April 2018 McDougall Weigh In Thread

[amandamechele]

Welcome to the April Weigh-In Thread for Dr McDougall's Maximum Weight Loss Program.

For the program details visit the MWL Guidelines thread in this forum. Please check out as many of the links as you have time for, there is so much here to discover!
A couple of other great resources, for those just starting out, are from Jeff Novick the staff dietician for the program: The Ultimate Guide to Free Calorie Density (MWL) Resources and his 1 hour video explanation on Calorie Density: How to Eat More, Weigh Less and Live Longer.


Hello All,

I hope you're all having a great weekend! Spring is in the air where I live, with the emergence of daffodils and crocuses and some unknown pink flowers in my yard. It will be a fun year with surprises in every season, as I discover what grows here at my new home.

I thought it would be appropriate for the beginning of this new month to highlight the program basics. Some of you will be very familiar with this material, but it may be new to some of you. I recommend opening all of the links in this post if you are just starting out on the program.
Here is Dr. McDougall, in a 2 minute McDougall Moment discussing the
Maximum Weight Loss Program and how it differs from the Regular program


Jeff Novick, the staff dietician for the McDougall Program, has created a number of summaries to try and keep the learning curve as easy as possible.
In referring to the Dr. McDougall's January 2005 Newsletter article Pushing Your Setpoint to the Limits: The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss, Jeff writes:

In it, he discusses 12 "Refinements for Maximum Weight Loss" that "Are the Measures Taken to Emphasize Weight Loss" and describes each tip, listing the Program Protocol and Practical Tips for Home Compliance for each one. They are virtually in agreement with the MWL Book and my principles of calorie density.

1) Thrive on Unrefined Starch
2) Avoid Refined Foods and Flours
3) Eat Green and Yellow Vegetables
4) Eat more raw foods
5) Avoid All High-Fat Plant Foods
6) Avoid Sugar
7) Minimize Fruits
8 ) Eat Slowly and Frequently
9) Keep Your Meals Simple (Monotonous)
10) Lower Salt Intake
11) Its Okay to Be Hungry
12) Exercise

Additionally, let's re-look at:

A 10-POINT CHECKLIST FOR MAXIMUM WEIGHT LOSS (MWL)

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.

2) Choose fruit for desert.

3) Greatly reduce of 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).

Try to come as close to the guidelines as you are capable. You can do this all at once, or one step at a time, whatever works best for you.

I think this is going to be a great month for weight loss! Best wishes to everyone.

Amy XO

PS. Happy Easter and Passover to those celebrating!



Here are the standard monthly instructions for participating in this thread:

Our weigh in's are on Fridays and you have until 12 PM PST on Saturday to report.

Anyone is welcome to join the weekly weigh in group as long as they follow the McDougall principles. We recommend following the Maximum Weight Loss (MWL) plan or the Mary's Mini's Plan.

There is a sticky at the top of this forum on the guidelines for the MWL program.

In order to tally the results please submit your results by posting the total pounds you have lost or gained that week. You don't have to share your total weight if you'd rather keep that to yourself. This is an honor system so we take the gain, loss or maintain you give us in order to tally. (Please make a new post each week)

If you are a new member and would like to join but don't have a weight to be counted for the week then you will be counted either as a body with a zero starting weight, or when you check in for the weekly weigh in the following week. Large amounts of weight lost over a period of months or weeks, prior to joining the weekly weigh in group, will not be counted towards the weekly total.

If you measure your weight in something other than pounds please convert the measurement to pounds.

All gains will be counted towards the total to encourage weekly participation. Posting is encouraged whether it's a gain, a loss, or a maintain.

You are welcome to share as little or as much as you want on your weight loss journey here in this thread. We encourage members of the group to talk to each other, cheer each other on and set goals together.

This thread is for the mutual support of all who wish to participate.

[amandamechele]

Here's a little look at my Easter dinner plate:



Chana Masala and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, both from the Minimalist Baker website (I omitted the oil in the recipe).
Brown basmati rice, mashed carrot and rutabaga, mashed sweet potatoes - plain, no recipes needed.
A teeny-tiny bit of veggies because...you know... this was a holiday meal!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I'd love to hear how all of you did, if you feel like sharing.

