February 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Thread

[Stormy]

Weighing in at -1.0 compared to last week.

Dealing with business meals: Mark, I wish I did have some good suggestion! It may help to ally oneself with (a) people who do have input into the choice of restaurant or catering menu and (b) others following a WFPB diet. Ideally, those would be the same people. Some workplace cultures discourage people from making requests of this type in advance, so this can be tricky.

My situation is complicated by food allergies. A typical vegan lunch option that works well for others almost always includes an ingredient to which I'm allergic.

[wildgoose]

MaryP and moonlight,

I feel really sorry for myself that I can’t have XYZ junk food

I relate to this so much. It is always junk food that gets me off the WFPB bandwagon and back into over-consuming calories. When I see others eating it, I feel a deep sadness that I can't eat them and I wonder if it will ever fade like the cravings do. Logically I know that if I want to be a normal weight I can't eat those types of food, but still, such overwhelming feelings of sadness and loss.

BlackBeanSoup, in my experience it gets better the longer you are away from the junk. That means NO JUNK, because if you feed that junk monster, you’re starting the clock over again on extinguishing the craving and making those feelings go away.

That being said, even when you’re not eating junk, it’s very possible to have what Dr. Lisle calls an "extinction burst." Just when you think you’re out of reach of those sad, loss-filled feelings, one will unexpectedly crop up. If you don’t recognize it for what it is, it can blindside you. But it goes away. After several junk-free months, the extinction bursts go away pretty fast.

If you’re already anywhere on the HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) curve, the feelings of sadness and loss will be worse and the cravings will feel stronger. So you need to fortify yourself there too. Be aware of those days/situations where you’re more vulnerable.

Distract yourself. Laugh at yourself (a craving is a bully and hates being laughed at). Remember to always have something healthy at hand to eat.

The motto I always use when I’m riding out a craving or a whine is "nothing tastes as good as being lean and healthy feels." That seems to work better for me than the old "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips" adage from my dieting days.

Goose

[wildgoose]

Weighing in at -1.0 compared to last week.

Dealing with business meals: Mark, I wish I did have some good suggestion! It may help to ally oneself with (a) people who do have input into the choice of restaurant or catering menu and (b) others following a WFPB diet. Ideally, those would be the same people. Some workplace cultures discourage people from making requests of this type in advance, so this can be tricky.

My situation is complicated by food allergies. A typical vegan lunch option that works well for others almost always includes an ingredient to which I'm allergic.

Stormy, you do have complications, but you also have a built-in diffusion mechanism that will solve many a problem with social/business eating!

You can pre-eat, or eat later, or you can be proactive and bring a cold sweet potato to slip on your plate along with the salad and vegetable part of the provided meal (yep, I’ve done it, even at a catered conference lunch where I’m in the middle of 200 people). A cooler that doubles as purse or man-bag works wonders.

With a wry smile, you just say (IF AND ONLY IF anyone comments), "These darn food allergies are such a pain. I’m doing an experiment to see if I can stay away from always eating something that triggers them. Might not work, but it can’t hurt to try." Shrug and change the subject.

Goose

[Carrieann]

201.2 – February 7, 2020
Weight change = 0

Points from MWL Checklist that need greater attention:

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. – Managed 2 meals this week starting with fruit, and 1 meal with a salad. Small steps!

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. Choose fruit for dessert. – Did a little better. Followed this twice this week.

3. 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. – Earlier in the week, I was still adding salt, but by Tuesday, stopped Again, small steps!

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). – Ate those nuts (though made sure they didn’t include oil and were no salt added. I know I ate these to cope with the extra stress I had through Wednesday this week. I even “rewarded” myself with some herbed cashews from the health food store on Wednesday, instead of taking a nice how bath or something that was a non-food reward. Will do better this week. I finally decided to give in and buy and pressure cooker (found an excellent sale this week on one). That way I will be more prepared with meals, another area that I struggle with every week!

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). – Didn’t get 20-30 minutes of exercise this week. My FitBit tracks movement every hour (of 250 steps or more). Only 2 days I was less than 3. The rest I was 5-6 hours. Hit my 5k step daily goal one day, and missed it by 50 steps another day. I realize exercise may have helped reduce my stress but was getting only about 4 hours sleep for 5 days unfortunately and had no energy.

