Shmookitty's Journal

[Shmookitty]

Hello everyone,

New to McDougalling in the past month, but had been eating about 80% compliant before that without even realizing it. A fellow member on Sparkpeople introduced me to McDougall, saying I should make the whole commitment since I was already mostly doing it. After some research on the free program and forums here, the Starch Solution and McDougall WFPB Facebook groups, and the Sparkpeople McDougall team, I bought the Starch Solution and the Quick and Easy Cookbook. Now I am 100% committed to the McDougall way of eating.

I see so many others here keep a progress journal in this forum section so I thought I would jump in too!

I am female, almost 49 years old, 5'5", with a current BMI of 37.3. I am following the regular McDougall program, not MWL, since I am already losing about two pounds per week.

Starting Weight = 319
Starting McDougall Weight = 227
Goal Weight = 160

I do have one question I can't seem to find an official answer for - I have seen several people on the Facebook groups say that Dr. McDougall teaches to limit beans to a maximum of one cup per day. I can't seem to find that written anywhere "officially." Does anyone know if this is the case?


Daily Nutrition:
Breakfast: Oats
Lunch: about 15 smallish steamed red potatoes with black bean & corn salsa
Snack: A couple handfuls of baby kale mix with fig balsamic oil-free dressing
Dinner: Blackeyed Susans from the Quick and Easy Cookbook, with whole grain mix added

[Lyndzie]

Hi and welcome! The recommendation is to eat 1 cup of beans per day, but there is situations when more or less may be fitting. It’s a good jumping off point.

[AnnetteW]

Glad to see a new face. Reading through journals is kind of fun (I tend to ramble in mine.) I look forward to seeing your progress.

Personally I haven't paid much attention to how many beans I eat. But it sure isn't a cup a day, maybe 1/2 a cup, sometimes more, sometimes none.

[Shmookitty]

Thanks so much for the welcomes!

I am so giddy right now I can barely contain myself. My husband - the same carnivore who got mad at first when I told him about McDougall because he didn't want me to be vegan again - posted a Facebook status an hour ago asking for vegan meal suggestions. He said he is interested in "integrating more vegan options into my diet." I am so thrilled! Of course I will take great care of him. I was vegan once before, but finding McDougall has been my perfect way of eating. Break out the Quick and Easy Cookbook, we're gonna EAT!

Weighed in this morning - down another pound, at 223. I love this WOE!

Starting Weight = 319
Starting McDougall Weight = 227
Current Weight = 223
Goal Weight = 160

Breakfast - oats
Lunch - barley with lentils, chickpeas, baby kale mix, hemp seed, sundried tomatoes
Snack - a couple handfuls of greens with oil-free fig balsamic dressing
Dinner - the other portion of yesterday's Blackeyed Susans recipe (I halved it) with added mixed grains

[sirdle]

Congratulations!

Slow and steady wins the race, and you're off to a great start!

Cheers,

[Shmookitty]

Well, my husband has decided to go lacto-ovo vegetarian. He is reading my old flexitarian book to learn how to transition. It's better than eating meat, and I'm hoping over time he will decide to go vegan. It would be quite a big change all at once since he currently eats a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, a ham and cheese wrap for lunch, and chicken for dinner, plus coffee creamer and some baked goods like muffins. I am just happy he's refining his diet at all. I have been hoping for this and will encourage him. He hates beans but I will be making us McDougall compliant rice, grains, and pasta recipes, he's open to those. We are making the Rainbow Rice from The Starch Solution tomorrow (I will just add some black beans to mine).

Today's menu:
B - oats
L - barley/lentils/chickpeas with baby kale mix, a few sundried tomatoes, 1 tbsp each pepitas and dried cranberries, Silk blueberry soy yogurt
S - cauliflower and broccoli
D - Subway veggie delite (no cheese) on whole wheat bread (less than 2% oil, the best I could do)

Yet another thing to love about this WOE - my constipation is virtually gone. I have never felt as healthy as I do on McDougall.

