July 2018 McDougall Weigh In Thread

[Rosey]

from 288.3lbs last week to 283.6lbs this week for a total of 4.7lbs gone. WOOT!!! Good week.

[victw]

Down .4

Weight loss is slowing down. I'm close to goal weight. Trend is still good - 3.8 for the past month.

Had an accidental experience in carb loading last Saturday. Up 2.5 lbs the next day. Even though I indulged. I did not indulge 7000+ calories worth. Gives me a different perspective for when people say "carbs make me fat."

I was kind of stumped by the soup conversation. I realized that most of my go to soups either have beans/lentils or starch or both. The only one that comes close to being straight up veggie is my zucchini potato. I might want to try a different approach to soups.

Prep felt a little easier and more organized this week. And I've been eating the food I bought. I only stopped for takeout once - reasonably healthy Chinese. And I brought my lunch 4 times this week. I'm starting to feel settled in terms of habits.

I wanted to post a picture of the weight loss graph which included a trend line. Technology fail. Will have to experiment in sandbox. The important thing about the picture is that there are some up swings and luckily I did not have any "what the heck" moments during those upswings. Nor did I have the - "well lets see what we can get away with" moments. This is not to say I've been perfect. Off plan moments have basically been planned and still within some parameters.

The weirdest thing about this week was that I was at the same weight 3 times. Two were in a row.

Vic

Edited for tech win.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi and a big Congratulations to All!

I loved all of the input and responses on soup!!! Have been eating a lot of veggie soup / stew / chili this year (sometimes eating cold). (Not sure if chili is in a separate category?) Will be re-visiting some recipes / input -- they all sound so good!!!

I'm down .2 lbs this week. Think I am getting in that space where closer to "ideal weight" (if there is such a thing) and loss has slowed. Time will tell. I didn't do anything different from last week - and I am not in a hurry. I still have weight to lose - I own a mirror as well as a scale.

Amy - so love British Columbia - have not been lucky enough to go to Victoria Island - but spent a couple days in BC last year - frequented Stanley Park (would have liked MORE time!) and a place where you cross different bridges. Really wonderful!! And, if you ever are in Chicago area, PM me...

Best wishes to all for success in McDougalling this week!!

[amandamechele]

Verde - Your soups sound delicious. Does the seaweed give it a salty or seafood taste?

Vintagesan - Thanks for checking in, I always gain around that time as well.

Idgie - Nice loss, good effort this week.

Moonlight -

Good plan. I totally can't wait to hear how it goes next week. You can do this!

Rosey - Good week, indeed! XO

vic - Interesting about the carb loading...it produced just a temporary move up and then back down. With regards to soups, here a few recipes from the recipe section of this website: (omit the pasta in the first one) Vegetable Soup, French Vegetable Soup, Heavenly Vegetable Soup. Maybe you'll like one of these nice light soups, or find that you prefer your hearty meal soups instead. Either way, what you're currently doing is working so no need to overthink this. Enjoy the soup! In February. I posted how I upload photos here:

Talita - Woo hoo! Congratulations on getting back to your goal. I know you can maintain it...keep doing your best, one day at a time. With regards to posting pictures, I use Flickr.com, like Sue. Upload your photo, change privacy topublic, go into photo stream tab, select photo you want and click on it. It will open and have a black background behind it. In the bottom right corner of that page there are 4 choices for editing, sizing, etc. Click on the downward pointing arrow over the line and select a size (I tend to choose medium). It will open your photo onto another page with a white background. Copy the url of this page and post it in between the following BB code [img]pastelinkhere[/img]. There is possibly an easier way to do this, but this worked so I never explored any further. LOL. With regards to smoothies, Landog is correct, they are not recommended. Jeff Novick explains why in this thread: Fruit Smoothies. But I'm not saying whether you should or shouldn't drink them here, just pointing you to the explanation behind the why.

Hopefully this is helpful.

Stephanie - I think chili deserves its own category, it has so many delicious variations. How do you make yours? I love Stanley Park, except when I miss my exit...then it's a 23 minute drive around the loop to get to it again...LOL. Next time I'm in the Windy City I'll look you up.

[Svenja]

Good morning!

I report a loss of 4 pounds

I guess it's the 3 pounds I gained last week and one extra.
I didn't really chance anything in my diet but since it's unusually hot in my area at the moment, I eat a lot of fruit and rice.

It's often a challenge, but I am going strong on my exercise program. And I enjoy getting to wear old-new cloths again.

I am looking forward to a long 4-day weekend! Oh yeah!
Svenja.

[verde]

Verde - Your soups sound delicious. Does the seaweed give it a salty or seafood taste?