Amy

[Jobet]

Oh my, Amy, that's so beautiful! Love the idea of carrot and rutabaga. A friend of mine used to be a chef at a swanky country club in Miami, FL. She would mash white potatoes and rutabaga together. So, long before I ever heard of the McDougall plan, I made that combo often for my family.

My son and his family were going to his in-laws for Easter Sunday, so I went over and we enjoyed Saturday together. They are over a month now eating WFPB oil-free and this was the first time we were able to sit and talk about it all since they began. My son has lost 17 pounds already, and my DIL 16, and their teenage girls six and seven pounds. Even though they don't claim to be McDougallers, I noticed she now has one of the McDougall cookbooks and The Healthiest Diet On The Planet. I tasted of some type of brownie bar my DIL had made, from Forks Over Knives cookbook and a couple of her oven chips made from no-oil corn tortillas. Otherwise, I ate my own food I had taken with me. Sunday morning was my third day weigh-in for weighing myself the Doug Lisle way, and I still lost a few ounces. So, the tiny bit of non-MWL food didn't mess me up. It's so incredible that I now have someone to share this WOE with. I'm still in shock every time I realize that my family is now getting healthy in this way. That is what I'm most thankful for this Easter season!!

[JackCyp]

Hi Amanda, I've been here and there looking at all the forums. Everything's great. Never wrote about anything before but would love to start now by asking are you running tis forum?
Who decides on when to start a forum?

Truly
Jack

[kirstykay]

I'm happy to be turning the page to a new month. I'm ready for a fresh start. We only fail when we stop trying, right? Thanks for all of the helpful links and reminders, Amy. I especially love Jeff's 10 point checklist. I am trying to use that as my guide this month and make some consistent progress.

[amandamechele]

Jobet - Thank you. I love mashing white potatoes in with carrot and rutabaga. There are so many great ways to mix and match (and mash) those root veggies. How fabulous that so many of your family are also eating similarly, it can really make it easier to stay on track...especially at holiday gatherings. Please send them all my well wishes, it sounds like they are doing really well. What a wonderful thing to get to be thankful for!!

Hi Jack - Welcome! I'm so glad you are taking it all in and getting to know the place. I am the facilitator of the monthly Maximum Weight Loss group, only. So I support and communicate with anyone posting within the titled monthly threads, within the MWL Forum. (So many words for the variety of sub-categories, it can make your head spin). You can post within any thread in most of the forums on the discussion boards. You can start a thread within most forums on the discussion boards. There are a number of moderators. The most active of them are f1jim and JeffN. Here is a link to The Lounge Forum. This is where much of the general chatter of the many McDougallers occurs. Near the top left of that screen you will see a New Topic button. If you wish to start a new conversation, click on that and away you go. There is A Place for Newbies to ask questions, another section for you to write a journal about how you are doing, or ask the staff dietician (JeffN) a question, and so many others. You can start a new topic at any time! I hope this rambling answer somewhat covered what you were looking for. Let me know if it didn't and I'll give it another go.

Kirsty - You’ve got it. I'm extremely impressed with your fortitude, keep getting back up! XO

[Suey51]

Amy your Easter food looks soooo good! Hope you enjoyed the weekend. Thanks for the links and summaries, all very helpful

On Sunday we had the first BBQ of the 2018 season and I made some McDougall compliant (but not all MWL) dishes: hummus, Jeff Novick's basic burgers, a Spanish chickpea and spinach dish (made without oil), stuffed mushrooms, salad, jacket and wedge potatoes (I can never get enough potatoes ). (McBailey dealt with the non-McD items on the menu.) We had a super day and I felt very grateful to spend time with family and for a lovely walk with half the team after lunch.

As usual, I stumbled over some of the non-McD leftovers but am back on track again now

Jobet - wonderful news about your family's weight loss and sounds like you had a great day together

Welcome Jack!

