Caro's Sept 2019 Journal

[Caroveggie]

Sounds like you are doing well and your head is in a good place (so important to me as my mind wanders too much.)

I'm trying the cornbread from the Straight Up cookbook for dinner tonight and will report back.

Let me know what you think of the cornbread. I will probably be making the beefless stew at some point. Cornbread sounds good but I'm not sure it's MWL compliant, so I won't have it for now.

And I think I am in a good place mentally. This journal, my weight loss calendar, and cooking a lot seems to keep me going, along with lots of reading of audiobooks like the MWL book and the Starch Solution, which I'm rereading right now on audiobook during my walks. It's good to keep the good info in my head as it combats my (small, now, thankfully) cravings for onion rings and hot cheetos (my two previous downfalls). Also, having a lot of good food ready to go seems like a secret weapon since I no longer have the excuse that there's nothing else to eat! And at some point I know I will make McDougall-compliant onion rings, so there's that going for me!

[Caroveggie]

I am down 7 lbs since I started MWLing 10 days ago.

I've been reading the Star McDougallers for inspiration and watched some of their stories. What a great community this is...and I'm grateful for this extensive website and to Dr. McDougall and Mary. The more I read here the more I want to stay on track.

YAY on a big loss!!

Thanks! My scale has stayed the same for yet another day but I am trying to look at the long-term...I know it'll eventually go down. Not like I'll be gaining weight eating MWL!

I do wish it would go down a little faster but since I've already lost 7 lbs from my start I guess I should be happy with that. It will be interesting to see when the next loss happens and how much. I would be happy with even a little bit. I'm sick of seeing the same number on the scale 4 days in a row!

I'll try to get a little more exercise in but it is hard on the weekdays. If I can get myself to ebike to work I know that will really help. I have to get up early in order to electric bike because it's about 53 minutes. Thinking about it and writing this out now makes me want to try it again. I haven't done it in a while. But I'm excited to! I can listen to a podcast on the way. (I'm almost done with the Starch Solution and will probably finish it tonight.)

[AnnetteW]

The cornbread tasted fine to me, to my husband not so great. I still think it needed some salt, but I have not dropped salt from my diet. I ate much too much of it, so it was a bit "triggering" to me, so that's a heads up. I still think I'd almost rather make my regular cornbread recipe and learn to make some substitutions for the oil and egg, that's the only thing that needs subbing for.

[Caroveggie]

The cornbread tasted fine to me, to my husband not so great. I still think it needed some salt, but I have not dropped salt from my diet. I ate much too much of it, so it was a bit "triggering" to me, so that's a heads up. I still think I'd almost rather make my regular cornbread recipe and learn to make some substitutions for the oil and egg, that's the only thing that needs subbing for.

There is an egg replacer mentioned in The Starch Solution but I can't remember it exactly by name...Energy Egg replacer or something like that. I remember I used to make brownies subbing mashed bananas and/or applesauce for egg and oil. They turned out dense but still tasty. Good luck with your future experiments.

I didn't end up cooking anything from the Straight Up Food cookbook because I still have a lot of chili from last week. I did cook curry, brown rice, and made up a lot of mashed potatoes. That all will serve me fine with some veggies added.

Not much to report. I DID end up e-biking to work this morning. I sort of surprised myself. It was long but not strenuous thanks to the electric power added. It took me an hour. I did enjoy it and listened to an interesting podcast about relationships while I pedaled.

Also this morning, my scale was finally down a tiny pound, so I'm no longer stuck at my almost 5 day plateau. Yay!

I'm continuing to learn more about cancer survivors who took alternative routes -- it's very interesting. Besides the heart protection and diabetes prevention, I'm happy to be eating this way to hopefully prevent cancer.

All that bike riding and my fitbit only shows about 3,000-something steps. Oh well. It's still good exercise.

[Caroveggie]

Today I had curry for lunch instead of chili. I also drove today. My ebike conked out on the way home. I forgot to bring the charger to work so it probably was just that - needing a charge. The battery makes the ebike so heavy so it was a lot of work going slowly the rest of the way home. Usually it's an hour and I got home in an hour and a half.

Tonight I'm not sure what I'll have for dinner, but I'll put the chili into the freezer I think. Maybe I'll have a Buddha bowl but with brown rice. I need to buy some lemons or lemon juice. My neighbor took all the reachable lemons from our shared lemon tree, so have to buy them now. I really like lemon juice on Brussels sprouts.

I was down another pound this morning, yay! Probably all that biking I did last night. I have saddle-soreness on my sitting bones.

[Caroveggie]

Sunday will be my twin nephews' birthday party. I decided tonight that I will bring my own food rather than try to make do with what they'll offer. My brother-in-law makes a delicious mac and cheese a lot that I won't be eating. He also makes veggies but with oil or butter. The mashed potatoes - you can taste the butter.. so I'm sure whatever veg thing they'll have will have butter or oil in it. Therefore, rather than have them cook something special I'll just bring a tupperware of my dinner. I'll explain that I don't want to ruin my streak.

