December 2019 McDougall Weigh In Thread

[deweyswakms]

I don't want to post my weight this morning...I just want to hang my head.

Been there, done that. I bet you regroup and refocus in these coming days. Onward! Marsha

[moonlight]

Amy - A big thank you for volunteering to lead this group. You have been so helpful and encouraging, always ready to put a positive spin on things. I hope you'll check in from time to time. XO

Mark, I'm so excited you are leading the group!! You have always been an inspiration. You really ROCK that 10 pt. MWL checklist. May we all learn from your deeds.

Wildgoose, I always enjoy your thoughtful comments. I look forward to hearing from you, too.

I'm going to re-join the group in January. I've had a little break. I think I'm up 2 lbs. from when I stopped posting my weight. I'm ready to give this all the energy and determination that I can muster. I know I can succeed if I just SIMPLY follow the plan! My weight today is 173 lbs. I'll post my first loss for the New Year on the January weigh-in!

My plan is to use the 21-day sample menu in the MWL book for my eating plan in January. It's great to take out the decision of what to fix for dinner. Does anyone want to join me? I plan to cook two days worth of menus for a week. That way the 21-day menu will last at least 10 weeks. It is a lot of food and too much cooking for me to do a new day's worth of recipes each day. Aiming for 2 days worth of recipes will be plenty for the week. I've done this before and looking back over the menus I remember several recipes that I really enjoyed. I'm looking forward to doing it again.

For anyone else interested in trying this menu, here are the first 2 days. I think most of these recipes are on the website if you don't have the book. Also, I'm leaving out the rice cakes as a snack because JeffN recommends not including them.

Week 1 (Days 1 & 2)
B: Potato Hash; Couscous and Orange Cereal
L: Barley Mushroom Soup; Summer Potato Salad
D: Shredded Salad, Texan Vegetable Casserole; Spinach Salad, Garbanzo Stew
Snacks: raw vegetables w/ oil-free dressing and eggplant dip, corn salad

[stillcrazy]

I am down .5, which is enough for this week to be happy about it!

Amy you are superb here, always with the right support, the right resources, the right tips. I hope whatever comes next is perfect for you. Thank you so much for everything. Vee.

[amandamechele]

Wildgoose - Your quiet, simple Christmas sounds lovely.

Annette - Thank you for still checking in. You won’t get too far off track now; the holiday season is almost over and you have a whole week to get yourself back into a good place. XO

Marsha -I love new beginnings too, they keep life from getting dull. You are going to love the new MWL thread! Congratulations on holding your own this week. You have consistently done very well.

Moonlight - I’m so glad you will be coming back for the weigh-ins. You have been a stalwart presence here and I missed you while you were taking some time to regroup and find your motivation. I wish you success in the New Year.

Vee - Nice loss this week. XO. Thank you so much, I appreciate your kind words.


I appreciate everyone’s small kindnesses. I didn’t realize how sad I would feel about this change. Change can be hard, even when it is for the best. I still have one more day with you all in this capacity ... and many fond memories. XX



May we all have much success this coming year.

[AnnetteW]

My official check-in for the week (I was a bit lower this morning )

Dec 5 - 148.5 (+0.4 lb)
Dec 12 - 146.2 (-2.3 lbs)
Dec 19 - 146.8 (+0.6 lbs)
Dec 27 - 148.0 (+1.2 lbs)

[Sandy Sue]

I am maintaining during the holidays , but no weight loss.

[moonlight]

Moonlight - I’m so glad you will be coming back for the weigh-ins. You have been a stalwart presence here and I missed you while you were taking some time to regroup and find your motivation. I wish you success in the New Year.

You can run but you can't hide!!
Thanks, Amy. I guess I'll be around for some time to come. No other option!

[amandamechele]

Hello Everyone,

Thank you one final time for checking in this week. This is one of those really tough weeks to want to focus on eating well and I applaud your efforts. All of us have just about graduated from 2019 and will get to see the New Year as healthier and slightly thinner people. Yahoo!

It’s my last day on the job so please forgive the following histrionics and the wordiness of this discourse. This is it for my long, unwieldy and meandering posts. This really is just me being myself. LOL.