Kirsty - love your words "We only fail when we stop trying". You're so right xx

[Jobet]

Jobet - wonderful news about your family's weight loss and sounds like you had a great day together

Hi Suey, and thanks so much. I still have to take my own food made without flours, bread, and such as my family isn't doing MWL, but it all works out. It's just so wonderful having loved ones to discuss this WOE with and sharing ideas and tips.

Your BBQ sounds wonderful, like a delicious feast.

Please send them all my well wishes, it sounds like they are doing really well.

Will do, Amy!!

[Suey51]

Hello everyone,

After much reflection, I've decided to experiment with not weighing-in here for a while as it feels a bit weird when I'm not trying to lose weight. I'll still read the posts as I love the companionship, stories and advice within this group. And if I stray outside my target weight range, I'll be back!

Best wishes, Sue xx

[landog]

It's been a rough week. My best friend's mother passed away at age 95.
My mother then passed away on Wednesday at age 94.

So, we had a funeral yesterday while we plan for my mother's funeral.

They don't make 'em like that anymore. These were strong women who survived very hard times when they were young, who were kind, loving people. Taught us to love our neighbors, no matter who they were or where they came from.

We were very lucky to have them as mothers.

Anyway.. life goes on. I brought two oranges and three potatoes with me to the restaurant where we met after my best friend's mother's funeral. They were kind enough to heat up my potatoes.

Have potatoes, will travel..

I'm down two pounds this week.

[galooop]

Lost 3.2 LBS

Part of that may be due to my head cold, but I'll take it, because I've been mostly compliant.

Wishing everybody a great week.
Chris

[moonlight]

Landog, I'm so sorry your mother died - and her friend - so close together. That is hard. Hugs to you.

Suey51, I understand your thoughts on checking in to a MWL weigh-in each week when you have reached your goal. I have a suggestion. Why not start a new thread, maybe just under General Topics, titled Maintenance, or something like that. I think the accountability would be good support. Maybe just have a check-in once a month. Others may join you. And all the rest of us can learn from the best of the best what is required and what are the challenges to maintain weight loss. A lot of the literature on weight loss is on the inability of maintaining a loss. Just a thought. Congratulations on your success. You have really been an inspiration.

[victw]

Down 1.8 for the week.

More interesting:
1) Down 5.6 for the past 4 weeks. After the monkey thing I'm trying to focus on the overall trend. I think looking back 1 month is the best way to do this.
2) I ate almost 1 and a half lbs of veggies yesterday. 15 oz of veggies that weren't included in other items. Woohoo.
3) I ate a piece of carrot cake. It was birthday cake for a co-worked. It met my rules for indulgence - homemade, included fiber and limited (it was at work - not like bringing home a quart of ice cream )

I was a little bummed this morning realizing that I do not have another 1.5 lbs of veggies set up for today. But I'm not in bad shape as I had some roasted cauliflower and the last of the mini red peppers with my split pea soup for breakfast.

I will go to lunch with my co-workers today - they are pretty habitual with where they go and most of those places I have about 3 choices I've documented that are good choices. If they don't go to one of those places then I usually go by myself - which is sometimes a better option because then I walk to one of three places where I can make good choices.

Still working on making some of the prep habits mindless and automatic.

Vic

[Jobet]

It's been a rough week. My best friend's mother passed away at age 95.
My mother then passed away on Wednesday at age 94.

Landog, I'm so very sorry for the loss of your mother. And, your best friend's mother. Amazing they both departed the same week and so close in age. Were the mother's friends too?

[Jobet]

0 pounds lost for me.

I started the monthly weigh-in, per Dr. Lisle's "scale monkey" video. I never dreamed I'd have a hard time not weighing myself, but cheated once during the week. So, I suppose I'm officially a scale monkey after all!

Sue, I'll miss you terribly here. It has actually become my favorite thread of them all. I got behind on my journaling, so haven't journaled in like forever. I found that forcing myself to note my food throughout each day, for the journal, made me think way too much about food. So, I'm not sure it's going to work at all for me. I think perhaps this is the thread where I need to be instead.

Congrats to Chris and Vic for your losses this week!!