August 2021 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[cmcavazos2]

Weight change +/- in lbs: - 1# loos

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. NO
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:
Victories: Changing my work schedule helped with my food cravings at work.
Comments: My weight loss is very slow, but I am doing fairly well with the MWL guidelines. I noticed more that my clothes are fitting more loosely and my increased physical activity has resulted in more energy and fitness. I'm trying not to fixate on the scale number, but rather to concentrate on 10 behaviors.

Ready to start September on a positive note!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi MWL Team! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Weight Change - 0.2 lbs. Gain
Current weight - 136.2 lbs.
Last Week weight - 136.0 lbs.

I am taking the scale reading in stride this week as I honestly would have expected a different result. The pants that were getting loose a few weeks ago are now falling down... Anyway, will wait for next week's weight to determine whether any further action is needed...

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes, most of the time.

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, of course.

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. 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 for 4 of 7 days. Cumulatively walked more than 210 minutes on those days, but was slothful for the other 3 days. Will get back on track this week for 70K steps.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

I did NOT record my food and exercise this week to simplify. This was a great decision for a stressful time... However, this week my stress level is down greatly!! Was a work issue that I was losing sleep over and has now been (primarily) resolved. So, I am going to resume recording food & exercise for the following week weigh in as I do see value in being able to go back and review...

The positive about stress week is that I have learned...
1) If I make a bad food choice, it is water under the bridge. Just move forward (right away) with eating recommended foods.
For last weigh in, I stress ate rice cake with peanut butter. Haven't had either of these items since before 5/2 (when I started following MWL checklist).... Also, these choices can be a dangerous thing for me as they sure led to a good percentage of the Pandemic 23 lbs. that I gained. I have not had any other brushes with foods that should not be on my plate this week....
2) Sometimes I may overcomplicate (in my own mind) compliance with MWL. It can be very simple! I have to remember that in future times of stress that I can easily put together MWL meals that take less time than non-compliant choices. So, future stress should not be an excuse to derail.

For this week, I kept meals very simple.
* Mainly for Breakfast I had salad and / or fruit (Sugar Kiss cantaloupe!) with potato waffle. Sometimes I also had a couple of spoonfuls of smashed beans.
*Lunch and dinner were mainly potatoes or sweet potatoes with salad and / or fruit ... also sometimes a bit more smashed beans and usually gazpacho at lunch for preload.
*I did have a craving for whole wheat pasta on Wednesday -- so made a pot of it at lunchtime. Was too lazy (and didn't have much time as a work day) to make a large pan of water sauteed veggies that I usually use with the pasta. So, simply dumped Pomi strained tomatoes (with a bit of garlic powder and basil) over the drained pasta. Then put layer of pasta in bowl and topped it more than 50/50 with salad. Pretty weird but good and super easy.
*Did another such salad bowl with beans, potatoes, salsa... just dump more than same volume salad in with the starches... Yum!

Victory - I found a buddy who will walk a 5K with me the weekend after Labor Day!! My son may join as well.

Hope that everyone has an excellent week!!

Best,
Stephanie

[Noella]

Hi Mark,

This week’s Weight Change: none
This Week’s Weight: 151.5 lbs.
Last Week’s Weight 151.5
Goal Weight: 140 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).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.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. Exercise daily for thirty minutes (brisk walking). YES

We are on our third day of vacationing in Montebello, Quebec (kayaking, swimming, hiking) and then we are off to Ottawa to visit my daughter and new grand baby. I am trying my best to follow the MWL behaviours while away from home by bringing along a dozen precooked potatoes to add starch to veggies, fruit and berries that are easily available. We have two suitcases that are 45 lbs each; they are SO huge, bulky,awkward and heavy to lift! After I struggled to lift them onto the baggage conveyer at check in, I realized that those two suitcases represented the weight that I have lost over the last twenty months. It was quite the visual watching those two suitcases get scanned and put onto the baggage truck. I can barely believe that it is true!

-Reading Naomi’s (Pony’sPants) success of getting to her dream weight this week was wonderful to read. Another MWL graduate!
Congratulations, Naomi. You did it!! I agree with Naomi that after weeks and weeks of choosing healthy foods, other choices simply don’t have much appeal anymore.

-Congratulations, Health1st, for getting started with MWL. I am so excited for you as I read your discoveries and victories at the beginning of this journey. I was there, where you are, so I encourage you to confidently follow MWL, confidently KNOWING better health is available to you.

