November 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Rita<3]

Good morning,
I’d love to join this group. I’m having a good deal of trouble with the new diet. I’m increasingly concerned because I’m gaining weight. I can use all of the information & encouragement that is available. I am becoming discouraged, but I’m trying hard not to beat myself up & just keep trying. I have bought groceries matching the items listed here.

https://www.drmcdougall.com/pdf/Advance ... t_3-13.pdf

Please let me know if that is what I’m supposed to be doing. I have been craving salty snacks, pancakes, & flour products; but I stopped eating all of that a few weeks ago. I’m still learning.

I thank you!
<3

Hello! If you would like to join the MWL group, please be sure to take some time and review the Orientation Information, and follow the instructions outlined therein for registering your participation. That post, and the November resources should help clarify how to make the program work for you. If you have further questions after processing those materials, feel free to post them here. The various meals Jeff outlines in the handout you linked are a great way to get started.

Thank you so very much for your swift response Mark!!
I did edit my response with a couple of questions.
I thank you.

[Mark Cooper]

Are flaxseeds permitted with oatmeal? Also, the recipe I saw called for dried fruit also. I’ve stayed away; but that would certainly be a welcome addition.

Neither flaxseeds, nor dried fruit are recommended for MWL; although they are otherwise healthy plant foods, both are higher in calorie density (and flaxseeds are higher in fat). A review of the recommendations in the MWL 10-Point Checklist, and the materials I linked earlier should answer many questions.

[Gimmelean]

Hi Mark-Good to be back for November. I just submitted a loooong post and can’t find it anywhere. So if it randomly pops up under the wrong thread it wasn’t intentional. Thank you and all of the Mcdougallers for your kind support and resources! This has been my accountability board for the last few months. Your feedback and resources have been invaluable.
Last week weight 127. 10/30/20
This week weight 124.4. 11/6/2020. Down 2.6 pounds

I finally “let go” of nuts, seeds, oil, that last little bit of sugary trigger foods,breads, & flour. All of the things I’ve documented as “needs to work on” every week for 3 months.Those things kept me from losing those last few pounds.change happened in 3 months. Not three days. I just watched one of Dr. Lisle’s videos on YouTube and always learn at least one vital new thing about why it’s important to follow the 10 point checklist.

Have a good week and hopefully this post will show up.

[Zoey]

Hello November losers and mods! I am so excited about having this support through the upcoming holiday season.

This is my second week in a row with no change in my weight. But no change in my behaviors either, so I'm OK with that. When I look back at my numbers since May, I'm still on a steady average of losing six tenths of a pound per week. If this continues, I'll be in my goal vicinity at the end of this year.

I'm consistently having an easy time with all ten points now. My meals are simple, and I can easily eat and enjoy veggies and starch every day. My husband craves variety, but it doesn't bother me or tempt me. He knows as long as I have potatoes and broccoli, I'm a happy camper.

For those looking to escape the pleasure trap, just ask yourself if what you're about to eat will satisfy you or stimulate you to want more and more? Recognizing that difference has helped me so much.

Anyway, no changes, no challenges, and a personal celebration of not having Halloween candy this past week.

[kirstykay]

Weight Change: +2.5

Hi ALL! I dropped off the last couple of weeks, and it shows in my weight. I had what is hopefully my last oral surgery for a while, and have been out for the count for a couple weeks, but I'm back and really motivated to finish this crazy year strong! I came back to MWL in earnest in January 2020, and I'm really proud of the progress I've made this year. I intend to keep going all the way through December, into 2021 and on to my goal weight. It hasn't been easy, but I haven't given up and I'm really looking forward to November! It is my birthday month, and I am very close to crossing over the important milestone of being out of the Obese BMI category and into the Overweight category. The last time I was at this weight was 2013, so, I'm really excited! My goal is to walk away from obesity as a birthday gift to myself this year and never look back!

Looking forward to reporting good things this month. I won't go through the 10-point checklist this time because I feel like today is somewhat of a fresh start in getting back on track.

Hope everyone has a great week!

[Zoey]

I'm back and really motivated to finish this crazy year strong!

