The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - December 2023 Group

[rlechols]

Hi All,

I have reviewed the orientation materials and would like to join the group!

As way of introduction, I was a member of this group for almost all of 2020 and stopped reporting in when I had apparently settled at my optimum weight. It has been about 3 years since I reported in here. I have been doing very well and easily maintaining my new weight until a few pounds crept on this year. I am up somewhere between 7 and 10 pounds. My clothes still fit but are snugger than I like. So I feel it is time to return to the basics.

I am still following a plant based diet, as I can't imagine ever doing anything else, but I have been doing more of the Starch Solution than MWL, and that, in combination with less exercise than is my norm, a few processed vegan convenience foods, and a boatload of stress has gotten me a little off track this year. I have been in some level of crisis mode for all of 2023 - since my elderly dad came to live with me in mid-January, because he had lost the ability to care for himself...his financial, health, and personal matters had spiraled out of control as vascular dementia overpowered him. During the year I put him on a WFPB diet, organized his finances, paid off his debts, removed him from a toxic relationship that involved elder abuse, got his diabetes under control, and then sent him to live with my sister when my oldest child, age 28, moved home due to complications in her own life. My dad's dementia spiraled out of control and my sister had an emotional breakdown and I stepped in as caregiver again for 2 weeks until I was able to place my dad in assisted living, where he passed just 9 days later. Now I'm still dealing with my sister's mental, emotional, financial, and physical health problems, a grown child living at home, and the arduous task of cleaning out my dad's home (in another state) in preparation to sell it come spring. During all this I have been working full time, had major surgery, and was still able to rally and run a half marathon about 2 weeks after my dad's funeral.

Honestly, with everything I've been through this year, I am so proud of myself for how well I have held things together. Changing to a WFPB diet in 2019 enabled me to lose 90 lbs and become a strong, capable person. I credit my healthy lifestyle for being able to deal with the chaos of 2023. My old obese and insecure self would have crumbled.

In any case, I want the accountability of reporting here to better fine tune my diet and get back to where I was a year ago. I already know that adherence to the MWL guidelines absolutely works! I figured I'd jump on board before the rush of new people join in January. I still have some obvious challenges for 2024, but I'm glad to be here and look forward to associating with all of you!

[wildgoose]

Hi Rachel, good to see you back! Mark is away this week, so I'll step in to officially welcome you back to the group.

I’m sorry to hear about how life has gone for you this past year. I lost my dad in 2020 to complications from vascular dementia, and I know it’s a hard process for everyone. You’ve done an amazing job to hold as steady as you have.

Staying with the Starch Solution was a good way for you to go, both physically and emotionally. You’ll be able to get back on track with MWL without too much difficulty. You’re right — the guidelines absolutely work, and a little fine-tuning is all you need.

Looking forward to your ongoing reports.

Goose

[BambiS]

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
No


2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for desert
some 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

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). No intent exercise, but did a lot of walking at holiday events

Victories, comments, concerns, questions good week, nothing eventful
I’m ready for holidays to be over. I am definitely getting on track 100%. My daughter stayed with me over the holidays and commented that I don’t eat much, I wasn’t hungry. Maybe my age doesn’t require much food.

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 12/29/23

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.  This includes gourmet sugars and salts too.  If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
No. Not completely, but successfully focusing on eliminating sugar laden condiments like BBQ sauce, sweet chili sauce, and hoisin. Sugar and salt is in everything store bought.

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish,)
No

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu,soy).
No

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

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:
Hello MWL Team.
Our last week of 2023.
5 yes/5 no
No matter how adherent I am for months at a time, I easily go astray when I just let go. This week’s accountability post reflects my missed opportunities, ups, and downs over the past two weeks. I am now doing all possible to bolster my full recommitment to MWL. I am fortunate to have the support of this community and value the shared experiences and challenges of each and every member here. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, McDougall New Year.

Hope you had a great trip Mark.