[Ejeff]

Congratulations on your success so far. I can tell how excited you are to have finally found a way of eating that you know will bring you health. I felt the same way about 5 years ago when I switched to this way of eating, it seemed like a miracle to me that I could really enjoy a lot of food and still lose weight. It is great your husband will move somewhat closer to your way of eating. My hubby seems to go round and round and is now doing Keto to lose weight. It’s hard to watch and I pretty much have to plug my nose when he cooks meat. He may lose the weight, but we will see what happens after that. We each prepare our own meals which makes it very simple for me.

[AnnetteW]

It's great to have your husband on board. It doesn't need to be perfect. You focus on you and he'll come around, or close. I'm still working on that myself. I hear more positive comments and discussion from my husband all the time.

[Shmookitty]

Thank you both! I didn't become vegan overnight this time either, it was about a six month process, so I am just encouraging my husband for making better choices. I am so thrilled with McDougalling myself. Chris normally works 10 - 7 so we don't eat together. We fend for ourselves and just cook for one, so it's fine that he is not going vegan while I am starch-based.

I am about to take a HUGE step for me this week. Since mid-March, I have been tracking my food daily on Sparkpeople.com, with the goal of staying under 1400 calories. Since starting McDougall, and learning about calorie density, I have found that my meals are pretty interchangeable...one cup grain, 1/3 cup bean, greens, non-starchy veggies, and a couple small amounts of things like sundried tomatoes, a teaspoon of dried cranberries, a few hemp seeds, a few pepitas. If not a grain/bean mix, then a bag of steamed potatoes or sweet potatoes. I have been constantly changing things after I first logged them a week in advance - if I decide I want black beans instead of chickpeas, or kidney beans instead of pink beans, red potatoes instead of sweet, or barley instead of rice...it's driving me insane. And when it comes down to it, the nutrient counts don't really change with all that extra tracking, so it's not even worth it.

So. I have made a short written list of my favorite combinations and their respective calorie counts. I can just pick one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner, from the list and I will still stay within my nutrition goals. (I'm not ready to stop measuring portions yet).

I am going to try not logging my food this week and see how I do. I have not been ready to do this yet, even though I know Dr. McDougall doesn't count calories. It's been ingrained for too long and it's kind of a security blanket to me. By now though - and especially since I started McDougall - I know what a healthy meal looks like and what it has in it. The rest of you have inspired me that maybe I *can* give up the nutrition tracker and still be successful! I hope this works!


Today's nutrition -
B - 1/3 cup oats stirred into Silk strawberry yogurt
L - barley/chickpeas/greens/sundried tomatoes (not in oil)/a few dried cranberries
S - spinach leaves with 1 tbsp fat-free dressing
D - McDougall Rainbow Rice with black beans

[moonlight]

Hi Shmookitty,

I am taking the morning to catch up on my reading and saw your new journal. Welcome! Congratulations on your weight loss!!

That's great to be having conversations with your husband about diet. If he is changing his diet in the right direction that is super! My husband is a meat and dairy man! And, he gets home from work after 7:00 so we really eat at separate times, too. Sometimes he eats vegetables or soup that I cook but he always adds salt and some kind of cheese. He supports me, though. He even keeps crackers, cookies, and chips in another room so I am not tempted to eat them. I really appreciate that.

I like the name Shmookitty. Are you a cat lover?

[Shmookitty]

Hello moonlight - thanks for stopping by my page! I am indeed a cat lover. Shmookitty is a nickname I used to call my beloved cat. She passed away in December 2006 but she was just that once-in-a-lifetime soulmate pet, and I miss her every day.

It's good your husband supports you too! It really does make a great difference. I am allergic to chocolate, so most of his treats he brings in the house are things I can't eat anyway. I am not tempted by off-plan things anymore really. I was about 80% McDougalling without knowing it between March and October, so it was really just a matter of giving up oil and my once-every-two-weeks chicken. I love how much better I feel on The Starch Solution, and I don't want to lose that. This is how I *choose* to eat, not what I *have to* eat. I'm sure you are the same.


