Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

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Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Suey51 » Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:23 am

Re-post from The Lounge 25th May 2018

Summary:
I've been McDougall-ing a for a year, reaching my weight loss goal in early March 2018. (You can read the whole story here). I found the accountability, companionship and support of the people in the McDougall Weigh-In Threads very helpful and am hoping to find other McDougallers for a Maintaining Weight Loss Thread. Would love to hear from anyone else who is trying to maintain weight loss! What works for you? Does it get easier? Do you have a target weight range?

Riding the wave: getting back in the groove
One of my McDougall Weigh-In Group chums, moonlight, suggested I start a thread about maintaining weight loss. I've been um-ing and ah-ing about how to do it, where to post, what to write about, whether to post my weight etc etc. but decided this morning just to do it and see what happens!

moonlight recently wished me luck with 'riding the wave of going up and down a little with your weight' and this has inspired the title of this thread. So far, maintaining weight loss feels like trying to ride a wave; and my emotions vary inversely with the weight wave :D I'm trying to remind myself that even if I'm a pound or two above my goal weight, it's a much better place than where I was just over a year ago!

The first six weeks went well. I had already decided to stick with the McD program and set myself a mini-goal of being a couple of pounds below my target weight before a holiday because I knew there were going to be many challenging eating situations. I stayed a pound or two below my goal weight in March and April but gained a couple of pounds while away. I have struggled to get back to my usual level of McD compliance since my return home. With the help of Dr Doug Lisle, I realised its just 'life knocking me out of my deep McD groove'. I'm getting myself back in the groove by reverting to all the good habits I learned from the McD Program :-D (You can watch him here - McDougall Program webinar 19th March 2018 starting about 26:40)

PS Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful to be around my goal weight and realise that a pound or two doesn't matter. But, making sure that the pound or two doesn't grow into a few pounds and then a whole lot of pounds, well that does matter! As does continuing to receive the health benefits of this way of eating :D
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Suey51 » Sat Jun 02, 2018 4:17 am

Pleased to be back at my goal weight yesterday after a good run of compliant days :D

Getting back to batch food preparation - batch cooking rice, chopping veggies and a chickpea 'no-tuna' salad - helped me prepare quick and compliant meals. My husband made a huge vegetable paella on Monday which gave me 3 leftover meals. He's adapted it to be no oil :-D and it was lovely re-heated in the microwave with some extra kale or spinach. I had rice and veggies several days for breakfast and had my usual breakfast porridge as a late afternoon/evening snack. Last night I made a new recipe for a Chinese style veggie stir-fry. It was delicious but I worked out this morning that each portion contained 2 tablespoons of soy sauce or 1,750 mg sodium - ouch. We've now bought a reduced-salt soy sauce and will adjust the recipe next time.

Reading Jeff Novick's great post this morning Creating Healthy Habits was very timely. I still have some way to go on some of my healthy habits and will be working on them this week!
Last edited by Suey51 on Tue Jun 05, 2018 9:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby moonlight » Sat Jun 02, 2018 10:47 am

Hi Sue, I'm glad you started a journal page on maintenance. I suspect it is a bigger challenge (only in the beginning) than following a diet plan to lose weight. I have some experience of losing weight to a goal weight only to regain when I was no longer on a diet. There has to be a shift in our minds, a true lifestyle change. With the losing weight part of it we are on a diet whether we tell ourselves we're just changing our lifestyle, or not. We really change our lifestyle after we get to the weight we want to maintain and start living our lives not on a diet. Kudos to you for staying on the discussion board and starting a maintenance journal. :) I'll be checking in and sending you wishes to stay strong and energetic and get this part of your journey down. People say lifestyle changes are hard to make - but we all know it can do done, if only by the truley diligent ones who take control of their lives. Yay, you, for getting back to your goal weight, too. :-D
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby WeeSpeck » Sat Jun 02, 2018 12:13 pm

Hi Sue,

Thank you for starting this journal. I am in the same place as you are, it seems. I was very successful in taking off a tremendous amount of weight following the principles of the McDougall program. But, once I got to goal weight, maintaining it is another whole mindset. Over the last two years, I have been in the normal BMI range, and even for a minute or two, in the healthy lower BMI range, but when life happens around me, I see my weight start to creep up.

Last month, my son got married, my job got crazy, my exercise dropped off, my meals became more "convenient" and less compliant, and there should be no surprise that my scale weight showed an increase. So, while, I am still within the normal BMI range, I want to be in the "healthy" BMI range.