[Rebecka22]

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. NO
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
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
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

While I did not end the year strong, I have cleaned the holiday junk out of the house and I am recommitted today. If I was just reflecting on these two weeks of over indulgence I wouldn’t have much good to say, but reflecting on the year I feel successful and I have bigger goals for next year. In 2022 I ended with 25 weeks where I had 10/10 behaviors. That comes out to around 189/365 off plan days. In 2023 my goal was 40/52 weeks and I finished with 41/52 weeks which comes out to around 77/365 off plan days. I cut my off plan behavior down to less than half from last year, so I’d call that a success. One thing I noticed though was by making my goal in weeks once I went off plan it was extremely hard to get it together before the week ended. So, for 2024 my goal is no more than three days a month where I am off plan, which will cut those days more than in half again, so my goal for 2024 is to have no more than 36/365 off plan days.

[Starflower]

Hope you had a lovely trip, Mark!

Hi team!


1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. NO

2) Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for desert. YES?

3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts.  This includes gourmet sugars and salts too.  If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. YES

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). NO

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:

It was a good week, considering. Some of the busyness got to me and I made some poor choices with high fat foods and bread, and one food that had some oil. I’m going into the new year hopeful that the lessons learned will lead to better adherence in the new year. The posts in the thread below from some long-term successful McDougallers are inspiring! Wishing us all success in joining them. Onward!

https://www.drmcdougallforums.com/viewt ... =1&t=62592

Happy 2024! Wishing everyone a wonderful and successful week and year!

[rlechols]

Hi everyone, as I just joined this week, here is my adherence report for the past 4 days (Tues-Fri):

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes, 4 out of 4 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, 4 out of 4 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, 4 out of 4 days.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes, 4 out of 4 days.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No, pistachios from Christmas are hanging around and I had a few several days. They are gone now and all other nuts have been put in the freezer. I also had some hummus with tahini in it.

6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes, 4 out of 4 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 made the Forks over Knives cinnamon rolls for Christmas (vegan, whole grain) and had one Tuesday. Otherwise I did great. I had soup and salad at a restaurant and skipped the bread. We also had fajitas for dinner Friday and instead of a tortilla I made mine into a fajita salad by serving everything on top of spring greens.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). No. This should be easy but I had a half glass of orange juice. Other than that I did well. Most weeks this won't be an issue.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Mostly yes. I do think sometimes I want to snack when bored, even if it is just a piece of fruit. I am going to be working on delaying eating until I feel the hunger rather than "when it's time." I did only eat 2 meals a day twice this week due to a late breakfast.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes. I exercise daily and aim for 10k steps a day. I also lift weights.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

As I metioned earlier, I am looking to get about 10 lbs off which I slowly picked up this year. Since I have been eating mostly the Starch Solution this year and allowing a few processed snacks like granola or Lara bars, eating tofu, bread and a few nuts, and have fallen into that being my norm, I am going to have to work on changing those habits to get back to MWL compliant. I did get a wellness journal for Christmas and it has 90 days worth of food and wellness activity tracking, so I think I'm going to start journaling in it daily, writing down what I plan to eat and actually eat, documenting my successes each day and what I need to improve.

During the holidays there is always some bread, nuts, dried fruit and such around the house so I am working on getting that all removed from my space this weekend. My house guests just left yesterday, so getting back to my normal schedule over the next few days will help immensely, although I still need to navigate New Year's Eve festivities.

One challenge I have is that my adult daughter who is living with us, who also eats mostly plant based, isn't as strict as I need to be and sometimes makes meals with tofu, flour, etc. I think I will use the weekend to talk to both her and my hubby and let them know what I will be doing and ask for their support and tell them exactly what that means (eating at home, keeping snacks put out of reach, not making meals or offering me food with off-limit ingredients). I'm anxious to have a more compliant report next week.

Thanks for the support of this group. And thanks to Goose for the kind welcome. I plan on being a Star McDougaller!