I counted and it's been 15 days so far that I've been doing strict McDougalling, with the exception of a little almond milk in the beginning. I've lost 9 pounds since I started which is great! I've been embarrassed to share my weight because I used to be slim and used to be a stricter McDougaller. However I am getting back to my good habits again. The only serious cravings I have are: onion rings, hot fries (like cheetos but fries - they're horrible junk food), and occasionally I get a craving for chocolate. But I've been so pleased with my progress and the fact that I'm sticking with it and it's working that I don't want to reverse my progress by giving in to my cravings. Besides, I've settled that I'll have air-fried onion rings (homemade without oil) after this month is up as a reward for the month! Yay onion rings!

I like the idea of having a reward for the month, of being really strict with MWL (which I have and am being) and seeing how much progress I can get in a month, and then rewarding myself somehow. Air-fried onion rings sound great to me so I'm excited to make them once this month is over. They'll also be quite a mess to make and clean up it looks like so it'll be a special treat.

Now I'm thinking of other things I can get as rewards for future good months. A massage, smaller clothes, a trip somewhere, a bike (I need a new bike). I like the idea of starting small and my rewards can get bigger as I lose more weight and show more time sticking to MWL.

It's funny how my cravings for everything else have gone bye bye. It's only the onion rings I want. And I don't even want them to be oily! I want the air-fried onion rings. What a blessing.

Everyone always says what you start eating you grow to like. I should try to eat more salads and stick with it and see if that's the case. Now, I don't mean give up starches, just that adding a salad and eating it first would be good for keeping the overall plate calorie density down. Maybe I'll try that sometime. For right now, I have a lot of veggies and starches ready to go so I'm fine without adding more food to my kitchen.

[AnnetteW]

I'm great at giving myself rewards...whether I deserve them or not!

I have yet to try airfried onion rings, but that would be so yummy. I need to experiment, or find a recipe as a starting place.

Don't be embarrassed that you gained weight back. That's why we're here. Being slim is not easy, but it will get easier.

[Caroveggie]

Don't be embarrassed that you gained weight back. That's why we're here. Being slim is not easy, but it will get easier.

Thanks AnnetteW! I think I will reveal my weight after I lost the excess weight and feel slender. In the meantime, I will share each pound lost. Another reason is these are public and I use the same avatar for my social media (it's a slender me in that pic), so I'd rather keep it private until I've lost the weight and it's happened! I can't explain it other than that.

I am doing good. I'm surprised because I had slipped into such a junk food vegan/vegetarian who would try to be good but it wouldn't last. I can honestly say the biggest difference is I've found some more recipes and I'm cooking more, investing in cooking gadgets like a Vitamix and a Griddler, and a food processor - whatever I need and I'm excited to be cooking yummy foods with these things. For instance, I will be able to make delicious hashbrowns in the Griddler, I make a great hummus in the Vitamix, and will be able to make a no oil no dairy queso in there too.

That said, I'm having more of the usual for today's meals:

B-steel cut oats and blueberries and a peach
L-chili and Brussels sprouts with hummus and lime juice
D-probably curry and brown rice

S-I have a small apple that I might have as a snack

I actually am looking forward to the weekend so I can cook some more! I want to try to make that queso. I'll have to hunt around for it but I think it uses oats.

[Caroveggie]

I just had a strange dinner. I didn't feel like having curry so I started gnawing on a cold potato that was nuked previously and sitting in the fridge. Then I cooked up a cob of corn and ate that with lime juice. Then I wanted more corn so I nuked some frozen corn but it didn't taste as good as the corn on the cob. Then I opened a can of chickpeas and ate them with garlic salt and chopped tomato. I also had a pickle somewhere in there.

I finished up the chili -- the last serving is lunch tomorrow at work -- and I didn't feel like having curry again so I made do. I'm glad I didn't end up buying anything. I'm trying to save money also. So I had a strange dinner but at least it was MWL compliant. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

[AnnetteW]

If there was no one else in my home, I would have lots of strange dinners. I've started batch cooking potatoes in the oven. The nice fairly large golden potatoes, 1 hour at 400 degrees, a la "Nutmeg Notebook", from watching her batch cooking YouTube videos. Those are the best potatoes and taste fantastic cold. Why didn't I know that before.

As far as weight goes, it's no ones business what your actual weight is, unless you care to share it. Sometimes I like knowing for comparison reasons, but nothing more (or less). When women talk about weighing less than 110 at 5'4" (which sounds impossible to me and probably is) I just take note, look at their photos if I can (on Facebook for instance) and they usually look just fine. I'm trying to train my eye to like a smaller size.

[Caroveggie]

As far as weight goes, it's no ones business what your actual weight is, unless you care to share it. Sometimes I like knowing for comparison reasons, but nothing more (or less). When women talk about weighing less than 110 at 5'4" (which sounds impossible to me and probably is) I just take note, look at their photos if I can (on Facebook for instance) and they usually look just fine. I'm trying to train my eye to like a smaller size.

