My Starch Solution Journey: Day 105

 

So apologies on not posting the last few weeks , but I was away on business in Las Vegas during all the craziness. Please keep all of the affected families in your hearts!

So as of day 105 I am down to 219.8, first time below 220 since high school. Pretty cool. that is almost 30 pounds lost since tracking. Again still a steady 1-2 pounds a week rate. My goal starting out was to get to 200, but now I worry when will my body stabilize and what my new weight will be at the end of this journey. Will it possibly be below 200? We shall see.

Food wise I have really focused in on what I like and what works best. My wife makes my food , yes I know I’m spoiled for sure, but she is very supportive and well that is her way in supporting me through this journey. She loves discovering new ways and foods for the journey and it involves her in a huge way, I could not do this without her! We spoke a few weeks ago and I told her I am not picky at all and would not mind identifying the foods I love the best and that are the best for my journey on a compliance level and get around 3 and just rotate those on a repeat basis until I let her know I am getting sick of them. So , right now I am eating on a 3 meal rotation the following, mashed potato’s and veggies, roasted potato’s and veggies, and brown rice and veggies. Now granted there are variations on these slightly , but the roots of them are as above. I also eat cereal for breakfast, cheerios, and eat fruits here and there to fill in. This works for me, but the key of this is everyone has their own journey, tweak yours to meet your tastes, your needs, and make your journey a enjoyable one for you and you alone!

I did have one issue with food since my last post. In Vegas I had a very hard time finding compliant foods, and found a Thai place there and ate there mostly, with some instruction to the staff to stay compliant. Well I got very sick there and was sick for around 3 days vomiting. I do believe that I ingested something that I have not had in some time like some sort of oil or cooking agent. That really messed me up for a few days, but back to normal now. Just wish I could discover what it was that affected me so harshly.

Exercise is again my weak point. I have lost almost 30 pounds since tracking and now its time to tighten up, but I just cant get myself motivated, I always have an excuse, work is crazy, no time, footballs on, too many excuses. One day I will push myself into a gym regiment, maybe that will have to be trainer based to push me at this point. We shall see. I am determined to get this part moving!!!

Own your journey, make it yours, and meet the challenge head on!!!! You owe it to yourself!!!

I am supporting you wholeheartedly together we are strong!

Regards,

Michael

My Starch Solution: Day 91

So it is now day 91 of my journey and I have to say I don’t look back at all. True I was a vegan already , but this life change is a big one, and I just want to tell everyone thinking about this change and just not pulling the trigger, do it! You will never look back with regret, put your health first. You will thank yourself later! It works! It really does!

So on day 91 of my journey I am now down to 223.00, from 247.4. That is a total of 24.4 pounds lost. I am keeping my rate of 1-2 pounds lost a week. The rate of loss is very steady and true, but you just have to have patience as you will not see tons of weight come off all at once, but it does come off, and it comes off steady like clockwork. The benefits you are getting outside of the weight loss is what you will cherish. I am completely off all of my medication at this point, and I look forward to further healthy benefits.

Food wise this week my wife made a really great tofu soup that was awesome and loaded with potato and veggies loved it. I of course also stayed with the staples oats for breakfast either cold cereal or oatmeal everyday. Lunch consisted of more potato and rice of difference varieties, dinners as well. Snacks consist of cold salads, rice based cold salads, some grapes and other fruits here and there, and water lots of water. The weeks I do better on water the better I do on weight loss. An interesting observation I have noticed. This week I hope to stay on the same food path as I feel like I have found my staples for the most part. Now I hope to try something new here and there and add any good foods to my meal plans.

Exercise wise I am still lacking the go get em attitude! I always list exercise as my one thing I can get moving on, doing better with, and this week is no exception. This week I did not make it to the gym once and only cycled once this week. A very rough week exercising for sure. I want to really start putting foot to butt on this one. My plan is to ramp up my cardio this week and see how it affects my journey. Wish me luck with that, lol.

Ok everyone back to the grind, remember to be diligent and don’t give up on yourself! You Can Do It! I believe in you , and so do your loved ones! Go get em! Live your journey, and change your path!

Regards,

Michael

My Starch Solution Journey: Day 87

Ok so this is day 87 of My Starch Solution Journey, and I just wanted to give all of you new McDougallers out there a big hit of courage! I am a member of a number of support message boards on Facebook, and I post my blog on all of those boards to try to reach out to anyone and everyone that has taken their lives and their health into their own hands and has gone all in on the benefits of a plant based starch predominant diet.