P.S. Can someone remind me how to turn on email notifications so I know when new responses are posted? I don't want to miss anything.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

We have almost made it through the holiday season! I am really looking forward to a fantastic 2024 and hope that you all are as well. I am glad that we have this group to share our health journey and learn as we go.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Still mostly. I really do want to get this to 100% and I know how (not hard!) – but maybe lacking the oomph right now to focus.

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. Loving my meals!

3 Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
Yes, mostly --- EXCEPT I did have soup at a restaurant (CPK) that contained a lot of sodium. I adjusted by not having any other overt sources of sodium that day. This would be a rare occurrence for me so I am not sweating it.

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, I think so.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes, 7/7. Still walking and strength training consistently. Have played pickleball at 3 new gyms so far while off work for the holiday season. Our larger drill / match group had the highest turnout ever on Friday and we played some king / queen of the court --- and were at a place big enough that we didn’t have to rotate sitting out. I am SUPER EXCITED to be going to NYE party at pickleball place tomorrow.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

I have my last holiday event of the season tomorrow. Another scenario of going to a new place for dinner where the people aren’t already acclimated to my way of eating. I am pretty sure the food will be buffet line (easier to me than pre-plated or family style) --- but I did explain to my friend that I don’t eat any animal products or oil and asked if I can bring a dish in hopes of making the event go more smoothly. I am going to bring a bean / rice / corn Mexican salad for another main dish. (I don't get into a full explanation of diet unless someone asks --- just trying to give a warning that I am not going to eat anything... )

Mark, welcome back! Hope you had a wonderful holiday with family and friends!

Bambi, I’m also ready for the holidays to be over! Back to “regular life”…

Rachel, I am so sorry for the loss of your father and the tough year you went through. Grateful to see you in the group. Your story is inspiring --- as is how you are going about getting back to MWL. I bet you are already a Star McD!!!!

Gimmelean, I am also grateful for the support of this community and how we can learn from each other and share. Priceless!

Rebecka, Thanks for sharing your goals and thought process around them! ❤️

Starflower, I am also going into 2024 hopeful that I can apply lessons learned through years past to make it more successful.

A big “hi” to anyone who comes later that I missed.

Happy New Year to all! Hoping 2024 is filled with health and happiness!

Stephanie 

[Artista]

I was really busy last Friday/Saturday and missed posting my assessment.

Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.  Yes.

2) Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for desert. Yes.

3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts.  This includes gourmet sugars and salts too.  If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. Yes.

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes.

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No, I put flaxseeds in oatmeal on some mornings.

6) Eliminate any added oil. Yes, very much in the habit of and cooking, preparing, and eating food without any oil. No, I’m pretty sure there was oil in the roasted vegetables we ate at Christmas dinner.

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, ate a slice of bread at Christmas dinner.

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). No, I drank a glass of sparkling pear juice at Christmas dinner.

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: Other than Christmas dinner the week wasn’t too bad. I did color outside the lines a bit for that meal but there was some victory in that I didn’t overeat or eat a lot of sweets or other stuff that would leave me with a food hangover the next day. I made a big pot of a compliant curry soup to take to the dinner. That was mostly what I ate but my family of omnivores and keto people seemed to like it too. Glad to have the holidays with all its food-centered celebrations behind us.

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's behavioral results has officially closed.

My replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Mark Cooper]

BambiS - Kudos to you! I think your instinct toward bringing your focus onto health and to concentrate on adhering to the recommended behaviors is very valuable. That seems like an excellent way to close this year and start the next!

Rebecka22 - Congratulations for the progress you made this year! I think it is awesome that you had retained the data that allowed you to quantify and capture your improvements in weekly adherence. Halving one's non adherence seems like a significant and worthwhile achievement, right? Shifting your focus and behavior management from weekly to daily and aiming for cutting off plan days more than in half seems like a goal that will be challenging, but also reasonable; it is right in the sweet spot for building self-efficacy. An inspiring plan for the new year. Make it so!

