I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

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

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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Fri Oct 14, 2016 9:46 pm

Day 4, Day 4, Day 4!
Can you believe the Jays are losing to Cleveland? Boo!

Tonight's weight tally will not be as precise as I would like it. We went out to a friend's home and I forgot to pack the scale, so I have guesstimated the amount of food that I ate while there. It is fortunately only 1 listing for the whole day (a plate full of fruit- which I could have done without) so I have decided to assign it's weight based on a comparison to my servings of weighted fruit from the last few days. It appears to be as much as the bigger servings, so it will be given the weight of 0.350 kg.
I enjoyed getting out tonight, but socializing always presents challenges to staying on plan. Our host, who is a friend, went out of her way to bake me oil-free corn crackers and make home made salsa, as well as serving cut fruit and non-compliant cookies and cupcakes to the kids. Thankfully she never tried to force any of the food on me; if she had made a point of asking me to try the crackers and salsa I probably would have because of all of the trouble she went to make them. I had asked my husband to let them know I would eat before we came because I was following a special plan for the next few days. I'm not sure if my husband neglected to relay how serious I was about this, or, as a gracious host, our friend was unable to not have anything for me (I'm inclined to think this is what happened), but I had great guilt about subtly avoiding anything not on my Mary's Mini. And unfortunately I wasn't able to avoid the exta cupcakes foisted on us while leaving. They are currently sitting in my kitchen because I was the only one who thought maybe we could just throw them out when we get home. My husband is going to have to hide them well and be sure they are gone by tomorrow because they are just too much temptation. He is usually really good about recognizing what I just can't handle, but the kids worked their magic on him...sigh. Here is what I'm up against:

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With a family, I have gotten used to not having the luxury of having the perfect (food) environment in my home. I am luckily far enough into the process to be able to say no for a certain amount of time. But I hate using up willpower uneccassarily. I have my fingers and toes crossed that this will not end in disappointment and disgust in myself tomorrow.

So, here is what I ate today:
0.093 kg Romaine lettuce
0.209 kg Twice baked potato
0.171 kg Baked fries
0.113 kg Asparagus
0.230 kg Raspberries
0.150 kg Banana
0.010 kg Honey Mustard
0.123 kg Bell pepper
0.160 kg Jicama
0.125 kg Sugar snap peas
0.056 kg Carrots, raw
0.057 kg Romaine lettuce
0.183 kg Strawberries
0.201 kg Wendy's baked potato
0.026 kg Salsa
0.350 kg Fruit plate (guesstimate)

Total weight of food consumed: 2.26 kg

Additional items:
1 tsp green tea leaves and 2 pots (8 cups) of hot water
1 cup earl grey tea

Exercise: 7.2 km in 75 mins (I'm a creature of habit when it comes to my walk)

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/95182338@N07/with/29699826874/

Tomorrow is the halfway point of this personal challenge. I have done okay, in my books. I will definitely want to give some thought to replacing my current condiments with lower sodium versions. However, I don't think I have strayed too far away from guidelines when they are thought about in the context of a ratio of the size/calories of the whole meal : sodium content .

Happy Friday night y'all!

(Edited to include the Additional items and Exercise sections, which I forgot to add due to late night, bleary eyed depression that the Jays lost!)
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby judytoronto58 » Sat Oct 15, 2016 12:59 pm

Your journal is amazing. The pictures, the food, it's all so beautiful and inspiring.
I am so glad your husband is such a support - finding a place to hide those unholy cupcakes. What a guy!
I think eating out is a huge deal for us McDougallers. Probably the most difficult for me are the vegan restaurants. There's such a lot of oil, salt and sugar in the foods, and it's really hard to just order salad and steamed vegetables when there's vegan poutine on the menu. It's a very tough thing.

You are doing great, and you have come so far. Wishing you more and more success!
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Sat Oct 15, 2016 7:19 pm

Thank you Judith! I'm looking forward to seeing you next week. I hope you're feeling more encouraged today. You are one determined person and I have no doubt you will be a Star McDougaller one day. XO

Day 5 is coming to a close. I managed to not eat any of those tempting cupcakes and spent the afternoon cooking a couple of recipes. That way, I will be very prepared for the next couple of days. Just like a good scout! I made a delicious Aloo gobi mataar and a potato/sweet potato/sauerkraut casserole.
I brought the Aloo gobi mataar to a family dinner this evening and a few people tried it and like it. That made me very happy.

