Journal of Magic & Happiness

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Sun Apr 22, 2018 11:50 am

I wanted to open up this little concept of preparing for situations mentally, without actually putting oneself in the situation.

For example, some parents are really good about drilling their kids on “what to do if a stranger approaches you” or “what to do if the house catches on fire”. Generally, they keep drilling their kids, “Do you remember what to do if someone asks you to get in their car?” Or, “Where are we going to all meet up if we have to evacuate the house?”

In other words, without lighting the house on fire, and without hiring a pedophile to pursue your kid, you can make sure that a child knows step by step, what they do first, and what they do second, etc.

I honestly believe that people should have this type of simulator before they ever enter a difficult situation, like co-workers celebrating a birthday and bringing an effing cupcake to your cubicle; or being on vacation and having the other couple try to offer you a glass of wine.

In other words, we should practice these situations, FIRST with only imaginary cupcakes. Because if you get it wrong, there are no consequences.

Example:
Me #1: “Self, what’d’ya do when your coworker has a birthday and brings you a cupcake right to your cubicle with a smile?”
Me #2: “Say thank you and then eat the frosting off?”
Me #1: “[BUZZER!!!!]” “Let’s try again! What’s the plan when a co-worker has a birthday and brings you a cupcake? What’re y’gonna do first?”

So, you’re only practicing with imaginary cupcakes, just like moms drill their kids with imaginary fires and imaginary pedophiles. Once you’re in the situation, it’s WAY too late.

My mother used to drill us (because it was the 80s, and we were all about stranger-danger!) that if someone came around and said, “Your mother’s been in an accident and asked me to pick you up from school”, that me or my brother had to ask him what my mother’s middle name was, and if he didn’t know, then he was a fake.

Oh, the joy of the 80s!

So, there are some of my thoughts on forming a sequence of behaviors in response to a situation, and just walking through that sequence LONG before we ever have to be in a tough situation! :)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:11 pm

It’s funny, because while the endless documentaries and podcasts of the plant-based community bore me to tears, I am utterly FASCINATED by this idea of “Why Americans Fail” (at their diets, with their food choices, etc.).

Part of that has to do with the fact that most of us don’t have a concrete plan of action for dealing with situations at work, dealing with social situations involving food, dealing with situations on vacation.

It is the old adage, “Failing to plan, is planning to fail.”



But there’s another factor, which is that I feel that people should only be encountering the situations that are UTTERLY unavoidable.

Taking unnecessary risks is probably A HUGE reason that people are failing in America.

Like, even if you give someone a basic outline of what to do if a fire breaks out, you probably are going to every precaution so that a fire never DOES break out that could’ve been prevented. You wouldn’t let your kids smoke in bed (ha!). You wouldn’t let your kids stay in a shack that has electrical wires sparking left and right. You wouldn’t leave lighters or matches lying around.

And yet, the regular everyday person, is willing to go to their mom’s house when they KNOW she’s going to offer some butter-soaked pierogies. They are willing to meet up with an old friend at a restaurant, rather than at a park. There are just all sorts of unnecessary risks going on, PLUS the absence of a plan to deal with those risks, and that all seems to add up to failure.

Of course, I cannot determine for anybody else what is an avoidable risk, versus what is an unavoidable risk. But I question at times, when people talk of pushy parents, or stubborn boyfriends, or picky kids —
- Are your parents going to literally disown you if you will not visit them at their butter-soaked-pierogi-filled home on Mother’s Day?
- Are your kids going to literally run away from home if you do not keep peanut butter in the house?
- Is your spouse going to literally divorce you if you ask them to keep their indulgences to areas outside the home?

I am reminded of second-hand smoke, and how there was a day when women were afraid to ask their husbands not to smoke in the home. Back in the 70s and early 80s, VERY few parents were ballsy enough to ask the babysitter not to smoke in the same room as their kids. And few wives were ballsy enough to ask their husbands to smoke only OUTSIDE the home, unless a kid was seriously asthmatic or something like that.

There’s my ramble-fest for this morning. It’s all a work in progress of course! :)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:29 pm

My last two months of heart rate training, has given me an undying love for FEEDBACK.

