January 2021 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[GreenFroG]

Weight change +/- in lbs: - 0.8 lbs

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Eliminate any added oil.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Felt good about my checklist today. I was able to exercise daily and stay away from eating out this week. Prep on the weekend helped my week to go smoothly. That will be my goal again this week as I am trying to make it a deliberate decision one week at a time.

Thanks to the moderators and hope everyone has a great week.

[jkcook]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 0

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit — 90%
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert — 90%
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them — 80%
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood) — 100%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy) — 90%
6. Eliminate any added oil — 90%
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit — 90%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages) — 100%
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself — 80% — two days fasting for church left me really hungry
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking) — 100%

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Pretty good week. Could’ve been better, but I did find a Chinese restaurant that would cook without oil and when I remembered to tell them don’t add soy sauce, they did that. I also listen to the Chef AJ webinar thing and so I think I will be more diligent about salt in the future. I’ve been adding Lowrey’s seasoned salt to my french fries, but I will stop doing that.

[Hope410]

Good Morning,

Weight change: -1.6 lbs

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Y
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. Y
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. Y
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Y
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Y
6. Eliminate any added oil. Y
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. N Popcorn a few times.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). N
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Y Followed Dr. M's advice: Eat a small 50/50 plate, wait and if still hungry, eat another small 50/50 plate.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). BETTER 3X 30 min., 2X 15min.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: It was nice to have a loss again, but next week I hope to ditch the popcorn and instead have another 50/50 plate, even though I'm thinking it may lead to a weight gain because it will mean eating more calories overall. So it will be an interesting experiment, (kind of scary though). Also will keep trying to increase the days of exercise.

Have a great week everyone! Enjoy your food!!

[Mark Cooper]

Expat in NZ -

I feel like I did really well this week!

I agree, Lindsey! 100% X 10 makes for a great week! Keep at it! I'm so glad you are feeling better.

PonysPlants - Your average weekly loss over the past 3 weeks is 1.6 lbs, which is right on target, Naomi! And you have lost nearly 50 lbs in aggregate! You are wise to recognize that logging a loss of nearly 3 lbs on a weekly basis isn't a reasonable goal; that rate of weight loss likely would not prove sustainable for someone at your current weight / bmi. I know what you mean about "goal weight" being a moving target; my initial goal was to reach 185 lbs, and now I sit at around 150.

sunshine-oats - Hello and welcome! You've off to an excellent start with the recommended changes in behavior! Give yourself a big pat on the back for taking a pass on that chocolate bread; well done. Just to clarify a few points - a modest amount of salt, sprinkled on the surface of one's food at the table is acceptable within the MWL guidelines.

In regard to added salt and added sugar, we recommend buying and preparing food without either and if any are to be used, to add them at the table on the surface of the food. If either one is troublesome and create uncontrollable cravings for you, then leave them out.

Flaxseed is not recommended for MWL; it is a higher fat plant food (being a seed) so the recommendation would be to eliminate it. Let me know if you have other questions. Keep doing your best!

squealcat - Woo-hoo! Great result, Marilyn! Your efforts to habituate the recommendations seems to be paying off, and it sounds like your "Sunday experiment" was a success. Thanks for sharing the observations from yesterday's shopping trip. I imagine the powerful attraction toward certain foods that you describe will feel familiar to many participants. The way you reframed and managed that impulse exemplifies what I mean when I discuss how taking note of the physical, emotional and behavioral effects that follow in the aftermath of indulgences can serve to inform future decisions. You had enough vivid sensations and information to imagine the likely (undesireable) results of consuming that rich food, and you were able to take action congruent with your important goals.

HoustonJason - Big numbers for your first two weeks! I imagine those results do feel very encouraging. Once oil is eliminated, one starts to wonder why it was ever used in the first place, right? Cheers for making that change. On coffee,

Coffee & Tea
While there maybe Individual reasons to avoid these, they are not an issue for the MWL program. There is no recommendation to avoid them as part of the MWL program. We serve both decaf and regular tea at the program and have no qualms if someone walks to Starbucks and gets a cup of coffee.

Out of the two drinks, tea is clearly the better "choice" if you were looking to choose between the two. If you were to choose coffee, keep the intake below 2-3 6oz cups a day, have it black, and make sure it is paper filtered.