What I ate today:
0.277 kg Blackberriesand raspberries
0.134 kg Green beans, boiled
0.091 kg Carrots, raw
0.106 kg Jicama
0.111 kg Aloo Gobi Mataar
0.373 kg Strawberries and mangoes
0.172 kg Kale and broccoli salad
0.591 kg Aloo Gobi Mataar
0.015 kg Dried cranberries
0.007 kg Pepitas
0.170 kg Banana

Total weight of food consumed: 1.462 kg

Additional items:
1 tsp green tea leaves and 3 cups hot water
Cumin, coriander, chilli flakes,onion powder, turmeric

Exercise: none today

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Here is the recipe for the Aloo Gobi Mataar: ( I made a number of changes, no oil, half the salt, used tomato paste instead of tomatoes)
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/cauliflower-potato-and-pea-curry
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Sun Oct 16, 2016 6:48 pm

I have finished eating for the day! It will be a nice change to get this entry in a little bit earlier, so I can enjoy the evening reading (after I get the kids to bed).

Day 6:

Today went well due to yesterday's preparation. I was out of the house for the afternoon, so I packed my lunch (and the scale) to eat at my mom's before we headed out to a wedding shower. I am a very lucky girl, in that some of my family eats this way and those that don't go out of their way to make something that we can eat. My cousin's mom made Smoky Little Devils and a delicious looking oil-free couscous salad, in addition to the fresh fruit and veggie platters.

What I ate today:
0.264 kg Green beans, boiled
0.239 kg Aloo Gobi Mataar
0.152 kg Banana
0.204 kg Pear
0.379 kg Veggie and Fruit Plate
0.352 kg Sauerkraut Potato Casserole
0.108 kg Cucumber
0.103 kg Celery
0.147 kg Banana

Total weight of food consumed: 1.948 kg

Additional items:
1 tsp green tea leaves and 2 cups hot water
1 cup tecchino
Sparkling water 3-4 glasses

Exercise: none today

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/95182338@N07/

I love my Sauerkraut casserole...unfortunately cabbage and I have a volatile relationship. For the sake of my family I don't make it very often. :D. (This particular Sauerkraut added 224 mg of sodium to my meal. I have found brands with lower sodium, just not in any of the stores within walking distance of my home)
(Edited to correct the misspelling of sauerkraut)
Last edited by amandamechele on Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Mon Oct 17, 2016 7:10 pm

A full week complete!

What I ate today:
0.128 kg Banana
0.587 kg Watermelon
0.142 kg Blueberries
0.401 kg Potato Sauerkraut Casserole
0.253 kg Green grapes
0.117 kg Carrots
0.295 kg Baked fries
0.142 kg Broccoli, steamed
0.078 kg Salad greens
0.032 PC Sweet with Heat Mustard

Total weight of food consumed: 2.175 kg

Additional items:
Added salt, sprinkled on potatoes
2 tsps green tea leaves and 10 cups of hot water

Exercise: 7.2 km in 75 minutes

Interesting observation (for me anyway...lol), I didn't realize the magnitutude of the change in weight between my cold baked potatoes and my baked fries. I do like them crispy! So, if I had eaten my baked potato as is I would have gotten 0.537 kg of food*, versus the 0.295 kg* that I ended up eating in baked fries. So much less weight.
Looking at this another way, there is only a difference of 0.227 kg from the weight of yesterday's food total and today's, but a whopping 562 calories difference. Woah! If every 0.227 kgs that I ate contained 562 calories, and I averaged 1.8 kg of food a day, I would be eating 4,453 calories. Today was a lesson in calorie density indeed!

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/95182338@N07/

Well with Day 7 of 10 complete, I am in the backstretch of this challenge. It has been quite interesting.
I must now get back to my poor neglected children...it's getting late!
Sweet dreams.


