Hello,
My name is Keri. I'm a female in my (very) late thirties whose goal is to lose about 30 more pounds (I’ve lost a total of 39 since my highest weight of 196 pounds in late 2010.)
I was an unhealthy vegetarian for a long time (a cheesetarian, if you will), and became vegan in January of 2011. From January to May of 2011, I read the information on this website and followed the boards (although I never posted). My username was DorsVenabili (a sci-fi character), but I wanted to change it to an actual name and couldn’t do that without creating a new account. I also read many of the plant-based diet books and appreciate all of them: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (Esselstyn), Breaking the Food Seduction (Barnard), the Fuhrman books, and others.
When I lost the weight earlier this year, I guess I was doing sort of a Fuhrman-ish thing, then I trained for and completed a half marathon in August and sort of went more towards a pretty-much-healthy-vegan-but-with-some-added-oils thing. Since then, I haven’t gained any weight, but I haven’t lost the last 30 pounds either. Also, since the holidays, I feel like I’m creeping into a bit of a danger zone – more sweets, more Tofurkey, more beers on the weekend, etc. So I want to get back on track and I’ve chosen to try the McDougall route.
My reasons for trying the no-added-oil type of diet are primarily health-related. There is a history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and strokes in my family, and I want to do what I can to prevent health problems in the future. When I ate meat (a long time ago), my cholesterol tended to be around 275. After switching to a vegetarian diet it went down to 235, and the last time I checked it, after becoming vegan (this past July), it was 219 (I have the complete breakdown at home and will post it later.) I would still like to get it a lot lower, so hopefully getting rid of the oil will help. Also, before I went vegan, my blood pressure was creeping up. It was around 140/95. Now it’s consistently normal, so that’s good.
Another reason for choosing the McDougall route is because my husband also needs to lose weight and it’s much easier to get him to do this than the Fuhrman thing (a big potato-y thing vs. a gigantic bowl of raw vegetables at every meal). While he’s not a vegan, he’s very supportive and eats whatever I cook (as long as it’s not polenta – I have to eat that when he’s not around. Darn.) We used to share cooking duties, but last year, I declared myself the food boss, and took over all of the cooking. He’s doing well. He does eat meat sometimes when we go out, or at relatives’ homes, but, for the most part, he eats like me. I also got him to watch Forks Over Knives and the Dr. Barnard PBS special, so he does have some of the background info.
Anyway, that’s about it. I don’t have the most exciting or dramatic story, but I do want to get rid of these last 30 pounds, lower my cholesterol, and improve my health. I’ll try to post a few times a week and log what I’ve been eating. I think it helps.
I should also add that while reading the posts on this forum, I am very impressed with the helpful, knowledgeable, and good-natured people that post here. Plus, your stories are so inspiring!
At least I admit it, right?
I think there are a lot of lurkers. 