Keep working to implement the recommended behaviors as best you are able.

Rebecka22 - Moving in the right direction! You are so right that the best way to support further progress is with greater attention to adherence. Personally, I tend to just completely omit coconut milk from recipes, but I have substituted blended white beans, cauliflower or potatoes on occasion to add some "creaminess." Glad you are feeling better!

CindyD - Huzzah! Down 1.8 pounds this week and 61.3 to date! All systems go, indeed! Keeping your attention focused on adhering to the recommendations guarantees that you are creating positive changes, even if those changes are sometimes hard to observe. Onward!

birdy birdy - Solid loss, particularly so given your challenging week! That non-functioning kitchen sink sounds like a real hassle, and back trouble is never fun. Do the best you can; I'm sure getting back to your normal routine will be a huge relief.

chrisg - I'm not seeing your weight loss number for this week - can you edit your post to include that? Glad this felt like a good week, overall. Bread, oil and nuts all contribute to Passive Overconsumption, so the more consistently you are able to eliminate them, the better your progress is likely to be. Your efforts to include exercise each day rightfully inspire pride!

brookelikesrunning - Nice loss! Do you have any intuition as to why it felt like such a struggle to exercise this week? Do you think regular fruit (rather than dried fruit) might be a reasonable substitution when you want something sweet? Jeff discusses the Pleasure Trap of certain whole natural foods (including dried fruit) in A Date With Disaster. Those bags of frozen vegetables are such a convenience, right? You might be interested in trying Jeff's SNAP Meals. Cheers for simplicity and enjoy those potatoes!

wstokes - Hang in there! Those calorie rich foods are just lying in wait for us to let our guard down, right? I think something that can be helpful in moving away from seeing troublesome foods as a "treat" is staying cognizant of the various downstream negative effects that inevitably follow the supposed "treat" - not just weight gain, but the effect on how we feel and the relative ease or difficulty we face in flirting with the Pleasure Trap. As Marilyn mentioned above, that information can help inform our future decisions. Consistently "staying inbounds" definitely delivers real progress.

GreenFroG - With 10 THUMBS-UP, I'd say you have plenty to feel good about! Planning and preparation almost inevitably make for smoother sailing. Keeping that positive practice in place seems like a worthy goal for the week to come. One week at a time, toward the results you seek!

jkcook - That's wonderful that you've found a restaurant willing to adjust dishes to better adhere to the MWL guidelines! If you find that added salt provokes uncontrollable cravings, it might make sense to eliminate it completely; if that isn't the case, a sprinkle of salt on the surface of your food is acceptable for MWL.

In regard to added salt and added sugar, we recommend buying and preparing food without either and if any are to be used, to add them at the table on the surface of the food. If either one is troublesome and create uncontrollable cravings for you, then leave them out.

Hope410 - Nice loss, and a pretty solid week! Good idea to ditch the popcorn; rather than thinking about the specific calorie count of a given item, I think it is really helpful to frame things in terms of calorie density. People tend to eat roughly the same volume of food on any given day, so the overall calorie density of one's diet directly contributes to calories consumed. Popcorn is over 1700 calories per pound vs. ~400 for a baked potato (and a 50/50 plate would likely be closer to 200). Even though you probably aren't eating a pound of popcorn, the potato would be more filling and satiating, which is likely to influence your total consumption that day (or the following day), if that makes sense? I think Jeff explains this really well in Passive Overconsumption: The Unintended Intake of Excess Calories

9. Vanishing Perceived Satiety
Foods that fall into this category appear to be high in satiety due to their large volume but are actually high in calorie density and low in satiety. This is because they are dry foods with their volume coming from air as opposed to water (which decreases calorie density and increases satiety). For example, cooked brown rice (high water content) is 560 calories/lb and brown rice cakes (high air content) are 1760 calories/lb, an over three-fold difference. On a WFPB diet, foods that have vanishing perceived satiety include air-popped popcorn, rice cakes and puffed cereals.

I can understand why making this change would feel a bit scary, but I think it will be a really valuable experiment to run. Have a great week!

