November 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Mark Cooper]

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's weigh-in and seeing everyone's reports! Friday is this group's weigh-in day, and participants have until noon pacific time (19:00 UTC) on Saturday to post a report of their result for the week. Reports posted outside that window of time won't be included in the summary that I compile for Saturday evening. This group is all about changing patterns of behavior, so it seems reasonable to me to expect those who choose to participate in the weekly weigh-in to honor that time frame for reporting. In addition to reporting your weight change in pounds, more importantly, please be sure to evaluate your behaviors within the context of the MWL 10-Point Checklist, as discussed at the beginning of this thread. I will respond to everyone's reports in a cumulative post on Friday evening and Saturday evening, and the summary for the week will be posted Saturday night.

For more information on why participants are recommended to weigh themselves once a week while in the weight loss phase, check out this excellent and thorough article from Jeff - To Weigh or Not to Weigh

My very best to all, and I'll see you tomorrow!

[PonysPlants]

1 lbs down this week. Bit of a struggle for some reason this week. Stayed pretty much on track but ate bread a couple of times. We’re back on a month long lockdown in the U.K. and I think the crapness of it all got to me on a couple of occasions and I couldn’t be bothered to make compliant foods.

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. NO. Did let the salt sneak back a couple of times.
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. NO.
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 bread twice this week.
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.

Well, onwards and upwards for the week ahead. Must remember that when I have 100% compliance I do it one day at a time so I’ll do that going forward.

Thank you so much to Mark and the other moderators. You’re truly a blessing.

Naomi

[Abe]

Weight Change: -1.2 lbs.

MWL Points:

1. Start meals with soup or salad.
   Added salad back into the mix.
2. Follow 50/50 plate volume.
   I think that I did pretty well with the 50/50 this week.
3. Eliminate sugar and salt.
4. Eliminate animal based foods.
5. Eliminate higher fat plant foods.
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:
I am hesitant to get too excited about the weight loss until another week passes to ensure it stays off, and is not just a normal fluctuation. The changes that could account for the weight loss, are adding weightlifting to my exercise routine, and omitting balsamic crack as an experiment. I had been using measured amounts on top of all of my meals, but perhaps they were adding up. I will continue to omit it for another week to see the results. I still struggle to find sauces and dressing that I enjoy that are MWL compliant that I can buy in a store. I wish that the McDougall store would offer something appropriate. All of the food prep and cooking is getting to me. I just want to open a bottle and use it. I have tried over this last year to learn to enjoy cooking and food prep, but the fact is that I still hate it. I am able to stick to the easy SNAP meals which just involve opening cans and bags, along with baking a toaster oven full of potatoes every day. I wish I could afford a personal chef to make me all of the great sounding recipes on the website.

[Wfpb2020]

July loss - 9.4 lbs
Aug loss - 2.8 lbs
Sept loss - 6.2 lbs
Oct loss - 3.6 lbs
11/6/20 - .2 lbs
Total Loss: - 22.2 lbs

1) Start each meal with soup/salad/fruit. Yes
2) Follow the 50/50 plate. Yes
3) Reduce or eliminate sugars/salts. 5/7
4) Eliminate animal foods 5/7 slipped a couple of meals
5) Eliminate higher fat plant foods. 5/7 still have a craving for nuts
6) Eliminate oil. Yes
7) Eliminate higher calorie-dense foods. Yes
8 ) Don’t drink your calories. Yes
9) Eating when hungry and stop when full. Yes
10) 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. Yes.

Trying not to give in to my cravings but not always successful. Reviewing the 10 pt checklist more frequently to stay the course. It helps to review it daily.

[Veganjo]

-1 lbs. for November 6

EDIT by Moderator: We would like to respond to your post and see your post counted in this weeks tally. As such, please follow the guidelines on how to report at the weekly weigh-in. You have till Sat 3 PM EST to edit this post or it won't be counted or responded to. We recommend you use the following template.

Weight Change: +/- Lbs

Review how things are going in regard to the 10 MWL Points:

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

[CindyD]

SW July 2020, 211.7, result to-date, -48.9

Last week, Oct 30 164.7
This week, Nov 6 162.8
RESULT -1.9

Guidelines 1-6,8 and 10 Great!
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. So, for Halloween I found some vegan chips shaped like monsters. They were very overpriced at Target, but I bought them, and I ate 1.5 mini bags. Nothing special. Did not eat any more, brought all leftover Halloween things to office.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Stress-ate a little (re: election) but only with compliant sweet potatoes.