When I started to type up this post yesterday I initially wrote the works of Dr. McDougall, Dr. Lisle and Jeff Novick have changed my life. Then I realized this statement was missing a little something.
Me.
I CHANGED MY LIFE! I lost 90 pounds (and at one point was down 110 pounds) through hard work and as consistent an effort as I am capable of. I did all of that thanks to taking the time to really study and try to understand the work that Dr. McDougall, Dr. Lisle and Jeff Novick make freely available to everyone. My weight loss is the outcome of following the plan pretty well for a number of years; with almost predicable times of struggle (ahem...holidays and major life changes) and also periods of extremely good adherence (when I limit tempting social situations, keep my home free of off-plan foodstuffs and most importantly find the time to be prepared). My weight-loss is an example of making enough correct choices to see progress or hold my position.
I have been asked by a few friends why I am not a Star McDougaller and I wanted to quickly discuss it to clear up any misconceptions about that because I worry others may incorrectly think they need to follow this plan perfectly and reach a BMI of 18.5 to be considered a success here. If you have made dietary changes leading to weight loss by following the MWL or regular program guidelines and improved your health to a degree that you feel satisfied and feel that you can maintain those changes then you are potentially Star McDougaller material - please go and write a testimonial right now if this is you!! LOL. I have been asked to submit my story for consideration in the past, but I am just not ready to do so.

When someone saves your life it is natural to feel beholden to them to some degree. To feel so grateful that you don’t know where to direct all of that emotion, to want to repay them in some way. I used to work in emergency services and was a recipient of this type of gratitude on more than one occasion. It wasn’t until I was on the receiving end of life saving guidance that I had the privilege of experiencing these feelings and now truly understand the depth of the emotion behind them. My gratitude to the McDougalls and their whole staff is ineffable. Not that I haven’t tried to make it effable...LOL. That’s part of the reason it seemed like a good idea to volunteer here, because I wanted very much to put that gratitude into words and knew filling their email boxes with thank you messages would eventually get pretty annoying...LOL.
So for the last time this year I will say:
To Dr. McDougall: Thank you for being a tireless crusader in questioning entrenched health dogmas; For providing information in many ways to ensure all who are willing to listen to your message can understand it and for presenting a bird’s-eye view of the interconnectedness of food consumption patterns and our health and the effect of large-scale food production on the environment using epidemiological data, comparative methods, experimental methods and persuasion. Thank you for providing a place for support and community at no cost so that even people who cannot attend your programs have an opportunity to feel involved with others who choose this path.
To Jeff Novick: You are how I first found out about Dr. McDougall’s work from your time helping out on a CRON bulletin board long ago. Yes, I was the obese girl reading about caloric restriction for longevity and you were still always kind in your response to my questions. Thank you so much for providing a detailed record of the empirical evidence that support the recommended MWL guidelines through your meticulous analysis of the available research. Thank you for teaching me to try and stear clear of the continuous output of supposedly new ideas that are not actually so. Thanks for banging the drum of simplicity for success and mostly for just being there for me and many others in a very direct and personable way.
To Dr. Lisle: You enabled me to believe that I could do this after failing to make any long term progress for most of my life. Many people who have never struggled to lose weight don’t understand how much time some of us dedicate to trying to solve this problem for ourselves. (It can really take over my life sometimes). You took up the cause of helping everyone understand the variety of different challenges we face and for that I am extremely grateful. Thank you for helping me to understand I’m not broken but merely acting exactly as designed. Thank you for helping me to understand that personality, circumstantial and genetic differences exist and will make the seemingly straightforward process of losing weight slightly different for everyone; but also that general success strategies exist and can be helpful to everyone. Thank you for all of the interviews, lectures and podcasts dedicated to helping people like me.


Some of the best advise for improving your health and feelings of well-being have been laid out in the many postsand webinars and newslettersavailable on this website from the program guidelines and important lifestyle factors for healthy living to the importance of social dynamics and feelings of individual purpose.
I recently had the opportunity to see Dr. McDougall give his new Climate talk (I saw it at a different venue than this link). As I mentioned above, I admire his tireless advocacy. If any of you feel so inspired, take up the torch and light the way for others with your words, your purchases, your votes; but mostly through the actions of living well and leading by example. Everyone wins when we humbly create positive dynamics to learn and improve.
I wish each of you so much success on your quest to discovering your best selves. So very much success. I am sad that my quest is taking me on a solitary path for awhile, but I have determined that it is necessary. I am going to miss the feelings of connectedness through involvement that I experienced here.
To every participant and lurker of these forums (all of the forums), I humbly thank all of you for your kindness, your time, for sharing your excitements and your frustrations. We learn through a variety of mechanisms, for a variety of reasons, and thus every experience that teaches us something will create an opportunity for better future decision making. Keep learning my friends!

Becoming healthy improves your chance for a long and active life, your chance for more satisfying relationships and your chance to feel content with yourself and your place in the world. I wish all of you progress on your goals and ultimately better feelings of wellbeing.

And now out with the old, in with the new!! Happy New Year! Best wishes Mark and Wildgoose and Lindsey and everyone participating in the Weigh-In threads this coming year.