[cmcavazos]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -.6# loss

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 7/7
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. 7/7
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. 6/7 (One meal out while traveling)
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 7/7
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 5/7 ( I had tofu and also some raw pumpkin seeds)
6. Eliminate any added oil. 6/7 (One meal out was restaurant prepared)
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. 7/7
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). 7/7
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. 7/7
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 5/7

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Victories -- Had a pretty good week. I'm now having a cup of herbal tea (unsweetened) when I sit down to relax after washing the dishes from dinner. The tea has become my signal that I'm done eating for the day. I do better with no eating/healthly snacking in the evening as a precautionary measure against setting up cravings.

Comments, concerns, questions -- None this week.

I'll be checking in again next week. Thanks so much for your support.

[wmcwilli]

Weight change: -5.2

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 11/14 Meals
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. 2/14 Meals
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. 5/7 Days
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 6/7
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 6/7
6. Eliminate any added oil. 5/7
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.5/7
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). 6/7
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. 7/7
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 0/7

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I'm quite happy with the loss and improved food choices for a lot of the time even though I'm not at 100% compliance. One thing I keep having trouble with is when I eat soup, then I don't want anything else. And I'm not eating anything else with my starch most of the time. When I skip soup or salad I have a pretty good helping of starch and then I'm full. I could eat soup/salad/fruit first and then eat a saucer sized plate of food maybe? But a dinner plate of food after preloading just isn't possible. I'm full. For example I just ate one of Dr. McDougall's Split Pea Soup cups (trying it for the first time), and I feel satisfied. I don't need anymore. I could eat more and not be stuffed, but not much more.
I am happy about not having any soda since last Saturday. That has been pretty simple. I keep wanting to get on the treadmill, but just haven't made it happen yet. I'm an elementary music teacher so I'm definitely not sedentary (on my feet and moving all day), but just havent had dedicated walking time. I have greatly reduced my sugar and salt by just sprinkling a little on top when eating it instead of cooking with it. I do find myself feeling hungry close to bedtime, eating usually at lunch and dinner only. I have it in my head that eating right before bed is a big no-no, so I haven't been eating then usually. And if I drink a big glass of water, that fills me up so I don't feel hungry anymore. So far, I'm feeling pretty good about how it's going.

[oneesotericgirl]

Last week’s weight : 211.8
Current weight : 208.2
Change :DOWN 3.6 lbs!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 4/7 Still struggling for many reasons
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.3/7 Eating more starch than veggies, but focusing.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.0/7 I feel like I did acceptable on this, but had at least a minor slip up every day.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).3/7 Everything except the little bit of ranch.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).4/7 Pnut butter on toast during a bad day, and some vegan frozen pizza.
6. Eliminate any added oil.3/7 Almost completely compliant except the waffle and some pnut butter.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.1/7 Waffle, toast, and popcorn.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).5/7 Sugar and almond creamer in my tea.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.5/7 Starving myself sometimes because the things I am allowed to eat aren't appetizing.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 0/7 Still having foot issues. But I did do some arm exercises from the couch and busted my butt at work.
This week I tried to evaluate with the "how many days out of 7" that I was compliant, but next week I will go back to %. There are days where I am almost completely compliant except a splash of ranch, or a single piece of toast, etc and I feel like I can't count those days.

Victories : Not tempted by Valentine's day candy while merchandising even if "no one would know," I would know and that was reason enough. Did not order fast food when getting it for my homebound grandparents. Emotional eating one really rough night, but I had way more healthy items than I would usually have so I am counting that as a VICTORY, (did notice the negative effects on my digestion and the increase in next day cravings). Still resisted the cookies a coworker keeps trying to force on me. When I went out to eat with some friends I did have a vegan waffle, but I skipped the butter and no fries (I LOVE their fries).