I have noticed lately on the message boards a lot of new McDougallers getting frustrated with various things about this life change, and I wanted to take a break from sharing my stats and my journey to take a knee and just discuss a few of these frustrations I have read in the last week or so. After I will quickly share my stats for the week just to keep everyone who is following my progress up to speed on where I am currently.

Frustration #1: I am adhering to the plan and I am not seeing the weight drop off , I am only seeing small amounts of weight loss.

Encouragement for #1: In relation to weight loss alone you will notice on this plan that the weight loss does happen and it does happen continually, but what you need to realize is that the rate of weight loss tends to be very steady , but at a rate of on average 1-2 pounds a week. I have been on this journey for 87 days and if you read my blog chronologically you will see that rate trend for me as well. If you actively read everyone’s posts about weight loss in the message boards you will see that same rate across the board for most people. Another piece of advice , don’t weigh in everyday don’t weight hawk. I weigh in once a week , only once I do not let the scale run my journey! Don’t fall into this trap! Your body is benefitting in so many other ways and if you let the rate of weight loss derail you from this life change you will regret it! Courage! Be strong and let your body gradually adjust to this change.

Frustration #2: I am sick and tired of eating potato’s and rice I can’t do this!

Encouragement for #2: Do your research, get The Starch Solution book, and stay current online on the McDougall website or the many support groups out there. I recommend searching Facebook as there are a ton out there that just deal with meal plans and recipes. Also don’t fall into the Potato and Rice death march. What I mean is there are so many recipes and other healthy starch alternatives out there , go outside your comfort zone. MY NUMBER ONE PIECE OF ADVICE ON THIS GET VERY CLOSE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ASIAN MARKET, THIS IS KEY!!! The Asian Market will have all your staples and some really cool and weird items you have never heard of and that taste delicious. Another good side effect is that the Asian Market is a untapped treasure when it comes to price as well, by far the cheapest prices on items you will pay dearly for at places like The Fresh Market, Trader Joes , and the like. My wife prepares a all of my food for me , so I am very spoiled, and she lives at the Asian Market now. We have discovered new foods every week just from getting to know all of the options out there, and learning about these new foods and preparation add a level of discovery and fun to the journey. Take advantage of the journey and put yourself out there try new things , you never know you might find your new favorite meal.

Frustration #3: I do not have the support of my immediate family and it’s too hard to stick to this with no support!

Encouragement for #3: I support you! We all support you! This is your journey, and you have to own it! First thing I would do is have a family meeting , and discuss The Starch Solution together. Let your family know the details of why you are making such a drastic change in your life this change will affect everyone in the household in one way or another. Socially it will affect options when you go out as a family, and at home it will put another level of preparation and planning when it comes to meal planning. It is imperative that your support structure understands why you have decided to jump into this. Many people will not understand , and others will , but not to the level of commitment to a plant based starch primary diet. When you have this talk ask for their support specifically, let them know how excited you are to get started on your journey to health, happiness, and responsibility to our eco-system stability. Get involved with support groups. Facebook has many to choose from and I joined most. Its great to see others talking about the struggles and successes as they work through their journey and share their thoughts, lessons learned, and recipes. We support each other no questions asked! This journey is a hard one , but the best decision you will make. Be strong, have COURAGE, and live your journey to its full potential!

Quickly for those following: My stats as of day 87: Weight loss to date: 23.2 pounds. Down to 224.2. Still on track to meet my goal of 200 by start of next year.

I have really started to exercise regularly this week and have been to the gym once and cycled a few times this week. I am still slacking on the exercise and need to ramp that up sooner than later.

Food wise I have sticked with the staples grains, oats, potato’s, rice, fruits and veggies as an addition here and there.

***Everyone own your Journey, and have the COURAGE to persevere. Push through those frustration periods and you will come through on the other side a new person!***

Thank you for following me, and share this with anyone you think would benefit from my blog,

Michael

 

My Starch Solution Journey: Day 77 (A day late apologies)

Ok , so its day 77 of my journey and everything is going really well. After these 77 days my general thought is I can do this, and even better I feel like I can do this for the rest of my life. The food is filling, I enjoy the food, and I can see and feel the benefit each and every day. Not only am I averaging around 1-2 pounds lost weekly, but the small victories are starting to pile up. I have been taken off of my blood pressure meds by my doctor, my energy levels are growing with each day, I don’t need my omeprazol for stomach acid as much, every stitch of clothing I own is way too big, and tons more! I have noticed that I don’t even look like the same person. I was scanning through old pics online of me , and thought who is that? My facial structure has started looking different lately. I have started losing weight in my face, kinda weird! All great things!!!