Hi kirstykay! I just had to quote this because I love it so much. This has been one craptacular year, and it's good to feel that we have control over at least ONE thing, right? Here's to finishing strong!

[Hope410]

Hi All,

Weight change +/-: -.2

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 95%
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. 95%
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 95% Soy sauce with my stir fry.
4. Eliminate all animal foods. YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. YES
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods. NO, ate junk snack food one day and bread another day.
8. Don't drink your calories. yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. 95%
10. Avoid being sedentary. NO!! But did improve over last week. Walked over 30 minutes 3X.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I noticed at the end of this week that my junk food snack may be due to skimping on my starch on the 50/50 plate, so will pay more attention to that. Also, will work on upping my daily exercise.

A special thank you to Wild Goose for her encouraging post!! I find at the end of each month I'm debating whether or not to continue this MWL journey because some days it seems like a constant inner battle to resist the pleasure trap and it feels so awful to lose the battle. Then reading everyone posts, all the positive feedback from Mark's kind answers and Jeff's excellent info helps me want to stay part of the group. So, looking back, MWL is working as my weight is down by 37 lbs since Valentines day so I think I would be silly to give up before this journey is completed wouldn't I? Will work on positive instead of negative thoughts.

Many thanks and have a great week everyone. See you next week.

[Noella]

Hi Mark, Wildgoose, and Jeff,

Weight Change: - 0 pounds



As I’m getting closer to reaching a healthy weight & BMI for my height of 5’9” , I don’t have much ‘wiggle room’ to accommodate overeating, so I’m fine tuning my resolve and I feel motivated to focus on eating until satisfied, or comfortably full, following the the principles of MWL.


-Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.YES - I always eat some raw veggies or a salad before my meals, as an appetizer. I am so in the habit of this that it would be strange for me to set the table and not include the salad plates and forks for this.
-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 think I have been overeating on fruit as for months I have enjoy eating fruit pretty much ad-libitum. I often include grated apple in my salad dressings, I also like to add sliced strawberries and other fruit to my starter salads to add sweetness. I add cooked fruit to my steel cut oats; usually apple, cherries or blueberries. This amount of fruit has been fine since I started dieting last January but now I am wondering if it is the sweetness of the fruit that is causing me to overeat.
-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 I have stopped eating the very sweet balsamic vinegars. I have been using too much salt again. A sprinkle has turned into two or three sprinkles. The salt is becoming problematic because it is leading me to have second helpings...perhaps it’s the salt that is causing me to overeat.
-Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES I blame high fat animal products for causing me to gain weight in the past so I do not include these high fat foods in my diet anymore.
-Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, YES I was in the habit of including these high fat plant foods in my cooking to boost the nutrients and calories for my children. Now I include these as optional toppings for the others in my family to enjoy. Happily, I don’t have any trouble not eating these myself.
-Eliminate any added oil. YES
-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
-Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
-Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES I am going to focus on listening to my body’s signals more carefully to know when I am full enough.
-Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES however I do not walk briskly, I am quite slow as I try my best with my knees. I am sedentary for most of the time and this seems to be my biggest challenge.

So, I after reviewing the MWL guidelines I can see that I need to be much more careful about eating too much fruit for sweetness, too much salt for flavour, as both of these things are contributing to me overeating.

It has been chilly here, below freezing, so I have bundle up with a warm coat, gloves, scarf to enjoy my walks.

The idea of friluftsliv is a popular way for people in Nordic countries to keep happy during the wintertime. If you haven’t heard of this, it is a word used by Swedes, Danes and Norwegians that translates literally as ‘fresh-air life’, and it is all about embracing the great outdoors whatever the weather, being active, and immersing yourself in nature. This is what I want to focus on fir MWL guideline number 10.

Here is a video from BBC News about friluftsliv and ways to simply get outside and be outside getting fresh air and exercise in winter: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/202 ... kle-winter

Best regards,
Noella

[Drew*]

Edited PM on 11/7/2020...

