Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Totally cute!! Luckily we're not on a high sugar diet because this would take us over the edge "I love the idea of the plate and such a lovely plate it is. I guess with two sisters you learn to really cherish the things you get to share and those that you that belong to you. Can't wait for an update!!

Those adorable girls! and look at Mae! getting big <3

Dear Lyndzie,

Thank you for posting your journey! I am a mom of a 7-month old girl. Still breastfeeding, of course. I started adding solids (vegetable purees) a month ago. I am a bit confused with what to introduce next, and in which order. Do you think you could share your experience about what foods are best, and how often. I live in Ukraine, and doctors here have their own ideas about a baby's diet.
I would love to hear from you!

Maria

Maria,

How wonderful you'll be raising your baby the McDougall way!! You may have already seen all of this, but I thought it may help you: https://www.drmcdougall.com/articles/nu ... hildren-2/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, last year was quite a year.

Maria, I am just seeing your message now. So sorry about that! I’m guessing you’ve figured things out for yourself, seeing that this is six months later, but if you still have questions, please reach out.

To start, a family photo:



We did family photos this past fall for the first time. I’m so grateful to have them! Mae is 3 now (!!!) with her older sisters being 9 and 7. Time continues to fly by.

2021 was a year of major changes for me. I got divorced, moved (three times!), renovated a house, sent the kids off to school for the first time, and left behind a life as a stay-at-home-and-homeschooling-mom to become gainfully employed. It was honestly like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis.

All of these changes definitely shook up the kids’ lives, and they are working on adjusting to the new reality. It’s been bumpy for everyone in different ways. The dust continues to settle, and we’re going two steps forward, one step back.

Well, let’s talk about the food.

It was a disaster. Entire frozen pizzas, whole pans of brownies, all of the lemon bars, so many Reese cups, Christmas cookies galore, chocolate filled croissants…the list goes on. I was not able to get a grip on things. Portion control did not exist - every container was a single serving. Decadent meals in restaurants and cocktails to boot. Thankfully, having been vegetarian for 24 years at this point, my falling off the wagon still had some parameters, but boy it was ugly.

And embarrassing! Here I am, leading the maintenance group, and struggling profusely with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the time in between. I cohost a monthly WFPB pitch in, too! The self-loathing was heavy.

I was struggling for about the past year and a half, but it became a real issue in the second half of 2021. At first I just had an extra five-ish pounds, then last summer everything went to shit food-wise and the weight quickly spiraled.

Here’s a nice graph to illustrate what happened:



As you can see, things got so ugly I quit weighing myself. With the holidays and all the activities, I knew that I was just setting myself up for failure if I tried to make changes at that point. It was a free fall.

So, I made a plan. Get through the holidays, then get my head out of my ass and get to business. Based on previous experience, I knew that to stick to the plan I needed to do two things: cut down on salt and ditch the sweeteners. For whatever reason, when I do those to things, I can stick to the plan. No cravings at all, happy as a peach to eat broccoli and potatoes without a thought about cookies and candies.

And I did it. The day after Christmas I made a bowl of Jeff’s oatmeal with frozen fruit, and I was off to the races. I jumped on here to rejoin MWL and…they changed the format. No longer do you just punch in your weight and add it to the tally, but it’s a process that requires time and writing and self-reflection. This is most likely the best way for people, to be sure, but I’ve been trying to find time to get online to write this in over a week, so I know I don’t have time to do more than a weekly weigh in right now.

Right now I’d like to just post quick progress on Fridays here, but no guarantees. Taking on another step might not be feasible.

A quick note about my weight: I’m sure many people look at this graph and think, “Wait a sec, her max is 132? What is she smoking???” I know, that sounds low. I have a very small frame. I’m currently around 126 and have a roll literally hanging over the top of my pants. I was watching a Plantiful Kiki video earlier today and she was talking about reaching her current weight of 123, and I was like, “What?!” I am not 3 lbs away from looking like her. She and I are the same height, but for me to be that lean I would be around 108.

What I am trying to say is that every body is different, and not to compare one person to another, because what is a great weight for one person is not the right weight for another.

Starting weight 12/26: 131.8 lbs
Weight on 1/3: 126.6
Change: -5.2

Thanks for taking the time to read this novel of an update. Hopefully I’ll get the time to post again soon!

Lyndzie, it's good to hear from you! What a beautiful family picture of you and your girls. Your daughters are so cute. It's hard to believe that Mae is 3 already. I remember when she was born.

You certainly have gone through a lot of changes in your life in the last year. Good job on getting back on track with healthy eating! I actually think you look great (love your hair in the picture!) but I do understand your desire to lose those extra pounds. I feel certain that you'll reach your goals. I look forward to reading your updates. I wish you all the best that life has to offer!

Haven't we all gone off the road into the ditch, and not just once!? Understandable with so many major life changes last year. Beautiful girls! I think 2022 is Your Year. Good luck, Marsha

So much for posting weekly! Haha. Too many other things going on. As is life.

I’ve had a very successful month. Got back on track 12/26, and have had only 1 off-plan moment since then (the kids wanted to try butter beer, so I made them a batch, homemade whipped cream and all. I didn’t know what it tasted like, so I had a sip and WHOA. I downed a glass without thinking and I lit up like a Christmas tree. So very, very delicious. Not doing that again!)

Starting weight: 131.8 lbs
Weight on 1.27: 123.8 lbs
Total lost: 8 lbs even

I’ve lost 8 lbs in a month! Not too shabby. While I know the new MWL group does not focus on the scale, I’ve found it a useful tool to help me know if what I am doing is working. I’ve been eating a lot of microwavable bags of frozen broccoli and cauliflower with my meals to get more towards a “50/50 plate.” I have not completely cut out rich foods, so I’ll have some avocado sliced on my tacos, but I am not doing this daily. Someone gave me a container of dried figs and I ate them SOOOOOO quickly - they were amazing! (side note: I’m looking to plant a fig tree in my yard this spring! It’s one of my favorite fruits)

This weekend could pose my first food-related challenge. My honey is having a birthday party, and I will be staying at his place all weekend. To fill you in on the details, I met a lovely man over the summer, but he lives in a neighboring state, so it involves quite a drive to see each other. He’s from here, so he visits quite regularly anyways. So, I’m suppose to drive to his place tomorrow and navigate being in another person’s space and a party with an open bar and catering. For Friday night dinner, I already suggested my cauliflower chickpea curry, which is quite tasty and a bit decadent because it has coconut milk in it. I can reheat that for lunch the next day. Going to have to figure out what to do for dinner on Saturday, because catering is not top of my list right now.

And, on top of that, I’m home sick today. Covid rapid test came back negative, but I’m not so sure. My whole body aches all over and I feel like I got punched in the face. Hopefully tomorrow is better!

Lyndzie, I hope you feel better soon. Wow, congrats on your 8 pound loss! Good luck this weekend with your off plan temptations.

Hey Lindsey. How are you and the kiddos doing? The butter beer sounded delicious! I just ate almost a whole package of dried figs myself over the past few days (I know this was now months ago for you). How is work going? I can’t imagine working and having 3 kids, I don’t know how you have any time leftover for anything else. Anyways, we miss you around here!