Your journal and Jeff's posts :nod: are so relevant for me right now. I look forward to riding this wave with you. Thanks again for starting this journal!
--\--@ Nancy @--/--

I am but a wee speck in the big picture of the universe.
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Jobet » Sun Jun 03, 2018 5:54 am

Hi Sue,

Wish I could join you in this thread, but I have a ways to go yet. :) I have subscribed to the thread as I'm quite sure the members posting here will be sharing gems of wisdom that will be helpful for those of us working our way to maintenance.
Blessings,

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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Suey51 » Sun Jun 03, 2018 8:19 am

Hi moonlight, thanks for your kind and encouraging words :-D I suspect you might be right about it being a bigger challenge, but its still early days for me. You’re so right about it being a true lifestyle change. I feel like I’ve managed to build some healthy habits but there’s still plenty of work to be done :? And of course, like the oceans, life never stands still so there’s always new sets of circumstances for me to navigate!

Thanks again for your ongoing support xx

Hi Nancy. Thanks for joining this thread and many congrats on your weight loss :-) I read with interest your posts ‘Getting to a healthy BMI’ and Jeff’s responses earlier today. Although I don’t play golf, my husband does, and I love your analogy of golf with how to approach healthy eating:

The more you practice driving, pitching and putting, the better you get. The longer you go between hitting the golf course, the more likely it will take several holes to regain your stroke and stride.......So, practice the guidelines as outlined here, every day. Review, read, immerse myself every day. No crash dieting or starvation or hack is going to correct the mistakes made 6 days out of 7.

And like golf, you can’t leave the game for very long without seeing a huge backslide in your results.

Practice, practice practice.


This is great advice and I look forward to sharing the wave with you! xx

Hi Jobet. Thanks for dropping by. Yes, I'm also hoping to learn from other members, particularly those who've been able to maintain weight loss for a long period. I'm so happy for your and your family's achievements :) Keep up the great work xx
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Ejeff » Mon Jun 04, 2018 9:05 am

Hi Sue,
I agree with moonlight, this must be considered a lifestyle change and not a diet. I a female 55 yrs old current weight 110. I began the McDougall plan on Dec 6/2014 and I decided to try it after I heard Dr. McDougall on the radio. I was 141 lbs. Up to that point I was your typical SAD eater and even though I tried to watch my weight and exercise the weight always crept back on. I had tried counting calories and high protein diets etc, all these things seem to work in the short term to lose some weight, but there is always an end date and then weight returns over time. In the first 6 months I lost 20 pounds, the following year I lost another 5 and now a couple years later I am at 110 pounds. I am 5’2”. I think I could stand to lose another 10 pounds, as there is alot of flab in the rear if you know what I mean. :-D

Once I followed the plan for the first 6 months I knew I had found the new way of life for me. I was so excited it almost seemed too good to be true really. I could eat a great deal of food, not feel deprived, and lose weight. In the beginning I made this much more difficult than it needed to be, but I think that was part of the learning curve. I tried so many recipes and stressed myself out cooking. Now as things have evolved I tend to keep things simpler. I follow these discussion boards daily and I think that helps keep my resolve strong. My primary goal is to try and avoid cancer as both my parents died mid 60’s and I hope to be around much longer than that. I still struggle with eating out like sometimes if there is only one option and it has cheese I may order it, but as time goes by I am getting better at that also. I have read on these forums where some people just stop going out altogether, but for me that is not an option as it would mean giving up socializing with friends and I think social connections are very important for health also. I can always order a salad and bring my own dressing if I want to be 100% compliant.

My favourite meals tend to be large salads with rice or potato chunks added. For me the key to success has been not feeling denied in any way. If I want sweets I have them, but I make my own fat free cookies or cakes or bliss balls. I also love corn tortilla chips, but I make my own in the oven from fat free corn tortillas. I eat so many delicious things and so much food, I am never tempted to eat meat or cheese. Why would I eat a hamburger when I can have a veggie burger without all that horrible fat. I can enjoy the meal and feel energetic and healthy after that. My hubby tried McDougall, but never stuck with it, so he makes his meals and I make mine. It is also easier to keep the environment cleaner as we are now empty nesters. I am so happy as my oldest daughter is mostly starch based now and has lost over 70 pounds. She looks like a new person.

Anyway I think I am rambling, thanks for starting this journal :)
"The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don't swim upstream."
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Suey51 » Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:11 am

Hi Ejeff.
Thanks for sharing your story here, its very inspiring :-D Congrats on losing the weight and keeping it off!

Like you, I've found eating out a challenge but it is getting easier with practice! Keeping things simple is something I'm working on, particularly when I'm eating alone or having a different meal from others. I'm also trying to build a small repertoire of compliant evening meals that my husband will eat. What are your favourite sweet recipes?

Oh yes, I know about flab in the rear :lol: Like you, I could stand to lose a little more weight but would also be very happy to stay where I am now, with a BMI of 21.1. Decided that I would see where continuing to eat McDougall-y takes me, without the pressure of another weight loss goal.

