What one or two things do you do to keep you on the program?

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

I would like to know from those who have been successful at losing weight over the long term, what things you did to keep yourself going? Like, did you have food ready to go (like a big salad for snacking) or some other strategy that you used? Did you really limit your diet like the Mary Mini?

[Sunny]

I always have food ready to go, and most of the food I make can be eaten hot or cold, to me that means if I am starving I can just grab something and eat it right now.

Recently I had made Rich Richardson's soup and along with that ate some veggies, and roasted potatoes for other meals and lost 11lbs. in 12 days.
I think Mary's mini diet is a great idea to lose some pounds quickly.

I have been an on and off McDougaller for years, I know it is the best lifestyle for me, and since I was diagnosed with arthritis, I am following it exactly, no more playing around. I feel great, full of energy and very happy

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

...and lost 11lbs. in 12 days.

Wow. Almost a pound a day! That is fabulous!

I made that potato soup last week but it's not my favorite. Maybe I made a bad choice using a veggie chicken broth instead of water, though.

[Sandie]

When I did MWL I had to have a plan or I wouldn't have stuck with it. Like clockwork, every weekend I did the following to keep DH, DS & myself going for the week:

* baked a dozen potatoes

* baked 4 - 6 sweet potatoes

* baked squash (usually several varieties as I love winter squash)

* cooked a large pot (or two) of some kind of MWL soup

* cooked a large pot of beans

* cooked a large pot of brown rice (I always cooked another pot about Wednesday)

* cooked a pot of congee and/or oatmeal combo for quick breakfasts during the week

* cleaned and chopped 'tons' of lettuce (kept it in plastic bags, ready to go. Did this again on Wednesday or Thursday as we ate a lot of salad)

* cleaned and chopped 'tons' of veggies to throw into a quick salad (kept these in water in plastic containers in refrigerator, changing water every other day or so)

* chopped up several carrots, onions, peppers, etc. to have ready for stir-fry at a moments notice (kept these in water in refrigerator, also)


Note:- I used time savers to help with prep work and cooking. I didn't (and still don't) always chop by hand, I use a SaladShooter® slicer/shredder by Presto® (actually 2 of them that I've had for about 20 years and still love). Also, I used (and still use) my pressure cooker and sometimes my crockpot for beans, rice, soup, oatmeal & congee. This way, I saved time on the weekend as well as throughout the week with only having to reheat or toss together quickly.

[ReneeK]

Sandie,

These are great ideas! Thank you so much for the tips. I'll have to have a "prep day" this weekend to prepare for next week. Will really save time in the kitchen on evenings when I get home from work.

[KareninTN]

My DH invented this modular approach. I prepare 7 storage tubs which hold about a half pound of raw vegetables each. Each module contains baby carrots, grape tomatos, sliced cucumber, sugar snap peas, assorted colored bell pepper strips and cauiflower florets. Instant snacks, grab and go! His method is actually what started me on the road to eating a greater variety of vegetables.


Karenturtle

Regular plan, but getting more MWL all the time

[Malva]

and if you don't buy anything that you don't want to eat.


Don't buy junk food if you don't want to eat it.
But lots of fresh veggies instead.
Have unpopped popcorn on hand for snack-time. Use an air popper or a microwave popper. Both are fast, but I like the air-popped variety best.
I pop it straight into a cotton bag to carry along if I need to take a snack.

I have organic veggies delivered to the house twice a month, and also buy them at Farmers' Markets, the co-op and Trader Joes.

I also have a thermal lunch tote made by Thermos/Nissan that has four small containers within a large stainless steel container (I bought mine on eBay). Keeps my hot lunch hot. I always carry lunch with me and never eat out. There's just not enough options available at local restaurants, and I save a bundle of money by bringing my own.

