November 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[PonysPlants]

1 lbs down again this week. Pleased with the consistent weight loss so far this month. Not earth shattering numbers but it chips away very nicely at the weight I’ve got left to lose.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
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. YES. It’s just automatic for me now to decide on a starch and base my meal around that.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES Easy. Vegan for life
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,) YES
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
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. NO. Had a handful of pretzels for some reason. Silly. And a couple of slices of bread.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. NO. Didn’t manage every day this week.

Had a tough day yesterday and my husband suggested getting a takeaway. Talked him down from pizza and we got a subway. Mine was a salad (no olives, no cheese, no dressing) and I had some potatoes with it. Big win against that emotional eating!

I’m in the 10 stone weight range too. Don’t think I’ve been in it since high school!

Thank you so much to Mark and the other moderators. I appreciate all of your hard work so much.

Naomi

[Abe]

Weight Change: 0 lbs.

MWL Points:

1. Start meals with soup or salad.
2. Follow 50/50 plate volume.
3. Eliminate sugar and salt.
4. Eliminate animal based foods.
5. Eliminate higher fat plant foods.
   I ate more Natto soybeans yesterday even though I planned on throwing the rest out. Natto is one of the most delicious things that I have ever eaten, and I am having a difficult time getting myself to part with the rest of it.
6. Eliminate oil.
7. Eliminate higher calorie dense foods.
8. Do not drink your calories.
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.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Nothing else new to report. I continue to be stuck at this weight. I had hoped that eliminating the balsamic crack might lead to weight loss, but not yet.

[squealcat]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 1.5 loss

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.Only one meal that I didn't do this
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.Followed this on all but two meals
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.success !
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).success !
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).had three slip ups
6. Eliminate any added oil.all but 2 meals
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.had trouble with this three times
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).never
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.twice I maybe went overboard
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).I exercised my usual 5 out of 7 days and am happy with this for now


Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I feel quite happy with my progress this week ! Having my habit tracker is so helpful. I checkmark after each meal and come Friday I can see exactly how I am doing. I start a new page every week and have all the 10 points written in already for this week. On the top of the page I have written things like: " How can I love this forever ?" and "Shift to forever thinking" Right now I am working on changing my mindset to forever when thinking about my food and what I am eating. I have to make it something I love and not something to dread. I also have been concentrating on my fullness vs still hungry feelings and even stopped eating before my plate was empty a few times. I am surprising myself ! We are staying home for Thanksgiving this year and our children will be at their homes so it will be strange but eating-wise, it will be much easier (no pie this year !) I will make a couple of different things for me and my husband is ordering out something for himself. We don't need dessert.

I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and am thankful for all of you ! see you next week !

-squealcat (Marilyn)

[Veganjo]

November 20, 2020, Friday -1.4 lbs loss


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 100%
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. 100%
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 100%
4. Eliminate all animal foods. 100%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. 100%
6. Eliminate any added oil. 100%
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods. 100%
8. Don't drink your calories. Yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. This really helped this week.
10. Exercise: Monday & Wednesday group exercise (1 hr. class). Everyday, my husband and I walk, usually 7500 to 10,000 steps.

[Rebecka22]

189.2
Weight change +/- in lbs:  -1.6

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES, this has been going great.
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. YES, I feel pretty used to this now.
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. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). MOSTLY, some dinners had ingredients like coconut milk and cashews in small amounts
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I think I had a pretty good week overall. I did better on number nine although I found myself getting hungry in the afternoon and not fully prepared for it, but I was able to make some hummus and had carrots and fruit. I hit my 100th day this week of closing my move and exercise rings on my watch, so that’s at least 30 minutes each day. I found myself really having to use my willpower to not stress eat things off the plan this week when close friends tested positive for covid and we were awaiting test results for my niece (thank God she was negative). I am a little worried about this week with thanksgiving, but I am planning a healthy meal so hopefully that will keep me on track.

[Rita<3]

Weight change +/- in lbs:

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.Y
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.Y
Choose fruit for dessert.Y
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts.Y This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.Y
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).Y
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).Y
6. Eliminate any added oil.Y
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.Y
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).Y
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.Y
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).Y

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:I’m uncertain what happened this week, but my weight is 173.5 so I went up 2lbs I exercised less last week (3 days-30 m walks), but walked more than I did yoga, but perhaps 3 days a week is better? IDK, but I’ll certainly be walking again today. Eating habits didn’t change, but I did have hash browns (white potato-however, a different brand; I had Just Potatoes & that’s not all the ingredients in that bag!!) 2xs yesterday. I’d run out of sweet potatoes. I will not do that again. Is stevia allowed? I had some in my hot tea. I’m wondering if that’s a factor. I’ve also wondered if I “cheated” on the weekends by eating the regular diet, if I’d gain. Although I have not tried that; I don’t think I can. I have no desire to mess up my diet with thanksgiving meals. Please do share your thoughts. I welcome them!! I thank you! Sending everyone good vibes & my best wishes. Let’s keep pushing. <3

