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For those wanting to learn about and follow the McDougall Maximum Weight Loss Program. You can also join our monthly weigh-ins.

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Postby Rita<3 » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:52 pm

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Last edited by Rita<3 on Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: So upset

Postby moonlight » Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:00 pm

Hi Rita,
Are you aware of the MWL plan for losing weight? It is part of the McDougal program for people who want to lose weight. It is more restrictive than the regular program that's discussed in the Starch Solution. You can find all the guidelines and read comments from people who are trying to follow it for weight loss here in the MWL forum. Each month a new thread is started for people wanting to have support of others on the MWL plan. I have included the 10 pt checklist recommended for daily monitoring while using the MWL plan. For example, rice or almond milk is not used in the MWL plan whereas it is approved for the regular plan. Just look in the MWL forum for the October Weigh-In thread and you will find lots of information on how to implement the plan for weight loss. You can also start your on journal in the My Daily Menus & Journals section. If yu list what you eat each day and want people to comment and help guide you through the process, there's lots of kind people who have a lot of knowledge and great advice on trying to adhere to this way of eating.

Good luck and welcome to the forums!

    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. Choose fruit for dessert.
    3. Greatly reduce or 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).
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Re: So upset

Postby Rita<3 » Sun Nov 01, 2020 3:08 pm

Thank you so very much for your response moonlight.
This is what I’m seemingly having trouble with. Each post of restrictions increases upon my discoveries regarding the MWL diet. Never read that about rice or almond milk. So, what milk is permitted? I’ve just batch cooked oats for the week using a small amount of almond milk. I just don’t understand. I’m avoiding flour products, & have turned to oats every morning for breakfast & a variety of foods from that list in the app. I batch cook for the week & haven’t found many flavorful dishes within the MWL section of the app. I have the starch solution book & attempted to follow it verbatim; yet gained. I was at my goal weight before starting this diet & am now finding myself returning to the app for basic recipes that I can prepare in advance. & I’m losing faith. Because this seems really trying for me. I am risking a lot regarding my health & have received my doctors approval to try this diet. I’ll seek out the lists you’re speaking of; but I honestly need know what is not permitted up front; all together in one place please, because I’m now returning items to the store that I cannot use. I honestly don’t believe that it should really be this difficult. Thanks again.
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Re: So upset

Postby Rita<3 » Sun Nov 01, 2020 3:31 pm

“I do mention how to make some that weren't 100% into MWLP-acceptable, such as omitting raisins or olives or using a corn tortilla instead of wheat ones. It wasn't until looking through the MWLP book again that I realized maple syrup and rice milk/non-fat soy milk are indeed allowed on MWLP. In fact, at least one recipe even uses orange juice, something that was always in the back of my mind as definitely NOT MWLP-acceptable. It pays to reread the old books now and then. :)

I am currently reviewing the MEL link that was given & this is the first thing I read from VeggieSue.

Please let me know where I can find all of these items that are/are not allowed in the same place. Buying all these books has certainly been confusing to me!!
Thanks again.
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Maximum Weight Loss Plan

Postby Rita<3 » Sun Nov 01, 2020 3:41 pm

Warm greetings,
I am a discouraged newbie. I’m uncertain where I need to leave my questions & comments. Please advise me on what to do now. I have been implementing the plan & have gained weight- leading me away from the goal weight I was 10 lbs shy of. I’m now trying the MWL diet; but it’s challenging to me because I’m a long time vegan that just started The Starch Solution book, because I felt it may have much to offer. Is there anywhere a list of all items that are not permitted? I’m reading conflicting information here. What milks are on the plan? I’ve read rice/soy/almond milks are not part of the plan. What other items other than rolled oats are allowed for breakfast? Are steel cut oats permitted at all? What are most folks batch cooking? Thank you so very much for any help you can render. I’m finding this to be waaaay more challenging than I believe it should be.
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Re: So upset

