July 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[josietheschnauzer]

The number of participants is amazing! Thank you, Mark, for your posts in response to all of us. Thank you for including articles that we can read. I echo everyone's comment on our Wild Goose post. I am internalizing it. Thank you very much.

[Zoey]

Mark - Thank you so much for your kindness and patience with each and every poster. I don't think the time and effort you put into this can be overstated.

To everyone, congratulations on joining, losing, maintaining, or staying the course through an unexpected gain. I've been through all of them, and this accountability helps me so much. I was so ashamed to post the times I gained or didn't lose, but I advise everyone to post it anyway, because it gave me the motivation to stick to the program more stringently.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

[Tobinterri]

I am currently in the July group and want to continue. I need the accountability even if no one comments. I was having trouble finding things online on my computer , thought it might be easier this way. Looking forward to a good month.

[Tobinterri]

Not sure if this is where I ask a question or not. Where do the beans and legumes come in? I mean, do they replace the starchy veggies or grains or in addition to one of the others? I don't think it's clear. I have been eating about a half cup of beans/lentils with my veggies or on a grain or starchy veg. Is that correct? Also, I gained a pound in the 3 days I have followed the plan. That is not good. Thanks

[JeffN]

Not sure if this is where I ask a question or not. Where do the beans and legumes come in? I mean, do they replace the starchy veggies or grains or in addition to one of the others? I don't think it's clear. I have been eating about a half cup of beans/lentils with my veggies or on a grain or starchy veg. Is that correct? Also, I gained a pound in the 3 days I have followed the plan. That is not good. Thanks

Beans are counted as a starch.

While we do not recommend counting, measuring, or weighing your food, there are a few items that have limits. Beans are one of those foods and the recommendation is to limit them to about 1 cup a day, on average.

Some people gain weight in the beginning few days to an increase in fiber, water, etc. This is why we do not recommend weighing everyday. Instead, we recommend weighing once a week. You can read more about it in this article, To Weigh or Not to Weigh

https://www.drmcdougall.com/2018/04/12/ ... -to-weigh/

Make sure you take some time to read through the other posts as there is a lot of valuable information from the moderators.

In Health
Jeff

[Cathmc]

Hi Mark, Wow! Thanks for all the hard work I see you putting in to help us all. In answer to this
"Cathmc - Hi! Catching up with this thread is indeed an undertaking! Have you made a start practicing the recommended behaviors?"

I have to admit that today is the first day I am fully on board.
I wasn´t prepared for this challenge in the least, ( shopping and cooking wise) and yesterday was an important (for me and mine) family gathering. I did really well at just eating plant based salad, but had a little bread and some cake .
I´ve been cooking today and am more or less all set for the week ahead and looking forward to it.

All in from here.

xx

[Kathie]

I'm doing fine so far. But my husband eats SAD and we still have a lot of that kind of food in the house. Does anyone have any ideas about how to do MWL with a spouse who definitely does NOT want to do even regular McDougall, much less MWL? My husband works full time and I stay home, so I do almost all of the cooking. It's only me and my husband at home now. All kids are grown and gone.

[Mark Cooper]

A reminder / explanation for everyone - Friday is this group's weigh-in day, and participants have until noon pacific time (19:00 UTC) on Saturday to post a report of their result for the week. Those of you who posted outside that window of time aren't included in this week's summary, but our next weigh-in will be on Friday, July 10. This group is all about changing patterns of behavior, so it seems reasonable to me to expect those who choose to participate in the weekly weigh-in to honor that time frame for reporting.

It also occurs to me, since we have so many brand new participants, many of you are probably not yet familiar with the search function of the discussion board. If you go to the top right corner of any discussion board page, you will see a box with a search button directly beneath it. You can enter a term or question in the box, click the button, and find previous posts on the topic. Additionally, if you click on "Advanced search" (directly to the right of the search button), you can perform a more detailed search by keywords, specific author username, and search a specific subforum (e.g. Maximum Weight Loss Program). Search can be really useful for finding answers for questions or gaining information. For example, this is an advanced search for keywords "label reading" by author "JeffN" - it delivers a list of Jeff's posts on that topic, starting from the most recent and working backward. You can even search through your own posts by entering your username in the author field. Hopefully, that explanation is helpful; let me know if anything is unclear.

Drew* - "Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time." Step-by-step will get you there.

jan_npr - A significant change in our situation or routine can frequently knock us off-track; I've found that planning ahead for how best to manage those changes can make a big difference. I'm happy you are back posting & back on the program!

MandyF - If pasta feels troublesome for you, as with any specific individual food, just leave it out. Keep it mind that, depending on the specifics of that "cheese" sauce, the sauce itself could perhaps have contributed toward overconsumption - nutritional yeast is ~1700 calories / lb (just as calorie dense as sugar), so if one were to choose to use it, it should be used very sparingly - I would limit consumption to less than 2 Tbsp in a given day. Jeff covers the topic in more detail here. A focus on the basic fundamentals is always the best thing to return to when we're struggling.

terri530 - I hope your birthday was a happy one, despite the rough week! Eliminating all remaining animal foods can be a big hurdle, depending on your starting point, but it will really payoff in the long run. Hang in there!

pixie98642 - Welcome! Congratulations for the impressive results you've attained over the last 5 weeks! 13.8 lbs lost is outstanding! Getting yourself to the position where the program feels "easy to follow" makes all the difference. You can do this!

Noella, josietheschnauzer, & Zoey - Thank you for your kind words! I really appreciate it.

Tobinterri - In case you missed it, Jeff answered your question regarding legumes and short-term weight gain here.