[CindyD]

SW July 2020, 211.7
Result to-date, -50.4

Last week, Nov 13 162.7
This week, Nov 20 161.3
RESULT -1.4

GUIDELINES
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. I feel it is compliant but I often bring one large bowl of lunch to work, and it's usually more like 2/3 veggies, 1/3 starch because I know I am not doing the soup or salad first. At night it's almost always salad or soup first.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. As noted above.

3-10 GREAT I think I will get some resistance bands and try to find some videos to do a little more on the strength-training side.

Be safe everyone! It occurred to me that face masks might be a fun gift/part of a gift for the holidays this year - if you search on Etsy you can find every design under the sun, so you can choose someone's favorite hobby or favorite animal. I found one that says, "Veggies Never Caused a Pandemic". Just a thought! Have a great week and if you eat too much pie one day it's not the end of the world! Get rid of the pie and do better tomorrow. Thank you, Mark!

[CindyD]

Well, it turns out that it's harder to get back on track than I thought. I am frustrated with myself and considerably discouraged because I truly intended to have a fresh start and a great week. I just acted out for no good reason. I don't have a good excuse or even explanation. I considered not coming on here, because it's so difficult to actually have to admit that although I know exactly what to do and have all the tools and support I need to do it, I just didn't. I've watched all the videos, read all the books, been at this for literally YEARS, and yet I continue to self-sabotage.

kirstykay, congratulations on reporting in, even though it was hard. Everyone has hard times, and when they are shared, it helps us all. If you are here then you are trying, and that's the most anyone can do. I have been re-watching all of Chef AJ's interviews with Dr. Lisle - maybe one of those would be helpful. I hope your birthday is great! Be safe.

[Marla]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2.6

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Did this for 19 of 21 meals this week
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. Did this for 20 of 21 meals this week.
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. Yes, 100%
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes, 100%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yes, 100%
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes, 100%
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. Yes, 100%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes. My beverages have been water, sparkling water, and unsweetened caffeine-free herbal tea, both hot and iced.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yes, really getting in tune with my hunger and satiety signals.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Exercised 5 of 7 days.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I am happy with my progress this week. I was eating a nearly-MWL diet prior to joining this group, and for the last few months my weight loss has been very consistent at about 1.8 pounds per week on average. Now that I'm 100% MWL, and I'm interested to see if adhering to all the recommended behaviors results in more weight loss than adhering to most of the recommended behaviors. One week is not enough data to draw any definitive conclusions, but this week's results are encouraging.

And, I'm now in the 150's My next mini-goal will be getting under the threshold of the "normal" BMI range, which at my height (5'4") is 145 pounds. I expect I'll get there sometime in January if I continue to follow the guidelines and work on the checklist behaviors every day. Thank you Mark, Wildgoose, and Jeff for all the education, support, and encouragement. I'm very grateful.

[wstokes]

-.2 lbs
At least it was down. Daily weight checks were not as variable this week. I did better with #9. But Thanksgiving Day may be a challenge. The 50/50 approach should help with that.

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
....yes

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 desert.
....missed on about 4 meals out of 21

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.
...yes

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
...missed on about 3 meals out of 21

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
....yes

6) Eliminate any added oil.
...no, some salad dressing has oil, and I often dilute it with Red Vinegar - I am too unorganized to make my own salad dressing, but do like the Honey Mustard recipe from Mary McD.


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.
...no...this will show up as adding croutons to salad or snacking on saltines

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
...yes

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
....better this week, maybe 1 meal was "past full"

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
...yes, the effort on exercise sessions has increased

[jkcook]

0—No change. That was OK. It was a great week in general.


1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit—Did much better on this. I had some good salads.

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 desert—Unfortunately, my non-compliant husband has been experimenting with different chocolate cake recipes and they are really good.

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. I don’t like salt so this is not a problem.

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood)—Had salmon once at the poke salad place

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy)—This, I think with my downfall this week. I just kept hitting the cashew container.

6) Eliminate any added oil—Not a problem

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 —Not a problem


8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages) —Not a problem


9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself —Not a problem


10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking)—My dog is so happy that the elections are over in so I can start walking her again. Probably got in three or four hour long walks with her. Of course, they aren’t steady walks, because I play Pokémon go, but at least we were outside. It has been beautiful weather here in Salt Lake City area.

