Discussion Board

Gotta give up coffee, bread, pasta, and all processed "vegan" foods. Need to start doing treadmill.

Day One. First hurdle. Getting through the morning without my coffee. This has been a really tough one for me. Even when I was juice fasting (consuming only raw veggie and fruit juices for 30 days), I couldn't seem to give up the coffee. I don't know if it's the caffeine, or just the aroma and taste, but it has had a real hold on me. I love herbal tea, but it doesn't quite seem to fit the bill first thing in the morning for me. But, I'm committed, so here I am drinking hot apple spice tea with my breakfast instead of coffee.
For breakfast this morning: "home fries" and "sausage".
"Home Fries": Slices of boiled potato and chopped onion, sauteed in a little veggie broth, with black pepper, garlic powder and paprika.
"Sausage": Lentil burger, made with roasted beets, lentils, bulgur wheat, sauteed mushrooms, onions, garlic, and raw cashews. (1/3 cup per recipe, makes 7 burgers)

Congratulations on your new start with the McDougall Plan! I too was a big coffee drinker when I started this, but I went 'cold turkey' and in a few weeks I was over my cravings for coffee. Once I kicked the habit I felt so much better that I have no desire for coffee at all.

I drink a couple cups of organic green tea in the morning, water in the afternoon and a cup of herbal tea in the evening. On Sunday, I make a pot of Jasmine tea as a special treat.

Lunch today:
Large Salad with home-made fat free honey dijon dressing.
Lentil soup (lentils, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, beet greens, kale, tomato, and spices: black pepper, thyme, cumin)
Sauteed potato slices and chopped onions, with black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and a dash of Bragg's.
Apple spice herb tea.

Dinner Today:
Lentil soup, with potato and apple slices
Apple spice herb tea

Exercise Today: None to speak of.

Weigh-In Day: 235
Down 7 pounds in 7 days! Yeah!
Nice steady weight loss.
And I even cheated a little bit here and there. (Not much)
I know I probably can't expect the weight loss to continue at this rate, but I'll take it where I can get it.
I resisted getting on the scale all week. I've promised myself only one weigh in per week. Anything more than that and I start becoming obsessive. I was so nervous about the weigh in this morning. I thought, "What if there's been no progress? How will I handle the discouragement?" But, as it turns out, I needn't have worried.
My goal for next week is better compliance, and adding in some exercise. I wish I could go walking at the park, but the weather won't permit it for long. So I guess I'll have to blow the dust off the treadmill.

I have been caffeine free for a couple of months. I am more energetic than ever. Good job not checking the scale, I need to work on that.

What is good about striving for MWL, if you cheat a little with program food, you are still being healthy and can still loose weight.

I started jouraling my treadmill activity, many times that has kept me on track.

For dinner tonight, I had home-made pasta sauce over smashed potatoes. My first home-made sauce. (Roma tomatoes, tomato paste, sauteed garlic, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, a little jalapeno, and some kale that was starting to lose its freshness. It's good, but one thing I noticed is there is a conspicuous absence of saltiness to it. The idea was to make a pasta sauce that doesn't have all that sodium. I could probably sprinkle a little salt or Bragg's on it till I get used to it, and gradually wean myself off it, till I can enjoy the taste of the sauce all by itself. That's the eventual goal.

What a great lunch today. A big garden salad, with all kinds of good stuff; spring greens, spinach, tomato, onion, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms, and my amazing home-made oil free balsamic dijon dressing. Along with a piping hot bowl of roasted red pepper and tomato soup, sprinkled lightly with curry, and a few raw sunflower kernels. Yummmmmm!