Thoughts and focus : After the few ritz crackers I had one difficult night, I noticed cravings drastically increased. I knew it would, but it was very interesting to witness it firsthand. Still using a small amount of ranch on a potato here and there, but MUCH less this week, focusing on phasing it out. I have been doing stretches for my plantar fasciitis and ordered some special shoes, so hopefully this next week I can start focusing on exercise. Still trying to eat more veggies. I eat more starches, like ill have a baked potato for dinner and nothing else. When I tried some steamed veggies with a potato, I can only a half of each and it feels like wasting. Still having trouble finding ways to "enjoy" veggies without butter, hummus, and dressing. My Vitamix comes Monday, so I hope that I can make my own dressings and sauces more easily.
I was reminded tonight about another thing I am struggling really hard with some days. Tonight for example... I made compliant dinner of spaghetti squash, beans, and potatoes. I was only about to eat about 1/3 of it, as usual. I was feeling nauseous after, I am not sure why, but don't think it was the food. So I laid down, now, about 4 hours later, I am FAMISHED, borderline Hangry. As I wander around my kitchen I am struggling because the things available do NOT sound appetizing. The left overs, the smashed potatoes I made, raw veggies, fruit, etc. I want something munchy and crunchy, like Chex mix or Cheezits. I know that is mostly just me reverting to comfort foods, but I don't know how to overcome this urge, Especially when I am hangry. I am not giving in because those things aren't in my house, but it makes me angry and upset at the food that IS in my house, which makes it risky to leave the house tomorrow. I am just venting. I have the willpower right now to not leave the house and find any store open with the things I am craving. But I am still suffering because of how severely my mood is affected right now.

[oneesotericgirl]

One thing I keep having trouble with is when I eat soup, then I don't want anything else. And I'm not eating anything else with my starch most of the time. When I skip soup or salad I have a pretty good helping of starch and then I'm full. I could eat soup/salad/fruit first and then eat a saucer sized plate of food maybe? But a dinner plate of food after preloading just isn't possible. I'm full.

I am having the EXACT same issue. It has been a struggle for me since the beginning. I am an all day snacker, I never eat 3 full meals a day, sometimes I don't even have 1. I have been trying to have a salad/steamed veggies. Waiting 30 mins to an hour. Then having a starch. If I don't do it that way, I can't figure out how to do it. But if I am at work, I don't have the luxury of multiple breaks so I can't do that either.
Anyone have suggestions? I am open to anything.

[josietheschnauzer]

Weight change +/- in lbs: +1.2
1. Start each meal with soup/salad/fruit: All but 3 or 4 dinners.
2. Follow 50/50 plate method for meals: Yes.
3. Reduce or eliminate added sugars and salts: More sodium in green chili condiment than I would like. My excuse is that it is from New Mexico where I am originally from and is local and I was raised on it....
4. No animal foods: Yes.
5. No higher fat plant foods (nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy): Yes.
6. No added oil: Only on my breakdown day.......
7. No higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit: Yes.
8. Don't drink calories: Yes.
9. Follow principles, eat when hungry & until comfortably full. Don't starve and don't stuff: I think I am still in the stuff mode.
10. Avoid being sedentary. Exercise at least 30 minutes daily: Yes.
Victories, comments, concerns, questions: First, thank you, Mark for your comments last week. I failed to respond to you, but they helped. I am doing much better this week but am still in the stress mode but am moving out of it because I need to move out of it I have decided not to ruminate about the weight gain the past two weeks. I am here for the long haul. And, I am here, weighing in! I just want to apply all of the wisdom you give me, and will keep trying. Thank you, again. Onward!

[carwex]

Starting weight=136
Last week=134.5
This week=134
Loss this week ½ pound

1. Start each meal with a soup or salad. I have soup ready 90% of the time/if not- a salad
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method, ½ starch and ½ vegetables. Lately more starch than vegetable maybe 60/40
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and salts. Reduced yes, eliminated no
4. Eliminate all animal foods. Tasted a dumpling with meat in it.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. Miso and tofu are still part of some soup during the week
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes/except for one Chinese restaurant meal
7. Eliminate all higher calorie dense foods. Some flax in porridge
8. Don’t drink your calories. I managed to have water rather than be tempted to drink plant milk
9. Follow these principles whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Yes. If I’m hungry between meals, I take an additional small meal like a small potato and a veg.
10. Avoid being sedentary. This week I swam and exercised more than last week which was almost nil.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I last reported my progress 2 weeks ago. Last week was not a good week and I had no energy to report. The problem is (usually) electing to entertain (children’s birthday party) and not having my own foods prepared ahead of time. It made me feel really down but I knew what to do. Just get back on the MWL and I lost whatever I might have gained and a bit more. I am trying to get more exercise but don’t always succeed. That plus going heavier on the starches in the 50/50 plate makes for slower reduction of weight. It’s physics. However I am grateful to getting back on the MWL and enjoying it.

