November 2019 McDougall Weigh In Thread

[vegman]

I’ve decided to discontinue weekly posting on the weigh-in threads, after doing so since July, and previously participating in a June 21-day challenge on the McDougall forums.

After solid MWL compliance since June 10, with good results, I think I can remain on track without the accountability and support provided here. For many years I’ve been recording my weight weekly, and will continue that.

Some lessons I’ve learned from total MWL compliance, after sloppy compliance previously, with all too many exceptions such as dried fruit, nuts or seeds, popcorn, tempeh, edamame, occasional salty condiments (off-limits for me, but not necessarily for others), or occasional vegan restaurant food:
- MWL works well for me, but only if I follow it without exceptions.
- When following MWL completely, it's easy to continue, and I have no desire for non-compliant foods.

I would like to thank Amy for her wonderful facilitation here, all the participants, and Dr. McDougall and Jeff Novick.

I expect to continue to often read and occasionally post on the McDougall forums, as I have for many years.

Best wishes to all!

[amandamechele]

Alishana - Sweet! Periodic mega-losses are so encouraging and they will continue if you focus on the healthy eating, as you mention. I feel better too when doing the program as it is written.

Laura - Thanks for checking in. If you love exercise then exercise away! It’s always nice when health promoting behaviours are enjoyable. The food planning sounds good too, best wishes this week with further refining and enacting those food goals. XO.

Artista - Great plan!

ShortnSweet - Congratulations on your achievement! You can totally pull it together and will eventually catch it up. You are a very determined person.

Moonlight - I’m happy for your loss this week. I agree with you that adherence level is the most important factor here. We may lose more slowly over a certain age, as Jeff mentions, but we will still lose. I struggle on and off with adherence level too, so I understand how you feel. Enjoy your travels!

Vic - Yikes, you sound very busy. Best wishes navigating your adherence while travelling. Stay food sane and do your best to keep out of the pleasure trap.

Marsha - Here are some holiday meals that I’ve had in years past. They are on the regular program, so please take that into consideration when planning. You can make a delicious and decadent meal that everyone can enjoy, and if you wish to make adjustments to stay MWL, then focus on those recipes. My favourites include my mom making rice lentil cabbage rolls - they’re pictured somewhere in my journal too - and both of her Lentil Shepard pies (one with white potatoes and one with sweet potatoes. Your cabbage salad sounds delish, you have lucky friends.

cmwann - Excellent to have you back. I am impressed with your diligence these past few months. You are quite close to your goal, how exciting. This group is great and will cheer you on through those last few pounds. You’ve got a great attitude, don’t give up!

Vegman - It has been lovely to have you join us each week with your determination and stable adherence to the program and your goals. I wish you future success continuing to follow the MWL plan. Your observations are spot on and something all us us should take to heart. The program works very well with excellent adherence and just gets easier when you follow through with that. Best wishes to you as well. XO.

[cmwann]

Regarding age, I'm 62-1/2 (and 5'3-1/2" tall) and still losing, so it is possible to lose as we get older! I do think that walking about 5 days/week is what really helped me. I walk briskly for about 2 miles and that usually takes about 40 minutes. Good luck through the holiday for those celebrating Thanksgiving this week!

[moonlight]

Regarding age, I'm 62-1/2 (and 5'3-1/2" tall) and still losing, so it is possible to lose as we get older! I do think that walking about 5 days/week is what really helped me. I walk briskly for about 2 miles and that usually takes about 40 minutes. Good luck through the holiday for those celebrating Thanksgiving this week!

I'm 62 also and feel the same way. I notice that I lose weight when I add regular exercise into my routine. Adherence to the program is also a must. I'm not doing too well on either of those at the moment. I'm hoping being around family who are watching me and how I'm doing on my "weird" diet will keep me compliant during the holiday weekend.

Thanks, Amy, for the encouragement! My goal for the next couple of weeks is to be able to report on the December Weigh-In thread that I have a loss or at least still weigh 171!!

[wildgoose]

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, to quote Mister Rogers. I’m a month stable at goal weight or a bit below. 137-138 pounds (at 5’10.5”, that puts me at around a 19.5 BMI). Every closet is cleaned out so that what's left is what fits and what I like to wear. As I said in an earlier post, MWL works! But I have to stay compliant 100% or very, very close. No letting up because I’m at goal weight. That’s what got me into trouble before, and I hope I know better this time

Thanksgiving is not going to be a problem. It’s just the Gander and me. I’m cooking 15-bean minestrone, a big tray of raw veggies, and sweet potatoes. I’m experimenting with a wild rice stuffed acorn squash. The Gander is making dinner rolls and pumpkin pie for himself. He won’t pressure me to have "just a taste," and I won’t miss them at all because I’ll have spiced apples for dessert.

Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate, and a stress-free season.

Goose

[laurag]

Wild goose your thanksgiving dinner sounds just wonderful I think u inspire all of us! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am going to try a pumpkin pie that has no crust made with almond milk and spice and sugar maybe brown sugar instead of syrup , cranberry sauce stuffing and a giant yam that I might just bake instead of nuke! I am picking up a regular dinner made up at grocery store for the hubby. I'm getting rolls and small cheesecake for him. I will have a roll but I will keep it to one roll. That will be hard! Sounds like I shouldn't have one at all I know that is a slippery slope . I have been writing about my food in the journals here and I like it

[deweyswakms]

Happy Thanksgiving, and I am grateful for accountability. It really helps me stay motivated.

11/7/19 weight is 187.4
11/14/19 weight is 186.4
11/21/19 weight is 187
11/28/19 weight is 186.4 -.6

I am thankful for potatoes! and carrots, rice, oatmeal, lentils, beans and 'fast food ala Jeff N'. I have a good eating plan for today, including eating before I go to 'the feast'. Fortunately there will be several other plant-eaters there.

Enjoy the day and remember your intentions.

Marsha

[AnnetteW]

Not my best month so far, but I'm fine with it. And the month isn't over yet.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Even though my weight loss has slowed down I know it will be back, but I'm extremely thankful for the 30+ lbs I have lost this year so far, and the fact that the aches and pains are pretty much all gone (minus the darn knees). I feel good and that's so important.

Oct 31 - 147
Nov 11 - 148 (+1 lb)
Nov 14 - 148 ( 0 lb -/+)
Nov 21 - 148.6 ( +0.6 lb)
Nov 28 - 148.1 (-0.5 lb)

[laurag]

Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving! I woke up grateful so that's a good start I hope everyone has a nice holiday the food thing is challenging but we all have a plan

[Michele613]

Hi Amy and fellow travelers...... lost 4.5#s this week.

Unfortunately (but under fortunate circumstances) I had a heart attack last Wednesday afternoon. Guess I had come to MWL too late to avoid that but G-d gave me another chance through a stent to try again through MWL to avoid any future events of the like. Drs. monitoring 2 other arteries for narrowing and I have to enter a 3 month cardio rehab program that meets 2xs a week....it's all good as
G-d does nothing but good.

Now I am on the medicines which I SHOULD have been taking plus others, like statins, that I wanted to avoid. I guess those extra 40#s really have done me in along with pizza and ice coffees. Not much of a meat or dairy eater on any large scale....oh yeah...the french fries too.

Friends have brought us nothing but veggie soups and compliant salads during my recovery....there is hope for me yet. Don't know if I'll be able to ever get off these meds now that I've had a heart event but will deal with that down the line.

Wishing everyone, wherever you are, an enjoyable Thanksgiving Day and may you 'see' what there is to be thankful for in every day thereafter.

[Michele613]

MARSHA: Thank for your link to the salad. I was not familiar with the term 'supreme orange' though I have actually done so with one before when I ran out of canned mandarin oranges. My process was much messier however. As a reminder of the process I found this video helpful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjOEGQ18F-A

[amandamechele]

Cmwann and Moonlight - You two are peas in a pod.

Wildgoose and Laura - Your pre-planned meals sound perfectly delightful. I hope you both enjoyed them today.

Marsha - I love your food gratitude! This may be the only place to say I am grateful for Fast Food (a la JeffN) and mean the healthy stuff...LOL.

Annette - You’re down this week...that is great. I am grateful to hear how good you are feeling. The weight will come off if you just keep chipping away at it with better and better choices. 30 pound down!

(This is supposed to be a clapping gif saying yay you!)

Laura - How did your plan go today?

