Mark's MWL Journal

[Mark Cooper]

Mark, good to see you are back. Love the pics. You eat an impressive amount of food!

Thanks, Lindsey! My meals do tend to be quite voluminous!

[moonlight]

Yes, welcome back! I love your pictures. They look more like mine would look. I tend to eat large servings of food, too. I have considered photographing my food but decided I'd need to buy a huge bowl and plate so my food wouldn't look like so much.

[Mark Cooper]

JOURNAL
Pain was quite manageable today, I was able to run/jog with really good form without significantly increasing my pain levels.

EXERCISE
Physical Therapy Exercises, 3 sets
Jogging, 30 minutes
Scapular Pulls & Wall Handstands, 3 sets, Bridges, Crunches, 2 sets

MEALS
1st Meal

Everyday Salad, Spinach-Lentil-Tomato Soup, Sweet Potato Steak Fries with Compliant Ketchup, California Mix with Pea Soup by Mark Cooper, on Flickr

2nd Meal

Everyday Salad #2, Goguma-bap, Normandy Vegetables by Mark Cooper, on Flickr

COMPLIANCE
10 Pt MWL Checklist
10/10

[Mark Cooper]

JOURNAL
Pain was manageable again today. I had a really good morning workout, but was REALLY hungry today. Ultimately, I over compensated and was somewhat overfull at the end of the day.
EXERCISE
Physical Therapy Exercises, 3 sets
Calisthenics, 60 minutes
Bridges & Crunches, 2 sets
MEALS
1st Meal

Everyday Salad, SNAP style Savory Baked Oats with California Mix, Spinach, Tomato by Mark Cooper, on Flickr

2nd Meal
Old-fashioned Oats, Blueberries or Pineapple, Bananas, Soy Milk, Cinnamon by Mark Cooper, on Flickr

Snack
Banana, Apple by Mark Cooper, on Flickr
COMPLIANCE
10 Pt MWL Checklist
6/10 - I’m calling 4 strikes today as my 2nd meal was not sequenced, had uncooked oats, soy milk, and ended a little stuffed.

[Mark Cooper]

JOURNAL
Pain was a little more severe today, but I had a nice day - went to the movies with my daughter.
EXERCISE
Physical Therapy Exercises, 2 sets
Stair Climbing, 30 minutes
Bridges, Crunches, 1 set
MEALS
1st Meal

Everyday Salad, Spinach Tomato Soup, Sweet Potatoes & California Mix by Mark Cooper, on Flickr

2nd Meal

Everyday Salad, Normandy Vegetables topped with Pea Soup by Mark Cooper, on Flickr
COMPLIANCE
10 Pt MWL Checklist
10/10

[Drew_ab]

I'm just glancing at your journal - looks like you also practice intermittent fasting (aka time-restricted eating). What's your experience with that been like so far?

[Mark Cooper]

I'm just glancing at your journal - looks like you also practice intermittent fasting (aka time-restricted eating). What's your experience with that been like so far?

Hi Drew_ab!

I do IF somewhat "accidentally," in the sense that I pretty much never get hungry after 6 or 6:30 pm and rarely eat my first meal before about 9 or 10 am at the earliest, and 2 meals generally seems to work well for me. I basically just try to eat my first meal of the day when I feel hungry, schedule allowing. I just about always eat a meal around 5:30 pm or so - that is supper with my wife and daughter and we pretty much always have the evening meal together. I will say that I ALWAYS do my morning workout before eating, as I have found that I just feel much better getting in vigorous exercise before I eat. Occasionally, I get more hungry and have a third meal, but usually in between the other two - so I do usually have at least a 12 hour window where I'm not eating and it seems like a good fit for me, at least at my present level of activity. What has your experience been?

[Mark Cooper]

JOURNAL
Great workout this morning, pain was mild and manageable throughout the day.
EXERCISE
Physical Therapy Exercises, 3 sets
Stair Climbing, 30 minutes
Scapular Pulls & Wall Handstands, 3 sets, Bridges, Crunches, 2 sets
MEALS
1st Meal

Everyday Salad, Kale and Tomato Soup, Sweet Potato, Yellow Potato and Brussels Sprouts by Mark Cooper, on Flickr

2nd Meal

Everyday Salad, Jambalaya and California Mix by Mark Cooper, on Flickr
COMPLIANCE
10 Pt MWL Checklist
10/10

[Drew_ab]

I'm just glancing at your journal - looks like you also practice intermittent fasting (aka time-restricted eating). What's your experience with that been like so far?

Hi Drew_ab!

I do IF somewhat "accidentally," in the sense that I pretty much never get hungry after 6 or 6:30 pm and rarely eat my first meal before about 9 or 10 am at the earliest, and 2 meals generally seems to work well for me. I basically just try to eat my first meal of the day when I feel hungry, schedule allowing. I just about always eat a meal around 5:30 pm or so - that is supper with my wife and daughter and we pretty much always have the evening meal together. I will say that I ALWAYS do my morning workout before eating, as I have found that I just feel much better getting in vigorous exercise before I eat. Occasionally, I get more hungry and have a third meal, but usually in between the other two - so I do usually have at least a 12 hour window where I'm not eating and it seems like a good fit for me, at least at my present level of activity. What has your experience been?

