Idgie's MWL journal

[Idgie]

After the bloating of the antibiotics a couple weeks ago, I wanted to supercharge my food plan to see a loss (to ward off discouragement), so I just started doing what Jeff's been recommending, and starting at least some of my meals with soup or veggies. It really worked! Went off the antibiotics 10 days ago, and I've lost 6 pounds since then. Started MWL 6 weeks ago tomorrow, and I've lost around 15 pounds since then, even counting that 10 days of antibiotic nonsense. I'm happy.

[Idgie]

The food thing is getting easier and easier. I've been 100% compliant for several days now. I have a co-worker who's been bringing in sweets for the office the past few days, and I'm not going to say I don't think about eating some of them (and even think about rationalizing that chocolate covered almonds are kind of health food, right?), but so far, not a bite.

It's really key for me to have stuff in the fridge I can just grab. In this weather, it's mostly salads (including grain salads) and raw veggies, but when it's cooler, a lot of baked potatoes and sweet potatoes. If I can grab something healthy, I do. If there's nothing grabbable that's healthy, that's when it's easy for me to just grab junk.

36 pounds down since June 10th. I'm really happy with that.

[Suey51]

Congrats on the compliance and weight loss Idgie! I'm so happy for you

[squealcat]

You are doing so well Idgie. Keep up the good work ! I know how hard it is to keep on plan when co-workers bring "stuff" in to share. Being tired toward the end of the day was many times my undoing. Bringing things I loved to eat myself helped many times (I won't say ALL the time ) . You sound very determined to reach your goal. You are marching forward at a good pace. I am rooting for you !

[VegSeekingFit]

The food thing is getting easier and easier. I've been 100% compliant for several days now. I have a co-worker who's been bringing in sweets for the office the past few days, and I'm not going to say I don't think about eating some of them (and even think about rationalizing that chocolate covered almonds are kind of health food, right?), but so far, not a bite.

It's really key for me to have stuff in the fridge I can just grab. In this weather, it's mostly salads (including grain salads) and raw veggies, but when it's cooler, a lot of baked potatoes and sweet potatoes. If I can grab something healthy, I do. If there's nothing grabbable that's healthy, that's when it's easy for me to just grab junk.

36 pounds down since June 10th. I'm really happy with that.

Hey Idgie!

Kudos to you!! So glad to hear that food is getting easier!!! Also, empathize with the difficulty in navigating food in the work environment. I am amazed at how often work uses food as a reward or incentive -- in addition to not eating from all of the junk people bring in. Rock on!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Idgie]

Thanks, everyone!

Kudos to you!! So glad to hear that food is getting easier!!! Also, empathize with the difficulty in navigating food in the work environment. I am amazed at how often work uses food as a reward or incentive -- in addition to not eating from all of the junk people bring in. Rock on!!

I actually think this week's goodies are a passive-aggressive "gift" from a co-worker who's pissed at me for losing weight. We're supposedly friends, but she's acting weird, and this week, she brought in 3 cases of Pringles, Costco quantities of chocolate almonds and twizzlers, a dozen cinnamon buns, and a huge bucket of halloween-size candies. The more she brought in, the funnier I thought it was. She's never done this before, and this is the first week my weight loss has been noticeable to other people, though I haven't brought it up. (I am genuinely fine with being fat -- please don't yell at me for saying that -- but as I get healthier, I also get thinner, and that's fine with me, too. I really like my body, and this co-worker really hates hers, so even though I believe she cares about me, I get the feeling she'll feel less uneasy if I go off my diet.)

You are doing so well Idgie. Keep up the good work ! I know how hard it is to keep on plan when co-workers bring "stuff" in to share. Being tired toward the end of the day was many times my undoing. Bringing things I loved to eat myself helped many times (I won't say ALL the time ) . You sound very determined to reach your goal. You are marching forward at a good pace. I am rooting for you !

Thank you! Being tired is also a trigger for me, but thankfully, my partner has made it their mission to make sure I have stuff in the fridge to grab.