Michele - Ah schnikes Michele. I am so glad you came out of that experience with renewed motivation, but I am so sorry that it happened. You are doing yourself a great service by choosing to renew your dedication to the healthiest diet on the planet. By eating well your recovery will be smoother than it otherwise could be. You coming out of that experience and still showing up here with renewed motivation and intentions for better adherence are what I am grateful for this Thanksgiving . Grateful that you found and read Dr. McDougall’s work. Another dear McDougalling-friend of mine recently went through very close to what you just experienced. Her recovery is going very well and she is now 100% MWL adherent because she does not want another stent put in or for this one to get all gummed up (aka restenosis). Right now while their concern is fresh your friends are being extremely helpful. Be strong with them about how serious you are about recovering your health so that they continue to be there and understand exactly what you need from them. I recommend holding a movie night - with all kinds of hummus and veggies and cut fruit and other healthy snacks - to watch Forks Over Knives. Having someone dear to them just go through such a scary ordeal will bring the message of the movie very close to home. This will help them understand what you need and may even inspire a little bit of healthier eating in their own lives. There is definitely hope for you yet. XOXO.
Here are just a few resources on the website, Michele:
Atherosclerosis
Webinar: Atherosclerosis
McDougall’s Medicine - A Challenging Second Opinion
McDougall Newsletter Article Index - Scroll down to the D section (for disease) and go to Heart Disease. There are numerous newsletters with valuable information. Consider reading a few while you are (hopefully) taking some down time to recover.

I just saw this on Facebook; I hope this is the kind of day you are all having:

[alishana]

Michele613 I'm so sorry that you had to experience this and I wish you a wonderful recovery !

I'v gained 1lbs this week ! I haven't been very compliant this week so that's what.

[amandamechele]

Hi All,

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I hope those of you celebrating had a lovely time. Someone once told me that for Americans Thanksgiving is as big a holiday as Christmas is (here in Canada). I’ve always wondered if that was true.

Even having had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday, some of you may be inwardly thinking that what you are grateful for today is that you can get back to your regular dietary patterns with less temptations and social pressures. Once finished with hosting, please consider emptying your home of things that will tempt you away from your intentions to follow the MWL plan.

Here is a lovely success story to get you motivated to make these next few days really adherent ones. Donna has a beautiful heart and smile and she offers her experience up to us as inspiration:

Donna Burns: Conquering my weight issues after 40 years

Best wishes to all this week.

Amy XO.

Here are the results for the 5th Friday in November:

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, December 6th, 2019

Total group loss reported in 2019: 429.52 pounds
November 2019 Weight Loss Group :: Monthly Weigh-In Results
Total group loss in January 2019: 140.53 pounds
Total group loss in February 2019: 78.64 pounds
Total group loss in March 2019: 7.4 pounds
Total group loss in April 2019: 33.55 pounds
Total group loss in May 2019: 38.2 pounds
Total group loss in June 2019: 13.4 pounds
Total group loss in July 2019: 37.3 pounds
Total group loss in August 2019: 23.8 pounds
Total group loss in September 2019: 19.3 pounds
Total group loss in October 2019: 22.1 pounds
Total group loss in November 2019: 15.3 pounds

Week ending 11/29/2019: 6 participants reported a total loss of 5.2 pounds
---------------------------------------
Alishana - 1.0
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Total gains: 1.0
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Deweyswakms - 0.6
AnnetteW - 0.5
LauraG - 0.0
Michele615 - 4.5
Amandamechele - 0.6
---------------------------------------------
Total losses: 6.2
---------------------------------------------

Total group loss in November 2019: 15.3 pounds
Week ending 11/29/2019: 6 participants reported a total loss of 5.2 pounds
Week ending 11/22/2019: 9 participants reported a total loss of 6.9 pounds
Week ending 11/15/2019: 9 participants reported a total loss of -3.2 pounds
Week ending 11/08/2019: 11 participants reported a total loss of 3.1 pounds
Week ending 11/01/2019: 8 participants reported a total loss of 3.3 pounds

[Artista]

I'm down .6 lbs. this week. Sorry for the late check-in. I've been visiting family and away from my computer for the Thanksgiving holidays. It all went well. I didn't eat any food I hadn't planned to eat. The hardest part was when all the desserts came out after Thanksgiving dinner, I used to be a big dessert person and I began to have that conversation in my mind along the lines of, "Why do I have to be so strict? Why not have some just this once?", etc. But I remembered the commitment I made to stick to the MWL/SS guidelines and the posts in this thread earlier about adherence. Also, a comment Dr. McDougall made, something like, "It's an all or nothing thing, I cannot be a moderate person". That's the best reason I can give for why not eat it just this once. And, of course, it never turns into just this once. I feel like Dr. McDougall, it's an all or nothing thing for me too.