Val's journal

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:36 pm

I signed up for the July MWL thread, and I think it starts Friday so I'm going to do some planning here beforehand.

I think I do better with simple food and fewer choices but we'll see.

Generally, I think I can manage this if I remember to eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm not.

I don't have the checklist memorized yet and I'm on my tablet right now, but I want to put it here to remind me. Not sure about starting breakfast with soup or salad. Have to think about that. {Later: or fruit. Okay, I can do that, but soup for breakfast sounds possible too}

by JeffN » Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:42 am

A 10-POINT CHECKLIST FOR MAXIMUM WEIGHT LOSS (MWL)

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.

2) Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches.

2) Choose fruit for desert.

3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).

6) Eliminate any added oil.

7) Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e. bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
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Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:59 pm

Told my husband I'm starting a McDougall challenge this Friday and he is super supportive. Looking forward to it.

Breakfasts will be oats, berries, and a little plant milk.

Lunch will be soup and/or salad.

Dinner will be half starch, half veggies.

I can do this!
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:15 am

I'm reading the Maximum Weight Loss book so I can refresh my familiarity with it (I know there have been some changes). Today I will order a few groceries to make sure I have stuff to grab quickly when I'm hungry. My husband makes good vegetable soup, and he says he's up for doing that whenever I run out. I think I'm ready for tomorrow.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:41 pm

I bought a Clever Fox food journal to track my food in, and I will do a daily checklist on this thread.

I think the checklist items I will need to keep an eye on are exercise, fruits, and salt/sugar. I know from experience that after a week or so of compliance everything starts to taste sweet naturally, so I'm not really worried about sugar right now. I don't cook with a ton of salt, but I'll ratchet it back, and I asked my husband to put the exercise bike in the TV room so I will be encouraged to bike while watching TV.

I think I can do this.
Last edited by vegyluvver on Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:03 pm

Started the MWL challenge today. Starting weight 319. So far so good. I'm tracking in a physical book but I'll check in here daily.

ImageJournal day 1 by Vegy Luvver, on Flickr
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:16 pm

Not sure how long I will feel like doing a journal, but right now it is helping me get organized.

My main thing right now is to move toward the ideal, but to get the big stuff tackled first. That means no animal products, no oil, and no flour products except pasta. Also, starting with soup/salad/fruit and doing the 50% plate. That feels like a doable and important first set of priorities. Later, I will tackle the other stuff one thing at a time:

Plant milk: I gather some folks skip this on MWL, but it's low in calorie density and I only use it to moisten my rolled oats in the morning, so I'm going to at least use up the supply of almond milk I have, and then maybe I'll switch to water instead, or make oat milk or rice milk from scratch instead.

Pasta: From now on, going to start buying whole-wheat pasta instead of white and see how it goes. I'm going to finish up the white pasta in the house first, because it's still a decent choice, but I want to move closer to the ideal as I go along.

Fruit: I have berries on my oats in the morning, and then fruit for snacks when I want a snack sometimes, so I'm over 2 daily servings at the moment.

Sugar: I don't use much sugar, so I think this will be fairly easy once I get rolling, but I'm not going to worry greatly about it at first.

Salt: I will switch to salting the surface of the food and see how that goes.

Caffeine: I usually drink one cup of tea a day, but I didn't do it today. Not promising I've sworn off tea, but I'm going to pay closer attention to it and wean myself. If I miss it a lot, I'll have the one cup. Not going to ruin the rest of the diet over this.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby JeffN » Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:43 pm

vegyluvver wrote:Plant milk: I gather some folks skip this on MWL, but it's low in calorie density and I only use it to moisten my rolled oats in the morning, so I'm going to at least use up the supply of almond milk I have, and then maybe I'll switch to water instead, or make oat milk or rice milk from scratch instead.


Liquid calories are not recommended for either the regular program or the MWL program. It is especially important in the MWL program as liquid calories are one of the leading contributors to the passive overconsumption of calories. Calorie density does not apply as it is only applied to solid foods. Calorie density is also only one of the factors that The MWL program is based on.

Also, if you are using dry rolled oats, they are also not recommended for MWL as they are very calorie dense. We recommend cooked oatmeal, which has a very low calorie density.

In Health
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Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Fri Jul 03, 2020 6:59 pm

JeffN wrote:
vegyluvver wrote:Plant milk: I gather some folks skip this on MWL, but it's low in calorie density and I only use it to moisten my rolled oats in the morning, so I'm going to at least use up the supply of almond milk I have, and then maybe I'll switch to water instead, or make oat milk or rice milk from scratch instead.


Liquid calories are not recommended for either the regular program or the MWL program. It is especially important in the MWL program as liquid calories are one of the leading contributors to the passive overconsumption of calories. Calorie density does not apply as it is only applied to solid foods. Calorie density is also only one of the factors that The MWL program is based on.

Also, if you are using dry rolled oats, they are also not recommended for MWL as they are very calorie dense. We recommend cooked oatmeal, which has a very low calorie density.

