September 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Amberlina]

09/011/2020 - weight 151
Weight change +/- in lbs - (0)
Total loss since 7/7/2020: (-9)
Points from the MWL Checklist where I succeeded this week- Especially #1- I was good at starting breakfast with fruit, lunch and dinner with a salad or soup.
Points from the MWL Checklist that need greater attention- #7, I definitely ate too much bread a couple of days this week.
General impressions & observations / resources to share / sources of excitement / requests for input & support- I am going to try and simplify things even more this coming week and really knock out the breads. I think I am going to stick to brown rice, potatoes and corn for my starch and avoid bread/pasta/ corn tortilla because I think it is leading me to binge on them once I start to have a bit.
Also...thank you for the link to the Jeff Novick handout page! It was a great resource.

[rlechols]

Last week's weight: 143 lbs
This week's weight: 142.5 lbs
Loss of 0.5 lb

How I did on the checklist:

1. Start with soup/salad/fruit: 7/7
2. Follow the 50/50 plate: 7/7
3. Reduce or eliminate salt and sugar: 7/7
4. Eliminate animal foods: 7/7
5. Eliminate higher fat plant foods: 7/7
6. Eliminate oil: 7/7
7. Eliminate higher calorically dense foods: 5/7
8. Don't drink your calories: 7/7
9: Eat when hungry and stop when full: 7/7
10. Avoid being sedentary: 7/7

I don't have much to report for the week. It was the same as usual, things are going well. I am hanging in there. I hope everyone else is too.

[connielovesdogs]

CW: 180.5
Loss: .4

I felt like I did well this week, but was a little bummed not to see it on the scale. Not sure what that is about, but I did switch up having more soup instead of salad before meals. We made split pea soup in the Instapot. It's McDougall recipe, but is more like a meal in its own right.

Going to monitor more closely the MWL and make sure I'm not missing other things.

Did great with exercise. Weather is cooler now, so excited to get outside even more!!

[GreenFroG]

Hello everyone,

Weight Change: -2.0 pounds
Current weight: 147.4

Checklist:
1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes
2) Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for desert. 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. Yes
9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. No. Ate past full a few times.
10) Avoid being sedentary and at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. Yes

Yeah! My scale moved again after a stall. I felt I did fairly well this week on the checklist except for #9. I catch myself eating past the full level. I am still working on slowing down my eating to help with this, but it is a work in progress. I also caught myself weighing on the scale before Friday but, overall, a great week! My focus this week will be #9 and #10. I am trying to work on my exercise routine.

Have a good week.

[laurag]

Weight 134 loss 1 lb

Really good on adding more veggies and on
Drinking water instead of diet coke

Lost it on exercise (and cereal, why so good!)

Goal to work on last week was my night time routine I am making headway! So I want to keep focused on that. dinner is a bag of frozen spinach with braggs corn with cilantro and Crystal hot sauce rice and lentils with yummy topper of pickled onion and jalapeno and more hot sauce! I do some pickled cucumbers as a salad starter. Later I had more spinach and corn then cherries desert, where I mess up is a bowl of sugar cereal at end, I go all day doing what works I am tired of messing it up at end, this week I did have a night when I did it right and that is a big deal for me I hope to make a new habit of doing it the right way!

Don't beat up ourselves! Just keep it going with what is working!

peace

[Lachoffman]

Weighing in today at 185 for a 2 lb loss since last week. Happy to report an overall loss of 31 lbs since beginning the MWL program on 7/4/20 (from 216 to 185). I'm a 61-year-old 5'9" female.

Challenging week due to extensive travel and not having complete control over my food selections/choices. Finally off the road and at home for the foreseeable future so will be able to stay more closely on MWL plan.