I am so thankful for having this group because it provides the accountability I need to push through on the more challenging days!!!

Received my first Imperfect Food haul. It was great. However, I received an extra Dakon purple radish, and have no clue what I’m going to do with the first one, let alone the freebie! Any ideas, greatly appreciated.

[laurag]

145 lbs loss 3 lbs

So cool! I'm focusing on 50/50 plate and frozen fruit for dessert good luck everyone! We can do this!

[rlechols]

Hi everyone!

I'm back for February. I started participating in this forum at the beginning of January after being on a weight loss plateau for 4 months. I lost 6 pounds in January, which puts my total weight loss on a WFPB diet at 56 lbs. I started January 2019.

I am a 47 year old female, 5 feet 5 inches tall.
Last weigh in of January on the 31st: 161.5 lbs

Feb 7 weight in: 165 lbs - Loss of 0.5 lb

So I lost half a pound. Things seem to be moving slow for me as I tackle the last 15-20 lbs. I have been exercising for 60-70 min 5 days a week (cardio) and started strength training this month.

I have followed the MWL guidelines almost religiously from week to week, and although I didn't lose much this week, and know that eventually the weight loss will follow. I'm looking forward to reading all of your posts!

[SherryW]

Weight change: 168.2, down 1 lb from 169.2 last week

Points from the MWL Checklist where I succeeded this week
1. I succeeded most of the time, but a few times I was so busy I just had the starch on the go and never got to the unstarchy part.
2. same as #1
8. good
9. good

Points from the MWL Checklist that need greater attention
3, 4, 5, 6, . Good except for during Super Bowl, and then I wasn't too bad - a few chips with queso, some strawberry yogurt dip with fruit, half a slice of cheese pizza, and half a piece of apple pie. I had no non-water beverages or hot wings, so that was a win.
10. This one will be the biggest struggle for me.

General impressions & observations / resources to share / sources of excitement / requests for input & support

I still cook meat for other family members. It hasn't bothered me much, but it feels weird to not taste when I cook, and the smell of the taco meat I just heated up for my son was smelling really good. I didn't have any though. I'm blaming it on today's 2.5 hour power outage that made me very late to eat my lunch. I must have been hungrier than I thought. I ate, and I'm OK now. I did have some frozen blueberries during the outage and some grapes, but the starch must be what keeps me on track, and I wasn't in the mood for cold beans and quinoa.

I do need some help with some good non-starchy choices. So far, I've been having salads, fruits and broccoli. Cauliflower is fine for me too. I think I had some frozen green beans, but I wasn't all that thrilled with them. What do you guys like the best for that side of your plate?

[Mark Cooper]

Pradeepa - Those last 10 lbs definitely do require fairly strict adherence to the MWL 10-Point Checklist for most of us. I'm glad you are still committed to moving forward.

MaryP - You are very welcome! I hope you are still finding your holiday enjoyable!

RacingSnake108 - It seems to me you made real progress on the areas you chose for attention this week, and I'm glad you were able to recognize and resist the lure of the Pleasure Trap. Kudos!

alishana - Those seem like reasonable areas on which to concentrate, and attainable based on the strategies you outlined.

Abe - A big congratulations on moving out of the 200's! I hope you have a lovely visit from your family, in spite of those complications you mentioned. It makes sense to avoid particular restaurants that are especially tempting for you; it is clear that you want to stay on track, and I would encourage you to really think through some likely challenging scenarios so you can "stress test" your best strategies.

Leah Bell -

I am here to learn long-term compliance with peace of mind. Ninety-nine percent is hard. One hundred percent is a breeze.

Naturally, that isn't true for everyone, but it CERTAINLY applies in my own personal experience - that 1% always seemed to be what led me off the path. Kudos for your food prep! What fruits were you enjoying for dessert this week?

I also wanted to include Jeff's response regarding tea, in case anyone missed seeing it above -

I was sad to read Jeff’s post on tea. I am a hot tea drinker. After reading it, I will be giving it up when I run out this time. ?

