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MEET THE KROCKS: We are a married couple who started on a life-changing whole food, plant-based weight loss journey in June 2018. To date, we have lost over 290 pounds combined and we aren’t done yet! Read Our Story
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Today is the final day of our second Mary’s Mini! 🎉 We are excited to get back to our normal whole food, plant-based (WFPB) diet, but we wanted to wrap it up with an update on our weight loss and what we learned from doing this.
TIP: If you don’t know what Mary’s Mini-McDougall Diet is, check out this post for a TON of links to all kinds of resources and information!
What did we learn?
When we started this whole food, plant-based “adventure” back in June 2018, our entire goal was weight loss. We weighed 800 pounds (combined) and we needed to change. As the weight started coming off, we realized that this was not a “diet” – it was a complete lifestyle change. There are so many things we have learned along the way. We have faced challenges and tough conversations, and through it all, I believe we have become better people.
So what did we learn from our second Mary’s Mini? Someone asked us the other day if we thought doing something like this would be counter productive to establishing a lifelong healthy relationship with food. It’s a legit question and I spent some time pondering it.
Ultimately, I decided that my answer is no – because doing something like this proves to me that I am in control of my relationship with food. I can control every single piece of food I eat. I have the ability to spend ten days eating nothing but potatoes, simple veggies and light sauces. It has also renewed my appreciation for simple foods. I don’t want to eat peanut butter cups… I just want simple things like oatmeal and a banana and hummus. If anything, I think it has improved my relationship with food.
I also listened to a podcast today that really tied it all together for me. The podcast is called Science & Saucery and it is done by registered dietician Julieanna Hever and scientist Ray Cronise. You might recognize Ray (otherwise known as “CrayRay”) from Penn Jillette’s weight loss story. Ray helped Penn change his entire way of eating and ultimately lose 100 pounds. In this particular episode of the podcast, they interviewed Penn Jillette and it turns out, he has had similar struggles to what I was going through a few weeks ago that actually led us to doing this Mary’s Mini in the first place. The podcast has some really powerful messages in it, so I suggest you check it out here.
Watch the video to see us discuss more of what we learned!
NOTE: We are not nutrition experts. We do not give out medical advice.
Contact your doctor if you have any concerns involving this diet. (Read More)
So… how much weight did we lose?
Technically tomorrow is the last weigh-in, but I don’t see much of a change happening between now and then. As of this morning, Brian is down 11.6 pounds from the day we started this Mary’s Mini (February 3, 2020) and I am down 4.6 pounds. Not too shabby!
This “reset” has done exactly what we wanted it to do. Now we will see how it goes as we transition back into our normal WFPB diet. Stay tuned!
Be sure to check out the video of us discussing what we learned here and watch our Mary’s Mini YouTube Playlist for more videos!
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Hey you guys are great! Like a ‘feel good movie’!!
I”ve been WFPB for 12 years and follow all the docs. Thought you’d be interested to know that DIABETES can be reversed with our diet! YES !! Check out Dr Neal Barnard founder of Plysician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, in WA DC. Site pcrm.com.
All the best
Bobbie
Vitamin D level – great product and no I am not in any way associated with this company 😉
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I watched the one today about your test results and your low vitamin D level.
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Cheers !! have a great week and love your shows !
~N.W. 😉
Thank you!!
I appreciate all of the encouragement and information about the Mary’s Mini diet. However, you have not talked about how to come off of the diet. Actually I have not heard or read anything about how to come off. Do you just go back to eating a WFPB diet as before or do you limit your portions or do you introduce starches and fruit one at a time?
Thanks
Very good question! Both times we have done it, we have just gone back to our normal WFPB diet afterwards and that worked well. I have also seen people stick with the basics and slowly add in things like fruit.
Hi Jessica, just a quick comment regarding food addictions and your latest youtube post 3-15. Just realize that non-whole foods are super addictive. I know. Oil, flour, salt, any kind of sugar including maple syrup are highly addictive they are not whole they have been processed. Even oat flakes are processed steelcut not as much. Greens Greens Greens, these are gods healing foods and eating these before you have a bit of non-whole foods might help a bit. Read through Dr Fuhrmans new books as he talks about food addictions and why any kind of processed food is addictive. In addition high glycymic foods that spike your blood sugar could also lead to food additions like the maple syurp and even things like flour and white potatoes. He goes through a lot of info in his new books. Wishing you all the best for your journey. If you need any help I am just an email away.
Thank you Janice!
Question: how much time elapsed between your first Mary’s mini and your second? I’m doing my first and have been very pleased with my weight loss numbers so far. It has been very encouraging and like you and Penn – I can do the “hard” but my challenge is always the maintenance part. I’m confident- this time I won’t immediately crash and burn after so many previous “diets”. Going through the “sugar bends” (my term for that period of 3-4 days after you give up processed sugar completely) is not something I want to repeat right away again; but I know that since I don’t live in a perfect world – I’ll need to reset my taste buds again, in the future.