December 2017 McDougall Weigh In Thread

[Svenja]

Heya all!

I skipped last week ... sorry ... I wasn't well. I still struggle a bit with "after-crazy-study time-symptoms"

But I lost 4 pounds

Today there will be a great Christmas-Market-Fundraising-Event at my church ... and there will be tons of temptations! Hope I'll stay on track ...

Have a great 1. advent weekend everyone!

Blessings,
Svenja.

[dwf888$]

I am just starting today. My goal is for this group to help with portion focus. I eat the correct foods, just too much. I am at 120, which is 2 pounds higher than my norm.

[Purposive]

1 pound loss =210 started October 4, 2017 @ 238. Purposive

Just barely made it through the week with a little loss. Related very close to almost every post I read this morning! Thanks everyone for sharing. New month, new courage and a group to share with- I actually look forward to all December brings. My BIG goal now is to tighten up the eating plan (decrease the tofu, nuts and avacados) and hit below 200. Can't think of a better goal! I already feel so much better in just two months. Twenty one years ago I severely broke my right leg and ankle in a bike accident. For the last ten years I have had severe pain whenever I first walked on it after non-weightbearing for just a few minutes. GONE is that pain! That alone should keep me on track with the MWLP! And guess what? My orthopedic doctor said it couldn't be fixed secondary to predicted arthritis in the ankle joint. It truly amazes me to read how much diet can change so many health issues.
Enjoy the magic of the holidays my sojourners. We have so many blessings to share.

[zsilent1]

Amy, thanks for the recipe links. Gingerbread is LOVED in this household. The happiness site is great! Thanks for that,too!

Group Mates!

[url][/url]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wro3bqi4Eb8

Hope the link works. It’s for Tighten Up by Archie Bell and the Drells. For some reason that song has been in me head lately.

Happiness to all you wonderful Souls!

Susan

[topview.]

I'm going to jump in this week. I currently weigh 116lbs. I'm working on a Mary's Mini right now, focusing on weight loss to be slim and trim and not hot when we go to Haiti on Dec. 22. I'm 43 years old, prediabetic when I"m not strict and am 4'11. It doesn't take much to fuel my tiny frame... strict McDougall is the only way I can stay healthy.

[zsilent1]

Purposeful, plants are so amazing for healing the body. At times I can actually feel my body correcting conditions like arthritis in my joints. And to think of all the stuff I used to take for it. Now, my joints are sooo much better and I know they will continue to improve as long as I stick with eating WFPB. I am extremely grateful that I finally found the key to health and what works. No gimmicks, no big money to be made here, just the truth. Thank you, Dr Mcdougall for putting thr Truth out there!

Susan

[angmccon]

Okay starting the December challenge at 169.4. that is .2lbs down from last week. I'm ready for an awesome week! We got this!! Good luck everyone.

Got my oatmeal cooking and potatoes ready for lunch.

Have a great day!

Thanks for the ticker info. I tried to get it last night but it wanted me to download a free file converter. I didn't want that. I'll try again.

Peace and health,
Angela

[Sundog]

Weighed 244.3 today! Down 0.8 for the week. Down 6.5 lbs since the first weigh in Nov,2017 I’m happy with a loss. The loss has been slow and steady and I’m okay with this.Im working on becoming 100% compliant. This means no nuts,olives,avocado. It’s so weird this last week I have been craving black olives! Living with two young adult daughters who are so hormonal this week. It’s crazy as olives are what I craved being pregnant with both of them! In the past I would have probably given up already! With this WOE there is no deprivation and I don’t feel like this is a ‘diet!’ I’m not exercising right now or since joining the blog in Nov. Hopefully soon I will get back to the gym. When I went to the Dr.in Sept I was 256 lbs! So progress working towards perfection in McDougalls MWL is my goal so I can achieve a healthy body. I’m wishing everyone here a healthy December. Stay focused on your health as you are so worth a life of health and happiness! Linda Aka Sundog

Amy I don’t know why this post time stamped at 1221 as it’s only 1122am PST! I guess they did not change the clock due to daylight savings hour So!

[ANNAUK]

Hey all
I'm back
First step is logging in !!
Going to look over the suggested reads some of you gave me and thank you ) ready not feeling the binge at Xmas. Going to use my happy herbivore holidays and gatherings cookbook for the holidays.
Anyone else decided on what they are making with family and healthy eating in mind??
Xxx

[Starchyme]

Hi. I may be too late; but weighed in this morning. Need to lose 6 lbs to be at goal. Today was Day 1. Will report again Friday. . I started McDougalling in 1996. Lost 40 lbs and then was 25% off a couple years & regained 18 lbs. Right now I only have the 6 lbs left to be at goal. This is the year it'll be achieved and maintained.

[amandamechele]

Alright, I don't know where my brain went when I figured I'd only be doing one post this week, so Hello Again all!

