Bunso Goes MWL

[bunsofaluminum]

Hey there, everybody!

It's Sept 1. The 7th of this month will be my two year anniversary of starting McDougall! I lost 50 lbs really fast, and because of "just a taste" or "just this once" little habits of nibbling, I haven't lost any more weight in just ages. Not since a ten lb drop last October Much of that is because I went a little "cuckoo" at Easter this year, and haven't really recovered my commitment since then. My usual pattern of eating perfectly MWL meals, and then nibbling and tasting rich foods here and there, almost every day, is keeping me from going further, and it's JUST TIME. Time to work this and stick to it HARD. <<<gritty determination face

So I am starting a journal to keep track of my foods. I want to keep to MWL 100% with zero cheating, and I think journaling here, and bringing some accountability and honesty to my day to day practices will help me a lot.

9/1/2011
B: beans and rice with diced tomato and steamed broccoli
L: Col canon made w/yukon gold potatoes and curry saute'd cabbage
D: going out to dinner. will find MWL food on the menu
S: carrots and celery if needed

I had to give up internet at my house due to budget stuff, so I'll only be checking at work or the library, briefly. Long enough to keep track of my food! Pardon me in advance if I don't check a lot of journals. I do some posting at the lounge a couple times a week, but I simply don't have time to check journals. I may start that up, though...encouragement and support are HUGELY important, eh?

Tally ho! Let's git er done

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

Way to go, Buns! I can't wait to see your AFTER pic! I still remember how the before and during ones a while ago made me cry! The transformation was so dramatic.

[janluvs2heel]

Hey Buns-Welcome back.

Yours is one of the few Journals that I liked to read. Some of the Journals are just full of whining, but no whining in yours!!

Sorry to hear about you having to give up the internet, etc. I am about there, too, well, not the internet but cable.

I love the name-Bunso!!!

[Rosey]

Great to see you back on track. We can do this. HUGS!!!

[Stella]

Hey Heidi!
I wondered if you were still around. I re-started my journal recently too. It's good to see you've been maintaining. I wasn't serious for a while there too. Looks like we're both back on track though. Good to "see" you again! Keep up the good work!

Peace,
Stella

[toadfood]

You go, Heidi! It looks like your month is off to a great start!

[Anna Green]

Buns, Hi! You can do it! I've seen you handle alot over the last couple of years. Also congrats on maintaining the 50 lbs.

[kittyadventures]

HI BUNS!!!!! You go girl. You can do this..


and for more encouragement

Have some dancing banana

[bunsofaluminum]

hi thanks everyone!

For my dinner out, i ate completely off plan: a pasta dish, tomato based sauce but SOAKED with oil. I also had foccacia bread with various dips: tapenade, pesto, and a white bean puree...so, I blew Thursday night.

Friday...lemme see if I can remember. i never got anywhere near a computer on Friday...

B: I don't remember friday's brekkie...
L: a big tossed green salad; potatoes and sautee'd cabbage (col canon without mashing)
D: popcorn...sheesh...off MWL again. It was unbuttered and only lightly spritzed with soy sauce, but still illegal.

SATURDAY:
B: cooked grape nuts* porridge sweetened w/fig bits and frozen bananas; Earl Grey tea
L: black beans (home made so SUPER low sodium); a slice of home made whole wheat bread**; a huge green salad w/gingered carrot salad dressing that was pretty terrific.
D: (planned) Big green salad w/the fixin's and baked yukon gold taters...or maybe col canon again. i have a lot of cabbage.

*the grape nuts are too processed to qualify, but they have a LOT of fiber, these are store brand and the ingredients list does not include any oil, HFCS, or soy lecithin. I really was pleasantly surprised with the amount of fiber they contain. I'm going to finish them, and then get me some steel cut oats back in the house.

**on the bread. I was polishing off the slice when it hit me "hello! MWL? duh." so it would appear that i must retrain myself. It'll come.

Also, this is good: i am back to exercising again. I walked to the post office yesterday evening...gosh that was so nice. I love houses just as the evening is darkening outside. The window lights come on, people are sitting down together for dinner, some neighborhoods are popping, with kids out on bikes and skateboards, dads standing over the hood of a car or sitting with a hose in their hand to water the lawn and watch the day die down. That was about a mile one way. Took an hour to get there and back.

and today, I walked to the library from my home, which is about two miles one way! so I'm working my muscles again, after quite a long hiatus being a couch potato The cool thing about where I live, I have to do uphill NO MATTER WHICH WAY I GO, both ways. Seriously. I am on the top of a hill in the middle of a basin, so i go downhill, then uphill to get where I'm going, and the same, coming back. Down a hill, then up a hill, to get home. Good for my legs. Good for my heart.

I'm at the library now, and may not get to check in tomorrow. I definitely have my work cut out for me, getting my mindset and habits back under control, but it's happening. I actually threw away some junky chocolate stuff yesterday, knowing that the taste of it wasn't gonna be worth it. I wouldn't have done that before, but I didn't need it sitting around being mediocre and "NOT WORTH IT!"