10-Point Checklist
1. Start with soup/salad/fruit: MOSTLY
2. Follow the 50/50 plate: YES
3. Reduce/eliminate salt and sugar: YES
4. Eliminate animal foods: ALL BUT ONE MEAL
5. Eliminate higher fat plant foods: YES, COMPLETELY
6. Eliminate oil: ALL BUT ONE MEAL
7. Eliminate higher calorically dense foods: MOSTLY
8. Don't drink your calories: MOSTLY
9: Eat when hungry/stop when full: YES
10. Avoid being sedentary: YES, COMPLETELY

[wavingwheat]

Hello Mark and everyone
I was happy with the scale this morning. Last week was at 166.2 and this morning at 163.0 so a 3.2 pound loss. Whoo-hoo!!
I've been doing better with the 10 point checklist. I've eaten less fruit; ending evening meals with caffeine free herb tea instead. Not stuffing myself; if there is more on my plate than what I want to eat, it goes in the trash. I've cut back on the amount of nutritional yeast. It makes me feel silly that I never thought about the calories in it before now. Yesterday was really stressful. I had a strong desire for warm freshly baked cookies but I had plain air popped popcorn instead. I know that is a high calorie density food but I figured it was better than cookies. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Carol

[ChristinaElizabeth]

Hi!
This is my first weigh in with this group. So let me introduce myself. My name is Christina and I am a 51 year old mom of 4 grown sons, grandmother of 1, and wife of Doug. We watched Forks Over Knives about 5 or 6 years ago and realized that this was the way we should eat to help my husband with his chronic health issues. We both naturally gravitated toward Dr. McDougall's eating recommendations because eating starch just makes sense. Of course there have been plenty of times when I let cheese, and treats creep into my life and so I have not lost weight over the years even though I think time after time that I will give MWL a try but I never seem able to stick with my resolutions. This seems like a really great group and I am hoping that it will be part of the solution for me. I am 5 foot 1 and weighed 155.0 lbs at my starting weigh in on Wednesday morning.

Weight change -1.8 (153.2)
10-Point Checklist for Maximum Weight Loss

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. YES
3. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
4. 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
5. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
6. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).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. NO
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).YES

Because these were the first few days I really had to think about the checklist quite a bit each day. I did ok, but I was hungry on Thursday and today. I think one of the reasons is because I did not eat starch for breakfast, instead I ate a banana as I was going out the door to walk my dogs. I think that I need to work on eating starch for breakfast this week and I am hoping that following the checklist will become a little easier.

[kirstykay]

Weight Change: -0.3

It's great to be back here and weighing in with you all again. I had a very small weight loss this week, but a weight loss none the less. My husband's birthday was last weekend, and I had some richer foods as we celebrated. It was a conscious choice and I did not feel at all bad about it.

I am getting back to the 10-point checklist.

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. (No. This is the area I consistently struggle with.)
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. (Most days)
3. Choose fruit for dessert. (Homemade Vegan Birthday cake)
4. 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. (Mostly - except for the cake)
5. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
6. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).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).

I am feeling good about this week even though I wasn't perfect. I didn't make "mistakes," this week, I made choices. I decided to allow some room to celebrate with food for my husband's birthday. I expect to follow the checklist more closely this coming week.
Hope everyone has a great weekend! And a healthy week!

[Renestl]

July 1 (SW) - 239.6
Aug 28 - 229.1 (-1.1)
Sept 4 - 227.4 (-1.7)
Sept 11 - 226.4 (-1.0)

Numbers 1, 5, and 8 were a solid, easy yes. The rest are at mostly. I do really well during the day and then about dinner time, when everyone else is eating something that smells like comfort, I fall into the 'one little taste won't hurt' trap. The last 3 days, I've been able to power through. I think I'm getting better at talking myself out of it using the 'I think I want to eat it, but do I REALLY want to eat it' trick and remembering how I'll feel the next day.

