Vivian's Daily Journal

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

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Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Sun Oct 18, 2020 7:48 am

VivianS October 18, 2020 Sunday
I plead temporary insanity that I even thought about giving up this forum, this amazingly kind group of people and all the encouragement I have received. I read someone's confession that she, too, was having a hard time making posts. She expressed gratitude for all the help she has received. I am grateful that I have been greatly helped. I thought that I had learned enough to finish my weight loss journey ony own. I thought removing my posts would be something I could do, but like everything else, I had to ask for help. When I couldn't find this journal, Mark graciously supplied a link. I have more to learn than just the technical part. I read several of Jeff Novick's instructions about diet and nutrition last night. I am often amazed that it has taken me a lifetime to get to the truth about eating well to be healthy. The first time a doctor told me to lose weight, I lost 25 pounds and my cholesterol went through the limit for normal into the danger zone. The doctor told me to stop the diet. Today I recognize that I was eating an apple and a slice of cheese for breakfast and the cheese had driven my cholesterol out of sight. Why didn't I get more instruction at that time? The doctor was a lung specialist, but he did the blood work and realized I was doing something wrong. Before that an internist assured me that I am not a diabetic, just undernourished. He gave me a 3,000 calorie exchange diet. I cried because I couldn't eat it all. There was nothing on the diet that I wanted to eat. Coffee and a candy bar got me through the afternoon and neither was on the diet. That was a lifetime ago.
Now I am losing weight and feeling much better. I no longer need coffee or a candy bar.
Last night I reviewed my 10 point checklist and realized that I had not exercised so I got up and walked in the house. I think I am learning and still need to be in this group. I recognize that other people need help. Every life is good for something if only to serve as a bad example. Others can profit from my mistakes if they learn NOT to make those same mistakes. Maybe I am more work for Mark, Jeff, Wildgoose and the board. Maybe my many words take up space on the server and cost more, but the have offered this service for free and I gratefully accept. God is able to repay them and bless them. He will. Maybe at some point I can graduate and leave the spot for someone who needs it more.
In the meantime I have to grapple with turning lose of wrong thinking to improve. My battery is almost dead. I hope this will post quickly.
VivianS
 
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Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Sun Oct 18, 2020 12:42 pm

VivianS October 18, 2020 Sunday
I wrote a journal entry last night and my battery power was too low to post it.
I think that is the problem.
This experience of having guidance and instruction on nutrition and weightloss is very important to me. I thought I could continue to lose weight on my own and give this spot to someone else who needs it. I think I was experiencing a moment of temporary insanity. Why would I want to give my spot to someone else when I have not reached the level of health I want? Why would I allow this precious opportunity of having expert help given so lovingly for free? God will repay Mark Cooper, Jeff Novick, Wildgoose, the board and Dr.McDougall have generously provided what I need now and have needed for a lifetime: the understanding of the 50/50 sweetspot of non-starchy vegetables and starchy vegetables that leads to weightloss and maintenance. The 10 basic behaviors explained and illustrated in the lives of countless group members and help and encouragement from all of them as I have read their stories and the feedback from Mark, Jeff, Wildgoose and other participants have been priceless...more important than I ever imagined. I lost weight and regained it many times. Now I see a successful, healthy lifestyle that I can maintain for the rest of my life. Thank you to all of you!
I have struggled with the technical part of writing the posts and submitting them. It has been frustrating. Mark was kind enough to send me a link to my journal when I couldn't find it.
This process has been emotionally difficult because I realize that many of my mistakes may be valuable to someone else, but I am afraid it is just arrogance on my part. I was still in my twenties ( I was sent to a PEDIATRIC allergy specialist, too.) when the lung specialist told me to lose weight. I lost 25 pounds. When my blood report showed that my cholesterol had gone into the danger zone, he told me to stop trying to lose weight. I was eating a slice of cheese and an apple for breakfast everyday for 6 months. I'm pretty sure that was the cause. That was the only difference. Why wasn't I given some nutrition information?
Before that I had to go to an internist. He assured me that I was not diabetic. I was just undernourished. I was working, in school, and getting by on a cup of coffee and a candy bar to make it through the afternoon. The internist tested me thoroughly and put me on a 3,000 calorie exchange diet. I cried because I couldn't eat it all. I didn't want anything on it, not even the sugar free chewing gum. I couldn't cook. It was a disaster, but I ate enough to return to health. I was not underweight at any point. I looked healthy, I just wasn't healthy.
I went to that lung specialist for 25 years. He got my lung problems under control before he retired. My husband realized that working and coming home to cook and clean was a hardship on me so he decided that we could eat in a little restaurant near our home. We ate there nearly every weeknight for 10 years. As my mother warned me, "You will get fat." I did. I made it to retirement. I joined the YMCA and started swimming laps. My next lung specialist helped me and the new internist talked to me about staying out of fast food joints featuring weapons of mass destruction. He suggested beans and rice. (When I was twenty something the allergy specialist told me that I am allergic to nearly everything but rice.) In 2017 I got a cellphone and used an app for the first time that helped me with weightloss. Eat too many calories? Exercise more. Find a lower calorie substitute. Watch that calorie balance like your bank account and don't overspend. What a terrible way to live! I got down to 148 pounds and I got sick for months. I decided that I had to work on being strong and healthy and not worry about calories. It is better than being sick or having a heart attack. Even though I have relaxed some about the calories and nutrition, it is such a relief to enjoy food that is not doing damage to my body.
My friend had a stroke and died in 2017. I decided that I needed to pay closer attention to my diet. As Jeff Novick says the panel of doctors on YOUTUBE present their ideas and it is CONFUSING! I attended a meal presented by a local doctor featuring the whole food plant based diet. I signed up for his program that was to have Dr. MCDOUGALL to come speak, then Covid19 hit and our program was canceled along with all YMCA classes. No swimming. No instruction in whole food plant based diet. I found your forum and I have lost 18 pounds in about 3 months. THANK YOU!!!
I wrote in my journal about the fruit I ate so last night I just ate ONE plum instead of two. Maybe my guts will be happy on half as much. As Dr. Doug Lisle says,"I'm doing an experiment of ONE." If it works on me, that's great. If not, change. I can.
As I look back over my lifetime, I am grateful that at 180 pounds I was strong enough to lift an older 100 pound sister when she had surgery. I have had the muscles and stability to walk down the hospital hallway with my brother after cancer surgeries. I have helped my mother after a broken back and surgeries. I have watched over my husband and given him a little help with his food in the 12 years since his widowmaker heart attack. Now it is time for me to get down to being tiny like my sisters, but I want to be strong, too. Is that possible to be thin and strong? Yes! I'm starting to see it in my mirror. Today I weigh 151.8 pounds and have a 37" waistline. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I know I'm on the right path. Thank you!
VivianS
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Sun Oct 18, 2020 8:31 pm