Weight change +/- in lbs: +2.4 lb (177.9 lbs)

MWL checklist

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 5 of 7
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. 4 of 7
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 of 7
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 7 of 7
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 6 of 7 (soy)
6. Eliminate any added oil. 0 of 7 (oil in popcorn)
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. 0 of 7 (popcorn)
8. Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). 5 of 7
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don’t starve yourself and don’t stuff yourself. 0 of 7
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 4 of 7

Total: 35/70 points. Each point = complete compliance in a one day period. I plan to work hard this coming week to improve.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions

I have plenty of soup and SNAP meals in the freezer at my other residence ready for Monday. Things will likely go better this coming week and I hope to report more movement towards health next Friday/Saturday. Exercise is moderately good with two jogs earlier in the week and two yoga sessions this weekend. I need to lift weights a bit more or do the stationary exercise bike when it pours rain like I am in the tropics.

I am resolved to succeed at MWL this coming week...

Drew*

[Growing a Pear]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 0

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. 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.
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.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Had two days where I fell down on the items marked above. I believe/hope they were due to the chaos I mentioned last week, which is on the point of being resolved. Regardless, I have my fridge restocked with soup, steel cut oat pudding, rice. The freezer contains berries and vegetables. In other words, other than the pleasure trap or my own hedonistic impulses, there's no reason I can't do MWL.

Winter has arrived with a vengeance, too, so I'll work hard on cultivating the new normal of indoor exercise. For whatever reason, where #10 goes, my dietary compliance tends to go, too; I'll work hard on making #10 a solid next week.

Lastly, I unpacked my new scale this morning and have my new baseline weight. Don't know how much of the 1.3# shift upward is from a different zero value, so have reported this week as no net change. Next week will be able to report a true value.

Onward! (And thank you so much for continuing the MWL thread! This time of year is typically hazardous for me. I don't want to reverse all my progress.)

[Drew*]

Neither flaxseeds, nor dried fruit are recommended for MWL; although they are otherwise healthy plant foods, both are higher in calorie density (and flaxseeds are higher in fat). A review of the recommendations in the MWL 10-Point Checklist, and the materials I linked earlier should answer many questions.

Thanks for the info. I am wondering if it is OK to soak the dried fruit in water overnight in the fridge and then use the fruit. Perhaps still not recommended?

Drew*

[Mark Cooper]

Neither flaxseeds, nor dried fruit are recommended for MWL; although they are otherwise healthy plant foods, both are higher in calorie density (and flaxseeds are higher in fat). A review of the recommendations in the MWL 10-Point Checklist, and the materials I linked earlier should answer many questions.

Thanks for the info. I am wondering if it is OK to soak the dried fruit in water overnight in the fridge and then use the fruit. Perhaps still not recommended?

Drew*

Correct, still not recommended for MWL.

[wildgoose]

Neither flaxseeds, nor dried fruit are recommended for MWL; although they are otherwise healthy plant foods, both are higher in calorie density (and flaxseeds are higher in fat). A review of the recommendations in the MWL 10-Point Checklist, and the materials I linked earlier should answer many questions.

Thanks for the info. I am wondering if it is OK to soak the dried fruit in water overnight in the fridge and then use the fruit. Perhaps still not recommended?

Drew*

@Drew* You’re right. Still not recommended. "Rehydrated" dried fruit is still much more calorie dense than fresh/frozen/canned fruit. It’s impossible to get the water in the fruit anywhere close to its original level. Think of it — can you rehydrate a raisin back into a grape?

Goose

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's weigh-in and behavioral results has officially closed.

The remainder of my replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Mark Cooper]

JaBee - Wow! That is another big weekly drop! Keeping things simple and adhering closely to the recommended behaviors is clearly paying off for you! Flaxseed is not recommended for MWL, since it is a higher fat food.

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

cmcavazos - Nice loss, and nice work keeping the meals at home all on target! Restaurant menus can be a real challenge; cheers for trying to make the best choices you could. Great prep-work with the "picnic-style" meals on the road. Keep at it!

jkcook - 2 more pounds gone and some real progress with the recommended behaviors! Is the diet soda something you are working to eliminate? Enjoy your salad; potatoes for the win!