My post is not to stop people from drinking tea (which we do serve at the 10-Day Program), but to have them realize it isn't a super food nor is it required and like anything, has some concerns. If you do drink it, just limit the total amount in a day. It is not one of the big battles, which is getting the food right.

I wonder how he feels about water with lemon. Is it harmful to our teeth?

It is fine.

In Health
Jeff

BlackBeanSoup - I'm sorry to hear you were feeling unwell; excellent work adhering to the MWL 10-Point Checklist despite that. Regarding the sense of loss surrounding foods that don't fit within the guidelines - I really relate to what you and Mary are describing, as well. I am, of course, just a sample size of 1, but at a certain point my relationship to food changed and I ceased to be troubled by the thought of never having those foods again. I think, in my case, my previous reluctance to "write off" those foods was linked to the thought of using them for reasons not related to hunger or even palatability - i.e., to "celebrate" something or "treat myself" - I eventually found other activities to fill those roles.

Marsha - It seems like you did your best under the circumstances! Sinus infections are no fun. I hope you recover soon, hang in there.

Vee - Big congratulations on dropping to a smaller size! That is a great non-scale victory! I totally understand not having a particular weight loss goal - it is often more productive to focus on building and maintaining those behaviors that will keep you "compliant." Way to go with the mile / day! I wish you a speedy recovery from that "crud."

Chuck - Congrats on another substantial loss this week! I'm glad that sense of accountability to the weigh-in helped you find the motivation to get back on track. That is awesome to hear that you were able to wear your new shirt! What a great result.

Michele613 - I'm glad to hear your week was positive! You are correct that an individual week's weigh-in doesn't always reflect the success in our behaviors - your attitude seems wise, those successes will be reflected by the scale in the end.

Jennifer - I'm glad you decided to join the group! That walking trail challenge sounds fun. It can take some trial and error to find the time and type of exercise that works under particular circumstances, so you having thought through some back-up ideas makes sense. Big congratulations on losing 35 lbs to date!

pootsy - I applaud your decision to report today! Being in a "clean" environment, over which we have control definitely makes it easier to maintain adherence. For some people, it helps to eat ahead of time, so as to be less tempted in those challenging environments, others find it more helpful to avoid them until they feel less anxious about possible temptations. Way to recommit and get back to work! I wish you the very best at your ortho appointment.

Stormy - It definitely can be a tricky situation to navigate. I think the strategy offered by wildgoose below is often the best option.

Stormy, you do have complications, but you also have a built-in diffusion mechanism that will solve many a problem with social/business eating!

You can pre-eat, or eat later, or you can be proactive and bring a cold sweet potato to slip on your plate along with the salad and vegetable part of the provided meal (yep, I’ve done it, even at a catered conference lunch where I’m in the middle of 200 people). A cooler that doubles as purse or man-bag works wonders.

I would particularly second this -

With a wry smile, you just say (IF AND ONLY IF anyone comments), "These darn food allergies are such a pain. I’m doing an experiment to see if I can stay away from always eating something that triggers them. Might not work, but it can’t hurt to try." Shrug and change the subject.

Carrieann - Those small steps accumulate over the duration! It sounds like you had a particularly stressful week, managed it as well as you could at the time, and recognized where and why you had some stumbles, and learned from that. I have never eaten Daikon, but hopefully some in the group can offer you some ideas.

pbnew - I'm glad your week felt excellent! Restaurant meals are very often a challenge - if you haven't already seen it, you might want to check out Jeff's post on Dining Out.

colleenaprn - I hope you have a great week to come, as well! Overdoing it on salt can definitely have an effect, which is one of the reasons #3 on the checklist suggests greatly reducing our salt consumption (and if it is too troublesome, it can be eliminated).

laurag - Awesome! Those seem like great things on which to focus.

Rachel - I'm so glad you are continuing with the group! Big congratulations on the 56 lbs you have lost already! Those last 15-20 lbs can definitely be slow going. Way to go with integrating exercise into your daily routine! Keep in mind, as well, that exercise often doesn't contribute too much to weight loss as compared to food choices. You are right, that diligent adherence to the MWL guidelines will eventually be reflected by the scale.