VivianS October 18, 2020, Sunday p.m.
Breakfast
Steel cut oats
Vanilla 1 teaspoon
Ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon
Medium apple
The good news is that I did not eat the oat bran I have been eating for years.

Next meal
6x4 soup
Green peas 1/2 cup
Collards 1.25 cup
Brown rice 3/4 cup
2 veggie soup
Kidney beans ..875 cup ( 1/2 can of beans, drained and washed)
Salad 2 cups (no dressing )
Tomato 1 cup
I was 100% compliant to MWL checklist. I walked.
VivianS
 
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:38 pm

Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Mon Oct 19, 2020 8:26 pm

VivianS October 19, 2020, Monday
Steel cut oats
Vanilla extract 1 teaspoon
Ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon
Medium apple

6x4 soup
1/2 cup green peas
1.25 cups collards
.75 cup brown rice
2 veggie soup
Kidney beans, drained, washed 1/2 can
2 cups Romaine lettuce
1 cup chopped tomato

Exercise:
Lift weights 10 pounds each hand 4 sets: 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps, 12 and 12
Over head lift, bicep curl, chest fly and triceps over head dips I do this triceps exercise while lying in my bed and let the weight go over the end of the bed. I think of my bed as a wide weight bench at home instead of at the gym.
Walk 30 minutes in the yard while the children played.
I carried the smallest child (30 pounds) for an additional 10 minutes of walking.

I saw my lung specialist. He said my lungs sound clear. I thank God for antibiotics that cleared up the bacterial infection in just 7 days. Now if my guts (friendly bacteria ) and other equipment will recover and function correctly, I will be in great shape soon. I keep probiotics for use after a round of antibiotics. I think all is well.
I was pleased that the doctor noticed that I have lost weight. My blood pressure was 116/ 64. I don't take BP Rx. I think those are pretty good numbers for an old woman!
I had a good laugh when I told my 82 year old sister that I plan to get down to her size: 100 pounds, but I am 3 inches taller so actually I shouldn't go below 112. She laughed and said," Why would you want to do that? People are unkind. They say,'How do you ever walk on those skinny legs?'" I'm not losing weight to please anyone but myself. Same thing for swimming and nearly all I do. Only the Lord has to be pleased with me.
I hope you had a great day of sunshine. I did.
VivianS
VivianS
 
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:38 pm

Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby mandybee » Tue Oct 20, 2020 12:52 pm

VivianS, I'm so glad your lungs were clear and you are feeling better. Look at you crushing your weights! I love that!! I'm really proud of you --- you sound like you are doing so well on this path and I'm so glad to be doing along side of you. People are unkind, or rather, maybe they speak before they think. Says more about them than you...you are doing awesome --keep it up---all you do is continue to motivate me!

