Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Went vegan in January 2013 = Junk Food Vegan
Slowly cut out oil/added fat, fully cutting it January 2015
June 2015 to March 2016 Healthiest I've ever been
Discovered social media influencers who eat more fat, processed carbs, got more into "vegan" vs "plant based" healthful foods
Gained 20 lbs, not happy with how I look and feel
I've never been active, but now that i'm 10 years into a desk job I'm having back pain/headaches/stress/tension and just generally feel like garbage.
Time for accountability and change toward feeling right again!

Goals:
Eat WFPB low SOS (well, no O, low S&S) for 85% of my meals **I feel so hesitant to give up the vegan "treat" meals even though they make me feel like poopoogarbage... it's become such a part of our lives i'm scared to lose them**
30 minutes moderate activity a day - gym at work, exercise at home, physical activities with hubby on weekends and evenings, get back into rollerblading and volleyball
Don't weigh or measure or track calories - i'm an obsessor

EAT WHAT MAKES ME FEEL GOOD DUH

What I've done so far in the last 3 weeks:
1. Joined work gym, gone 4 times, plus 2 nights of games with volleyball league at work
2. 2 Weekend hikes with hubby
3. one home exercise afternoon with video and light jogging
4. Bought brown rice to phase out the white rice
5. Bought unsalted rice cakes to phase out the salted ones
6. Admitted to myself and my husband that too much wheat makes me phlegmmy and gross and I don't want to eat it
7. Made healthy choices at work cafeteria after a rough start... having a cafeteria literally downstairs with tempting vegan junk and some healthier but not great for me stuff like oily hummus and olive oil coated roasted veggies, fried potatoes at breakfast, veggie sushi, etc. is really tough for me. Thankfully they also have lots of fruit and a good salad bar. I say good, not great.
8. brought breakfast/snack/lunch from home every day this week (only went to cafeteria once and only got a salad with vinegar)... oh wait one day I got breakfast potatoes too DAMN. that's why this accountability journal is KEY!
9. Joined the forums after literally YEARS of lurking and reading everyone's stories and started my own journal!

So that's my starting point! focus is on FEELING GOOD. eat and do the things that make me feel good. period.

Those goals look great, and it appears you are off to an excellent start in the past 3 weeks! Kudos to you, kateCass!

Take care & be well!

What is impressive is that when you fell off the horse, you got back on. I struggle with the poopoogarbage foods, too. You can do this. Welcome to the boards!

Wow! Support from forum folks! How fun! Happy to be here!

This weekend was not great. I have a yeast infection that is making me want comfort foods and to sit still on the couch and not move at all. So I haven't moved much and have indulged in some oily vegan convenience foods. I don't even want to go into detail but i'll just say that the fact that there are vegan frozen pizzas in the grocery store is a great thing for the animals and probably for parents of fussy kids and yeah... but not good for me.

Back at work and on the mend and feeling better than I have since Wednesday last week, so things are looking up.

Yesterday I took the big basket of garden veggies my MIL brought over and made a BEAUTIFUL harvest vegetable soup. We called it "harvest vegetable and garbage melon soup" because it also included a pureed "garbage melon" hybrid zucchini/spaghetti squash from their compost pile which comes out like a really wet mushy spaghetti squash. Soup turned out TERRIFIC!

Plan for the rest of the veggies is to do a fajita veggie bowl for me and chile relleno for my hubby (he is vegetarian, still eats dairy/egg). Fajita veggies will be onions, garlic, Mexican squash, zucchini, carrots, various peppers, tomatoes. Brown rice, black beans for me, hubby will probably toss it all in a flour tortilla which I WILL RESIST!

They moved the snack drawer/cube to DIRECTLY across from me. I'm staring at a lot of processed stuff that is vegan, but not healthy/WFPB. The kind bars are calling to me...

One thing I like to do is to set "rules" for myself and give myself a sticker every day that I follow my rule. My rule starting today is "I don't eat out of the snack drawer". and I get a little owl sticker when I succeed! whee!

I think I need to buy some more frozen fruit for the freezer here at work. I <3 frozen cherries enough to have them be my dessert so the evil kind bar doesn't tempt me.

I'll put my stickers here each morning too for the previous day so I can feel extra rewarded/accountable! i'm a sucker for a good sticker.

No Snack Drawer Foods
30 Minutes Exercise (forgot my badge so didn't have my fitness account linked to the temporary badge... d'oh!)

Today I brought in some cucumbers we had chopped for salads and am munching on those and they are SO GOOD and hydrating! And we have a ton of them at home thanks to MIL's garden! Woo hoo! Frozen mango for breakfast too. Also asked hubby to pick me up some more frozen fruit to keep here at work for those evil fruit cravings. On the way in this morning I wanted POTATOES so I think I might bake some tonight to have around for snack attacks at work this week!

I think today will be a good day. I'm looking forward to what I have packed for lunch (red lentil chili with brown rice and frozen broccoli and peas) and also looking forward to that harvest veggie soup for dinner!

Tuesday:
No Snack Drawer Foods
30 Minutes Exercise NOPE had a darn appointment scheduled and just didn't do anything physical

Also Tuesday ate chips at a Mexican restaurant with DH and had horrible heartburn all night. LESSON: it is ok to ask for corn tortillas instead of chips.

Wednesday:
No Snack Drawer Foods
30 Minutes Exercise NOPE had another appointment right after work... is after work the only time I can exercise? PROBABLY NOT maybe I should find another option

Ate well, made a super yummy taco style tofu, frozen roasted corn, refried beans and leftover brown rice. DH had his on flour torts and I had mine as a bowl with a bunch of lettuce on top. yay!