Postby Daydream » Mon Nov 02, 2020 7:46 am

Rita<3, read the McDougall Weight Loss Resources at the link below. Also, it would be helpful if you joined that group for extra support:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=61430

Mark Cooper is in charge of that group and he is wonderfully helpful to the members in that group.
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Re: Maximum Weight Loss Plan

Postby wildgoose » Mon Nov 02, 2020 5:31 pm

Rita<3 wrote:Warm greetings,
I am a discouraged newbie. I’m uncertain where I need to leave my questions & comments. Please advise me on what to do now. I have been implementing the plan & have gained weight- leading me away from the goal weight I was 10 lbs shy of. I’m now trying the MWL diet; but it’s challenging to me because I’m a long time vegan that just started The Starch Solution book, because I felt it may have much to offer. Is there anywhere a list of all items that are not permitted? I’m reading conflicting information here. What milks are on the plan? I’ve read rice/soy/almond milks are not part of the plan. What other items other than rolled oats are allowed for breakfast? Are steel cut oats permitted at all? What are most folks batch cooking? Thank you so very much for any help you can render. I’m finding this to be waaaay more challenging than I believe it should be.

@Rita<3 You are absolutely right. This doesn’t have to be challenging. Let’s see if we can figure this out so that you’re not so stressed.

Breakfast. Steel cut oats are wonderful! I eat them all the time. Likewise hot buckwheat cereal (I use Bob's Red Mill Creamy Buckwheat), or any other hot whole grain. Dry cereals are discouraged because they are calorically dense. Think wet starches.

And who says you have to have "breakfasty" food for breakfast? If you want mashed potatoes and broccoli, have it! Or hash browns (no oil), or smashed (cooked) potato in a waffle iron. Or dinner leftovers. We talk a lot about oatmeal because it’s easy, but it’s certainly not your only choice.

Milks. The guideline says "Don’t drink your calories." That means don’t use plant milks. Especially don’t cook with plant milk. It’s a fast way to pile on extra calories, which is not what we want. Jeff Novick talks about "passive overconsumption of calories" in an excellent post, a link to which is included in the Resources list that Mark Cooper puts up every month. (This is the same link that Daydream just gave you. Please read through it all, then join us in the November check-in group if you want!)

Batch cooking. The sky is the limit here. I batch cook potatoes (roast a whole rack of them in the oven at once, store in the fridge), squash, brown rice, and oatmeal. I make huge pots of soups and chili. Jeff's SNAP meals can be doubled and freeze beautifully. (SNAP stands for Simple, Nutritious, Affordable Plan. The template is in Mark's Resources list (link above), and some of Jeff's sample recipes can be found in the second half of this file.). Same with marinara sauce (whole grain pasta is permitted now, and it wasn’t before — don’t get confused on this one). And, dare I mention it, oatmeal. ;-)

My best suggestion is to keep it really simple, especially at first. Think of a couple things you like for breakfast, and maybe 4 or 5 things that you can put together for lunch or dinner. Get really good at them. You want to be able to do this on auto-pilot. No stress. Some of us have eaten this way for years! If you get bored, you can expand your repertoire later. But to me, the most tiring thing is when I get sucked into recipe chasing, or the latest blog, or the newest vegan post on social media.

This method works. We can help you fine-tune things and answer questions. Glad to have you on board!

Goose
My story: MWL works!
How I determined my "goal weight"
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Re: So upset

Postby Rita<3 » Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:37 pm

Thank you all so very much!!!!!!! Wildgoose (moonlight, & daydream) you all ROCK!! :)!!
I’m going to keep trying & I’ll join any group that can offer support. I really appreciate the warm welcome. Thank you again.
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Re: November 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