[bunsofaluminum]

SUNDAY MEALS:

B: homemade black beans over nuked yukon golds; salad
L: ??? a slice of homemade bread
D: grilled zucchini steaks, wild rice salad, tossed green salad w/balsamic vinegar, corn on the cob

We had a bbq at my mom's house with almost the whole family there. My bro grilled a ton of ribs, and I tossed five nice thick pieces of zucchini on there after he was done w/the meat. It was from two giant zucchinis that someone gave me at church. I'm gonna do the second one, under the broiler at home. I marinated them in vinegar and oil and some Italian herb mix and garlic, and they were delicious!

I plan on doing something similar with the second giant zucchini, only broiling the slices not grilling...I can't seem to get up the energy to grill, when I don't have people to share it with and I don't do meat, so no one is interested, including my kids! Ah, well.

when I roast em (or broil) I'll skip the oil. I just love the little edges of caramelization and bubbly browning that takes place with roasted vegs, and one reason I'm happy to see Autumn is that the cooler temps mean I can roast and bake and broil again.

MONDAY'S PLAN:

B: cheezy steel cut oats
L: black beans and salad
D: salad and baked potato

[Katydid]

Buns, welcome back. Since when is air-popped popcorn with a spritz or soy sauce or Bragg's illegal? Last I looked, popcorn - along with puffed rice and puffed wheat cereals were part of the MWL program. Are puffed grains high in calorie density? Yes. But that's JeffN's advice. Good advice, but not necessarily Dr. M's. A bowl of air- popped popcorn with a little Bragg's and nutrition yeast is one of life's little pleasures on the MWL plan. I worry sometimes about the people on this board. They are so hard on themselves. It's not enough to be on MWL plan. They have to be 100% compliant. They have to eat only unprocessed. They can only have low calorie density foods. No salt. No sugar. While these are worthy goals, they don't need to happen all RIGHT NOW. Find a middle ground you can stick with over the long haul. Maybe that means having whole wheat pasta once or twice a month, or a corn tortilla with some veggie chili, or puffed rice and rice milk with a banana for breakfast. Or, yes, air-popped popcorn while watching the latest Netflix (Forks over Knives, anyone?). I used to make a great baked oatmeal that used a little pureed prunes or applesauce. Was it 100% compliant? Nope. Didn't care. It kept me on track and out of the 7-Eleven. There's no need to make a face to do MWL. Relax. You're going to do great. Good Luck.
Kate

[bunsofaluminum]

I'm with you Katy: if eating something non-MWL keeps me out of the junk food, then I'll eat the occasional off MWL treat. Thing is, the popcorn was popped in olive oil...but I have popped popcorn before without any oil. It doesn't pop as big, but it's crispier! And I like pan popped so much more than air popped. I'll do it that way, or I'll skip it.

I haven't ever gotten real uptight about things, trying to not stray by one iota...but that's part of my downfall, too. I've done so well, and my meals are 99% completely MWL, every day...it's the between meal stuff that gets me. I will have to get a grip on that habit of nibbling...with the popcorn the other day, I ate it as my meal, not in between. I figure my total calorie intake was good.

well, anyway. Good advice, Katydid.

Today has been good. I ate my oatmeal for brekkie, and maybe a cup of homemade black beans for lunch, and will be eating a bean burrito w/corn on the cob and some green salad for dinner. Maybe two of those burritos...I'M HUNGRY!

[bunsofaluminum]

Two things:
1) the coffee slurpees at Chevron contain dairy. I know, because I had one and I've had a tummy ache ever since.

2) cooked grape nuts DO NOT have the same "stick-to-your-ribs" quality that steel cut oats have, so I'll be eating other than Grape Nuts for brekkie from now on.

TODAY:

B: grape nuts cooked w/figs and bananas; 2 T brown sugar
S: nectarine
L: wild rice salad over tossed green salad
S: coffee slurpee
D: baked sweet potato; homemade black beans; green salad w/carrot ginger dressing...

tomorrow for breakfast, I will eat some rice and black beans w/green salad and it should keep me full longer than the grape nuts.

thing is, I get full faster w/the grape nuts, but they don't have any staying power and I get REALLY hungry before lunch. So, next paycheck, steel cut oats!

[chewy]

i am a longtime gluten-free MWL follower and eat plain brown rice cakes and/or puffed rice ,plain air popped popcorn daily along with the 2 fruits,loads of raw and steamed vegetables,1/2 cup of legumes and love it! i don't plan to give up my rice cakes,puffed rice or air popped popcorn.i love these foods and they are so handy on the mwl plan!i am gluten-free too so this really works well for me.

[mtns]

It's good to have you back. I have missed your journal. I too am working on being 100% compliant on the MWL. I will do good for most meals but occasionally nibble on things. Keep on going. I know you can do it. And don't let little set backs get you down, just keep going.
Kathy