Today was weigh in day and I am down to 225.0 from 247.4, a total of 22.4 pounds lost since starting this journey. My goal is still to hit the 200 mark by 1/1/2018. I don’t really know where my body will regulate and my weight will stabilize, but in high school I was around 195, and was very happy and healthy at that weight , so I thought that target would be a good one to start with. We shall see where I end up when it all shakes out.

Food wise this week I stayed with the staples, potato dishes, brown rice and veggies, lots of oatmeal and grains, with fruit and veggies as sides to accompany the STARCH PALLOOZA!!!

It was another rough week of exercise. I made it to Planet Fitness twice this week, and cycled another day , but 3 days of exercise is not my target. I would like to see that moved up to 5 days optimally, but life does tend to get in the way. I want to stick with cardio for the next month or two because I started weight training the last time I went to the gym which was 3 days ago, and I am still feeling it in my arms and shoulders. It was a light session, but its been a good 15 years since I have regularly weight trained, so I just have to ease into this gym thing. I will target to do cardio for an hour , and after a short weight training session with light weights for 15 minutes every other day to ease into getting my body used to that. Hopefully that will work and allow my body to recoup enough to start ramping up the weight training in a month or two.

Apologies I did not post last week, as I took a week off from blogging. Share as you see fit, and hopefully sharing my journey will help/inspire others to start their journey!

Be well, and let starch be your building block to a better and healthier you!

Regards,

Michael

My Starch Solution Journey: Day 63

Ok on day 63 things are looking pretty good. I am down to 227.8, from 247.6.  A total of 19.6 pounds lost to date. Not too bad. 63 days in and the downward trend continues. More small victories too, like another belt loop down , and my doctors appointment was on Thursday last week, and good news my doctor officially took me off my blood pressure medication. I took myself off the meds a few weeks ago, and last week was the official doctors nod to continue to stop taking the medication. My blood pressure has been hovering around 117/73 give or take a few on either number. I have had a few more instances where my lower number gets too low and I have symptoms of too low blood pressure. I spoke with my doctor about this issue and she said that the body has to get used to your new low blood pressure and regulate a bit still. She told me that when I have symptoms , which I could have for another month or two depending on how fast my body regulates, to drink lots of water. The water will help the regulation. I have done this and in around 20-30 minutes the symptoms will subside. I am keeping a keen eye on it as I transition.

Lately I have been eating a good amount of beans. Of course with lots of potato, and brown rice. Veggies and fruits here and there. Water always to drink. I used to be a huge soft drink guy, and I’m pretty proud of myself that it has been 63 days since I had my last soft drink of any kind. Water only since day 1. It has been pretty tough, but that change alone was a huge one for me. Sometimes I have a St. Croix here and there, but that is still just carbonated water flavored ever so slightly with essence of fruits. I honestly would rather have straight water, but you have to switch it up here and there just for the sake of change, water gets pretty boring!

Exercise this week consisted of a good amount of cycling with my daughter every day. I think we cycled a total of around 38 miles, not too bad. I joined Planet Fitness a few weeks ago , but with visitors from out of town and demands at work I have not had a chance to take advantage of it as much as I would like. The gym will become paramount soon as the cold weather approaches. I am losing weight sufficiently, but I really need to do better kicking this thing into high gear and really put a good foot forward in the exercise area. If I plan to meet my goal of being at 200 pounds by year begin I better start following through on the exercise. Things to improve on!

Well this one is short this week, but please everyone own your journey! Be your own change! Make lasting changes in your life, the lives of your loved ones, and the eco-system we live in and count on to sustain our wonderful world!

 

Regards,

Michael

My Starch Solution Journey: Day 56

First I would like to apologize about not posting last week, but I was on vacation. 🙂

Ok, so I had my first test with this new way of life. I had a vacation with family visiting me in Colorado. This was to be the test to end all tests, can I stay true to the philosophy with the pressure of being on vacation, and having visitors that don’t really understand my life choices/changes. I PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS. Not one cheat item passed these lips. There were many opportunities to cheat I tell you, but I put up the good fight and stayed to the plan to the letter. Only water to drink all vacation, no convenient foods that I would regret later. All in all I would say my first true peer pressure test went great and I passed with flying colors!!!