Postby Rita<3 » Mon Nov 09, 2020 2:49 pm

Hi. Thanks for the information. I read no flour products. That’s why I chose flourless bread. Thank you for the clarification. I didn’t know that. I also thought that Banza pasta might be accepted, because it’s made from chickpeas; but that wasn’t written, so I’m gifting it to my girlfriend. I love oats for breakfast in the mornings & look most forward to having it with some type of sweetener. I was using sugar free syrup & read that it was not allowed. I do not (nor will I ever) have Facebook. However, I have been reading posts here, by people in this forum that have been quite confusing & I no longer really believe this is going to work for me. I was at my goal weight before trying this diet & because I read The Starch Solution, I figured I could easily adapt to that lifestyle; so I did & I gained 10 pounds. I reached out to various people within the McDougall wheelhouse twice, & was told to try first; the regular McDougall program; which packed on 6 more pounds. Then, I was told the MWL program would work best for me. & you’ve guessed it; I’ve again gained weight. I do not feel full on this program; & it doesn’t seem like I’m doing anything right. Each post I learn something entirely different from what I’ve previously learned. & there’s plenty of links to follow when I’m indeed posing these questions- they’re provided by people within this program that I’m sure are well meaning; but I have read on this site; that I could have oats for breakfast, & raisins; (I JUST batch cooked 3 cups yesterday with some powdered stevia); now I’m being told that’s not acceptable. Who eats oats plain? Who wants seconds of bland food? So, that goes in the garbage. I have gone grocery shopping multiple times trying to find just the right items for success; yet, to no avail, because seemingly, the rules keep changing. There needs to be a section of this forum dedicated strictly to newbies, that have read some of these books, but need help, & there needs to be less confusion about what process to follow. There also needs to be a warning that you can likely gain weight on the programs because that would likely have given me more pause. This morning, I skipped the oats, & added the (placemat) recommended foods. I had 3 bean chili over a 1/2 cup of brown rice- because I am exhausted from the disappointment of gaining weight. It poses a threat to my well being, because I am attempting to avoid a diagnosis of diabetes, the cups of rice are problematic now. Yesterday was the last day that I had a cup of rice. I said after preparing all the foods according to the app’s recommendations for MWL, I would temper my meals & scrutinize my intake. I had a small sweet potato, a salad first, a bowl of a Mediterranean mix of frozen veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, & squash), & a handful of frozen green grapes. I was not aware there was yet another rule to eat the items in a specific order- other than soup, or salad first. I am horrified by the fact that I have gained all of this weight; all in an attempt to lose. I love to cook, & batch cook every week, so that things won’t be too difficult for me during the week. I only drink water, but I drink it with drops of lemon essential oil which helps to counter my arthritis. I add stevia to that also, but I have done that to avoid taking the supplements that were helping address my pains. Now, that too is something else I must give up? I feel bad. I believe it would possibly have been more helpful to have been able to read all of this material in one place with recipes strictly for the MWL plan on this website; because it’s too much to try to correct the issues that arise from attempting the others. I have read the requirements of this group, & I have followed them all. I did not see the video you’re speaking of. The plate plan, the avoidances, but each post has presented a new challenge & it’s just overwhelming. I posted my weight somewhere in here & I don’t see that. I did that Friday morning & a previous post asked that we do that before Saturday. I started doing yoga twice a day, because I had so much physical pain from trying to walk more frequently. I thought that was helpful; because it is something I enjoy & it is less a painful experience for me. Yet, still the scale didn’t move. I was excited about the plan that first, second, & third weeks; but given all I’ve been through, I don’t know that it is prudent for me to continue to try, fail, & further jeopardize my health in this way. I’ve been vegan since 1999, & yes, my weight has fluctuated, but I was 10 lbs away from my goal weight (for the first time!! & I did that by IF, recommended by my chiropractor) when I began this journey with the McDougall plan. Perhaps for people without such frightening struggles & risks this plan can work somehow. I appreciate your patience with me & allowing me to vent about this, but I’m uncertain about what else there is that I can do. Please do share your thoughts. & I again thank you. *I posted this under confused, because I didn’t know where else to post it, so I started that as a new topic. I hope to hear your thoughts please. I am genuinely confused. Not great with forums but I’m really trying! I thank you.
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