January 2019 McDougall Weigh In Thread

[cena]

Hi. I'm in. I have been on and off McDougall for 7 years. I lost 60 of 120 pounds I need to lose and kept that much off for years. But I have probably never had a 100 percent day ever. This last year (2018) I was way off, even eating meat and dairy some. I have gained half the weight back and I am so done with that. I weighed 218 yesterday, Jan 1st, so I will go off that and see what my weights are on Fridays. Happy to be in a group.

[Linda Dorrill]

Thanks for the welcome! One of the wonderful things about boards is being able to post. I've been on some with no replies...(or maybe I was doing something wrong!) But it's even better when there are replies and interaction.

Anyway, Yes, I use the Westsoy unsweetened. I only have it in the soups.

I have to brag a little bit--maybe inspire others. After doing a lot of reading last night, and with new resolve...I've been out and about and NOT eaten!!! Hooray. Was able to not have birthday cake or a moon pie that was offered. IT IS SO HARD TO SAY NO! Anyway, Got home to have my brunch. It was grapes, brown rice, and black lentils with no salt. Was too hungry to make some veggies to go with it. (I'm looking at this as a process.) Tonight's dinner will be leftover rice, black-eyed peas (McD Hoppin' John), butternut squash, green beans, and some fresh water-saute'd zucchini/yellow squash. Living in the south all these years, I've never had Hoppin' John. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday how good it was.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll be down on Friday. (fingers crossed)
-Linda

[Linda Dorrill]

Jeff N.
I feel like I know you. I own and have watched a lot of your talks. Thanks for being here and participating.

Question: Can I make the tahini, lemon juice, and water dressing from your Fast Food DVD and it be MWL okay?

Thanks and God bless you.
Linda

[JeffN]

Jeff N.
I feel like I know you. I own and have watched a lot of your talks. Thanks for being here and participating.

Thank you!

Question: Can I make the tahini, lemon juice, and water dressing from your Fast Food DVD and it be MWL okay?

High fat foods, like tahini, are not allowed on the MWL program.

As a refresher, you can review the MWL guidelines here

The Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines - Long Version
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl ... ushing.htm

Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines - The Quick Start Guide
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26620&start=150#p578019

In Health
Jeff

[Ellen N]

I have a question about avocados vs garbanzo beans. I noticed in the chart on the lecture on calorie density that garbanzo beans have a higher calorie density than avocados yet they are okay while avocados are not. I would be inclined to eat lots of garbanzos in a nice stew but would never eat more than a slice or 2 of avocado as a garnish to a main dish or salad.

[Lorna1954]

Hi! My name is Lorna. I’m 64 years old and weigh 244. I’ve never thought of it until today but maybe the reason I’m feeling so crummy is because I have been squeezing the equivalent of 2 people into one pair of stretchy pants. I’ve had enough. I can do anything if I want to bad enough. It’s time to get in control and get off a shelf full of medications. Out of the recliner and back to the gym.

[JeffN]

I have a question about avocados vs garbanzo beans. I noticed in the chart on the lecture on calorie density that garbanzo beans have a higher calorie density than avocados yet they are okay while avocados are not. I would be inclined to eat lots of garbanzos in a nice stew but would never eat more than a slice or 2 of avocado as a garnish to a main dish or salad.

Good question.

Understand that while the MWL program is based on calorie density, calorie density is just a number and there are several other things that come into play, all of which impact “the passive overconsumption of calories,” which is the real issue. Some of the other issues include the percentage of fat, the amount of fiber/cal, the satiety per calorie, the degree of processing, liquids vs solid, etc, The two most important things in determining the passive overconsumption of calories are the calorie density and the percentage of fat of the food.

In regard to calorie density, California avocados are about 760 calories per pound and Garbanzo beans are about 744 calories per pound. Very similar. Call it a wash.

In regard to percentage fat, avocados are 77% fat which is VERY high fat, garbanazos are 13% fat, which is fairly low. The higher the % fat, the more likely one is to overeat on a food. In addition, the higher percent of fat, the lower the satiety per calories as fat doesn’t trigger the satiety mechanisms. That’s the issue with Avocados. They are very easy to overeat on due the very high percentage of fat and low satiety. The lower fat, somewhat higher fiber, and even the higher protein, all contribute to the garbanzos beans been much more satiating than the avocado for the same calorie density.

BTW, all animals in nature will “passively overconsume calories” on high fat foods.

That is why on the MWL program, we not only avoid foods high in calorie density, we avoid foods high in fat. We also avoid liquid calories even though their calorie density is very low.

I hope that helps

In Health
Jeff

[AnneG]

Hi, I'm Anne and I have not been part of these forums before but am very excited to begin this journey!