I would guess that lots of people do not progress in their fitness, simply because they do not have a heart rate monitor to tell them, “Slow down! You’re working too hard!” Or “You’re not doing enough to get any benefit — pick up the pace a teeny bit!”

Heart rates do not lie, and when there are minor stresses, the heart rate reflects that back, and you have to go even SLOWER to stay in your preferred heart rate zone.

I have actually been surprised several times. At first, I realized I was in the long-standing habit of going way too slow on the treadmill. Just doing a brisk walk with no incline, just isn’t enough to produce a training load that produces improvement.

Then one month into training, I find myself tending to go OVER the range that I’m supposed to be working in, and taking on more intensity than I can continue enjoyably and sustainably.



When it comes to food, perception turns out to be a poor method of feedback. I tend to think, “I’ve been eating so GREAT! Certainly, my scale weight is dropping like an anchor! I am eating practically nothing!” But if you do not monitor how much you’ve eaten in a particular day (whether or not you try to map out the calories of same!), you are more than likely off the mark. (Way off the mark, if you’re anything like me).

Even just noting how much I am eating today, relative to how much I ate the previous three days (which produced neither weight gain nor weight loss) is enough to provide good feedback. If I have already eaten the same proportion as I ate yesterday, and decide I could sure go for two more pieces of fruit, then there is this feedback, that the scale may very well register some weight gain, if I go through with it.

I mean, YES, our calorie needs vary from one day to the next, but I am becoming convinced that having some standards by which to know that we are over-target, or under-target, or on-target — we NEED those standards if we are to calibrate ourselves reliably.

I am reminded of certain athletes who are in no way surprised by their results in a road race, because they have timed their splits. They have a benchmark at each mile, to tell them whether they are behind-pace for a certain finishing time, or what.

And I want to get to that point — where my expectations are correctly and intelligently calibrated to the results. Want to get to the point where there aren’t really any surprises! :)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Sun Apr 22, 2018 2:42 pm

Jumping off the analogy of runners checking their splits every other mile, in order to assess what adjustments need to be made to finish at a certain elapsed time:

I was watching footage of the Berlin marathon once, and the cameras happened to show the race-sponsored pacers:
There were these runners attached to a big helium balloon showing their pace, so that hapless runners could follow somebody who was running their intended pace.

So there was a runner attached to a balloon that said “10 minute miles” and one with a balloon that said “10:30 pace”, etc.

(Ok, that is not strictly true — they were all calibrated in kilometers, but y’know.)

I can imagine if we had people with a balloon saying “I’m on 1800 calorie pace” and then if that is a level that creates a calorie deficit for you but not TOO much difficulty, then you can kinda follow that person through the buffet line, at lunch, and do the same thing at dinner, and not take ANY trips to the buffet line until your pacer does.

I think this kind of thing would help people immensely!

I don’t mean this concept should be implemented LITERALLY, but that we need to have a reliable way of pacing our intake!
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby f00die » Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:02 pm

dr. mcd and jeffn say to eat the right foods when hungry until comfortably full
the approaches of "calorie pacing" (aka calorie counting)
and hunger suppression by extending the time between meals (sounds painful frankly)
are all forms of portion control and reducing food intake using willpower
plus lots of exercise thrown in.
these methods have a long historical track record of short-term success for some and abysmal failure in the long term
to paraphrase dr. mcd:
its not when and how we eat, its what we eat

that is the central epiphany that is taught here
we can go through all kinds of painful contortions (does the practiced contortionist feel pain?)
to see a certain number on the scale in the short term
but why?
sustainability demands sustainable processes
dr. mcd and jeffn's approach has 30+ years of sustainable success
why not focus on figuring out how to implement that approach?
isnt it better to allow healthy eating to pick our weight for us
rather than us picking our weight for our own personal reasons that may or may not
correspond to healthy goals?
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:35 pm

It seems to matter how much my overall intake is! I’ve just found it to be untrue that if I take care of the food quality, then the portion sizes take care of themselves. That’s not how it’s ever worked in my experience.