Rough week. I lost my keys (I realized far too late one morning I had stupidly left them on TOP of my car and they probably rolled off in the next town - I had been keeping my car key separate. DANGIT.). And, one of my rescue dogs is still snappy (at dogs and kids UGH) after three years despite making some progress, and I realized I can never trust him around kids and dogs, which is a total bummer.

Despite the rough week, still a great weekly result so that is a lovely bright spot. Staying with and succeeding on this plan helps so much! Hope everyone is managing ok! Hi Mark! Find any time for that art website yet

[jan_npr]

weight change down 0.4 since last Friday

still hovering up and down around the same number. I know I'm struggling with cravings and nighttime eating. I'm here. Not giving up.

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.  
mostly
2) Follow the 50/50 plate method 2) Choose fruit for desert.
mostly
3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 
Issues here this week. Allowed treats for Hallowe'en and then it was hard to abstain again.
4) Eliminate all animal foods .
Always.
5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Struggles with nuts/edamame/avocado
6) Eliminate any added oil.
wandered here.
7) Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products, puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.
definitely had problems here.
8 ) Don’t drink your calories. wine one night.
9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   
Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. pretty good here.
10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily .
still way too sedentary with ongoing knee pain but have a November challenge going with my daughter to walk 30 minutes every day.

[texaslil]

HOWDY!

Weight change +/- in lbs: -1.6
Total lbs - 171.2

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. - FOR THE MAJORITY OF MY MEALS, ALTHOUGH WE VISITED FAMILY THIS WEEK AND I JUST INCREASED MY SALAD INTAKE AT MEALTIME
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals: YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts: YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood): YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods: HAD AVOCADO AT A COUPLE OF MEALS
6. Eliminate any added oil: YES, EXCEPT FOR I HAVE A COUPLE OF CUPS OF POPCORN COOKED IN OIL... I COULDN'T RESIST
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products: POPCORN, SEE ABOVE
8. Don't drink your calories: ONE SMALL SMOOTHIE... BETTER INDULGENCE THAT WHAT MY KIDS WERE BREWING UP
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full: STILL WORKING ON THIS ONE, I WOULD SAY THAT I OVERINDULGE AT ABOUT 20% OF MEALS
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking): EITHER WALKING OR YOGA ON 5/7 DAYS

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: LOVING MY NEW SCALE! MOSTLY BECAUSE IT FEELS MORE RELIABLE. I'M SHORING MYSELF UP FOR NEXT WEEK WHICH IS TYPICALLY THE POINT IN THE MONTH WHERE I GAIN WEIGHT.. I'M GOING TO BE DOING MY ABSOLUTE BEST EFFORT TO STAY ON TRACK THIS NEXT WEEK. WISH ME LUCK! OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT, I FINALLY GOT AN INSTANT POT SO I AM SUPER EXCITED TO START USING IT! I'M WONDERING IF THERE ARE INSTANT POT RECIPIES ON HERE?? I'LL HAVE TO LOOK ON SOME OF THE OTHER BOARDS

THANKS EVERYONE!!

[Kappagator_96]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2.4

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Some meals. Not hungry enough for all meals to preload.
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. No, ate extra potato yesterday with no veggie side.
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. No, had 2 pieces of Halloween candy.
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). 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, 2 pieces Halloween candy
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). NO, did not feel well last week and am still recovering.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Enjoyed seeing a large drop this week, and know it is the result of being CONSISTENT last month in spite of very little change in the scale. I’m relieved that I trusted the process and endeavor to keep this in mind when the results are slow in weeks and months to come.Feel accomplished that I managed to get all the Halloween candy out of the house in 3 days, instead of eating most of it myself. This is a major change from previous years.

Next week’s goals and focus: prep more vegetables to prevent future potato indulgence. Ease back into exercise. Be consistent.

[oneesotericgirl]

November 1st - 202
Today - 199.6
Down 2.4lbs!