* I had a bit of leftovers after dinner today which made these numbers not as straight forward as simply looking at my weight pictures and minusing them from each other. I originally had 0.608 kg of cooked potato. That became 0.334 kg of baked fries. I did not eat 0.039 kg of baked fries (thus consumed baked fries became 0.334-0.039= 0.295 kg). Converting 0.608 to 0.334, gives me a factor of 1.82. I multiplied the uneaten amount of baked fries by this number to come up with 0.071 kg, and minused that from the original baked potato to more accurately reflect the original amount that I would have potentially eaten as baked potato (0.537 kg)
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby Franchesca_S. » Tue Oct 18, 2016 12:59 pm

Those meals look amazing.
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Tue Oct 18, 2016 7:50 pm

Thank you Franchesca! Some of them are more tasty than photogenic in my opinion. :P

The Jays have made my Day 8 a very happy one... we are not out of the ALCS yet!
I live near the Rogers Centre, and game days bring a frenetic energy to my neighbourhood. People singing, cheering, honking and yelling (that's mostly angry drivers stuck in pedestrian induced traffic). So fun!
I was on the road for about 5 hours today*, and happy to get back into the city before traffic brought the Gardiner to a slow crawl. I mention this because it took planning this morning to get the kids to school and be sure I had my food packaged and weighed and ready. I'm still working through a bunch of weekend leftovers, so I didn't have to do too much. Batch cooking is the way to go when eating this way!

*(Before you think "Yikes, that sucks!" I'll have you know that I love driving, especially by myself, because I get to sing at the top of my lungs to the radio, or listen to my favourite podcasts... and at this stage in life I don't get to be by myself very often)

What I ate today:
0.307 kg Honeydew melon
0.114 kg Carrots
0.137 kg Banana
0.000 kg Baked potato (there's one pictured there, I just didn't end up eating it)
0.173 kg Broccoli, steamed
0.382 kg Aloo Gobi Mataar
0.036 kg Spinach, raw
0.112 kg Broccoli, steamed
0.408 kg Pear
0.088 kg Potato Sauerkraut Casserole (0.235 kg - 0.147 kg ... My eyes were bigger than my stomach today!)

Total weight of food consumed: 1.757 kg

Additional Items:
2 tsp green tea leaves and 10 or so cups of hot water

Exercise: Walked 7.2 km in 75 minutes

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/95182338@N07/

I just wanted to add that I am just slightly over 5' tall. Why? Well, the calories for today (and a couple of other days) look quite low, but I really did eat all that I wanted and the total weight of the food is in line with how much I've been eating in general. This is just another example of calorie density in action. I ate mostly veg and fruit and the calories dropped. The daily calorie count doesn't seem so extremely low once you know that I am a very short, middle-aged woman.

Anyhow, I had a good day today and I hope you did too!
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:09 pm

This is the second last day of my Mary's Mini. Day 9, concluded! Woo hoo!
The Jays are out of the ALCS, my son had a public meltdown and I had to eat Potato Sauerkraut casserole for the 4th day in a row...in other words, I've had better days. Actually, it wasn't so bad and I must remember that there are many others out there that have it much worse...like my family, who have had to deal with me eating sauerkraut for 4 days in a row. :lol:

What I ate today:
0.271 kg Potato Sauerkraut Casserole
0.108 kg Cucumber
0.157 kg Red pepper
0.198 kg Pear
0.202 kg Banana
0.044 kg Salad greens
0.099 kg Broccoli, steamed
0.079 kg Green grapes
0.206 kg Pear
0.351 kg Baked fries
0.030 kg Ketchup
0.198 kg Banana

Total weight of food consumed: 1.943 kg

Additional items:
1 tsp green tea leaves and 8 cups of hot water
Sparkling water

Exercise: Walking 7.2 km in 75 minutes

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/95182338@N07/

1 more day! 1 more day!

XO
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Thu Oct 20, 2016 5:43 pm

Day 10 - The Final Day

I am now finished my 10 Day Mary's Mini! Yay!!

What I ate today:
0.451 kg Strawberries
0.500 kg Watermelon
0.053 kg Salad Greens
0.167 kg Apple
0.383 kg Carrot/Potato/Sweet Potato Mash
0.126 kg Asparagus
0.162 kg Red pepper, raw

Total weight of food consumed: 1.842 kg

Additional Items:
1 tsp green tea leaves and 6 cups hot water
Garlic powder
Salt
Sparkling water

Exercise: Walked 7.2 km in 75 mins

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/95182338@N07/
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Thu Oct 20, 2016 8:19 pm

Some observations from the past 10-Days:

- I averaged 1.88 kg (4.15 lbs) of food per day, with a range of 1.46- 2.26 kg.
- I averaged 1214 calories per day, with a range of 736 - 1574 c.
- I averaged 3.79% of calories from fat, with a range of 2.45 - 8% (half of the days were approx 2.5%, with 1 day at 8% due to eating some pumpkin seeds)
- I averaged 46 g of fibre per day, with a range of 30 - 61 g.
- I averaged 30 g of protein per day, with a range of 17 - 36g. (This does not represent my regular intake, as I eat a lot of beans and tofu regularly)

Some reflections on the past 10-Days:
- I eat more vegetables when when I think someone is watching. :o
- Cabbage still doesn't agree with me. :-P
- According to the Cronometer app parameters that I used, in order to lose 2 lbs a week, I can only eat 951 calories a day when I don't walk and 1187 calories when I do walk.