So I find myself in the position of liking to have a gauge of whether I am over the limit, undershooting the mark, or right in the ballpark. Because unwelcome surprises are never good!
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:41 pm

Generally, I clean my plate. That’s not something I need to change, but it does mean I do best to have the right amount on my plate.

Do I pack two sandwiches for lunch or three? Gotta get that right because it’s the diff between outcomes I like and outcomes I don’t.

Hunger is one tool that people use to determine when, what and how much to eat, but I honestly do better using other tools instead. Eat the amount that’s calibrated to my activity levels and goals, and then collect reliable outcomes. Much better!
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Tue Apr 24, 2018 11:19 am

roundcoconut wrote: Eat the amount that’s calibrated to my activity levels and goals, and then collect reliable outcomes. Much better!


I just quoted myself — what a weirdo! :)

It honestly has felt SOOOO good to have some set-in-stone amounts laid out for me, and to know that when I eat those amounts, the scale weight stays (roughly) the same, but trending slightly downward over the course of four or five days. My last five days of scale weights have been 111,111,111,110,111.

Comforting that I know, “You can eat all THIS, and you won’t gain weight”. Comforting that I also know, “You ate all THAT, and don’t need any more, unless you want to gain a little bit of weight.”

I would imagine that I eat more (in volume) than other people do, but far LESS (in calories) than other people do. Even on this way of eating. My starch is 3/4 cup (dry measure) of rice. I eat a two bags of frozen vegetables (yesterday: a bag of Brussels sprouts and a bag of cauliflower); two fruits (yesterday: pears); and four different raw vegetables on average (yesterday: three sweet bell peppers, celery, lettuce, and carrot slices).

This intake, plus 100 minutes on a stairmaster breaking only a light sweat — equals me breaking more-or-less even calorically.

The post in lounge, “when you don’t know what to do in life, eat three more potatoes” is a horrible, horrible thing to tell a relatively thin person. Relatively thin people cannot pile on the food and expect to stay relatively thin! :)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Tue Apr 24, 2018 11:33 am

An update on the Fitness Train:

I go to basically the worst gym ever (ha!). But I think I’ve figured out a way to make it better.

In general, I get to the gym sometime in the afternoon, and the place is more-or-less empty. The people that ARE at the gym, are people whose work ethic does not inspire me — for example, a couple people from the older crowd, who stand on the treadmill for 10 minutes and then go “train” on weights.

However, yesterday I found myself going to the gym after dinner — arriving around 6:30pm — and there were actual PEOPLE there. (Not all senior citizens or lazy ppl!). What a wonderful atmosphere!

My workout was not any “better” (statistically speaking) than usual, but it did FEEL more fun.

On a side note, I have not skipped a day in two weeks (that’s as long as I have my workouts written down). I did one light, easy day, but never abandoned the workout entirely. :)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Tue Apr 24, 2018 11:49 am

I have been “pacing” my food intake against a guideline indicating “X servings of raw vegetables, Y servings of cooked vegetables, Z servings of fruit and Q amount of starch each day” and this is a VERY helpful guideline.

It is a way of beginning to have a reliable mental connection between intake and outcome. Five days of eating according to the rough guideline, and five days of reliably getting up and seeing the scale weight I expected to see. I feel like an AWESOME GENIUS WITH THE BEST INVENTION EVER!

It honestly can be heartbreaking to see people who are getting inconsistent results and people in the plant-based community tell them things that don’t help. Like, “Keep doing what you’re doing.” (And keep getting inconsistent results?)

I cannot quite figure out why some people in the plant-based community are (willfully) inattentive to portions. After all, one bowl of soup might be too little; two bowls might be just right; three bowls of soup might be too much. But the idea that a person should figure out whether they should be a one-bowl-of-soup lunch person, or a two-bowls-of-soup lunch person (and then stick to that) seems to be oddly frowned upon!

With medication, there seems to be some understanding that there is a correct dose for the severity of the symptoms you are experiencing.

For example, if I learn that I need three Advils to make a headache go away, then it would be a bit of a mistake to say, “When in doubt, take a few more Advils.” Three advils is probably relatively harmless, but who really knows what happens if you get into the habit of overshooting the mark?!?