Starflower - Fantastic idea to have a Christmas dinner buffet loaded with adherent foods! Integrating some light strength training into your walking and stretching routine seems like a sensible progression to me. The holiday season can certainly be busy and taxing for many of us, and the resulting drain on our resources can make adherence feel more challenging to attain, right? Keeping your focus on what you have and can continue to learn is an extremely useful framing from my perspective. Great discussion from veteran McDougallers, thanks for sharing it. Onward!

letsfixmyheart - Hi, Shannon! As ever, I would very much encourage you to dive in and fully engage with our process of behavioral self-assessment and reporting. That tool is a big part of how we establish the status of our efforts, capture progress or surface opportunities for improvement, and make the group work for participants. Today is always the best day to begin!

CUgorji22 - So sorry to see you've been ill, Chesca! May you feel much better as the days pass. I hope your holidays were happy and your New Year is great!

wildgoose - Thanks for keeping an eye on things here in my absence. We did have a great trip, and our festivities were low-stress, indeed.

VegSeekingFit - I am absolutely looking forward to a fantastic 2024, Stephanie! Hope you were able to enjoy your unseasonable weather. Speaking personally, sushi-making took me a fair amount of practice to produce really good results, but once I got it down it hasn't been hard; let us know how you progress. Good luck at that final holiday event. It seems wise to bring an adherent dish AND set expectations appropriately; I expect it will go great for you. Two solid, consistent weeks of adherence to close out your 2023 seems like a great runway into a healthy and happy 2024!

rlechols - Hi, Rachel! I'm so sorry for the loss of your father, for your sister's trauma, and for all the crises and stressors you've been faced with this year. That can't be an easy or comfortable experience. I would be proud of persevering through all that, too! It seems like you've made a solid start in transitioning to the recommended pattern of behavior over the last 4 days. A practice of daily journaling seems like an excellent tool to employ in attaining and maintaining adherence. This is something you have achieved in the past, so you don't require convincing - you already know what is possible, right? An open, honest, and compassionate conversation with your daughter and husband to apprise them of your efforts and request support is a GREAT idea. Let us know how things go. Unfortunately, the current iteration of the discussion board software lacks any email notifications. I'm hoping that will be something available once the new discussion boards have been completed and launched. Cheers to planning on Star McDougaller status; planning to succeed certainly makes success much more likely!

Gimmelean - I salute your recommitment to the recommended pattern of behavior! I'm sure the ups and downs of the past two weeks feel disruptive, perhaps even discouraging, in contrast to lengthy periods of adherence; those seem like natural reactions to me. However, I know this has traditionally been an extremely challenging time of year for you, and looking back broadly over the past season of the year, it seems fairly solid to me (especially as compared to "letting go" for an extended stretch of time). How would you assess this season and this year vs. years past? Does it feel like progress to you? Progress supersedes perfection, right? Best wishes for an extraordinary New Year!

Artista - I applaud you for recognizing your victories in refraining from eating past the point of comfort or eating in a way that would leave you feeling lousy, while also making an honest assessment of where there was some "color outside the lines." Nice bonus that your family also enjoyed your adherent curry soup. The holidays are in the rearview, the New Year is straight ahead, let's make it amazing, Nancy!

[Mark Cooper]

I did my best to respond to all the behavioral reports from the past two weeks; I hope I didn't miss anyone!

That is it for 2023. Reflecting back, I feel like this has been a successful and productive year for our group. Our current group policies and processes seem appropriate, useful, and effective to me, and we have certainly had some fruitful discussions over the past 12 months.

As ever, it has been my privilege to be a comrade on this journey and a witness to all of your amazing efforts. As I've remarked many times, this pattern of behavior isn't easy to attain or maintain in the environment that we inhabit, but it is absolutely WORTH IT.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing you all in 2024. I know it is going to be epic!

I will post a brand new thread for our brand new year (and month) on January 1.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year! Take care and be well.

[Jennifer-L]

I thought this was Saturday. Dang. My resolution is to be better at remembering to post here weekly!