Having success on McDougall MWL program
Hi folks!
I just wanted to share my experience. I'm a lifetime carnivore (and I'm 52) who's only made one half-hearted attempt to be a vegetarian in my life. That was about 15 years ago. But three weeks ago, I went from one extreme to the other by starting the McDougall MWL program. Some of my friends think I'm nuts--that it's too extreme and I won't be able to stay on it (I feel the same way about the Atkins diet one of my friends is on). It certainly is a sea change from the way I'd been eating, but after reading Dr. McDougall's web site, I decided that this might be the only thing that might work for me. I've had a terrible time staying on any diet I've tried. The first few days are agony, and then if I don't make any progress for a few weeks, I get discouraged and quit.
But one thing driving me--besides the need to lose 70 pounds--is the fact that both of my parents have heart disease (they've both had bypass surgery). They've both always been very fit and slender, have low cholesterol, had had a healthy diet, etc. But the family genetics are against us. Every one of my mom's eight siblings had heart disease. Her father and my dad's father both died from the disease in their early 50s. So I knew that, even though my numbers are good, I needed to do something to, hopefully, reverse any hidden heart disease I might have now or prevent the disease that's sure to come.
I started the program expecting it to be very difficult, but it's been just the opposite. I haven't had a bit of trouble staying on the diet. I'm enjoying my food, and I feel very satisfied. When I've been on other diets, I obsessed about food constantly, thinking about all the things I couldn't have. That hasn't happened this time. I don't even think about food.
But, best of all, I'm losing weight! I'm very resistant to losing weight, especially since my hysterectomy three years ago and since I've been in full-blown menopause, and haven't had success on any other diet I've tried. But I've lost 11 pounds already on this program. I don't think a lot of it is water, because I'm a salt freak and I've been eating quite a bit of it. I know I'm retaining water. But the weight keeps going down. For the first time in several years, I feel optimistic about losing my excess weight. And I don't care if it comes off slowly, whereas in the past I was obsessed with losing weight as quickly as possible.
The real kicker, though, is how good I feel. I'd been having serious problems with fatigue, headaches, IBS... I have more energy than I've had in years, and I've only been on the program for three weeks. I really do believe that a vegan lifestyle is the way I want to live from now on. DH, while not being nearly as strict as I am, has also made huge improvements in his diet. He has quite a large gut, which has been concerning me for some time. He has started to lose weight, too. It's all good.
Last weekend, my mother and I went to Las Vegas for my cousin's wedding, and I didn't have any problem staying on my program, despite the fact that there was very little for me to eat. And last night we went out to dinner with some friends. We went to a steak house. :-) They didn't even have baked potatoes! I had a yummy spinach salad, though, with some great balsamic vinegar, and some asparagus. No alcohol (while they were drinking wine). It was easy! Before, that would have just about killed me. I don't know for sure what the difference is this time, but I'm fairly convinced that it's because the food I'm eating is filling and satisfying and my body burns it longer than the food I was eating before.
I just wanted to share my story. I'm so very glad that my sister sent me the link to Dr. McDougall's web site. I feel more positive than I have in a long, long time.
Oh, and my copy of Vegan with a Vengeance arrived yesterday. What a great cookbook!
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