I have been following a whole food plant based lifestyle for almost 8 years in order to prevent as well as reverse health problems. By my current age, my mother had experienced at least one heart attack. Several years and episodes later, after visiting her in the hospital following bypass surgery, I promised myself I would do whatever it took to avoid being in that position. That was the beginning of my journey to health but it was several more years before I heard of eating wfpb with no added salt, oil, or sugar. I started at 220 pounds and am currently about 175, having put on 10 pounds in the past couple of months due to bad choices and stress eating. My goal is to loose the final 30 pounds this year and so finally be at my goal weight. More than a number on the scale, though, I want to be healthy and avoid long term health issues. I am looking forward to the accountability in this group and achieving what I set out to do more than 10 years ago: avoid medication and surgery to correct bad choices by setting great habits that bring me health.

My number on Friday will be 0 since I am just beginning and won't have a start weight until that weigh in.

[amandamechele]

Raquel - Great job staying totally on track so far! Are you familiar with the work of Dr. Doug Lisle, the McDougall’s Health and Medical Center’s staff psychologist? He is one of the author’s of The Pleasure Trap and has done many webinars for Dr. McDougall. There is one called: The Cram Circuit that you may enjoy. It’s about 1 hour long.

Hi Carrie - Happy New Year, and glad to have you back. Best wishes this week.

Patricia - Welcome! You have a very physical job, you must be in very good shape. [nod] Eating well is going to have you feeling even better and help get that weight off.

Dr10or - You are quite well read, so you can jump in with both feet! We are happy to provide accountability (that’s why I do this too). If you just keep coming back each week and checking in, no matter what happens or how you feel it went, you will make progress - whether that’s through weight loss, or learning about what kind of situations cause you to have difficulty and then learning from them. Here’s to you too!

Dark Blonde - Welcome and I look forward to getting to know you too over the next few years. You can do this! One thing that sometimes happens to people when they begin to struggle with applying the guidelines, is that other programs begin to look more attractive relative to the one they are currently doing because they represent another chance at success where you don’t feel you’ve failed at yet. If you can convince yourself to keep coming back to the same program (preferably this one...LOL) then you will slowly learn all of the the tiny little changes needed - one situation at a time - that will help keep you on track.

Gissell - Welcome and I am happy to have you in this forum too! Best wishes this week to fully committing to adhering to the guidelines. The closer your adherence, the easier it will become.

Kerrilyn - Welcome! See you Friday.

Alishana Bienvenue! Congratulations on your weight loss, you have done great with the program, so far.

Hi D - Yes, let’s do this!

Hi Cynthia - Happy New Year to you too. I see you are familiar with the program, that is awesome. You have a bit of a head start at this. Good luck this week.

Hi Michele - I feel like your experience and mine is very similar. I have begun to realize there can be so many things that pull us off track, each requiring different strategies to first recognize and then deal with for future success. The biggest lesson I have learned is that when I do slip up, I just jump right back on track. Not the next day, or the next meal, but at the moment that I catch myself. Your husband sounds lovely and maybe you can ask him to give you 1 month, where if you ask him to go out and get junk food at any time in January, to please say no and remind you that you have asked this of him, that he loves you, and that he will be happy to enable you in February if you should still wish it. My mom and dad have this same dynamic and it can be a tough one to reign in, especially if he also loves the junk food and is happy when you are loosening your reigns. By asking him to help you to help yourself for a limited amount of time he may be more likely to follow through with this request and this will give you enough time to get into a really good pattern of acting well before February or whatever arbitrary timeline you set.

Debbie - Hi and Welcome. Great job in October! December is a darn hard month to eat healthfully throughout for almost everyone I have ever met. Good for you for attempting it and its great that you are trying to get on track before vacation. I’m currently travelling, and though it can be difficult, it is not impossible. Have you seen Mary McDougall’s webinar Dining Out When You Must? It can give you some great ideas on how to navigate restaurants.

Hi Gina - I love that quote too. Good for you, and keep up that momentum. I posted a link above to Dr. Lisle’s Cram Circuit webinar which may be helpful for you too, if you haven’t seen it. It may help you recognize and avoid a certain type of craving called an extinction burst[/b] that happens when you are breaking a classical conditioning cycle - such as when avoiding certain situations when you typically eat a sugary treat. You have already gone through the most difficult phase of changing a pattern - which is totally avoiding it for a week or so. Now if you feel a stray craving unexpectedly, you can [i]just say no and realize that it will pass.

Welcome Nomeoslo - You have done very well at this before and you can do this again! Best wishes and I will be looking forward to seeing you check in on Friday.

Hi Katowens - I see that Jeff has answered your questions, so I just thought I’d say Hi!

Humberto - It sounds like a great morning and a great start towards getting closer to the guidelines. I have a favourite 3 bean chili recipe that I posted in my online journal, if you’d like it. Amy’s 3 Bean Chili. There is one ingredient I can no longer find oil-free (the canned chipotle peppers), so now I just replace that with low-sodium, oil-free chipotle sauce and some fresh jalapeños. If you try it, let me know what you think. I also like sleeping until noon whenever I have the chance...LOL...unfortunately its not often because the kids never let that happen.

Rukaspooka - Welcome and best wishes this week getting started. The first week can feel the toughest for some, with feelings of cravings trying to pull you back in/ Stay strong and know that this will pass. With great effort you will be putting that ACE certification to good use in no time and inspiring many others towards reader fitness.