SherryW - Kudos! I'm glad you feel positive about the way you managed your Super Bowl deviations; food events surrounding the game seem to have been a challenge for several participants. Cravings can often surface when we become overly hungry, and you are correct that starch is key to satiety. Good for you for avoiding succumbing to that temporary impulse. My favorite non-starchy vegetable selection is "California Blend" or "Normandy Vegetables" - broccoli, cauliflower & carrots. I also have green beans, brussel sprouts, spinach, asparagus, kale and collard greens on a pretty regular basis.

[FoodisFuel]

Hi. I’m 157.2. I’m having computer troubles today so I’m posting from my phone. Sorry that I don’t have more details.

[lbell]

I was sad to read Jeff’s post on tea. I am a hot tea drinker. After reading it, I will be giving it up when I run out this time. ?

My post is not to stop people from drinking tea (which we do serve at the 10-Day Program), but to have them realize it isn't a super food nor is it required and like anything, has some concerns. If you do drink it, just limit the total amount in a day. It is not one of the big battles, which is the food first, then adding in some activity.

I wonder how he feels about water with lemon. Is it harmful to our teeth?

It is fine.

In Health
Jeff

Thanks, Jeff, for commenting. I am grateful for all you do in this community. I went back and reread your post on tea. I do think that I will cut back some on the amount I drink for now, and give some thought to giving it up.

Leah

[Butterfly043]

Sorry I'm late in posting today. My weight stayed the same this week at 123. That's actually great news being it didn't go up again this week. See you next Friday.

[VGuzman]

Weigh-in for Feb. 7, 2020

Starting Weight, 1/3/2020: 125.2 lb.
Last week, 1/31/2020: 122.0 lb.
This week, 2/7/2020: 121.0 lb. (1 lb. weight loss for the week)

Good health to all for the next week,
Vicki

[MaryP]

No scales where I am staying so I will only post about my week.

Really, the only point I still have problems with is no salt. I have reduced the amount but find it difficult to eliminate. I don't use table salt but I do add reduced sodium tamari to cooked food and use condiments that have salt.

A couple of high points this week:

I continue to be active. Every day except for one I have taken a walk in both the morning and evening and even that day, we walked in the morning. Some days we were walking 3-4 miles. This makes me very happy as this was a goal before we arrived in Hawaii. I just didn't think it would happen that quickly. We have been here 2 weeks and have 3 left to go.

I have been afraid to go out to eat but was with some friends at a museum. They wanted to have lunch at the museum. I said yes and it worked out well. They had a salad with greens, quinoa and butternut squash. I asked for dressing on the side, which I didn't use. It also had walnuts and dried fruit that I gave to my husband for his unadorned salad. I was pleased that I could relax and enjoy the event. I ate the rest of my lunch when I got home.

Overall, it was a good week.

[kirstykay]

Short post today. I had to fly to Montana suddenly to be with my daughter who is having some unexpected medical issues. I am working hard to stay on plan. So far, so good. I did a grocery run this morning for compliant food and made a big pot of soup today. I'm determined to stay on plan despite the situation: Oatmeal, soup, potatoes, rice, vegetables, beans, and fruit.

I will be here for the next couple of weeks- for her surgery on the 14th and the week after unless she needs me to stay longer. She doesn't have a scale, so I will still follow along, but am unable to participate in the weigh-ins. I may just weigh at the end of the month for my total instead of weekly if that's okay.

Prayers are appreciated if you do that sort of thing.

[NomeOslo]

1/31 - 142.4
2/7 - 142.0

Goal weight: 110 lbs

Weight change - down 0.4 lbs

Success: I didn't fall off the wagon completely, but certainly didn't have 100% compliance in any category.

I need to regain the focus I had in January - especially the *reason* I'm focusing on the 10 points. I want to spend my final decades helping others, learning more, and enjoying this beautiful world. And I won't be able to do that if I'm taking medicines (that don't really work), and visiting doctors offices every week because of problems I created by not making healthy choices. So every day, I want to make healthy choices, and I will do that today.

Thank you Mark and Goose for the inspiration - and to everyone here. It helps to read all your stories, both the good and difficult parts.