Thank you for checking in and sharing a little about yourselves, your week and your goals.

The staff psychologist of the McDougall Program has a weekly podcast that I enjoy listening to. It is not specific to WFPB eating, answering listener questions across a multitude of situations from the context of evolutionary psychology, but this week I thought that one of the discussions would be of interest to any of you that struggle with that desperate feeling that can occur when you decide that you want to make big changes in the way you are eating.
Starting at the 43 minute and 22 second mark of the podcast, a listener asks:

What can I do with the high anxiety involved with knowing it's time to get with the program and eat and drink healthy? There's times in my past where I've acknowledged what I need to do, but just that acknowledgement leads me to go overboard knowing that I won't be able to have something anymore. What's the best approach to this situation?

BeatYourGenes: Episode 93

We think of self-esteem as something given to us from other people. We imagine when we set a weight-loss or fitness goal how we are going to feel when the people around us notice the changes. We think this is what will bring us happiness, but that is simply not the case, according to Dr. Lisle.
It is actually what he calls our internal audience, which is a self-contained proxy for a generalized external group (right inside our own heads) that is responsible for those motivational feelings. Unfortunately, because we've probably tried to lose weight before, our internal audience is a tough crowd to convince that we actually mean business this time. This is why getting started on a weight loss journey can be so tricky, there is a lag between getting started and the feelings of motivation/esteem needed to maintain momentum. (I think this is one of the reasons why we tend to freak out at the thought of giving up all of the foods we think we love, because we don't trust that we can really do this yet and without that trust forever is just too long a time to contemplate doing something that feels so uncomfortable and wrong.)
He suggests thinking of a healthy change in your life as a 60 day experiment, because it takes about that amount of time to see some very real results through hard work and diligent effort. It takes about that amount of time for you to begin feeling like you are doing well and get out of many of the motivational traps he has discussed in other lectures. A limited time experiment also eliminates that fear of having to give something up forever.
The biggest insight of his career is that the self-esteem mechanism is dynamic and our natural intuition about how it works is incorrect. By building up the skills necessary to achieve a goal you will begin to feel good about that process because your own mind is telling you that other people will like what you are doing. This will make you feel happy (and thus motivated) until those real people in your lives actually do notice all of that effort and progress.
To me, this acts very much like a positive feedback loop - your internal audience says good job, which amplifies your motivation and efforts, which are then even more noticeable to those around you, who then send positive esteem signals, which amplifies your motivation and efforts, and so forth and so on...

The vast majority of human happiness comes from esteem signals from other people and understanding how to shift those signals is central to understanding the mechanics of how happiness works.

My weight loss for the month of November was very very small. After my successful October Challenge (with pictures) I drifted back into more comfortable patterns and that is not going to get me where I want to be. I am going to take Dr. Lisle's suggestion and give this a very real go for 60 days. I'm taking some deep breaths right now because I already feel the pinging at the back of my head resisting. I'm already working through the extinction burst of stopping my habitual night time snacking (See The Cram Circuit webinar for an explanation if you are unfamiliar with what I am referring to). I'm going to fight that caged feeling because I know it will pass.
I can do this....and so can you!
Best wishes to everyone this week.

Amy XO



Here are the results for the first week in December:

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, December 8th, 2017

Total group loss reported in 2017: 757.66 pounds

December 2017 Weight Loss Group :: Monthly Weigh-In Results
Total group loss in January 2017: 137.25 pounds
Total group loss in February 2017: 102.91 pounds
Total group loss in March 2017: 111.3 pounds
Total group loss in April 2017: 56.1 pounds
Total group loss in May 2017: 41.8 pounds
Total group loss in June 2017: 44.4 pounds
Total group loss in July 2017: 34.9 pounds
Total group loss in August 2017: 59.6 pounds
Total group loss in September 2017: 41.9 pounds
Total group loss in October 2017: 41.7 pounds
Total group loss in November 2017: 70.4 pounds
Total group loss in December 2017: 15.4 pounds

Week ending 12/01/2017: 21 participants reported a total loss of 15.4 pounds
---------------------------------------
Werner1950 - 2.0
CamiJb - 8.0
---------------------------------------
Total gains: 10.0
--------------------------------------
Suey51 - 1.0
Katie3 - 0.2
Stillcrazy - 0.0
Anne57 - 2.2
Petmomful - 1.4
Galooop - 11.2
Zsilent1 - 0.0
Wild goose - 0.2
Moonlight - 1.0
TrimFitMe - 0.0
Angmccon - 0.2
Svenja - 4.0
Dwf888$ - 2.0
Purposive - 1.0
Topview - 0.0
Sundog - 0.8
AnnaUK - 0.0
StarchyMe - 0.0
amandamechele - 0.2
---------------------------------------------
Total losses: 25.4
---------------------------------------------

Total group loss in December 2017: 15.4 pounds
Week ending 12/01/2017: 21 participants reported a total loss of 15.4 pounds

[Stacyk]

So, just discovered this thread today so don’t have a current weight. Will weigh in in the morning. Followed the McDougall program from 2000 to 2007 then fell off the wagon when we moved to a different state. Never felt better and maintained a healthy weight effortlessly. Although no health issues, my weight is way up and just don’t have the energy I long for. Been struggling to get back with the program and stick with it even though I know I will feel better, lose the excess weight easily and love all the foods. Excited for this thread!