VivianS - Sorry I jumped the gun on recording and responding to your report! I'll be more patient next time. If you have further difficulties finding posts, here is your journal and this link is for the November MWL Group. I'm glad to see you are treating yourself with compassion and giving yourself credit for your efforts. Carry on!

josietheschnauzer - The dreaded "cookie monster" rears its head! The weekly weigh-in and assessment really does help keep things on track, doesn't it? As you say, you "know what happens," "just say no," and each day (and meal) offers fresh opportunities to behave in ways that support your important goals.

squealcat - I'm so pleased you decided to continue with the group for November, Marilyn! Isn't it crazy how the influence of the Pleasure Trap can make satiating, healthy food seem unappealing at times? Great idea to get the higher calorie density and higher fat foods out of your immediate environment; you'll be making things easier for yourself. Have fun "mini-farming!"

alishana - Welcome back and congrats on losing 2.2 lbs! It appears you had a very good week implementing the recommended behaviors. I've really been enjoying some of the low-impact cardio routines available on YouTube; they work great for those days when getting out for a walk is difficult. If the pasta is made from brown rice (a whole grain) it is acceptable for the starch portion of a meal within the MWL guidelines.

chef16 - Hang in there, Doreen! Recognizing that this week got off track because of the things left undone means that a ready solution is to reach back toward those tools that were providing support and progress in the past: attending to the MWL 10-Point Checklist and recording food in your journal. Take a deep breath, treat yourself with compassion, and move forward, doing your best to adhere to the recommended pattern of behavior; you'll find a better place waiting ahead of you.

Lachoffman - It is very natural to feel discouraged sometimes, but I'm so happy to see you back and participating this week! Making these changes in behavior in the modern environment isn't easy, and it is definitely a marathon (rather than a sprint). Keep doing the best you can, and striving to move those 95s toward 100s to support renewed progress.

Zoey - Huzzah for no change in behaviors, no hurdles and 10/10! Your sanguine, confident approach to the scale is a delight. Isn't it fantastic "camping out" in that good groove where the recommended pattern of behavior feels easy?

For those looking to escape the pleasure trap, just ask yourself if what you're about to eat will satisfy you or stimulate you to want more and more? Recognizing that difference has helped me so much.

This is an important point, and corresponds to my own experience. Big for successfully steering clear of Halloween candy!

kirstykay - It can be easy to "drop off" at this time of the year, and I'm sure oral surgery doesn't make it easier to maintain resolve, but I'm so happy that you are "back and really motivated to finish this crazy year strong!" You should be very proud of the progress you've made this year, and the weeks ahead bring ample opportunities to build on that. Your next important milestone is waiting for you, and you know the process, behaviors and plan to attain it. What a great birthday gift to give yourself! Since today is a "fresh start," I'll record your change in weight with next week's weigh-in and behavioral report. Have a great week!

Hope410 - Being 37 lbs lighter today than on Valentine's Day is worth celebrating! Definitely a journey worth continuing to the finale, right? It totally makes sense that "skimping on starch" could lead to reaching for calorie rich processed foods later in the day, or on subsequent days - very well-observed! Even when we lose a couple "battles" with the Pleasure Trap, we can still win the "war" in the end, so long as we keep trying and doing our best.

Noella - Hooray for fine-tuning that resolve! It is very accurate that "wiggle room" steadily evaporates as one approaches a healthy BMI; adhering closely to the recommended pattern of behavior is the soundest response to that development. When you feel you are "overeating," are you stuffing yourself? It is certainly possible that reduced balsamics and/or too much added salt could spur overeating, that was the case for me. I love fruit in my salads, but I do try to generally stick with Dr. McDougall's recommendation, and stay mindful about the overall quantity. Our weather has been all over the place, and I've "bundled up" for a few of my walks, too; today it is sunny and in the mid-70s. Thanks for sharing that article - enjoy "fresh-air life!"

Growing a Pear - Cheers to the impending resolution for the chaos you've been managing! At least the 's were limited to a few points on those two days, and you didn't jump off the wagon with both feet.

Regardless, I have my fridge restocked with soup, steel cut oat pudding, rice. The freezer contains berries and vegetables. In other words, other than the pleasure trap or my own hedonistic impulses, there's no reason I can't do MWL.

Just so! That preparation is the surest way to support your efforts. Personally, the rare occasion on which I let daily exercise go by the wayside almost always makes for a less satisfying day, overall. Onward!