[Idgie]

Today, I finished an 8-week challenge on SparkPeople called the Spring 5% Challenge. The challenge, as you will have guessed, was to lose 5% of your body weight in 8 weeks. I lost 7.1% (down from 318 to 295.4, a total of 22.6 pounds). I celebrated by buying myself a cheap air-popper ($16 with my discount at Bed Bath & Beyond). It's *great*. I am aware that some people feel MWL doesn't support popcorn, and that's okay. For me, it's a whole grain with no added oil (or anything at all) and it is within my limits. So anyway, I'm happy. It makes good popcorn without the need for butter or oil, so that works for me!

[f00die]

Today, I finished an 8-week challenge on SparkPeople called the Spring 5% Challenge. The challenge, as you will have guessed, was to lose 5% of your body weight in 8 weeks. I lost 7.1% (down from 318 to 295.4, a total of 22.6 pounds). I celebrated by buying myself a cheap air-popper ($16 with my discount at Bed Bath & Beyond). It's *great*. I am aware that some people feel MWL doesn't support popcorn, and that's okay. For me, it's a whole grain with no added oil (or anything at all) and it is within my limits. So anyway, I'm happy. It makes good popcorn without the need for butter or oil, so that works for me!

please dont take this the wrong way
but air popped popcorn is a good bit more calorie dense
than broiled top sirloin steak
or bread (a french baguette from paneras)
roughly, 3oz of air popped popcorn has around ~1.5 times more calories
than 3oz of the steak or the bread
for example

[Idgie]

foodie, I'm not taking it the wrong way, but as I've mentioned several times on these boards, I know I'm not giving up popcorn (it's literally my favorite food -- I even ate it every day for the 4 years I had braces), so I'm just committed to not eating the butter and oil that usually comes on it. I am not having any trouble losing weight (I lose 3 pounds a week, every week, like clockwork), so there's no reason for me to be concerned about my overall calorie density at this time. But thank you.

[Ltldogg]

Hi Idgie,

foodie, I'm not taking it the wrong way, but as I've mentioned several times on these boards, I know I'm not giving up popcorn (it's literally my favorite food -- I even ate it every day for the 4 years I had braces), so I'm just committed to not eating the butter and oil that usually comes on it. I am not having any trouble losing weight (I lose 3 pounds a week, every week, like clockwork), so there's no reason for me to be concerned about my overall calorie density at this time. But thank you.

First off, congrats on your weight loss so far; I'm not surprised because this WOE of eating works. The confusion that some people will have is that you have put MWL in your journal title and you even post in the MWL Weigh In thread, but because of the Calorie Density of air-popped popcorn it is off plan for MWL. There are people who are struggling with the Pleasure Trap and seeing someone claiming to eat MWL but eating off-plan items will influence them to do the same, further adding to their struggles and could even lead to further slides into more calorie dense foods (moderation doesn't work for most people).

Perhaps consider moving away from the MWL threads/title Most people do not need to use the MWL for the best results and thankfully you are one!

Again, congrats on your progress and keep it up!

Respectfully,
Scott

[Idgie]

Ltldogg, that's a really good point, and I'll consider it, but I thought the MWL threads were also for people who are mostly MWL, or who are moving in that direction -- am I wrong about that? I do mark each non-MWL meal differently in my food log so people won't get confused. (By the way, I'm not being combative; I'll take MWL off my journal, because that makes sense to me, and I'll ask in the weigh-in thread if they want me to stop posting there.)

[Idgie]

Just an update: I have made a new journal without "MWL" in the title, but I've got encouragement from Jeff and Amy that since I'm not advocating popcorn as part of MWL, I'm welcome on the MWL weigh-in threads. The point was made that if you had to always be 100% MWL to post in MWL threads, there would be no posts.

Anyway, I think making a new journal thread and continuing to post to the MWL weigh-in threads and flag my non-MWL foods as such in my food logs feels sufficiently compliant to me, and I will be moving on from this (frankly, stressful for me) thread now.