I'm not sure, a bit of both? I like it...try it and see what you think! I have been eating seaweed for so long, I'm not sure if it's the saltiness of it or its flavor that I enjoy, as I do not miss salty flavors...

verde - Interesting about the carb loading...it produced just a temporary move up and then back down. With regards to soups, here a few recipes from the recipe section of this website: (omit the pasta in the first one) Vegetable Soup, French Vegetable Soup, Heavenly Vegetable Soup. Maybe you'll like one of these nice light soups, or find that you prefer your hearty meal soups instead. Either way, what you're currently doing is working so no need to overthink this. Enjoy the soup! In February. I posted how I upload photos here:

Talita - Woo hoo! Congratulations on getting back to your goal. I know you can maintain it...keep doing your best, one day at a time. With regards to posting pictures, I use Flickr.com, like Sue. Upload your photo, change privacy topublic, go into photo stream tab, select photo you want and click on it. It will open and have a black background behind it. In the bottom right corner of that page there are 4 choices for editing, sizing, etc. Click on the downward pointing arrow over the line and select a size (I tend to choose medium). It will open your photo onto another page with a white background. Copy the url of this page and post it in between the following BB code [img]pastelinkhere[/img]. There is possibly an easier way to do this, but this worked so I never explored any further. LOL. With regards to smoothies, Landog is correct, they are not recommended. Jeff Novick explains why in this thread: Fruit Smoothies. But I'm not saying whether you should or shouldn't drink them here, just pointing you to the explanation behind the why.

Hopefully this is helpful.

Amy, I'm pretty sure you meant this message for victw rather than for me, right?

[moonspirit]

Hi everyone,

It was a good week for me too. Down 4.6 pounds to 175. I'm sure a lot of it is water weight (lower salt plus high altitude coming back from low - I live at 9000 ft elevation). But I'll take it. I also lost a half-inch in my waist and in my hips. A friend who I hadn't seen in a year asked me if I'd lost weight (I didn't think I'd lost enough yet for it to be noticeable). I'm feeling energetic, noticing that hikes are easier and that I'm less prone to bouts of asthma.

Fun that everyone was talking about soup. I made a big pot of split pea soup mid-week to eat for the second half of the week and over the weekend. Hopefully, Hubs will help me finish it off before we start a three-week retreat tomorrow. We work at a Buddhist retreat center, and will both be participating in a 3-week program (as staff) starting tomorrow. Usually the food is "rich organic", but I have requested plain starches and veggies.

I experimented with my soup this time, adding turnips to it in addition to the usual potatoes and carrots. Not sure I'll do it again. It might just be that the turnips I used were fairly flavorless, but the texture didn't seem quite right either. My soup is simple, with just split peas, onions (sauteed first in water), carrots, and red potatoes, with lots of dill. I add Braggs after scooping myself a bowl, which adds a nice smoky taste.

Congrats everyone on your weight loss - this was a good week for most, it seems.

Becca

[amandamechele]

Amy, I'm pretty sure you meant this message for victw rather than for me, right?

Oops...yep. Sorry about that.

[amandamechele]

Hi Everyone,

Stellar week! Thank you for weighing-in or just dropping by to chat. Soup has been on my mind all week because of our discussions. LOL. I've been leaning pretty heavily on my support network this week because of perturbations in my patterns due to a lovely family visit that involved eating out almost every meal. I learned quite early on that the only consistently safe meals that I could find were at Wendy's restaurant and the 1 Japanese restaurant we frequent.

Here's a montage of what I imagine Jeff would have to say about these kinds of difficulties that we all face trying to live healthfully and maintain relationships (like that with your in-laws who love to take you out to eat to show you how much they care )

Let's face it, this program may be simple, but doing it in this world with its toxic food environment with little social, personal and environment support is nothing less than "brutal." As a result, people struggle with it and are always looking for the next "trick" that will make this easier for them. In addition, the "pull" of pleasure trap foods, even those often seen as healthy, is powerful.

**

I have often discussed the importance of simplicity in achieving and maintaining both short-term and long-termsuccess. I am going to add one more issue that often gets missed in this discussion and that is the issue of habits.

What we are trying to do here is learn new behaviors and make them into habits. We are trying to break old unhealthy habits and develop new healthy ones. These include learning to be more active and learning to eat healthier. And, while there are several keys to developing a new habit, two of the most important ones are consistency and repetition. While simplicity is important, so is consistency and repetition.

...the research on the power of consistent repetition of simple changes to form new habits and behaviors is fairly consistent and strong. For some, it may take a week or two, for some, a month or two, and for a few, a little longer or shorter then that. But in the end, the process is the same, consistent repetition of simple changes forms new habits and behaviors

Healthy through habit: Interventions for initiating & maintaining health behavior change.
(This link is to the full journal online. This article starts at page 79)
https://behavioralpolicy.org/wp-content ... e1_web.pdf

How we form habits, change existing ones
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 111931.htm

The Road to Success: Creating Healthy Habits

Jeff has said to me that some of the most important factors in long-term success are: self efficacy, conscientiousness, spousal/partner/significant other support, being independent and not caring what others think, a willingness to take personal responsibility to your life, creating a healthy environment and highly internal self motivation.
Think through this list, identify your weaknesses within it and then focus on figuring out ways to create good habits for those areas.