Kandice - Wow! You have done very well so far and will be successful as long as you just keep coming back to it. I love your greeting...we are a team! A team that has each other’s back and will be there to talk each other through difficulties because there is no short path to taking and keeping weight off. We can potentially be at this for our lives, but it is more satisfying (though with equal and different challenges) to be sharing maintenance struggles...so lets help get each other there.

Cena - Welcome and I am happy to have you here too. I see you also have a long history at working at this; that will be helpful to you. Do your best this week to adhere quite closely to the guidelines, but please consider checking in on Friday no matter how it goes. We are here to support progress, not just perfection, because I know I’m not the only one who understands what it feels like to fall off the wagon. XO.

Linda - Yay! You did great avoiding those temptations. You also made that happen because you went to the effort to be prepared! You had lots of on-plan food ready and waiting to eat and that will help you stay on track when those temptations present themselves. I’ve never tried the Hoppin’ John recipe...and I’m totally intrigued!

Lorna - Welcome! I’m so glad you are going to give this a try. I’m not sure how familiar you are with the program, so if you have a chance, I can’t recommend enough that you go through the links in the original post on this thread, and Jeff Novick’s post above. You can definitely lose weight and improve your health eating this way. Depending on the medications that you are taking, you may want to have your doctor involved while you do this. The dosages of certain medications may need adjusting if you plan on completely adhering to the guidelines. My son, for example, needs 20% less insulin (He’s a Type 1 Diabetic) when he eats this way exclusively. There are other medications that are affected too, but I’m not a doctor and cannot provide advice on that. So please be aware that this diet can have a great effect on the amount of medications you require for certain conditions. (I love the image you have painted of getting out of the recliner and to the gym...I love to think of it visually too...my mental picture that inspired me was to get off of the sofa and into the kitchen - for all of the chopping and prep work...I also picture myself dancing while doing that to make it more fun. Hee hee!)

Anne - Hi and welcome. Congratulations on your success so far. It is a rare person that can learn from the example of another. Many people need to go through a negative health experience before they are ready to make these kinds of changes (I am one of those people...LOL). You have all the knowledge to meet that goal you set 10 years ago. We would all be thrilled to join you while you work towards getting there.

[amandamechele]

I feel like I may have missed a post because I remember reading a request about weight loss tickers, but don’t think that I responded to it.

This is the website many people use:

Ticker Factory.

I have never set one up, but many people have and I’m sure that they would be happy to share how.

[ChasingHappy]

First time poster! First time committing to MWL. I have a tendency to hate the idea of diets, but I really need to lose the baby weight, as my youngest is 5 been vegan for the animals for about 3 years bc my 2 older kids realized that the animals are killed to be eaten and they put a firm foot down against it, and honestly I agree, I just found it so hard to make a change. It has been stressful to change with them and commit.. but I want to be a good example.

Looking forward to the accountability!

[Humberto]

Hello AmandaMechele and JeffN, and thank you both for the info and I'll be reading more and more to stay in the center of the MWL target/program. This is cool, pretty fun too. Gona hit the store again today and then make something yummy. Thanks and all the best. Humberto

[laurag]

Hi, I'm Anne and I have not been part of these forums before but am very excited to begin this journey!

I have been following a whole food plant based lifestyle for almost 8 years in order to prevent as well as reverse health problems. By my current age, my mother had experienced at least one heart attack. Several years and episodes later, after visiting her in the hospital following bypass surgery, I promised myself I would do whatever it took to avoid being in that position. That was the beginning of my journey to health but it was several more years before I heard of eating wfpb with no added salt, oil, or sugar. I started at 220 pounds and am currently about 175, having put on 10 pounds in the past couple of months due to bad choices and stress eating. My goal is to loose the final 30 pounds this year and so finally be at my goal weight. More than a number on the scale, though, I want to be healthy and avoid long term health issues. I am looking forward to the accountability in this group and achieving what I set out to do more than 10 years ago: avoid medication and surgery to correct bad choices by setting great habits that bring me health.

My number on Friday will be 0 since I am just beginning and won't have a start weight until that weigh in.

Hi Im going to start fri with a 0 too and am new to forums. I like what u said about being healthy and avoid the long term health issues. I think that is why I am having any success because I can focus on that true goal of health easier that trying to just " lose weight" which has never worked for me at all.

[springswilli]

I look forward to following this group! I have been plant based for 4 months & even though I have limited oils, salts, juices, etc. my weight has gone up 5 pounds. I am normal height and weight but think my body is slow to metabolize the dramatic increase in carbs since becoming plant based.

[Yomom]

I’m going to leave this wonderful, supportive MWL group for the next few months, to focus on training for a 10K race on May 27. For the past two years I have walked in this race with my husband, but now I am thinner and fitter and ready to run instead. Thanks for helping me (more or less) maintain my weight through the tempting (grrr) season that starts with Halloween and ends with New Year’s Day.
Kathy