Today's Nutrition -
B - oats with almond milk
L - 24 oz bag steamed red potatoes with black bean and corn salsa
S - snap peas (if I'm hungry enough, I'm pretty stuffed from the potatoes!)
D - Spicy White Bean Pita from the Quick and Easy McDougall Cookbook (if you haven't made this before, it's wonderful!)

[Shmookitty]

Didn't end up needing the snap peas for a snack yesterday - 24 oz of steamed potatoes is a LOT, and VERY filling!

Got my meal nutrition count list printed up today. So I can choose one breakfast and then one each for lunch/dinner and know I am meeting my nutritional goals without tracking my food on Sparkpeople every day. I have five breakfasts to choose from and 25 lunches/dinners, though the regular rotation will probably be more like 6. I took the trouble to enter many McDougall recipes into the tracker so I know about what is a good portion and what its nutrient contents are. I am just not ready to stop measuring my food. I know McDougall doesn't believe in portion control, but I still do.

Weighed in this morning and stayed the same as Friday, 223. I'm okay with that. I did, after all, eat way over a full pound of potatoes yesterday!! Will weigh in again this coming Friday.

Today's nutrition -
B - 1/3 cup oats in vanilla Silk yogurt
L - the other Spicy White Bean Pita from yesterday (I halved the recipe since it's just me eating it)
S - a couple handfuls of baby kale mix with 1 tbsp oil-free dressing
D - a mix of barley/greens/pink beans/onions/peppers/sundried tomatoes/1/2 tbsp hemp seeds/1/2 tbsp pepitas

[AnnetteW]

There is a weigh in group in the MWL forums. The first weigh in for November is this Thursday. You can join up.

I think I just ate about a pound of potatoes...gosh I love them so much.

[Shmookitty]

Thank you, but I am not doing MWL, just the regular program. I like putting pepitas in my grain mixes sometimes, or dried fruit. I have been losing 1.5 - 2 pounds a week on the regular program, and that is okay with me if I still get to eat my little bits of "condiment" foods.

I hear you about the potatoes! I am convinced that's why I stayed at the same weight this morning - I probably hadn't digested that 24 oz bag of potatoes yet! Note to self - eat them AFTER a weigh-in, not the day before! lol!

My favorite is hulled barley. I batch cooked some yesterday so I'll have it all week. YUM!

[Shmookitty]

Well, I have my last compliant slices of Dave's Killer Good Seed Bread in my freezer but went today to find a replacement. My Food Lion doesn't carry a bread that is completely oil-free. The Ezekiel site says they carry three varieties of their bread, but I didn't see it.I I picked up some Wholesome Harvest 9 Grain and Seed bread that has 2% or less vegetable oil. That will have to do. I am only eating bread a couple of times a week anyway, so I am not going to worry about 2% if that's the best I can do. If that's my biggest problem, I'm doing okay.

I have started buying potatoes in steamer bags in the last 10 days, but I am not going to eat the whole bag at once anymore. I felt SO heavy after that 24 oz. I ate in one sitting! With eating low-fat, I usually feel light even after eating, but not that time. Yes, there IS such a thing as too many potatoes! lol! Way too much bulk. Barley, brown rice, and other grains don't do that to me so I am mainly going to stick with those.

Today's nutrition -
B - 1/3 cup oats in Silk vanilla yogurt (my new favorite breakfast)
L - tofu wrap with lettuce, tomato, black beans, and corn, with mixed fruit salad
D - natural peanut butter on 2 slices of the 9 Grain bread (I want to try it fresh so I left the Dave's in the freezer)

No snacking today, I am going to the dentist at that time to get my two new permanent crowns put in. I am pretty full from lunch though, so should be okay.


edited to add: I am nearly finished reading The Starch Solution - I am down to the recipe section. Imagine my surprise when three of the recipes I've read called for tiny amounts of sesame or chili oil! Not a major ingredient, mind you, but on the list as an option. Hoisin-Tofu Lettuce Wraps (page 260), Thai-Style Noodles (page 294) and Soy-Glazed Soba with Crispy Tofu and Vegetable (page 298).

If those small amounts are okay, I'm not gonna worry about less than 2% in my bread.