VivianS wrote:VivianS October 19, 2020, Monday
Steel cut oats
Vanilla extract 1 teaspoon
Ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon
Medium apple

6x4 soup
1/2 cup green peas
1.25 cups collards
.75 cup brown rice
2 veggie soup
Kidney beans, drained, washed 1/2 can
2 cups Romaine lettuce
1 cup chopped tomato

Exercise:
Lift weights 10 pounds each hand 4 sets: 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps, 12 and 12
Over head lift, bicep curl, chest fly and triceps over head dips I do this triceps exercise while lying in my bed and let the weight go over the end of the bed. I think of my bed as a wide weight bench at home instead of at the gym.
Walk 30 minutes in the yard while the children played.
I carried the smallest child (30 pounds) for an additional 10 minutes of walking.

I saw my lung specialist. He said my lungs sound clear. I thank God for antibiotics that cleared up the bacterial infection in just 7 days. Now if my guts (friendly bacteria ) and other equipment will recover and function correctly, I will be in great shape soon. I keep probiotics for use after a round of antibiotics. I think all is well.
I was pleased that the doctor noticed that I have lost weight. My blood pressure was 116/ 64. I don't take BP Rx. I think those are pretty good numbers for an old woman!
I had a good laugh when I told my 82 year old sister that I plan to get down to her size: 100 pounds, but I am 3 inches taller so actually I shouldn't go below 112. She laughed and said," Why would you want to do that? People are unkind. They say,'How do you ever walk on those skinny legs?'" I'm not losing weight to please anyone but myself. Same thing for swimming and nearly all I do. Only the Lord has to be pleased with me.
I hope you had a great day of sunshine. I did.
VivianS
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:39 pm

VivianS October 21, 2020 Wednesday
I am not certain if I am posting on my journal or MandyBee's journal. Maybe I will figure it out soon
Breakfast:
Steel cut oats 1 cup
1 teaspoon vanilla
Ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon
1 medium apple

I think I could cut out the vanilla and cinnamon, but the pleasure trap is still on my mind. I'm such a baby that I don't want to give it up for fear that I won't eat the oats and apple. Both are important for keeping cholesterol under control.
VivianS
 
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:38 pm

Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Thu Oct 22, 2020 10:10 am

VivianS October 22, 2020 Thursday
My niece cooked supper while I was playing with her children in the yard. She boiled the corn I had brought for them but left two ears for me uncooked. She added margerine or butter to the water. Our tight schedule did not allow me to have time to put more water on, wait for it to boil. All 4 units of the stove were in use and her husband had not eaten. I just did the easy thing and added my two ears to the boiling water and said nothing to her. I have told her before not to add butter or margerine to my corn. I was hungry, tired and knew that things would get worse in a hurry if I said anything or didn't eat. I had my 6x4 soup while the corn boiled. I also ate a second apple when I arrived with the children from daycare. I thought I was prepared, but there was a monkey wrench in the works.

Maybe there is a way to boil corn in a microwave.
The small boy I love likes to get my keys from my pocket. My pants are so loose that when he tugged, my pants fell down. It's time for a belt! HA!HA! HA!
VivianS
 
Posts: 126
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:14 pm

VivianS October 23, 2020 Friday
I read a poster at the YMCA stating that the pool will be open until Dec. 5, 2020 and will close until April 5, 2020. I think it is another Covid19 pandemic expense because people are staying home. Heating the pool in winter is expensive. I have been the only person in the pool many times in the winter. I think I'm part polar bear. I guess I'll have to spend more time on an exercise bike or other equipment. I was interested to see Mark Cooper's comments about :cool: finding exercise routines on YouTube. There are also public television shows like "Sit and Be Fit". ( I am thinking about our friend with a broken toe. It's the food!. She lost weight this week.)
I also read Rebecca's plea for ideas about a savory breakfast. I was thinking about leaving off vanilla, ground cinnamon and fruit in my oats. I just decided to try something savory. I put my oats in with tomatoes. I liked it with peas and collards, too. Huh!
VivianS
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Sat Oct 24, 2020 4:48 am