[veggiemelt]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -4 - These are my 3 that I gained last week, plus one fresh pound. I'll take it!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. I'm getting better at this.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. Done! ✔️
4. Eliminate all animal foods. Done! ✔️
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. Almost! I had some avocado this week.
6. Eliminate any added oil. Done!✔️
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. Bread.
8. Don't drink your calories. Done! ✔️
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Big improvements here this week.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily: I increased my steps some this week but I need to add in some intentional exercise.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Last week I predicted water weight, and I think that was the case. I lost it, plus another pound. I'll take that! Although I had a birthday on Monday and ate too much that day, it's been a good week. At the last check in, I was really just overwhelmed by life and stress but this week has been much more streamlined! Looking forward to a weekend full of kitchen reorganization and some batch cooking.

[Zoey]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -0.5 Wow, an entire half pound, woohoo!

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:
Sorry I missed reporting last week. We had an unplanned help-a-neighbor-out event, and it took all morning and afternoon. So I guess my loss of half a pound keeps with my pattern of a few tenths per week.
Otherwise, no drama and no stress eating or drinking, so yay!
I've been thinking about doing a Mary's Mini to give myself a little boost on the losses. Guess I'll decide by Monday.
Thanks Mark and Wildgoose and all participants this month. I always learn something or get inspired by all your posts. Keep going!

[veggiemelt]

[quote="Holly33"I only had a small amount of maple syrup on some oatmeal on Sunday as a treat. I do take EPA/DHA algae for some fat to take with vitamin D as I have a drastic deficiency (i didnt do this the first week but just want to push that vit D up). That is the extent of my transgressions. [/quote]

I read recently that the amount of fat in oats is enough to solve the oil/Vitamin D issue. I will try to find the info and will post it if I can find it. But I wanted to mention it before I lost track of this post!

[JeffN]

[quote="Holly33"I only had a small amount of maple syrup on some oatmeal on Sunday as a treat. I do take EPA/DHA algae for some fat to take with vitamin D as I have a drastic deficiency (i didnt do this the first week but just want to push that vit D up). That is the extent of my transgressions.

I read recently that the amount of fat in oats is enough to solve the oil/Vitamin D issue. I will try to find the info and will post it if I can find it. But I wanted to mention it before I lost track of this post!

It was in my response to Holly

https://www.drmcdougallforums.com/viewt ... 60#p627734

In Health
Jeff

[texaslil]

+.2 lbs
169.8
(last week I weighed 169.6, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to check-in)

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 mostly although we did have some vegan dark chocolate
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, dark chocolate
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, had avocado and tofu
6. Eliminate any added oil. NO, I ate out several 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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). NO
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, lots and lots of city walking!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I'm back now from dropping off my daughter at university. It was a good trip, I managed to keep things mostly in check, but we were very busy putting her dorm together and making sure she had everything before I left. I'm sure I could have done better but since I stayed at a hotel with no kitchenette it was limiting.

I am back and, once again, will try to get back to the 10 point checklist. I don't have any travel in the near future, so I'm looking forward to getting back on track and staying there.

Thanks as always for your the feedback!
Laila

[Gimmelean]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -1.0

8/20/2021 128
8/27/2021 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. 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. Not completely

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. Can’t believe we are at the end of summer. Labor Day is right around the corner. Down a pound this week. Ditched the dairy and no pizza. Some bread and more fruit than recommended was my way of easing back to full compliance after a no good,terrible last week when I had the best of intentions and really let go after I had been doing so well. Interestingly I did not feel as if I needed to knuckle through quite as hard as I have had to do when I really let go in the past. This is probably because I switched gears right away. I’m learning more and more about being aware of and coping with the dopamine trap and how to deal with it like you, Wildgoose, and Jeff emphasize. In fact this week, NPR featured an interview on Fresh Air with Dr. Anna Lembke, a neuroscientist who wrote a book called Dopamine Nation. It reinforced a very similar message to Dr. Lisle’s Pleasure Trap related to food. The transcript is available for listening online. I wish I had learned about that a loooong time ago.
Meal planning and prepping and disappearing from the kitchen after dinner were on my agenda this week and helped a great deal.
Mark glad to hear that you had a great vacation with your family and glad to have you back with us. See you in September!

[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]

Gabby7 - Woo-hoo! Your diligent attention to the recommended behaviors is definitely paying off; you are down nearly 6 lbs for August, I believe! So sorry to hear you were ill with Covid-19, I'm sure that was pretty awful. Kudos to you for sticking to the recommendations in spite of that. Best wishes for a safe and peaceful week to come!

