June 2018 McDougall Weigh In Thread

[Arewethereyet]

Up 3.4 lbs. Sorry everyone

[Sundog]

Weight 218.7 0.5 lb loss.

Happy Saturday!
Feeling like the scale is not my friend. I know that it’s just a number but I feel like I should be losing weight faster than I am. I’m eating compliant foods and exercising so I’m not sure what is up!
I guess I will just go back to the basics and look over the program etc. Maybe I need to eat more potatoes or just not weigh for awhile as this is making me discouraged!

I will come back here today and read everything.
Wishing everyone a healthy and self nurturing week!
Best, Sundog

[amandamechele]

Hi All,

Thank you to each of you for checking in this week. We are progressing, slowly but surely! That is a wonderful thing.

A few of us have been chatting about those foods that sometimes pull us away from our commitment to adhere to the MWL guidelines. We all know which foods...LOL... for the most parts it's not the carrots and the Brussel sprouts (my computer insists that this be capitalized...LOL).

This brought to mind a thread from Jeff Novick, with input from Dr. Lisle, that I remember reading awhile back that was quite helpful and informative for pinpointing those troublesome foods and explaining why we keep coming back for more.

The Pleasure Trap Trigger Food Poll Results:

In regard to this poll, which was run at several websites, and social media sites.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=48623

The results based on about 1000 votes are...

Flours/Bread Products - ~52%
Nuts/seeds - 27%
Sugar - ~16%
Dried Fruit - ~5%

I discussed the poll before running it and after the results were obtained with Dr Lisle to get his insights too. As he pointed out, the motivational triad (seek pleasure, avoid pain, conserve energy) plays a big role in the results.

Some things to consider

- Most of the audience who was polled were followers of the low fat, WFPB, low/no SOS program.

- As with any survey, people often vote in the way they want the outcomes to be

- Sometimes there was no good answer and some of the responders made some excellent points.

Some thoughts on the results..

1) Ease of Consumption - Most flour/bread products are much easier to consume then nuts because it has been ground into a flour and made into some sort of highly processed food. It takes almost no effort to eat, digest and get the reward. Bread almost melts in your mouth. Nuts are hard to chew, high fat (which is harder to digest) and have more fiber so takes more effort to chew and eat. Sugar falls into this category too for ease of consumption but we usually don't eat sugar "as is" like we do nuts or bread products.

2) Acceptability - With few exceptions, most all of us in the WFPB world put a fairly strong caution on nuts. Be careful. But, flour products get a blessing as not only acceptable but as actually good for you. Even Dr McDougall has a 12 slices a day bread challenge for weight loss. Dried fruit and sugar also have cautions on them, but not bread (except for MWL), which is the same calorie density as sugar and dried fruit, or higher. If I had to rank them on perceived acceptability, I would say flour/bread products, then dried fruit or nuts, then sugar.

3) Salt - we know salt is a trigger and while not on the list of options, most people don’t realize that bread products are one of the leading contributor (If not the leading contributor) of salt to the diet. Its part of the basic bread recipe and baking powder/soda (very common ingredients) are about 50% salt. While we know to eat nuts salt free, salt free is hard to find in regard to flour/bread products. I only know of 1 or 2 breads, tortila’s, pita’s etc that are truly salt free. So, eat flour/bread, get a big salt hit too. Not many people would choose to eat just flour and water as a cracker or as bread. The percentage of people picking bread might be lower if the only breads available were salt free. Bread can also be source of sugar and also oil.

The only exception to all this is pasta, which is usually salt free. It is also is low calorie density and served with a sauce and veggies but that is not what most people thought of or binge on.

4) Perception of Calories - most people would say eating 4-5 slices of bread at once is binging and overeating. At the same time, most people would say eating 2-3 oz of nuts is within limits. Yet, a slice of bread is 80 calories so 4-5 is 320 to 400 calories. An ounce of nuts is 180 calories, so 2 oz is 360 calories and 3 oz is 540. So, people may think they binged on bread by eating 4-5 slices, but not when eating 3 oz of nuts, even though they actually got more calories from nuts.

5) Whole vs Processed - Some people (in the food addiction model) say, we only binge or get addicted to refined foods, especially processed refined wheat. In OA, FA and a few others, wheat is avoided, especially flour products. Sugar too. Many say flour products act like (turn into) sugar rapidly and that is part of the problem. Yet nuts (a whole food) still got almost 1/3 of the votes as a pleasure trap food. Sugar, which is a highly processed food only got about 16%, a little over half the nuts. Clearly sugar has a bigger "hit" then bread but got 1/3 the vote of bread. Most likely because, as mentioned earlier, sugar comes with a limit/caution, we generally don't eat it by itself and bread comes with a greater perception of acceptability.