I've also gotten used to not eating 24/7.
There was a time that if I didn't have something to eat every 3 hours I was grumpy and angry at the world. I used to snack all day long on whatever was "at hand." Now I find that my McDougall meals are quite filling and satisfying. I eat three meals on weekdays, just because my schedule includes "breakfast -time", "lunch-time" and "dinner-time", but I get so busy on weekends that I tend to only eat two meals. Crazy how when your mind and body get busy, your stomach doesn't care, but when you're bored it whines constantly.

Fill the house with good food, carry them with you when you are out, and you'll find it much easier to stay on track.

[Ang]

I'm so glad I found this thread - and especially the ideas posted by Sandie - I'll definitely be incorporating some of those into my Sunday afternoons.

My big challenge right now is that everyone in the office has Halloween candy out on their desks, and I have a real weakness for Butterfingers and KitKats. Every time I feel the urge to get one I eat a baked, salt-free tortilla chip and the moment passes.

The biggest thing I've found on my own is what Malva mentioned - I don't buy anything I don't want to eat. I try to always have a list when I go to the grocery store, allowing myself some leeway based on what looks good or bad in the produce section. I find it pretty easy to resist things in the store, but if they're in the house I'll be tempted. I'm still pretty new to this style of eating, and hoping that my cravings for these naughty things will diminish as time goes by!

[Malva]

The Pleasure Trap has wonderful information to help you understand and correct your cravings and desire to eat healthfully. I read the book, but they also see the DVD here at the McDougall website.

http://drmcdougall.com/store_pleasuretrap.html

[Mrs. Doodlepunk]

Such good ideas on this! I'm so glad I posted the question.

Malva, your stuff has given me lots to work on. I should look into the home delivery of organic produce, I have been sent catalogs before but usually throw them out because it's so expensive. Is your organic stuff from one of the companies that has a catalog or website?

I think we will be having some popcorn tonight!

Ang, I just read something today as I was going over MWL again that might help you. This time of year is bad for me, too. I have a real weakness for chocolate. Today a sentence jumped out at me, Dr. McDougall says that avoid simple sugars and fats together, because the sugar increases your serum insulin and then the insuliln's job is to pack fat away into your fat cells, so there it is ready to go. When we eat a Kit Kat bar or a Mr. Goodbar or the Special Dark chocolate bars (!) they really are being applied directly to our hips and thighs!!!!

Every year for the past 13 years, my husband has bought a package of the Hershey's chocolate mini candy bars just in case we get kids at the door for Halloween. He doesn't want to be caught empty handed because the kids do bad things around here if you don't give them something. So, every year, no kids show up and I end up eating this stuff. This year, I'm getting it out of the house ASAP after Halloween. No other arguments will be considered, I'm the boss of the food and diet here, it's my job to keep us healthy.

Thank you all for your ideas! I'm using Karen's modular container approach and have some things ready to go - snow peas, onions and peppers. I have a big shredded salad ready to eat, and I have a batch of pinto beans cooked, and some salad dressing and "sour cream" ready to go. We also have a big roaster of parsnips, Brussels sprouts, white potatoes, sweetpotato, and broccoli stored in the fridge, so I am all set for a few days at least! Oh, and a pot of brown rice.

[DK]

Depending on where you live, there may be an organic farm nearby that does weekly or bi-weekly deliveries. You can do an internet search on your city's name and "Community Supported Agriculture" to locate one.

Oh, here's a list I just found. Scroll down a bit to get to the full list instead of just the paid advertisers:

http://www.greenpeople.org/csa.htm

[Ang]

CSAs are great! Options here are pretty limited, but I'll be relocating to Maryland in January. My bf is already up there and has located several CSAs for us to choose from, and there are also several farmer's markets near where we'll be living. And it's walking distance to a Hispanic grocery store, so I'll be able to get some of the staples a Texas girl just can't live without (I've heard horror stories from people on the East Coast being unable to find masa).

[Malva]

We have several organic veggie delivery services here in the Seattle area, even one company that delivers already prepared vegetarian/vegan meals. But they are not McDougall! Lots of oil, mainly Indian dishes (too spicy for me!).