Health 1st - Another 3 pounds gone! And it sounds like you'll be shopping for some new outfits before long! Remember that our focus is on maintaining an overall pattern of behavior that will best deliver healthy, sustainable weight loss over time; to my mind, it doesn't really serve us to invest too much time and thought into puzzling out the "reasons" for any specific day's scale reading. Rather, the rate of weight loss over a significant duration of time can help let us know how we are doing: you have averaged ~4.8 lbs / week which is quite substantial. Keep doing your best to practice the recommended behaviors, eating whenever you feel hungry (and drinking water when thirsty, of course). If you find yourself "filled up" on water, does that sensation typically pass within a reasonable amount of time, and hunger return? When facing seemingly "random" cravings, be sure to eat of the recommended foods (and particularly to include an adequate volume of minimally processed starches). As Jeff has said in the past,

You don’t have to figure it out or work out it. Only follow the guidelines. When hungry (regardless of whether you may think it is true hunger, appetite, or something else) just eat. Eat of the recommended foods as outlined in the 10 point checklist.

Over time, it will work itself out.

Keep at it, and stay cool!

cmcavazos2 - Down another pound! I'm happy to hear that adjustment to your schedule has helped tackle those work place cravings, Christine. Cheers to you for keeping the focus on behavior, and taking notice of some great "non scale victories": loose fitting clothes and more energy! September, here we come!

VegSeekingFit - Looks like you did great with the checklist, Stephanie! I applaud your inclination to be sanguine about the scale, and I'm delighted that work issue was resolved and things feel less stressful for you.

Sometimes I may overcomplicate (in my own mind) compliance with MWL. It can be very simple! I have to remember that in future times of stress that I can easily put together MWL meals that take less time than non-compliant choices. So, future stress should not be an excuse to derail.

I think this is a really important point, and worth highlighting for the group. As Jeff says, Simplicity is the Key to Health! That 5K sounds like a fun outing!

Noella - 10 YESes demonstrate the effort you are putting toward adherence while away from home! It isn't always easy and definitely requires planning and work. What an illustrative observation about your suitcases; you are literally two suitcases lighter! That must feel great. Enjoy that new grand baby!

veggiemelt - Nice work turning things around! I'm glad this felt like a good week for you, and that your life has calmed down and become less overwhelming. Keep striving to eliminate those remaining non adherent foods; batch cooking, prep and organization is a great way to support those efforts - enjoy!

Zoey - WOOT! Goodbye to half a pound! A week free from drama really helps adherence feel attainable, right? Your progress has been super-consistent from May to present, I think you are doing great!

texaslil - Wishing your daughter the very best at university, Laila! Remaining adherent on the road is absolutely a challenge, especially without access to a kitchen. Jeff has a lot of experience with frequent travel, and has mentioned a favorite, easy "road meal" - the Wendy's Mini. At any rate, being home again, with no travel in the near term, you can focus on being well-prepared to attend to the recommended behaviors.

Gimmelean - Nice loss and well done ditching the dairy and pizza! "Switching gears" as soon as possible does seem important for ensuring a lapse doesn't develop into a full-blown relapse. Thanks for sharing the info about that Fresh Air episode.

Meal planning and prepping and disappearing from the kitchen after dinner were on my agenda this week and helped a great deal.

Absolutely one of the best ways to make a pattern of adherence more easily attained. See you in September!

[Mark Cooper]

Please note - I replied to each participant individually in the two lengthy posts linked below, provided that their reports followed the guidelines for weigh-ins.

Mark's Replies for August 27 - Part 1
Mark's Replies for August 27 - Part 2

By my count, 12 participants reported for our final August 2021 MWL weigh-in! If I neglected to include anyone, or you notice an error in the tally, please let me know (via PM so we can keep the thread as tidy as possible, or in a post here if you cannot PM).