[Mark Cooper]

Expat in NZ - Another solid week, Lindsey! Nice work not letting those couple of exceptions start to multiply. I don't think the changes in appetite and sensations of fullness you describe are unusual for someone following MWL (of course, neither are they ubiquitous); I definitely experienced something similar myself, going from normally always eating 3 meals each day and a snack, to now usually being satisfied with just 2 (fairly sizable, in my case) meals. It seems to me this may largely be due to the MWL behavior pattern supplying a pretty ideal balance of lasting satiety, while being overall calorie dilute. Of course, as we lose weight, our body "needs" somewhat fewer calories, which I would imagine could also have a modest effect on appetite. Here Jeff reviews a dietary trial which reported reduced hunger, increased sensations of fullness, and improved appetite control in women attempting weight loss when consuming low energy-dense foods, so this seems like it may be a common experience. If you find that you are filling up on non-starchy vegetables, to the point where you don't have room for the starches, adjusting the portion size to ensure you're having adequate starch in each meal seems like exactly the correct tactic to me. I don't know that any particular fat, in any particular location necessarily "goes first;" it seems more likely to me that we lose some percentage of fat "everywhere" if that makes sense. I think accurate visual self-assessment of things like this can be pretty difficult (I know I find it so); we see ourselves every day, and the changes take place very gradually, so during the process it doesn't look nearly as dramatic as when comparing pictures taken 3, 6 or 12 months apart. Keep at it, you are doing great!

Diane Marie - My sympathies for everything you have been going through. It is hard for me to imagine how stressful and challenging this week must have felt. You are so right to observe that taking care of yourself is important, and a necessary prerequisite for being able to care well for others.

When you get time, bake a bunch of potatoes/sweet potatoes and put them in the fridge. Potatoes can be lifesavers on the run. Grab one, put it in a plastic bag in your purse. Add a fast-food salad and an apple, you’re good! They’re also great with some steamed veggies at home when you don’t want to fix anything complicated.

I want to echo this, it is great advice; when you have the opportunity and energy to do so, putting some time into preparing a stock of adherent foods is the best way to make adherence as easy as possible on yourself. Take care and treat yourself kindly, I'm wishing for the best possible resolutions to those trying situations.

LesleyMills - With that consistent adherence, I fully expect your re-calibrated scale will be reporting further progress before long! Well done pitching those rice cakes, when they felt too tempting. Enjoy that newly available outdoor time! Onward!

josietheschnauzer - That seems like a pretty perfect week! I really love Mrs. Dash on my salads, too; the Lemon Pepper Seasoning is my personal favorite. Route 66! How fun!

Cathy Ann - Hang in there! Making these changes in our lifestyle and behavior can be really difficult, especially in the face of immediate temptations. When setbacks inevitably occur, if you can, treat yourself with compassion, and try to view your next meal as a fresh opportunity to return to the recommended behaviors. I find it can be valuable to try to capture whatever "lesson" might be present in a setback or challenge, as well. Was anything different about this week, in regard to your preparation, routine, or environment? It's in the past now, and a return to the basics is always a sound approach.

NateKruse - Nice loss! Sounds like a pretty good week! Since you mentioned those muffins being the main "exception," do you have any intuition as to why you decided to make them on Sunday and Monday? Were you especially hungry, inspired to make them after watching the video, or spurred in some other particular way?

calharv - That is another big drop, Cal! It can be a nearly impossible challenge to effectively trace a particular weigh-in result to any discrete, singular variance or change; as always, adhering as closely as you are able to the recommended pattern of behavior provides the best support for continued progress. Slow and steady!

Creaky - Wow! A much better week, indeed! I'm glad those GI issues resolved for you. That soup sounds great! Cheers to no cravings!

Golightly - Delightful surprises are always welcome!

Something I’m learning about my body is to just stick with the plan and let my body do its thing.

I think you are on the right track with this. Congratulations on being in the "pound-a-week" club, great progress!

wstokes - Nice result! Try not to worry too much ; ongoing progress in adhering to the MWL 10-Point Checklist is always within reach, just keep doing your best.

Wfpb2020 - Down a pound! Increased stress seems to make everything more of a challenge. When you feel the urge to "stress eat," do you think it would help to aim for always at least eating something adherent before deciding to reach for something off plan? Keep at it; I hope you see some less stressful days ahead.

