December 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[wildgoose]

I have read all of the orientation information / watched recommended videos and would like to be added to the group. I am a 66 yo female weighing in at 301.8 pounds (5'10").

I willing to make an honest attempt to follow the guidelines and bring my behaviors into adherence with the MWL 10-Point Checklist.

Thank you for providing this space for information, support and accountability!

@sunkissed Welcome to the group! We look forward to your first checkin next Friday. Feel free to post any time if you have questions.

Goose

[Hope410]

Hello All,

Weight change +/- : -.8

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 90%
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. 90%
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. 100%
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 100%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 100%
6. Eliminate any added oil. 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. 90%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). 100%
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. 90%
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 70%

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Points 1, 2, 7 were all an issue for me Friday thru Sunday, mostly in the evenings up to bedtime. Mainly due to not drinking enough water or eating until late afternoon and then trying to satisfy my hunger/thirst throughout the evening. I just could not seem to quiet that voice in my head nagging me to feed it more, more, more. Finally Monday thru Thursday were all back on MWL mode.

On the positive side, while grocery shopping, the dreaded cracker/chip aisle was avoided, so no junk snack food this week!! Also exercised 5X for 30-45 minutes.

Have a great week everyone!

[Rita<3]

Good morning & happy weekend everyone!

Last week-170.5
This week 170.5
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes
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. Yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. Yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods. Yes
8. Don't drink your calories. 4 cups of hot tea
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.Yes
10. Avoid being sedentary. Yes

I am having trouble knowing what all to eat in the mornings when I have oats.
Do I also have beans & rice too? I kinda thought that I should skip them bc I’m eating the starchy oats. Also, I found I lost more weight when I ate gluten free oats!! Frustrated that I didn’t lose, but I’m most grateful that I didn’t gain!
Thank you

[jan_npr]

thanks Goose for jumping in.

Weight up 0.6 pounds

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.   getting lax here because I wasn't prepared this week with soups and salads ready made.
2) Follow the 50/50 plate method Mostly
2) Choose fruit for desert. Mostly
3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. Mostly
4) Eliminate all animal foods ALWAYS
5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Way off this week!! Why do I keep buying salted nuts for guests! then secretly eating the leftovers. Continuing to sabotage my efforts.
6) Eliminate any added oil. Needs much greater effort
7) Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products, puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. WAY OFF this week. Oily popcorn binging because it's in my environment. Need to get rid of it.
8 ) Don’t drink your calories . Got on a hot apple cider kick in lieu of wine so I could enjoy something and still feel festive. Too many calories.
9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Getting much better at this. Feeling sickly full isn't fun.
10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily . Much better here. Finally.

I have to be super vigilant as we are solidly into the holiday season. I see from my weight logs that last year between November and January my weight went up about a whopping 10 pounds! I NEED to be here.

[jan_npr]

Good morning & happy weekend everyone!


I am having trouble knowing what all to eat in the mornings when I have oats.
Do I also have beans & rice too? I kinda thought that I should skip them bc I’m eating the starchy oats. Also, I found I lost more weight when I ate gluten free oats!! Frustrated that I didn’t lose, but I’m most grateful that I didn’t gain!
Thank you

Rita, I always balance the starch with non-starchies 50/50 even for breakfast. So I have an equal volume of fruit (usually blueberries) with my oats. Most mornings I even start breakfast with some sort of steamed green vegetable (for me that's usually cabbage, broccoli, green beans, etc. with a spritz of soy sauce). Might seem weird but I really look forward to it and it helps fill me up. I don't think it matters what starch you have for breakfast, whether it's oats or rice and beans; just balance it with something that isn't starchy so the overall calorie density is greatly lessened. That's assuming that you are trying to do the Maximum Weight Loss program.

[Wfpb2020]

Weight change +.4 lbs.

