Discussion Board

Hello all,

I haven't started the diet properly yet, though I have switched to a McDougall breakfast..

Anyway, the point of this post is that I'm fed up with having weight issues.

I'm currently at university. When I look around the cafeteria, I see the vast majority of girls are skinny, and not only that, they eat stuff like crisps and sausage rolls that I never even touch!
Yet I'm the one whose overweight...

I also walk for around about an hour 5 days a week with my dog, though so far this hasn't given any noticeable results.

I'll admit that I don't eat right yet, but by the same token, I never eat fast food/ burgers, and I don't eat that much meat as I don't like it that much.

But every time I look in the mirror, my weight is different.
Some days I think 'hmm, I could be starting to get somewhere'
Yet a week later, I feel like Im fatter than I've ever been. Argh!

Why doesn't my limited progress keep going?
I feel like I just have to contemplate eating, or go one day without excercise to put on the pounds.

Healthwise, my thyroid is apparently fine, though I do have extremely irregular periods, if this could be an issue.

Sorry for going on for so long, this is just really upsetting me.
I've pretty much decided to start this diet in a dedicated way, to see if this makes any difference.

Has anyone else experienced what I'm talking about?

My personal experience is that merely improving -- rather than radically changing -- one's diet will have a good effect eventually, but even then you must make major improvements, not just tiny ones.

If I recall correctly, Dr. McDougall, in one of his newsletters, has pointed out that some of his patients don't make much progress even if they make an 80% improvement in their diet. There seems to be a high threshold of improvement that must be crossed. If you go beyond that threshold, you will probably see steady improvement in your health.

For me, once I am convinced a certain program is right, the only proper approach is 100% compliance, making no exceptions whatsoever.

This is true. I lost a ton of weight when I went and stayed at the Santa Rosa center. I lost more weight the first couple of weeks I was back. Now, after a few months, the weight loss has completely STOPPED. The only difference? Lack of 100% compliance.

First more sugar crept in, then more flour products, then "only a couple of seconds of Pam spray" in the hash brown pan, and so on. With McDougall especially, strict adherence (100%) to the Maximum Weight Loss plan is the only way to go if you're serious about losing weight.

I wish I were Mrs. Gotrocks. Then, I would go to the Santa Rosa center 3-4 times a year, lose weight by having THEM cook all the MWL food, and only have to maintain my weight loss once I got home. MWL is hard to do. The standard McDougall program is easier, but many women can't lose weight on the standard program, and have to do MWL to see any results.

Its amazing how such small things can make such a difference with the not quite 100% compliance.

I've been researching this particular way of eating because the atkins type diets seem to me to be so incredibly, unsustainably unhealthy. How can eating nothing but fat/ protein do you any kind of good? Plus I love my starches, so hopefully this is something I can give a go.

I am not familiar enough with MWL to answer my question, so I will ask here: Are there any individuals who formerly ate SAD but who cannot lose weight on the regular program if followed with no exceptions whatsoever?

Or is the problem this: On the regular program, the weight loss, for some individuals, is slow overall (perhaps including occasional plateaus). So MWL is good for faster weight loss. But both programs, if followed with total compliance (including daily, serious exercise), will lead to a lean, healthy body.

i think malva follows strict mwl for this reason.

Me. I lose no weight at all on the regular program, but I do maintain my weight loss, which is where I've been stuck at for a while. Cooking MWL is hard on my family, so I cook "standard" McD. I suppose if I were a stronger person, I would eat only MWL food while preparing them McD food. I hate preparing different food for people, though. Dang it, if I have to cook it, I at least want to be able to eat it!

The reason I am asking these questions isn't because I now have trouble losing weight. It's because I have friends who ask me about the McDougall Program primarily for weight loss. (On the special subset of the McDougall Program that I follow, I must work hard to keep my weight up.)

If you fix regular McDougall meals for your family, can you make your diet leaner simply by eating more of the really lean foods -- mainly vegetables and tubers -- and less of the fruit and grains? In other words, you wouldn't need to cook different meals, but you would just concentrate on part. For example if the vegetable is steamed collard greens and tomatoes and green onions, couldn't you eat mostly that?

Also, and this is another question that comes up from friends, how much exercise do you get each day? I recall that Dr. McDougall suggests that 80% of good health is a proper diet and 20% is sufficient exercise. The 80 is more important obviously than the 20, but the 20 must help, doesn't it?

Sorry to bombard you with questions, but they keep coming up when I talk to friends.

Ah, you're right. I'm not 100% compliant, because I currently get little exercise, other than the occasional walk outside. And exercise IS part of the plan that I tend to overlook. I won't say forget, but conveniently overlook. That is something I need to work on. Maybe then I can do the regular McDougall plan and still lose weight.

I have a suggestion that worked well for me many years ago, long before I began the McDougall Program approach: Set an easy goal for exercising every day, for a week. Then make the next week a little more ambitious; and the week after that still more ambitious.

Example: Brisk walk, one block, out and back, every day for the first week. Easy.

Then do two blocks out and back for the second week. And so forth until you reach an acceptable time limit (half an hour to an hour per day?).

Then with the distance fixed, gradually increase the speed.

Then when you have reached that limit, pump a little weight in your hands as you walk.

The point is that there should be a plan and it should lead to gradual improvement. "Stay the course" isn't good enough until you have reached your limit.

Yes, I'm one of those that Burgess describes -- must do strict MWL to lose weight.

yamster

I agree with Burgess; exercise is an essential component of the program - any program. I personally would much rather eat the regular McDougall program food and do more exercise than do less exercise but force restriction of flour products etc. I have never been able to stick to MWL; yet with the regular program (though not 100% compliance) + exercise I am losing weight. Gradually, but surely.

Of course, everyone's metabolism is different, and some people really might need to eat differently or exercise a lot more to see results. But the wonderful thing about exercise is it raises your metabolism. So if you take a brisk walk in the morning, you burn more calories all day, without additional effort.