER happened on low carb ketogenic type diets that I followed. I always had tons of energy, slept well, lost weight and did not gain. I felt strong and was able to exercise.

I am sad and frustrated beyond measure. I feel that high carb, no fat or salt added plant based is the way to go, I understand the science, but my body in 2 years has become fatter and worse than ever. This morning I am contemplating going out and buying nuts, coconut oil, tofu and high fat plant foods and going back to a high fat Keto diet and modifying it to be plant based only just so I can shed all of my excess blubber.

I tried eating vegetables for breakfast and calorie density principles but I just get hungry and crave. So I dive into chips and fatty salty foods now, and have begun to think...whatever, I am fat now...it doesn’t matter, no matter what I do it won’t change, I have eaten no fat no salt no meat and followed the starch solution...and gained a ton of weight...so nothing will work. I am either going to be a fat vegan or have to go back to a Keto diet to shed the pounds.

Help, I’m lost at how I can shed 40 pounds that was so simple and painless to do when low carb. It’s not normal to crave and gain weight like this. And it’s been a struggle for the past 2 years on starch based eating.

[moonlight]

Hi Verlaine001,

I understand your frustration! Especially the thoughts about giving up and eating whatever because you are already overweight and tired of trying to lose weight. I know the meat eaters who cut out carbs seem to lose weight quickly but it is not a health-sustaining way to eat.

My suggestion is to buy Dr. McDougall's book on Maximum Weight Loss. Follow the suggestions exactly. No chips, no nuts, etc. And start an exercise routine. It's not easy but you've already made the transition to eliminate meat and dairy from your diet. There is a 21-day sample menu in the book. It helps me to use the suggested menus because it takes the decision of what to eat out of my daily approach to eating. I don't follow the sample menus completely because I have some go-to quick recipes that I like for certain occasions but I find the sample menu suggestions key to me staying on the plan. The recipes are huge so I usually only make 2-3 recipes for the week. I've also found some new go-to recipes.

Good luck. Try to stay with it. If you go through weak moments and go off plan, just get back on as soon as possible. What's in the past is gone. Nothing you can do will change the past. You can only control the present moment and the present moment shapes the future.

Bon Appetit!

[roundcoconut]

just to be really clear here:

you wanted to follow this plan of eating, but have noticed that you eaten 40 pounds worth of excess calories instead.

and you are kind of implying that your initial intent to eat well is driving you straight into the arms of junk food. i dont quite see it that way!

of course, if someone is looking for a way out, then you have my complete permission. like, “i tried to quit smoking, but all i wanted to do, was go shopping and buy expensive things on my credit cards. well, enough is enough! i NEVER was an overspender when i was smoking. my hubby thinks i should just go back to the cigarettes. whats a girl to do!”

what i am saying is that there is no way that the brown rice and vegetables that dr mcdougall has recommended, are making you eat, uh, sweets or breads or whatever. but if a better life awaits you by adopting a differentbplan that you feel you CAN adhere to, then by all means, that is the course of action that seems best here.

perhaps you see what i amsaying here? admittedly i am not seeing a problem here except lack of adherence and misunderstanding. your body is not doing anything wrong here - you are just feeding it the junk it is “demanding” rather than a “just say no” policy re junk food. but on a keto plan, one has to just say no to (these types of) junk foods too.

so i guess it is just the idea of change that is appealing?

[FitTrey]

I think you are ready for a completely fresh start. Forget the past 2 years. Forget what you think you understand about the program and commit to relearning it from scratch and learning it in depth. Be open to changing the things you are misunderstanding or were wrong about. When you have a firm understanding of the program and you aren't losing weight, you will know why. You will know what change needs to be made rather than deciding it doesn't work and I may as well eat chips and sweets.

My advice would be to do the Maximum Weight Loss Program. It has simple rules that are easy to understand so you will know for sure if what you are doing is right or not. One mistake people make with the regular program is thinking that any food, recipe, or ingredient ever used in a recipe that has ever been labeled "allowed" means that you can eat as much of that food as you want all the time. That has never been the case and it is a misunderstanding of what has been said before. Another mistake people make is underestimating the impact of off plan foods. You can eat a healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner but if sometime during the day you eat a bag of chips then that is no longer going to be a weight loss day. You might look back at all the good food you ate that day and think you are ok but you are actually way off into the weeds.