1) Start each meal with soup/salad/fruit. Yes
2) Follow the 50/50 plate. Yes
3) Reduce or eliminate sugars/salts. Yes
4) Eliminate animal foods 4/7 back to eating some animal products
5) Eliminate higher fat plant foods. Yes
6) Eliminate oil. had a little butter on my potatoes; nuts still a problem
7) Eliminate higher calorie-dense foods. 5/7 had some dessert a couple of times
8 ) Don’t drink your calories. 5/7 had 2 diet sodas during week
9) Eating when hungry and stop when full. Yes
10) 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. Yes. usually 60 minutes or more

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I toyed with the idea of not even posting this week. I had a horrible month last month and have been in a tailspin ever since. I don't want to quit but I want to give this thread the respect and compliance it deserves since everyone is working so hard. I picked up "The Pleasure Trap" and "The Cheese Trap" from the library to try and turn things around. Rewatching some of the videos from the McDougall site as well.

So encouraged by CindyD who appears to have started at the same time and around the same weight as me but has lost twice as much. So I know the "lifestyle" works. It would be helpful to know what she eats in a typical day.

[GreenFroG]

Hi all,

Weight change +/- in lbs: -0.0 yeah - stayed the same

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. missed a couple of 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 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. snuck a roll
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). not consistent in exercise this week; missed three times

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I hope all is ok with you Mark and your family - my thoughts are with you.

Let me just say that I am so thankful for this group and the accountability each week! I stayed the same through a "Thanksgiving weekend" and am so happy! I just kept thinking I did not want to loose ground on what I have worked so hard to accomplish, and knowing I would have to post helped me to stay the course. I did not get to exercise every day and I did break down and sneak a roll, but overall I just kept eating potatoes...anytime I was hungry, I had a potato. It helped me when everyone was eating pie and snacks. Seeing all the food has started me wanting things I have not wanted in quite awhile, but I am trying to stay strong. Thank you to everyone who posts and shares their stories-- they really help! And thank you moderators for all you do!

[chef16]

11/ 27/ 2020 234#
12/ 04/ 2020 233#
-1#

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 95%
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. 95%
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. 100%
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 100%
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 80%
6. Eliminate any added oil. 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. 95%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). 100%
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. 100%
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 50%

I wasn't very focused this week. I still lost a pound but probably didn't deserve it .Number 5 really was a problem and with being laid off again my activity level is really down. Being home all the time is beginning to give me reasons and more chances to binge eat. I need a hobby or something to distract me.

[texaslil]

Weight change +/- in lbs:

-1.6 lbs

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). SOME AVOCADO AND TOFU
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). NO SMOOTHIES!
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). 6/7 DAYS

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: GENERALLY FEELING MORE ON TRACK FROM LAST WEEK'S HOLIDAY FEASTING BRACING MYSELF FOR MY ANNUAL COOKIE BAKING DAY WITH MY MOM AND MY KIDDOS.. I WILL MAKE SOME COMPLIANT RECIPIES, BUT I AM WORRIED I WILL INDULGE AS COOKIES ARE MY WEAKNESS. I'M ALSO SEARCHING FOR OTHER HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS, SINCE I USUALLY GIVE COOKIES TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY. MAYBE HOMEMADE MUSTARD?? NOT SURE, BUT WISH ME LUCK, THAT IS COMING UP NEXT WEEKEND. BE WELL EVERYONE!

[Growing a Pear]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -0.5 (Finally!)

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).

Thank you for stepping in, wildgoose. I hope everything is okay with Mark and he's just taking a well-deserved break from the boards!

Except for one troublesome rich vegan item, which shall remain nameless but go by the initials CB, I've re-entered the MWL food groove. Exercise could be more automatic but I'm working on it.

Amazingly, my husband has joined me in MWL about 90% of the time. That definitely helps, and I'll talk to him about potentially removing my one troublesome food indulgence from the house. He might be more open to the idea now; Covid has allowed a reset of many habits, to the better. For instance, we haven't eaten out since February and he shed 50 pounds by simply eating what I prepared at home. It wasn't intentional, but it's made him believe in possibilities he'd long since given up on.

[Gimmelean]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 0
Last week 11/27/20. 127
This week 12/4/20. 127

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.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.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’m using all the resolve I have to stay on track. This week was the hardest in 8 months and it was downhill in the quantity I’m eating since Thanksgiving. I read a post about being compliant for 100 days leads to success on MWL and SS. I once had a professor who told the class, Don’t eat an elephant. It stuck with me for two reasons. 1) I probably could if you dared me but it’s not on the program 2) looking at the big picture IS too overwhelming. I’m prepping fresh veggies for the week and because of the pandemic,shopping with Instacart for the first time today as a first small step to feel that I’m regaining traction. One day, one small goal at a time. Have a good week.
And thank you Wildgoose! PS. In my head I’m still 37 pounds heavier even though I’m still at the lowest weight I’ve ever been in my adult life. With MWL I’ve enjoyed getting here. The biggest challenge is doing more of the same to sustain it.