So, on to the stats. I am starting to get really excited with my results. First off these last two weeks I have been getting a lot of comments about my weight loss. It is starting to be enough that most if not all people that I interact with on a daily basis are noticing. That is a good sign as the people you see day in and day out usually don’t notice things like weight loss. I take that as I am losing enough now that you can’t deny something is changing appearance wise. Its hard for me to notice my own changes, but lately I have been jumping belt loops, pulling out clothes that I don’t wear because they were too small. Not anymore. Those small items are now getting too big on me! Feeling great about that!

Foods wise these last two weeks consisted of lots of oatmeal, potato based dishes, and brown rice lots of brown rice! I will try again this weekend to put some recipes from the book together for lunches at work and dinners. I seem to run out of time before I get this done. Gotta get better. I feel like I say that every week, LOL!

Exercise was a bit tough with visitors and vacation , but I kept up the cycling each day with a few exceptions and breaks. I plan to start hitting the gym hard now that my family visitors are gone and I can concentrate on getting to the gym and exercise. I still plan to be around 200 pounds by the beginning of 2018. I am still on pace so far starting at 247.4, currently on day 56 I am down to 232.6. A total loss of 14.8 pounds. This journey takes a lot of strength and will power, but seeing these results just fuels the fire inside me to make a change in my life and the lives of my loved ones and the environment and eco system we count on!

Stay true to your journey, as your journey is yours and yours alone. Live it to the fullest!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and well wishes on your journey!

Michael

My Starch Solution Journey: Day 42

OK , so its day 42, I started off at 247.4, and now I am at 236.6 for a total loss of 10.8 pounds so far. The weight loss is pretty steady, but slow. Reading some posts on Facebook groups I have joined I have noticed that this is pretty common. Most people state that they lose around 8-10 pounds a month, so it looks like I am right on track with everyone else for the most part. I am in this for the long haul, so the slow weight loss does not worry me at all. This is a life change for me, not a fad diet. Having been vegan before my journey started, the change to The Starch Solution has been a quick and easy one for me. This week I have stayed to the core meals that work for me with a few exceptions here and there. I eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast, and at times cheerios with raisins and banana when I am lazy which happens sometimes. My wife continues to make my lunches consisting of lots of potato wedges, brown rice, both accompanied with veggies and some fruit here and there as well. Sometimes for lunch I will have mixed green salads, on those days I have lots of starch snacks like, potato wedges, or a small bowl of brown rice with corn and onion mixed in. Again I still need to do better on trying new recipes and foods here and there, but its so easy to just fall into eating the things you enjoy over and over again. I like what I like, and it works for me. Eat foods that you enjoy that are McDougall approved. Heck eat them everyday if you want. I’m a creature of habit, so that works great for me.

On the exercise front I have not really had time to hit that hard as I am having a few visitors these next few weeks and I have been working on getting the house straight and ready to accept visitors. Some things I would categorize as exercise like moving boxes, and yardwork stuff, but for the most part I have fallen on my responsibilities of keeping up my exercise regiment. Once my visitors are gone after the week of 8/18 I plan to start hitting the exercise much harder and consistent. Nice to see that even on a bad exercise week I still lost another pound. We all have things to get better at on our journey, and regular exercise is definitely mine!

I have been keeping a tight tab on my blood pressure, taking it randomly throughout the week and I have not witnessed a high blood pressure reading, all have been right around 120/80 give or take, but I have noticed that sometimes I get red faced, or flush feeling which usually means that my blood pressure is high. That is the number 1 sign for me that my blood pressure has climbed. So I started taking my blood pressure when I feel this way and I can take it, with no weird readings. This is the one thing that has been giving me fits during this journey. My thoughts are that my blood pressure has gotten better , but not good enough to be completely off my meds. I have an appointment with my doctor to make , to discuss med changes at least at this point.

Thought for the week for me to remember:

Slow And Steady Wins The Race!

Remember everyone we can do this, support each other, and be the hero of your journey!

Regards,

Michael

 

 

My Starch Solution Journey: Day 35

OK, so the weight loss results for this week are not too great, weighed in at 237.6 this morning. That is 9.8 pounds down from my start off weight of 247.4. I had set a goal of 10 pounds per month. I almost made it this month, but I am determined to contine the trend, and stay on point.

Food wise for this week for my breakfasts I kept with oatmeal in different variations, mostly with raisins and a small amount of crushed walnuts sprinkled in. For my snacks brown rice bowls with onions and corn, more oatmeal, baked potato wedges, cheerios, banana, raisins, fruit here and there, but mostly rice and potato’s. For dinner I have been sticking with what works, lots and lots of brown rice, potato’s, pasta with sauce and peppers and onions. This week I want to stick to the basics and see how I do in comparison. Keeping my meals very starchy, only rice with little variation, potato’s with little additions. Wonder if my results will show any difference.