Going to the gym after work today is the plan. hopefully i'll get that sticker for exercise!

NEW MONTH NEW STICKERS:
(Sticker) I stretch for 15 minutes every day.
I exercise 3 times a week. (I won’t post this one daily, just weekly)

We travelled this weekend and it was a mixed bag of better decisions and worse decisions.

Let’s just discuss the good:
1. I ordered steamed veggies and rice from the thai restaurant we were trying out
2. I had a big plate of veggies and hummus from a restaurant instead of a vegan pizza or beyond burger.
3. I didn’t have a beer with lunch out with friends/family like everyone else did. Actually chased the server down to change my order to iced tea. Woo hoo.
4. Yesterday (Monday) to reset, I got a big salad from the cafeteria because I felt like my insides needed more fiber.
5. Yesterday night I made a one pot veggie pasta with garlic, Mexican squash, zucchini, fresh garden tomatoes, herbs, olives, chickpeas, and brown rice pasta instead of indulging at a restaurant because I was exhausted after work. There are plenty of leftovers as well! Yay!

Now the good things I have planned for this week:
1. I have 3 meals in the freezer at work to use up before the fridge fairies clean it out on Friday (red lentil chili * 2 and a harvest veggie soup)
2. I bought more frozen fruit to keep at work (dark sweet cherries) for when I have a sweet tooth
3. I brought a toothbrush/toothpaste/floss to keep at work (just good for my dental health)
4. I bought a big bag of potatoes.

I’ll try to do my best this weekend while we’re in SoCal for a funeral. Sadness = wanting comfort food. That’s what the potatoes are for, right? Nothing like a nice comforting potato.

kateCass wrote::mrgreen: No Snack Drawer Foods

Today I brought in some cucumbers we had chopped for salads and am munching on those and they are SO GOOD and hydrating! And we have a ton of them at home thanks to MIL's garden!

Cucumber! They've been cheap all summer, so I've been bringing one every day to work, slice it up, and snack on that....GREAT for holding me over until lunch.

Welcome, btw. Looks like you have a plan and you are following it!

So, due to training last week, I was barely at my computer or desk to think about how well I’ve done on my goals.

The good part about that: I only had the food I brought with me for breakfast/lunch and wasn’t tempted by the snack drawer. They had pastries at the course but I’m not tempted by that.
The bad part about that: I was away from my usual work location, so I couldn’t participate in the daily 20 minute stretch session that happens mid-day that I’ve really been enjoying. It wasn’t too bad though, I still managed to stretch and exercise 3 times last week.

Starting this week off strong with stretching today and the gym planned for this afternoon. Made a lot of yummy healthy stuff yesterday (mashed potatoes, 3 bean chili, and roasted delicata and kabocha squash). Hubby and I are committed to being frugal and cutting back our spending out of the house, which means less temptation to eat junk!

I think I’m “on the wagon” again with regard to low fat high starch eating. I feel so much better when I eat like this, and my pants are already fitting better. And having activity a part of your routine feels really good, I love being sore!

I've missed exercising and stretching two days this week, but am planning on the gym this afternoon. Oh dang… I left my headphones in my car… guess I'll have to pop out there at lunch or before the gym at some point…

Making the gym enjoyable for me is key - a time to watch the stupid youtube videos I like, a time to have quiet "me" time where I don't have to talk to anyone…

I skipped a volleyball night this week because I had been social all day and couldn't face another few hours of being around people. Does this happen to everyone (or at least all introverts) or is this something I need to talk to my therapist about… once I find a therapist that is…

Having just moved here things feel like they're in total disarray, like finding a therapist, a vet we like, a grocery store we prefer, etc.

The work routine is starting to settle down at least. Good things in life that have settled:
1. I'm doing the 11 am stretch session fairly regularly (whenever my schedule allows)
2. I'm bringing healthy lunch for every day of the week and haven't gone to the cafeteria for 2 weeks
3. I love squash and am loving this season, gonna buy more squish this weekend

Not going to list out the negative things that aren't going well. They aren't too bad, just stressful.

One thing I keep repeating to myself when I look at the recently stocked snack area - my body is bad at processing high fat foods. If I eat that stuff I will have heartburn and be constipated and miserable for a day. My happiness is not worth a pack of cashews or bag of fritos. I wish I had a name for this, something easy like my friend who had her gallbladder removed so I can just say no when people offer that stuff. But I have my gallbladder, I just don't think it works…

Anyway, here's to a good weekend!

Inspired and motivated again!

I've been doing well with stretching and moving my body more often, really enjoying my time at the gym.

I'm going to try something new for lunches coming up:

My absolute favorite meal that I could eat 3 times a day and not get sick of it is:

Brown rice, chickpeas, steamed kale, and sauerkraut

I'm going to see what it would be like to prep that for my lunch at work and see if I get bored with the monotony.

Oh jeez Thanksgiving is next week already??

Strategies:
Have my own WFPB stuff available. The vegan stuff they have stocked is always high fat, high sugar, highly processed. All the meat eaters eat low carb, so there are not nearly enough carbs around for me.
- Potatoes and a big batch of brown rice
- raw veggies and rice cakes for the "chips and dip" station that always seems to be formed on the counter... it usually has nuts and olives too- too much fat!
- roasted squash
- listen to my hunger, take the dogs for a potty break before eating impulsively
- be active every day

Ok i'll check in when i feel like it!