[Gimmelean]

Wildgoose, your post is exactly what I needed right now. Of course in my head I tell myself the same things but somehow its so much more reassuring and effective seeing it from your POV. Thank you. I will also review Dr Lisle’s Pleasure Trap video under Resources this week.

[CindyD]

So encouraged by CindyD who appears to have started at the same time and around the same weight as me but has lost twice as much. So I know the "lifestyle" works. It would be helpful to know what she eats in a typical day.

I am so happy to oblige!
Yesterday I brought to the office:
1. a bowl of super easy red lentil soup (I think this one had one can crushed tomatoes, half a bag of Trader Joe's fire-roasted frozen peppers and onions, a bag of frozen cauliflower, about a third a bag of Trader Joe's red lentils, some garlic and lots of curry powder and other seasonings - sometimes I also steam some some pre-cut/washed kale and put the soup over that)
2. a few cups of steamed broccoli with some garlic salt and nutritional yeast
3. a russet potato and a Murasaki sweet potato that had been baked, then cut into fries and baked again with seasonings
I don't usually eat breakfast during the week, but I start eating lunch around 10 or 11, and I eat while I work (not the best habit but there you have it)

Then for dinner a salad of mixed greens, purple cabbage, some frozen peas and cilantro with fat-free wasabi dijon dressing by Maple Grove Farms https://maplegrove.com/product/fat-free-wasabi-dijon/
Another (big) bowl of red lentil soup and more steamed broccoli, also some steamed brussel sprouts with a little garlic salt
A bit later I had about half a baked potato and more broccoli with a bit of liquid aminos and garlic salt
And a Fuji apple

Drinks are no-caffeine tea or maybe La Croix or Spindrift fizzy drinks or water with lemon
I am not going hungry, as I hope you can tell!

I try to always keep broccoli or other veg that can be quickly steamed, and always have pre-baked potatoes and some sweet potatoes. A meal of brocc and potatoes is a simple, fast and perfect thing when needed.

Wfpb2020, I also sent you a private message in hopes of further encouragement. You can do it!
EDIT: And one more thing, my weight loss started at the beginning of July, but I did not find this board until the very end of July. So happy I found it!

[Marla]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -.8

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.16 of 21 meals. I did this for breakfast and lunch daily, but failed to do it for dinner for the first 5 days of the week. When I noticed that pattern, I addressed it and hopefully will do better.

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, every meal.

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 had a celebration meal (birthday/anniversary) on Monday that had some added sugars/salts. Otherwise complied with this.

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). One day early in the week I had a small portion of a Thanksgiving leftover that had tofu in it. And the celebration meal on Monday had tofu and sesame seeds.

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, 7 days out of 7. But I should note that on several days I only did the minimum (30 minutes) which is a reduction from what I had previously been doing.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I feel pretty good about the week. I planned a celebration meal that consisted of foods allowed on the regular McDougall program, and I stuck to that plan. I enjoyed the richer foods for that one meal and had no trouble going back to MWL. That's an important win for me!

My total minutes of exercise this week were about half of what I've usually been doing, which is probably an important factor in why I only lost half the weight I usually lose.

I am feeling the annual pull toward holiday indulgence, as I knew I would, but so far I've resisted it. I hoped that by keeping a daily food journal and participating in this group, I could add some extra bricks and mortar to my willpower fortress, to get me through the season. I'm SO glad I decided to do this because it is really helping. To be able to get this extra accountability and support is such a gift. Thank you.

[Kelly140]

This week: -2
To Goal: 25

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes
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. Yes- Easy for me now!
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. Yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods. 6/7 days
8. Don't drink your calories. Yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Yes
10. Avoid being sedentary. Most days yes.....need to keep working on this.

I didn't do great with prepping foods beforehand, so I made it tougher on myself this week. Happy with the weight loss, but know I need to work in the exercise time. That will be my focus for the upcoming week!