Thanks for the response. I'm curious if you've always followed the 2x day eating or if over time you've naturally moved towards this? Were you like this before eating WFPB? Based on your meal timing it looks like you often go 18 hours daily without food, which is impressive. I consumed all my calories in an 8-hour window for about 3 months with 16 hours away from food a while back. It was alright - it was really hard to tease out any benefits beyond what you already experience following this WOE. It would be nice to know if things like autophagy would be occurring in to a larger degree and whether or not this makes any difference in clinical outcomes. I do most of my formal exercise on an empty stomach as well. You must be a fairly fit person.

Have you ever counted your calories to see how many you consume? How is your BMI on just 2 meals a day? Probably 5 days per week I have a 12-13 hour overnight fast and on the others, I usually have a meal before bed if I seem like I need it.

[moonlight]

Hi Mark and Drew,
I apologize for jumping in on your discussion here (how else to do it in cyberspace?!? ) Mark, I am interested in the questions Drew brings up regarding if you have always eaten with these time constraints or if you developed your eating schedule around the MWL plan. I feel that I often overeat due to other reasons than because I'm hungry. It's a constant struggle that I'm working toward overcoming. Mostly I overeat at night. I would be interested in how you made a change to your present eating schedule if it was a change when you started the McD diet plan.
Thanks, Moonlight

I'm just glancing at your journal - looks like you also practice intermittent fasting (aka time-restricted eating). What's your experience with that been like so far?

Hi Drew_ab!

I do IF somewhat "accidentally," in the sense that I pretty much never get hungry after 6 or 6:30 pm and rarely eat my first meal before about 9 or 10 am at the earliest, and 2 meals generally seems to work well for me. I basically just try to eat my first meal of the day when I feel hungry, schedule allowing. I just about always eat a meal around 5:30 pm or so - that is supper with my wife and daughter and we pretty much always have the evening meal together. I will say that I ALWAYS do my morning workout before eating, as I have found that I just feel much better getting in vigorous exercise before I eat. Occasionally, I get more hungry and have a third meal, but usually in between the other two - so I do usually have at least a 12 hour window where I'm not eating and it seems like a good fit for me, at least at my present level of activity. What has your experience been?

Thanks for the response. I'm curious if you've always followed the 2x day eating or if over time you've naturally moved towards this? Were you like this before eating WFPB? Based on your meal timing it looks like you often go 18 hours daily without food, which is impressive. I consumed all my calories in an 8-hour window for about 3 months with 16 hours away from food a while back. It was alright - it was really hard to tease out any benefits beyond what you already experience following this WOE. It would be nice to know if things like autophagy would be occurring in to a larger degree and whether or not this makes any difference in clinical outcomes. I do most of my formal exercise on an empty stomach as well. You must be a fairly fit person.

Have you ever counted your calories to see how many you consume? How is your BMI on just 2 meals a day? Probably 5 days per week I have a 12-13 hour overnight fast and on the others, I usually have a meal before bed if I seem like I need it.

[Mark Cooper]

Thanks for the response. I'm curious if you've always followed the 2x day eating or if over time you've naturally moved towards this? Were you like this before eating WFPB?

There was a fairly long period of time when I was eating a SAD diet, and also when I was a 'junk food vegan' during which I often would not have my first meal of the day until noon at the earliest, and sometimes as late as 2:30 or 3 pm. That had more to do with my school or work schedules at the times than any desire to have a fasting period. I was however, never a big breakfast person. When I first started McDougalling I almost always ate 3 meals per day (oatmeal for breakfast). Over time as I got much closer to what I consider my natural / ideal weight, and because of some changes to my daily schedule in the last 18 months or so I shifted over to usually only eating 2 meals (which for me has meant mostly saying goodbye to my daily oatmeal). It feels like it works for me, especially since I tend to be a volume eater.

Based on your meal timing it looks like you often go 18 hours daily without food, which is impressive. I consumed all my calories in an 8-hour window for about 3 months with 16 hours away from food a while back. It was alright - it was really hard to tease out any benefits beyond what you already experience following this WOE. It would be nice to know if things like autophagy would be occurring in to a larger degree and whether or not this makes any difference in clinical outcomes.

There are often several days each week where I don't eat my first meal until noon, that is primarily because my morning can get pretty busy and I often don't have a chance to prepare and eat a meal until mid-day. Occasionally, I just don't feel hungry until nearly the afternoon, but more often on those long fast days I am quite hungry by the time I have a chance to eat. It doesn't usually bother me much, because the reason I'm not eating is being so busy - so I am distracted anyway. Personally, I am very doubtful of any unique benefits to IF vs. those that accrue from the regular McDougall WOE (apart from maybe contributing to general calorie restriction).

I do most of my formal exercise on an empty stomach as well. You must be a fairly fit person.

I do exercise pretty vigorously every day - I have found that it really helps in managing my chronic pain, if I have a sedentary day my pain almost always worsens.