Until we meet again,
Amy XO

Here are the results for the 4th Friday in December:

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, January 3rd, 2019

Total group loss reported in 2019: 444.72 pounds
December 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
Total group loss in December 2019: 15.2 pounds

Week ending 12/27/2019: 6 participants reported a total loss of -1.5 pounds
---------------------------------------
AnnetteW - 1.2
Amandamechele - 1.0
---------------------------------------
Total gains: 2.2
--------------------------------------
Deweyswakms - 0.2
Moonlight - 0.0
Stillcrazy - 0.5
SandySue - 0.0
---------------------------------------------
Total losses: 0.7
---------------------------------------------

Total group loss in December 2019: 15.2 pounds
Week ending 12/27/2019: 6 participants reported a total loss of -1.5 pounds
Week ending 12/20/2019: 7 participants reported a total loss of 0.4 pounds
Week ending 12/13/2019: 7 participants reported a total loss of 8.1 pounds
Week ending 12/06/2019: 8 participants reported a total loss of 8.2 pounds

[Sandy Sue]

Hi everyone,

I haven't been on this forum long, but have decided that MWL is not for me. I just need my bread. I especially need it for digestion. The good news is that I won't be leaving the McDougall Program. I plan to continue McDougalling, just not MWL. For those of you who can do MWL, I wish you the best of luck. Happy Holidays and Happy McDougalling!

[moonspirit]

Good luck in your future adventures, Amanda! I am sorry to see you go, and yet am happy for you at the same time. I haven't posted in nearly a year. <3

[deweyswakms]

Bravo Amanda! Clearly you have mind, body and soul all aligned now. Good luck in your next journey.

Marsha

[amandamechele]

Moonlight - No hiding! LOL. I cannot agree more while at the same time possibly doing just that for a bit. Eating this way very well appears to be very important to both of us. Keep up the good efforts my friend. I will be too!

SandySue - 100% MWL isn’t for everyone. If keeping a little bit of oil-free bread in your life will keep you satisfied and able to follow the rest of the guidelines in order to meet your personal goals, then this is a good choice for you. Thank you for giving it a try. Best wishes.

Moonspirit - Thank you! I hope you have been well. Future adventures include more family time, taking a few courses and possibly more cross continent travel....all in addition to continuing to eat well following the McDougall program.

Marsha - Yes, I have been in need of a little realignment. Thank you and all the best as you continue to follow your path.

I am going to keep my future comments in my journal, and will venture back to this forum if I decide to participate in future weigh-ins. XO

[laurag]

Amy - A big thank you for volunteering to lead this group. You have been so helpful and encouraging, always ready to put a positive spin on things. I hope you'll check in from time to time. XO

Mark, I'm so excited you are leading the group!! You have always been an inspiration. You really ROCK that 10 pt. MWL checklist. May we all learn from your deeds.

Wildgoose, I always enjoy your thoughtful comments. I look forward to hearing from you, too.

I'm going to re-join the group in January. I've had a little break. I think I'm up 2 lbs. from when I stopped posting my weight. I'm ready to give this all the energy and determination that I can muster. I know I can succeed if I just SIMPLY follow the plan! My weight today is 173 lbs. I'll post my first loss for the New Year on the January weigh-in!

My plan is to use the 21-day sample menu in the MWL book for my eating plan in January. It's great to take out the decision of what to fix for dinner. Does anyone want to join me? I plan to cook two days worth of menus for a week. That way the 21-day menu will last at least 10 weeks. It is a lot of food and too much cooking for me to do a new day's worth of recipes each day. Aiming for 2 days worth of recipes will be plenty for the week. I've done this before and looking back over the menus I remember several recipes that I really enjoyed. I'm looking forward to doing it again.

For anyone else interested in trying this menu, here are the first 2 days. I think most of these recipes are on the website if you don't have the book. Also, I'm leaving out the rice cakes as a snack because JeffN recommends not including them.

Week 1 (Days 1 & 2)
B: Potato Hash; Couscous and Orange Cereal
L: Barley Mushroom Soup; Summer Potato Salad
D: Shredded Salad, Texan Vegetable Casserole; Spinach Salad, Garbanzo Stew
Snacks: raw vegetables w/ oil-free dressing and eggplant dip, corn salad

Hi there I love the idea of doing two days, my Dragon to slay is dinner and snacking after. I'm really working on having a plan in place from watching Dr Lisles videos Amy did a wonderful list so many that you can click on. What is your favorite dish that you had made from before? I will do this two day idea in Jan after I come back on the 17th but I will do different dishes , because I am lazy cook! Lol I am using your menu to inspire me, happy holidays! Nice to have a plan for new year! Thanks

[Mark Cooper]

Thank you so much for all your diligent efforts, Amy! You are the absolute best.

I look forward to seeing you all in the January 2020 MWL thread!

[Loser]

[quote][/quote]
I want to join the MWL thread with weigh-in every Friday. Am I posting in the correct space? Connie Turner