In other words, based on my average consumption of 1214 calories, to eat comfortably, even at this low level of caloric density, the most I should ever expect to lose is around 1.5 lbs per week.

I may continue recording what I eat for the next week to see how this tests out. Unfortunately my weight loss numbers from this week are quite skewed due to starting right after Thanksgiving gluttony.

I am now only 11 lbs away from the very high end of a normal BMI. I have only visited this weight for 1 day in my adult life, after following an ultra-low calorie diet in my mid-20s and then blasting right back up to new highs. When I think about it, I only went under that weight during my teens for one summer when I dieted and exercised like crazy. I am heading into very unfamiliar territory! Wish me luck.
XO
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http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby Yomom » Thu Oct 20, 2016 8:29 pm

Wishing you luck! You are a terrific inspiration.
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Thu Dec 01, 2016 11:08 am

I am surprised by December. I didn't think it had been so long since I last posted in my journal, here. I have been riding on the coat-tails of my little 10 day experiment, above, doing what Dr. Lisle would call B- or C work, when I am in need of A work to further my health goals. I have managed to stay in a weight range just above 139.5 lbs (which I reached during that Mary's Mini). My poor strategy, if one can even call it a strategy, for the past month and a half has been merely to not gain weight back. I have managed to contain the gain, but not keep myself out of the Pleasure Trap, so it has been a mentally draining month. Much like the title of my journal, each day has felt like a restart. Starting at Day 1, each and every day, can make time feel torturously slow, while it silently slips away quite quickly.

For December, I am determined to actually come out ahead by the end of the month (while eating to satisfactory satiety levels, enjoying my food, enjoying friends, family and the holiday season, and reading a few good books :0 ). This will mean diligence to eating in the style of the MWL program. I have been surrounding myself with support and encouragement this past month, even more than usual (for everyone involved - whether you are aware that I am leaning on you or not - I feel very grateful, thank you). It has helped keep me in-line while I sort through the slight cognitive disonance I am having regarding the new adjustments to eating MWL vs the regular McDougall program.

This is exciting and I know I can do this too! But, I'm going to post a little more than usual here for the month, in order to ensure a bit more reflection about the process. I'll try to keep it lighter than today's post and with more pictures, because who doesn't like to look at pictures of food? Right!?

PS. Thank you Kathy for your well wishes! I hope you are thriving in your new home and that you will get to see your children over the holidays.
(Edited for spelling errors, I've probably still missed a few too!)
Last edited by amandamechele on Sat Dec 03, 2016 8:27 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby OneLeggedPig » Fri Dec 02, 2016 3:35 am

I just wanted to say that
A) This is an extremely interesting thread to follow, because of all the data you're providing for each day, and the pictures
B) Well done so far!
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby f1jim » Fri Dec 02, 2016 7:20 am

Agreed! Your detail is appreciated and your writing style is unique. You should be proud of your efforts. Keep up the great work.
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While adopting this diet and lifestyle program I have reversed my heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, and lost 54 lbs. You can follow my story at https://www.drmcdougall.com/james-brown/
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Re: I've lost count of how many times I have restarted....

Postby amandamechele » Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:26 pm

Thank you OneLeggedPig and Jim. :)
I'm my very own n of 1 trial.


I have been working hard to pull myself out of the pleasure trap for the past few days. As of tonight, I have 2 very good days under my belt and the need to "scratch the itch" with regards to nighttime eating and hyper-palatable foods is starting to lessen. A couple of more days and I should be good to go. Here is what I ate today (it is actually very similar to the past 3 to 4 days because of batch cooking):
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I had trouble about 3 days ago with some banana bread that I had made for the kids. I knew I would have trouble with it, and yet I still made it. I need to figure that out. It was a delicious recipe from Dreena Burton's Family Cookbook (I can't think of the name right now). Super delicious, but not something I can have laying around the house.

Anyhow...nighty-night! Holiday movie season continues in my household and we are going to watch Love Actually. I have never seen it, but someone I know says they liked it as much as The Holiday (which I love love love) so I thought we could give it a try.
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