Beans are counted as a starch.

While we do not recommend counting, measuring, or weighing your food, there are a few items that have limits. Beans are one of those foods and the recommendation is to limit them to about 1 cup a day, on average.

Some people gain weight in the beginning few days to an increase in fiber, water, etc. This is why we do not recommend weighing everyday. Instead, we recommend weighing once a week. You can read more about it in this article, To Weigh or Not to Weigh

Cathmc - Thank you for those kind words.

I have to admit that today is the first day I am fully on board.
I wasn't prepared for this challenge in the least, ( shopping and cooking wise) and yesterday was an important (for me and mine) family gathering.

I suspect that you are not alone in that, so don't feel bad - now is always an excellent time to begin. I'm glad you are "all in!"

Kathie - When I cook for family that don't follow this way of eating, I usually try to think of building the meal out of separate pieces - most people enjoy baked potatoes, for example, and it is easy to have toppings that are adherent and family can add the more "standard" fixings and other non adherent choices, if they like. Something like a burrito bowl built on a base of brown rice and beans works well for this type of meal, too; both adherent and non adherent bowls could be assembled from a variety of additions. It really just depends on individual tastes. It can definitely be challenging to maintain adherence in a household that features plentiful troublesome foods. Something else that some find helpful - if any food is particularly tempting for you, perhaps your husband might be willing to take that item out of the house, or at least keep it somewhere out of the way. Those are just a few ideas; if any long-term MWLers are in this situation and have suggestions to share, please do so.

[jlewter11]

Please add me to this group. Looking forward to a great month!

[Zoey]

I'm doing fine so far. But my husband eats SAD and we still have a lot of that kind of food in the house. Does anyone have any ideas about how to do MWL with a spouse who definitely does NOT want to do even regular McDougall, much less MWL?

Kathie, I can at least give you some moral support even if I don't have much advice. My husband and I have always eaten 'differently', but it's never really been a challenge. It probably helps that I'm a very simple eater. The same things every day are fine with me.
Some examples are that we both love big salads and veggies and potatoes. Take that, and he just adds dressing to the salad and a side of meat, and we're good.
Last night, we had veggies and rice and beans. He just added some pork to his.
Tonight it'll probably be corn on the cob and other assorted veggies on the grill, and he'll throw a steak on for himself.
With the fresh green beans coming in now, I'll have one pot for me cooked in veggie broth, and another pot for him cooked with pork fat.
And winters are easy because he loves all my soups even without adding meat. There are some that he might top with cheese, but that's all.
So to echo what Mark said (of course!), just take the things you both like and build your meals from these things. But I will go on to say that this is easy to me because I'm not tempted by any of those things. If you are, then it will be much more difficult, I'm sure. But keep us posted, and feel free to ask anything more specific. Sorry I can't be of more help. I just wanted you to know that it can be done, and maybe even done easily. Good luck!

[jan_npr]

Not sure if this is where I ask a question or not. Where do the beans and legumes come in? I mean, do they replace the starchy veggies or grains or in addition to one of the others? I don't think it's clear. I have been eating about a half cup of beans/lentils with my veggies or on a grain or starchy veg. Is that correct? Also, I gained a pound in the 3 days I have followed the plan. That is not good. Thanks

Hi, I'm not a moderator but I attended the 10 day McDougall program. Yes the beans and legumes count as starch. All the best!

[jan_npr]

QUESTION:

Is it okay to post here on an almost daily basis. I don't want to do so if it's not encouraged. Just trying to find the best place to interact with other people doing MWL. Thanks!

[Golightly]

Responding to wildgoose: thank you so much for your post. I watched the cram circuit by Dr. Lisle as suggested and my eyes popped open! Even though I am losing weight I find that late at night, with stomach full and distended, I crave more food, in particular, popcorn (air popped) or chocolate. Watching Dr. Lisle explain the Crave/Cram circuit so helps me understand what’s going on and therefore will help me battle this issue. In hindsight, I see my potato chip/cream cheese craving and my Reeses peanut butter cup cravings are all related to the same issue. Dr. Lisle suggests battling this by using distraction and I know that helps as well as eating a healthy, MWL snack helps, however, If there are other suggestions on what to do to battle this inherent issue I would appreciate hearing about it. Thanks so much for your post!

[JeffN]

Greetings everyone!!

We have had a large number of newcomers join this month, maybe more than ever.

Because of that, I want to give everyone, especially the newcomers and returnees, an opportunity to "catch-up" and review the initial post, the recommendations, the guidelines and all the links provide by the moderators without the thread continuing to grow.

Therefore, I have locked the thread till Tuesday, 7/7th at 11 AM EST.

So, take some time to not only review the initial post and the recommendations and guidelines, but also to read through the July thread to date, especially the moderators posts (Mark, WildGoose and me). It may also be helpful to read through the June MWL Weigh-in thread too. If any questions come up, just save them and then tomorrow, when we open back up, you will be able to post them.

This will also be a good time to think about a plan for the week, to consider some of the challenges that may come up and how you will handle them, and to make sure you have the proper foods stocked up. You can also start a journal of your MWL journey in the journal section.

Here is the direct link to the intiall post.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=61073

Have a great day!!

Jeff

[JeffN]

We Are Back Live!

Thanks everyone. I think the break gave everyone a chance to catch up on this thread, and the MWL guidelines, recommendations and links. I happy to see that several of you also started journals. And, I know Mark and WildGoose got a break from what might be one of our busiest groups ever.

Have a great day and a great month.

In Health
Jeff