Have you ever counted your calories to see how many you consume?

Every so often, I use cronometer to track a day. I tend to eat between 2300 and 2600 calories, based on my typical day of eating.

How is your BMI on just 2 meals a day? Probably 5 days per week I have a 12-13 hour overnight fast and on the others, I usually have a meal before bed if I seem like I need it.

For the last year or so, my BMI has bounced around between about 20.5 to as low as 19 (this past October/November). Right now it is around 20, I think. I've found that when my BMI is lowest and I'm super lean, my progress in my calisthenics training really slows down, and for the last several weeks I've actually been trying to put on a bit of weight.

[Mark Cooper]

Hi Mark and Drew,
I apologize for jumping in on your discussion here (how else to do it in cyberspace?!? ) Mark, I am interested in the questions Drew brings up regarding if you have always eaten with these time constraints or if you developed your eating schedule around the MWL plan. I feel that I often overeat due to other reasons than because I'm hungry. It's a constant struggle that I'm working toward overcoming. Mostly I overeat at night. I would be interested in how you made a change to your present eating schedule if it was a change when you started the McD diet plan.
Thanks, Moonlight

Hi Moonlight!

Mark, I am interested in the questions Drew brings up regarding if you have always eaten with these time constraints or if you developed your eating schedule around the MWL plan.

I'm just going to quote myself.

There was a fairly long period of time when I was eating a SAD diet, and also when I was a 'junk food vegan' during which I often would not have my first meal of the day until noon at the earliest, and sometimes as late as 2:30 or 3 pm. That had more to do with my school or work schedules at the times than any desire to have a fasting period. I was however, never a big breakfast person. When I first started McDougalling I almost always ate 3 meals per day (oatmeal for breakfast). Over time as I got much closer to what I consider my natural / ideal weight, and because of some changes to my daily schedule in the last 18 months or so I shifted over to usually only eating 2 meals (which for me has meant mostly saying goodbye to my daily oatmeal). It feels like it works for me, especially since I tend to be a volume eater.

I feel that I often overeat due to other reasons than because I'm hungry. It's a constant struggle that I'm working toward overcoming. Mostly I overeat at night. I would be interested in how you made a change to your present eating schedule if it was a change when you started the McD diet plan.
Thanks, Moonlight

I have sometimes found myself eating for reasons other than hunger, as well - boredom, stress, even as what I think is a subconscious attempt at "self-medicating" for pain; I can definitely identify with your struggle. There are a couple of things that I feel have helped me to manage and try to stay in touch with my actual hunger drive - I get up pretty early in the morning (usually at 5 am) and always exercise before doing anything else, and I try to keep busy each day. I'm usually REALLY tired by 9:30 or 10 pm and since I almost always finish supper around 6 pm, I am basically never hungry before going to sleep. The other big help has been the MWL checklist, and specifically preloading with salad or soup or both. If I'm not hungry enough that my big daily salad or a simple vegetable soup seem appealing to me, I'm probably not really hungry. Those monster salads have actually become one of my favorite things to eat, and I feel deprived when I don't have a chance to start a meal with salad because of being away from home or lack of time.

I hope that answers your question, and let me know if I can provide any other support - I am really grateful to you and my other MWL group friends for all the support you've given me!

[Mark Cooper]

JOURNAL
Excellent calisthenics workout this morning, busy day, pain was very mild today.
EXERCISE
Physical Therapy Exercises, 3 sets
Calisthenics, 60 minutes
Bridges & Crunches, 2 sets
MEALS
1st Meal

Everyday Salad, Spinach Tomato Soup, Sweet Potato, Russet Potato, California Mix by Mark Cooper, on Flickr

2nd Meal

Everyday Salad, Manhattan Bean Soup, Green Beans by Mark Cooper, on Flickr
COMPLIANCE
10 Pt MWL Checklist
10/10

[moonlight]

Thank you, Mark, for your reply. It inspires me and gives me hope that I will make this plan work for me more often than I've been doing for the last few months. I admire your approach and success! I feel that I'm motivated to stay on plan more than I have been in quite sometime. I was mostly compliant but not enough to continue losing weight. I'm motivated to stick to the MWL plan more so. I think focusing on having soup and or salad at my lunch and evening meals has helped tremendously. I'm really enjoying soups these days. I miss it when I don't have some made. Also, I think my increase in exercise has helped with my energy level.

Congratulations!

[Mark Cooper]

Thank you, Mark, for your reply. It inspires me and gives me hope that I will make this plan work for me more often than I've been doing for the last few months. I admire your approach and success! I feel that I'm motivated to stay on plan more than I have been in quite sometime. I was mostly compliant but not enough to continue losing weight. I'm motivated to stick to the MWL plan more so. I think focusing on having soup and or salad at my lunch and evening meals has helped tremendously. I'm really enjoying soups these days. I miss it when I don't have some made. Also, I think my increase in exercise has helped with my energy level.

Congratulations!

Exercise has been really key to my energy level, too; as well as to my daily sense of well-being.