[S B]

My system is not as co-ordinated as Sandie's system, but I do some similar things.

First of all, I eliminated SAD food from my house (except for pet food, which I have ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE to eat -- YUCK!) and most of the McDougall foods that I stock up on are MWL rather than Regular Program.

The only thing I have to watch out for, is cold cereal made from flour (whole grain, of course) that my husband likes. So, to avoid grabbing it, I keep lots of rolled oats sitting in the easiest place for me to reach on the shelf and keep the cold cereal near it BUT in a place that is a more difficult to get to. Since rolled oats are steamed and dried before being packaged, I consider them to be already cooked and often eat them without cooking them. I just let them soak in some cold water or liquid for a few minutes. They are my MWL-legal "quick & easy" cold cereal! If I HAD to take time to cook them, I might be tempted to take the easy way out and eat my husband's cold cereal -- especially during the long hot summers we have here!

Of course, I sometimes eat cold cooked rice or sweet potato or winter squash. They are my other MWL-legal "quick & easy" cold breakfasts!

Banana milk is another thing that keeps me on track. (I have stopped buying soy milk for my husband's cereal because it is high in fat and because I sometimes would end up using some just to keep it from being opened too long and losing it.) So, I have started making banana milk for my husband, most every morning. Banana milk is just a medium-size ripe, but NOT over-ripe, banana mashed and mixed with anywhere from 3/4 to 1 & 1/4 cups of cold water. I usually leave the mashed banana a little lumpy to make it a little more MWL-ish. My husband uses most of it on his cereal and I mix the remaining little bit with more water and use it on my soaked rolled oats or whatever I am having for breakfast.

Also, every morning, right after breakfast (while still doing things in the kitchen) I quickly chop/shred a very large amount of raw cabbage or raw collard greens (mild young leaves from my garden -- NOT large bitter ones from a store) with a small amount of raw carrot and maybe some other veggies. Then I divide this salad into a small sealable container (for my husband) and a LARGE sealable container (for me) and put them in the refrigerator (or in a cooler with ice packs, if not going to be eating lunch at home). Throughout the day until not long before supper, I graze from my sealable container until it is usually all gone. Sometimes when "grazing" I will eat some starchy food with the salad and sometimes I do not -- but I DO try to eat small to medium amounts of starchy foods throughout the day rather than all at once. Otherwise, I would not feel satisfied and migt be tempted to binge on something not MWL legal.

In addition, I cook a large pot of whole grain brown rice (usually in my solar cooker) about twice a week so I will always have some on hand ready to eat. I also sometimes cook large amounts of pototoes or winter squash at a time to have a constant supply of other MWL-legal starches on hand, too. I can enjoy any of these hot or cold, so I can always easily grab something MWL-legal in a hurry.

Since I do eat my two allowed servings of fruit every day, I keep lots of raw fruit on hand, too. There is most always some nearly ripe fruit (like red Maradol papayas and bananas) sitting out on our kitchen counter to finish ripening.

With all of the salad greens, veggies, and fruit in my kitchen, it almost looks like a produce market -- BUT it keeps me on track!

Exercise is also a part of MWL, so to keep me on track in that department, I often squeeze in some squats or very light weight lifting in the morning while I am waiting for my husband to get to the breakfast table. To save time, I often do some exercises while watching the evening news and (my favorite) put on music while doing household chores and dance (more like wiggling) while I work!

I hope all of this rambling helps someone!

[SunnyMcDGal]

I am not as organized and industrious as Sandie, but I do a lower level version of what she does. Soup is my big helper. I make a big batch of either slit pea or lentil soup every time it runs out so I always have a quick meal or snack. Sometimes I make a large salad and eat from that for a few days. Sometimes I make a batch of brown rice with lots of veggies and corn added. All these are ready to go in the refrigerator, plus some raw fresh fruit. I also try to cook at least one "dish" a week of something completely different from my staple foods so I have an option that has a different flavor. It helps that I am cooking for 1 because my dishes and soups last for many meals.