One thing to beware of with progress pics is that posing and posture can have an impact on how someone looks...so someone can look better in their "after" picture when they are sucking in their gut and holding it in. I saw an expose video about that once, but I've forgotten where it was. The man showed how some questionable companies can show dramatic before and after photos but it was all better lighting, better posture, sucking in the gut, bulging their muscles etc. on the after pic and the photos looked different but they were only taken a few minutes apart. So take the pics with a grain of salt.

That said, I should really take some photos of myself now for my "before" pics.

I finished up the chili which is a great take-to-work food. I also had Brussel sprouts with it. I think tonight I will have curry because I cooked more basmati brown rice to go with it, and it's good with fresh garlic on it.

I really need to get some more steps in but it's a bit hard because I'm stuck at work for a while (sitting) and we're in a heatwave over here. Perhaps I shall take an evening stroll to up my fitbit steps.

Also, sad scale news. I was up a tiny bit on the scale this morning. I did get less exercise the day before than usual. It's so much easier for me to lose weight when I'm more active. Speaking of active, and this heatwave, I think I'll swim this weekend, maybe even tonight. Our AC is out at my work and we are sweltering. Taking a dip into a cool pool sounds so refreshing.

But back to the scale. Part of me wonders if I'll ever lose the weight, but enough of me knows that if I stick to the plan, I'll see progress.

I've finished reading the Starch Solution (again) and MWL (again) and some podcasts that feature Dr. McDougall. All this good info is now in my head, motivating me, but I don't seem to tire of hearing it all over again. I'm enjoying listening to this health podcast Chris Beat Cancer which has a lot of good interviews on it.

I'm also thinking that after this month I may switch to a mostly MWL but McDougall-compliant way of eating. That way I can have the occasional pasta, bread, oil-free air-fried onion rings, etc. I'm still waiting to try those onion rings. I'm planning them for the first weekend in October.

That's about it for now.

Happy McDougalling!

[moonlight]

I just had a strange dinner. I didn't feel like having curry so I started gnawing on a cold potato that was nuked previously and sitting in the fridge. Then I cooked up a cob of corn and ate that with lime juice. Then I wanted more corn so I nuked some frozen corn but it didn't taste as good as the corn on the cob. Then I opened a can of chickpeas and ate them with garlic salt and chopped tomato. I also had a pickle somewhere in there.

I finished up the chili -- the last serving is lunch tomorrow at work -- and I didn't feel like having curry again so I made do. I'm glad I didn't end up buying anything. I'm trying to save money also. So I had a strange dinner but at least it was MWL compliant. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

Hey, I love this description of your dinner. It sounds like the way I eat sometimes or most of the time, actually. Welcome back to the boards. Sounds like you are getting in the McD groove.

[Caroveggie]

Thanks for the welcome back Moonlight!

I've been exploring the McDougall recipe section of the website. What an awesome resource. I found a bunch of salad dressings I want to try. I think I definitely will go to regular McDougalling after this month of MWL. I'll give it a month and see how much I lose. The reason is some salad dressings that I want to try have tofu in them, and tofu is off the MWL compliant list. But I figure, if I eat salads and use the dressing somewhat sparingly, I should still lose weight. Hopefully. Well, that's a problem for next month. But I'm enjoying finding new recipes using this website as a resource. What a great resource it is, too!

I'm getting hungry with all this recipe poking around. Guess I will have my tiny apple I brought.

[Caroveggie]

New rule: I'm following MWL most of the time, but if I get cravings, I'm going to McDougall the regular program where tofu is allowed and more processed foods. I think this is just more sustainable for me.

I say that because over the weekend I had some stress and fell off the MWL wagon. I fell off the McDougall wagon and had oil, and tiny amount of cheese, and cake. I'm back on track now but I think the MWL is just too restrictive for me. My weight loss might be slower but it'll be more sustainable if I keep to McDougalling.

That said, I am eating mostly MWL today. I'm not sure what I'll have for dinner because I'm having curry for lunch and don't think I'll feel like having curry again. I do have some sweet potatoes I can bake, and also some kale and broccoli.

I'm embarrassed about falling off the wagon but at least I'm getting back on. I don't even want to discuss my weight.

Well, it's process, learning how to eat this way and make it a habit that sticks. I have to do some more cooking tonight methinks.

[Caroveggie]

Change of plans. Tonight I can't cook because my parents need some help. My father had an avulsion fracture over the weekend and he's to stay off his right ankle. My mom also needs care as she is nearly blind and an amputee. I'm going over to their house after work to help them. So first I have to pick up saline solution from Costco (completely out as of this morning and I'm wearing my contacts right now), and then I'll stop at home and pick up a healthy dinner that I can bring to their house to eat there. I've decided I have some Engine 2 raviolis in the freezer and Whole Foods no oil added marinara sauce so that's to be my dinner. Oh, and broccoli added to it. That's somewhat fast, easy, doable, and McDougall legal. Not MWL but I'm not going to stress about that right now. I can return to MWL when I have more time to cook (like bake the sweet potato I'd intended for tonight's meal).

I did go for a long walk during lunch but still don't have a lot of steps. I'm at 6607. Hoping I can somehow get that to 10,000 by the time I get to bed tonight.