Day 8

204.5 lbs. 5.5 lbs lost.

Very good week for weight loss. I know some of that is water from the lesser amount of salt in my diet (I still salt to taste at the table). Potatoes are great, yay! Coincidentally that is typically the amount of weight I'd lose on a first week of low-carb eating. Except I'd have all kinds of trouble functioning.

I found out about Dr.McDougall's ideas on eating yesterday, and his guidelines for weight loss are definitely on the low food-reward side of things. He advocates a vegan, no-fat starch-based diet. Example meal would be potatoes or rice with steamed vegetables and cooked beans. He recommends having whole starch at every meal and eating a large quantity of plant matter. He also specifically recommends monotony in one's menus. This reminds me of Stephan Guyenet's usual diet (if you add fats and animal products of course.)

The rabidly anti-fat stance of the McDougall plan extends to forbidding nuts, avocados and olives on the weight-loss plan. If one is able to stay on plan I think it's probably very effective if a bit unecessarily strict. It is definitely a good intro to low-reward eating, at least as a detox-from-reward temporary mesure.

My daily menus are still based on potatoes. I will experiment eating beans this week to replace whatever lean protein I would eat. The added fiber may be helpful (not that I'm having trouble in this matter, mostly a case of testing out what makes me feel full the longest).

Current foods: potatoes, brocoli, cauliflower, carrots, kidney beans, eggs, tuna, onions, spinach, brussels sprouts, olive oil, salt/pepper/vinegar. Everything is boiled, steamed, lightly fried or raw. Calories: 900-1100.