CindyD - Goodbye to another 1.7 lbs! It appears you did great this week! Barring any other troublesome ingredients, the main concern with lentil/bean pasta is Dr. McDougall's recommendation to limit pulses to 1 cup/day on average.

However, Dr McDougall recommends limiting all beans/lentil to about 1 cup/day on average. It would be easy to go over that with bean pasta. You would not have to worry about that with whole grain pasta.

The bean/lentil pasta are also very expensive and offer no real benefit over the whole grain pasta.

How cool is it that we have participants on opposite sides of the globe, right?!? I grew up in Iowa, and I totally know what you mean about fall feeling like soup weather.

jkcook - Big congrats on fitting comfortably into those jeans! Try to look at this week as presenting some opportunities to fortify your routine - can you think of any particular reason or change in situation that led to you deciding to include tofu in that otherwise compliant batch of pasta and veggies? What precipitated having the pizza? Were you as well-prepared as past weeks? Did something change in your environment or routine? Travel definitely presents challenges; the best way to overcome them is by planning to succeed, and getting prepared. Jeff has a great post on food for travel. Enjoy your trip and see you in two weeks!

frowsyowl - Way to get started on the 50/50 plate and eliminating calorie dense processed foods! Having abundant room for improvement offers a lot of opportunities; keep moving toward the recommended pattern of behavior, tackling those things that feel attainable each day. When surrounded with tempting, troublesome foods, it is probably especially important to focus on eating the recommended foods whenever you feel hungry. My favorite soup is basically Jeff's Longevity Soup, although I tend to adjust the specific ingredients to fit whatever I have on hand. Enjoy those morning walks!

Amberlina - Well done including a preload for all your meals! Keeping things simple nearly always makes adherence feel more easily attainable.

I am going to stick to brown rice, potatoes and corn for my starch and avoid bread/pasta/ corn tortilla because I think it is leading me to binge on them once I start to have a bit.

Sounds like a good plan!

rlechols - Another typically top-notch week, Rachel! No news is good news, when we're in the groove!

connielovesdogs - Sounds like you did do well! With your big drop last week, I don't think a more modest result on the scale this week seems unusual. That said, whenever we're feeling like our progress isn't meeting our expectations, a thorough appraisal of the guidelines and principles of MWL is always a wise approach. I totally agree with you that the McDougall recipe split pea soup can be more of a meal in it's own right, I find it to be quite filling. Enjoy that time outside in the lovely weather!

GreenFroG - Yeah! Down 2! It always feels so gratifying when the scale matches our perception of progress. Getting myself dialed in on what is "comfortably full" was something that took me some time, and concentrating on eating more slowly really did help me with that. Keep doing your best! Try to have fun while you get in that daily activity!

laurag - Kudos! Having a night where it felt like everything was "right" demonstrates to yourself that you can do it again in the future - that is a big deal! Cereal was a real stumbling block for me, too; I tried to make a special point of only having cereals I didn't find tempting in the house, until I was well past feeling any cravings for it. Hear, hear to not beating up on ourselves and keeping going!

Lachoffman - Huzzah! 2 lbs this week and 31 lbs since July 4th! Awesome! For a week where you were travelling extensively, you seem to have done your best; I'm sure being home is a welcome comfort.

wavingwheat - Woo-hoo! A 3.2 pound loss! Don't feel silly, Carol, people often don't realize the various concerns with nutritional yeast; you are certainly not alone in that. Sorry yesterday felt so stressful! Keep learning, making improvements where you are able, and continuing to build healthy habits.