[chef16]

01/09/2021 231#
01/15/2021 231#
stayed the same 0

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 80%
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. 90%
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. 100%
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 100%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 80%
6. Eliminate any added oil.100%
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.90%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).100%
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. 100%
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Still walking around and breathing on my own.

I know I am stuck at the moment. I also Know I am going to have to make more of an effort to move on ,too get below that 200# mark. I added a lot more non starchy veggies last week but could add a lot more. Numbers 5 and 7 take turns being my down fall during the week. (It is all my fault and I know it. I buy it for my husband and I full well know it is going to end up on my plate !) So I am buying it for me and using my husband as a excuse. I just can't seem to stop it!
I thought after I lost a lot of weight ,the ability to move more would not be a problem. I don't know if I am just making excuses for this or not? I am still in pain . I am still a lot over weight. I have arthritis and body has been misused for a long time. Right at the moment I have been having a problem with my foot and been seeing a doctor for it. I have a appointment with him again on Tuesday . It just doesn't seem to be getting any better. Sorry for whining

[Ejg]

Starting weight: 204
Last week: 198.6
This week: 198.2
week over week change: -0.4


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes, I started nearly every meal (besides breakfast) with salad
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. I usually start with salad and include steamed vegetables with my meal, which I count as compliant with this 50-50 guideline. However this week I got real busy and failed to steam my vegetables, and tried to overcompensate by eating extra salad. I chop vegetables early in the day and let them sit (hack/hold) and will figure out a way to get back to that.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. I found myself using the salt shaker this week and moved it to a different part of the house so it isn't so easily accessible. Also had a lapse once this week and got a box of Jujy fruits when I took my daughter for her daily candy run.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yup
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yup
6. Eliminate any added oil. No added oil.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. Yup
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yup
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yup
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I think I either ran or lifted weights 5 out of the last 7 days.

[jnc]

Weight Change: -.3 lbs

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 75%
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. 90%
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 90%
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 100%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy) 95%
6. Eliminate any added oil. 100%
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. 90%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). 100%
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself 80%
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 75%.
Successes: Meal planning! And some batch cooking. That made it much easier to pull meals together. I worked on making extra for the freezer.
Challenges: Chocolate (a weakness for me) and getting motivated for walks in cold and rainy weather. I have a tendency to overeat - justifying it because the food is so healthy. I'll work on that this week.
I was hoping for a bigger loss this week, but the scale is moving in the right direction.
Have a good week!

[Cliv]

Weight change +/- in lbs:  +1 lbs from 158

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. N, 3/7
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. YES, but NEED TO ADD FRUIT AT END
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 5/7 days
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yes, except for almond milk in coffee and oatmeal
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes, 7/7
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. Yes, except eating some of kids leftovers 2/7
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes, except 2 glasses of wine
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). No, need to work on

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Will work on the exercise piece this week also on having salad before meal and fruit after. It’s taking time to develop these new habits. I’ll also start a food journal.

[Gimmelean]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -.25

1/8/2021. 127.4
1/15/2021 127

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. Yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.yes.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).yes
6. Eliminate any added oil.yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. No
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).yes

Victories, comments, concerns,questions: At 5’2 I’d need to weigh 115 in order to have a BMI of 21. This is the first time I can ever remember having a BMI at or below 25. How important is it to focus on a lower number goal for the long term?
Down 1/4 pound this week I’m happy to have reversed my trend to gain weight.
This time of year I’m typically lamenting about how much junk I’ve eaten and how sluggish I feel but not now. However,I wasn’t perfect. My husband brought home little pastries that are tempting sugary little calorie bombs. Consequently,checklist item 7 this week was a “no” because I ate a small amount. Still much, much better for the amount than I usually ate. I will make sure that they are well out of sight and on the highest shelf I can’t reach without a chair so I’ll have to think twice about grabbing any until they are gone. New Years feels like old news by now but MWL is the best news! Thank you for your weekly encouragement, wisdom, and helping me and everyone here through the good times and the self doubting times of health, eating, and weight loss/maintenance.