Portions matter. Four pears are too many, if you know that you two pears a day (in addition to the intake from other food groups) is your body’s caloric equilibrium. I think it would be nice if people had some rough estimation of what portions bring their body into rough caloric equilibrium. People shouldn’t do a lot of work and get surprised with bad results, but if you think you’re a two-bowls-of-soup lunch person, but you’re really a one-bowl-of-soup lunch person, then there’s going to be an ugly surprise waiting for you on your scale, and I just don’t feel anyone deserves that.

:)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Tue Apr 24, 2018 12:37 pm

The hunger scale is a fairly elusive thing to try to calibrate!

Each day, I seem to bring home groceries assuming that it’s OK to eat today. On the hunger scale, I am probably only at a 6 or a 7 when I begin my evening meal. I am not feeling depleted or truly hungry.

In fact, I tend to begin eating in a state where, if I were to respond truthfully, I would say that I don’t truly NEED food and could get by without eating for another three hours if there were something interesting or compelling that I wanted to do instead.

In other words, if I ran into someone awesome and entertaining, who invited me to take a walk in the park and chat about life, I would go for the walk and be perfectly fine (and postpone the eating till much, much later.)

By contrast, I sometimes do get to a 4 or a 5 on the hunger scale, when it is deep into the night, around 3am or so. By that time, I feel on a physical level that I have depleted my glycogen stores. But I generally go back to bed and am fine.

The thing about trying to monitor hunger levels is that I like to eat a fairly full meal. I put a bunch of food on my plate, and then five minutes in, any hunger signals have probably disappeared, but I allow myself to finish the meal all the same. I allow myself to finish ALL the food that I have made from myself. I think I finish most meals at about a 9 on the hunger scale. Pretty full! Not like, “Halloween Overstuffed”, but full enough that I do not wish to go for a walk.

I am no Hari Hachi Bu person! I eat till I’m pretty full. And I’m not interested in changing that right now.

The tradeoff of being someone who likes to eat pretty large portions, is that you cannot eat many times a day. If you like to the bulk of your calories at one sitting, then you have to give your body a long fasting window afterwards. To achieve total equilibrium, over the long haul.

Anyways! That’s a lot of rambling for today. :)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Tue Apr 24, 2018 12:54 pm

One little comment on feeling beautiful:

I generally DO feel beautiful on a plant-based diet, but I ESPECIALLY when I get a new piece of clothing to wear.

Along these lines, I ordered a tight white tank top online, because that’s my favorite thing in the world to wear. Summer is almost upon us and I am wearing tank tops again. A tight tank top, and a tight pair of jeans, is all I need to feel quite lovely.

If the brand and size are right, I’m probably going to order a few more. LOVE my white tank tops and tight jeans.

:).

Done posting. Going to the gym! :)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby bunsofaluminum » Tue Apr 24, 2018 12:58 pm

roundcoconut wrote:The hunger scale is a fairly elusive thing to try to calibrate!

Each day, I seem to bring home groceries assuming that it’s OK to eat today. On the hunger scale, I am probably only at a 6 or a 7 when I begin my evening meal. I am not feeling depleted or truly hungry.

In fact, I tend to begin eating in a state where, if I were to respond truthfully, I would say that I don’t truly NEED food and could get by without eating for another three hours if there were something interesting or compelling that I wanted to do instead.

In other words, if I ran into someone awesome and entertaining, who invited me to take a walk in the park and chat about life, I would go for the walk and be perfectly fine (and postpone the eating till much, much later.)

By contrast, I sometimes do get to a 4 or a 5 on the hunger scale, when it is deep into the night, around 3am or so. By that time, I feel on a physical level that I have depleted my glycogen stores. But I generally go back to bed and am fine.

The thing about trying to monitor hunger levels is that I like to eat a fairly full meal. I put a bunch of food on my plate, and then five minutes in, any hunger signals have probably disappeared, but I allow myself to finish the meal all the same. I allow myself to finish ALL the food that I have made from myself. I think I finish most meals at about a 9 on the hunger scale. Pretty full! Not like, “Halloween Overstuffed”, but full enough that I do not wish to go for a walk.

I am no Hari Hachi Bu person! I eat till I’m pretty full. And I’m not interested in changing that right now.