I will say, even though I have lost weight, I did much better in the beginning of the week. I was on track, mostly. I did drink my calories a few times this week, opting for Starbucks drinks made with almond milk. I kept telling myself it was ok since it was sufficing for breakfast and I wasn't hungry after. I was brining acceptable options to work. But I fell back into the issue of comfort eating.
I am still dealing with some rather emotional issues. Sometimes I can handle it, but when I am sitting home alone, my willpower fades and leads to binge eating.
I think mostly I am having trouble with finding things that are yummy.
I don't want ketchup with my fries, I crave something creamy. My potatoes are dry without vegan butter on top. I have tried so many things. Better things take so long and a lot of prep required, something I don't have often due to full time work and school. And I have no idea how so many people enjoy things like salsa, ketchup, or mustard on their baked potatoes.
I have to figure out something though. I tried making a "salad" to put on top of my potato, like someone suggested. But I am so disinterested in eating it, that the potato gets cold and I can't easily reheat it due to raw veggies and lettuce being on top.
I am just really lost and frustrated.
When I follow the rules, I feel fantastic, I lose weight. Everything is amazing. But I want to enjoy food while doing these things. I still feel like MWL is a diet, a restriction, and a punishment. And I can not figure out how to change how I see that!

Sorry for the depressing and discouraging rant. I am incredibly frustrated with how firm of a grip the standard way of eating today has on me.

[Rebecka22]

191.4
Weight change +/- in lbs:  -1.6

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). 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. HAD ONE SLICE OF VEGAN PIZZA ON HALLOWEEN, BUT NO OTHER TREATS OR CANDY.
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. MOSTLY, BUT I STILL NEED TO WORK ON DINNER. I THINK I COULD STOP SOONER.
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: There were a lot of opportunities to go off the plan this week with so many people stress eating and Halloween, but for the most part I avoided all of it. This makes me more confident going into the holiday season since I didn’t feel like I was depriving myself instead I felt proud of myself for making healthy choices. Last night I was mentally exhausted and didn’t want to exercise but I came home and went right out for a cold, dark two mile run then came home and cooked a healthy dinner.

[wstokes]

Weight change +/- in lbs: +1.2

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
.....yes, with most meals (breakfast has oatmeal with fruit - not fruit first)
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.
....I am not sure what 50/50 could look like with oatmeal unless fruit counts as "non starchy"
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).
.....mostly, 2-3 meals had meat, butter
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
....mostly...had some peanuts
6. Eliminate any added oil.
....some salad dressing had 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.
....one meal was "pancakes for supper"....this was an election night tradition and I way underestimated how this lapse could add back lbs
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, except for that pancake night
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
....yes, although in my training, I did have one day off...I am pretty sure my average for the week was > than 30 mins/day.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Too much "Election Stress Eating"!!!!
I want to get rid of 10 more lbs from here (that would bring me to a BMI of 24, I was BMI of 31 on 1/1/2020) and I have managed to lose weight since the beginning of the year following the MWL points at a 75% to 85% compliance level. Rigorous workouts (400-500+ calories per session and the physiology of coming down from a higher weight range seem to have allowed for a steady weight loss report over the weeks since Jan 1st. Now as i approach my target weight range, those 15% to 25% lapses each week are not as easy to reverse. The emphasis on our reporting vs the 10 MWL Points above (more so this month) will add some rigor to my behavior in the coming weeks - which will be needed to get these last 10 lbs or so off. I am thankful for the chance to do these weekly reports. Knowing that "Friday's coming" has been a great source of structure for me over the past 10 months and has no doubt caused me to make better and better decisions over time.

[moonspirit]

I am starting today.
My start weight is 173.9.

Happy Friday!

[GreenFroG]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -0.6

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).

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I seem to be loosing my weight more slowly now, so I will have to start being more careful. I followed the guidelines, but I will have to watch my fruits to make sure my servings are not too large. I may also have to increase the amount of exercise I have been doing. Those are my goals for next week. Do I need to be concerned about how many times a week I have pasta? I noticed I had pasta twice this past week. Both times I had a large salad for the preload and a half of plate of broccoli with it. The pasta sauce was the McDougall Marinara sauce. Don't know if that makes a difference as my weight starts to slow.

Have a great week!

[wavingwheat]

Weight change +/- in lbs:-3.8 after gains for the last 3 weeks

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. yes --7days/7 days
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-- 7days/ 7 days
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-- 7 days/7 days
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). yes-- 7 days/ 7 days
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). mostly-- 6 days/ 7 days- had a couple handfuls of peanuts for lunch one day because I had not prepared anything while away from home Saturday
6. Eliminate any added oil. yes --7 days/ 7 days
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-- I feel like this was a big fail- I ate cookies (actually a lot of cookies) two evenings. These two evenings were also bad marks for animal foods, high fat foods, and sugar.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). yes-- 7 days/ 7 days
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. yes-- 7 days/ 7 days
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). yes-- 7 days/ 7 days

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Weight on 10/30,was 160.8. Now at 157, almost back to the my recent low of 156.4 on 10/09. Happy to be getting back on track. Have to stay away from cookies though.