[wavingwheat]

Weight change +/- in lbs: - .8

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
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. YES
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. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). NO; 4 times I included a small amount (1 teaspoon) of poppy seeds or tahini in dressing
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
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. NO; 3 times I had a broccoli soup that had nutritional yeast as one of the ingredients and once had Moroccan beans that had raisins and dates
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I was a little disappointed with the scale (well, with myself) this morning because my body feels like more lost this week but when I chart out what I've eaten this last week, I see that EVERY day I've had a little something not on plan. For example, the Moroccan beans have 2 dates and a half cup raisins in a recipe that is enough for at least 4 maybe 5 meals. So not much each meal but all those little somethings have added up to too much, I guess. It's not so much the calories from those things but the appetite stimulation they cause. I also had a several days with excess fresh fruit. I still have the Moroccan beans in the fridge; I'll divide and freeze.
Hope everyone has a good week ahead. For me, the social distancing will help me to not indulge as long as I can keep the anxiety at bay.

[VivianS]

VivianS November 20, 2020 weigh in report
Weight change -2.0 pounds
I weigh 146.2 pounds, waistline 36", BMI 25.9

Points on the Maximum Weight Loss checklist where I succeeded this week:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Points that need greater attention:
10 I succeeded in setting my timer and walking 30 minutes each day, but I want to do it at a more brisk pace with no interruptions.
Points 1 to 9 I want to try my "emergency food box" in the car to see if it is acceptable. I want to have several of these unrefrigerated, no prep required meals ready to grab.
I have increased the amount of lettuce (from 2 cups to 6 cups) and cabbage (1 cup cooked) that I eat every day. I did it to help stop constipation and hemorrhoid pain. I have used fewer prescription suppositories. I used them on Sunday and Wednesday for a total of 4 suppositories. I have gotten relief.
I have gotten a sufficient amount of potassium each day by eating potato soup: (1 cup of potato with skin and 2 cups of water it was cooked in...then blended. I heated and added 1 cup of precooked shredded cabbage to the potato soup.)

Maximum Weight Loss program is the easiest, most successful weight loss plan I have ever used. My health is better. Now I know how to eat so that I will never be hungry, have hope to be healthy and never regain the weight I have lost. God placed Adam and Eve in a garden, not a fast food joint. I think He knew the best foods for mankind to eat. I'm going to stay in agreement with Him and eat this way for the rest of my life. Thank you for asking me to make a commitment to this lifestyle, because my promise has helped me resist temptation. Your encouragement to stick to the checklist of correct behaviors has helped me find my errors in food choices and learn to make better choices. Thank you, Dr. John McDougall, Jeff Novick, Dr. Doug Lisle, Mark Cooper, Wildgoose and all you MWL participants who have shared your stories and written kind words to me. Together we are getting better.
I feel love and thank God for all of you.
Sincerely,
VivianS

[Hope410]

Hi All,

Weight change: -.8 LBS

MWL 10-Point Checklist
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 95%
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. 95%
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 95%
4. Eliminate all animal foods. 95%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. 100%
6. Eliminate any added oil. 100%
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. 90%
8. Don't drink your calories. 100%
9. Eat whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. 90%
10. At least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. 30%%

The week went well except for the weekend. Had to spend most of the day and evening in the emergency room with Mom on Saturday and Sunday was hectic also. My sister-in-law was kind enough to bring dinner for us, but it was not plant based and I ate it anyway right along with Mom because I was stressed and tired and very hungry. (Not a good excuse though.) As always, it is still a struggle to exercise each day, mainly because that first step seems so difficult to take.

Mark, As for your questions last week; The junk snack went up onto the top shelf to wait for my sister to visit and eat it. I will avoid going down the cracker/chip aisle from now on. As for point 9, after thinking it through, it is either not eating enough starch during the day which leads me to eat constantly in evening, even though it is MWL food, or it is possible I'm not drinking enough fluid. Anyway it's like my body is not satisfied with what it is getting, so the focus will be on both those issues this week. Thanks for your questions.

Have a great week everyone.

[Mark Cooper]

Expat in NZ - Congratulations on your progress, diligent adherence, and improved cholesterol results! You may find this thread from Jeff helpful in further understanding your great cholesterol results - The Benefit of non-HDL: Putting a Low HDL in Perspective. Carry on, Lindsey!

PonysPlants - A pound a week is very solid progress! Kudos for your efforts in finding an adherent option for a takeaway, resulting in that big behavioral win! Keep doing your best, Naomi!