6) Combinations - Some people said they never binge on one but on combo’s of these like nut butter on bread, or nuts and dried fruits blended, which goes to the point Michael Moss makes about mixed, blended and emulsified combo’s of fat, sugar, salt are the worse (i.e., chocolate). Considering this, we would have to see how bread would do if as an option, it was always salt (& sugar) free.

7) Oil- Oil was not an option in the poll and oil comes with the greatest caution on it to be avoided. However, many people find eating out to be difficult and are triggered by the options when dining out. Many foods in restaurants, besides all the above issues, also come with oil.

As Dr Lisle said,

"Truth is, we simply drift to soft, easy to eat, salted, high calorie foods."

Thanks for participating.

Feel free to comment on the original thread in the lounge.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=48623

In Health
Jeff

This is just a small highlight of the discussions that took place, so if your interest is piqued, take a look at the whole thread here: The Pleasure Trap Trigger Foods Poll Results and Dr. Lisle's lecture on The Pleasure Trap.

Best wishes this week everyone, keep up the great effort!

Amy XO

Here are the results for the second week in June:

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, June 15th, 2018

Total group loss reported in 2018: 247.9 pounds

June 2018 Weight Loss Group :: Monthly Weigh-In Results
Total group loss in January 2018: 54.7 pounds
Total group loss in February 2018: 49.3 pounds
Total group loss in March 2018: 52.5 pounds
Total group loss in April 2018: 26.9 pounds
Total group loss in May 2018: 50.8 pounds
Total group loss in June 2018: 13.7 pounds

Week ending 06/08/2018: 10 participants reported a total loss of 3.4 pounds
---------------------------------------
Arewethereyet - 3.4
---------------------------------------
Total gains: 3.4
--------------------------------------
Svenja - 0.0
Moonlight - 1.0
Rosey - 0.2
Chumly - 0.0
Squealcat - 2.0
Midnight87 - 1.1
VegSeekingFit - 1.0
Jobet - 1.0
Sundog - 0.5
---------------------------------------------
Total losses: 6.8
---------------------------------------------

Total group loss in June 2018: 13.7 pounds
Week ending 06/08/2018: 10 participants reported a total loss of 3.4 pounds
Week ending 06/01/2018: 18 participants reported a total loss of 10.3 pounds

[amandamechele]

Jobet - You made me smile. I love that phrase. You are officially added to the group of people who have trouble with hyper-palatable foods. I have a feeling its going to be a really big group. Wonderful loss and dedication to your walking this week.

Jennifer - No apologies necessary. I am guessing it was a rough week, versus some salt that snuck into your food, based on your post. I am really happy you checked-in and have no doubt that this week will be a better one on the diet front. You can get out from under this by just keeping your head in this game. Very best wishes and sending a virtual hug your way. XO

Sundog - I'm sorry you're feeling discouraged. Some weeks will be better than others. I know that sounds platitudinous, but there is so much truth in it, I hope the message isn't lost. Our lives are just one week followed by another and another, odds are you have some pretty wonderful weeks coming up in the future! This one was disappointing for weight loss...I hate those weeks . But...you've identified a great next step to address it. Definitely take a look at the guidelines again. Compare them to what you are eating each day and see it there are some comfortable tweaks in there that you can make to try and speed up your progress without compromising your satiety and thus long-term success probability. More potatoes are a great choice. Ensure you are getting in some of those green and yellow vegetables with each meal to fill up your plate and lower its calorie density. (I know you are familiar with this stuff, so I hope I don't sound preachy ) XO. Another way that extra calories can stall you is with evening/after-dinner eating (this is a downfall of mine). If this is something that gives you trouble consider implementing a hard-stop time that you will not eat after. Dr. Lisle discusses this in The Cram Circuit webinar.

[Rosey]

Weight 218.7 0.5 lb loss.

Happy Saturday!
Feeling like the scale is not my friend. I know that it’s just a number but I feel like I should be losing weight faster than I am. I’m eating compliant foods and exercising so I’m not sure what is up!
I guess I will just go back to the basics and look over the program etc. Maybe I need to eat more potatoes or just not weigh for awhile as this is making me discouraged!

I will come back here today and read everything.
Wishing everyone a healthy and self nurturing week!
Best, Sundog

Take your measurements and use those too.

[VegSeekingFit]

Happy Saturday!
Feeling like the scale is not my friend. I know that it’s just a number but I feel like I should be losing weight faster than I am.

Hi Sundog!! Love your cheery handle!!! I bet that we have all been discouraged at times... and your brain can play tricks on you... undermine motivation, etc.

I'm just a newbie, so take this with a grain of salt...

1) Hope you cheer up soon!!! We are all pulling for you!!!
2) If you want feedback from the group, you could start a journal --- even for what you eat for a week??? (Personal preference for sure... but can have information where someone might be able to feedback helpful comments.)
3) You are rocking it by following this WOE. Maybe tweaks needed, but this WOE will result in health blooiming (and ultimately weight loss)!!!!
4) Is there something qualitative you can use to motivate you to counteract your disappointment on the scale? (For me, felt so much more energy and positivity that I would still McDougall regardless of other stuff....)