Ever reflecting,

Amy XO

** Did you know: For the regular program, when Dr. McDougall describes a plate of food that is 70% starch and 30% fruits and non-starchy vegetables, that means that 85% of calories come from starch and 15% from non-starchy vegetables. What do you think thing the percentage of calories is for an MWL meal? Read the linked thread to find out:Clarifying the 50/50 Guideline

Here are the results for the third week in July:

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, July 27th, 2018

Total group loss reported in 2018: 318.6 pounds

July 2018 Weight Loss Group :: Monthly Weigh-In Results
Total group loss in January 2018: 54.7 pounds
Total group loss in February 2018: 49.3 pounds
Total group loss in March 2018: 52.5 pounds
Total group loss in April 2018: 26.9 pounds
Total group loss in May 2018: 50.8 pounds
Total group loss in June 2018: 54.3 pounds
Total group loss in July 2018: 30.1 pounds

Week ending 07/20/2018: 8 participants reported a total loss of 18.5 pounds
---------------------------------------

---------------------------------------
Total gains: 0.0
--------------------------------------
Vintagesan - 0.0
Idgie - 3.6
Moonlight - 1.0
Rosey - 4.7
Victw - 0.4
VegSeekingFit - 0.2
Svenja - 4.0
Moonspirit - 4.6
---------------------------------------------
Total losses: 18.5
---------------------------------------------

Total group loss in July 2018: 30.1 pounds
Week ending 07/20/2018: 8 participants reported a total loss of 18.5 pounds
Week ending 07/13/2018: 10 participants reported a total loss of 11.1 pounds
Week ending 07/06/2018: 10 participants reported a total loss of 0.5 pounds

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Amy,

Ironcially - just cut up the veggies to make chili tomorrow AM! I have made some version of this almost every week this year - skipped maybe 4 weeks total. It is generally my lunch for the work week + more with leftovers. This is what made me lose my cool over my crock pot breaking a couple of weeks ago...

Recipe is for Slow Cooker - (Warning, I follow recipes loosely - so don't have strict measurements ...)

28 oz. can of NSA crushed tomatoes
16 oz. split red lentils
3-5 bell peppers, chopped (depending on size - like to mix up colors)
Other hot peppers, chopped - a few (usually use 5 jalapenos, but have now Thai Hot Peppers from my garden and throwing those in- all work)
2 enormous onions, chopped

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

About 3 cups water

Garlic - minced

Spices - cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper

Sometimes add 14.5 oz. can NSA diced tomatoes


Throw it all in the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-9 hours. Eat. Refrigerate or freeze excess. Yum!

[Idgie]

Vegseekingfit, does the texture come out like dal? It sounds really good. I'll have to try it.

[VegSeekingFit]

Vegseekingfit, does the texture come out like dal? It sounds really good. I'll have to try it.

Hi Idgie,

Yes! Exactly! Slow cook it to that texture. Add more heat if you'd like. Wonderful and satiating!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Amy (again)!

Thanks for those success factors from Jeff N. I will admit that I had to google self efficacy.

I think I rock on being independent and not caring what others think, but need to review these other ones to consider and look to beef up.

Best,
Stephanie

[Suey51]

Hello everyone.

Been loving all the soup chat this month and so pleased to see all your weight loss successes This is such a fab group and a wonderful thread! You've inspired me to make some soup, which I haven't done for a while as the weather has been so hot. My husband isn't a fan of some of the very plain foods I have and has been veering away from his usual way of eating at home. We both love soups so this was a great way to make a McDougall meal we could both enjoy and nudge him back on track. Thanks for sharing so many soup recipes!

Amy - thanks for the great summary of the Willpower Paradox - very helpful, plus all the other information and recipe links So much great stuff! For some reason, I couldn't get the link to 'Clarifying the 50/50 Guideline' to work. Did you mean this thread: https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=48835

Best wishes to everyone. Keep on keeping on!

Sue x

[amandamechele]

Svenja - Nice loss. It's your great efforts in diet and exercise taking their own time. I'm really impressed with your consistent weighing-in. When you decide on doing something, you consistently follow through. This is serving you well. Enjoy the long-weekend!

Verde - I'll have to give it a try, it sounds like a nice way to add some flavour every once and a while.

Becca - Celebrate every pound down! It's such a nice feeling when others begin to notice the hard work we've been putting into our health. I hope you find it further inspiring. Working for a retreat centre must be so lovely. I'm imagining bright coloured fabric blowing in the wind, sunshine, yoga and learning new things. May I ask what you and your husband do there? I understand if that is too personal a question for a public discussion board. I went down a very conventional career route and am always curious how others got to where they are. Best wishes with the plan this week. XO (Your soup sounds delish!)

Thanks Stephanie, I love a spicy chili too. Do hot Thai peppers have more heat than jalapeño? I have a very similar go-to recipe and I use chipotle peppers for s smoky heat. With regards to Jeff's factors for long-term success, you seem pretty darn good at most - if not all - of them.

Sue - Keep us posted (hehe) on what soups you decide to make. You take the most beautiful pictures of your food. Thanks for letting me know about the incorrect link, I've fixed it. I'm happy to know someone actually used it...LOL. It's a great thread, especially as a reminder that even when eating a diet that may visually appear very high in non-starchy veggies (as in the 50/50 plate), we are still getting the bulk of our calories from starch, and if we try to lower that too much we'll feel hungry and unsatisfied and potentially have trouble sticking with the plan over the longer-term. Keep on keepin' on!