Abe - Keep at it! Persistent adherence to the recommended pattern of behavior should get your scale "unstuck" eventually. If you would like to dispose of the Natto, do you think it would feel easier to throw it out right after finishing an adherent meal?

squealcat - Great progress, Marilyn! Your habit tracker sounds like a very helpful tool.

Right now I am working on changing my mindset to forever when thinking about my food and what I am eating. I have to make it something I love and not something to dread.

I think this can be an important shift; keep in mind, too, that something you dread today may transform into something you love in the days (or months, or years) ahead. Likewise, today's decisions and choices don't "obligate" us to anything; one always has the option of doing something different in the future, if it seems appropriate and is congruent with important goals. Keep surprising yourself in those ways that leave you feeling happy! Enjoy your "strange but easy" Thanksgiving!

Veganjo - Looks like a fantastic week! Did you find some fun ways to stay active, as well?

Rebecka22 - Goodbye to another 1.6 pounds! That certainly looks like a pretty good week to me! Awesome effort not turning toward troublesome foods when stress and anxiety felt overwhelming; wonderful news that your friend's test came back negative. Having a plan for a healthy, successful Thanksgiving celebration lays the groundwork to succeed; would it make sense to have a stock of adherent snacks prepped and ready to go for those occasions when hunger comes in the afternoon?

Rita<3 - Hang in there, and keep in mind you are still down 1.5lbs from the week before last. Many different factors, some of which are outside our control, can influence a single weigh-in result; sometimes we are making progress that isn't immediately made apparent by the scale. Results are the product of adherence over time. If adherence is excellent, allow more time; the results will show up on the scale in the end. Here is a post from Jeff discussing stevia. When you write that potatoes were "not all the ingredients in that bag" of hash browns, what other ingredients were included? From my perspective, "cheating on the weekends" can land many of us right back into the Pleasure Trap; "exceptions" often have a way of multiplying over time. Do your best to continue eating the recommended foods, in the recommended fashion, whenever you are feeling hungry.

CindyD - Down 1.4lbs! I would agree that your work lunches seem to satisfy both points 1 & 2 from the checklist. Just be mindful you're including adequate starch (particularly so, if you find yourself feeling less satiated). GREAT work with the recommended behaviors! "Veggies Never Caused a Pandemic" - I love it!

Have a great week and if you eat too much pie one day it's not the end of the world! Get rid of the pie and do better tomorrow.

Well said; this is an important frame to apply to setbacks, it seems to me.

Marla - Congratulations on that substantial loss and your diligent efforts!

My next mini-goal will be getting under the threshold of the "normal" BMI range, which at my height (5'4") is 145 pounds. I expect I'll get there sometime in January if I continue to follow the guidelines and work on the checklist behaviors every day.

Consistent adherence to the recommended pattern of behavior is sure to deliver the results you are seeking in due time. Onward!

jkcook - Cheers! I'm glad this week was feeling great for you! Keep working to eliminate the calorie dense and higher fat foods, and to choose adherent options for your poke salads. Is there anything you might change to make "hitting the cashew container" a more difficult thing to do? Enjoy those long walks with your dog!

wavingwheat - Congrats on those 8 points with the big YES! Try not to overvalue any single weigh-in, Carol, it is the prevailing pattern of behavior over time that will delivers the results. Be compassionate with yourself. As you observe, small deviations and exceptions throughout the course of the week can accumulate. Were there any changes in your routine, preparation or environment that contributed to those small "off plan" incidents? I wish you a lovely, adherent, and anxiety-free week ahead!

VivianS - 2 more pounds gone! Kudos for your steadfast adherence and making a point to get in those daily walks! I'm sorry you've been suffering with constipation. An "emergency food box" sounds like a great way to support your efforts. Be sure to include adequate starch, so those "emergency" meals are nicely satiating.

Maximum Weight Loss program is the easiest, most successful weight loss plan I have ever used.

Reading this brought a big smile to my face!

Hope410 - Down .8lbs and lots of 90s, 95s, and 100s! That sounds like a very hectic and harrowing weekend! I wish your mother the best! Would taking that "first step" each day feel any easier if you told yourself you could, if you really wanted to, stop after 5 minutes? For me, it always feels easier to keep moving once I've started. Cheers for taking action to put barriers between yourself and the junk.

As for point 9, after thinking it through, it is either not eating enough starch during the day which leads me to eat constantly in evening, even though it is MWL food, or it is possible I'm not drinking enough fluid. Anyway it's like my body is not satisfied with what it is getting, so the focus will be on both those issues this week.

That makes sense; neglecting starch earlier in the day could certainly be contributing to how one feels in the evening. Keep at it!