Recommit to yourself that you want to do this. It may be difficult at first since you have cravings for unhealthy foods. In my experience a craving that you give in to becomes stronger, more persistent, and more frequent while a craving that you do not give in to becomes weaker and less of a bother over time until it has no effect on you anymore. When it is difficult, gather up all your strength and persevere -- it is not difficult forever, it is only difficult until you firmly establish your new habits and lifestyle and then it is easy.

Above all, I think what made changing my diet easy for me was my attitude. I just stumbled upon this information but it interested me greatly and I became very excited to make the changes. I was stunned to learn that heart disease could be prevented, that diabetes could be prevented, that I could reduce the risk of many cancers just by eating these different foods. I guess I was just so happy and enthusiastic to learn what I did and to realize that my health was more in my control than I thought that I haven't thought much about all the foods I used to eat. Most people are blindly walking into health problems that you know how to prevent and that is something to feel grateful about. I have that feeling you get when you make a great deal, like I am getting way more than I am giving up. If changing your diet feels like a sacrifice or a chore it will be difficult but if it feels like a gift the struggles are much fewer and the motivation much higher.

[Verlaine001]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I perhaps was not clear on the thing about cravings, I have complied for a long time, to perfection, no flour, no refined carbs, whole plant foods, no added fat, no nuts, very little fruit, and yet somehow I have managed to overeat. Perhaps too much potatoes and beans, not enough greens. I have read Dr mcdougall’s books and understand the way of eating well.
I have come to believe that I do not do well on high amounts of dense carbs. I will need to eat far less dense. A lot of green vegetables, and less potatoes, like one potato instead of 3. 1/2 cup of rice instead of one and a half.
Here is to trying to figure out what will work. It’s surely a tweak that is needed. I felt good with a vegetable stir fry with tofu today, not a lot of tofu, and there was no rice. I was so afraid to eat tofu, and anything with any fat in it. I perhaps have been too rigid. After my lunch/breakfast I had energy and felt good no cravings beyond. Tonight I will have a vegan shepherds pie with no oil added and with lentils in place of the traditional meat. BUT...a large salad on the side and keep my portion small. I am a big eater, I think I do need far less density on the carbohydrates.
I guess plant based food has calories too....and eating too many calories, is just too many calories.
Fingers crossed. Thank you again for your thoughtful replies.
❤️

[kirkj]

FWIW, I eat plenty of oatmeal, potatoes, and rice but I also eat a whole lot of veggies to keep the calorie density down. I almost never eat rice or potatoes alone, they're in simple recipes containing peas, collards, celery, tomatoes etc.

[frozenveg]

I am glad you are recommitting! It is very frustrating to think you are doing something good and have it not working for you.

It does sound as though you may be a "volume eater." (Because, yes, indeed, more calories in minus fewer calories out still equals weight gain! ) I am a little bit of a volume eater, too, so I can really identify. Search the website for that term and read up on the various folks who have experienced this, and see what their solutions are.

Here is a link to an article by Dr. M about volume eating--just ignore the headline about "eating disorder" and see what his advice is, in the paragraph at the bottom headed "What I have learned so far"!
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl ... 100vol.htm

One of my biggest problems is that I cannot tell that I'm really full until I've stopped eating--then about 15 minutes later, I feel stuffed and regretful. I am going to recommit to Dr. M's advice in that paragraph, which is: "slow down they intake and give their food time to register...consume a medium-sized plate of food and then go work on some other project--then return to the dinner table a half-hour later and have another similar-sized plate."

I would also suggest that you make sure to limit the legumes to no more than a cup a day. I have found that more than that almost always led to a plateau, or worse, when I was losing. Also, Dr. M recommends that we have no more than than to keep from a protein overload.

Good luck to you, and keep us posted!

[Catmom]

Verlain001,

I'm so sorry it's been hard and disappointing! I suspect you've done a lot for your overall health, in spite of the frustrations.

I also suffer from food cravings, it is no fun. I don't eat sugar AT ALL, so I really don't yearn for it. Most of the time I am busy enjoying that I don't eat it. (I know that if I do it just leads to wanting more, which I do not enjoy.). But nuts and chips are another story.

I wanted to suggest that you consider consulting with Jeff Novick, or maybe one of the many WFPB doctors or advocates. At some point, not necessarily now. It's something you might look into, or keep in your back pocket as an option. Likewise there are live-in programs and the like with coaching.

Don't get me wrong, I think you are doing great. And I don't know that any one outside person is going to hold the key. But, if/when you feel at a loss for what to try, it could be useful to get an outside perspective, and/or an extra boost of support.

I'm wishing you all the success!