VivianS October 24, 2020 Saturday 5:27 a.m.
It is raining. My husband is coughing. I got up, weighed, took my medicine. I finally realized that I am still tired and I have gone back to bed. I read the posts from others. There are so many people suffering right now. I'm sorry. I have hope for us. God loves us. We have found this source of help. I noticed that Mark Cooper was reading the forum. The more I read, the more I admire him for his diligence and kindness. I am grateful that he shares the wisdom with us. None of us is as smart as all of us. In the learning, together we learn faster.
Learning is not enough. We must act upon what we know. I have not rested enough. I'm going to lie still and hopefully go back to sleep. I also need to look at my phone for the time before I do anything. I was ready to start working. My husband told me that the work could wait. He is right. Good day.
VivianS
 
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:29 pm

VivianS October 25, 2020 Saturday
I cooked a potato for my husband last night and he didn't want it. I am not fond of potatoes. I am a brown rice and oats person.
I put the cold potato and water used to cook it in a blender and now I have a warm soup that is pleasant to me. I know it is not a whole food, but I won't eat it any other way. I need lots of water. I am considering this flavored water even though it is 200 calories and it is filling. It is soothing to my throat and I may eat it again another time this century.
I have added 1 cup of frozen Green Giant grilled veggies (peppers and onions) 100% vegetables, NO sauce or seasonings. Maybe that will be a good combo. I like it. I don't know if I will be able to get the frozen vegetables again, but TODAY is what I have to enjoy. I thank God for the day and the food.
For my oats I substituted dried mint for the vanilla and ground cinnamon. It was a nice change. I enjoyed it.
VivianS
 
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Sun Oct 25, 2020 2:00 am

VivianS October 25, 2020 Sunday
I got stuck with another leftover potato! I blended it with the water used to cook it. I will use it as the base of a soup then add 1 cup of Pictsweet Farms vegetables for roasting: cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and halved Brussels sprouts. That is what I am going to try today when I wake up. Then I will make 6x4 soup to help me get through 5 days with two little kids.
Yesterday the potato soup base was delicious with peppers and onions.
I've been reading about eating soup, salad and vegetables first as a preload and then eat the starches last. This is especially important as I near my weight goal and it is harder to lose weight.
As I recall when I first started reading Jeff Novick's articles about soup, he advised having starches in the soup and lots of vegetables. I made my 6x4 soup with 50% starch an 50% nonstarchy vegetables.
I am eating soup first. I am eating 2 cups of lettuce placed on top of my bowl full of 50/50 mixture of collard greens, mixed vegetables (2 veggie soup ), beans and rice. I may get strict with myself and leave the items unmixed, but for now, I fix it and I eat every bite.
I use Cronometer to bargain with my calories to keep my calorie load below 1175 today based on my lowest weight this morning. When I put in my proposed meal, I saw that I had gone over my calorie limit. I reduced my salad dressing (Skinny Girl honey dijon) to one tablespoon to shave off 5 calories. Instead of one cup of tomato, I used 1/4 cup of tomato. Just two little changes and I stayed under my limit. I could just as easily have skipped the salad dressing as I do 5 days of the week. I read Jeff Novick's articles about calories and weighing, but I have to use something to keep me from overeating. Cronometer is a good tool for me.
My husband has often said that I eat more than any woman he ever saw. He used to slip me food off his plate and won my heart in doing so. He never complained when I ordered two salads in a restaurant: one before the meal and one with my meal. Waitresses and restaurant owners have made comments about how much I ate. I have been chastised by family members about the volume of food that I eat. Much of it is the low calorie vegetables. I have heard, "You got your money's worth!" when I ate at buffets that allowed one visit. One host said, "You built an apartment building on your plate!"
I was in an Italian restaurant with a friend. The owner sat down with us. I kept eating as he talked with my pretty, blonde friend. He stopped midsentence, looked at me and said,"How can you eat like that?" I said, "I swim two hours five nights a week. I lift weights. I'm burning calories when I sleep." I am thick in the middle, but I'm in "shape". My arms and legs are muscular. I want to stay that way. I offer my arm to let doubters feel my muscles. That ends the discussion. I'm old, but strong.
At the pool Friday night a woman in the locker room asked me about teaching her to do the backstroke. I get that question a lot. Even little kids will sit on the end of the pool watching me and I will see them run to the other end to sit down and watch until they finally ask me to teach them. Being able to relax and float is the key. Then it is a simple matter of keeping knees straight to kick from the hips and coordinate arm movement to "row your floating boat" almost effortlessly. I can swim a long time and really enjoy myself. I am sometimes limited to just an hour like now once a week. Of course I'm not burning as many calories so I know that I have to watch my calories or I will gain weight.
Usually I tell those people who ask about my ability to float easily is, "I am fat. Fat weighs less than muscle and therefore floats easily." On Friday night when I said, "I am fat." The lady said,"No you're not." I was shocked. No one has ever said that to me.
I know that the Maximum Weight Loss program has helped me lose at least 16 pounds...maybe 20.
Wildgoose's comment in the forum today about losing weight is harder as a person is getting near the weight goal, has me thinking about my lifelong practice of eating lots, exercising lots and being content to be thick around the middle. I am thinner, but I don't know if I can go as low as my doctor has suggested. I want to keep my muscles.
I have been very satisfied eating this way, but I miss eating with my friends. My husband and I have been on very different diets for a long time. He is willing to help me and we have been pleased with my weight loss. I am not hungry and not "touchy" or ill tempered as I have been in the past. Portion control is a ticket to divorce court or marriage counseling with a stop at the jail for biting somebody's head off.
Injuries have taught me that I can't indulge in more calories than I need and expect to exercise them off. As Dr. MCDOUGALL says, "It's the food!" Now I am learning about the food. It is easier than I thought and at the same time it has been harder than I thought at first. I am cooking more than I ever have. I don't want to do the brisk walking for 30 minutes every day, but I'm doing it as well as I can. Sometimes it has been hard to find the foods I want to eat and I am accepting what I can get. Potato soup! My mother would faint if she saw me eating that.
VivianS
 