ChristinaElizabeth - You seem to be off to an auspicious start! Well done adopting the recommended behaviors! I think you have probably assessed the cause of those bouts with hunger correctly; whenever you are feeling hungry, eat the recommended foods in the recommended fashion until you are comfortably full, and include an adequate amount of starch in each meal (~50% by visual volume). It takes some trial and error to get everything dialed-in and fitting into one's daily routine. Fantastic first week!

kirstykay - It's great to have you back in the group! I think you rightfully feel good about how the week went; a week of feeling in control, making conscious choices about what you would or wouldn't do in a given situation, and also not letting the decision to deviate on a particular occasion become part of a narrative of recrimination or justify a stampede of deviations seems like an important stepping stone on your journey. Knowing you didn't make any "mistakes" feels like an important part of that to me. It seems worth acknowledging that really what we aim for isn't being perfect, but crafting an overall pattern of behavior and lifestyle that can support progress toward our goals in a sustainable way.

Renestl - Down a pound! Having 3/10 points of behavior feel easy seems like progress worth noting, as well as successfully beating back those cravings over the last 3 days. Taking a breath to be mindful of the way troublesome foods are likely to make you feel the next day, and whether they'll really be "worth it" seems like a useful practice. That "one little taste won't hurt" does certainly feel like a trap; so often, of course, the first bite leads directly to a second, third and fourth, right?

If you experience cravings for unhealthy foods, you can beat these cravings by choosing healthy foods to eat and knowing that these cravings will eventually pass and stop. However, you can not beat your biology (hunger) and your biology/hunger will eventually win.

[Kathie]

223.2

Not a good week.

Not enough soup and salad. Too much sugar.
No meat, but some high fat plant-based foods.

Trying again this next week ...

[Creaky]

I want to work on MWL item #1. Does anyone have a favorite soup/recipe to use as a starter?

Jeff's Longevity Soup is a great soup to start with: https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... evity-Soup

You can flavor it different way, use different beans, etc.

[Abe]

Weight Change: -2 lbs.

• Follow 50/50 plate volume.
  I took Mark's advice and made two of Jeff's meals this week. I tried the Potato Cauliflower Curry, and the Mexican Beans and Rice. They were great, and it was helpful to make such giant recipes. I was not perfect with 50/50, but I was not terrible either.
  
• Avoid being sedentary.
  I added the Bowflex Max Trainer into my exercise rotation. Man, it is a tough workout.
• So all of my whining and bellyaching last week worked - it took two pounds off! I think the same thing happened once before with my weight loss stalling and then resuming after I was convinced it would never budge again... The moral of the story is that I just need to stick with it, and not worry about how long it takes.
• Blood Work
  I just had my blood work done, and the comparison with last year is astounding. My total cholesterol went from 230 to 113, with the LDL going from 163 to 64. My HDL went from 33 to 24. I found this link on the McDougall website if anyone is interested in learning more about the numbers:
  https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2003nl ... orsens.htm
• Thanks for the encouragement josietheschnauzer and Noella!

[VivianS]

VivianS September 11, 2020
Weight change: - 1 pound I weigh 153.2
I succeeded on points 1, 2, 4 , 5 , 8, 9 and 10.
Points on the MWL program that need greater attention are 3,6, 7 and 10.
Points 3 (eliminate sugar and salt), 6 (eliminate oil) and 7 (Refined food products. I used 1/2 cup of tomato basil sauce in a recipe making 2 servings. Next time, I will chop rwo tomatoes and add basil seasoning.
Added oil is in the brown rice I bought that goes in the microwave for minute to make 1 cup. I am going to ask my nephew to make brown rice in his Instant Pot (an electric pressure cooker). He thinks the pot makes too much for one person so he isn't using it. He is diabetic. I am not. Maybe if he makes it for me, he will be encouraged to eat some brown rice himself.
For improvenment on point 10, I went swimming again tonight. I hope to be able to play chase with the children more days this coming week. I want to be outside to do a daily walk.
To Diane Marie in Australia,
I am sorry about your losses. I admire you for doing what you must do to care for your mother. Doing this program will help you care for yourself, too.

To Mark, Jeff, and the MWL board, thank you for making this forum available. I have been helped by making these posts. Your advice and continual reminder to look at the checklist daily has helped me find my mistakes so I can actually lose weight. I know you are helping others find success, too. As the little children say in daycare,"You are WINNERS!"
Sincerely,
VIVIANS