Here are the results for the final Friday in August:

Week ending 8/27/2021: 12 participants reported a total change of -13.10 pounds
--------------------------------------------------
Texaslil +0.20
VegSeekingFit +0.20
--------------------------------------------------
Total gains: +0.40
--------------------------------------------------
NO CHANGE / MAINTAIN/ STARTING OUT
Noella 0.00
--------------------------------------------------
GreenFroG -0.20
Zoey -0.50
PonysPlants -0.80
Cmcavazos2 -1.00
Gimmelean -1.00
Rebecka22 -1.20
Gabby7 -1.80
Health 1st -3.00
Veggiemelt -4.00
--------------------------------------------------
Total losses: -13.50
--------------------------------------------------
Cumulative group loss for August 2021 to date: 49.30 pounds
Average loss for week ending August 27: 1.09 pounds
Cumulative group loss for January 2021: 117.20 pounds
Cumulative group loss for February 2021: 39.40 pounds
Cumulative group loss for March 2021: 73.20 pounds
Cumulative group loss for April 2021: 48.30 pounds
Cumulative group loss for May 2021: 35.90 pounds
Cumulative group loss for June 2021: 34.10 pounds
Cumulative group loss for July 2021: 64.95 pounds
--------------------------------------------------

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, September 3, 2021, in the September MWL Group thread.


A hearty round of applause for everyone, as another month of MWL draws to a close!

Jeff recently updated his Top 10 Reasons for Lack of Success, shared below. These are all things worth paying attention to as one accumulates time practicing this way of eating.

Top 10 Reasons for Lack of Success.

1) Poor Adherence/compliance. Sometimes from lack of application and sometimes from lack of understanding of the principles.

2) Misdirection of focus/priorities. Focusing on matters that don't really effect your health while not focusing on the ones that do.

3) Minimizing/Rationalizing the effect of certain behaviors and/or personal preferences, **especially in regard to certain foods**.

4) Too many ultra processed, refined and/or calorie dense foods, especially those that are marketing as being healthy, vegan or plant-based."

5) Not understanding the difference between something that is "not compliant," something that is "allowed" on occasion in small quantities, and something that is "recommended."

6) Inadequate exercise/activity

7) Not planning ahead. If you do not plan ahead for success, you will most likely not find it.

8 ) Time. Healing and results take time and for some of us, it may take a little longer than we hope.

9) Mcdougall "Plus" - This is where you mix the McDougall principles with other principles you have read or learned somewhere else that are not inline with the principles recommended here.

10) Adherence Fatigue - A feeling of fatigue over time for doing what is necessary to maintain compliance to the program (ie, special ordering, meal prep, preparing ahead for social situations). Sometimes, people tire from doing the right thing.

If that list has piqued your interest, check out his 10 Secrets to Success, too.

All the best to each of you, and keep putting in the work. See you in September!

[Truth]

I want to be part of this group so I can be successful with my health goals. Please help with how and what I am supposed to do.

[Mark Cooper]

I want to be part of this group so I can be successful with my health goals. Please help with how and what I am supposed to do.

Sure! Just take some time to review the Orientation Information, and follow the instructions for participating in the group. The September group thread will be posted later today (August 30, 2021). Let us know if you have further questions after completing Orientation.

[Health 1st]

Health 1st - Another 3 pounds gone! And it sounds like you'll be shopping for some new outfits before long! Remember that our focus is on maintaining an overall pattern of behavior that will best deliver healthy, sustainable weight loss over time; to my mind, it doesn't really serve us to invest too much time and thought into puzzling out the "reasons" for any specific day's scale reading. Rather, the rate of weight loss over a significant duration of time can help let us know how we are doing: you have averaged ~4.8 lbs / week which is quite substantial. Keep doing your best to practice the recommended behaviors, eating whenever you feel hungry (and drinking water when thirsty, of course). If you find yourself "filled up" on water, does that sensation typically pass within a reasonable amount of time, and hunger return? When facing seemingly "random" cravings, be sure to eat of the recommended foods (and particularly to include an adequate volume of minimally processed starches). As Jeff has said in the past,

You don’t have to figure it out or work out it. Only follow the guidelines. When hungry (regardless of whether you may think it is true hunger, appetite, or something else) just eat. Eat of the recommended foods as outlined in the 10 point checklist.

Over time, it will work itself out.

Keep at it, and stay cool!

Mark,

Thanks so much for your wise words, quote from Jeff (also wise!), + and all the time you take to read + respond to all of our posts...especially lengthy ones as mine always seem to end up being.

Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have tried to figure the less weight loss out. It just went against the grain, so to speak, since I was losing so much water through excessive perspiration + since drinking copious amounts of (lost) water filled me up, I hardly ate anything.

But I really was/am grateful for still having lost 3 pounds last week!

To answer your question, no, after drinking the water I really wasn't hungry. I think the heat + humidity just really made my body go in conservation/survival mode. If that makes sense. Maybe kind of like when one is sick, it doesn't require much food at all.

Thanks again, Mark, for your voice of reason.