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby bunsofaluminum » Sun Oct 25, 2020 9:42 pm

Potato soup is a great way to use leftover potatoes. So glad you can eat them that way! I also wanted to give you my favorite way to fix savory oatmeal. I got the idea from this forum years ago it’s called G BOMBS . Each letter stands for one “super food” ingredient, and it’s yummy with oatmeal as the base.
G is for Greens
B is for beans
O is for onion
M for mushrooms
B for berries
S for seeds (leave seeds out for weight loss)

I cook the oatmeal and broccoli together in the microwave and prepare the other ingredients while it cooks. Throw it all in together and YUM!
JUST DON'T EAT IT

I heart my endothelial lining
by red squirrel

simple, humble food
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The rest is an industry looking to make a buck off my poor health
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Mon Oct 26, 2020 2:13 pm

VivianS October 26, 2020 Monday
My dear husband came home last night just fuming after eating supper in a local restaurant. He declared, "I am never going to eat in another restaurant anywhere!" I told him, "The only place I know you are never going is to hell."
He said, "Well if I do go there, at least the food will be hot!"
I made 6x4 soup last night so if I do get stuck with a leftover white potato, maybe a neighbor will eat it. Maybe I can ship it to MandyBee!
I like sweet potatoes. Life is good. White potatoes please most people, but I don't need to eat them. There are other starches to eat and I like all of the others. I am so grateful to Dr.McDougall, Mark Cooper, Jeff Novick, Wildgoose Carole and the other board members for providing this knowledge, this community and the opportunity to lose weight with coaching free of charge. Thank you!
VivianS
 
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby mandybee » Wed Oct 28, 2020 7:36 am

VivianS wrote:VivianS October 26, 2020 Monday
My dear husband came home last night just fuming after eating supper in a local restaurant. He declared, "I am never going to eat in another restaurant anywhere!" I told him, "The only place I know you are never going is to hell."
He said, "Well if I do go there, at least the food will be hot!"
I made 6x4 soup last night so if I do get stuck with a leftover white potato, maybe a neighbor will eat it. Maybe I can ship it to MandyBee!
I like sweet potatoes. Life is good. White potatoes please most people, but I don't need to eat them. There are other starches to eat and I like all of the others. I am so grateful to Dr.McDougall, Mark Cooper, Jeff Novick, Wildgoose Carole and the other board members for providing this knowledge, this community and the opportunity to lose weight with coaching free of charge. Thank you!


Hey VivianS, you know I'll take your potatoes :) My top favorite potato is the yellow, then red, then sweet potatoes (these are like dessert!!!). I have them steamed in my fridge ready to go when I need them in a pinch. My husband eats them too so we get through them so should buy them in bulk. That and brown rice. Hope you are having a great week!!
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Re: Vivian's Daily Journal

Postby VivianS » Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:59 pm

VivianS October 28, 2020 Wednesday
I wrote a long post and then lost it when pushing the back arrow took me to my email! The thinking was done and perhaps I can avoid that mistake again in the future.
I am stocked up on MAXIMUM Weight Loss program foods and ready to go for a few more days.
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