In Health
Jeff


Thanks for the helpful direction!
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:05 pm

Still fine-tuning. I know my current breakfast (dry rolled oats with plant milk and berries) is way better than what I was eating before (SAD foods) but it's not MWL and I'm not going to be a toddler about it. I don't love cooked oatmeal but it's better cold than hot to me, so tonight I will cook some oats and berries in water and see if that works for breakfast tomorrow. I am committed to taking on this challenge in an adult way and not resisting change.

Today I had a little bit of a learning curve, but it went pretty well. I have done the Starch Solution before, but not MWL, and I didn't realize my breakfast wasn't MWL compliant. Thanks to JeffN I will make an adjustment.

For lunch, I made a huge pot of vegetable soup in the Instant Pot, and basically ate on it whenever I was hungry all day, including as my before-dinner soup.

For dinner, half my plate was brown rice, a quarter steamed kale, and a quarter raw cherry tomatoes. I poured red pepper sauce over the top. So good! (The sauce is garbanzos, roasted red peppers, lime juice, and garlic cloves. Blended with the stuck blender. Simple but delicious.)

Rode the exercise bike for thirty minutes. I'm not going to weigh again until Friday.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Sat Jul 04, 2020 12:35 pm

Did overnight oats instead.

Lunch was a salad with green beans, onions, kidney beans, peppers, and fat-free Italian dressing.

For dinner, going to bake sweet potatoes and have them with veggies.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:07 pm

Well, I did fine until dinner, which has been a pattern in my life, but not anymore. I'm breaking this pattern right mow. I'm a grown woman with my own home and complete control over what food I eat. I'm not a victim of circumstance.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Thu Jul 09, 2020 9:28 pm

Just posted the following to the MWL thread:

Tomorrow is my weigh-in and here's what I have learned in week 1:

1) I suck at moderation
2) If I want real results I will have to stop messing around and do the work
3) It is possible for me to have delicious foods all day and not go off the diet
4) Evening is my hardest time
5) My husband will not fuss at me if I don't eat what he's eating, so I should stop using his eating habits as an excuse to eat junk
6) Plain boiled potatoes are delicious to me hot or cold

Starting NOW, no more moderation for me.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Fri Jul 10, 2020 8:02 pm

Today was so much easier because I just decided there was no moderation for as long as I'm doing the MWL challenge. I'm committed to at least the next six months. After that if I want to revisit this commitment I can do that, but I figure six months is a good test of rigorous compliance.

Today I ate mostly soup. Breakfast was tomato and kale soup, lunch and dinner was veggie soup with brown rice, snack was sweet potato fries (air-fried) with a little spicy ketchup and a few apricots.

I didn't do any exercise, but I have ridden the bike almost every day this week and I always take Friday off from exercise because it's my busiest day.

Oh, forgot to mention it was my first day not drinking my calories. I had a couple diet sodas, which I know is not ideal, but no juice, soda,or plant milk.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Sat Jul 11, 2020 6:25 am

I've bookmarked the checklist page so I can read it every day. The things that will be hardest are the liquid calories, bread, and exercise. But I can do it for six months. I just think of how fast the past six months have flown by.

For breakfast I'm eating some leftover soup from yesterday while I roast sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts. I have about a quart of soup left and I'll start a new batch after I eat the rest for lunch. It is helpful to have soup on hand. I ate the sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts with table tasty instead of salt or ketchup.

I had ordered some groceries before I decided to do 100% adherence to MWL. I gave the yogurt to my mom, I will give the granola to my daughter, and I will let my husband feed the peanuts to the crows (they like and thrive on raw peanuts according to his research).

Snack is cabbage salad with oil-free dressing and grape tomatoes, and a piece of leftover roasted sweet potato.

Second snack: orange

I feel a little weird listing all my food here but I want to keep track. I do have a paper food journal so maybe I'll do that. Don't know.

Dinner: Andersens split pea soup and cabbage salad

Found an unopened pint of dairy-free ice cream in the freezer. Almost talked myself into eating some, but instead I threw it out (offered it to the family first) and made yonanas, which means I had more fruit than ideal, but it was a way better choice than the ice cream.

Final snack: cabbage salad and a small piece of sweet potato
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Val's journal

Postby vegyluvver » Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:53 am

I have a half gallon of pea soup left. I'll probably eat that most of the day and start another pot of soup when it's done. I honestly think soup is going to be the secret of success for me.

It may be power of suggestion, but things are already tasting sweeter and saltier. I'm reducing sugar and salt by a ton but not eliminating them, and it feels like my tastebuds adjusted quickly.

Breakfast: pea soup, cabbage salad, roasted sweet potato
Snack: apricots
Lunch: pea soup, yonanas
Snack: a sip of boba tea
Dinner: totally off the rails (sandwich, granola, almond milk)



I failed at dinner time. I'll write more about it tomorrow, but the basic thing is I think I'm learning that I can't rely on myself to eat healthy food that I don't like. If it's healthy but not tasty, I need to just toss it and try again. Otherwise, I'll end up eating off-plan and I am taking responsibility for not setting myself up for success today.

One unplanned slip is not the end of the world, though. I am still feeling good about the general trend, and I'm not letting a slip turn into a slide.
Val in SoCal
Focusing on the food, not the number on the scale.
vegyluvver
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:40 pm
Location: Southern California

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