I am not worried about this week and the stall in weight loss as I am in this for the long haul, but I would love to see the difference in the week if I cut out some of the additional flavoring. We shall see how I do on that during this week to come. Wish me luck.

On the exercise side is where I had the biggest failure. This week I only cycled 3.75 miles total. One day of exercise will not cut it. My goals warrant at least 3-4 days of good exercise. There was a good amount of rain this week that limited my ability to exercise effectively, so yesterday I went out and registered at my local Planet Fitness to remedy this issue. I did around 45 minutes of cardio yesterday, but still my exercise regiment needs to be on point to kick this journey into high gear!

Own your journey everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Michael

07/26/2017: My Starch Solution Journey Day 30 ***Special Post***

So, I usually only post once a week on weigh in day and give everyone an update on progress, foods eaten and cool ideas for foods, exercise, and a few little tips and tricks discovered on my journey, but I had a very interesting situation happen to me on Monday 7/24. At the end of the work day I started having vision issues. I was having distorted halo’s in my vision and they got so bad I was thinking I would need to get my wife to come pick me up at work as I rode my motorcycle in that day. I was walking out of work to my bike and the weird thing was the heat outside had some healing effect on the vision issues , so I moved on and rode my motorcycle home with no issues. Talk about scary , I really thought that my vision was failing , and for what reason? I had no clue. Well I got home and immediately took my blood pressure after taking a grueling motorcycle ride home in the blazing heat, and it was 106/68 while I was actively sweating from the hot ride home. As you know I was still taking my blood pressure medicine at day 28, and with eating so much cleaner for those 28 days on The McDougall Plan, it had dropped my blood pressure to an unsafe level for a man of 40 still weighing in at 238 pounds. I have since stopped my meds currently , and plan to discuss this issue with my doctor as soon as possible. Pretty scary stuff!!!

So, for all of you doing this for health reasons , to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol, and the like PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, make sure that you are monitoring your levels closely, and keep in touch with your doctors throughout the process as I have learned. It is imperative that you change your habit and eat healthier of course, but it is also as important to keep tabs on your medications and effects they have on you as you get healthier. Sometimes those medicines you rely on to keep you healthy can fight against you as you change your eating habits and lifestyle.

As always thank you for following My Starch Solution Journey,

Michael

07/24/2017: My Starch Solution Journey Day 28

 

OK, so today was weigh in day, and it is getting close to the end of the month. I have attainable goals set in relation to weight loss. I want to lose at least 10 pounds a month, and as of 7/24/2017, day 28 of my journey I am down to 238.0 pounds, which is a total loss of 9.4 pounds lost to date on The Starch Solution. I did not have a chance to take my BP this morning before work, but I will update everyone on that later today. I am still taking my meds for BP, but the last few times I took my BP it has been very good, so I will keep an eye on that. I hope to be off that by the end of 2017.

Eating wise this week pretty boring , but effective. For breakfast usually oatmeal with a few days exception when I had Cheerio’s with banana and raisins. Lunch was a lot of salads, brown rice and veggies, homemade home fries with mushrooms and onions, some pasta. Dinner was more of the same baked potato’s, rice and veggies. All very good and good for me. I did not make any recipes this weekend. Gotta get better at that. Still struggling with exploration of recipes, and staying with the convenient foods when I make them. Snacks have been quick hits like honeydew, potato wedges, pretzels, fruits, cereal.  My wife is amazing and makes my lunch everyday and she is a little more adventurous with what she makes. Thank you so much for what you do for me in this journey! I could not do this without you, my love!

Exercise wise I have started cycling instead of walking everyday. I usually cycle around 4 miles a day give or take. I am enjoying that for the time being. Once the cold weather comes in November I will have to join a gym or something so I can continue my exercise through the winter. I plan to look into the most convenient gyms and start looking into what gym works best for my schedule, needs, and price of course. I wish there was a Planet Fitness around the corner, that place is awesome for the price. I will keep you posted on my search for an adequate gym to kick my journey into hyper drive here in the next few months.

Keep following my journey. I post every Monday with the last weeks progress on “My Starch Solution”. Maybe it will inspire you to eat vegan just one night a week, every little healthy change in your food decisions will have a ripple effect throughout the world. Our eco-system, your health, the lives you touch.

Make a difference!

Thankfully,

Michael