The tradeoff of being someone who likes to eat pretty large portions, is that you cannot eat many times a day. If you like to the bulk of your calories at one sitting, then you have to give your body a long fasting window afterwards. To achieve total equilibrium, over the long haul.

Anyways! That’s a lot of rambling for today. :)


It would probably do all of us a lot of good to let ourselves really empty out before eating. Not famished (which that wouldn't be possible for me for probably three months of eating zero calories, I have so much storage) not low blood sugar-y with trembling hands and pallid face. But stomach empty of any kind of food. Appetite is a good thing, when it compels us to find food and stay alive. In fact, my ex MIL used to swear by going grocery shopping a little bit hungry. Makes you more efficient in your shopping excursion...so she said. Me shopping hungry? That's when I brought home the pistachio paste from a Middle Eastern market in a tiny town in Idaho. :lol: It was rancid. Surprise, surprise.

But, getting good and hungry now and then, so the body has no new calories to convert into energy...it has to use some of the fat storage...I think it's a good idea. Now and then. But I also don't eat "just to satiation"...fill me up TIGHT, honey. ;) too bad about the hunger signals hahahaha! and yeah, that means at least four hours until the next food event. Six hours between brekkie and lunch, with maybe an apple between. :nod:
Last edited by bunsofaluminum on Fri Apr 27, 2018 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
JUST DON'T EAT IT

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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:21 am

bunsofaluminum wrote:But, getting good and hungry now and then, so the body has no new calories to convert into energy...it has to use some of the fat storage...I think it's a good idea. Now and then. But I also don't eat "just to satiation"...fill me up TIGHT, honey. ;) too bad about the hunger signals hahahaha! and yeah, that means at least four hours until the next food event. Six hours between brekkie and lunch, with maybe an apple between. :nod:


Definitely an intriguing idea to intentionally get myself to a 3 or a 4 on the hunger scale, more often than i currently do. I tend to think that could be an interesting thing to cognitively rehearse for several days, and then put into action, gently and incrementally. Just endeavoring to reach that “3 or 4” level of hunger a few times a week.

Wow, that’s actually fascinating. Because the issue with many Americans is if we PANIC when we go beneath a six. But people who regularly rehearse those numbers can reliably perform well at those levels, when a situation actually requires it.

I’m thinking it would be useful to get good enough at that skill, that I deeply know that I can be trusted when a life situation, brings me below a six. In other words, practice practice practice the skill in a controlled environment, before that skill is actually needed in my life.

Love this. :)
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Re: Journal of Magic & Happiness

Postby roundcoconut » Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:36 am

Update on the Fitness Train:

(There is no literal fitness train, I just like calling it that.)

I think I may be able to put my fitness on autopilot rather than hover over it. Like, I’ve been keeping a fitness log and all that for about two months, and I don’t see any signs of danger.

My fitness is going fine, my scale weights are steady, and that feels really comfortable to me.

I DO think there is something I would like developing, which is general life efficacy. Like, there are pockets of my life where I struggle to complete some basic tasks on a regular basis. Like, I would like it if I were the kind of person who vacuumed the car on a fairly regular basis. Just practiced gently coaching myself into completing the kinds of tasks that are most overwhelming to me.

(Yes, I just used “overwhelming” in the same sentence as “vacuum the car”, which is fairly appalling since even I would admit that this is a five-minute task!).

But that’s what’s so irrational about the roadblocks to our efficacy. We hide from a five minute task, and it’s just a WEEEEEIIIIRDDDD pattern of self-defeatism. How in the world do I have these weird patterns of self-defeatism???

In any event, I have begun to work on little things like that. My favorite eyebrow pencil has been discontinued, and I finally went and bought some different brands to try out. I also renewed my vehicle registration this morning, which also tends to be the kind of administrative task that I would have been inclined to avoid in the past.

Another task that I have tended to avoid in the past, is donating used items to the thrift store. I’m not afraid to declutter, but for some reason I find the task overwhelming to go by the thrift store and hand over a few bags of stuff I wish to donate. Am i not the gold medalist of Irrational?!?

So, I’ve got some work to do! :)
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