[Starchyme]

Happy you decided to come back, Stayck. I'm a returnee also. We live and learn, huh? Both of us will have tested the waters and found we had the best program going and will be more than appreciative and awesome this time!

[angmccon]

I am so unfamiliar with this format...I don't see anyway to respond to anyone directly other than going to the end of the page and posting?? Is that correct. So do you just keep notes as you are reading as to what you want to comment on? Sorry if these questions are silly. I want to give kuddos and make remarks as I'm reading but I don't see any easy way to do that.

Thanks for your help!

[amandamechele]

Svenja - I hope your Christmas fundraiser went well and you were able to stay on track. Great loss this week.

dwf888$ - Welcome and I hope we can be of help and some support. You are really close to your low weight, and I'm sure with a bit of focus you can reach your goal. Also remember we can experience small weight fluctuations for a number of reasons that aren't due to gaining weight. If you monitor your weight over the next month you will have a good idea of how much it fluctuates. The McDougall program, including MWL, doesn't use portion control specifically, but ascribes to the notion that if you are eating the proper foods, without oil, cooked without salt and mostly unrefined your natural satiety mechanisms will recognize when its the correct time to stop eating at any given meal (averaged over time). Something that can have you eating more calories than you need, even after eliminating all of the things not recommended, is night time snacking that is more of a habit than actual hunger. Best wishes this week, I look forward to hearing how it goes. The night time eating thing I mentioned above is talked about in Dr. Lisle's lecture the Cram Circuit (linked in a post above), if you are interested in more information.

Purposive - That's fabulous, regarding your ankle. I never stop being astounded as well about how our bodies respond to a proper diet. Now you can jump for joy painfree! You've got a good plan for the month (with less of the higher fat items) and you will see the scale respond accordingly. I hope you get your number, but please don't despair if you don't...when you eat this way properly its only a matter of time before you do. Have a great week.

Susan - Awesome song! I love the line I want you to tighten up for me now!. That's our Christmas goal. Happiness to you too, this week.

Melanie - It's great to have you with us for the month. What a wonderful holiday vacation you have planned. Will the whole family be going? That would be a big trip. Best wishes on the Mary's Mini..what starch did you choose to use? I always choose potatoes when I do one, I just can't imagine it any other way...lol.

Angela - Yes...I get to invoke my favourite baby meme (LOL):

Good luck this week, it will be awesome. Let me know if you continue to have trouble with the ticker, someone here is bound to know how to do it. I've just never taken the time to figure it out.

Linda - I'm happy that you are happy and continuing to plug away at this. That's exactly how weight loss happens, 1 pound at a time, and never as quickly as we imagine. But it will happen with enough effort and diligence. Oh man, I don't envy being in your house this week...lol. I only have 1 daughter and those hormonally charged weeks can be dramatic...ha! We are definitely worth a life of health and happiness. No worries about the time thing, it's just there as a cutoff guide. If you or someone else checks-in a little late I am always happy to add you in because, hey, you remembered to check in!

Anna - Exactly! Let's get ourselves sorted this first week or two of December so that when the holiday crush happens we are already in what Dr. Lisle calls a deep groove. I always think of it as being in The Zone, but since that sounds like a Dr. Barry Sears thing, I guess I need some new vocabulary for that pattern. I love that cookbook! What are you going to make?

Starchyme - Welcome! You've been at this for a long time, how wonderful. Keep us posted about how you are doing. You've maintained a great loss for a long time, bucking the odds, I have no doubt that you can get this weight back off and keep it off.

Stacyk - I'm excited to have you here too! Like Starchyme, you know what needs to be done and now it's just time to fiddle with the application details. Like, how to stay on plan through a variety of challenges. I'm pretty sure you are familiar with him, but just in case you're not, check out Dr. Lisle's lectures that I posted in this week's tally - specifically The Cram Circuit and the ones from his website. His work has been so helpful for me in understanding how to maintain the motivation necessary to keep the weight that I have already lost off, while I figure out the tweaks necessary to get to my final goal.

Angela - When you read a post that you want to specifically respond to, click the "quote" icon in the top right corner of that post and it will open up a response box that includes the post that you are responding to. I'll show you what it looks like below.

TrimFitMe - Thank you for sharing so much of your story. I just want to confirm that you are seeing these messages. Can you respond in this thread if you are? I'm going to repost your update so the others can see it. I hope you see all of our posts. Good luck this week.