How wonderful that your daughter is mostly starch based and has lost all that weight :D

I look forward to sharing this wave with you, Sue xx
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Ejeff » Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:53 pm

Thanks Sue!
I like to make banana nice cream, I just had some. I threw 2 frozen bananas into food processor with small splash of maple. At the end pulsed in a few almonds. I have made very good chocolate sweet potato cake. And a banana bread from well your world that is made with no sugar just dates. I find it’s helpful to have frozen bliss balls in the freezer because I can have just one whenever I get a sweet craving. I make bliss balls by throwing almond butter, oats, cocoa into the processor then I scoop onto parchment paper with my small cookies scoop and freeze them. I recently made cookies called miracle cookies from Chef AJ they were so awesome they are made with oats, applesauce peanut butter. If you want some recipes I can try and dig some up for you. My biggest problem is I capture so many recipes and then I have trouble finding them again lol. Pretty much any sweet is one that I will like :eek:
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Suey51 » Wed Jun 06, 2018 8:57 am

Thanks Ejeff! They sound great :-D Don't worry, I will get onto that well-known search engine and have a look.When I first went plant-based I did a lot of baking and found that it wasn't good for my waist line. The recipes I tried were too calorie dense and too yummy! I pretty much stopped baking while I was on the MWL program but would like to have a few recipes I can do on occasion. I like the idea of having bliss balls in the freezer; less available than the fridge ;) Thanks again for the ideas, I'll let you know how I get on x
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby dlee » Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:54 pm

Great posts Suey51
I'm basically in the same boat too. I keep yo yo 'ing about 5 lb when ever I go away. I get around 117 before I visit family in August then back it comes....I hate that, I'd like to stay on the ride so I'll check out your Journal thread. You definitely need to keep on top of it. I've had some stress and 2 moves within this last year so just settling in to a new rental and hope to stabilize again. Enjoying this ride! I have no health issues other than trying to stay at a good weight. Dlee
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Suey51 » Thu Jun 07, 2018 10:03 am

Thanks Dlee, its great to have your company in the boat :-D Yes, its much tougher to start on track in those kinds of situations, isn't it. Hope things are starting to stabilise for you xx
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby SilverDollar123 » Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:40 am

Good Morning all! The week-end is almost here and there are all kinds of graduation parties & Barb-Qs abound.
My family is good,& will have veggi-burgers,& salads available. I'll bring a fruit platter to share. Will just keep telling
myself,the chips & salty crunchy things are poisen & you don't need to eat it,just because its there!!

I will be posting here to keep the thread in one spot,so as not to jump all over the place. Thanks again Sue for
starting this. RAS
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Suey51 » Fri Jun 08, 2018 10:52 am

A huge thank you to everyone who’s contributed to this thread or the original one in the Lounge. It really helps knowing that I’m not alone on this challenge. The accountability of checking in here and the support, companionship and advice of the McDougall community is helping me keep on track with my eating :-D

Life has been fairly calm this week and I’ve continued practicing a couple of healthy habits (batch food preparation and simple meals) and getting myself deeper into the McDougall groove. I’m pleased to say my weight is holding steady :-D I’ve been working on increasing my repertoire of husband-friendly McDougall recipes for evening meals. Having the same food helps him eat healthier but also helps keep me on track and is very enjoyable. I’d like to get to 4-5 tried and tested recipes that I can make easily. In the past, I’ve looked in my recipe books or online each time to find something that meets the criteria. Its time and energy consuming and the results aren’t always a hit! This week, I found a new recipe for a simple green bean curry and made it with runner beans. We had it with crushed new potatoes and salad and it was delicious. There’s a glut of last year’s runner beans lurking in the freezer so this was a win:win!

Several people have mentioned being thrown off plan by changes in their usual routine or environment and I've also been affected by this many times. Doug Lisle speaks about this topic in this McDougall webinar, starting at 26:40 and its well worth watching. I’m going to re-watch it as there is some turbulence in the local forecast!

I'm also going to read through this thread from Jeff Novick on ‘Compliance on a healthy diet’ which has lots of suggestions and the evidence that supports them. Thanks Amy for sharing this on the June Weigh In Thread!

Best wishes to everyone on the weight maintenance wave!
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Re: Keeping the weight off: riding the wave

Postby Suey51 » Fri Jun 08, 2018 10:58 am

SilverDollar123 wrote:Good Morning all! The week-end is almost here and there are all kinds of graduation parties & Barb-Qs abound.
My family is good,& will have veggi-burgers,& salads available. I'll bring a fruit platter to share. Will just keep telling
myself,the chips & salty crunchy things are poisen & you don't need to eat it,just because its there!!

I will be posting here to keep the thread in one spot,so as not to jump all over the place. Thanks again Sue for
starting this. RAS


Hello RAS! Hope you have a lovely weekend! Sounds like you have a great family :-) I'm going to borrow your words next time I encounter those salty crunchy things :lol: Congrats to all who are graduating this weekend xx
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