Best,
Stephanie

[VegSeekingFit]

Everyone - For your viewing pleasure The Best of McDougall's Medicine TV Segments

Thanks, Amandamechele so much for this link!!!

Wow!! Retro Dr. McDougall!!! He was young and dapper... This is maybe my favorite ever watch of his - and I've liked them all!

Same message 30+? years ago. Lots of humor in this too. It's 1:50 ish - so long. Watched over my walk today and batch cooking.

Loved that he had his family bicycling and then his father-in-law gardening. The ending focused on having fun -- hot air ballooning, going to an amusement park.

Highly recommend for all if you haven't watched yet....

[Chumly]

Hi Amanda,

Thank you for welcoming me! I know that I have a better chance of success when I feel part of a community. I think this will help me! So far I'm doing well, but I need to make these changes permanent. I've started and stopped so many times that it can be discouraging. I've had 2 weeks of McDougalling so far!

Michael

[VegSeekingFit]

I know that I have a better chance of success when I feel part of a community. I think this will help me! So far I'm doing well, but I need to make these changes permanent. I've started and stopped so many times that it can be discouraging. I've had 2 weeks of McDougalling so far!

Michael

Hi Michael! I also like to feel like part of a community. So much nicer than feeling like a fish swimming upstream... Congrats on your new start!
Best,
Stephanie

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi to the Group!

Thrilled to have lost 2.8 lbs. this week - the most that I've lost since starting 1/5 of this year. Down 26.6 lbs for the year...

Doing a virtual cartwheel...

Wishing all a successful week!!

Best,
Stephanie

[Rosey]

Last week 291.2lbs this week 289.5lbs for a 1.7lb gone this week. That's 17.5 lbs gone since May 11th. WOOT!!!

[victw]

Haven't posted this month because I was on an extended trip.

I am down .8 from a month ago. 3 1/2 weeks from home and I did not gain weight. The 20k steps a day in Portugal might have helped.

We indulged but I avoided trigger foods and foods that become habitual for me. That means that sweets were only consumed within context and although we had some alcoholic drinks I stayed away from sodas.

The weird part was not having a scale as a reference. I bought a belt before I left and thought using it might work. Cooking in Portugal did not go as planned. Cooking on trips will be a work in progress. We did some - and did manage to get extra veggies.

Normally my husband is supportive - but we take different approaches to vacations. He splurges because he knows he can work it off fairly easily. He wanted 2 square meals when we ate out - he did cook us oatmeal for breakfast. I did not know how to navigate this - Portugal was doable as a vegetarian - but restaurants were hard.

Glad to get back into a groove.

Vic

[moonlight]

Hi Everyone,
I am up 3 lbs!! !! I thought my diet while I was on my trip was not too bad and I exercised everyday.... I'm hoping it is mostly from sodium. Yesterday was a 100% MWL compliant day and today is too, so hopefully I'll be back on a losing streak soon!

I hope everyone has a great, goal fulfilled week!

[Svenja]

Hello!

I sorry that I'll be messing up the total ... I am up 5 pounds.

As strange as it may sound ... I am quite ok with this.
I lost weight the weeks before ... but I ate so little ... not because I forced myself, it just happen that I didn't feel like much food.
I am back to 3 meals ... sometimes I skip dinner if I can't fit it in with seeing patients in the evenings.

I will most likely not make my half year goal of loosing 15 kg (33 lbs) ... I am short 7 lbs ... maybe I'll get a little closer.
But my mom actually said that it now really shows in my face that I lost weight.

I am visiting a huge sailing event tomorrow ... looking very much forward

Have a great weekend everyone!
Svenja.

[squealcat]

This week I lost 0.4 pounds for a total this month of 2.4. I think that is pretty good ! I was feeling quite proud of myself today and even walked 10,000 steps by 1 PM ! I should beware of that "proud" feeling though because I became very unsettled after lunch and began to turn to my comfort foods....bread and peanut butter, etc......(won't go into it because I don't want to entice others.....

So now THAT is over and I am NOT hungry now ! Back on track and will eat my regular foods when I am hungry. I don't know what brought that on. Sometimes something bothers me and I am not even aware of it....I just begin to look in cupboard and eat ! It happens less often now and I don't crave foods like I used to. sometimes I just think of food too often or look at recipes too much and it happens. I guess that is why I do best just eating plainly and cooking potatoes, veges , rice etc and putting it all together for a meal instead of making a formal recipe.

Do others have this problem? Hope I caught myself early enough so I can have another loss this week !

Thanks to all for "listening" to me.

-Marilyn (squealcat)